Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Ordinary Tom

“Eating is important. Especially when you are in a growth period like you it is even more—. Eat as much as possible and grow sturdily.”

Galahad soon regretted his own words.

Damien replaced the table five times from the seated position. So much that the hesitant hook captain smiled brightly and treated Galahad.

“Are you eating rice for the first time since being born?”

“I am eating after a long time.”

“Yes, eat to your heart’s content. No, eat half of your heart’s content.”

Galahad clicked his tongue softly and examined the tavern. The tavern was bustling.

“Put it there. Ah! Aren’t you holding it straight? Son of a bitch!”

“The head is heavier! Change places fuck—.”

The men the hook captain called cleaned the fainted or dead ones as if cleaning luggage. Listening they were guys who had been nuisances. He had to pay one silver coin as the corpse cleaning fee.

Then, the tavern door opened roughly. Gilbert entered while shaking the snow stuck on his shoulder.

At the tavern stained red Gilbert’s eyebrows furrowed. The face was full of irritation.

At the suddenly appeared knight those who were moving the corpses tensed up. Even if it was a mess they seemed to watch the knight’s mood.

Then, the tavern owner hook captain ran to Gilbert.

“Sir Knight! Those guys did this! They randomly sliced people and ate food without permission! They are very bad guys!”

“No, didn’t they pay the price.”

“Shut up! Dirty mage bastard!”

Galahad clicked his tongue in absurdity. The hook captain who had received even the corpse cleaning fee in addition to the food price tattled to Gilbert.

“What accident did you cause again.”

Gilbert asked while firmly pressing his own temple.

“Causing an accident. We were just staying still, those guys thrust knives. Really I almost died. Fortunately Damien saved me! Right? Damien?”

“Eh! Appunode!”

“Speak while chewing what is in the mouth. It all flies.”

Damien nodded greatly.

“······Sir Knight?”

The hook captain blinked his eyes. Gilbert forcefully ignored that gaze.

“Yes, did I not pay the money?”

“······Yes? Yes?!”

“Then the silver coin in your pocket is something you stole from me! Sir Gilbert! Catch that guy!”

“Hieek! I was wrong! My lord! I was wrong!”

The hook captain promptly prostrated on the floor. Under that the red blood that had not been wiped yet splashed.

“Sir Gilbert, search that guy’s pocket. That guy stole my silver coin! Cut one more of that guy’s arms and match the balance!”

At the sigh Gilbert the startled hook captain took out the silver coin and held it out. Gilbert received the silver coin with an extremely reluctant expression.

“So where is the remaining one you said you would bring?”

“He caught a cold and died.”

“Hmm— regrettable. I have to obtain one more though. Hook captain! Is there no usable guy around here?”

“There was though—.”

“Why past tense. Did that side also die of a cold?”

The hook captain pointed to the floor with his eyes instead of answering.

The men who were dragging the one-eyed corpse made awkward smiles. Ah, he just died.

“That one was not great. Doesn’t he lack one eye. The eyes are the window of the mind so very important. Hook captain! Have you caught a demon race?”

“No sir!!”

The startled hook captain disappeared inside as if fleeing.

Then, a rough cough sound was heard. In the farthest corner a man was rolling his body exactly like a bean bug.

If not for the careful Galahad, it was secret to the extent he would not have noticed.

‘Both arms are attached, legs are there, the face is also intact—.’

Pass.

Galahad slowly stood up from his seat.

***

Tom as can be known from the name was an extremely ordinary Northern man. Ordinary height and ordinary appearance, ordinary to the extent of hearing the words that it is hard to remember no matter how many times one looks.

The nickname was also ‘ordinary’ Tom.

Recently trouble arose in Tom’s squad and he had to transfer squads. Because of that Tom was on standby in the castle.

Tom was sitting in the tavern, pondering about the deployment order that would come out tomorrow. Where the deployment would be, whether the people there would be okay—such worries.

A problem arose as a man who anyone looking was a noble and a boy slightly smaller than him entered the tavern.

A quarrel attached and the boy stood up abruptly. The man’s neck floated into the air. Tom planted his head on the table.

When he opened his eyes again, the tavern had become a red stew full of ingredients.

Tom was rolling his body and making it as small as possible. It was Tom’s specialty. Even on the battlefield he had survived several times with this secret method—.

“Nice to meet, I am Special Mission Unit captain Galahad.”

The man who had come right in front at some point held out his hand.

Tom urgently clasped the hand. The man’s hand was cool exactly like an ice sheet. To the extent of being a little startled.

“Private! Tom!”

“Why are you on standby here? Are you injured somewhere?”

