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When the tiger is absent, the fox prances around like a king, and the wolf pack loiters at the front gate.

In such circumstances, animals tend to run wild when there’s no stronger predator around. Humans are not much different.

Seizing the opportunity amid the Empire and Magic Kingdom conflict, countless citizens in the North committed crimes over the past four years.

Some plundered their neighbors, others set fire to homes, and there was no hesitation when it came to rape and murder.

I don’t think these fine folks were necessarily born with criminal tendencies or that they acted out of a lack of moral compass.

Certainly, goodwill comes from abundance, and a person’s heart can only flourish when there’s much to hold on to.

People with not even a grain of rice to eat today end up fighting each other just to claim a handful of grain, a scene often seen in Central Africa.

Unlike North Africa, Central Africa lacks any proper industry, leaving folks with no choice but to enlist in the military to scrounge food through rationing or robbery.

But there’s no reason to blame these people. Who can they hold accountable for being born into such a neighborhood?

The same goes for the Northern folks. When their hometown suddenly transforms into a battleground and their families face starvation, how can they just sit still? They have to loot to survive.

However, regardless of how pitiful they are, crime is absolutely inexcusable.

And even less forgivable are those who dare sprinkle ash on the feast I laid out.

“Pippin! Jake! Get ready for fieldwork.”

—

Episode 12 – The Strongest Magician in History

Commander Mikhail positively considered my request. Numerous meetings had been held in the office overlooking the Duke’s castle in the heart of Novo Nikolayevsk.

And a few days later.

At last, I witnessed the fruits of that effort firsthand.

“By the order of the Military Government Commander, our Company 13 is being deployed for the operation to eliminate criminal organizations effective immediately.”

“More than 30 rounds of RPGs.”

“1st and 2nd platoons, board now!”

The Military Government Headquarters dispatched the rear area’s Military Police for the operation. The purpose of this operation was to maintain public order. More precisely, it aimed to apprehend “serious criminals” disrupting the economic order and peace in the North.

In simpler terms, it was an elimination operation.

The Military Police responsible for the North spread out in vehicles to conduct the sweep operation. Trucks rushed into the city, arriving at their destinations, and armed troops poured out.

Those troops immediately stormed the buildings.

“Military Police!”

“Hands up over your head!”

As one Military Policeman kicked down the door, three or four more swooped into the office to apprehend the criminals.

“Weapons! That guy has a weapon!”

“Order to fire has been given. Shoot!”

As the sergeant shouted, a soldier pulled the trigger of his rifle. The booming sound and flames shook the air, and before several gunshots had even sounded, the criminal dropped the knife he was holding and collapsed in the alley.

– Ta-da-da-da!

– Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Those damn bastards!”

“Why is the Military Police coming here?”

The criminals who had been scraping a living from the black market were caught off guard that day. It was precisely the moment epitomizing the phrase “struck by lightning on a clear day.”

“Oh shit… Hey, grab your stuff and run!”

The criminals abandoned their gathered items, grabbing cash and trying to flee. They attempted to escape through the back door, evading the Military Police storming in the front.

As they wanted to distance themselves from the sounds of gunfire behind them, when they opened the meticulously covered back door concealed with boxes and curtains, they were met with the gloomy Northern sky and the business ends of the Military Police’s rifles.

Just a moment later, in what could hardly be termed anything but a heartbeat, the machine gun mounted on a vehicle began to spit fire.

The Military Policeman pulled the trigger of the machine gun, and with each blast, the shell casings rattled against the asphalt. Those criminals attempting to escape through the back door quickly transformed from human beings into something unrecognizable.

“Cease fire! Cease fire!”

“We’re entering the building. Bring back anything that could be evidence.”

The Military Police’s operation was unyielding. True to the name of elimination, the Imperial Military Police ruthlessly suppressed the criminals, and the few surviving criminals were dragged out into the streets with their hands cuffed.

Once a den of crime, the corridors of the building and some streets were stained with the blood of the criminals.

The blood streaming from the gunshot wounds was a deep red, and the flames erupting from the muzzle burned an equally fiery red.

It was a merciless purge.

The citizens of the North bore witness to it all.

Investigators loaded bags filled with evidence into their vehicles, Military Policemen pressed their boots against the heads of cuffed criminals, and bodies dragged out from the alleys and buildings lined up in a row.

