---

My eyes fluttered open.

The cold air filling the bedroom tickled the tip of my nose.

“…Hmph.”

I regretted opening the window. I thought it’d be too hot, but now I think I’ve caught a cold.

Groping about, I reached for the clock next to my fountain pen and checked the time—it was 6 AM. The world outside had already bathed in a soft, azure hue.

Slowly rising, I leaned back in the leather chair. The cool touch of leather sent a shiver down my spine, and I became fully alert.

Shaking my head to clear the fog from my mind, I turned on the TV to catch up on what was going on in the world.

– BEEP.

“Yesterday morning, there was a military clash in the northern border region of the Kien Empire. This is the fourth clash that has occurred this month. Some are worried that this might signal the start of a full-scale war. Meanwhile, the Kien Empire Army Headquarters states that the possibility of a full-scale war is slim…”

“No! Are you kidding me? You have no idea how infections happen, and you just say to pray about it! I can’t understand why you’re charging for your services while calling yourself a healing priest…!”

“Look at this situation! Is this how humans are meant to live? Plunder and arson have become constant! What on earth is the government doing, still failing to recover from the typhoon damage?! A newborn baby has been living in a tent for five years…”

“The Inquisition maintains that the recent bombing was the work of a dark magician. However, according to a testimony from an official, not everyone agrees with the notion that a dark magician is behind the attacks…”

“How can the child of a witch become a hero of the continent…? Who do you think you are?! Where do you think this is…?”

“…Hmm.”

I glanced at the sight of a priest charging at someone with a sword on the TV before switching it off.

Seeing the news was quiet, it seemed like there wouldn’t be any special events today.

—

**Episode 2 – Heroes of the Continent**

Just as every civil servant loves meetings, the morning at the embassy also begins with one.

Our Information Agency is no different.

“Any updates?”

“The results from our wiretaps show that the communication points have expanded. The volume of communications has increased exactly by 3.2 times.”

The Imperial Guard HQ kids are working hard, it seems.

“What happened with the surveillance?”

“We tracked them down and compiled their action radius, residence, and personal information of everyone they’ve contacted. Most of them are agents from the First Nation.”

The inquiry into the attackers is progressing smoothly as well.

“Have we received any information regarding the bombing?”

“The Inquisition is capturing smugglers, but it appears they haven’t made any significant catches. The investigation into diplomats shows that all countries, aside from the Kien Empire, are clean.”

“If we just find out how the explosives were brought in, we can tie them up with ropes. Focus on that.”

It seems we’re about halfway through finding that little bastard.

“Today’s official schedule starts at 11, so let’s take a break for a bit before we head out.”

“Got it.”

We replaced the remaining minor reports with documents and sat around the room munching on snacks.

On the TV, the priest from this morning and a professor were having a heated debate.

“… To fundamentally resolve the epidemic, we need prevention measures, not treatment. We must maintain cleanliness and prevent contact with infected individuals to stop the disease from spreading further.”

“I wholeheartedly agree. However, I find it incomprehensible that the medical practices of the priests caring for patients on the front lines are deemed illegal…”

The discussion about epidemic responses suddenly turned into a food fight.

“Wow. I’ve never seen a fight between a medical professor and a bishop before.”

Jake, who was organizing documents, chuckled while watching the debate.

It certainly is a rare sight. The healing priests from the cult and the doctors trained at the university were practically from different worlds.

“Does that mean the hero just gave those healing priests a handshake or something?”

“Who knows? It’s not like it’s the first time doctors and priests have clashed.”

“I haven’t seen a military doctor and a war chaplain fight, though.”

“Is there really a reason to lose your cool in the field? They just go about doing their own jobs.”

While we chatted, Pippin returned from shredding papers.

But her expression wasn’t right. Furrowing her brows, Pippin marched over and smacked Jake on the head with some documents.

“Jake! Didn’t I tell you to sort them properly? You were supposed to just pull the discarded documents, not the confidential ones!”

Looks like Jake caused another accident.

If you mistakenly shred classified documents, you’ll have to endure a one-on-two interrogation with the counterintelligence agents. Just so you know, Jake had a history of enduring over two weeks of torment from counterintelligence agents after a previous mistake.

“What the hell!”

“Just let it go. He can just be careful next time.”

I tried to mediate the argument with some hand gestures.

Honestly, it was fortunate that nothing major happened. Pippin sat down, huffing, and warned him with a deadly serious look, “One more mistake, and I’ll throw you into the shredder.”

Their bickering was just the same as usual.

“Camila Lowell must be awake by now, right?”

“The hero is having a meal now. From her face, she looks pretty worn out.”

“You’re all the same. Walking corpses, one and all.”

“Colonel looks the worst, you know?”

Turning my head to look at Pippin’s words, Jake thrust a mirror in my face.

