On My First Day Undercover, the Organization Collapsed - Chapter 253

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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 253

 

Transfer Commotion (1)

 

The first destination was the black market.

 

The 500,000 cel was received as a check upon request. Receiving it through an Imperial Bank account would immediately leave a trail.

 

Of course, the process of converting this check to cash or gold also required caution.

 

So Ziel put on the Dark Ghost’s human skin mask and headed to the black market.

 

“Th, that guy…”

 

“It’s the Dark Ghost!”

 

The human skin mask that had already revealed itself once.

 

Now there was nothing more to hide.

 

There was even less chance of anyone bothering him.

 

The Dark Ghost’s prowess shown in the special semifinals had already spread rumors throughout the Empire.

 

‘I, is it really the Dark Ghost?’

 

The gatekeeper guarding the black market gulped down his dry saliva.

 

“Are you… the Dark Ghost?”

 

“That’s right.”

 

“Pl, please wait a moment!”

 

The gatekeeper hurriedly left in surprise to report to his superior, and returned shortly after with the expected answer.

 

“Please come inside. You’re not originally on the list, but we’ll make a special exception.”

 

“Yes.”

 

He had been slightly worried since Gilbert, who was well-versed in the black market, wasn’t there, but it was needless concern.

 

Of course, if entry had been denied, he would have infiltrated using another human skin mask.

 

“Um, but may I ask what brings you here?”

 

“I came to exchange money.”

 

“Ah.”

 

The most convenient was still Dikelen’s silver coins.

 

Ziel headed straight to the exchange office and presented the check with the prize money of 500,000 cel written on it.

 

“An Imperial guarantee check…!”

 

An Imperial payment guarantee check!

 

Each check had different reliability, but Imperial payment guarantee checks had the highest liquidity in this industry – literally a ‘guarantee check’!

 

“Here are the silver coins. Please count them.”

 

“Mm.”

 

Ziel counted the mountain of Dikelen’s silver coins piled up and nodded.

 

“It’s correct. Thank you.”

 

“Yes, then…”

 

Next, the place Ziel visited after leaving the black market was a blacksmith shop.

 

It was a place quite well-known in this Empire, but few people knew its true nature.

 

“Who are you?”

 

“I came to change a sword.”

 

“When you say you came to change it…?”

 

The decrepit old man looked Ziel up and down.

 

“I want to have a sword newly born.”

 

“Ah.”

 

The old man who received the sword Ziel offered understood immediately.

 

“You want me to melt this sword and make a new one.”

 

“That’s right.”

 

Simply put, it was a blacksmith shop that dealt with stolen goods.

 

Stolen goods meant incredibly well-made famous swords, or expensive swords.

 

Or melting down swords that were difficult to use without leaving any traces, then making them anew!

 

Of course, skill had to back this up.

 

Especially if it was a sword made from Ether River steel.

 

The old man recognized this sword.

 

“I saw this sword not long ago.”

 

“Is that so.”

 

“It was very impressive. I also know who received it.”

 

The old man who glanced at Ziel’s face chuckled.

 

“An impressive guest has come.”

 

Naturally, the old man’s lips were sealed. Trust was essential for this kind of work.

 

“If you’re melting Ether River steel and reforging it anew, it’ll be quite expensive.”

 

“I know.”

 

“Well, if you came looking for me like this, you naturally would have known… So, how shall I make it?”

 

Ziel answered without hesitation.

 

“Please make it like this.”

 

What Ziel handed over was a blueprint.

 

“Oho.”

 

The old man’s interested gaze wandered.

 

“It’s rare to make something so crude with such good material.”

 

“This is the most stylish.”

 

“Well, your taste is quite unique.”

 

However, what caught the old man’s attention wasn’t the design.

 

“Mana shielding plating… and even matte black coating? Engraving rune lines on the blade? This… you want to completely shield mana while accepting external mana as is?”

 

“That’s right.”

 

“Huh.”

 

The old man held his forehead.

