Chapter 280
“...W-What is this?!”
The parchment was blank. There was nothing on it.
It was just endlessly white, like a blank canvas.
“......”
A cold breeze of awkward silence swept through the four people gathered around the letter.
“I think, uh, we might be screwed.”
Dick was the first to speak.
“They said the letter would have our deployment locations and mentor info and all that, right?”
“W-What do we do?”
Dick quickly turned his head.
“Didn’t you mess something up when you broke the seal, Maelyn?”
Maelyn jumped at the accusation.
“I-I didn’t do anything! I swear I just opened it! Simon! You saw it, right?!”
She handed the letter to Simon, pleading her innocence.
‘Hmm.’
But Simon had no special trick up his sleeve either.
He lightly shook the letter, flicked it with his fingers, checked to see if anything was hidden inside—but it was all in vain.
While they all stared at the blank parchment with frustrated expressions—
Wooooong!
“Wah!”
Maelyn screamed. Suddenly, a pitch-black magic circle spread from the center of the empty parchment.
Clack! Clunk!
With the sound of metal latching together, a black veil poured out from the letter and enveloped the four of them.
Kamibarez let out a startled cry, and the other three quickly gathered around her, staying alert.
—Level 1 Security Document detected. Initiating memorial spell.
A clear voice rang out from the letter.
“Oh no, don’t tell me!”
Maelyn raised her voice as if realizing something.
“Because the letter’s contents can’t be leaked, they used some kind of security-type black magic to replace it?”
“That’s it!”
Dick clapped his hands.
—Identifying recipients.
This time, magic circles formed in front of each of their faces.
—Maelyn Villene, Simon Follentia, Dick Hayword, Kamibarez Ursula.
—Recipients confirmed.
With the voice, the magic circles disappeared.
“That’s so cool!”
Dick exclaimed in awe. Their fear was gone, and now the four looked around with eyes full of curiosity.
Whooooosh!
A crimson-black flame surged in the empty air. Ash-like fragments dropped from the flames and gathered midair, assembling letters.
All eyes widened as they read the formed text.
“Vengeance”
Dark Alliance Neutral Zone Special Agent Deployment Bureau
“No way!”
Dick gasped.
“Vengeance! Vengeance, of all places! Our deployment’s insane!”
“What is Vengeance, exactly?”
Simon couldn’t hold back his curiosity and asked.
“They’re the watchdogs of the Neutral Zone.”
Maelyn answered, brushing aside her sky-blue hair.
“The Neutral Zone is, like the name says, strictly ‘neutral’, so neither Keyzen nor Efnelle can exert influence there, right? That’s why they formed a rogue group working for the Dark Alliance under Keyzen’s request.”
“Among those rogue groups, Vengeance is super famous!”
Dick was practically grinning from ear to ear.
“They’re the ones who fight priests while operating as necromancer agents! Looks like we’re gonna be fighting priests too!”
“P-Priests...?”
Kamibarez looked frightened, her eyes darting around.
Crackle, crackle.
At that moment, new fragments fell from the flames and formed a new phrase.
“Intelligence Division, Federation-Certified Third Rank, Seiyur Griezmann.”
Maelyn nodded.
“Yeah, looks like this person’s going to be our mentor.”
Then, a scorched-looking scroll emerged from the flames. It unrolled with a shrrrk! and revealed a map.
One building in the village they were currently in was marked in red.
“Is that where we’re supposed to go?”
“I think it’s the meeting spot too.”
Whoosh!
The map burned to ash and disappeared. Soon after, the darkness surrounding them faded, and the familiar village scenery returned.
“Kuuuh! Now that’s Vengeance for you! Even a letter shows their class!”
While the excited Dick caused a commotion, Simon was silently matching the map in his head with the current scenery.
“The tavern, shopping district, docks…”
He pointed to each spot, one by one, then nodded.
“Yup, it’s this way.”
“As expected of you, Simon!”
The other three followed behind Simon. Dick, in high spirits, whistled and threw an arm around Simon’s neck.
“Eheheh! Getting dispatched as special agents, this is seriously exciting!”
“Yeah, it really is.”
Simon chuckled and nodded.
“Seriously, you peasant.”
Maelyn said, rubbing her forehead.
“You’re the one I’m most worried about. Don’t go mouthing off or acting rude in front of our mentor. That person can literally alter our grades.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know where the line is.”
Meanwhile, Kamibarez stuck close to Simon, gently clutching his sleeve.
She was like a wary little kitten. Whenever a door slammed open in the village or someone shouted nearby, she flinched and sometimes even ducked behind Simon.
“Kami, you okay?”
“Y-Yes!”
She forced a smile. It looked like she was just shy about the new environment.
“There it is!”
Dick shouted. It was the wooden house from the map.
Most of the surrounding buildings were made of clay, so the wooden structure stood out. The sign showed it was a small village tavern.
The four walked forward with tense expressions.
“Excuse us.”
Maelyn, as group leader, entered first. They’d worried about not having a password or signal to recognize their mentor, but—
It turned out to be needless.
There was only one person sitting inside the tavern. He was smiling brightly, showing his white teeth.
He wore what looked like Vengeance’s uniform—a gray suit with a green-patterned tie. His blonde hair was long only on the left side, covering his eyebrow. He was skinny, with a sharply pointed nose and a defined jawline.
All in all, he was a handsome man with thick eyebrows and a suave smile. He spread his arms and spoke first.
“Wel-come! Students of Keyzen!”
His voice was high-pitched, almost like a soprano. The four immediately bowed.
“Nice to meet you!”
“Now, now—make yourselves comfortable.”
