A Dark Fantasy Spy

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In the dim, silver-lit dawn, the mist swirled around the mountain valley’s research institute.

In a small clandestine room located hundreds of meters underground, a secret conversation was taking place.

“It’s been a while, Saint Veronica.”

I first extended my gratitude to my information agent.

“I know it’s election season, so you must be very busy. Thank you for taking the time.”

-‘…Is this call okay right now?’

“It’s on a secure line, so it’s fine.”

-‘…That’s a relief, then.’

Through the receiver, I could hear the tired voice of Veronica. She complained in a soft tone.

-‘Calling me at dawn to dump work on me—what kind of country runs things like this…?’

“Ah, I see you were about to sleep? I truly apologize for the inconvenience. Given the circumstances…”

I leaned back in my chair, chuckling as I continued.

“Well, it’d be disappointing if the person who said they’d repay me greatly for saving their life acted like this. We’ve already shared quite the memorable experiences, haven’t we?”

-‘This is exactly why you shouldn’t sign contracts without a thought….’

Veronica whined in a thoroughly annoyed voice. Honestly, it was quite understandable to be miffed about having someone call at midnight to request information.

However, Veronica owed me her life, so what came from her lips was merely a grumbling complaint rather than a genuine reproach.

-‘Please be more considerate next time…. Even the emperor doesn’t call this early.’

“I understand, I’ll be more careful next time. By the way, where did you send the information?”

-‘As promised, I sent it to the embassy.’

At that moment, the fax machine erupted with a loud noise, spewing out documents. These were the pieces of information I had requested.

I smiled as I watched the pages stack up neatly.

“Thank you for your hard work, Saint.”

-‘You can treat me to a meal someday…. But can I ask you a question?’

“Go ahead.”

-‘Why do you need the list of students auditing the biology lecture at the Magic Tower?’

—

Episode 3 – A Fantastic Vacation

Every event in the world has its cause and effect, and the things people do have reasons and purposes behind them.

The incident began with a single question that suddenly popped into my mind.

After finishing a meeting with the team leader, as I strolled down the corridor.

“Hah…. How am I supposed to find this…?”

I sank into a chair in the hallway, momentarily lost in thought.

It was clear there was a spy, and I had evidence, but I had no leads to guess the spy’s identity.

Of course, this was quite reasonable; I knew this because I was a spy myself.

“It seems they’re disguised as a researcher…”

Spies aren’t fools who go around yelling, “I’m a spy!” They carry false passports and identification, blending in as much as possible.

Every information agency goes to great lengths to conceal its agents’ identities. Even investigators aren’t entirely sure who the spies are; they can only make educated guesses.

I pulled out a crumpled note from my pocket. It contained an encrypted message sent by the Magic Tower’s spy.

-Access to confidential materials denied. Failed to recruit Professor Fernan. Looking for other options. Hero’s arrival expected. Request orders….

While searching for any clues, my eyes suddenly fixated on a single word.

Professor ‘Fernan’.

Why was the term “professor” used in the communication report?

—

All suspicions stemmed from trivial questions.

Why did the spy use the term “professor” in the communication report?

At this moment, I felt a sense of inexplicable curiosity. Perhaps intuition is the right word for it.

The question of “Why did the spy use the term ‘professor’ in the report?” led to the suspicion: “Could this word be a crucial clue linking the spy to Fernan?”

“Hmm…”

Perhaps Fernan and the spy could share a master-disciple relationship, I pondered.

Currently, Fernan is the lead researcher at the institute, but once, he was a renowned professor teaching biology, shuttling between the Magic Tower and the university.

However, Fernan was already a retired professor of the Advanced Military Magic Research Institute.

Still, I couldn’t be certain yet. Even if they weren’t in a master-disciple relationship, he could merely have been using the term “professor” out of respect for a scholar who had contributed to biological research.

But one thing’s for sure, being from a non-science background, I couldn’t be certain if the researchers were genuinely addressing him as “professor” out of respect. This theory needed verification.

Just as I was pondering who to talk to, I noticed a group of researchers caught red-handed violating regulations.

“…Would you prefer jail or being released without charges?”

“Uh, released without charges.”

“Alright? Let’s have a brief chat.”

After gathering the group of researchers and questioning them, I found out that while the term “professor” was used as a sign of respect, within the institute, they would invariably refer to him as the lead researcher.