 

The work of melting Ether River steel and reforging a new sword was already extremely difficult.

 

And now with these specifications on top of that.

 

But that could be manageable.

 

“Why do you want to make it like this?”

 

What he was curious about was the reason.

 

However, his opponent was Ziel.

 

“I don’t want to tell you.”

 

“…”

 

But he could make guesses.

 

‘Isn’t this more like a sword assassins would use rather than warriors.’

 

Shield mana to completely hide the mana contained in the sword.

 

But accept the opponent’s mana as is.

 

He didn’t know why it would accept it.

 

The fact that Ziel could analyze opponents’ mana was something even the old man didn’t know.

 

“It’ll take some time. It needs at least a month.”

 

“Yes, I understand.”

 

“You probably knew coming here, but it’ll be very expensive.”

 

“I have plenty of money.”

 

“Is that so?”

 

Ziel handed over 20 silver coins.

 

“This is the advance payment.”

 

“…!”

 

He had taken out 20 coins, yet the pouch still looked heavy.

 

He didn’t seem like an ordinary customer.

 

“…I’ll do my best.”

 

“You should.”

 

“Oh, right. And there’s one thing I’m curious about.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“Looking at this blueprint, even after melting and reforging, there’s quite a lot of Ether River left over…”

 

“Please look at the back page.”

 

“Ah.”

 

Only then did the old man discover another blueprint on the back page.

 

“A dagger…?”

 

“I’ll use it as a gift. Please make that as well.”

 

“A gift…?”

 

Looking at the blueprint, it was nothing less than a miniature version of the sword this man had commissioned.

 

‘Where would he give a dagger as a gift?’

 

There were people to give it to.

 

As far as Ziel knew, two people who absolutely loved daggers!

 

They had made it into the top 10 as promised.

 

So this was his prepared reward for them.

 

“Well then, I’ll be going now.”

 

Ziel left the sword behind and departed.

 

“The sword of the Imperial Swordsmanship Tournament champion…”

 

The corners of the old man’s mouth curled upward.

 

It felt like his heart was racing for the first time in a long while.

 

After the tournament ended, one strange thing happened.

 

“I’m sorry for gathering you all again so soon after we just finished the faculty meeting.”

 

First, Berhal urgently summoned the professors.

 

The professors came without knowing why.

 

They had just finished discussing practicals and exchange matches yesterday.

 

‘Did he forget something?’

 

‘What is it? Really?’

 

Merhen and Idel were nervous.

 

Although they had pulled themselves together a bit since Berhal arrived, there were quite a few things they had handled incompetently in the meantime.

 

They wondered if it might be because of that.

 

‘Damn, that thing from two years ago better not come up!’

 

‘If that half-assed job gets discovered…’

 

Gulp.

 

Their Adam’s apples bobbed constantly as they swallowed dry saliva, and finally Berhal opened his mouth.

 

“First… many students from Telvir Academy have requested transfers.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“What?”

 

It was surprising news.

 

Enough to justify urgently calling a meeting!

 

“As many as 34 students submitted transfer intention forms right after the tournament ended.”

 

“Transfer…”

 

It was an unbelievable situation.

 

Cases of moving from Edelwein to Telvir were quite common.

 

Because Telvir’s prestige was high enough to make it worth abandoning one’s existing foundation.

 

But the opposite was almost unheard of.

 

In reality, it almost never happened unless there were sophisticated reasons like needing to establish some political foundation in the capital for family reasons.

 

Yet this kind of thing had occurred.

 

The reason was clear.

 

“Clearly, I suspect the shock from this swordsmanship tournament was significant.”

 

Telvir Academy hadn’t gotten a single student to the finals in the youth division, and while they made it to the finals in the young adult division, they didn’t win.

 

On top of that, in the general division, Dean Sir Zigmont’s easy elimination marked the peak of that shock.

 

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say their honor was completely crushed in an instant after three consecutive shocks!

 

“Indeed… the shock must have been tremendous.”

