Special Force 3

I picked up one of the pictures that was attached to the bookshelf and examined it. It was thin and lacked any kind of frame.

However, judging by the thin coating on its surface, it seemed to have been treated with some kind of magic, much like a modern photograph.

But that wasn’t important.

‘…Who is this?’

The photorealistic image showed a woman dressed in fine clothing. She wasn’t a once-in-a-generation beauty, but her bright smile made her instantly appealing.

What stood out the most was that she possessed black hair and black eyes, a combination rarely seen in this world.

“For some reason, she looks familiar…”

It felt like a face I had seen many times before.

After staring at the drawing for a while, overcome by an inexplicable sense of déjà vu, I looked at another drawing of her wearing form-fitting clothes and finally realised why.

“…She looks exactly like Ragna.”

Black hair and black eyes.

Aside from her hair and eye colour, her facial structure and features were remarkably similar to Ragna’s.

‘Then… is this woman Ragna’s biological mother?’

There wasn’t any definitive physical evidence, but it was a reasonable suspicion to have in this situation. I mean, think about it. Ragna’s middle name, Litaniel, belongs to the nanny who raised her, not her biological mother.

[What about your mother? Do you know what happened to her?]

[I heard she passed away the day I was born.]

Ragna was also the marquiss’s illegitimate child.

And here, in the marquiss’s secret study, was a woman who looked exactly like her.

“If he went as far as making a room like this… he must have truly loved Ragna’s mother…”

After taking one more look at the pictures that filled the room, I looked away and searched the rest of the room.

Aside from writing tools, there was nothing to see on the desk, so I focused on the bookshelf…

[Royal Council Meeting 17–18]
[Explorer Status Report, Year 02]
[11th Racial Council Meeting]

[Year 117 Labyrinth Progress Plan Draft IV]

[217th Dimensional Collapse…]
[…]

What were these books?

At a glance, they clearly did not look like ordinary publications. When I actually opened them, they didn’t feel like books intended for publication but rather official records.

The meeting records were filled cover to cover with who said what, and the plans and reports followed the format of field workers submitting documents to their superiors.

“But why would the marquis keep things like this here?”

I had no idea, but as I flipped through them, I noticed several sections that had been underlined.

For example, in the 11th Racial Council Meet:

[Before the majesty of the Undying King, the leaders of every race prostrated themselves and made their declaration.]

And in the Year 117 Labyrinth Progress Plan Draft IV

Another passage was underlined in the Year 117 Labyrinth Progress Plan, Draft IV.

[Given that the current growth rate of explorers is far steeper than anticipated, the Labyrinth Administration believes it is necessary to prepare alternative countermeasures.]

“Hm…”

As I flipped through the pages, focusing only on the underlined sections, I noticed a set of small books tucked into a compartment at the bottom of the bookshelf connected to the table.

‘…Are these diaries?’

Unlike the books I’d seen so far, these were much smaller and far more numerous. Most importantly, each one had a year written on it.

“If these really are diaries, that’s huge…”
With a flutter of excitement, I pulled out the diary with the earliest year and opened it.

But, what in the world is this?

“……?”

Even though the first page was densely packed with characters, I could not read a single word.

It wasn’t just a matter of bad handwriting.

‘This is neither Raphdonia’s language nor an ancient script…’

I had never seen these characters before.

It isn’t Korean or English either.

What kind of script was this?

As I was pondering this, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

“Ah, could this be some kind of cipher?”

Just as modern nations used codes and ciphers during World War II, it seemed possible that certain individuals within the Raphdonian Army possessed a secret code of their own.

“I’ll take it for now.”

I decided to decipher it later when I had time and quickly stored the diaries in my subspace bag.

Then—

“Looks like there’s nothing else.”

After confirming that there was nothing more to collect, I approached the only framed picture in the room.

A woman’s name was written beneath it.

[Meirin Huenbenia —————.]

For some reason, the surname had been scratched out with a sharp object. making it unreadable. Below the name were numbers that I presumed to be her date of birth and death.

And then—

‘What is this symbol?’

In the bottom left-hand corner of the picture was a symbol resembling the Taegeuk on the South Korean flag: a circle divided into red and blue halves.

‘Don’t tell me the marquess is an evil spirit too?’

The thought crossed my mind, but I quickly dismissed. The colors might have matched, but the design was clearly different from the taeguk symbol I knew.

“Phew…”

Anyway, it seemed like I had seen everything there was to see.

Just as I turned around, thinking it was time to leave—

Boom!

What was that sound?

Had the Marquiss already sent a military unit after hearing about this?

I did not know, but one thing was certain.

“Aaaah!”

A scream.

The fact that I heard a scream meant something had gone wrong upstairs.

Stomp, stomp, stomp—!

Thud-thud-thud-thud-!

I hurried out of the secret space and ran up the stairs.

And then…

Thud-!

The moment I kicked off the last step. I could see about a dozen figures facing off against the Special Forces members, who had their backs to the secret space, and to my surprise, I recognised several of them.

“I’d been wondering where it went wrong.”

