On My First Day Undercover, the Organization Collapsed - Chapter 144

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Organization Collapsed on My First Day of Infiltration Episode 144

 

 

The Initiative Goes to Ziel (2)

 

 

Dietrich had not yet left The Iron Keep.

To be precise, he could not leave.

Because of regret.

 

‘In the end, I couldn’t bring him with me.’

 

Talent.

He always needed talent.

Relio.

Horn.

Eton.

Good talents were already working with him, but not enough to turn the tide.

Dietrich had always lived a life of chasing after others.

Elder Brother’s shadow.

Buried behind it, never seeing the sunlight.

It was natural if you thought about it.

However, he was struggling to change that.

 

‘If I had brought Teacher Ziel with me, I could have changed many things.’

 

That cool-headed and unwavering conviction.

That courage to calmly express his opinions instead of foolishly calculating even in front of the Prince.

And on top of that, his unknown abilities.

 

‘To train those young First Years and achieve such results while earning their loyalty… it’s truly an incredible feat.’

 

Where was the limit of that ability?

No matter how he looked at it, it was talent too precious to waste at the Academy.

However, just as Dietrich had come to realize, in the end, when it came to one’s will, the individual’s judgment was most important.

Ziel’s will lay with the Academy.

Dietrich had to acknowledge that.

 

“Haah.”

 

The night was deepening, and the cold was slowly approaching.

 

‘It would be good if I could recruit that man I met during the night movement.’

 

The man who had defeated Relio in one blow and told him how to obtain the Belberg Wings.

He had been tracking him since then, but there were no clues at all.

 

‘There must be a way. I’ll find it somehow.’

 

Dietrich put his mind at ease.

Then suddenly, he heard a sound.

 

“It’s quite lively.”

 

It was coming from the direction of the campfire.

Such liveliness in The Iron Keep, where usually only shouts and battle cries could be heard.

 

‘Maybe I should go take a look.’

 

Just as Dietrich chuckled and was about to move his feet.

 

“Your Highness, Your Highness!”

 

Two people came running with urgent voices.

Relio.

And Horn.

 

“Your Highness, are you alright!”

“What’s the matter?”

“You need to go to the Third Shelter immediately.”

 

The Third Shelter.

The safest place even within The Iron Keep, which was said to be safe.

 

“Is it an invasion? Or a rebellion?”

“Neither.”

 

Relio urgently continued.

 

“An assassin might be coming.”

“An assassin…!”

 

Dietrich was shocked.

 

“The campfire will be stopped soon. All Knight Order members have switched to emergency status. The apprentice members will also escort the students to their dormitory soon. I’ll explain more on the way.”

 

Dietrich headed to the shelter with Relio.

 

“We received news about Sir Eton.”

“Sir Eton…! Is he safe?”

 

As Dietrich knew from reports, Eton had lost contact while investigating the Underworld.

 

“Yes. He’s safe. But he was in a coma and just regained consciousness.”

“A coma?”

“It seems he was attacked.”

“…!”

“He’s currently severely injured. He can barely speak, but he conveyed this story.”

 

Shocking words flowed from Relio’s mouth.

 

“There are assassins targeting Your Highness.”

“…!”

 

My head nearly exploded in that instant.

 

‘Me? Who?’

 

Elder Brother?

Or someone supporting Elder Brother?

Or someone else?

 

“Sir Eton was no match for them at all. So you must hide quickly.”

“…Are the assassins coming to the Imperial Palace now?”

 

Dietrich’s common sense could never understand this.

Assassins infiltrating the Imperial Palace?

Not once had enemies ever entered this Imperial Palace.

 

“We must prepare for every possibility. There’s also a chance that assassin could be the ‘Specter’.”

“…!”

 

If so, the motive was sufficient.

The Imperial Family had destroyed Black Sky.

If the Specter harbored resentment….

 

“If it’s the Specter….”

“Yes. Even the Imperial Palace cannot be considered safe.”

 

The three quickened their pace.

 

“This way, Your Highness. We’re almost there.”

“Understood.”

 

Once they reached the shelter, they could at least feel somewhat safe….

 

“…!”

 

Suddenly Relio’s steps stopped.

Darkness was spreading before their eyes.

As if shadows were rushing toward them.

 

Whoosh!

 

The torch they were carrying also went out.

A torch soaked with oil that would hardly ever go out had vanished in an instant.

