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IN the end, our investigation revealed that their defenses were full of holes.
Even though soldiers from several different countries and a handful of knights were working together, they’d essentially formed cliques with others of the same nationality. It made sense that they were wary of one another in a situation like this, but no matter how you looked at it, it was hard to picture them as soldiers who had once been in charge of protecting their respective countries.
“We’ll aim for the area where the Icouxians are gathered. Evans and Rinali, are you ready?”
“At your leisure, Director.”
So she says, but there’s something off about this picture. Who’s ever seen such clean refugees?
“All right, roll around on the ground a bit. Get yourselves nice and dirty, you hear?” I couldn’t help grinning evilly as the two of them shot me dirty looks before grudgingly obeying.
Once they looked sufficiently disheveled, I turned to my subordinates, who were trained to handle the beast stables’ animals.
“Have the land wolves follow these two. If the enemy sees that wild beasts are hunting these weak and helpless refugees, they’ll surely take pity on them and take them in.”
“Won’t that put the land wolves in danger? I would very much like to avoid being killed by Commander Lestin if it’s all the same to you.”
I wouldn’t put it past him. Oh well, if it comes to that, I suppose I’ll have to take the beating myself.
“Once the enemy catches sight of the land wolves, call them back immediately.”
And so, we put our plan into action without another moment’s delay.
The two “refugees” ran towards the enemy camp, and the land wolves chased them, growling ferociously. When Evans and Rinali approached the camp, several men carrying swords rushed out of the tent to intercept them, but the moment the men caught sight of the land wolves, they changed their focus from the supposed refugees to the wolves, who they began lobbing spells at.
“Fall back!”
My subordinate in charge of the land wolves blew a whistle. I could hear the hiss of his breath as he blew, but if the whistle made any kind of noise, I couldn’t hear it.
And yet, the land wolves obediently came back.
“The whistle didn’t make any noise, right?”
“All of the members of the wolf family have incredible hearing, allowing them to pick up on noises that human ears can’t hear.”
Noises inaudible to human ears? Now that’s sure something!
“They’ve successfully infiltrated the enemy’s tent.”
“Good. Now, all we have to do is wait for the signal. You’ve got the scent-bag, right?”
“Yes. Once Evans releases the tolqueg, it will follow its nose straight here.”
We’d decided to use animals to communicate as a precaution since we didn’t know for certain there wasn’t an elementalist among the enemy’s ranks. It turned out animals could be pretty darn useful after all.
A short while later, there was a little chirping cry.
“Here comes the tolqueg. Good job, little guy. Here you go.”
The agent in charge of the tolqueg took out a small jar, and the animal, with its strange little face, eagerly leapt onto his shoulder and grabbed the jar from him. It was undeniably adorable how the tolqueg clutched the jar and used its tongue to slurp up the nectar inside with all its might. The nectar was gone in no time, and then the tolqueg turned its attention to grooming its fur.
I assigned this subordinate to keep an eye on all the animals while the rest of us checked the rest of our gear.
“Let’s get going, then, shall we? Does everyone have all their weapons?”
“Yes, sir!”
We used one of the holes in the enemies’ defenses to slip unnoticed into their encampment.
We quietly picked off opponents who were walking alone or in pairs and stripped them of their clothing and gear. I would have my subordinates dress up in the stolen outfits and take strategic placements around the tent where we assumed the enemy leader was located.
I snuck up behind a man without making so much as a whisper of a sound, covered his mouth with my hand, and, in one swift motion, sliced his throat. There was a hiss as the air escaped from his severed trachea, and blood sprayed with great force from the wound. I leapt out of the way to avoid the blood splatter, and the man’s body collapsed to the ground.
I grabbed his legs and dragged him out of the way to a spot where we wouldn’t be noticed. Once there, I left the body for one of my subordinates to hide using earth magic. We also used earth magic to make quick work of the remaining blood stains on the ground. It certainly was a useful ability to have when working for the Intelligence Department.
“I would’ve done a much better job hiding the body!”
My elemental spirit partner, Serafi, complained, but I didn’t think she was seriously angry.
Unfortunately, I could no longer make requests to Serafi.
We were in the middle of carrying out an operation, so I didn’t have time to chat with her, so I used just my eyes to order her to “Calm down!”
My subordinates each used their preferred weapons and methods to swiftly and silently decimate the enemy’s ranks, leaving no one the wiser. Some chose to do as I’d done and cut out their targets’ throats, while others used a quick-acting deadly poison.
Even the most potent poison took time to work, so it wasn’t my preferred method, but I used it sometimes when the job called for it. It was convenient that, by altering the type and strength of the poison, you could adjust it to fit the situation, rendering your target unconscious or paralyzed rather than killing them if you wished.
Come to think of it, that poison we got special permission to use for our last mission was pretty darn impressive. I’ve never encountered any other poison that worked so fast.
If I had any of that stuff left, I would’ve gladly used it for this mission, but alas, I’d only received a small amount directly from the prime minister for that mission. Apparently, it would be difficult to secure a regular supply.
The members of the Intelligence Department specialized in assassinations and disguise, but it was rare for all my subordinates to be dressed up as enemies while I was not.
On my orders, my subordinates spread out, surrounding the tent entirely, and I snuck inside.
Inside, I spotted the figures, who I assumed were the leader and three of his subordinates.
I hurled a throwing knife, and the thump of one of the people inside the tent falling to the ground was our signal.
Once my subordinates sliced open the side of the tent and came pouring in, everything ended in a few intense moments.
We killed those who attempted to resist, and captured the leader and one of his subordinates.
In order to avoid light leaking out suspiciously from the gap where the tent had been cut, we dimmed the lanterns inside as low as they went, making it look like the leader had gone to sleep.
“Two of you will stay here with me. The rest of you report the location of this encampment to the others and carry on with annihilating the enemy forces.”
“Yes, sir.”
Aside from the two agents I’d selected as lookouts, the others obediently slipped from the tent and resumed silently taking out the remaining enemies.
A moment later, a bright red light flooded in through the slit in the tent wall. The light flashed three times, then disappeared. I peeked out to check the situation outside, but despite the magical signal set off directly above the encampment, there seemed to be no reaction.
“Hey, hey! And you guys call yourselves soldiers?! What kind of soldiers don’t get suspicious and come to investigate when someone uses magic close by?!” I asked the leader incredulously, but he didn’t respond.
This was far from the ideal location for an interrogation, so we would need to transport the captives back to the fortress.
In addition to setting off the magical signal flare, my subordinates had also dispatched the land wolves carrying messages containing news of the enemy leader’s capture and details of their encampment. It was only a matter of time before the main force arrived.
“Lord Kawavaugh! The enemy forces are headed this way!”
A messenger burst into the tent but froze when he spotted us.
“Thanks for the message.”
I clapped the frozen messenger on the shoulder, and the second I finished saying that, I knocked him unconscious.
Time to join your friends.