At that moment, the empire’s citizens absorbed everything in silence.

“And father.”

“…Misha. Close the window. Draw the curtains.”

The wintry storm raged against the gloomy ash-gray sky. The thunderous sounds of gunfire resonated high into the sky until the sun sank.

On a day in December, the Military Government’s purge operation conducted in the Northern Empire remained etched in people’s memories.

—

The Imperial Military Police’s purge operation was undertaken by order of the Military Government Headquarters.

Commander Mikhail sent a signed document to the relevant officials, and the orders from the Military Government Commander spread across the units, forming the basis for military operations.

As soon as the tiger arrived, the foxes that had been playing kings in its absence were swept away.

The boldness of the Military Police’s purge was matched only by its ruthlessness.

“…Sigh.”

Honestly, no one knows whether the peace of the North will be restored by this operation. Not even me.

But then, issues like restoring the North’s safety or normalizing the market economy are not my concern.

“Ugh.”

I blew out a long puff of smoke and flicked my fingers.

The flicked cigarette spun in mid-air before burying itself in a snowbank.

Sizzle! The sound of the ember dying out reached my ears.

And then—

– Bang!

A shot rang out deep in the alley.

“Oh crap… If this keeps up, I’m going to lose my hearing again… Should’ve brought earplugs.”

Muttering with irritation, I recalled the time in Venezuela when I almost lost my eardrum during a brawl with some reds.

Although I cursed in Abasian, no one around me paid heed or showed any interest.

Throwing the cigarette butt away boldly, I stuffed my hands into my pockets and stood on one leg.

“Well then, my friend. Have you had enough time to think?”

“…….”

“I’m just going to ask one thing. I’d really appreciate if you answer me kindly.”

The clumsy-sounding Abasian flowed from my lips, but the man in front of me did not budge an inch.

He knelt in the snow. A middle-aged man, next to him was another man of similar age, and beside them sat a younger-looking fellow. Besides these three, a couple more lingered about… but, well, I’ll think about that slowly.

I squatted down in the snow-covered alley and spoke to the man.

“Have you seen any suspicious individuals in the North? Someone using magic or sorcery that makes your stomach churn just by looking at them, moving alone or in small groups without a known origin.”

The aim of this operation is to trace the source of the dark magic used in the department store terror incident.

So, I devised a plan to raid the Northern black market led by Francesca, and to facilitate her smooth operations, I managed to secure support from the Military Government Headquarters to wipe out smaller criminal organizations.

And the man kneeling before me was just one of those surviving off the crumbs from numerous small crime organizations.

“Seen any suspicious folks? None?”

“…….”

“If you can say anything, I’d be really grateful.”

Interrogating civilians, not spies, isn’t all that laborious.

At least it shouldn’t have been when I could toss around counterfeit passports back in the day while boarding flights to the Middle East or Africa.

But now, I’ve come out abroad not as an unofficial disguise but as an official one. Unlike before, I can’t just threaten them that I’ll poke their eyes out for not leaking information.

Still—

– Whack!

I could at least slap him.

As soon as I slapped him, his head snapped to the side.

The man who was struck fell onto the snowy ground, but the Military Police didn’t let him lie there peacefully. With rough hands, they grabbed him by his clothes and yanked him back in front of me, his bloodied shirt stretched tightly around his neck.

Thanks to the gloves, my hands didn’t ache, but I instinctively brushed them off.

It was a sort of habit.

Should it only be necessary to slap someone’s face when in a rush? I couldn’t keep slapping on the gloves every time, so a habit developed of brushing my hands off after throwing a punch.

Even though it’s a habit I should correct, after 28 years, it still hasn’t changed. That’s the scary thing about habits.

“Ugh…”

I flicked my lighter to light a cigarette.

“If you keep your mouth shut like that, we’ll both just end up tired, you know? So why don’t you spit it out while it’s still friendly.”

“…….”

“You’ve seen anyone resembling a magician or someone suspiciously like one? Any chance you’ve laid eyes on them?”

Again, the response was silence. I slapped the man again, and the Military Police once more forced him to kneel in the snow.

After repeating this for a couple more rounds, it seemed my patience had finally reached its limits, and the man finally spoke up.

Of course—

“Spit!”

The answer I was hoping for didn’t come out.

“…….”

I wiped the spit off my face with my hand. Thanks to the gloves, my hands didn’t get dirty, but the damp feeling trickling down my eyebrow seemed like a problem I could only solve by washing my face.

After wiping my saliva, I let out a faint sigh and glanced at the Military Policeman. The one who received the signal pulled the man who had spat on my face back up and dragged him away somewhere.

And a little while later.

– Bang!

A shot rang out from a distant alley.

I didn’t know who fired it, but among the people here, no one could be clueless about the gunfire’s source. After all, the Military Policemen dragging away the criminal…

They always came back alone.

Glancing at the military police officer coming back with his rifle slung haphazardly, I cleared my throat while rubbing out the spit-soaked cigarette with my shoe and spoke in a low voice.

“Everyone. Have you had enough time to think?”

I scanned the criminals lined up and gestured towards one of them. The boy with the youngest-looking face among them.

The man seated in front of me, brought by the military police’s hand, I took out a fresh cigarette and flicked my lighter.

“I’ll ask you just one thing. If you answer kindly, it seems we both can avoid turning red-faced.”

“……”

“A suspicious person.”

Have you seen him around?

*

The military government’s operation concluded only after the sun had set. At the same time, the bumbling and laughable Kien language performance finally came to an end.

I met Pippin and Jake in a plaza located in the largest city among the regions where the operation had taken place.

“Hey, you all did great. Find out anything?”

Pippin and Jake had also moved independently to interrogate the criminals, just like I did.

Although they didn’t have formal investigative authority, when I directly asked Commander Mikhail if I could inquire about the sorcerer murder case that occurred in the North, he gladly granted permission.

I had thought of using Lucia or Francesca’s names if necessary. Frankly, I was surprised he agreed so readily without any fuss. I haven’t met many straightforward people like him in my life.

Anyway,

“Nope. Found nothing.”

“Really?”

Pippin and Jake, who had been wandering around the Northern city interrogating criminals, had not gained much. Despite Pippin being somewhat proficient in Kien and Jake having received specialized interrogation training (more like torture resistance training), they achieved no results.

Pippin opened his mouth, looking tired.

“We barely had any time to interrogate. We had to go through an interpreting officer, which took ages for just the questions, and the military police kept urging us to process the criminals quickly.”

“I don’t know what’s so urgent. Anyway, you both worked hard. You should go in and rest well.”

I sent Pippin and Jake back to the hotel. Then I had a brief chat with Senior Lyudmila, who had been interpreting for Pippin and Jake.

“Senior Lyudmila, are you not tired?”

“I’m fine, Colonel. Your Kien skills have improved.”

Senior Lyudmila was the person the Imperial Ministry of Defense assigned to me for translating. She jokingly said that soon I wouldn’t need interpreters anymore with my Kien pronunciation.

“The pronunciation is the problem.”

“If you could just fix that a bit, I think you’ll be fine. Now, I’ll take my leave.”

“Thank you for your service.”

With that, Pippin, Jake, and Senior Lyudmila returned to their respective places. But I couldn’t go back yet as I still had work to do.

Since the beginning of the operation, the military police had executed all arrested criminals without a separate trial. After forcing the criminals to kneel, they restrained their arms behind their backs with handcuffs and the executive shot them in the back of the head.

I heard from a military police officer that around 40 individuals were executed that way.

Whether it was an order from the military government or the commander’s independent judgment, I felt a strange sensation seeing the bodies piled up in the plaza.

“In the name of our merciful and benevolent Lord.”

Lucia’s voice echoed through the plaza.

“Forgive the repentant. Bestow Your mercy, and help us recognize Your infinite love. Embrace both the wounded and those who wounded them with Your healing hands.”

Dressed in pristine white, Lucia was praying before the lined-up bodies of the criminals.

Personally, I wondered if it was worth praying for those who had committed crimes and were executed, considering they wouldn’t go to heaven anyway, but I had no desire to stop Lucia.

“Their suffering is not solely theirs; it is a responsibility we all bear, so please show compassion for the families mourning their loved ones. Share their pain with us and grant your light to those who have repented to enjoy eternal rest and complete peace.”

I watched Lucia praying and the clerics of the cult in the alley.

Leaning against the wall, I mumbled and looked up.

“…Those guys didn’t seem to repent when they died.”

It was a mutter to myself.

However, someone answered my mumbling right next to me.

Francesca, standing in the alley with her arms crossed and looking at the plaza, turned her gaze towards me and asked.

“Did you see them die?”

“I did.”

“You witnessed the execution of criminals. Seems like today’s your lucky day, Colonel.”

I surveyed the surroundings in silence and then spoke to Francesca.

“Anyway, I’ve removed the competition. There shouldn’t be any obstacles ahead. The business should be fine, right?”

Francesca tapped her lips with her finger, deep in thought.

“…Well, with the small-time criminal organizations gone, it shouldn’t be too hard to fill the gap.”

The operation today did not eliminate all criminal organizations in the North.

However, with the military government showing a clear example by mobilizing forces to sweep away the criminals, no organization could freely move anymore. The military government’s actions were not comparable to mere police crackdowns.

If the military government was unpredictable in its next moves, it was natural for anyone without information to feel uneasy.

“The military government’s operation should end with this, right? Now that they’ve shown a precedent, everyone will probably stay quiet for a while, and it would be realistically burdensome to continue operations until the offensive starts in the spring.”

“That could be the case. Or maybe not.”

Francesca didn’t seem to mind the ambiguous answer.

Understanding the military government’s position, she continued calculating in her head.

“Maybe if it were a state-level smuggling issue with various groups and complicated interests involved, it would be different, but since it doesn’t even have a distribution network….”

Her eyes softened, the violet color disappearing as she smiled slyly and then paused before continuing.

“Now that we’ve removed the thorn under our nails, it’s time to eliminate the competition, right?”

“Make sure it’s timely. And no mistakes.”

I took a cigarette from my pocket and stepped deeper into the alley. Francesca followed me as we moved to a more secluded spot.

As I scanned the surroundings, Francesca remarked casually.

“You seem to have something to discuss?”

“There’s something the administrator needs to know.”

As soon as we settled in a suitable spot, I dove straight into the main topic. I shared the information I had gathered from interrogating the criminals.

“There are other sorcerers visiting the black market besides us.”

“Other sorcerers…?”

“They’ve been active for quite a while. A mixed organization of both men and women, aged roughly between 18 to 30.”

“……”

“They visit the black market irregularly to sell and buy things. They mainly deal with herbs and wild vegetables. Their faces look almost identical to the sorcerers who have visited before, but they always move in groups of three.”

Francesca crossed her arms and leaned her chin, quietly meditating. After a moment, she opened her eyes and casually threw a question my way.

“Who did you hear that information from?”

I didn’t answer. Instead, I directed my gaze towards the direction we had just come from.

And at the end of that gaze lay the bodies of the criminals lined up in the plaza.

“Ah, maybe it’s better not to know.”

Francesca, pretending to laugh lightly, organized the information with her fingers.

“Men and women aged 18 to 30. They visit the black market irregularly, sell herbs and wild vegetables, and buy what they need. Their members rarely change, but they always operate in threes.”

Francesca nodded her head.

“Seems organized.”

“Very organized.”

“What’s the duration of their activity, Colonel?”

“Approximately three years. I can’t be sure if it was four years or three, but it seems they’ve been active since the beginning of the conflict.”

Upon asking if they had seen any suspicious sorcerers, the criminals had shared information on sorcerers visiting the black market since three or four years ago.

Their identities remain unknown, but there’s an undeniably suspicious vibe around them.

I lit my cigarette.

“Those black magic spreaders. We might catch them sooner than we think.”

Francesca chuckled softly without making any reply. It was as if to say I was getting too ahead of myself.

Anyway, with the competition removed and information gathered, I only had one thing left to do.

Press Hormoz.

That was all that remained.

Looking at the smoke merging into the gloomy sky, I expressed my thoughts.

“I’ve laid it out plainly, so we should see a reaction soon.”

“And if there’s no reaction?”

“Then we can just kill a few of that dark-skinned guy’s subordinates and burn down some warehouses.”

His reign in the North was about to come to an end.

“Let’s see if he stays calm even when his body is catching fire.”

As I planned various ways to pressure Hormoz, I was preparing for the next operation. But the plan I devised was not executed.

Because I received word from Hormoz through Francesca that he wanted to meet.

 

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