The Intelligence Organization (2)
Ever since Kalisa had told him about the abilities of the witches, one thing had been stuck in Aiden’s mind.
‘The NIS!’
Or the FBI, MI6, Mossad—whatever you want to call them.
He had briefly hesitated, wondering if it was sacrilegious to entrust espionage missions to priests who served a goddess. But then he decided to follow the logic of spy movies, where priests frequently appeared as secret agents anyway. He figured he was just following historical precedent.
‘Besides, every spy worth their salt has a cover job, right?’
He wasn't exactly an expert on genre fiction, but even in martial arts novels, the Beggar Sect—the premier intelligence organization—had the job of being, well, beggars. And the Hao Sect had members working as innkeepers or courtesans. They all had respectable(?) day jobs.
‘So, a priest pulling a double shift as an agent is perfectly plausible.’
Aiden preferred to have a big picture in mind before starting anything, rather than just winging it. However, he couldn't deny that he was pushing this particular project forward with a sense of urgency.
The biggest reason for his impatience was that as the North grew, Aiden had begun to feel a desperate hunger for information. In the beginning, they had been so bogged down by financial, demographic, technical, and political issues that they barely had the bandwidth to manage their own territory, let alone worry about external powers. Whatever happened, it was happening in their own backyard; there was no need to think about outsiders.
“But the situation has changed now.”
Even the small, humble projects they started were beginning to stir the neighboring territories. Take the recent fraud incident, for example. When he opened a stock exchange to provide an investment outlet for those who had money sitting idle in the North, it attracted professional con artists who had been roaming other regions, fleecing nobles for their blind money.
‘We’ve reached a stage where we can no longer think only about the North when it comes to Northern affairs.’
Information is power. That was an absolute truth that needed no further explanation. But he had to be realistic.
“With the strength of the North alone, we cannot maintain a proper intelligence organization.”
“Hmm….”
“But surely, the North is strong enough to…”
The elders of Argenta tried to object to Aiden’s words, but they couldn't find the right thing to say. They were people who had spent their entire lives wandering the Empire. They knew the power of information better than anyone, but they also knew exactly how much effort it took to operate a functional intelligence network.
‘It’s true the North has grown quite a bit, but…’
‘Handling information from multiple regions is still too much for us.’
Kalisa, understanding what Aiden was getting at, gave a small nod.
“Is that why you intend to join hands with Countess Messiane?”
“Yes.”
A simple, dry affirmation. A faint smile played on Aiden’s cool, handsome face, and a few of the elders who were seeing him up close for the first time gulped nervously.
“Countess Messiane already possesses her own intelligence network.”
“It was a necessity for her own survival.”
“However, there is something more important than merely gathering a large volume of information.”
“And what is that?”
“The filtering of information.”
“……?”
“!”
Most of them tilted their heads, still seemingly confused, but a few, including Kalisa, widened their eyes as if they had instantly grasped the point.
“Even if you gather every last bit of secret information, what matters is the ability to discern the truth from the lies.”
“…That sounds like no easy task.”
“Of course not.”
This world was different from his previous life, where everything was digitized. ‘Back then, everything from credit card usage to phone records and PC search histories was computerized. This is definitely different.’
Since most evidence here was oral testimony passed from person to person, there was no way to know where the truth ended and the contamination began. Even if information remained in document form, how could one trust the authenticity of those papers?
‘No matter how hard you try with handwriting analysis or whatever, there are always people who can mimic it.’
According to Roland, there wasn't a single high-ranking noble family in the capital that didn't operate its own intelligence network.
— *Though, the problem is that almost none of them have any real nutritional value.*
He said that gathering information wasn't that difficult if you just kept infiltrating low-level servants who weren't even called by their proper names. Since many of the high-and-mighty didn't even wash their own faces, they always needed a surplus of servants. The only problem was that once you were caught, you weren't getting out in one piece, but Roland had sighed and noted that in this world, a human life was worth less than the monster byproducts of the same weight, so that wasn't really a consideration.
“Countess Messiane must have felt the limits of that kind of brute-force information gathering.”
“True. The Empire alone would have been enough to burst her organization at the seams, and she is someone who has to handle information from two empires.”
“Exactly.”
“Then, do our brothers and sisters just need to help her?”
“Think of it as a sort of dispatched service.”
“Dispatched…?”
“Yes. I intend to demand that she build a temple dedicated to the Goddess Argenta within the Messiane territory.”
“……!”
Kalisa gasped.
“She won’t refuse. Sometimes, a single piece of important information can save a family, or destroy one. Don't you agree?”
“…Will she trust us?”
“There will be a test at first.”
“If we fail to prove our worth then, our order may have to hide back in the shadows.”
