On My First Day Undercover, the Organization Collapsed - Chapter 268

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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 268

 

Accumulating Misunderstandings

 

One day earlier.

 

Horn finished the general investigation with Agent 8 and Agent 9.

 

“I think we can go now that we’ve done this much.”

 

The two intelligence agents desperately held back the curses rising from within.

 

To be dragged out during their break and waste three whole days!

 

One day to return.

 

Shift work would begin upon arrival.

 

They had been excited about resting comfortably after all that hard work investigating.

 

Even though imperial intelligence work meant doing whatever you were told, it was truly depressing.

 

But what could they do.

 

It was a direct order from their superior.

 

“It’s really finished, right?”

 

“Of course. We investigated thoroughly, and no more anomalies were discovered, so I think we can wrap up. Oh, this is the place where that anomaly was observed, right?”

 

“Yes. This is the right place.”

 

As expected, nothing particular was visible.

 

It was just a very small part of an enormously giant tree.

 

‘It’s damn huge.’

 

The tree was truly massive.

 

From what he heard, it was a tree that grew rapidly after that incident happened on Osu Island.

 

If this tree had been somewhere else in the Empire’s territory instead of Osu Island, it would definitely have become a tourist attraction or been called a sanctuary.

 

‘It seems like there should be something… but there’s nothing after all.’

 

It was fortunate.

 

At any rate, it meant nothing was happening.

 

Unless Horn knew about the strange weather appearing in the training area right now, this was sufficiently satisfactory.

 

He had thoroughly combed and searched this vicinity out of pure loyalty to His Imperial Highness.

 

It wasn’t done half-heartedly for show.

 

Thanks to that, Agent 8 and Agent 9 were dying of exhaustion, but Horn had been sincere.

 

“We’re leaving now, right?”

 

“Yes. Let’s just check one last thing. This is it, right?”

 

“Yes. It’s the marked section.”

 

Shing.

 

Horn drew his sword and channeled mana.

 

“What are you trying to do now?”

 

“I thought I’d check one last time. It’s better to be certain, right?”

 

“Well… understood.”

 

Agent 8 shook his head as if fed up.

 

Horn couldn’t help it either.

 

Since they’d come this far, shouldn’t they check everything before leaving?

 

Even if that was the justification, making sure would give him something to say back if questions arose later.

 

Thunk!

 

Horn stabbed the point where the anomaly had been seen with his mana-infused sword.

 

‘This should be the end…’

 

Right then.

 

“…!”

 

Agent 8’s eyes widened.

 

It was rippling.

 

The tree bark section pierced by the sword wasn’t dented, but rippling like an illusion!

 

“Th-that’s what I saw.”

 

Agent 8 quickly mentioned it, forgetting his annoyance. Agent 9 also approached in surprise. But a problem arose.

 

‘The sword won’t come out?’

 

Startled Horn tried to pull out his sword, but it wouldn’t come out as if firmly gripped.

 

“Sir Horn! Let go of the sword…”

 

Agent 8 shouted, sensing something ominous, but even letting go of the sword wouldn’t have helped with what happened next.

 

Light suddenly poured out from the rippling area-

 

Flash!

 

It instantly engulfed all three of them.

 

And when the light cleared, nothing remained.

 

The embedded sword, the three people, and all the luggage they brought had vanished.

 

The rippling also calmed down as if nothing had happened, revealing the original tree bark again.

 

It was quiet.

 

As if nothing had occurred.

 

And one day later-

 

“The traces end here.”

 

Ziel and Gilbert arrived at the exact same spot.

 

The footprints clearly ended at this point.

 

There were no traces of going elsewhere or climbing up the tree.

 

“Boss, should I go check up in the tree?”

 

“No. No need to look. If they climbed the tree, there would inevitably be scratches, but I don’t see any.”

 

“When did you even see that?”

 

“I saw it on the way here.”

 

“Ah.”

 

How does Boss figure everything out with just a glance when it’s hard to see even with careful concentration?

 

“But still… climbing up there would be quite a task too. You can’t even see the top from under the tree.”

 

A tree with enormous girth and proportionally tremendous height.

 

Gilbert had similar impressions as Horn.

 

If this were somewhere else in the Empire instead of this island, it would definitely have become a famous site.