He brushed back his messy bangs with the back of his hand, closed his left eye, and flashed a dazzling smile, his white teeth sparkling with a ting! effect.
Soon, the four of them sat down around a table. Each of them straightened their backs and placed their hands neatly on their knees, doing their best to maintain a respectful, polite posture.
“Haha, no need to be so tense. You can relax in front of me.”
He placed a hand over his chest as he continued speaking.
“As you saw in the letter, my name is Seiyur Griezmann. I work in the Intelligence Division of Vengeance.”
“Ah, yes! Let us introduce ourselves too. I’m Maelyn Villene, the team leader!”
Maelyn began introducing each member one by one.
Especially when she introduced Simon, Seiyur’s eyes visibly sparkled.
“So you’re Keyzen’s top special admission student, as the rumors say.”
Maelyn and Dick shot him envious looks. As expected, the title of Keyzen’s number one special admission student was respected everywhere.
“Satisfactory.”
Seiyur said with a wink, pushing aside his long front bangs with the back of his hand.
“You’ll be working with me at Vengeance for a week. It’s only natural for Keyzen to send such outstanding students.”
Simon listened carefully to Seiyur’s explanation and let out a sigh of relief in his mind.
‘Thank goodness.’
To be honest, he’d been a little worried when he heard they’d be undergoing a deployment evaluation—especially after the seniors in the Mutant Club had scared them half to death with their stories.
There were all kinds of horror stories.
A sociopath, someone who beat their students, a mad scientist who tried to turn students into undead, a pervert who harassed female students, even a sadist who made them stand around doing nothing the entire week and then gave them the lowest score on the last day.
But at least based on first impressions, Seiyur seemed to be a necromancer who fell within the boundaries of common sense.
“Seeing such young necromancers reminds me of my own student days. Back then, many professors tried to take me in as a direct disciple...”
He did seem to be a bit of a talker, though.
“Ah, that reminds me—what about the letter?”
“I have it with me.”
“Please give it to me. I’ll hold onto it.”
Simon respectfully handed the letter over with both hands, but Dick interjected.
“We were so shocked when there was nothing written on it! But then, that reveal—damn!”
“Dick!”
Maelyn gave him a warning glance, but Seiyur responded with a smile.
“It’s only natural to be surprised at first.”
Seiyur brushed his bangs aside, winked, and flashed his white teeth.
“Actually, that happened to me too—”
He launched into a waterfall of stories.
As Simon listened, his eyes drifted to the parchment Seiyur had placed on the table.
‘.......’
The letter that was supposed to be completely blank, he thought he could see something faintly written on it. Simon widened his eyes to get a better look, but just then, Seiyur picked it up and tucked it into his coat.
“Um, Agent Seiyur… sir?”
“Please, call me ‘Agent’.”
“Ah, yes, Agent!”
“I’ll be referring to all of you as agents too. Agent Maelyn.”
Seiyur winked again as he brushed his bangs aside. At that point, Simon thought it had gone past habit and into near-pathological territory.
“Your student status doesn’t matter. As long as you’re undertaking the same work as I am, we are equal comrades who must trust each other with our lives.”
“As expected! What a great mindset, Agent!”
Dick gave two enthusiastic thumbs up. He seemed completely smitten with Seiyur.
“Tch.”
Maelyn lightly kicked Dick’s leg, telling him to stop showing off.
“Agent, we’re curious about what mission we’ll be undertaking this time.”
“Excellent question, Agent Maelyn!”
Seiyur snapped his fingers.
At that moment, the surroundings turned dark, just like when they first opened the letter.
“Excuse me, security is important.”
With that, Seiyur gestured for them to come closer. The four lifted themselves slightly from their chairs and leaned toward him.
“Our mission is to secure an important individual.”
“An important individual? Who is it?!”
Dick quickly asked.
“Such enthusiasm is excellent, Agent Dick. I’ll be factoring that into your mission attitude score.”
“Thank you!”
Maelyn, the model student, looked envious again. Not to be outdone, she leaned forward even more seriously.
“It's—”
Simon also perked up with a tense expression.
“It’s, it’s, it’s—”
Okay, he could really stop dragging it out now.
After checking their eager reactions, Seiyur finally spoke in a very quiet, secretive voice.
“A Saint Candidate.”
All four students’ jaws dropped simultaneously. Seiyur smiled, clearly pleased with the reaction he had been waiting for.
“A-A Saint Candidate?”
“That’s right, Agent Simon! Recently, Vengeance received top-tier intel from an agent who infiltrated Efnelle!”
His voice lowered again.
“In the Neutral Zone, a girl has been born with an unprecedented level of holy affinity.”
“!”
“And we’ve received intel that Efnelle is mobilizing their priests to retrieve that girl.”
He opened his palm.
“As luck would have it, this is directly related to you Keyzen students. You know about the Saint of Purification, right?”
Of course they did.
She had possessed the body of Francesca, the top TA of Toxicology, and tried to annihilate the entire freshman class of Keyzen.
In the end, her plot was thwarted by Simon and the other students, and she was killed by Neftis—but later, the ‘Essence of Purification’ imbued itself into Anna’s body, prompting Simon to embark on a journey to the Holy Federation.
He had been entangled with the Saint of Purification in many ways.
“Efnelle is currently on edge. Even though it’s been quite some time since the Saint of Purification died, the next saint has yet to appear. A delay this long between saints is extremely rare.”
Everyone nodded with serious faces as they listened to Seiyur’s words.
“In fact, the most suitable person to become the next Saint of Purification is right here in the Neutral Zone. Efnelle seems fairly certain this time. That girl—”
Clap!
Seiyur brought his palms together with a sharp sound.
“—we’re going to get her before Efnelle does.”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters