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There are techniques that spies use.

It’s a technique to bypass the surveillance of information agencies and counter-intelligence organizations, ensuring smooth and safe operations.

The skills of spies are so sophisticated that even trained individuals can be deceived.

Establishing a base near a slaughterhouse, hiding directives within a trash can, placing a camera inside a cigarette pack, or burying a listening device under any rock.

Spies will do anything as long as they can deceive others. Even if success is not guaranteed, failure means that their lives are on the line in this line of work.

That’s why I always store my belongings in designated locations and arrange hair on my clothes.

So that if someone searches my room, I’ll notice.

But that has changed.

In other words,

It means that someone has rummaged through my room.

Episode 5 – Journalist, Diplomat, Soldier, Spy

The fact that someone unknown searched my room was shocking, yet I wasn’t flustered.

I had somewhat anticipated this and prepared myself mentally.

I am not just a simple soldier; I am a Defense Attaché, moving with the hottest potatoes on the continent. Naturally, I attract the attention of all sorts of intelligence agencies.

Most importantly, I am an ‘active’ soldier.

This means that I can peek into military secrets at any time.

A hero colleague who manages military and diplomatic secrets.

Anyone who doesn’t take advantage of this is a fool. Even if they can’t eat it, it’s polite to at least inquire. If they succeed in recruiting me, they could acquire all sorts of classified information.

The problem is, who rummaged through my room?

“…Who could it be?”

It was only a month ago that I tore apart the imperial guard HQ bastards who were trying to take my neck. The Inquisition officially got involved in this, and the Imperial Guard HQ also unofficially turned a blind eye to the Military Intelligence Agency’s assassination plot.

The two dominant intelligence agencies on the continent took a step back and compromised, and all of that was under the watchful eyes of the continent’s intelligence agencies.

Of course, there was no intelligence agency that judged me to be an agent of the Military Intelligence Agency based on that incident. All defense attachés are managed by military intelligence agencies regardless of their original affiliations, and most opinions held that they intervened forcefully for the sake of national pride.

Thus, most intelligence agencies concluded that for the time being, they wouldn’t touch me but would keep a close watch.

This isn’t just brain speculation; it’s official. More precisely, it’s the result of analysis from the Military Intelligence Agency’s overseas department.

There’s no room for suspicion.

The capabilities of the Military Intelligence Agency are not to be underestimated, and the assessments of their upper-tier analysts are generally accurate.

Hence, the information that most intelligence agencies wouldn’t touch me is practically a fact.

But what kind of crazy people would search my accommodation now?

Even if they are intelligence agencies who operate outside the law, searching me is an utterly irrational judgment. It would be reasonable to observe a little longer and work slowly; moving while the blood is still fresh on the knife doesn’t make sense.

“…….”

I perched on the hotel bed, pondering deeply.

Who searched my room? Who could search my room?

After several minutes of contemplation, I couldn’t reach a conclusion.

This is Hong Kong, home to the Magic Tower, where espionage activities are the most active like in Berlin, Istanbul, and Vienna.

There were too many candidates to suspect.

“…Did they clean my room?”

Amid my musings, it suddenly occurred to me that the hotel cleaner might have come in to tidy up.

So, I headed to the front desk.

“Yes, how may I assist you?”

“Can you tell me if anyone entered my room today?”

“Oh, did you lose something?”

The hotel staff asked me with a bright smile, and I lied.

“Yes.”

“Then, according to our regulations, we will provide compensation—”

“No, it’s not that important, so you don’t need to compensate. Just tell me if anyone came in.”

“Understood. Please wait a moment.”

I quietly waited in the hotel lobby, where not even a mouse was scurrying about.

And shortly after, I got the results.

“Um, sir? It has been confirmed that no one has entered your hotel room since you checked in.”

“Is there no one, like a housekeeper or someone with a room key?”

“The housekeepers have not been allowed in for security reasons due to government requests. Also, hotel keys are not given to anyone for the safety of the guests.”

