Silence permeated the room as the officers digested the information. It wasn't pandemonium when the dam finally broke, but the difference between total silence and hurried whispers was enough. The officers weren't idiots. The Captains gave hurried instructions to the lieutenants, and after only a brief few seconds, there was an exodus of young officers back out through the door.
The prince let everyone leave. He just stood there and patiently waited. The captains conferred with their immediate superiors before casting looks toward Reivyn and Kefira. Not all of them were disgruntled, but a good many were. Some were simply speculative.
"Sir, If I may, we could have just used the chain of command for this," one of the majors stood up. Reivyn recognized him as the Planning Officer he had previously met on his tour of the building. "That's what it's there for."
"Major, do I need you to tell me how to do my job?" The Prince leveled a gaze at the man. The major was probably a decade older, at least, but he wilted a bit under the stern glare of the prince.
"No, sir," the man immediately denied. "I'm just trying to wrap my head around it."
"Noted. If you come with us on the tour, everything should be made abundantly clear."
"Ah, I have so much work to do..."
The major trailed off as he looked at the prince. Reivyn cocked his head and almost lost his bearing, but he kept his jaw from falling to the floor with utmost willpower. His line of sight intersected with another major sitting nearby. The man saw Reivyn looking over and he rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"I wasn't asking you, major," the prince said.
"Of course, sir."
After that little back and forth, there were no more comments or questions, and the senior officers, along with Reivyn and his crew, joined the prince in a leisurely walk to the closest barracks. Not all of the barracks were located on the edge of the city. The more prestigious units had taken over compounds closer to the center of the city.
Prestigious doesn't mean capable, Reivyn thought as they entered the first compound. They're all neat and tidy, and nice and shiny, but I don't get a sense of dread from their demeanor.
In the first compound they entered, the soldiers were already neatly formed up. Reivyn could see several of them puffing with exertion, sweat dripping down the sides of their faces as they scrambled to get into position promptly.
The soldiers were wearing their shiny armor, not a dent to be found anywhere, and they were arrayed in two separate companies, one in front of the other. There wasn't room enough in the compound for them to stand side-by-side. There almost wasn't room for a full company to form up. The men were basically shoulder to shoulder with the compound walls on either side, the normal gaps between platoons reduced to a sliver.
The prince led the procession of senior officers and Reivyn's group to the front of the formation, where the captain was standing at attention with his senior sergeant standing behind and to the side of him. The captain of the second company was squeezed in behind the last row of soldiers from the first company. Reivyn suspected that he was a bit irritated at the setup, but there was nothing they could do about it with such short notice.
"First Battalion, First Company, all present or accounted for, sir!" The captain announced with a salute to the prince.
"Very well, just standby for now," the prince reciprocated with a salute. "On second thought, have your sergeant round up the civilian staff and have them on standby, as well."
The captain turned his head to his sergeant and gave him a nod. The man offered a salute, and it could have been directed to either of them. Reivyn didn't know and took off running before it could be returned. It wasn't every day that a sergeant would interact with the commanding general, much less a prince, and Reivyn could tell that he had been a bit nervous. He wasn't wearing a skin-mask, though, so his thoughts didn't drift into that territory.
"Princess Kefira, do you or your Liaison wish to inspect the troops?" Prince Allik turned to Kefira and asked conversationally.
"I think it would be enough if Captain Reivyn did it himself," Kefira answered. "In these types of situations, it's my job just to stand back and look pretty."
The crackle of Mana was noticeable to those with the right Skills as Kefira accumulated Space Mana around herself and spoke the truth of the matter. She was never just there to look pretty. She was one of the most capable combatants in the entire outfit.
"Of course," Prince Allik said with a chuckle. The sly smile on his face indicated that he understood what she was getting at.
The senior officers of his staff were all Tier 4 and had unlocked their Mana Skills. Not all of them were as talented as the others, but a few whispers from those that were gave way to understanding looks.
Reivyn didn't stick around to listen to the whispered conversations of the senior officers. He made a beeline to the first man in the first row. Thoughts of walking through men dressed in green with strange weapons held at their sides flitted across his mind. He remembered inspecting men with great detail, going so far as to ask obscure questions to test their knowledge and understanding of the most esoteric concepts associated with their jobs.
