Chapter 2B – An Intelligence Officer’s Field Work (Part 1)
“Forterra Era 260, 12th day of the 7th month, Forterra Royal Intelligence Agency (FRIA) Special Field Agent Sven Eonia, record system start.” I mutter in my thoughts to start the recording device placed under my shirt’s collar. I don’t know why but I feel like reminding myself of a few facts. It might be due to the fact that I’m losing confidence with my combat expertise against my own son. Damn, I still can’t believe that I and Eu-chan lost spectacularly to Servo even after teaming up against him and going all out (without destroying our backyard dojo). If I didn’t personally train him from the start, I would have doubted if his natural combat instincts were unparalleled combat experience instead.
After our defeat in training, seeing Servo out of the front door, and Eu-chan ‘consoling’ me after noticing my wavering confidence (Agent transcribing the voice log: “Riajuu, go explode!”), I cleaned myself up, wore my fresh corporate suit, and went to work with a clear mind and renewed confidence after kissing my waifu. (Agent transcribing the voice log: “Guh! Someone switch with me before I explode in jealousy!”) I went my merry way to the train station, went in to a secret platform, and boarded the train dedicated to FRIA. I then went back to my thoughts after I sat down and saw the startled reactions from some of the newer, still innocent Transcribing agents.
I’ve raised the issue to my boss before, but having your inner monologue recorded is a slightly disturbing issue. Sadly, this is the most effective method of preventing Intelligence Officers, especially us Field Agents, from being mind controlled. It’s a good thing that all Transcribing officers are all female, sworn to secrecy, and closely watched by his highness, the Crown Prince, himself. Well, it’s an amusing to see the Transcribing agent’s reactions when they see me, especially after having some ‘fun’ with my waifu.
Ha… Hahaha… this is bad, I can’t stop the grin on my face after remembering their reactions after having done some ‘abnormal plays’ with my waifu last month. Ah, but the Servo had an obviously disturbed expression on the day after that. (Agent transcribing the voice log: “Ha! Obviously he knows!”)
Before Servo left for school saying, he said “If you plan to have some fun, especially with the abnormal plays, can you guys not do it when I’m around? Rather, please tell me to leave when you want to do it here” with a fed-up tone and sighs while alternating between me with my uncontrollable smirk and Eu-chan’s out-of-place refreshed expression. And after remembering that spine-chilling statement by our son, I was finally able to drop the smirk on my face. (Agent transcribing the voice log: “Serves you right, you damned riajuu!”)
Hmm, the train still has a bit more to travel, so I have decided that I will go annoy the transcribing agents and recount information most if not all people in our line of work knows. FRIA is directly under the authority of the crown prince, as mandated by the Kingdom of Forterra’s constitution. Most of FRIA’s job consists of gathering or retrieving information for the government, managing the ‘Eye of Providence’, and anything else the Forterra Police Force or the military can’t handle.
The general populace is happy, the economy is stable, everything is cheap (mostly, but lately there’s been a rise in the demand and price for condoms, but that isn’t my field of work) and everyone is paid properly. It’s all thanks to the management of EoP: needs of the people and the nation are predicted, assumed, optimized, and prepared before it becomes an issue. With the help of EoP, wasted resources became a thing of the past. And being the closest thing to predicting the future, it perfectly fulfills the old saying “If you can see the future, you can achieve anything”. Basically our job is to keep it that way. (Agent transcribing the voice log: “When will you stop stating the obvious already?")
As for a Field Agent’s job, we either do the information hunting part or the odd jobs. And when I said odd jobs, I really meant odd. From infiltrating foreign merchant organizations, rescuing princesses in distress, being bodyguards for ambassadors going to foreign countries, to adopting war orphans, the list goes on and on to the jobs assigned to us. A lot of our agents, both old and young, are from the adoption program too. (Agent transcribing the voice log: “Including me! I'm quite thankful for the better life, that's why I'm doing this thing!")
Ah, I remember Altina-chan from my last mission. Her parents were both arch-mages from the Republic of Contraf, a few cities east of the north-eastern Forterran city of Milyato. Investigations has revealed that the two died on the the strategic strike on their capital, with while Altina-chan was inside a protective barrier that those two setup just before they died. My unit along with three others were sent in as an advance scout force to perform ground-level assessments. Contraf only consisted of a single city, so the aftermath was complete devastation. Except for Altina, who was protected by two arch-mage-class barriers, nobody else was alive. If we weren’t used to such a scene, we would have sworn vengeance for those who died right there and then. The barrier broke easily when we arrived, only to find her broken and crying in front of her parents’ charred bodies. (Agent transcribing the voice log: “Just when will we finally get the order to kill that dictator?")
We immediately took her with us and evacuated after an invasion force was spotted. We arrived here the day before yesterday, and were given leave yesterday. I guess today, we’ll be informed on what happens to her, and briefed about our next mission.
When the train stopped into what seemed to be another platform solely for FRIA, I got off and made my way quietly to the office, inside FRIA’s headquarters from underground. By the way, FRIA headquarters is inside a tower complex. The tower complex looks like a normal building, while the interior FRIA headquarters is only accessible through this route, or through the disguised rooftop. The rooftop is basically impregnable, while the underground route is heavily guarded, so I guess we’re safe here. The whole thing looks like a pointlessly giant support column from the outside if you strip the fake exterior. (Agent transcribing the voice log: “The exterior is also a FRIA facility. They're just not aware that headquarters are just beyond these meteor-proof walls")
I made my way to the elevator lobby, where I spot some of my colleagues. They welcome me, and the casual chattering begins. By the way, all of us look like salary men and women, which is a part of our protocol.