 

“But what could it be? Boss, no matter how much I concentrate, I can’t feel anything strange here…”

 

Gilbert kept tilting his head in confusion.

 

They said mana waves were strong and had gotten stronger than before, so why couldn’t he feel anything?

 

Even non-mages can feel powerful mana waves with their skin.

 

For example, experienced soldiers on battlefields immediately notice when mages use magic and duck down.

 

Because mana waves are clearly transmitted.

 

But here and now, not even a loud sound could be heard, let alone mana waves.

 

“Mana waves are emanating. From this tree.”

 

“I really don’t know…”

 

“You don’t know. But I do.”

 

“…”

 

The quiet forest.

 

That made it somewhat more frightening, but anyway, he couldn’t detect the fact that waves powerful enough for Boss to speak so definitively were pouring out from here.

 

‘Is it some special wave that only Boss can detect?’

 

He vaguely knew there were multiple types of waves, but he’d never heard of waves that even high-level mages couldn’t detect.

 

‘Well, it’s Boss. That’s possible.’

 

Gilbert simply accepted it amidst his complex thoughts!

 

Ziel was gradually becoming a convenient excuse.

 

Anyway, this place was very quiet.

 

Quiet enough that it wouldn’t be strange for one person, no, three people to disappear.

 

“Then it seems they disappeared right here…”

 

The problem was there was nowhere they could have disappeared to.

 

Unless someone suddenly dragged him up from the tree and kidnapped him.

 

Given the position, he would have resisted while being dragged up, but there were no such traces visible above the tree.

 

After examining various possibilities, no matter how he looked at it, the only conclusion was that they had simply vanished.

 

“It’s an absurd conclusion, but it seems they just disappeared.”

 

Boss would definitely say otherwise.

 

That he was wrong.

 

And he would surely reveal some extraordinary thing he didn’t know…

 

“You’re right, Gilbert.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“They disappeared. From this place.”

 

“R-really? What I said was correct?”

 

“Yes. You’re right. If we infer the possibilities, that’s the most likely. I don’t sense anything above the tree, and they weren’t dragged away or erased their traces, so the conclusion is that they simply vanished.”

 

He was happy but felt strange.

 

Wouldn’t this make the case go into a labyrinth?

 

There were two objectives.

 

The identity of the waves.

 

And the search for the three people who had just been added.

 

‘Sir Horn from the Knight Order, and Intelligence Department Agents 8 and 9, he said.’

 

Since different footprints were imprinted, it seemed certain they had come this far.

 

Then where on earth did they go?

 

‘Were they attacked by magic and disintegrated in mid-air?’

 

If so, at least body fragments should have remained…

 

“It’s inside this.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“They didn’t soar into the sky, didn’t sink into the ground, and left no traces of death, so there’s only one conclusion. Inside this tree.”

 

Ziel pointed at the tree.

 

More precisely, he was pointing at a specific spot.

 

“This place is suspicious.”

 

“Which part?”

 

“The point where mana waves are bursting out.”

 

Gilbert didn’t know, but it was clearly visible to Ziel’s eyes, enhanced by the Polar Night Breathing Technique.

 

Swoosh.

 

When he brought his hand filled with mana closer, the tree bark suddenly became blurry and rippled.

 

“B-Boss! Your hand!”

 

“Here it is. The point where mana waves emerge.”

 

“It’s not… dangerous.”

 

Nothing particular happened.

 

But then.

 

“Fall back as much as possible.”

 

Ziel shouted and immediately retreated, and Gilbert also followed suit.

 

At that moment, light burst out with a flash and swallowed the area where Gilbert and Ziel had been standing.

 

Gilbert hastily stepped back and threw his dagger, but something was strange.

 

‘I can’t hear any sound.’

 

And when the light disappeared, the dagger had vanished too.

 

“That’s the dagger I gave you.”

 

“Y-yes, that’s right.”

 

“Well done. We found out what effect that burst of light has.”

 

“Oh.”

 

The dagger was gone.

 

In other words, that light swallows something.

 

It was accidental, but the empirical value was significant.

 

“When you try to affect the waves, it swallows nearby things. With a similar type of wave.”

 

“What else appeared?”

 

“I felt a similar type of wave.”

 

Naturally, Gilbert couldn’t sense it this time either.

