On My First Day Undercover, the Organization Collapsed - Chapter 26

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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 026

 

 

The Crow That Cries Mournfully (1)

 

 

Professor Takeus remained in his research laboratory until late at night.

Others might think it was because of work, but that wasn’t the case at all.

 

“Sigh.”

 

His burning insides.

The sighs that kept flowing out.

The tea cup he had already emptied and refilled five times.

The tea that was supposed to be excellent for calming mind and body was utterly useless.

 

‘I never thought that bastard Yon would spill everything.’

 

He could accept that things went wrong when Ziel interfered.

The problem was Jon Riversong’s testimony.

Professor Takeus looked over the report from the security office once more.

 

-In today’s exchange tournament selection, promised a total of 500,000 cel as compensation for using an unidentified poison (refer to Evidence Item 2) to defeat sparring opponent

-According to testimony, the identity of the person who made this proposal has not yet been determined

-The unidentified poison is scheduled for analysis

 

“That damn Crow bastard…”

 

Did he fail to silence Yon?

Even after giving him such careful warnings.

 

“It’s about time.”

 

Tap, tap.

 

His fingers drumming on the desk.

Then, sensing a presence, Professor Takeus opened the window.

 

“You’re late.”

 

As soon as he opened the window, a shadow flew in and landed lightly.

 

“I apologize. I was finishing up some work.”

“And yet you couldn’t silence one student?”

 

Professor Takeus, who had been fuming, lowered his voice for now.

 

“Did that bastard Yon perhaps catch on?”

“No. He won’t know who I am. The security office will dismiss it as nonsense to avoid punishment.”

 

Professor Takeus groaned and replied.

 

“I can handle the security office. The security captain there is my junior. What’s important is the Kundel family!”

 

Right.

The problem was the Kundel family.

Along with Rihart, one of the most powerful families in the Empire!

 

“Maybe I should have just killed that bastard Yon from the start?”

 

Professor Takeus spoke these chilling words as if they were nothing.

 

‘It would have made things much easier.’

 

Wanting too desperately to participate in the exchange tournament, he used cheating methods and then took his own life out of guilt.

Wouldn’t that be very simple?

The original plan was just to eliminate Delev.

The commission cost quite a bit of money, but it wasn’t his money anyway.

If he had just lost appropriately, no one would have known and everyone would have been happy.

But things went wrong.

 

‘That damn liberal arts instructor.’

 

Because that damn bastard interfered!

 

‘No matter how I look at it, he’s a strange guy. To have eyes that good…’

 

But there was no need to worry about him.

He was angry, but what he needed to focus on was cleaning up this mess.

 

“It would be better not to touch Yon. If he dies here, we’ll really come under suspicion.”

“Understood. Then what should we do?”

“We have to stay put! The evidence, can you steal it?”

“It would be difficult. The Security Evidence Storage is protected by magic. It’s a place even we find hard to access. Why don’t you have some tea and calm down? It’ll get cold otherwise.”

 

Takeus turned around in frustration and picked up his tea cup.

 

Gulp, gulp.

 

He downed everything that was left, but rather than calming his anger, he seemed to get even angrier.

Takeus looked at Erso again and shouted angrily.

 

“Then why did I hire you! If you’re useless, don’t act like you’re some crow…”

 

Crow.

Erso’s eyebrows twitched.

Professor Takeus caught this and mocked him.

 

“What, are you angry? Then you should have done your job properly! Damn it. If we mess this up, we’ll be stirring up a hornet’s nest!”

“…”

 

Erso asked calmly for now.

 

“This is an unexpected situation. I’ll need to receive part of the promised commission fee in advance.”

“What are you talking about when you failed!”

“This is separate from the failure.”

 

Erso couldn’t hold back either and opened his mouth.

 

“And right now, we’re the ones who should be angry.”

“What?”

“‘Delev Kundel’ wasn’t mentioned in the original request. It was simply a request to hand over paralysis poison and a device to one student.”

“…So what. It just happened that Delev…”

“Somehow, I thought 1 million cel was too much.”

 

1 million cel.

In this business, there aren’t many requests involving over 1 million.

The Black Sky Assassination Group started their commission fees at 3 million cel, but that’s because their skills were good.

 

‘Crow’s side is at most a few hundred thousand cel.’

