Trap (4)
Three knights dispatched from the Bisted house entered Paruzan Fortress.
Although they were known for being highly capable within their house, this did not refer to fighting prowess.
Their origins were from the Imperial Court, where they received thorough education as they grew up.
Swordsmanship was a given, but their main field of study was espionage and information manipulation.
Whenever a family opposed the Imperial Court, these knights would create scandals by manipulating information from the shadows.
That was how they forced several houses to kneel or, through a butterfly effect, even brought about their downfall.
Although these were talents cultivated by the Imperial Court, the one who truly raised them was none other than Laika Bisted, the previous head of Bisted and a hero of the war against the demonkin.
As a result, the Bisted house also had the right to employ them, and currently, they were almost entirely operating on Bisted's behalf.
In any case, Bisted was pro-Emperor, so orders that opposed their ideology would never be given.
"Welco."
As soon as they passed through the fortress gate, Kelian was waiting to greet them.
eting the commander of Paruzan Fortress for the first ti, they bowed respectfully.
"It's an honor to et you as well, commander Kelian."
They already had information about Kelian embedded in their minds.
He was once a direct knight under the Imperial Court, an imnsely powerful figure who had reached the level of a High Expert, just a step from Swordmaster.
However, he was found to have harbored suspicions about His Majesty the Emperor and His Highness the Crown Prince, conducting his own investigations behind their backs—an act of treason.
That was why this man was relegated to the 7th Legion.
To those who blindly believed in the royal family, he was an unwelco presence, but they wore natural smiles, drawing on their lifelong training in facial expressions.
"The monsters driven by the stampede have been such a headache that we didn't know how long the soldiers could hold out. I'm truly grateful you ca."
"Not at all. It is an honor for us to be called upon under such circumstances."
While they expressed gratitude for being summoned, throughout the conversation, they felt displeased.
It was because they had to speak respectfully to Kelian, who was virtually a traitor.
Still, they couldn't let personal displeasure ruin an important mission.
Alpher, who stood at the front of the group, gathered his purpose and spoke up.
"We're rely errand boys drawn here by the resource that is higher-ranked monster corpses. You needn't think so highly of us."
As they vaguely revealed their true intentions, Kelian smirked.
Alpher pressed once more.
"I'm curious how those monster corpses are being stored."
He wanted to check those corpses imdiately.
Kelian easily understood.
"Of course, I can show you. But you know there's sothing you need to do first, don't you?"
"..."
Nothing cos for free.
The espionage team nearly clenched their fists.
They were itching to resist but knew that doing so would an losing their chance to acquire the higher-ranked monster corpses.
Recovering Bisted house from its current precarious state demanded those corpses.
Kelian knew this well and intended to exploit them as much as possible.
"Of course, we understand."
Suppressing their gritted teeth, they had no choice but to step back for now.
****
Their specialty as Bisted's envoys was espionage.
One might think that made their combat skills negligible, but all of them were actually experts.
It was inevitable that combat would be crucial, since strong enemies could appear at any mont during intelligence work.
Otherwise, the odds of getting killed on the job would be too high.
Though they might be asured against other elite knights, at least, they were capable enough to serve as officers in the 7th Legion's fortress.
Thanks to this, they could fight the monsters of the demon realm.
"Kelian, that damned bastard!"
Slash!—
With a swing of Alpher's sword, bug-like monsters were sliced in half.
At Kelian's command, they had been thrown straight into action.
It was the right timing, since monster clusters had been seen near the fortress.
Alpher was frustrated by how Kelian was using them and vented his anger on the monsters.
It was the sa for the others.
"Seems he thinks he's untouchable because he's top dog here."
"Tch, if only he wasn't that strong, he'd have been executed right away instead of pushed out here."
Their fellow spies, Tyr and Haif, joined in complaining about Kelian behind his back.
The dispatched team had been temporarily incorporated into a unit under Paruzan Fortress.
As newly assigned officers, they were permitted to use torture spells.
"Hurry up, you trash! From now on, any sluggish fool will lose their head to
before the monsters even get a chance!"
Alpher, at the peak of his fury, barked at the soldiers.
Though desperate to survive and moving as ordered, the soldiers had grown used to harsh officers like him.
The soldiers' quick obedience did nothing to relieve Alpher's anger.
How could he vent all this pent-up resentnt? Alpher stretched his hand toward the soldiers.
"Stop, Alpher!"
At that mont, Tyr grabbed Alpher's arm and stopped him.
As if to ask why he was interfering, Alpher frowned, but Haif added from behind,
"So of those soldiers might belong to Kadim's unit. You need to distinguish friends and foes before you rough people up."
Here, the officer nad Kadim was closely linked with Bisted house.
His soldiers could be among them.
From the start, Alpher was losing his composure more than usual.
"And since when do you lose your cool like this?"
A spy must always hide his emotions and never show his true colors.
With such rigorous training, what had just happened was disgraceful.
"How about letting loose your true self just once? Here, nobody will care."
This was the isolated 7th Legion. Since it was a place full of convicts anyway, a little disgrace ant nothing.