“Well, if they have a close relationship or he’s a mentor, they would call him ‘professor’ too, but only in private settings.”

“Is that so? Are you sure?”

I wasn’t certain if this was a custom unique to the Advanced Military Magic Research Institute. However, there seemed to be no particular reason to refer to Fernan as “professor” rather than “lead researcher” in the communication report.

After all, he had been retired for quite a while.

“Are there many employees at the institute who studied at the Magic Tower?” I queried.

“Yes, the Magic Tower is a gathering place for renowned wizards and scholars from across the continent.”

Is this the fantasy version of MIT?

Given my background in humanities, I wasn’t too sure.

Anyway, there were many people at the Research Institute who had studied abroad at the Magic Tower.

At this point, my suspicion began to turn into certainty, and other circumstances started to stand out.

First, the spy failed to recruit Fernan.

Second, the spy was unable to access classified materials.

While on the surface, these two incidents didn’t seem related, I saw something suspicious in them.

Firstly, the fact that a spy failed to recruit Fernan didn’t make sense.

In agencies dealing with intelligence gathering, the operatives are often referred to as information officers.

There are numerous titles like Intelligence Officer, Agent Handler, Controllers, etc., but those connected to intelligence organizations refer to them simply as “I/O.”

Information officers discover and recruit informants to gather intelligence. While the recruitment process differs from agency to agency, there are common procedures that must exist.

Reliability assessments, accessibility evaluations, and counterintelligence possibility analyses.

This means assessing whether I can bring back the information I need, whether the information provided by this person can be trusted, and whether this person may be a pawn for counter-surveillance.

If it’s deemed reliable, the officer then evaluates the subject’s personal information to assess the motivation for recruitment. It’s like consulting to determine how our intelligence asset could be useful.

At this point, the information officer tries their best to understand everything about the target: their relationships, family dynamics, work life, background, religion, political beliefs, preferences, interests, and even delves into extramarital affairs, debts, and criminal records, as well as secret sexual preferences.

Because if persuasion and coaxing don’t work, threats must come next.

“…This is strange.”

Thus, I couldn’t help but feel puzzled by the fact that a spy failed to recruit a magic-wielding agent.

Of course, it’s not entirely impossible for a recruitment to fail. Most failures stem from insufficient research and analysis.

In other words, it indicates that the motivations for recruitment were not properly understood.

But the weirdness didn’t stop there. A spy specializing in communication training couldn’t figure out the recruitment motivations correctly? That also didn’t make sense.

“….”

Information officers often have their identities exposed during the recruitment process.

Though such conversations seldom occur openly, as in ‘Oh, I’m a spy. Want to work with me?’ there exists nuance and context in speech, just as there’s aura and ambiance surrounding a person.

Common sense dictates, someone wanting to pay for intelligence and asking to have it handed over isn’t likely to be an average person.

So as I mentioned, information officers thoroughly investigate the ‘everything’ about their target to the utmost detail.

At the very least, they need to silence the possibility of that person reporting them to counterintelligence.

If Fernan is being threatened under duress, this could somewhat explain the situation.

However, through my experience as a spy, I concluded that it’s unlikely Fernan is being blackmailed.

He was already being interrogated by counterintelligence agents. If he wanted help or to be spared, he would, at the very least, be more cooperative, which would feel somewhat unnatural.

Moreover, the incident didn’t take place abroad; it occurred within the country, and the Advanced Military Magic Research Institute was Fernan’s workplace.

In fact, the institute was a protected zone by numerous counterintelligence agencies, including the Military Intelligence Bureau. Given that he’s currently isolated from the outside and under the protective watch of investigators, there would be no incentive for him to remain silent.

Unless he is not intentionally hiding the spy.

“….”

In that instant, I felt some of the circumstances aligning.

What if the spy is his disciple, and out of old sentiment, he hasn’t reported him?

What if the spy attempted to recruit Fernan, knowing him well as his mentor, but was rejected?

“…Now that makes sense.”

In the dim, silver-lit dawn, a hypothesis emerged based on circumstantial evidence.

It was one that lacked substantial grounding. I neither had the authority to pursue an investigation in this direction nor did I possess sufficient persuasiveness.

I needed evidence to support my claim.

“Uh, hello?”

-‘…Colonel? What brings you to call at this hour—’

“Do you happen to know anyone at the Magic Tower?”

-‘I do.’

And then.

I had a capable information agent at my disposal.