A man stared at me with indifferent eyes and spoke in a flat tone.

“It’s Bjorn Jandel again.”

The vice-commander of Orcules. Demon Eye, Roland Banozant.

“It’s really amazing. How did you find out we were hiding here, Oppa?”

Standing beside him was another member of Orcules—the Shrieking Witch, Lyranne Vivian.

“This is troublesome.”

Last was someone standing awkwardly above them. A former member of the Round Table.

“Heehee…”

The Corpse Collector, Abet Nekrafeto.

‘Looks like the others are Orcules members too…’

Even though I was the one who ordered the marquis’s mansion torn apart under the pretense of searching for hidden Noarkans, I couldn’t hide my surprise.

‘What the hell? Why are these bastards here?’

This actually worked?
***

The standoff eased slightly with my appearance.

“Ahhhh…”

Apart from the scream of one of our members, who had lost an arm while I was downstairs, it was too quiet.

“Raven.”

As I murmured her name, she swiftly explained the situation.

“While you were gone, we searched the room and found a concealed gap in the floor. When we opened it, they came out of their hiding place.”

So that’s what happened…

I finished piecing together the timeline of events that had unfolded while I was away, yet I still couldn’t make complete sense of it.

I’d thought the most I’d gain from this would be a ‘legal’ raid on the Marquis’s mansion. I never expected to actually find them there.

Well, they seem equally flustered, though.

‘Randolph, didn’t you say the Marquis’s estate would be safe from searches?’

 

When the vice-commander spoke in a scolding tone, the man with glasses gave an awkward smile as he scratched the back of his head.

“Hahaha… Yes, indeed. According to my calculations, the probability of this situation occurring was zero percent…”

Zero percent, my ass.

Wha, what do you mean 0%? Isn’t he old enough to know that odds like that don’t exist?”

While I was thinking that—

“This means…”

The vice-commander shifted his gaze from us to his own allies, murderous intent leaking from his eyes.

“There must have been an internal leak.”

Uh… I guess that made sense?

“Only death awaits traitors.”

Though the situation felt absurd, having survived countless crises through improvisation, I suddenly saw an opening. The words flew out of my mouth before I could finish organising my thoughts.

“Well then, what will you do, Nekrafeto?”

“…Pssit?”

“Come over here quickly. From now on, we’ll protect you.”

At first, he clearly had no idea what I was saying.

But —

“You really gave us the correct information.Thanks to you, we were able to find them. With this merit, you might even receive a new identity in the city—”

As I continued speaking..

“W-w-w-w-what are you talking about?!”

Only then did he grasp the situation and begin frantically waving his hands.

“N-no! I didn’t—! Vice-Commander! He’s just spouting nonsense! You wouldn’t believe that, would you? The Demon Eye, which can see through all truth and lies?”

When the vice-commander didn’t respond, he became even more desperate.

“T-that guy is someone I’d happily tear apart several times over! R-right? Y-you don’t really believe him, do you…?”

“…Of course I don’t.”

“Haaah…”

“But seeing how flustered you are, it does makes me wonder.”

There was too much truth woven into that statement for it to be dismissed as empty words.

“Yes, unless someone leaked information, this situation is inexplicable.” said Glasses, who stood beside the vice-captain.

And then—

“Just so you know, I have absolutely no connection to Mr. Nekrafeto.”

Even Vivian, who usually called him ‘oppa,’ cleanly drew the line.

Nekrafeto looked like he was about to go insane.

He looked so wronged he might die from it.

Of course, that was none of my concern.

‘Well, you should have lived a better life.’

This would never happen to me. Honestly. If the Noarkans had said the same things I did, would any of my allies have even blinked?

“What are you doing? Come here quickly.”

“W-why would I go there?”

“Why are you acting like this? There’s no need to hide it anymore.”

“I told you to stop talking nonsense!”

“Ah, is it because you feel guilty about betraying your comrades in front of them?”

“This… how dare you!”

 

Frustrated by the relentless pressure, hhe stepped forward as if ready to attack me.

But I didn’t even need to lift a finger. Someone had already stepped up first.

It was Glasses, who was standing beside the vice-captain. He moved swiftly and blocked his path.

“…Huh?”

Nekrafeto looked genuinely startled as his own ally cut him off.

Glasses spoke in a calm, formal voice.

“Please refrain from sudden actions. Acting like this may naturally appear as an attempt to defect.”

“N-no, that’s not it. I only stepped forward because—”

“If you intended to fight, there would be even less reason for you to approach the enemy.”

“I-I wasn’t trying to fight, it’s just—”

“Oh? So you had no intention of fighting?”

“No, that’s not what I meant either—”

“Vice-Commander?”

When glasses asked for his opinion, the vice-commander nodded seriously.

“I think it’s best we keep the suspect at the back and settle the fight afterwards. Make sure he can’t try anything.”

“You heard him. So please come with us peacefully.”

“N-no, what did I even do wrong?!”

“Yeah, yeah. You can explain it later. Just come over here. It’s not like anything will go wrong just because you can’t fight, right?”

Okay, so that’s one down for now.

 

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