Chapter 54
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: EIJI (2
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Same day, afternoon. Intelligence Department office.
- Shh, scratch scratch.
Intelligence Chief Melanie's eyes raced down the documents.
To handle the mountain of reports pouring in daily from agents across the entire continent, she had scarcely any time to rest.
Just as she reached for the thirty-eighth report,
- Woooong.
The crystal orb at the corner of her desk began to glow.
It was yellow.
A signal requesting an immediate audience.
'Of all times.'
She was already swamped beyond belief—who the hell was interrupting her now?
'If it's not important, I'll mark it as away.'
Without pausing her writing hand, she glanced sideways at the sender.
[Southern Border Central Officer Nathan Kell]
Without a moment's hesitation, Melanie touched the orb.
The Central Officer immediately materialized within it.
"Ahem, khm! Ah. Aah."
She cleared her throat briefly and checked her reflection in a mirror.
'Outfit's fine, hair's good, makeup's perfect. All set.'
Finishing her quick self-inspection in an instant, she lifted the corner of her mouth slightly.
"Hey, honey."
- "Hello, Intelligence Chief."
Nathan, still looking exhausted, gave a small bow of his head.
"What's up? Didn't expect you'd be calling so often."
She slipped in a subtle hint that she hoped it would continue.
But instead of replying, the Central Officer pulled a thick book from his desk drawer and showed it to her.
- "The code decryption you requested. It's all done."
It was the one-year codebook she had sent him.
He produced another copy, fully translated into the common tongue.
- "Not a single character omitted. I'll send it tomorrow."
"..."
Melanie fell silent at the sight.
"...You know I gave you a week for that? And you finished it in seven hours?"
- "Yes."
She let out an involuntary sigh.
Why does that idiot have to go and do something like this again?
"Fine, what is it this time?"
Whenever the Central Officer pushed himself this hard to fulfill a request quickly, there was always a special reason behind it.
- "I'd like to ask one more favor of you, Intelligence Chief."
As expected.
Melanie gave a wry smile as she replied.
"Sure. Tell me. After you handled that so fast, the least we can do is return the favor."
The Central Officer stared at her blankly for a moment before slowly opening his mouth.
- "Please tell me how to meet with the Black Hand."
- Tok.
The pen slipped from Melanie's grasp and fell onto the desk.
- "Honey, are you insane!?"
Her voice spiked suddenly.
Her tail shot straight up, quivering.
- "You want to meet the Black Hand? As a public official, no less?"
It had been a long time since he'd seen Melanie this rattled.
And with good reason.
'The head of border security wanting to meet an assassin guild? That's not normal by any stretch.'
Even I had to admit it was a crazy idea.
If word got out publicly, it'd be a massive scandal. Internally, it was a gamble with my life.
But it was something that had to be done.
I opened my mouth calmly.
"There are circumstances."
I laid out everything that had happened so far.
No more just preventing incidents and cleaning up afterward—we needed to take the initiative.
Especially against the worst of them, like the Evil God Cult.
- "Preemptive action... Yeah. There's no guarantee they won't pull something like this again."
Melanie furrowed her brow.
- "But why the Black Hand, of all groups?"
The most fundamental question came.
- "If you're going to outsource it, there are plenty of other options besides them."
There were other candidates, it was true.
The Scardi Empire in the north and the Holy Church's northern branch.
'The Scardi Empire grew into a powerhouse by battling countless monsters in the harsh northern wilds.'
They could wipe out the Evil God Cult's remnants in one fell swoop.
But cooperating with a foreign nation meant navigating a labyrinth of diplomatic procedures.
Even a simple trade agreement tied up diplomats for weeks—what about a military operation to contain the cult?
Half a year at minimum.
'Plus, I'd have to share all our classified intel on the Evil God Cult with them.'
And the Holy Church... that was a headache just to think about.
Handing them a pretext for a holy war would be utter madness.
'No matter what, the Holy Church is off-limits.'
But the Black Hand was different.
"They're the best fit."
