novelnext Chapter 186 : Infiltrators (1)
Chapter 186 : Infiltrators (1)
Tuesday, April 19, Parcel, Ribenia.At exactly five o'clock in the afternoon, all of us gathered precisely as planned and briefly assembled at a tavern in a small village about five kilometers away from Count Bilfor's Territory.
“…Please forgive me for being unable to show you the proper courtesy, Princess Edel, Lady Michel.”
“Don't say things you don't even mean. It's fine. We didn't come all the way here to be treated like that anyway.”
“…I haven't even been officially appointed yet, so you're making a needless fuss, Director of Planning and General Affairs. If you're hoping to get on my good side in advance, you can forget it.”
“……”
Dale bowed respectfully to Edel and Michel before beginning a brief explanation of the operation.
“…I've already gone over this during the briefing, but since it's important, I'll mention it one more time.”
First, we would enter under the pretext of escorting new Volunteer Army applicants inside.
From the temporary quarters where the Volunteer Army members stayed, it was impossible to access the underground section within the headquarters.
Therefore, Dale—the double agent—would use the secret passage he had originally intended to use later, allowing him to secretly divert us toward the headquarters midway through.
Since the Volunteer Army had already grown beyond five thousand members, it had become difficult to keep track of everyone, and personnel checks were no longer being conducted accurately. The fact that Eric Hallenberg was primarily responsible for managing the temporary quarters also worked in our favor.
Chris Bilfor, the leader of the Resistance, had likewise delegated this task to his subordinates rather than handling it personally. So if Dale claimed these were thoroughly vetted recruits he had personally escorted, deceiving them would become much easier.
“Once we enter the underground area, I won't be able to help you any further. You'll have to act on your own.”
“I figured as much.”
“Still, you don't have to worry too much. Except for cases like the large-scale mobilization order from recently, everyone tends to maintain an air of mystery, so identities are represented by the symbols of their affiliated organizations instead. If we take advantage of that, there shouldn't be any problems.”
Of course, our faces had become fairly well known by now, so we needed to prepare for the possibility that our identities might be exposed.
To solve that problem, Edel had brought the supreme-grade Artifact, 'Baudouin's Mask,' along with its Replicas.
“I would've brought more if there had been extras, but after searching the entire Imperial Artifact Storage Vault, these five were literally all we found.”
“It's fine, Your Highness.”
“Hmm?”
“Mallet happened to have one Replica left as well.”
Five original Artifacts and their Replicas.
The users would be myself, Francia, Rubia, Michel, Edel, and Agent Meriel, who had accompanied Rubia—a total of six people.
The numbers matched perfectly, and we exchanged relieved glances.
Watching us, Dale raised two fingers.
“The most suitable disguises would be members of the Resistance or Ain Kabbalah. The Resistance has so many members that it's nearly impossible to know who's who, while Ain Kabbalah hardly ever appears in public, so no one would find an excuse to question you.”
He took out the symbolic badges of both organizations from his pocket and showed them to everyone.
“So we find members inside and disguise ourselves as them.”
“But what about getting in? There's still a chance we'll be exposed before we even enter.”
At Francia's question, both women moved simultaneously.
“I thought that might happen, so I...”
“I thought that might happen, so I...”
Rubia and Edel both placed an item on the table at the exact same moment before instinctively looking at each other.
One was a thumb-sized glass vial, while the other was a high-quality leather pouch.
Inside each were several strands of hair.
“This should be enough for the disguises.”
Michel shot them an annoyed look before giving a short nod.
“Our faces and voices might not match, so everyone, keep your mouths shut whenever possible.”
We silently nodded in agreement and each picked up a strand of hair.
Just before activating the Artifact, Rubia casually spoke.
“You should say a few words, Leader.”
“Leader? Out of nowhere?”
She simply smiled as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Looking around, everyone else seemed perfectly fine with the idea.
Francia, in particular, even looked oddly expectant.
After clearing my throat, I began speaking.
“…Each of us may have different thoughts and different ultimate goals, but now that we've agreed to work together, we have no choice but to trust one another.”
If we constantly believed the person behind us might stab us in the back at any moment, there was no way this operation could proceed normally.
“So just this once, let's trust and rely on each other. I'll do the same.”
With that, I stood up and fitted the Artifact onto my face.
“Now then, let's go.”
The infiltration operation had officially begun.
Chris Bilfor, the head of House Bilfor and the leader of the Revolutionary Ribenia Resistance, had just finished a simple dinner and was making his rounds with one of his subordinates when he received unexpected news.
“Dale? Volunteer Army applicants?”
“Y-Yes.”
“How long ago?”
“…About thirty minutes ago.”
His subordinate answered after checking the time.
Bilfor immediately hurried toward Building 3.
Every visitor and every Resistance applicant was required to pass through that building at the entrance to the compound.
'Just what are you plotting, Dale Wedmeyer?'
The Chairman had spared the man because he hadn't wished for punishment, but Bilfor still believed he should never have let him leave that day.
Among the key figures of the Platinum Dawn Society, Dale was the only one who had never received the Platinum Baptism.
His original reasoning had been that, as a spy who needed the protection of another faction, he wasn't qualified to receive the baptism.