 

Even those few hundred thousand cel is a lot.

Anyway, 1 million cel is enough money to get a decent house in the capital or buy some rural vineyard and live comfortably.

Or it’s enough money to buy decent business bonds near the capital and live without working.

 

“Just to use paralysis poison on one student.”

“…”

“If the target had been a member of the Kundel family, we wouldn’t have accepted the request.”

 

The organization probably didn’t know either.

No, they likely pretended not to know.

It seems they were blinded by the flood of requests, especially high-paying ones…

 

“Not accurately revealing the request details when assigning it constitutes grounds for contract breach.”

“So? Are you going to back out now?”

“There are penalty clauses too, Professor Takeus of Edelwein Academy Sword School.”

 

Erso deliberately mentioned his position.

Professor Takeus also flared his nostrils at those words.

 

“Are you threatening me now?”

 

His gaze lingered on the sword placed to one side.

Even though it had been over 10 years since he retired from active duty, there’s no way he couldn’t handle one crow.

 

“We can’t proceed like this. You know, don’t you? If we do, we’ll have to be prepared for the organization’s destruction.”

“…”

 

Kundel.

Their reputation and influence transcends imagination.

Why else would they say that in this Empire, right below the king are Kundel and Rihart.

 

“Additional payment of 3 million cel.”

“You little…”

“If it’s that amount, I’ll consider it positively.”

 

Erso immediately regretted it after speaking.

 

‘Should I have asked for 5 million cel?’

 

It would have to be that much to betray that terrifying guy.

With that money, it would be worth risking his life.

He could even flee overseas.

 

‘What exactly is that guy’s identity?’

 

To toy with him like that when he’s among the top tier even among crows.

His neck still stung.

 

“…Fine. 3 million cel. Let’s do that. 1 million cel as advance payment. I’ll hand it over tomorrow.”

 

Professor Takeus surprisingly accepted it readily.

 

‘Oh?’

 

It seems like this is something he absolutely must accomplish.

This changes the story.

 

“I’ll tell you the location separately. Come to that place. There are too many watching eyes near here.”

 

Erso regretted not asking for more, but swallowed his greed for now.

 

“That’s a good decision. Then, let’s discuss the details tomorrow.”

 

Erso opened the window again and left.

Professor Takeus exploded with the anger he had been holding back.

 

“This damn situation…”

 

Takeus Altman.

As the second son of the Altman family, he couldn’t become the head, so he went through the knight order and ended up at the academy.

Naturally, the 1 million cel promised to the crow isn’t Professor Takeus’s money.

 

‘Then I’ll die at the hands of the Siren family.’

 

Siren.

One of the Empire’s Five Great Families.

A family with scale, reputation, and influence following Kundel and Rihart.

If Kundel and Rihart are families of warriors based on swordsmanship, then Siren is a family of mages.

A family that produces numerous mages and wields tremendous influence among mages!

That’s where he immediately entrusted this matter to Professor Takeus.

Naturally—

 

‘3 million cel? Don’t make me laugh.’

 

The 3 million cel he just promised didn’t exist, not even if he were beaten to death.

Even if he had it, he couldn’t give it.

Why?

Tomorrow at this time, he planned to kill Crow at some suitable location.

As for evidence, he’d just destroy it.

Professor Takeus was now cornered.

The trigger for this was none other than Ziel.

 

‘I’d like to deal with that damn instructor bastard too.’

 

If not for that guy, things wouldn’t have gotten this twisted.

 

‘Crow first, for now.’

 

Kill Crow, then silence Yon when the opportunity arose or get him expelled.

Making him fall into other traps or finding fault to suspend him and ruin his reputation would also be good methods.

 

“How did things end up like this…”

 

The reason his thoughts had reached such extremes was because he was cornered.

If Siren found out about this, far from providing the 3 million cel, they’d take back even the 1.5 million cel.

But betray Siren?

That was impossible.

Siren was the family that had sponsored him from his insignificant noble house, made him a knight commander, and secured him a professorship.

 

‘I’ll resolve this somehow.’

 

Betrayal and betrayal.

As the two betrayals intertwined…

 

‘3 million cel.’

 

Erso was grinning at the unimaginable fortune.

Having left Takeus’s research laboratory and hidden in the shadows, Erso was picturing a wonderful future.