Regardless of the reasons, their sub-master was dead.
Killed by the Evil God Cult's saintess, Haten Silla.
Could they just let that slide?
"There's established bad blood between them now. If we use the Black Hand—without our hands being dirty—we can deal a major blow to the Evil God Cult's forces abroad."
Show them the truth.
And redirect the arrows of their rage toward the cult.
"Please tell me how to arrange a meeting. I'll handle the rest myself."
Conflict and clashes between the two terrorist organizations.
And in the end, mutual destruction.
That was my plan.
But Melanie shook her head.
- "No."
Refused again.
"Intelligence Chief! This is truly necess—"
- "I get what you're trying to say."
She cut me off sharply and shot down the plan.
- "What you want is EIJI, right?"
"Yes."
- "The strategy of pitting a troublesome enemy against similar scum so they wipe each other out. Using someone else's hands to crush your foe, just like you said. Smart thinking."
She nailed the core right away.
- "But to pull that off, your hands can't have a speck of dirt on them. Even the slightest hint, and those groups catch on—they'll switch targets. Right to the puppet master."
She pointed straight at me.
- "And now you're saying you want to meet the Black Hand face-to-face and pitch this? Might as well shout your name from every rooftop."
"..."
- "Know what that means?"
I replied in a low voice.
"They'll become aware of my existence."
- "Exactly."
My face appearing meant the Black Hand would learn about me too.
The risk was on a whole different level from anything before.
"But I've steeled myself for that."
- "Steeling yourself isn't enough."
She shook her head.
- "Up till now, you were just the southern border chief. But the moment you step in like this, 'Nathan Kell' gets burned into their minds."
Her tail trembled with unease.
- "What if you shove the sub-master's corpse in their faces and say, 'This wasn't us—it was the Evil God Cult'? You think they'll just swallow it? What do you figure they'll peg you as?"
- "'The border chief who knows our intel.'"
- "A threat in their eyes."
- "And that could leak to the Evil God Cult too."
- "Getting your name whispered in the shadows isn't a good omen."
Wisdom from Melanie, who had lived deeper in those shadows than anyone.
- "Especially for a public servant like you. Trouble's guaranteed."
I had no counterargument.
She was right on every point.
If I revealed myself to the Black Hand, it wouldn't just endanger me—everyone around me could be at risk too.
But if I didn't show up, they wouldn't rashly buy the truth.
Caught between a rock and a hard place.
"Damn it..."
As I froze in the contradiction, Melanie spoke up.
- "I told you not to try handling everything alone. You're an immigration officer, not some miracle fixer."
"..."
She struck right at the heart.
- "You want to neutralize the Evil God Cult through the Black Hand, yeah?"
"Yes."
- "Hmm... I've got a better way."
Her yellow eyes darted about.
- "Sometimes, shock therapy is the surest turning point. Hit 'em at the most unexpected moment."
Cryptic words.
- "You just do one thing."
Melanie pointed at the clock.
- "The changeling's execution ceremony. That's tonight."
I glanced at my own clock too.
Six p.m.
Come to think of it, the changeling's execution was at eight tonight.
She had already died from the curse, but Reyes Margrave hadn't made it public yet.
'Meaning the margrave sees symbolic value even in a corpse—he'll go through with the ceremony.'
A man obsessed with his public image? Yeah, he'd do it.
- "Stop it, no matter what."
Stop it?
Why?
We had proof of Evil God Cult involvement in that dark red aura anyway.
I pondered briefly, then grasped her true intent.
"Melanie, are you planning to hand the corpse over to them?"
- "Heh, sharp as ever."
She nodded.
- "This operation hinges on you blocking the execution. Handle that, and we'll take care of the rest."
"...So you're saying I kick off this operation."
- "Relax. The Evil God Cult and Black Hand don't even know you exist. In exchange, we'll need to borrow Miss Erzena."
Her slit pupils fixed on me.
- "You'll light the fuse, and Erzena ties it off."
