◈ 153. [Side Story]
Before the stage 4 begins.
Right after I recruited Team 8 of the Aegis Task Force, including God Hand, under my command.
I ordered Ader.
– Monitor just in case and report immediately if anything happens.
– yes?! me?!
– Then, you, the surplus manpower, should do it. Do we do it every time, whether it’s a defense battle or a free exploration?
Team 8 of the Aegis task force was made up entirely of elves, and they were former death row inmates sent from the capital.
It was a measure taken just in case the existing party members didn’t believe it and were anxious.
However, they were loyal, risked their lives, earned everyone’s trust, and eventually melted completely into the monster front here.
They are no longer ‘Team 8 of the Aegis Task Force’, but have become the ‘Shadow Squad’ under my command.
I, too, have come to fully trust the Shadow Troops.
To the point that I forgot the fact that I had been entrusted with monitoring Ader.
***
But the night before the start of Stage 5.
Ader came to me with a bewildered face.
“Younglord. I think you should look at this material.”
And what Ader showed me was video material filmed like CCTV.
“I was monitoring the shadow unit using system resources left over after you ordered surveillance that day… Just today this was filmed.”
On the screen, the annex of the manor house where the shadow troops are staying was taken.
It was an archery training ground at the back of the outbuilding. God Hand was alone here.
– It’s difficult to find.
God Hand looked around embarrassedly and spoke lowly.
– Even if someone looks at it, the connection between us is revealed.
– Everyone in the castle is busy preparing for the defense battle tomorrow. You wouldn’t even care about me. Rather, what are you going to do with this?!
The one who comes to God Hand and says that… …
It was Marherita.
– The only mission I received from the center is to figure out the dynamics of this fortress city! But it looks like you’re on the front line! Isn’t it your Aegis Task Force’s mission to spy inside the front lines?!
In one word, everything was understood.
God Hand and Marherita.
Both are spies of the imperial family.
God Hand looked around and asked Marherita who was shouting hysterically.
– Did His Highness Prince Ash request that the saintess also participate in the war?
– is it so! He asked me to join as a reserve. this is this… … Damn! It’s not my job! I’m here to heal the sick, not to fight monsters!
– Calm down. who will listen
– Does it look real?! When the central government dispatched me here for the first time, they said that the monster invasion would be reduced and it would be safe, but the invasion was increasing day by day.
Marherita took a deep breath as if she had calmed down a bit after pouring out.
God Hand, who had been listening quietly, nodded quietly.
– Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.
– … Really?
– yes. If that’s what I can do… … .
– No, that’s not enough. I need to contact the center directly. No more –
that was then.
– God Hand?
A body bag approached from the outbuilding side, pretending to be popular.
Startled, God Hand turned around in bewilderment, and Marherita hurriedly lowered her stance and ran towards the forest behind.
– A body bag? What are you doing here without resting inside?
– Just to catch some wind… … What is God Hand doing? talk to someone… … .
Marherita hurriedly fled into the woods behind the archery training grounds, and God Hand blocked the path leading there and cleared her throat.
– It’s a conversation. Big! I was alone. I was just talking to myself.
Beep.
“That’s it.”
Ader stopped the video and smiled bitterly.
“The lord who ordered the surveillance was accurate. The Shadow Troops are so faithful friends that I even forgot to believe them… … .”
“The shadow unit is over, what about Marherita?”
“yes?”
“Hasn’t Marherita been watching since then?”
Ader was bewildered.
“From the moment the conversation between the two of them was over, the monitoring target was changed to Marherita. But just praying in the temple and nothing else-”
“Show me.”
“yes?”
“That prayer. I want you to show me.”
Ader turned the screen.
The central hall of the temple. Marherita, kneeling in front of the statue of the goddess, was praying.
– I just want to be faithful to the mission given to me… … .
Marherita looked up at the statue of the goddess with an anxious gaze.
– Now what should I do… … .
