An amused chuckle echoed inside a particular office at the Raven's Blade Main Headquarters.
"Hahaha, it seems that you're in a good mood, Crowley," Kiin said with a smile.
"Hahahaha! You can tell? Well, what can I say, I'm just too damned smart!" Shye began, "Weren't they a perfect fit for each other?"
"Hahaha! I can't say I disagree... So, what are you up to now?"
"Well, there's nothing else to do except go on a quest while waiting for our other teamma–"
"Hmm? What? Did Sieg contact you?"
Shye suddenly stopped talking, which could an that soone contacted him using communication talismans.
"Ah, no, it's from one of our division mbers. For now, process your mbership, I'll be back…"
Shortly after his short conversation with Kiin, who was chilling inside his office, Shye left the guild and headed towards a particular establishnt on another, slightly more secluded street.
Upon arriving a few minutes later, he subtly looked around before entering.
"Crowley, I'm here."
"Regi, what is it?"
"Rember when I told you to be wary of Siegfried a month ago?"
"Yeah, why? Did you discover anything about him?"
"Well, not exactly him. However, my advice still stands, don't let your guard down too much around him."
Regi's words prompted Shye to narrow his eyes.
Honestly, although he liked Reginald, he wasn't pleased that the guy was investigating his friends from Colzen Academy.
However, the consequences of letting even the smallest risks go unmitigated were too severe.
Therefore, despite hating Reginald's actions, he allowed him to continue and even followed his advice.
This, of course, was done without compromising his friendship with Siegfried, as it would be rather idiotic to cut ties with his close friend based on re speculations.
Furthermore, if Siegfried were indeed from the other side, it would be beneficial to act as though he was completely unaware.
"What did you find, then?"
"Over the past month, I asked one of our spies to investigate if the other side had sent an agent to Colzen Academy, and it seed that they indeed did. The agent the other side sent is codenad Fifteenth Hawkling and his target is soone they call Specin Fifteen." Reginald said with a stern expression, pausing for a second before continuing:
"Strangely, according to the file our spy accessed, Fifteenth Hawkling didn't have an initial target. It was only after two years that they began targeting the person known as Specin Fifteen."
Shye's high intelligence wasn't just for show; he quickly realized that Specin Fifteen was likely himself.
However, judging by the number at the end of his codena, it appeared that the other side was monitoring several individuals, referring to them as "specins".
'Why? Could this be related to the particular type of physique that the old scourge, Dweezel Hawkins, was searching for?' Shye pondered for a few seconds.
It was a plausible explanation for why they were monitoring multiple people.
"I see, I'm probably the person they refer to as Specin Fifteen, aren't I?" Shye replied.
Since no one else at the academy showed such an unusually rapid growth rate, it was reasonable to assu he was the target, even though it might be a bit presumptuous of him to think so.
Nodding satisfactorily at Shye's words, Reginald added:
"I agree, and given that you've repeatedly achieved extraordinary feats as a professional adventurer, it's likely that the agent codenad Fifteenth Hawkling will stay close to you in an attempt to uncover your secrets. Be cautious of people inquiring about your combat skills, talents, and similar details."
"I understand. Is there anything else?"
"That's all the information we have for now. I'll keep you inford with any updates."
"Thanks."
Leaving the secret establishnt, Shye couldn't help but frown, a hint of sadness assaulting his heart.
It has essentially been confird that one of his close friends wasn't actually a friend but rather a mole with sinister ulterior motives.
'The question is…who?'
Shye tried to rember his past interactions with his close friends.
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However, despite his best efforts to rember as many conversations as possible, Shye found nothing suspicious.
Everything seed entirely genuine.
This realization only added to the turmoil in his heart, feeling stupid that he treated the mole as a close friend, none the wiser that he was rely a "specin" in the guy's eyes.
'Well, it shouldn't be Wendy, so that narrows it down to five suspects...'
Shye knew that it could only be one of the five guys since he already knew Wendy's background.
She was an orphan that was adopted by Archpriest Deo himself so she couldn't be the mole.
'Also, Harry and David were rivals since they were young, and their clans had quite a bit of reputation in Colzen City….'
After further analysis, Shye quickly concluded that the mole could only be one of three people: Ian, Siegfried, or Kiin.
This was a painful realization, particularly since these three were the ones he interacted with the most.
However, even among the three, one stood out as the pri suspect.
'Siegfried Lionheart…'
He also didn't know much about the background of the other two, as they hated talking about their clans.
Nevertheless, Siegfried remained the most suspicious, mainly because Reginald had ntioned that Siegfried resembled soone he deeply hated, likely soone from Dweezel's camp.
That was his only reason, though, so it was still too early to conclude that Siegfried was the mole.
At the very least, the guy never inquired about the secret of his rapid growth, his combat techniques, or anything of that nature.
'For now, I should stay vigilant with those three and gradually try to lure out the mole…'
Upon arriving at his office, Shye saw Kiin lounging in one of the chairs and gazing out the window, finding him a bit less pleasant to look at.
Although he wasn't sure if Kiin was the mole, he couldn't help but look at him differently.
…After a while, Kiin noticed that he had returned.
"Oh, Crowley, you're back. By the way, can I join you on an (S-) ranked quest? I'm curious to see how powerful an (S-) ranked creature is..."
"..."
"Crowley?"
"Sure."
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