“Seeing as you showed you could move the Pantheon of the Holy Empire directly, that is clearly not the case.”
Showing the ability to enshrine the Goddess Argenta in the Pantheon was both a temptation and a warning: *I can do the opposite, so behave yourselves.*
“Can you do it?”
Now, it was their turn to decide. Aiden had set the stage; it was up to them to decide whether to step onto it and actively change their future.
“We never had a choice to begin with, Administrator.”
The elderly woman who had been sitting in the seat of honor, but had remained silent until now, finally spoke with resolve. Judging by the faces of the other elders, her statement could be taken as the will of everyone gathered here—no, the entire Argenta order.
‘Did they have a telepathic conversation without me?’
It was just a guess, but he was almost certain of it. Now that he knew about the witches’ abilities, he thought it was quite convenient. And economical, too.
‘If I believe in the Goddess Argenta, can I do that too?’
Aiden, having the irreverent thought of someone more interested in the side dishes than the main meal. Whether she knew his heart or not, the elderly elder continued.
“Even mayflies that live for only a day throw themselves blindly toward the light. How could a human who has finally found a chance to breathe freely turn away after seeing an even greater hope?”
The elder’s eyes were clouded with the gray-white haze of age, but the light piercing through that haze was so sharp that it was frightening to meet her gaze. However, because the leader of a group was declaring that they would stake their future on this, Aiden managed to suppress his instinctive fear and waited for her to finish with a composed expression.
The elder watched him silently for a long time.
“Why do you not avoid my gaze, even while knowing that I am peering into your mind?”
The other elders and Kalisa were shocked by the sudden remark.
“Mother!”
“Elder!”
“Master!”
The titles they used were different, but the meaning behind their panicked cries was the same. They were flustered that she had read the mind of the first person in power to ever take their side, and they were terrified that the ruler of the North might become offended and strip away their newfound sanctuary.
However,
“Since I have dared to force a choice upon you in the name of your future, I must show you my own mind so that our sincerity may be understood.”
It seemed Aiden had already sensed that the elder was peering into his thoughts.
‘Isn’t this actually better?’
It was essentially forcing a choice, but if they became specialists in handling information by helping Countess Messiane,
‘They would be able to stand on their own two feet without needing the help of a powerful figure.’
In the end, that was what mattered. Self-reliance.
Just as the Cat-folk had succeeded in becoming independent by jumping into business and increasing their capital. Just as the Groblins had permeated human society by proving they were irreplaceable in growing crops and raising livestock. Eventually, these people, too, had to prove their worth. Because self-reliance is built upon self-respect.
“This old woman does not have much time left to return to the Goddess’s embrace, so it will be difficult for me to learn and master new things, but our children will be different. However, we do not know how to handle that ‘information,’ so please, our benefactor, do not turn your back on us.”
Confirming that Aiden’s proposal was entirely for their sake, the elder bowed her head. At that, Kalisa and all the other members of the order rose and slowly prostrated themselves on the floor. It was a greeting offered not to a ruler, but to a benefactor, an expression of gratitude for opening up their future.
In the end, Aiden didn't actually bring the Argenta priests in to train them as 007 agents.
— *…Should I start by having them jump off a cliff?*
He had been sitting at his desk, agonizing over how to structure the training curriculum, when he muttered that thought aloud. Jamie, who had been standing nearby, turned pale and rushed over, babbling something bizarre like, “Administrator, you don’t mean that, right? Tell me you’re joking! We haven’t even started yet, I can’t be a widower already!” After receiving a look of utter contempt from Kalisa, the training idea was scrapped.
Still, Aiden had his own defense.
‘Where else was I supposed to see those kinds of special agents, if not on a screen?’
In those movies, they jump off the tops of skyscrapers in the middle of the night with nothing but their bare bodies. They jump off cliffs while riding motorcycles. They jump out of helicopters in business suits without a parachute. That’s just how it was.
“Kalisa and I will try to handle the training curriculum. I’ll take care of the letter to Countess Messiane, so please, Administrator, just step back from this one…”
“…….”
Jamie, unable to keep up with the imagination of a Hollywood blockbuster, didn't understand Aiden’s grand vision and returned to his desk, clutching the relevant documents.
Aiden, his lips pouting because his work had been taken away, was watching Jamie’s back when Felix, who had been quietly keeping to his own desk, approached him.
“Um, Administrator.”
“Yes?”
“I’ve thought of a few items that might be useful for an intelligence organization.”
He then cautiously revealed his sketches. Oh? Aiden’s eyes sparkled as he examined the drawings, and Felix, not missing his chance, added,
“So, if you could provide a bit of a budget… heh.”
He was a boy who had already realized that he had to look out for his own meals.