"When you put it that way..."
"True, here I can vent all the feelings I've been holding back."
Hiding their emotions had been quite taxing.
Here, where they could finally let go without consequences, it was almost like a rest area.
Assuming you had the strength to survive.
"Then shall we use this chance to have the kinds of conversations we usually can't?"
Tyr looked around. Once he confird all the monsters nearby were dealt with, he began speaking.
"You rember how much work we've done all this ti?"
"There's been so much that nothing really stands out. The one clear mory is manipulating the Seifert house recently."
"Yeah, that's the most vivid for , too."
Their latest mission was the Seifert domain affair.
At the Bisted head's request, they had frad Lord Seifert for false cris.
They thought it would go easily, but the process was anything but smooth.
Background checks revealed nothing indictable about the lord.
In fact, he enjoyed the trust of all his people, to the point where, when accused, the residents shouted together, "Our lord would never do such a thing!"
"I've never seen a lord that spotless. Talk about annoying luck."
"Thanks to that, we had to work ourselves to the bone."
If storybooks had wise and just rulers, that lord would have fit the role.
It was a challenge finding a cri to pin on soone so good.
"It got so bad, we had to borrow the Imperial Court's power."
"It's embarrassing just thinking about it now."
To dirty a spotless man, they had to create a cri from nothing—almost like creating sothing out of nothing.
The power they borrowed from the Imperial Court was its resources.
"We'd never once needed to get permission to manipulate the Imperial treasury before. Pathetic, really."
"That Lord Seifert. He pisses
off even in hindsight."
He might not have ant it, but he had caused the intelligence team endless trouble.
"May he spend eternity as firewood in hell."
"He must be burning alongside his wife by now."
"And his kid's there too, so at least he's not alone. Hahaha!"
Thinking of the house that made them work so hard now suffering in pain, they burst into laughter.
"Wait, wasn't that Seifert lord's kid dragged here to Paruzan too?"
"Surely dead by now, so who cares?"
"But what if he's still alive?"
At Haif's question, Alpher gave a sly grin.
"Then we should make good use of him."
He revealed the spell etched on his hand.
"Since that family gave us so much trouble, it's only right we tornt them in turn, don't you think?"
"That is, if he's still alive!"
"Hahaha! Please, let him be alive!"
They burst out laughing again, but then a doubt arose.
"By the way, about that Kadim officer we ntioned earlier—have any of us actually seen him here?"
They'd crossed paths with several officers while slashing monsters, but the famous Kadim hadn't shown up even once.
There was no reason he'd be outside the fortress in these circumstances.
Then a soldier wandered by, and they called him over.
"Hey, you there! From now on, answer our questions properly."
Though the soldier was just a boy in his teens, they were extrely strict.
"Have you seen the officer called Kadim?"
"You know what happens if we don't like your answer, right?"
Tyr and Haif flashed their spells in warning.
Either way, they planned to torture him even for a correct answer.
"He's dead."
The boyish soldier answered with a smile.
"Probably firewood for hell's flas by now."
The spies' expressions flipped at the youth's innocent words.
"I told you to answer properly."
When Alpher unleashed his spell, the soldier doubled over in pain and collapsed.
His reference to being firewood for hell, echoing their own earlier words, only infuriated him more.
Just as he was about to cast another spell—
"Are you looking for Officer Kadim?"
At that mont, Silia, who had been overseeing the troops, stepped in.
Having already investigated Silia in advance, they imdiately grew more docile.
"If you want to et him, follow ."
With that, Silia led them sowhere.
With each step, they found themselves guided to a place entirely devoid of people.
'Wait a second, that kid... I feel like I've seen him sowhere before.'
As they walked, Alpher grew suspicious, recalling the soldier.
Then Silia stopped and addressed them.
"Were you curious about Kadim?"
When they nodded, Silia muttered,
"He's dead."
"...?!"
At that exact mont, Silia, without drawing her sword from its sheath, struck their heads with the hilt.
"Soon, you'll be joining him."
With an invisible attack, Silia knocked them all out at once.
...
...
...
When they awoke, the scenery had changed.
Instead of the demon realm's forest where they'd fought monsters, they were in a training hall built underground.
The team of spies was tied up to chairs, their hands and feet bound.
"What's going on here?"
As Alpher spoke, soone walked in front of them.
It was the young soldier they'd tortured earlier.
"You...!"
"Hello again, big bros."
Louis greeted them with a bright smile as he looked at their bound forms.
"What's going on here?!"
"Hey, big bros. Don't you rember who I am?"
"...?"
Who? Just another piece of convict trash dragged to the 7th Legion...
"What?"
At that mont, Alpher's eyes went wide as he realized it.
Investigating the mbers of the Seifert house was an essential part of framing them.
Naturally, that included morizing their faces.
"No way...!"
"Impossible."
Tyr and Haif, too, belatedly recognized who Louis was and flinched in shock.
"You get what's going on now, right?"
Louis said, flashing a chilling smile.
"You've been kidnapped."
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