This wasn't the time for that, though. Reivyn didn't ask any questions. Not only did they have to go through the entire company present, but they had to make their way through the entire city to inspect literally everyone as quickly as possible.
Reivyn gave a cursory glance over the man's armor and equipment. He could tell that the man was nervous as he was sweating more profusely than the weather could account for, but Reivyn didn't make things difficult for the man. He checked him over and moved on.
Reivyn didn't stop in front of all of the soldiers. He skipped most of them, and he didn't even go through all of the squads. He quickly made his way through the ranks of the soldiers, and as his Divine Sense encapsulated the last man confirming that none of them were spies, he quickened his pace even further. Instead of going through the charade again with the second company commander, he simply nodded to the man and walked through the ranks of the second company, as well.
In almost no time, Reivyn walked back to the prince and gave a slight shake to his head. Prince Allik nodded in return before turning back to the captain.
"Alright, captain, that will be all," he said. "I'm very pleased with your performance. Let the 2nd Company Commander know, as well. You're dismissed."
"Yes, sir!"
Prince Allik led the procession over to where the senior sergeant had run off to. Another group of civilians was loitering nearby. Most of them were the maid staff taking care of the premises, but there were a few other civilian staff as well. They weren't formed up in any military manner. They were just grouped up in a loose mob.
"Ahem, uh, sir, all civilian staff, present or accounted for!" The senior sergeant stuttered.
"Relax," Prince Allik clapped the man on the shoulder with a smile. "Are they all present, or are they all present or accounted for?"
"Sir?" The senior sergeant was confused. He had never been asked this question before. Saying that everyone was present or accounted for was just a routine thing they always said.
"Well, is everyone here, or is everyone who can be here, here? Those are two different things." Prince Allik explained.
"Everyone is here, sir."
"Very good." Prince Allik turned to Kefira again. "Do you want to inspect the civilian staff, too?"
Reivyn didn't wait for an invitation. He immediately spotted an anomaly standing at the edge of the group. He meandered his way through the group of people. They didn't know what to make of him walking through their group, looking at them intently, but Reivyn didn't care to explain anything to anyone.
He made his way through the group, finally stopping in front of the young maid who had a skin-mask covering her face. Reivyn reached out and picked something intangible off of her shoulder. It was up to anyone's imagination whether there had actually been something there or not.
"For a maid in charge of keeping things neat and tidy, your uniform is awfully slovenly," Reivyn said.
He turned his back on her, keeping his focus with his Divine Sense on her, and motioned to the senior sergeant, and the man ran over to him.
"Dismiss everyone else," Reivyn instructed. "Have this maid stay behind for a moment."
The senior sergeant glanced at Prince Allik for confirmation, and the man nodded to him. The senior sergeant obeyed the command and ordered the civilian staff to disperse back to their duties, but the maid remained behind. The head maid stood off to the side, wringing her hands nervously as she watched one of hers drawing the ire of the senior military staff. There wasn't much she could do in this situation, but Reivyn gave a mental nod to her loyalty toward her subordinates.
Reivyn's eyes met with Prince Allik's, and he gave a slight nod. Prince Allik turned to his retainer.
"Take this maid aside and giver her some instruction on how to properly care for her appearance and demeanor," he instructed.
The maid didn't understand the full extent of the danger she was in. The skin-masks had never been seen through as far as she was aware, but Reivyn could tell that she obviously knew something was up. She wasn't acting as meek and nervous as a panicking maid in her shoes should be. She was looking around, trying to figure out an escape route.
Reivyn moved his position to stand behind her, opposite from the rest of the group. The retainer approached her with a stern, no-nonsense expression on his face, and he lifted his hand to indicate to her to follow him. Prince Allik appeared to move nonchalantly, but he also positioned himself to cut off another escape route for the maid.
She wasn't led to the interior of one of the buildings. Instead, the retainer had her walk to the side of one of the buildings. It was ostensibly for some privacy for the maid.