 

Merhen responded to Elcanto’s nod.

 

“This swordsmanship tournament certainly had results none of us expected.”

 

Ziel didn’t nod.

 

“I expected it.”

 

“…”

 

Since it wasn’t wrong, Merhen couldn’t bring himself to scold him.

 

Hadn’t he said so when they first discussed the swordsmanship tournament?

 

Youth division championship.

 

Young adult division finals, top 10.

 

The second years had achieved exactly that.

 

Thanks to this, while the 4th and 5th years were overshadowed by the victory, their prestige had fallen considerably!

 

“Anyway, so we received quite a lot of transfer applications. But… regardless of what year they completed at Telvir, they want to study under Teacher Ziel.”

 

“What? What do you mean by that?”

 

“Exactly what I said. The students who applied were mostly 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years, and most of them hope to transfer into the 2nd year that Teacher Ziel teaches.”

 

It was a somewhat shocking story that could hurt one’s pride.

 

So Berhal’s words were also cautious.

 

However, it was also a fact the professors needed to know, so he was telling them about it.

 

But…

 

“That makes sense. Hmm. It’s because Teacher Ziel taught well that the second years performed so well.”

 

“That’s fine, isn’t it? I would do the same. But is it possible for current 1st year Telvir Academy students to go to 2nd year? I know downward applications are possible, but upward applications are difficult.”

 

Elcanto and Allix’s reactions weren’t bad.

 

The other professors seemed surprised but didn’t appear particularly upset.

 

“There are no 4th, 5th, or 6th years?”

 

“By that point, it’s not easy to move one’s foundation. They’d have to come and build everything from scratch.”

 

“Hmm. Since they’re lower-year students, that makes sense.”

 

Merhen, Idel, and even Isabella.

 

Berhal was flustered by this simple acceptance!

 

‘If I had known it would be like this, I could have just called Teacher Ziel separately to discuss it…?’

 

All of this was a reaction made possible because Ziel’s ability and achievements backed it up!

 

“Uh, hmm. Anyway, that’s the situation. Since we’re gathered, I’d like to discuss this matter. According to school rules, mid-term admission is naturally impossible. Of course, it can’t be done that way. But I understand it’s possible to do mid-term transfer after the semester ends, starting from the second semester.”

 

Ziel asked.

 

“So they all hope to transfer to 2nd year?”

 

“That’s correct, Teacher Ziel.”

 

“If it’s not impossible according to school rules, I won’t stop it.”

 

School rules were rules.

 

Ziel valued rules.

 

However, there was one thing that took priority over rules.

 

“But we must consider harmony with existing students.”

 

That was his own students.

 

“That’s right. It’s important. Harmony. Being from Telvir could cause discord.”

 

Berhal nodded too.

 

But what Ziel was considering wasn’t discord.

 

“Among the 1st to 3rd year Telvir Academy students I saw at the swordsmanship tournament, only 2 had skills comparable to my current students.”

 

It was skill.

 

If they were moderately behind, he could bring them up through special supplementary classes like the current lower-ranked students.

 

But the problem was that most of the students who applied for transfer were worse than the lower-ranked students among Ziel’s current disciples!

 

“So I’ll conduct transfer exams for minimum requirements.”

 

It was naturally a necessary statement.

 

But when those words came from Ziel’s mouth, Berhal couldn’t grasp it at all.

 

‘Just how many is he planning to eliminate?’

 

In fact, there was no need to consider Telbier’s circumstances.

 

Wanting to transfer was Telbier’s situation!

 

However, the problem was that Edelwein Academy’s Dean was considering this transfer matter quite important.

 

If quite a few students ended up transferring, it would lower Telbier’s prestige and raise Edelwein’s status accordingly!

 

So Berhal asked.

 

“What do you think the minimum number of passing students should be?”

 

No matter what, at least how many should pass.

 

That was the meaning.

 

However, a very Ziel-like answer came back.

 

“If there are no students who meet the standards, then 0.”

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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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