Somewhere in the northern continent's great forest region, a forgotten tower.
In the quiet top-floor room, a woman leaned against the wall with her eyes closed.
"..."
As if waiting for something, she focused all her senses on her ears.
That was when it happened.
- Flap, flap.
A single crow beat its wings from the sky, gliding smoothly into the tower's summit.
- "Caw!"
A sharp bird cry pierced the silence.
The woman slowly opened her eyes.
The pinnacle of the forgotten tower was the birds' domain.
It landed softly on the perch right before her.
- Swish.
She turned her gaze toward it.
The crow dropped something from its beak with a tok.
A small, crumpled note fell at her feet.
She read it with her eyes.
[Unable to locate in the north]
Another identical result—she frowned.
"Sister... where are you?"
It had nearly been a week already.
A week since news from her blood-bound sister had ceased.
Her sister was intensely individualistic, but even so, she always sent updates via crow every three days.
- "Don't worry. I'll keep you posted on what I'm up to."
With a small sigh, she took a handful of seeds from her pocket and scattered them on the floor.
"Hang in there just a bit longer. I have a bad feeling about this..."
Crows were omens of doom.
Birds said to bring misfortune just by being seen, dooming the day to bad luck and calamity.
Yet she had made the crow her symbol and trained them relentlessly.
Far smarter and tougher than they appeared.
She believed there was no reason for them to be reviled as harbingers.
That was when it happened.
- Creeeak.
"Lady Eliza."
A rough-faced man pushed open the door, and midday sunlight flooded the room.
Her pitch-black pupils contracted in an instant, revealing skin paler than platinum.
She averted her head slightly from the light and asked,
"Did you find her?"
No need to specify who.
Only one person grated on her nerves this much.
"...I'm sorry. We couldn't pinpoint Lady Shahal's current location."
Shahal.
The Black Hand's sub-master and her sworn sister.
Even a human was delivering ominous tidings, not just the crow.
Eliza turned her head back to the crow, displeased.
"I see... Good work. You're dismissed."
The man had more to say.
"But we did track her destination."
She looked up again.
"Where?"
"She took a personal contract with someone, then headed to the Crossroad Kingdom."
"Crossroad Kingdom..."
She remembered it.
Not a name she'd never heard before.
Obsessed with borders.
Settled in the continent's heart, a land of oddballs who recorded everything that passed through.
'Why would Shahal go there?'
A question arose.
Records were the last thing they needed.
'A personal contract, no less.'
She frowned without realizing it.
She'd warned her repeatedly not to take missions solo.
But irritation aside, she could roughly guess why.
'Must've jumped at it again for info on another of our kind.'
Changelings always yearned for their kin. It was near instinctual.
It had happened so many times before—likely the same reckless impulse this time.
The issue was that solo deals made guild protection and identity verification tricky.
Unless the contractor reported directly, success or failure—and any fallout—remained unverifiable.
Even life or death was a guess.
Of course, someone of Shahal's caliber wouldn't go down easily. Her escapes were top-tier.
'And the Crossroad Kingdom...'
It brought some reassurance.
If they recorded everything, her sister's movements would be logged too.
Eliza knew all of Shahal's common aliases. Even if she hid her true name, it should be traceable.
Prolonged silence wasn't a good habit. Especially around those who worried.
'Time to drill that into her for good this time.'
She slowly rose to her feet.
"I have something to verify. Clear out."
Enormous wings unfurled.
As black as the night sky and gleaming with luster, raven wings sprouted from her shoulders in place of arms.
"Understood. How long will you be gone?"
"A day."
Raven Harpy.
The harpy race deemed the most cursed of all.
At once the toughest and cruelest, treated as monsters.
As she fully extended herself, the man's gaze lifted upward.
"Safe travels, Master. I'll be waiting."
Black Hand Master Eliza Corbus turned her head toward the window.
- "Caw!"
The crow's cry.
In this world, it meant one thing.
Omen.
The jet-black harpy took to the skies.
Oblivious to the ill tidings awaiting her.
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