Chapter 74

Young member of the Third Knight Regiment, Mills, is now on a mission in the Kingdom of Randall.

The main workplace of the Third Knight Regiment is intelligence gathering in foreign countries, so this situation is not particularly unusual.

However, Mills thinks, "I was suddenly assigned to work in the Kingdom of Randall, probably because of the incident with Nonna."

While waiting for the target to come out of the building, Mills muttered to himself without speaking aloud.

"Who would have thought that the shadow of the Queen would be the Chief's foster sister? I'm not the only one who wouldn't think that. No one would think that. Since I found out such a secret, of course I'd be sent away. I didn't intend to tell anyone else, but yeah, it was my fault. I was a fool to contact Nonna even though I knew it was a Chief's case. I'm very grateful to be sent to Randall."

While muttering to himself, a man came out of the building.

Mills started tailing him from a distance. The target is a commoner working for the Ashberry Kingdom's noble family. He is elderly with white hair and a plain, unassuming appearance.

According to the records, he is single and, despite his appearance, is a sharp-witted person.

(This is the communication network that our Chief worked hard to establish. To leak information that could ruin it... You and your master are from Ashberry, aren't you? To betray your country, you're truly despicable, absolutely.)

As the special task force's budget is being cut, Edward Asher used his negotiation skills to secure funding and establish a fast horse communication network. The network's role is to deliver information from other countries to the castle as quickly as possible. Due to the limited budget, each base has only two personnel. If attacked by the enemy, it would be very dangerous.

That's why the bases are frequently changed, and their locations are kept strictly confidential. Even the local representatives and lords are not informed.

Yet, a comrade who has infiltrated the Kingdom of Randall reported that "the location of the communication network's base has been leaked."

While tailing the white-haired man, Mills recalled his conversation with Mike.

"It seems that someone from Ashberry has leaked the location of the communication network's base to another country. The motive is still unknown, but it's a big problem. The Chief has narrowed down the suspect to one person. Luna was infiltrating there."

"Luna..."

Comrades are often not informed of each other's work to prevent them from revealing information if captured by the enemy.

"Yes, but she failed to escape and was seriously injured. In her place, Viscountess Asher, Delphine, took on the role of the Queen's shadow."

"But wasn't Delphine in a very dangerous situation? Did the Viscountess know how dangerous it was? Did she take it on knowing the risks?"

Mike's usually expressionless eyes slightly narrowed, and he looked amused. Mills was surprised to see this.

(Wow, Mike can look so cheerful?)

Of course, he didn't say it out loud.

"The Viscountess was fully aware of the danger. The Viscount was concerned and wanted to refuse, but the Viscountess said, 'If I refuse and something happens to Delphine, the woman who was supposed to be her shadow will suffer for life.' In the end, she said, 'I want to do it,' and took on the role with a smile."

"That's amazing! She's so cool!"

"Yes, she's very cool."

Since hearing this story, Victoria has been a hero to Mills.

"Huh? Is he going in there?"

The white-haired man entered a tavern. It's still early, but is he drinking? Or meeting someone?

Mills also put on his hat and entered the tavern. The white-haired man sat facing him at a corner seat.

Across from the man, a brown-haired man who seemed to have arrived earlier was sitting with his back to Mills.

"Is the man across from him the one buying the information? Is he from Randall?"

Mills sat near the entrance and ordered cheap wine and a snack. He pretended to drink the wine while keeping an eye on the two men in the corner.

Eventually, the two men stood up and walked towards Mills. Mills casually sipped his wine and waited for them to pass.

Mills uses his mischievous appearance to his advantage. At first glance, he looks like a carefree playboy with a youthful face that puts others at ease. This appearance is very useful as it makes others let their guard down.

"Should I tail the other man next?"

The white-haired man had met a man in his mid-forties. Brown hair, brown eyes, and a lean build. His walk had no particular features, but to Mills, his movements seemed flawless.

Mills initially tailed the man from behind but later used the cover of darkness to change his position to the rooftops.

He tailed the man from roof to roof, from wall to wall.

This method can only be used at night but is less likely to be noticed. The brown-haired man entered an ordinary hotel.

"A hotel. So he's not from around here?"

Mills quickly moved to the roof of a building across from the hotel. He lay flat on the steep roof to observe without being noticed. Which room is the man in?

The hotel is four stories tall, with five rooms on each floor. Floors two to four are guest rooms, so there are fifteen rooms in total.

After a while, the man entered a corner room on the third floor and closed the curtains.

"Third floor, west corner room."

After confirming this, Mills moved fluidly to the street below. He immediately informed a comrade who had infiltrated and was living in the Kingdom of Randall, then moved to the white-haired man's accommodation.

The white-haired man was in his room. Mills had a room next to the man's. He entered his room, moved a chair to the corner, and sat down. A small peephole had already been created by his comrade.

Peering through the hole, Mills saw the white-haired man drinking expressionlessly.

(This is your last drink outside. Savor it.)

Mills felt pity for the man who had to commit a serious crime at the end of his life.

Mills got up and opened and closed the window curtains three times. This was the signal that "the man is alone."

He then looked through the peephole again. The man's door was knocked on, but the man stared at the door in shock without moving.

"Mr. Aiden? Mr. Humphrey Aiden. I've brought your ordered meal."

"I didn't order anything. It's a mistake!"

The man called Aiden replied, but the door was immediately opened with a key.

The white-haired man didn't even have time to scream before he was restrained by the men in charge of brute force. His mouth and eyes were quickly covered with cloth, and he was taken away.

At the same time, in a room of a hotel a few kilometers away, the brown-haired man was encoding the information he had obtained. He was carving marks into the base of a wooden wolf figurine with a small knife. Following the rules of the code, he carefully paid attention to the size and spacing of the marks as he carved silently.

A few years ago, four members of the assassination team of the organization to which the man belonged went to dispose of a defected agent and then went missing. The king was furious and ordered an investigation into the reason for the disappearance of the assassination team, but the reason was quickly discovered.

During the investigation, a message from the Kingdom of Ashberry stated, "Four of your people killed a woman from the Kingdom of Randall who was staying in our country. The four have been arrested and executed for robbery and murder."

The king of Haggle sneered as he read the letter from Ashberry and spoke to his aide.

"Surely the Ashberry side realized that the four were not just robbers. They must have known and still sent the message. It ended in a very poor result. They only created a debt to Ashberry. It's questionable whether they even eliminated Chloe. With Chloe's skills, it would be easy for her to be replaced by someone else. The person they claim was killed could be someone else."

Due to the failure of the assassination team, the head of the special task force was demoted, and the positions within the task force were shuffled.

The former director, who later served as an instructor at the training facility, returned to the field at his own strong request.

His current mission is to go to the Kingdom of Randall, find the base of Ashberry's "fast horse communication network," and report it to his home country.

The man's operative name is Lancome.

He is the person who recognized the potential of an eight-year-old girl as an operative, was revered like a brother during her training, and was ultimately betrayed by her when she became an ace operative.