Cthulhu Gonfalon

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Every country had an institution that trained spies. Well, the Republic of Northwest didn't have one temporarily, but the Mifata Federation certainly had one.

No one knew since when the Intelligence Department of the Mifata Federation began to collect orphans from the civilian area. The Federation taught them the idea of being loyal to their country from childhood and taught them various skills. The Federation wanted to train them into excellent spies.

The talents of the orphans were mostly average, but sometimes there were some talented ones. These talented children were chosen for higher-level training. The government regularly gathered a group of talented children, and the Mifata Federation invited former ace spies to be their teachers.

This was the origin of the elite spy training class. The "1096th class" didn't mean that Wood was one of the 1096th trained elite spies. The year when they had been trained was the 1096th year after the official establishment of the Mifata Federation.

There were a total of 25 young people who had been trained in that batch. The oldest one had been 16 years old and the youngest one had been only 11. He had just received introductory training for three years.

However, after the initial training, the 11-year-old child had surpassed everyone else and had become their class president.

After being specially trained for half a year, they had graduated. At that time, the instructor who used to be an ace spy had said with a sigh, "This child will definitely become a new ace spy of the Federation as long as he doesn't die young. He will be stronger than me!"

His prophecy had quickly become a reality. Just five years later, the 16-year-old boy, who was Wood, had become one of the best spies in the Federation.

The reason for using the word "one" was because the Federation was large. There had been many excellent spies, and the senior generation hadn't retired.

Accurately, there had still been one senior who hadn't retired. That senior had originally wanted to retire. However, when he saw how good Wood was, he had said he wanted to stay on for a few more years.

"If young people reach the summit too early, they will be proud," he said. "What's more, it's too lonely to stand at the summit alone. Even though I'm just an old man, it won't be a bad thing if someone accompanies him."

So he had continued working for a few more years until the end of his life.

Two years later, he had died in a difficult task in order to cover a group of juniors.

The one who had killed him was a famous scout master of the Orc Empire nicknamed "Grey Eagle."

Wood, who had been on vacation at that time, had attended his funeral. At the funeral, the remaining ace spy of the Mifata Federation showed utmost respect. Wood behaved as if he had been the elder spy's disciple.

After attending the funeral, Wood had spent half a year preparing and then had summoned several classmates that had been trained with him. They had traveled thousands of miles to the Orc Empire to assassinate Grey Eagle.

That battle had been extremely fierce. Only two of them had survived: Wood and the oldest one. However, that classmate had also been seriously injured and had basically lost the possibility of becoming a strong master.

After returning, they had gone their separate ways. One had become the ace spy of the Mifata Federation, and the other one had become the official of the Intelligence Service. They had never seen each other again.

It has been 25 years since then.

Although he hadn't been a spy for 25 years, the official didn't lose his basic skills. On the contrary, because of the long-term processing of intelligence, his sensitivity to intelligence gathering and his ability to speculate things had become stronger.

Therefore, after Wood had said, "I killed North Wind," he guessed all the possible causes and consequences in a flash.

He naturally understood that Wood's situation was very bad. Wood would really be considered a traitor.

If Wood just used his own charm or other means to swindle intelligence from North Wind and then rush back, that would be a harmless mistake. As long as it was properly concealed, it might become a good story.

However, Wood had had a conflict with North Wind. It was likely that he had killed North Wind when she had executed the "elimination" portion of the mission. That was totally different.

After being silent for a long time, the official whispered, "You shouldn't have come back."

"You shouldn't say that," Wood said. "That's not fitting."

"F*ck!" the official cursed. "What are you going to do?"

"I want to ask the director why he wanted to kill me," Wood said earnestly. "I didn't betray the Federation. I did poorly in my work these years because of poor working conditions. At most, he could dismiss me or even fire me. Why did he want to kill me? What qualification does he have?"

Woo's voice became louder. "I have always been loyal to the Federation, and I made a lot of contributions. How can he question my loyalty? I gained the Federal Gold Wand Medal, and I had a noble title. How could he execute me?"

The official sighed deeply.

"If you were within the Federation, he would certainly not be qualified. But you were in the Republic of Northwest. You were so far away from the Federation, so he could decide whatever he wanted. He judged that you had betrayed us, and then he decided to kill you. That follows the right work procedure, and that was within his authority," the official said.

"F**k that authority! Since when could the Federation deem an ace spy a traitor without a trial? Since when could the Federation sentence a person like me to death without a trial?" Wood asked, sneering. Then, he said with disdain, "Authority? Believe it or not, if I were to walk into the Highest Tower with him to apply for a meeting with His Majesty, the Great Mentor, I will more likely be accepted than him!"

The official knew that what Wood had said was the truth.

As the only ace spy of the current Federation, Wood might be more important than the director of the current Federal Intelligence Service in the eyes of the God of Spellcaster, the founder of the Mifata Federation.

"Actually, a few years ago, he started to mention this," the official said after thinking for a while. He decided to tell Wood everything. "At that time, he gave me an order to prepare someone to take over your job, and to kill you at the same time."

Wood frowned. He didn't say anything, waiting for the official to continue.

"Of course I didn't agree, so I used my methods to delay it. It's not easy to train someone who can kill you and take over your job, right?"

Wood laughed. In that laughter, there was 70 percent pride and 30 percent of anger.

"But… Ugh! You sent a message back last time, and you analyzed the relationship between the Federation and the Republic of Northwest in detail. Finally, you concluded that if the two sides were enemies, they would only benefit others. If they could work together, they would become bigger and stronger, right?"

Wood said, nodding, "That's true. I really spent a lot of effort on that information. I collected a lot of data and came to that conclusion after a detailed analysis."