As soon as they turned the corner, the maid's body shot forward, trying to use the brief period of time she was out of sight of most of the people to get some distance between her and the others. She didn't get far, though, as Reivyn used his Mana to trip her up. Just because she was on the other side of the wall didn't mean he couldn't see her. Kefira followed his Mana and locked down the space around the maid immediately after.
The senior officers who had been calmly walking behind the procession, mostly confused at what they were doing picking on a maid, stopped and stared at the display of magic. Even those without much Skill in the area were able to sense the powerful Space Affinity. They looked to Prince Allik to see his reaction, but he was just calmly watching.
The retainer didn't waste any time either. He produced another set of binding ropes from his storage pouch, and he deftly secured the frozen maid. A rictus scowl was locked on her features as she was held in place by Kefira's magic. The retainer, having watched what Reivyn did previously, stuck his hand in her mouth to search for the false tooth. He didn't have Divine Sense, so he couldn't just see it, but it was obvious with a little probing. He removed the tooth, and Reivyn finally walked up and removed the skin-mask from her face.
She was bound and gagged, and the retainer pulled her up to her feet. All of this had been done out of sight of the senior staff, so they only knew that the maid had likely been attacked by Reivyn and Kefira's Mana. The captains of the two companies and their senior sergeants ran over after having detected the situation, too, and the soldiers of the company stopped what they were doing at the sight. Several soldiers had their hands on the hilts of their weapons, but nobody was doing anything else without orders.
"Dismiss your men," Prince Allik ordered the captains. "I appreciate your attentiveness, but your men won't be needed. The fewer people knowing what's going on right now, the better. Have the lieutenants stay with the troops."
"Yes, sir!" The captains both replied.
"Come on," Prince Allik addressed his senior officers. "I'll show you all what's going on."
They all rounded the corner. The retainer had hauled the maid to her feet, and she stood with an angry expression, glaring daggers at the man. The retainer ignored her, but he kept a hand on the binding ropes, holding her in place. The senior officers came to a stop as they immediately spotted the tattered skin-mask and the "3" brand that it had been covering up.
"We've been infiltrated by spies," Prince Allik whispered. "We don't know the extent, and so far, nobody but Captain Reivyn has been able to see through their disguise. The 'tour' is simply a ploy to let Captain Reivyn get eyes on everyone to root them out."
The senior officers whispered among themselves, casting looks of appreciation toward Reivyn.
"What are we going to do with the captured spies?" The executive officer, a colonel, asked the prince.
"For now, we should confine this one to an out-of-the-way place in this compound," Prince Allik answered. "We found one in our headquarters building, and we took him to the underground dungeon, but I don't want to transport any more captured spies through the city until we've had time to check all of the units."
"The spy replaced the position of one of the staff," Kefira spoke up. "I don't know how long they've been in their position, so there's no guarantee the true person is still alive or in the city, but we should also check the surroundings for them. The maid that had been replaced in our company had been in a coma in a nearby inn room."
"Get on it," Prince Allik addressed the company commander. "Try to keep it under wraps as long as you can. It's not that big of a deal if the soldiers learn the truth, but if you have even one gossipy mouth, word is bound to make it to the un-inspected companies and alert the spy. Keep it secret for as long as you can. I doubt the military units are the only place the spies have infiltrated, but they're the number one priority to check right now."
The captains departed to form a clandestine search party for the missing true maid, and one of the senior sergeants took control of the captured spy to take her to a secluded room where she could be held.
"Alright, let's not waste any more time," Prince Allik said.
He led the procession out of the compound and toward the next destination.
---
They spent the rest of the day moving circularly throughout the city. They quickly made their way through each military unit compound, inspecting all of the soldiers and the civilian staff members. All of the spies occupied a civilian position in the more prestigious military camps, and it wasn't until they had made their way closer to the edge of the city where the more battle-hardened soldiers lived that they found their first spy among the soldiers.
The spy hadn't occupied a position of any importance or responsibility. One of the junior soldiers in one of the weaker squads had been replaced. There was no spy among the civilian staff. There was only ever one spy among each of the military units, but many military units occupied the city.