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“Sven, did you see the latest bulletin? Weilchist dropped another one, this time on Legnister.” A brown-hair colleague of mine said in greeting.
“Peter, are you serious? Weren’t they allies in last year’s war? Are they stupid?” I said in reply.
“Yeah, the idiots actually did it. The Triton alliance couldn’t stay silent anymore and declared war on Weilchist.” A gray haired muscled senpai colleague of mine said. For information, Weilchist is a dictatorship country ruled by Leibon Weilchist. Legnister is a parliamentary country that borders the the countries Gaston, Nibuel, and Procteor, the three countries that make up the Triton Alliance. Legnister is sandwiched between the Triton alliance and Weilchist, while each Triton alliance country share our eastern border; northern, middle, and southern borders in respective order. A soft electronic tune rang out and another colleague pulled out a smart phone. He grimaced and joined the conversation.
“This just in guys, Triton has formed a coalition force against Weilchist. King Portemus has given an official statement: Forterra supports the coalition force, but since Triton doesn’t want military help, we’ll be sending in humanitarian relief to Legnister.” The newly joining colleague, a demotivated brown-haired person, said.
“Humanitarian relief eh? I bet that’s us… but since our Alpha unit did the last mission, and Bravo unit is out there somewhere, its Charlie’s turn now?” The first brown-haird colleague of mine, Peter, who was in the same as me said.
“Don’t say it! It’ll just depress us even further!” The black-haired senpai said with a sigh. A third of the people waiting on the elevator lobby became visibly depressed along with him.
All but the reserved elevator unit opened up, and everyone in the lobby entered the elevators. During the elevator ride, some people were depressed while everyone else was wearing the ‘Do your best!” face as naturally as they could. The ride ends with your usual elevator bell sound, and everyone exits like a wave. Soon after, the floor; or rather the FRIA command center, breaks into what looks like chaos. Actually, on what looks like chaos are just people running around doing their respective jobs. I on the other hand join my field unit. Alpha unit (we just got lazy naming it properly) along with Beta and Charlie are all-around field intelligence units directly under the command of the Crown Prince. We’re basically his henchmen. And I’m the one leading the Alpha unit, although it was a unanimous decision without my consent.
Our official stand-by area is a low-partitioned conference room with a large table, chairs, and a holo-screen projector fixed on the ceiling above the table in the center of the room. As for our equipment, a separate locker room is provided for all field units on a separate floor. On the similar neighboring room, the Crown Prince is briefing Charlie unit of their next mission. Also, Bravo unit’s room doesn’t have people in it since they’re out in the field somewhere.
With the current state of affairs, everyone in my unit doesn’t have much motivation to chat. Most are either browsing the net or reading the internal announcements. I am, on the other hand, listening to Charlie unit’s briefing.
Half an hour passes, and everyone in the Charlie unit exits out towards the direction of the locker rooms. The Crown Prince passes by and pokes his head into our area.
“Sven, follow me. The rest of you are to follow Code Tetra-02. I want those refugees filtered and wanting to become our citizens before the end of the month! Peter, you’re in charge. Dismissed!” The Crown Prince said, gave me a look briefly, and walked towards his personal office.
“You heard him. Peter, happy hunting.” I said with a sigh and followed after the Crown Prince. I can feel my men offering me silent prayers. When the Crown Prince asks for me personally, the situation usually becomes something like those spy-action thriller movies… (Agent transcribing the voice log: “Your adventures deserve to be written in a book! Wait, if I change names here and there, I think the Crown Prince will let me publish it! BRB!")
I enter the Crown Prince’s office, and spot his highness seated on his chair behind his desk, with Dr. Haileen Retaina and Altina-chan on the guest sofas at the middle of the room. Dr. Retaina is the manager of the adoption program for orphaned but talented children. Oh damn, I can definitely see where this is going. I can already see Eu-chan hugging Altina like a stuffed toy larger than herself. By the way, my waifu is 146cm tall, while Altina-chan is 154cm. As for their figure and potential, I refuse to comment. I walk up in front of the Crown Prince’s desk and stands at attention. The Crown Prince wore a look that says he understood what I understood his intentions. He gestured for me to speak.
“… Your highness, are you sure you’re fine leaving a future asset to me and my family?” I said with a concerned look. Even if my waifu is one of the strongest magicians in the country, leaving a child with a lot of potential requires more than that.
“Well, your family is the only place that fulfills her requests. Here are the papers, have them signed by you and your wife and send it back tomorrow.” Dr. Retaina says lazily. She gives me the papers and leaves the room while saying “I leave it to you” complete with her back turned to me and a back-handed waving gesture.
“Yep. We leave it to you.” The Crown Prince stands up, walks to me, pats me on the shoulder while saying that, and leaves with the same back-turned back-handed waving gesture like Dr. Retaina had. Something fishy is going on here! I can definitely sense that those two are leaving something very troublesome to me!
“Nice to meet you, Uncle Sven. It may have been selfish of me, but please take care of me” Altina says to me politely while half-bowing to me.
“Ah, uh, yeah. Nice meeting you again, Altina-chan.” I said as I give up and throw caution to the wind.
'Forterra Era 260, 12th day of the 7th month, 1021H. Sven Eonia, signing out. Not like I can even turn this monologue logging device off. Now, how do I explain this to my waifu and son.' (Agent transcribing the voice log: “I remember the time I was adopted... Ah, memories.")
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Author notes: Sorry for the delay. I got too motivated, and went all out. The promised imouto part will come in a few hours. I would really like to have people proof reading my stuff, since it's kinda hard to re-read the entire thing when I have to keep typing, attend school, work on my thesis, or play Valkyrie Crusade and Million Arthur(SEA)