Book 9: Chapter 18

Eltrinde’s intelligence unit was a shady organization that operated completely in secret, never revealing their true intentions.

There was absolutely nothing in the Canal Kingdom that they couldn’t gather information about. Their abilities were recognized even outside the kingdom, and they were constantly in competition with other intelligence units to hone their skills.

They would often target people who plotted to rebel against royalty, or people who possessed dark secrets about the kingdom that couldn’t be revealed to the public.

So when the kingdom needs to be purged of these “threats” to the throne, the intelligence unit lets its dark side show. In almost every human kingdom, manipulation of information and assassination are two very common activities among these types of groups. In this way, they are true “protectors of royalty,” but for reasons completely different from the Knight Army.

「…So, there are many things suspicious here.」

Vermudol walked toward the restrained man and looked at his face. As he saw the man scowl at him, Vermudol sneered and lifted up his finger.

「Now, for the first point. There is no way the intelligence unit did not know anything about the numerous experiments and atrocities committed by the previous king. If you did know, why didn’t you say anything to Eltrinde, your master, until Celis exposed the truth?」

Most of the work carried out by the intelligence agents were strictly illegal, and they were often required to suppress their feelings to maintain secrecy. Therefore, if they knew about the king’s atrocities, they must have remained silent to Eltrinde, who was not their true master.

Moreover, if the king had carried out so many experiments, he surely must have had many people assist him. These people must have come from the intelligence unit.

「Well, that’s somewhat understandable. This might have been the result of the unit’s loyalty to their true master… However…」

Vermudol lifted up a second finger.

「The second point. Eltrinde said that the intelligence unit had been searching for Mazenda, but… It would be quite strange for the entire unit to be moving together to accomplish this goal.」

Intelligence units are able to accomplish their objectives so well because they are scattered across different locations and can act completely in secret.

If they choose to stay at Eltrinde’s side despite their objective, they are either fundamentally incompetent as an intelligence unit, or they have no intention of trying to accomplish it in the first place.

And if they defied their orders and had no intention of searching for Mazenda in the first place, they would be betraying Eltrinde.

「But I guess the important question here is… when did the betrayal begin?」

From what Vermudol had heard, Eltrinde had been described as “An innocent and virtuous leader that loves justice.”

If she was really like that, it would make sense for her not to know about the dark side of the intelligence unit. If she really knew, she certainly wouldn’t keep them around.

A target like that would be easy to deceive. All of her information must have been leaked to the enemy as well.

As Vermudol finally came to this conclusion, Ykslaas poked him in the shoulder.

「The real question here is what information they’ve manipulated and concealed. As for the betrayal, we can just assume that everyone was involved.」

Vermudol nodded in agreement and looked back at the restrained intelligence agent.

「…Are you gonna answer me?」

「Gahh… K-, kill me…!」

「Oh, now you’re a tough one, aren’t you?」

Olred slammed the man into the ground and stomped on his back.

「Guahh…!?」

「We’re asking you if you’re gonna answer us or not. Give us a ‘yes’ or a ‘no.’」

「Just kill me…!」

Vermudol could tell that he had no intention of answering their questions.

They seemed to differ from the Zadark kingdom’s intelligence unit in that they were completely devoted to secrecy. The man seemed to be willing to carry the information to his grave if he had to.

「What do you think, Ys?」

「Mazenda has been around since the era of the previous king, hasn’t she? If so, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that they’re serving her, and that they had completely betrayed Eltrinde from the very beginning… If that’s the case, maybe they’ve been hiding all of the information about the king’s atrocities.」

「…It would be great if this man could give us a clear answer.」

「There’s no way he’s gonna do it. Also, we clearly aren’t very good at interrogation.」

Interrogation was something that didn’t really exist in Mazoku culture. Trying to draw out information through repeated questioning was almost unheard of among the Mazoku, who have a tendency to accomplish everything through physical force. It was not until the Zadark Kingdom was founded that they started thinking about things more critically.

「You filthy Mazoku… I’ll beat you scumbags out of this kingdom myself…!」

「Excuse me?」

Before Vermudol could even open his mouth to reply, Ykslaas kneeled down right in front of the man.

「I see, so that’s the kind of person you are, huh? I’m amazed, is this what people call honesty? Or maybe it’s foolishness? Or maybe it’s stupidity or stubbornness, maybe this is what happens when you value nothing but obedience and abandon your ability to think?」

「What are you…」

「Nothing, okay? It has nothing to do with you… Olred, please just put him to sleep.」

「Sure.」

Olred knocked the man out with one powerful strike. He let out a yelp of pain before falling to the ground, unconscious.

「Tie him up so that he can’t move… Huh?」

As Ykslaas turned around, she saw Eltrinde glaring at them with hateful eyes. Her hand rested on the sword at her waist.