"Probably that information angered him," the official said, sighing. "He's not a spy, so he couldn't understand your position among the spies. Or maybe he could understand, but it's also possible that he pretended not to understand your point. I'm sure that he has been jealous of you and dissatisfied with you for a long time. Think about this. Is it reasonable for the Federation to send you out to do simple intelligence gathering? Our Federation is very stable around the years, and the Great Mentor is guarding us. However, you are an ace spy. It is better to send you to other places than to send you out on a simple mission. An ordinary spy can also do that."

Wood was silent.

"I don't know how he convinced the top class. However, it is no doubt that he had planned to kill you since then," the official said."

Wood said, frowning, "You're exaggerating. I don't believe it."

"Yeah, I don't believe it myself, but it is the truth," the official said. "In the past few years, there were many signs. In a word, he always wanted you to die."

"He can ask me to do some high-risk tasks," Wood said. "Even if I am covered with steel, eventually, how many nails can I stand being driven into me? As long as he keeps asking me to finish high-risk tasks, I will die sooner or later. The last ace spy died in this way too."

Remembering the old man they respected, they were silent for a while.

"I am not in his mind, and I can't read his mind, so I don't know what he is thinking," the official said. "According to my guess, he doesn't want you to shine. He doesn't want you to be worshiped by people. For this goal, killing you is, of course, the best. However, he couldn't kill you, so he sent you to a distant place, to the other side of the Main Plane. No one could see you anymore. Out of sight, out of mind."

Wood sneered.

"This method is generally good. Many young spies have never even heard of you," the official said.

"But North Wind heard of me, and she admired me," Wood said. "Unfortunately, when she attacked, she didn't hesitate and showed no mercy."

"Because she is also very excellent. A good spy's personal feelings will not affect the task," the official said.

Wood nodded and sighed softly.

"How did North Wind die?" the official asked.

"How did she die? She wanted to kill me, but she hesitated. Then, she was killed by me," Wood replied.

The official said, shaking his head, "You really shouldn't have killed her. As long as you didn't kill her, you would still have a chance, but you did. No one can save you now."

Wood said, sneering, "At that time, I was poisoned. My whole body was in pain. It felt like at least 20 knives were stabbing me in my stomach, and then she rushed over with her crossbow. Tell me, except for killing her, did I have another option?"

The official was silent for a while, and then he sighed deeply. Indeed, as Wood had said, in that case, he hadn't had another choice. Since he had had no choice, he had to kill her.

As for the consequences of killing North Wind, and whether it would confirm his crime of betrayal, those were the issues that a living person needed to think about. A dead person didn't need to think about those.

Wood could still sit here now, chat with him, and come back to ask about the reasons because he had killed North Wind.

If he hadn't killed North Wind, he would have already died as a traitorous spy.

"You want to ask him? For what?" the official said, sighing. "He won't see you. You know that."

"Can you help me?" Wood asked.

"No, unless I betray the Federation also, and I will not betray the Federation," the official answered.

Wood was silent for a while, and then he said, "To tell the truth, I don't know how to find him. Tell me, if I go to meet him as 'Wood, the Great Artist of the Republic of Northwest,' can I see him?"

"Then you will only see me," the official replied. "He can ask me to meet you. I am one of the oldest seniors in the Federal Intelligence Service. My qualification and record of service are older than his. In many cases, I attend the activities as the representative of the Intelligence Service. As long as he mentions my qualifications, no matter how high your identity is, you can only see me."

"It's f*cking useless to see you!"

"Yeah, it's useless to see me," the official said, sighing.

Wood didn't give up. He asked, "What if I try to get in undercover?"

The official said, smiling, "Don't tell me that your brain has become dull during the 25 years when we didn't see each other. Have you ever heard of someone getting through our door under cover?"

Of course, Wood had never heard of that.

In the past years, some extremely strong people had attacked them and got into the Intelligence Service. However, not a single one had got in undercover.

His ability was not powerful enough to attack them and get through. He was at a high level, but even if he stepped into the Legendary Realm, it would still be impossible.

Of course, if he entered the Legendary Realm, as a legendary spy, his identity would be much higher than that of the director of the Intelligence Service. At that time, he could directly meet Le-Peyroux, the Great Mentor. He would directly complain to His Majesty. His Majesty would naturally call that guy to confront him.

And if that was the case, Wood could use his status to gamble. No matter what he had done in the past, no matter what he said, and no matter who was right, the final result would definitely be beneficial to him.

The director who was jealous of him could use his own identity to deal with Wood. In the same way, if Wood became a Legendary Master, he could also deal with the director through his own identity.

This was not mean or insidious; it was normal and correct.

"Remember the time when I was in the Kingdom of Thousands of Springs?" Wood asked. And then, he was silent for a while. "I received a piece of information at the time. The information came from a spy lurking in the top class."

"I certainly remember. It was really dangerous at that time," the official said.

"But there are some things that you may not know," Wood said. "At the time, a guard found out the identity of that spy. The guard was going to reveal him, but the spy just sneered at him. He called the guard a madman, and then he asked the others to drag the guard out and kill him."

The official didn't answer. He knew what Wood meant.

"I sighed at the time. The difference between identities was like the gap between heaven and earth. No matter how loyal you are or how capable you are, as long as others' identities are higher than yours, you'll be nothing important," Wood said, sighing deeply. "I never thought that I would reach this point."

The official said nothing; he just sighed.

"You came with four people. Are you going to kill me?" Wood asked.

"It's just a force of habit. You know my physical condition. Without a few reliable bodyguards, I can't go anywhere."

Wood said, smiling and nodding, "So, are you ready to ask them to besiege me?"

The official didn't answer but slowly clenched his fists.