By mid-afternoon, they had discovered twenty-four spies among the companies. There were more than twenty-four compounds to go through, but they didn't find any more after that. Someone had finally wagged their tongue, and the jig was up.
"Lock the city down," Prince Allik commanded. "Tell the gate guards to let nobody in or out until further notice for any reason. I don't care who it is or what their excuse is."
"Yes, sir!"
Reivyn followed the prince to continue the inspection, but they didn't find any more hidden spies. The officers and civilian leaders just shook their heads when they were asked about the missing people. Each company was visited without expecting to find any more spies, and search parties were formed to search for the missing individuals.
The spies for the other companies had been in place for much longer than the one found in the mercenary company. That spy had been discovered almost immediately. There was no telling if the people they had replaced were dead or transported out of the city. They would need some additional time to figure everything out.
Reivyn followed the prince back to the headquarters building to finish things up and discuss the next step. The other officers that usually attended the morning briefings were all present, which were all of the captains. The other officers in headquarters that didn't usually attend such meetings were also present.
"So, I didn't have time to tell everyone about the situation earlier, for obvious reasons," Prince Allik started. "Captain Reivyn has a unique Skill that allows him to spot the minute differences in the skin-masks, which is why he needed to personally go to every company. The tour was just an excuse.
"Everyone needs to keep an eye on their people. If anything suspicious happens, it needs to be reported immediately. We'll try to coordinate with Captain Reivyn to check the situation out whenever it seems appropriate, unless..."
Prince Allik gave Reivyn a suggestive look, raising his eyebrows.
"I have zero confidence in being able to teach the Skill," Reivyn answered. "It's pretty rare, and I don't even know exactly how I unlocked it in the first place. I was unconscious from having a giant boulder dropped on my head when it happened."
"I see. Then we'll have to bother you each time it happens."
"Understandable. I'm here to help, after all."
"I'm sure the hidden spies have all gotten wind of what's going on and have disappeared by now, but we should be as thorough as possible," the colonel said. "We need to get Captain Reivyn to move through the city and check each of the important locations. I doubt there would be any worth in having spies in obscure places if they have the ability to embed them where they had. We can send him to the crafters we've requisitioned for the military as well as the Adventurer Guild, at least."
"Good idea," Prince Allik concurred. "We'll have him head out immediately after the meeting. No reason to delay, and it should be quick. No need for all the song and dance setting it up ahead of time."
Prince Allik stopped and looked each of the captains in the eye before continuing.
"I'm very annoyed that the news got spread before we could check all of the barracks. Do an investigation and figure out who had a loose tongue."
"Yes, sir!" The captains chorused.
"Additionally, send runners out to the outposts to tell them to keep an eye out for the escaping spies, and keep an eye out for any encroachment from the enemy. They might have been so quiet on the front because they knew our every move, and now that we've taken that away from them, they might become more aggressive.
"I'll keep everyone informed of what they need to know after the interrogations. For now, with the exception of keeping an eye out for more infiltrators, everything should continue as normal."
The officers all acknowledged the order. They hadn't been conducting any kind of secret plan, to begin with, so there wasn't anything that needed to be changed for the most part. Until something changed with the frontline, the only differences were the order in which the soldiers occupied the outposts and went on patrols.
"Captain Reivyn, if you would go ahead and head to the Adventurer's Guild and the crafters' station..." Prince Allik said after wrapping up the meeting.
The officers got up and filed out. The captains held conversations with each other as they left, and Reivyn and his group were the last ones in the room after a few moments.
"That won't be a problem," Reivyn nodded his head.
"I'll have my retainer accompany you," Prince Allik said. "He has the binding ropes, and he can lead you to the crafters. And thank you for bringing this to my attention."
"Yes, sir. It's what I should have done."
Reivyn got up and nodded to the retainer. The day was almost over, and he just needed to check a couple more places before he could go back and have a good rest. He had been on his feet all day, starting with the patrol to the frontlines, and then he had immediately found the spy in his office, which led to the inspection of the entire city.
"I wonder if I can get a Skill out of this?" Reivyn idly thought out loud.
Kefira smacked him on the shoulder, followed by a chuckle and a shake of her head.