 

“Horn, protect His Highness.”

 

Relio quickly drew his sword.

Their vision was gradually being dyed in darkness.

Making it impossible to distinguish direction.

 

‘Is it him?’

 

Instead of despairing, Relio measured the distance to the shelter.

 

‘200 steps.’

 

Could they make it there while protecting His Highness?

The conclusion came in an instant.

Impossible.

Another conclusion followed.

 

‘This is the only way.’

 

“Horn, don’t argue and move as I instruct. When I signal, shield His Highness and get to the shelter.”

“…!”

“Please.”

 

Horn nodded silently.

He thought he would have done the same if he were Relio.

 

“Your Highness, I will escort you.”

“….”

 

Dietrich also understood their hearts and only nodded silently.

Meanwhile, the darkness spread even thicker.

No doubt about it.

It was the Darkness Powder used by assassins.

 

“Run straight. If I fall behind on the way, leave me and go. We run on three. One, two….”

 

Thud!

 

The feet of the three leaped forward before he could even say three.

And less than a second later-

 

Swish!

 

A sword flew through the darkness toward them.

 

 

It was indeed The Iron Keep.

The infiltration route wasn’t over the castle wall or through the gate, but directly under the castle wall.

 

‘He finds it instinctively.’

 

It was precisely the area near the crack that Ziel had pointed out.

If it were infiltration followed by stealth, they wouldn’t use such an infiltration method.

But if it’s simple assassination, what matters is eliminating the target as quickly as possible and returning.

That’s why Ziel would have done the same.

 

Crack.

 

Below the castle wall.

After silently destroying the cracked section, they entered through that gap.

When returning, they could just escape through that same gap.

The very castle wall that had been pointed out as cracked had become The Iron Keep’s vulnerability.

 

‘No way, they’re destroying that and entering through it?’

 

Ziel was calm, but Gilbert was horrified.

What method could possibly create a gap large enough for a person to pass through that castle wall, even if it was cracked?

 

“I’ll pursue them. Wait here.”

 

Then came Ziel’s voice.

Ziel went one step further.

 

“Crazy.”

 

He had leaped straight up onto the castle wall.

Silently, in an instant.

 

“Boss, I will truly be loyal to you no matter what happens…”

 

Gilbert, who had been muttering in a daze, quickly hid himself.

Meanwhile.

Ziel, who had climbed onto the castle wall where many knight order members were stationed, surprisingly wasn’t detected.

No, he had climbed up confident that he wouldn’t be detected in the first place.

 

“Where is Your Highness?”

“Senior Relio went to find him!”

“Guard both below and above!”

 

The seemingly ironclad defense was unfortunately already breached below the castle wall, and above, Ziel was cleverly hidden in stealth.

 

‘Over there.’

 

Ziel briefly observed the assassin he had spotted from below, then threw himself downward as well.

Even then, naturally, the knights didn’t notice what had been on the castle wall.

 

‘The direction isn’t consistent. They don’t seem to have noticed the pursuit, and haven’t found their target yet.’

 

Since they had entered The Iron Keep, the target was one of two.

Either a student.

Or the Prince who hadn’t left The Iron Keep yet.

Either way was fine if possible.

Because he would stop them before that.

Then the assassin’s tracking stopped.

 

‘They found their target.’

 

The path leading to the shelter.

Three people running were visible.

Relio.

Horton.

And-

 

‘The target was the Prince.’

 

Ziel felt relieved.

Then he paused.

 

‘Did I just feel relieved?’

 

It was an emotion he had never felt before.

The emotion of relief that the target wasn’t a student.

But there was no time to reflect on that emotion.

 

‘Darkness powder.’

 

The assassin scattered darkness powder without hesitation.

A tool of assassins that blocks light and obscures almost all vision.

One of the most reliable methods that was relatively well-known.

Of course, Ziel had an even better tool than that.

The Polar Night Dagger made by Aznil.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t bring it to the Imperial Palace, but that didn’t mean there was no way.

Just because darkness was scattered didn’t mean presence and scent disappeared too.

And actually, this worked out better.

Now he could conceal his face even better.

 

‘Now.’

 

Ziel finally kicked off the ground.

And-

 

Clang!

 

He blocked the blade that was extending toward Dietrich.

The follow-up response was swift.

The scent of poison wafted over in an instant.

 

‘Poison smoke.’

 

But Ziel’s hand was faster.

 

Sling.

 

He drew the spare sword from Relio’s waist.

 

Whoosh!

 

He swung the sword into the space between himself and the Prince’s group right behind him, creating a sword wind.

The approaching poison smoke was pushed back by the fierce wind that blew.

Of course, Ziel was perfectly fine.

A body originally trained with poison.

And even the ‘growth’ confirmed with the sword Quantus brought from the ruins.

 

‘Now it begins.’

 

The opponent was a high-level assassin.

Different in class from the riffraff of the ‘Black Blade’ he met in the South.

When the poison smoke was blocked, a blade flew in again as if it were natural.

 

Clang!

 

Ziel blocked it with Relio’s sword while consecutively deflecting two daggers that pierced through the gap.

This side had one sword.

That side had countless assassination tools.

It was clearly a disadvantageous situation, yet Ziel showed no hesitation or wavering.

And surprisingly, the exchange from sword strike to poison smoke, daggers, and back to sword strikes took less than 2 seconds.

 

‘What’s happening?’

 

Even Relio couldn’t grasp the situation, not yet realizing his sword had been drawn from his waist.

And in the renewed exchange—

 

Clang, clang! Ching!

 

During the several sword strikes exchanged, Ziel suddenly realized.

 

‘It resembles my swordsmanship.’

 

Assassins each learn different swordsmanship.

Instructors intentionally teach differently and develop according to targets.

Because if everyone used the same swordsmanship, the assassination group could be identified.

But Ziel’s keen senses read fundamentally similar points in that seemingly very different swordsmanship.

 

‘This angle and way of applying force.’

 

It was certain.

An assassin from Black Sky.

A realization flashed through Ziel’s body.

 

‘Is it Siren?’

 

He had expected it, but proving it was valuable.

After Black Sky’s destruction.

Most assassins thought to be dead were actually…

In Siren’s hands.

 

Clang!

 

Then a sword strike so sharp it was pointed pierced through.

Ziel deflected that sword while simultaneously diving into the domain of darkness.

Nothing was visible, but only to the eyes.

Tactile sense.

Hearing.

And even olfactory sense.

As long as all other senses were alive—

 

Thud!

 

Ziel could see everything.

 

“Ugh!”

 

A scream finally burst out.

It certainly wasn’t Ziel’s.

Ziel’s fingertips.

Blood splattered and flesh tore away from that attack thrust with sharply honed mana.

 

“…!”

 

The Prince’s group froze at that scream.

Could it be a scream from the mysterious ally?

 

‘Completely different in class.’

 

Relio realized his hands were instinctively trembling.

That was…

Fear he had felt long ago.

The year he had just earned his official member status.

He went out for monster subjugation and faced a high-grade monster.

That was when Relio nearly died for the first time.

Fellow knights came late and saved him, but the fear from that time still appeared in dreams occasionally.

It was that fear.

Fear felt even though the blade tip wasn’t pointing at him!

 

‘Who exactly? The assassin is one thing, but…’

 

Who exactly was the one fighting that assassin, who was the source of this trembling?

Relio gripped his sword even tighter.

If the blade tip pointed at him, he would probably die.

Even so, he had to protect.

The Prince.

 

Clang!

 

Meanwhile, the sound of exchanging sword strikes was gradually becoming shorter.

The darkness was also slowly lifting.

Then finally.

 

‘It’s coming.’

 

Ziel confirmed that a mana sword was forming on his opponent’s blade.

He would be preparing for a decisive strike.

Probably to cut through the sword itself if blocked.

But this side had something too.

 

Whooom.

 

A mana sword also erupted from Ziel’s blade.

And the moment their swords crossed—

 

Thunk!

 

It became quiet with the sound of a blade piercing flesh.

 

“Kugh…”

 

Through the slowly lifting darkness, the barely visible outline of a person.

 

‘Did… this side win?’

 

Relio’s eyes widened.

One person with their back turned toward this side.

And the sword in that person’s hand, which was…

 

‘That’s my sword!’

 

Another person bleeding drop by drop, pierced by the sword Relio had been wearing.

The match was Ziel’s victory.

However, Ziel’s hand moved once more.

 

Pat.

 

In an instant, Ziel’s hand went into the assassin Sigrim’s mouth and came back out.

He had forcibly removed the suicide poison.

Then he pressed near the neck to paralyze the body, and pushed him down while leaving the embedded sword as it was.

 

‘It’s finished.’

 

The suppression was perfect.

The opponent’s level was slightly higher than expected, but it wasn’t a problem.

After all, he had never even considered the possibility of defeat.

 

‘The knights will come. I just need to carry him and get out of here.’

 

There was enough time.

It was when Ziel hoisted Sigrim up.

 

“St-stop!”

 

Relio’s shout.

And then Dietrich quickly stepped forward.

 

“Who are you…? Why did you save my life?”

 

Dietrich wasn’t asking a foolish question.

He was buying time.

 

‘I can’t let him go like this.’

 

That appearance of trying to leave with the attacker.

 

“Confess! Who are you!”

 

Relio also shouted in coordination.

However, a completely unexpected answer came back.

 

“Has your condition improved?”

“Condition?”

“The Belberg Wings.”

“…!”

 

It was Ziel’s clever strategy.

He needed to bring down Siren anyway.

 

‘Justification is important, they said.’

 

Professor Elcanto, Department Head Berhal, and Gilbert all frequently mentioned the word ‘justification.’

So he had looked it up.

 

‘Now is exactly that moment.’

 

The word justification.

 

“You… could it be…”

 

Ziel had pulled out the other disguised identity he had used when first meeting Dietrich.

Of course, he wasn’t thinking of the Dark Ghost.

While Ziel knew about the Dark Ghost legend, he didn’t properly know that the rumor was spreading.

 

“Did you… track me down?”

“No. I tracked this assassin.”

 

Ziel answered calmly.

However, Dietrich’s mind was in chaos.

 

‘To think the person I’ve been searching for so desperately would appear before me.’

 

The one who had vanished without a trace had come to him.

This was an opportunity.

 

“W-wait!”

 

Dietrich urgently called out to Ziel—no, the mysterious man—to stop him.

 

‘I need to devise a strategy. I can’t just make a sudden proposal like I did with Teacher Ziel.’

 

Right.

Let me try this approach.

I’ll use repayment as bait to somehow create a connection.

 

“You saved my mother’s life last time.”

“I didn’t save her.”

“….”

 

It was a failure from the start.

But Dietrich didn’t give up.

 

“And this time, you saved my life.”

“That’s correct.”

“So I want to repay you. As a prince of the Empire.”

 

The man remained silent for a moment.

 

‘Did it work?’

 

But then an unexpected answer came.

 

“Then investigate the Siren family.”

“S-Siren?”

“They’re connected to this incident.”

 

This was precisely why Ziel hadn’t immediately left after subduing Sigrim.

Now that everything was certain, he had found a card to attack Siren with.

And it was a powerful card—a prince.

 

‘Suddenly asking me to investigate Siren….’

 

“That’s the repayment.”

 

Leaving only those words, Ziel leaped away with Sigrim slung over his shoulder.

Relio and Horn’s mouths gaped open.

 

“Th-this is impossible….”

 

He had jumped onto the roof while carrying a person and disappeared from sight in an instant.

It was impossible.

 

‘He really was an absurd man.’

 

Had he been taken down in one punch back then?

No matter how much he thought about it….

It seemed like he had been holding back then.

 

‘Wait.’

 

Relio suddenly came back to his senses.

 

“Y-Your Highness. Are you alright?”

“….”

“Your Highness! Don’t tell me….”

“I’m fine….”

 

Dietrich’s voice sounded weak despite saying he was fine.

 

‘He doesn’t seem injured though.’

 

“Sir Relio, let’s head to the shelter right now….”

“No, Horn. First, we secure the perimeter and preserve the scene. Your Highness, are you really alright?”

“Yes. My body is fine. My heart isn’t though….”

 

Dietrich was in despair.

 

‘Am I an icon of rejection?’

 

He had failed again.

Talent recruitment.

 

‘Am I only looking at mountains that are too high?’

 

Then a thought suddenly occurred to him.

 

‘He mentioned Siren.’

 

One of the great families of the capital.

The cradle of mages and a place even the Imperial Family couldn’t touch carelessly.

 

‘A connection might be formed.’

 

Dietrich’s mind began working rapidly.

 

“Sir Relio.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“This is an important matter. Let’s go to the Shelter and talk for a moment.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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