 

‘I’ll deposit 1 million cel as the commission fee… what should I do with the 2 million cel. Hehe.’

 

Money that made him laugh just thinking about it.

If he combined it with the money he’d saved up and fled overseas under the pretense of vacation, he could hide before being caught.

He’d been getting sick of the Crow life anyway.

 

‘That guy can’t chase me overseas either.’

 

“Finished and came out?”

 

His laughter stopped dead.

Erso froze in place.

Slowly, very slowly turning his head with a creak, that guy was standing there.

How on earth?

 

‘…That’s impossible. I was tailed? Me?’

 

He hadn’t sensed any presence.

The Crows were also professionals trained for a long time.

They’d conducted tailing training and conversely, training to be tailed.

In actual situations, he’d aroused suspicion and been tailed dozens of times.

But how…

 

“Did you find what I instructed?”

“Yes. H-here it is.”

 

What Erso handed over was the original commission document.

The commission document that had been sealed and split between Red Shadow and Takeus.

Takeus probably didn’t know, but while he’d turned to drink tea, it had been switched with a copy.

 

“Definitely authentic.”

 

Ziel confirmed the original commission document and tucked it into his chest.

It was certain.

The texture of the paper and the pressed marks of the ink.

And even the seal.

Everything was real.

 

“What are you planning to do with that… ah, of, of course you must need it since you asked me to bring it. I’m just curious…”

“I’m thinking of doing this by the book.”

“Pardon?”

 

The Crow didn’t understand what he meant.

 

‘By the book? If by the book… does he mean he’ll use the paper as a tool like a pro?’

 

His imagination was running wild.

But for the Crow, it was an utterly reasonable assumption.

A senior had once told him this.

Don’t earn the resentment of the ‘real pros.’

Those guys would kill dozens with a single pencil and sever necks with paper.

 

‘Scary as hell, really…’

 

The Crow gulped and asked cautiously.

 

“Then, can I… go now?”

 

Thump thump.

 

Erso asks cautiously, his heart pounding.

 

‘They won’t notice the copy for a while. I put so much effort into making it.’

 

This was the reason he was late for his appointment with Takeus.

Because this bastard in front of him had told him to find something that could serve as evidence.

He had frantically made a forged commission on the spot.

 

‘I’ll take the 3 million cel and leave this country. Or maybe I’ll play it safe and only offer up about 2 million cel.’

 

Either way, it would be perfect once he got the money.

But that’s when it happened.

 

“I have a question, Crow.”

“P-please speak.”

“How much is a human life worth?”

 

Erso’s eyes widened at the unexpected question.

 

‘The price of a life?’

 

He tilted his head at the sudden question, but only for a moment.

 

“Would 3 million cel be enough?”

“…!”

 

The moment he first faced this bastard.

The terror from that time came flooding back.

 

“I’m asking because I don’t really know.”

 

Ziel really asked because he didn’t know.

He wondered if 3 million cel was enough to make someone think of betrayal even in that situation.

 

‘So it’s a huge sum.’

 

Everyone values their own life.

Even Ziel, who had lived without emotions, knew this fact.

However, having no sense of economics, he didn’t really know the price of a human life.

That’s why he asked.

Purely.

But—

 

‘I’m really screwed.’

 

Erso’s body trembled violently.

He’s been found out.

He never thought he’d be listening to everything.

 

‘This guy is the real deal.’

 

The surging fear was incomparable to what he felt earlier.

 

“P-please spare me.”

 

To think he was caught even making a counter-offer of 3 million cel.

 

“Answer the question, Crow.”

 

Is it enough as the price of a life?

Of course it’s enough!

In the Back Alley, there are plenty of people who would kill for 3 million cel, hell, even 30,000 cel!

 

‘That’s not the answer this guy wants.’

 

The answer he should give here was predetermined.

 

“I’m sorry, I had the wrong idea.”

 

However, Ziel remained unmoved.

 

“That wasn’t my question.”

“….”

 

Finally, Erso nodded.

 

“3 million cel would be… sufficient.”

“I see.”

 

Ziel learned something today.

The price of a human life—3 million cel would be sufficient.

And he also unintentionally gained something.

 

‘If I betray him, I’ll really die.’

 

A crow that seemed likely to be quite loyal.

 

“One more question, Crow.”

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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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