As if the statue of Goddess really gave the answer.
– please… please let me know… … .
Marherita crouched down and continued to pray.
From a distance, Damien looked at it in a puzzled way, captured on the screen.
At this point, Ader stopped the video.
“From now on, I am just kneeling in front of the statue of the Goddess.”
“… .”
I squinted my eyes and stared at the screen.
“Didn’t Marherita make it clear when talking to God Hand?”
“yes?”
“’I’m going to have to call the center directly.’”
“Ah yes. You must have said that.”
“That means that Marherita has a means of contacting the ‘centre’. I mean, they don’t contact me and they’re just praying all over the place… … ?”
Without using people to send dispatches. Without even writing a preamble. Just praying in front of the statue of the Goddess.
I glared at the goddess statue on the screen.
no way… ?
“Ader. Can you keep an eye on Marherita from now on?”
“It looks like system resources are limited, so you can only monitor one side at a time.”
“Then watch only Marherita from now on. You can leave the Shadow Army alone.”
Duduk. Duduk. I released my fist and growled lowly.
“I’ll have to fish Marherita soon.”
“Catching means… ?”
“You are spreading false information. False information that a surprised Marherita would immediately report to the center, and the center would react in fright.”
I lifted one corner of my mouth and smirked.
“Then it will be revealed. The fact that Marherita is a means of contacting the center, and the identity of that ‘center’.”
I had a hunch.
That both of them would be very useful to me.
***
Current.
manor house. drawing room.
God Hand and Marherita are on their knees in front of me, bound.
“Looking back, you two had suspicious circumstances from the beginning.”
Sitting in a chair with my legs crossed in front of them, I twirled the cane in my hand.
“God Hand, when you lost both arms in the defense of the Gargoyle Corps. I was operated on by Marherita.”
“… .”
“But you didn’t really cut off your arms then, did you? That part was lost before coming to this front. When you got the name God Hand.”
That day, in front of God Hand’s operating room, Body Bag said this.
– God Hand already lost both hands in an operation two years ago.
– Both of his lost hands were replaced with metal prostheses. As a metalsmith, there was no problem handling the prosthetic arm as if it were a real hand.
– After changing both hands to prosthetic arms, he also changed his code name to God Hand.
“The arm you lost that day and the arm you cut off were not real arms, but metal prosthetic arms.”
“… .”
“Marherita made a big sacrifice for you to earn our trust. Isn’t it?”
Lily, who was listening to me, looked at God Hand with a pale face.
“That’s really God Hand… ?”
“… .”
“But that day you lost your arm trying to save me… .”
God Hand, who had been silent, opened his mouth slowly.
“It is unquestionably true that he was injured by a gargoyle that day and additionally removed his forearm.”
It was as if he was talking to Lily and not to me.
“But most of what the prince said is correct. I faked a minor injury as if it were something big. In order to gain the trust of the front line here… … .”
“… .”
“But, Lily, everything I told you that night was true-”
Lily didn’t listen and left the drawing room.
Watching where Lily disappeared, God Hand kept his mouth shut and lowered his head.
I clicked my tongue and watched the scene, then shrugged my shoulders.
“I don’t care if any of you are spies for the imperial family. It is strange that there is no spy in the first place.”
The Everblack Empire is a country that has eaten more than half of the continent.
It is only natural to spread spies all over the world. Even if it is within its territory.
Besides, if the prince was lying around on the border like this, it was inevitable to watch over him.
“As long as you are loyal to me and risk your life to fight on the frontlines, it doesn’t matter if I tell you something above the current situation here.”
I growled at them both.
“But you shouldn’t have heard.”
“… .”
“… .”
“Once you’ve been like this, who here on the frontlines can trust you? It might not be a colleague who defeats the monster together, but a spy with another ulterior motive.”
Right now, the relationship between the imperial family and me, the 3rd prince, isn’t that bad.
You don’t know what to do next. For example, when the issue of succession to the throne arose later.
If the other prince who holds the real power of the imperial family decides to kill me.
It’s quite possible for these spies to sabotage the front lines here and assassinate me.
These are no different from the bomb necklace that the imperial family put around my neck.
“… majesty.”
God Hand, who gritted his teeth, looked up at me as if he had made up his mind on something.
“It is true that I was under a secret order when I was sent here. However, none of the troops under my command, Her Highness, knew this fact.”
I glanced at the body bag and burnout strapped to the corner of the drawing room.
The two of them are trembling in surprise at this situation.
God Hand continued.
“Above all, I have already decided to give my life here. My allegiance is true. Please trust me, Your Highness! and… .”
“stop! I will hear your story about God Hand later.”
After I stopped talking, I turned my gaze to the side.
“Because I have to listen to our saintess’ story now.”
“… .”
After Marherita was imprisoned, she did not react and closed her eyes. as if everything had been given up.
“As soon as I declared treason and gave you time, Saint Lady, you immediately ran to the temple. You don’t even know that my subordinates are spying on you.”
“… .”
“I was curious. How do you communicate with your superiors. And the identity of that ‘means of contact’ was very surprising.”
***
A moment ago when I gave you an hour’s reprieve.
Marherita immediately ran to the temple.
I continued to watch Marherita through the monitoring screen of the system window.
Marherita sat down in front of the statue of the goddess in the central hall, put aside her prayers and everything, and just said:
– I’ll report it. His Highness, Prince Ash, has declared treason. I’ll say it again. His Highness, Prince Ash, has declared treason.
after a long silence.
A crackling, low-quality voice came from the statue of the Goddess.
– 「Treason?」
It was like a phone call with very poor radio waves, but it was clear.
– 「Say it again accurately.」
– His Highness, Prince Ash, has declared treason.
– 「Really? This matter is extremely serious. There shouldn’t be even a single misinformation.”
– It’s true. I have just heard with these two ears.
Marherita reported my declaration of treason without error.
– 「… .」
The statue of the goddess was silent for a while, and then spat out words.
– 「His Highness Prince Ash told me to gather again in an hour?」
– That’s right.
-「Then, join Prince Ash and keep watching. If you are really planning a treason, if you are planning a treason, closely monitor the methods and report back.”
– But this is no longer my mission! I’m just a healer… … !
-「Everything is for the sake of the Goddess and Her Majesty the Emperor. Don’t complain.”
– … .
– “I will wait for the next report. Contact us by midnight today. More than that.」
The conversation was cut off.
Marherita looked up at the statue with resentful eyes and left the temple again.
And I will return to my mansion.
***
I smirked.
“I can’t believe there was a magic communication device capable of long-distance communication. Besides, it was in the form of a ‘goddess statue’.”
“… .”
“I don’t know why. Do you pray earnestly in front of the statue of the Goddess or do you inform the circumstances of this place above?”
Communication magic is a representative ancient magic known to have been lost along with teleportation magic.
However, it didn’t disappear, but it seems that the imperial family monopolized it and allowed it to be used only by their spies.
This side had a hard time sending out dispatches whenever they contacted, writing letters and flying pigeons, and it wasn’t even a fuss, but these spies calmly built a high-speed phone line and were using only papers. these naughty bastards.
Marherita bit her lip. I put my face in front of her eyes.
“Lady. No Marherita.”
widely. widely. widely.
Hitting the palm of the opposite hand with the short staff in my hand, I muttered eerily.
“I do not question your faith. Your sincerity in treating patients and your nobility in conducting medical activities in such a remote area.”
“… .”
“But you were the royal dog and spy. And he hid it from me. He deceived and deceived me, the emperor’s son, the commander of the southern front, and the lord of this city.”
widely.
I held the staff in my palm tightly as if crushing it, and smiled softly.
“Will I have to pay the price?”
“… .”
Marherita opened her mouth slowly.
“me… Are you going to kill me?”