“…….”

It was certain that someone had infiltrated my room.

*

In the end, I could not find the culprit.

The only relief was the fact that it was only my room that had been searched.

“Your rooms haven’t changed?”

“No.”

Pippin and Jake, who had gathered in my room, nodded. Both seemed ready to sleep in their comfortable casual wear.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, we checked multiple times.”

Pippin and Jake’s rooms showed no signs of having been searched. I let out a sigh of relief as I sat on the hotel bed.

“Manager, are you okay?”

“Uh.”

“What the heck is going on…?”

“I don’t know either.”

There were too many suspects to narrow down the culprit.

To put it bluntly, the Magic Tower’s counter-intelligence agency could have searched me, or perhaps an intelligence agency from a third country could have broken into my room. After all, searching a hotel room isn’t that difficult.

But there was something odd.

“Why my room of all places…? You two are left untouched.”

“Well, we wouldn’t know that.”

First, why did the intruder only search my room?

“Did you check for listening devices?”

“Yeah.”

“What did you find?”

“No, there were no listening devices.”

Second, if they had the leisure to search through my belongings, why didn’t they install eavesdropping equipment?

“…I don’t know how they got in. The magic response should be different for each key card.”

Third, how did they open a room that works with a magic response and key card without a key?

“…….”

For now, the most likely suspect is the Magic Tower’s Public Order Protection Agency. The counter-intelligence agency that survived the cuts from the Nastasiya Treaty.

Since this is the Magic Tower, the hotel operating here would have to cooperate if the Public Order Protection Agency strongly requested it. Naturally, it would also facilitate cover-ups.

However, the likelihood that the Public Order Protection Agency searched my room is low.

“Pippin, when is the meeting scheduled with the Public Order Protection Agency?”

“In two days.”

The counter-intelligence agency of the Magic Tower was about to meet with me. Although it was called a meeting, it was essentially an unofficial meeting with the Military Intelligence Agency.

If the Public Order Protection Agency searched my room, their aim would have been information theft.

Stealing information to gain an advantage in a meeting is a tactic commonly used by any intelligence agency. Even the National Intelligence Service has been caught breaking into hotel rooms to steal secrets.

The issue is that there’s nothing missing from my room.

“Why did you search around when nothing is missing?”

“Could it be that you stole my underwear?”

“You crazy bastard.”

There was the possibility that the FBI had hacked the device like when they caught the double agent, but most important work devices had already been moved to the embassy, and the items that hadn’t been moved were hidden in a secret compartment inside my bag.

There were no signs that someone had tampered with it in the first place. My bag was an elite version developed by the Military Intelligence Agency, and since it had just been released, there was no reason for it to be tampered with.

“Jake, can you check if anyone is staying upstairs? They might have booked a room under a false name…”

“The Magic Tower has reserved the entire hotel, so no one else is staying here but us.”

“What? Then that means it’s not another company.”

It’s not the Magic Tower either. And not another information agency.

So who the hell are these arrogant bastards daring to rummage through my room?

As I pondered this unresolved mystery, Pippin, who had been silent, finally spoke up.

“Manager.”

“Uh, what?”

“Aren’t there other people here besides us?”

*

“So you’re suspecting us?”

“Yes.”

“That’s hard to hear.”

Rebecca, the priestess and secretary to the Inquisition Director, dismissed my claims as nonsense, looking at me with her mint-colored hair and haughty demeanor.

“Do we have any reason to rummage through the Colonel’s room?”

“Were you surprised to be accused of breaking and entering? I was shocked too when I came back to find my room ransacked.”

“Oh dear, I must have hurt your feelings. Would you like some tea?”

“Just water, please.”

As soon as I heard Pippin’s hypothesis, I led my subordinates to raid the hotel room.

Apart from the Military Intelligence Agency, the only information agency freely coming and going through the hotel was the Inquisition disguised as attendants, so naturally, they were the prime suspects.

