On My First Day Undercover, the Organization Collapsed - Chapter 419

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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 — Chapter 419
In return, a debt must be repaid.
An unexpected emergency swept through the Western Region.
Ziel Steelheart!
His Steelheart Family had finally been restored to favor, recovering their territory and beginning its reconstruction and prosperity.
It was only natural that each family rushed forth to deliver their gifts.
Once they had presented their gifts, the families breathed a sigh of relief.
For it was obvious that the Steelheart Family would exercise tremendous influence in the Western Region and rise to become one of the Great Families!
But that was not all.
Upon his return, he swept away Rob O’Connor’s bandit gang in a single stroke, proving his renown as a hero of the Empire.
And he even took them on as his workers.
Then, news of the Rim Family’s downfall reached the Western Region, and every family there shuddered.
All of this had unfolded in merely three days since Ziel returned to the Steelheart Territory.
And now.
Letters sent by Ziel had arrived at each family.
“Head Butler, what is this?”
“It is a letter from the Steelheart Family announcing the subjugation of magical beasts in the Western Region.”
Monster subjugation.
A noble undertaking.
They say he subjugated a total of five hundred and four magical beasts.
The letter detailed which beasts were subjugated and how.
“……All of them sliced down with the sword?”
There were mentions of some being disposed of with his bare fists, but even the high-risk magical beasts were all cut down with the sword, or so it was claimed.
Beasts that normally required mages to combat!
‘Truly, that is Ziel Steelheart.’
Writing history the moment he arrives.
As if disposing of the bandits wasn’t enough, now he’s cleaning up magical beasts as well.
Up to this point, all was well.
—and thus having provided great benefit to the Western Region, we look forward to a fitting recompense from the families thereof.
A moment of silence fell over those reading the passage near the letter’s end.
‘Recompense?’
What political meaning lay behind this?
Was he establishing dominance over the Western families from the start?
Or was it simply a natural request?
“This… surely we’re not the only family to receive it?”
“Upon inquiry, it appears he sent it to every family in the Western Region.”
“…….”
The other party was Ziel Steelheart!
There was clearly intent behind this.
One had to think carefully and choose wisely.
It was crystal clear who would become a wielder of imperial power in the days to come!
‘Ah, so that was it.’
Now I understand his intention.
The Steelheart Family, having only just been restored, would surely need many things.
But unable to ask outright without losing face, he was deftly using the pretext of monster subjugation to request materials necessary for reconstruction.
“Send a reply. Make preparations.”
“Yes, Family Head.”
After a moment’s consideration, the answer had come.
‘This justification will do nicely.’
If the other side came with a pretext, then this side must also present one!
“We should prepare a gift in celebration of the Steelheart Family’s return to the Western Region and the spreading of their name.”
What was happening in one Western family was occurring identically in countless others.
And so, now, in the Steelheart Territory.
“When did our territory become the Imperial Palace? Why do these carts just keep coming and coming…….”
“Isn’t it because our Family Head is a famous hero of the Empire? That’s why all these gifts are arriving, isn’t it?”
“They’re coming in like tribute to the imperial court.”
The territorial residents stood dazed and vacant-eyed as an endless procession of carts stretched on without end.
The procession was not limited to a single location; these were carts sent from various families throughout the Western Region.
Materials, books, weapons—everything essential for territorial reconstruction was arriving as Ziel had requested, and alongside these came ‘congratulatory gifts.’
“Boss, it seems good things come from doing what helps the Western Region.”
“Our… our wealth.”
Piled high on one side of the Steelheart Family Mansion grounds, where carts rolled in one after another, were byproducts separated from the corpses of magical beasts.
Among them were Ruinbark shells—the very same ones Ziel’s students had encountered before—stacked like mountains.
The high-risk magical beast that had fallen to Ziel’s Single Strike and become armor for his students.
Which meant the carts now arriving were the spoils of that monster subjugation.
“The Western Families truly have good hearts. When I request gifts, they send them right away like this.”
Ziel’s intention was genuinely pure.
Since he’d done good work on behalf of the other families, he was simply asking for compensation!
The reward system he’d learned from the previous bandit suppression pleased him greatly.
Gilbert, however, was misunderstanding again.
‘So this is the pretext to groom the Western Families in advance!’