 

But he wasn’t disappointed.

 

Since the other party was Boss.

 

Thinking it was something only Boss could do actually put his mind at ease.

 

“Then… did Sir Horn and the Intelligence Department agents disappear like that too? Like the dagger?”

 

“There’s a high possibility.”

 

To verify again, Ziel took out a new dagger and threw it toward the spot that had just rippled.

 

Whoosh!

 

Then light burst out over an even wider area than before.

 

Naturally, the dagger was nowhere to be seen.

 

“Does it recognize our presence?”

 

Since he couldn’t know what happened after disappearing, he couldn’t approach carelessly.

 

While Ziel’s contemplation deepened, Gilbert became anxious instead.

 

‘Has Boss ever pondered this long before?’

 

Never.

 

Usually, he would make a judgment in a few seconds at most and move swiftly.

 

But for his contemplation to be this prolonged…

 

‘Does it mean the situation is that serious?’

 

Gilbert cautiously offered his opinion.

 

“Um, Boss. Since it seems to be magic or secret arts, how about waiting for support?”

 

“No. There’s no need for that.”

 

“You seem to be pondering a lot…”

 

“I wasn’t pondering, I was thinking.”

 

“Isn’t that the same…”

 

“I was pondering about scientific principles.”

 

Scientific principles?

 

“Sound is one of the results of waves.”

 

“Is… that so?”

 

“What’s transmitted inside there are mana waves. Though the type is different, it’s essentially the result of vibrating a medium.”

 

“Is… that so?”

 

He couldn’t understand what he was saying at all.

 

‘What kind of book has he been reading lately?’

 

“The method to stop those waves is simple. You just need to solidify the medium.”

 

“Boss. Sorry, but I don’t know much about science.”

 

“I do.”

 

“Ah.”

 

‘Wait.’

 

Gilbert recalled the practical training.

 

The students had worked themselves to death in the so-called ‘Silent Zone.’

 

Gilbert had thought it was Emeric’s magic.

 

Since magic is mysterious.

 

“Then shall we call Professor Emeric?”

 

“Why would we call him?”

 

“He created the Silent Zone during training, didn’t he?”

 

Ziel tilted his head.

 

“Professor Emeric Kent did that?”

 

“No?”

 

“I did it.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“So I’m going to do it now.”

 

As a result of accepting the Imperial Family’s mana and making it his own, he gained the power to create a Silent Zone around where he stepped.

 

Ziel thought this wasn’t simply due to some mysterious force at work.

 

‘Sound is the result of waves. This power seems to completely block sound, but…’

 

Ziel thought there must be some fundamental mechanism behind this power.

 

So he decided to test it.

 

Thump!

 

The moment he made his decision, he stepped down—

 

‘My goodness.’

 

Gilbert unconsciously let out an exclamation, but that sound didn’t leak outside.

 

The surrounding sounds completely disappeared.

 

This feeling was like being submerged in darkness.

 

The sound of Boss walking, the bird sounds that had been audible, the rustling of leaves in the wind, even heartbeat sounds—all vanished.

 

And he saw it.

 

‘His pupils?’

 

Boss’s pupils… were golden.

 

‘The, the, the rumors about hidden Imperial Family bloodline were really… true?’

 

But the surprise was just beginning.

 

Ziel took out a dagger from his chest and threw it.

 

Nothing happened.

 

No light burst forth, nor did the trees swallow the dagger.

 

The dagger simply pierced through the bark and embedded itself.

 

‘Confirmed.’

 

With this, Ziel discovered that his power blocked something fundamental rather than just sound.

 

Sound is the result of waves.

 

Then…

 

‘Does it restrict the waves themselves?’

 

It was worth demonstrating in more detail.

 

However, not right now.

 

Shing.

 

Ziel drew his sword.

 

A sword newly forged with Ether River—the only one of its kind in the world.

 

An incredibly rare sword so sharp it could cut and slice through anything it touched!

 

Of course, Gilbert had no idea that was made from Ether River, or that it was a sword received for winning the General Division.

 

‘Is he going to cut the trees?’

 

The moment he thought, surely he’s not going to cut it whole?

 

Ziel drew up his mana and—

 

‘Crazy!’

 

He swung his sword toward the trees.

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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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