“Looks like everyone is gathered here. Is there something good going on?”

“We were in a meeting regarding relief schedules.”

“Ah, you must be tired at this late hour.”

“I wish you would leave if you know.”

Inside the raided hotel room, several agents from the Inquisition were gathered.

My room had been ransacked, and now Inquisition agents were huddled together having a meeting? It was undoubtedly a suspicious sight.

I kicked up my feet onto the sofa and lounged in a relaxed position.

“The person in charge of medical services is Lucia, so why are you all huddled together? It’s quite suspicious.”

“Do watch your words.”

Rebecca and I faced each other, engaged in a silent battle. Behind us were agents from the Military Intelligence Agency and the Inquisition.

With so many spies gathered in this cramped hotel room, the counterintelligence agency would surely have bloodshot eyes if they found out.

Rebecca put her teacup on the armrest and began to spread cream on a biscuit.

“As you know, Colonel, we are staying on the lower floor of the hotel. Your room is upstairs. Do we really have any reason to go up?”

“It only takes 10 seconds to come up the stairs. Is there any reason you can’t come up?”

“Why are you suspecting us? We’re devout and clean people.”

“……”

I thought hard about just how clean the Inquisition really was.

First, they had summoned me to test my reactions when I was searching for the perpetrators behind the bombing.

Second, the same Inquisition had lured me to a secluded place under the pretense of providing information about the perpetrators, only to search my body and apply pressure. The Imperial Guard tried to deceive me, at least inviting me to a diplomatic party where we could discuss things in a comfortable atmosphere.

Third, the Inquisition had been the ones to label everyone related to Raul as dark magicians. The Military Intelligence Agency only wanted Raul dead, requesting that the remaining associates be thrown into prison for various other charges, but the Inquisition took the lead, executing their own citizens as dark magicians.

Furthermore, they provided cement for the Cardinal Raul scandal, incited the Saint to squeeze juice in front of the camera, made fools of the Magic Tower, acted as a distraction for the Empire’s police to begin mass arrests, and even sent spies while the Saint was engaged in medical services…

“……”

Looking at it all, I realized that the most insane religious group I had encountered was indeed the Inquisition. I never dreamed there could be groups worse than Islamic terrorist organizations.

I felt relieved that the Inquisition Director was a spy for the Military Intelligence Agency.

“Anyway. So you didn’t enter the hotel room?”

“We didn’t go in or search. There’d be no benefit for us to rummage through your room in the first place.”

“…Hmm.”

I trust Petrus.

He was an elite who had infiltrated foreign intelligence agencies for decades, and there was no doubt about his loyalty to the state.

However, the risk was that Petrus’s identity as the Inquisition Director might have led him to order a search of my room for a more effective cover.

That would be the only way to evade suspicion.

Of course, he likely wouldn’t have given any orders that would put me in danger, but knowing what religious fanatics are capable of, it wasn’t easy to relax my guard.

It was Petrus who was loyal to the Military Intelligence Agency, not the other Inquisition agents.

So I stared at Rebecca with suspicion, but she didn’t flinch at all.

In the midst of this, there was a commotion at the back.

“Look here!”

Jake, who had been rummaging through the closet, suddenly shouted, holding something high up.

All eyes turned to him, and I too directed my gaze to the object he lifted.

It was a gun.

Jake was holding a small, adorable submachine gun, and on the floor of the closet lay the same type of gun and a bulletproof vest haphazardly thrown around.

As if they were shoved in a hurry and hidden away.

“……”

“……”

“Why the hell is that in a hotel room?”

Rebecca, who had maintained an expressionless face until now, suddenly turned her head, as if she had seen something she shouldn’t have.

“How on earth did that get in here…?”

“…Why are you asking someone who should know?”

“…Relief supplies?”

“……”

There was no answer.

Silence was confirmation.

“Let’s go outside and talk about this first.”

“Ah, yes. Well, let’s do that…”

 

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