Peeking over, there was a zombie staring back at me.

“Damn it.”

I was so surprised that a curse slipped out. Jake pulled the mirror away and spoke.

“How about you just take the whole day off and rest? The schedule doesn’t seem too important today.”

“Why would I take a break when I could just follow Camila Lowell around instead?”

“You’re buttering up the cult folks and giving away your precious time. Aren’t you getting stressed out from dealing with people?”

“… Hmph.”

I had nothing to say and only smacked my lips.

It was true that I was busy running around setting up our information network. And dealing with those little piggies was indeed exhausting. Honestly, I’ve been under so much stress recently.

I have to think about the safety of the hero. I have to find the terrorists. I have to keep an eye on the Imperial Guard HQ. I also have to manage the schedule of the hero and the image of those around her.

Even just sorting through the major tasks looks like this. Right now, I could use ten more bodies.

Although I officially have the right to avoid overtime pay, if it goes past 10 PM, I’d have to decline. If I weren’t a civil servant, I’d have reported this to the labor department already.

“It’s not just me who’s suffering. You guys, the agents, even the embassy staff are all under pressure. What can I do?”

“But others get about seven hours of rest. The Colonel and we can’t even manage six.”

“Do you think it’s easy to adjust the schedule?”

I let out a deep sigh.

Although I have the authority to coordinate schedules, if I reject requests without proper reasons, I’ll be inundated with countless requests for handshakes and an avalanche of protest letters sent to the embassy.

Last time, when I tried to cancel a schedule for the hero’s health, the ambassador literally begged me, grabbing my pants. How could I say no to a man nearly 50 years old begging me?

In any case, unless safety is an issue, I can’t cancel the schedule. The Colonel told me to coordinate the schedule for safety, but he never said to not attend if tired.

“The Colonel’s health is an issue too, but the operation fund is steadily being drained. How much bribe are you handing out…?”

“Hey, the operation fund is all counterfeit money anyway.”

“Eh?”

“The Information Agency got the mint to print out counterfeit bills. If we hand out all of that as real money, the national treasury would go bankrupt. It’s all counterfeit!”

Pippin and Jake’s jaws dropped at the realization that the state is directly printing counterfeit currency to create an information network.

In modern times, these are things known as supernotes. A country prints counterfeit bills for shady deals.

To inflate the money supply to destroy the economy, induce counterfeit detection, waste administrative resources, and when it’s too precious to give bribes in foreign currency, they settle for counterfeit money.

During WWII, the Nazis even printed a ton of counterfeit currency to induce inflation in the British economy. I think it was called Operation Bernhard? I learned it in college in my past life, but it’s been too long for me to remember the name.

Of course, getting caught would be disastrous. In fact, this is an illegal act conducted on a national level.

“Whoa, so we’re committing crimes then?”

“Wiretapping and surveillance are illegal too, right? It’s obviously illegal to wiretap and surveil in another country without a warrant.”

“If we get caught, we all end up in prison.”

Well…

“If the diplomat status acts as a shield, we might only face deportation. But if we’re unlucky, it could land us in jail or we might get shot in the street.”

We calmly discussed the worst-case scenarios.

In this line of work, it’s either success or death. If the country decides to exchange prisoners, we might get to go back home. But if diplomatic relations freeze, even that would be impossible.

Eventually, a heavy silence fell. It wasn’t exactly a topic for light-hearted chatter.

Pippin and Jake had seen their close seniors or colleagues getting captured while on duty in the Information Agency.

…So had I.

“Hey. Stop grimacing and let’s go grab some food.”

I clapped my hands twice to focus their attention and left the meeting room.

The two of them trailed after me like ducklings following their mother.

“Where are we eating?”

“Things are tough these days. Let’s just eat at the cafeteria.”

“Hey! Colonel, buy us a meal!”

“Come on, you filthy brats. It’s clear you’re getting a hefty paycheck with bonuses. You’re asking me to buy you food?”

“Please, buy it for us~!”

“Get lost, you disgusting little brats.”

I turned to head out of the embassy, flanked by those two.

When you’re doing tough work, you’d better eat well to keep going.

“Pick a menu.”

“Meat!”

“You always eat meat. Try something else for once.”

While Pippin and Jake were busy pondering the menu, we soon reached the front of the embassy.

Just as I was about to write my name down on the paper for going out.

“Hey, wait! Stop! Stop!”

From afar, an agent was waving his arms and running toward us.

“What’s going on?”

“Co-Operative!”

“Ah— I’m just a regular colonel.”

“Colonel! We just received intelligence…!”

Intelligence?

I hadn’t been briefed on anything.

The trembling agent pointed deep inside the embassy. I saw agents dashing like mad down the hallway.

What the hell?

“There’s a gunfight going on right now!”

 

---