In truth, Ziel had no interest in domination or governance.
He sought only a stable position.
Which meant this was just the beginning.
“Boss!”
Zephyros arrived at that moment.
Teo, visible behind him, looked completely exhausted.
“You’re here.”
“Of course I am! You said there was something fun to do, so I came running!”
Something fun.
That was the expression Gilbert had used in his letter.
“Yes. There is something fun.”
“What is it? Tell me!”
“Move the mansion.”
“Move the mansion! Understood!”
Zephyros genuinely lit up.
Without even hearing what the situation was or which mansion needed moving!
“Move the mansion—now that’s incredibly fun! Isn’t it, Gilbert?”
“…There’s probably no one but you who would react that way to hearing it.”
“Ah, you don’t yet know that joy. Moving a mansion, whether small or large!”
“I’d prefer to never know.”
Gilbert, turning away from Zephyros’s gleaming eyes, had just discovered another person equally mad.
“That one’s been doing this with his fists all day ever since returning from the monster subjugation…”
Bang, bang!
Kelvin, creating holes all over the place under the pretense of compacting the ground!
“T-training! Training!”
Even if he kept saying the secret arts were outside his purview, nothing to envy—seeing him like this proved he truly wasn’t in his right mind.
“All of them are out of their minds.”
There was one more person who seemed fine when they left but grew stranger the longer they stayed.
“Chef Teo, the territory residents need proper meals. They require nutritional support.”
“Then I’ve arrived at exactly the right time, sir!”
His gleaming eyes would have been fine.
“If you need manpower, use these people.”
“Who?”
“The former bandit gang members here.”
Teo asked.
“So… do I have subordinates now?”
“Yes. The existing kitchen assistant Zephyros will be needed elsewhere for a while.”
“Thank you, sir!”
Teo then began working the bandit gang members in a manner Gilbert had never seen before.
“Listen up, you bastards! Hold your knives right. You there! The one with slop running down your face! Wash that mug first! And you. You. You! Cook that meat again. Does that look cooked? It looks like it’s about to stand up! You there! The bald-headed one, get over here and start peeling shells!”
Gilbert muttered at the violent scene, dumbfounded.
“He was never like this before…”
People who work in the kitchen are never good-natured, they say, but Chef Teo, who always wore such a kind expression while cooking—to think he’d be like this!
“I’m the only one who’s sane.”
Gilbert felt a peculiar sense of pride.
“Gilbert. Is there anything else worth receiving more gifts for?”
Ziel, asking just then, got a quick response from Gilbert.
“Of course. For one, clearing the main roads between the Western Families would be good, and there are still fourteen more areas that need monster subjugation. And I made some inquiries among the territory residents—apparently not just the Rim Family but several other families have come and plundered them. It’s on a small scale, but I thought it shouldn’t be left alone, so I’ve already written down a list. And furthermore…”
Gilbert, who had been rattling on for a while, drew his conclusion.
“There’s still plenty we can develop, Boss.”
Ziel accepted the handwritten list and tasks with a satisfied nod.
“Well done. The Territory will advance further.”
“I’ll push for even greater development! Should I summon all the Western Families?”
“That’s a sound strategy, but reconstruction takes priority now. Such a move would be inefficient.”
“Of course! Your thinking is always profound, Boss. I’ll deepen my own.”
“Do so.”
Kelvin, observing the exchange, muttered to himself.
“That guy’s abnormal too.”
* * *
The relocation of the Rim Family Mansion had begun.
It was a literal description.
“……This was the mansion?”
“It was.”
“You’ve given me quite the challenge to ignite my competitive spirit!”
Zephyros immediately set to work on the mansion’s relocation. Rolt Rim, the Family Head, and his household staff stared in disbelief.
“He’s actually going to move it……?”
“How can you relocate a mansion……?”
They still couldn’t grasp what was happening.
And with reason.
Slicing an entire mansion in half with a sword was one thing—just barely conceivable.
One could stretch and accept that much.
But moving the whole structure elsewhere?
‘It’ll certainly be destroyed in the process of moving it!’
All valuables inside had been removed beforehand.
Everyone had naturally evacuated as well.
Even though their home was disappearing, they had no choice but to leave when told to vacate.
