On My First Day Undercover, the Organization Collapsed - Chapter 341

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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First Day of Infiltration, The Organization Was Destroyed — Episode 341
Sun God, Hear Us (2)
The 50th District.
A place abandoned by the Imperial Family, the Nobles, Common Citizens, and the poor alike.
Once, it had naturally been inhabited.
Beyond District 40 was never exclusively the domain of the poor either.
But as time passed, the destitute were steadily pushed toward the periphery, and at the outermost edge where they dwelt, traces of their existence remained.
That place was the 50th District.
It had likely been so for over a century.
Garbage accumulated and piled up until the land became so hostile that even those living there had to abandon it.
The Imperial Family was aware of the problem but could not address it.
It had grown too large.
Yet it had its uses.
Sometimes they would issue expulsion orders to this place, or dispose of corpses from execution sites.
Those too poor to afford cremation would dump their dead here.
Such was the 50th District.
‘So in exchange, it had become a good place to hide?’
But how?
Gilbert could not fathom the method no matter how he thought about it.
How could such a number of people gather among these garbage heaps, conspire together, and scheme?
And not at something trivial—but leaking items from an organization called Black Sky and supplying them to a trading company named Berterra?
Perhaps this was only the surface.
A true ‘purpose’ behind such work must surely exist.
It was then that Gilbert reached for his waist.
“We do not engage them.”
“Sir?”
“If we eliminate all of them, tracking becomes problematic.”
“Ah.”
“We will handle them later. For now, we use this situation.”
Gilbert quickly grasped it.
But how, while surrounded like this?
“Still, won’t we be discovered?”
“Wait.”
The Illusion Stone.
And the Phase Mirror.
Ziel, who possessed both, had one more magical artifact—or rather, an object so wondrous it seemed a shame to call it merely a ‘magical artifact.’
Rustle.
“It was definitely this direction, wasn’t it?”
“Concentrate your mana more. You said the response definitely vanished from this area.”
Wavering torches were drawing near.
There were also spheres of light conjured by magic.
But all that light vanished in an instant.
“What?”
“An enemy incursion!”
In a heartbeat, all around them was steeped in darkness.
Complete absorption of all light within a certain area.
That was precisely the ability possessed by Ziel’s Polar Night Dagger.
The Polar Night Dagger, deployed after so long!
‘Remarkable.’
It had been surprising even when deceiving the Robson Family, and the more he witnessed it, the more astounding it proved.
Centered on Ziel, it absorbed all light completely and transformed the surroundings into utter darkness.
Even the moonlight descending from the sky was entirely consumed and made his own.
In other words, the darkness moved along with Ziel’s movements.
“We move. Stay close at my back.”
“Yes.”
Ziel and Gilbert secured the man whose name they did not yet know.
Naturally, they gagged his mouth and numbed his body to prevent any disturbance during the escape.
There would be no risk of the moving darkness being detected.
Ziel had now drawn upon the Polar Night Breathing Technique with great strength after so long, creating a darkness that enveloped this entire 50th District.
It was an extraordinary power, and only Ziel could accomplish it.
“I can’t see anything!”
“Curse it, why won’t it activate!”
“Torches—bring new torches!”
It was not a matter of activation failure.
There was nothing wrong with the torches.
All light had simply been absorbed by the Polar Night Dagger.
Darkness.
Not merely dim, but perfect darkness where one could not even discern shapes.
Even someone with keen night vision could not move recklessly in such blackness where not even silhouettes were visible.
And this was the 50th District, overflowing with garbage.
Fear naturally followed.
Misunderstanding as well.
“Could they be… a high-tier mage?”
Coincidentally, high-tier magic possessed enough power to project its effects across exceptionally broad areas.
Especially in circumstances like this.
With over fifty people present, yet not a single one could see even an inch in any direction!
Which meant—
“Blast it, don’t move recklessly! All of you, gather your mana as much as possible and stand ready!”
A high-tier mage might be involved.
The Polar Night Dagger.
Its existence itself was known, but only one person understood its true power.
Ziel alone.
Therefore, such behavior on their part was not unreasonable.
“What kind of mage could this be…”
“Could the Imperial Family have caught on?”
“No, that’s impossible. There’s no reason their attention would turn this way…!”
As Ziel shifted position, he carefully examined the mana released by the enemies who had appeared in the 50th District.
Now that he observed more closely, something seemed different.
He had felt something foreign when removing the magical inscriptions from the man’s body earlier.
“Their power is distinctly different.”
“All of us who follow Solaris Church have received ‘divine grace.'”
Words primarily used in religious contexts.
The Valdrain Empire was not a place where religious influence ran deep.
There were clergy and temples, but they existed in name only.
Without patronage from the Nobles, they scraped by on their own means, and most small temples existed in the slums beyond District 40.
“Are you a religious organization?”
“Y-yes, we are. Our leader is actually called a Bishop, but we use the title ‘Chief’ to avoid unnecessary speculation from outside.”
Information gradually surfacing.
Gilbert seemed equally surprised, having anticipated nothing of the sort.
“A religious organization… this is completely unexpected.”
“Hmm.”