Back then, Bilfor had accepted that explanation.
There was no denying Dale's outstanding contributions in countless areas.
He had contributed so much that leaving him as a low-ranking member seemed inappropriate, so he had gradually been promoted until he eventually became the organization's second-ranking figure.
The higher his rank became, the more frequently he acted independently.
If he had neglected his espionage work during that process, punishment would have been justified.
But he had carried out even that duty flawlessly.
That was why, during the previous executive meeting, they had no choice but to end the matter with questioning and a warning.
'Even if you've started entertaining different ideas now, there's not much for you to gain.'
Why insist on taking such a difficult and complicated path?
Bernhardt had already completely collapsed from within.
Even if Michel Bernhardt inherited full authority, restoring it before the Great Beast outbreak would be impossible.
The Imperial Army had already established a defensive line against the Great Beasts. That formation could not be broken.
By the time they fully understood the situation and dispatched troops, everything would already be over.
Neither the Special Task Force nor Dellowell possessed the strength they once had, while the mercenary corps stood on their side.
Even if Rachel Ribenia gathered every noble standing army under her command, their numbers wouldn't exceed a thousand.
The Volunteer Army alone would be enough to suppress them.
Above all else, didn't they have more than three hundred elite members capable of handling enemies like that?
Even accounting for the Imperial Royal Guard as a variable, their odds against the current rotten leadership were overwhelmingly in their favor.
He had expected Dale to realize that long ago.
Bilfor clicked his tongue and quickened his pace.
'...Even so, preparing for even the slightest possibility is the duty expected of a loyal servant of that person.'
After nearly running for ten minutes, Bilfor finally reached his destination and encountered Dale in the lobby.
“Ah, Commander.”
“…Dale.”
Snatching the stack of documents from Dale's hands, Bilfor questioned him sharply.
“What is this?”
“The Volunteer Army roster. It looked like it hadn't been updated for two weeks, so I added the new applicants as well.”
Bilfor quickly skimmed through the pages from the front, but found nothing suspicious.
“…Where did you send the new applicants? I heard you personally escorted them.”
“To the temporary quarters, of course. That's the regulation, isn't it?”
“……”
Without lowering his guard, Bilfor strode toward the administrator's desk.
He poured mana into the communication orb resting on top and waited for a response from the temporary quarters.
“This is Eric Hallenberg speaking.”
The moment Eric's voice came through from the other side, Bilfor asked firmly,
“Have any additional Volunteer Army applicants arrived?”
As if he had been waiting for the question, Eric immediately answered.
“Just now, one escort and five applicants arrived, making six people in total. The escort has already left, and the others have been assigned empty rooms.”
“They haven't been organized yet?”
“They only just arrived. We received a messenger from Bravo saying that unit assignments and training placements will begin tomorrow.”
Bilfor immediately compared the report with the names listed in the documents.
“……”
Again, there was nothing suspicious.
With no further grounds to question him, Bilfor cut off the mana supply and stared directly at Dale.
“I didn't know you had taken an interest in recruiting Volunteer Army members, Dale.”
“…You never really took much interest in me to begin with, Commander.”
“…We'll leave this matter here for now. Come with me. There's somewhere we need to go together.”
“If it isn't urgent, would tomorrow be acceptable instead? I still haven't finished dealing with everything that needs handling in Karbenna.”
“Handling what?”
“There was that incident involving the will verification this time, so...”
“Forget about that, Dale. None of that will matter anymore.”
“……”
Dale looked as though he wanted to object further but quietly accepted.
Instead, he briefly lowered his head and subtly signaled downward with his eyes.
The two men then left Building 3 together.
Several meters beneath them, the six of us, who had witnessed the entire exchange, immediately began moving.
Just before setting off, Eugene infused mana into the Share Marker and transmitted his current location to the other holders.
As we carefully advanced through the winding passageways, we quietly spoke among ourselves.
“…I have a bad feeling about this.”
“That's probably because we're getting closer to the Empire's darkness.”
“But Your Highness, you really didn't know they had their headquarters here?”
“I knew they did. I just didn't expect it would be here this time as well.”
“This time as well?”
“Stay focused. We don't know when we'll run into the enemy.”
“That's true, but... figuring out how to carry out the second disguise will be a problem too. The chances of finding the exact location and matching the number of people are almost nonexistent.”
“If that happens, we'll have no choice but to split into smaller groups. We don't even know where we'll be able to gather information about the enemy.”
After about ten minutes of carefully navigating the uneven tunnel, a long, finely carved corridor greeted the six of us.
Passing through that corridor revealed a vast hall surrounded on all sides by gray stone walls.
“This is...?”
“There aren't many places underground that can accommodate large numbers of people, so they must've built a place like this artificially in preparation for a full-scale offensive.”
After answering casually, Eugene glanced behind us.
The passage we had come through had disappeared as though it had never existed.
'As expected of a master of Manipulation Magic. A disguise of this level must be effortless.'
Then he turned his attention back toward the iron door ahead.
“…Let's find the best place for an ambush first. Everyone's ready, right?”
Silence was our answer.
Eugene lightly rested his hand on the Lukezax at his waist.
It was time to move in.