Meanwhile, Zephyros examined every corner of the mansion and calculated precise measurements before finally reaching his conclusion.
“First, using the severed cross-section as reference, I’ll calculate the residual stress of the foundation and the rebound force of the bedrock, binding the entire structure into a single closed magical circuit. Since eccentricity emerges when the load center and the mana center misalign, I’ll need to anchor approximately eight auxiliary spell axes to counteract the moment.”
Auxiliary what?
Counteract?
“Next, rather than treating the columns, beams, and walls inside the building as separate structural elements, I’ll manage them as a single continuum by applying a topological fixation formula. In simpler terms, I’m forcibly making the entire mansion recognize: ‘You are now one.'”
“I see.”
“As expected, I knew you’d understand, Boss!”
“No. I didn’t understand.”
“Huh?”
“Just move it. By whatever method works.”
“Understood. By the way, this method will require some Magic Stones. The mana consumption appears to be quite substantial.”
“Here.”
Zephyros’s complex explanation became reality moments later.
Whooooom.
Unlimited mana supply.
Zephyros’s genius.
Combined, the two lifted the mansion into the air.
The watching crowd’s jaws fell open.
“Good, good. Let’s fix the altitude here…….”
The sight of the massive Rim Family Mansion drifting through the air was surreal.
Even if this were the Imperial Palace itself, teeming with mages as it was, the spectacle would have stirred no less awe.
That something so enormous and heavy could be lifted!
Only then did Rolt truly comprehend.
‘Resist the Steelheart Family, and you die.’
Here was the Family Head who cleaved a mansion in two with a single stroke, and a subordinate mage who lifted the entire structure into the air.
Rumor had it his subordinates were all monsters in their own right.
‘And I hear there’s even a chef among them…….’
That chef surely harbored tremendous hidden strength!
Rolt made his decision.
At this moment.
The Rim Family was effectively finished.
Other Great Families were already turning their backs.
Then—
“Ziel Steelheart, Family Head!”
To save the family, what needs doing is this—right now!
“If there is anything our Rim Family must do, please command us at any time!”
Rolt Rim was a Family Head.
A Family Head must answer for his family.
At least until his final breath!
The man bowing his head felt something other than shame.
It was desperation.
‘Damn it, there’s no turning back now.’
To crumble ignominiously into mockery, a family without even a mansion to its name.
Or to bow before the one who had stripped him of everything and secure his family’s future.
As a Family Head, the choice was obvious.
His household and the servants who had not yet fled the territory were watching, but reputation meant nothing now.
‘We have to survive.’
If this continued, the Rim Family would be destroyed.
The territory’s people would leave one by one, and a territory without its people was no more than a walking corpse.
This was the choice he had made.
‘Please.’
And Ziel remained an efficient man.
“I understand. I’ll tell you now.”
“Yes?”
“Dispatch your family’s personnel to my house immediately.”
“……I accept!”
There was no reason to refuse an offer made so readily.
Rolt Rim, startled by the acceptance without hesitation, faltered and added,
“And…… I would like to apologize for what our family has done to the Steelheart Family.”
“I understand.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You’ve already paid the price in coin, goods, and this mansion.”
“……!”
In the world of nobles, a simple one-to-one exchange of losses does not settle all debts.
Sometimes one torments relentlessly, refusing to release the other until complete ruin.
So that remark meant…….
‘He’s saying we can put the past behind us!’
Splash.
More and more people were growing to misunderstand Ziel lately.
Ziel was simply an efficient man, nothing more.
“Our family will support the Steelheart Family with all our strength, as penance!”
“See that you do.”
“And, if it pleases you, might we request assistance in rebuilding our mansion……?”
Shameless, but necessary words!
Ziel regarded Rolt with a long, measured look.
Rolt hastily waved his hand.
“I’ve spoken out of turn, I fear…….”
“Build it. I have no objection.”
“M-much obliged!”
“If you need coin, materials, and labor, I’ll lend them to you.”
“Family Head…….”
“But you will repay them. With interest.”
…….
Ziel was an efficient man.
And his subordinates kept growing in number.
Ziel gazed at the mansion floating above the ground.
‘Once we arrive at the territory, I’ll tear it down and sort through what materials are worth keeping.’
Had Zephyros heard that thought, he would have wept.

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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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