“I’ve heard the Empire heavily persecuted them in its early days…”
Such history existed.
The Empire’s authority was divided between the Imperial Family and the Nobles, and deeper still lay the struggles between the Imperial Throne, Knights, and Mages.
Normally, in most great nations, one additional force must exist at that level.
Religion.
But Valdrain had none.
“I read it in history books myself. I even heard it played a significant role in the Empire’s founding.”
That was centuries ago.
Since then, religion in the Valdrain Empire had merely clung to survival, living obscurely among the poor.
It had never played a central role in the Empire’s history.
“Is your organization then the Imperial Faith?”
The name of the religious order that had been persecuted nearly to extinction.
“That is our past name. Now we are called Solaris.”
Solaris.
A name that seemed entirely at odds with a sphere of activity in the garbage-filled 50th District.
“We worship the Sun God spoken of by our Bishop. We await the radiance that will one day arrive.”
Ziel nodded matter-of-factly.
“I see.”
“Might you be… interested?”
“No. I am not interested.”
Gilbert exhaled with relief.
For a moment, he wondered if the Boss might ultimately become a religious leader.
Though admittedly, he possessed more than enough power for such a thing.
“What is your group’s purpose?”
“The downfall of this Empire.”
“So you seize the opportunity of Black Sky’s destruction to gather and leak their possessions?”
“Yes. To secure funding for ourselves…”
Ziel’s questioning was nearing its end.
“How have you managed to survive in this place?”
It was the most crucial question.
They were surely not composed solely of high-tier mages like Zephyros, capable of traversing alternate spaces.
“When persecution began and the Empire’s subjugation continued… I heard that a small group of the faithful fled underground.”
“That was how it started, then.”
“Yes. In the early days of our founding, we established ourselves here where we would draw the least attention, but when the Empire sought to suppress us further, we retreated entirely underground, or so I was told…”
Living underground was considerably difficult, though not impossible.
But judging by the scale, there must be at least hundreds.
That so many could dwell in the underground beneath an area equivalent to the 50th District was only possible because time had accumulated, layer upon layer.
“So you exist beneath here, then.”
“Yes…”
“Total numbers?”
“Approximately 300.”
The man paused mid-answer, tensing.
“C-could it be that you intend to persecute us as well?”
“Why would I?”
Relief was short-lived.
“Whatever you may have suffered in the past, whatever purpose you were founded upon—I care not. Only that your work interferes with my objectives.”
“…”
Was that… not the case?
“I will be entering your underground facility.”
Ziel harbored no interest in religion.
In truth, it mattered not who the opponent was.
Fanatic cult or religious order bent on imperial overthrow—it was all the same.
The reason he pursued now was simple.
They posed a potential threat.
Everything from Black Sky must disappear.
Unremarkable daggers mattered little, but magical artifacts that could no longer be produced, or powerful weapons—those were another matter entirely.
“Master, we might die.”
At the man’s words, Ziel shook his head.
“I sense no force down there that would threaten me.”
Ziel had immediately extended his mana downward to sense what lay below upon hearing of the underground settlement.
As he said, slightly fewer than 200 people were gathered in the depths below.
About 50 were outside.
Which meant roughly 50 more were stationed elsewhere.
“This Bishop fellow must be inside.”
Ziel reached his conclusion.
“We enter through that passage.”
“What of this one?”
“We bury him in the garbage and conceal him. Ensure he is not discovered.”
A small sound.
Immediately upon finishing, Ziel sealed the man’s mouth again and skillfully felt through the garbage heaps in the darkness, concealing him away.
“You can still see, sir?”
“No. I simply hid him roughly.”
“…”
“They cannot see ahead for some time anyway.”
“But how…”
“Close your eyes.”
The moment Ziel spoke, Gilbert reflexively shut his eyes tight!
And a scene he had witnessed only once before came to mind.
‘Surely not…’
Though he could not explain the exact mechanism, the Boss possessed something that absorbed and released light.
Which meant…
The light sources these dozens used for searching—the torches—the magic-conjured illumination, and even the continuously fading moonlight.
All that absorbed light would burst forth in a single instant.
And—
Burst!
In a heartbeat, not just the 50th District but more than half the Capital beyond it was flooded with brilliant daylight from a tremendous explosion of brilliance.
“Gaaaahhhhh!”
“Uuuaaahhhh!”
“My eyes, my eeeeyes!”
The light was so intense that even with Gilbert’s eyes squeezed shut as tightly as possible, they burned.
‘This exceeds even high-tier magic…’
While lacking physical destructive force, if used against an incoming enemy army on a battlefield, it would be tantamount to victory!
There seemed to be nothing now that could stand against the Boss, even in darkness.
‘He really is like a Dark Ghost.’
“We move.”
“Yes.”
Ziel and Gilbert threw themselves into the passage that the man whose name they did not know had been trying to enter.
The remaining men in the 50th District merely writhed in agony.
“I can’t see! My eyes!”
“Enemy intrusion, enemy intrusion! Prepare! All of you maintain your mana!”
Chaos beyond measure.
Yet among the commotion, someone was muttering thus:
“Sun God, have you at last come to find us… Oh…”

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