There was a subtle power in the man’s voice. Somehow listening made one feel itchy and comfortable.

“No! Because the squad changed I was on standby for a moment. The deployment will come out tomorrow!”

“Oh, on standby. You, can you fight a bit?”

“I cannot!”

“I see, congratulations! From today you are the Special Mission Unit.”

“······Yes?”

Tom blinked his eyes several times. Did he hear correctly? The flow of the conversation was too strange to follow.

“Pack your luggage. The demon race is calling us.”

“No···. It seems you misunderstood something. I am just an ordinary private.”

“I know. The mana is also extremely ordinary.”

“Yes? What is that···. But why···.”

“Looking after selecting everyone has too distinct personalities. I needed one more ordinary person like me.”

At the man who said he was ordinary Tom blinked his eyes.

Rather than the boy covered in blood eating meat Tom felt this man more unpleasant. A sense of distance that seemed impossible to narrow was felt.

“The headcount is also one short.”

Somehow the later words felt like the real reason.

“Welcome, Tom.”

However, Tom had no choice.

“Private! Tom! Thank you!”

Tom swallowed tears a little.

“Here, talk with the members.”

Tom who sat at the table as if dragged swallowed saliva.

Sitting at the same table as Sir Gilbert the hero of the front line—. Beside him was a boy tearing raw meat covered in blood.

And in the center sat the recently most famous son-in-law of the Grand Duke in the castle.

It was a combination that did not match ordinary Tom at all.

“This side is Tom. Tom, because you entered last you are the youngest.”

“Why pick an ordinary soldier? He will die soon.”

“······Do I die?”

“Tom, humans die someday. How valuable that death is is more important. Isn’t it?”

“···I die?!”

“Do not worry. Since you entered the Special Mission Unit your death will be very cool and valuable.”

Tom let out a small scream. I die! Tom wanted to live long.

“It seems there is some misunderstanding. I am really an ordinary private. I am not material that suits the Special Mission Unit.”

“Even if I say do not worry, in our Special Mission Unit there is also a maid origin.”

“···A maid?”

“A maid who does cleaning and dishwashing terribly badly. She is your senior.”

Tom’s words were blocked. The conversation did not communicate with this man, yet he was somehow persuaded again. If there is a maid is it okay?

“So what is the mission the Special Mission Unit is in charge of?”

“Because it is you I am specially telling. Only you know.”

At Galahad who suddenly became serious Tom swallowed saliva.

His Grace the Grand Duke personally newly established—. It was a unit that looked extraordinary at a glance. Even the name was Special Mission Unit from the beginning.

What kind of amazing mission····.

“Our mission is to prevent the destruction of the continent.”

‘···Too amazing!’

Tom’s eyes became large as if they would tear.

At Galahad’s plain words a silence descended for a moment. Even Damien who had been eating meat stopped.

“Is it a joke again.”

Belatedly Gilbert got irritated.

However, Tom could not laugh.

Because the eyes of Galahad who said that were serious for the first time—.

“Ah, I will go to the bathroom for a moment. Gilbert, why are you standing up? I am a body with a woman to marry. Stay seated.”

Gilbert who was about to stand up following Galahad fully furrowed his face and sat again.

“Here, order to your heart’s content! Because money is plentiful!”

Galahad said spiritedly and left the tavern.

“Order more. Let’s fleece that guy’s money a bit.”

Gilbert said while waving his hand. At that Damien raised his hand high. The table was filled again.

‘He is eating this again?’

Damien really ate like crazy. It was amazing to the extent of how food entered that small body.

Gilbert sipped grape wine while looking at the door, and Tom stuck between them could do neither this nor that and sat still.

Only the sound of Damien tearing meat was heard on the table. At that Tom who had been watching the mood made various jokes, but there were no returning words.

When Tom also closed his mouth only silence flowed on the table.

To become like this just because Galahad is missing—.

Tom anxiously waited for Galahad.

The problem······.

No matter how much time passed Galahad did not return.

“That calculation·········.”

The tavern owner who approached hesitantly asked while watching the mood a lot.

“This damned human—.”

Gilbert’s face furrowed savagely.

Tom desperately rolled his body and made it small.

***

‘Around here.’

Galahad squinted his eyes and stared at the front.

The Intelligence Bureau of the empire was stretched anywhere on the continent. The story of moving the continent did not come out for nothing.

Galahad knew all the locations of the Intelligence Bureau safehouses everywhere on the continent. It was information he had spent a long time to extract.

The Intelligence Bureau did not change the location of the safehouse easily. Because of the confidence that there was no opponent of theirs and the laziness full of rust.

‘Here.’

Galahad deeply drank the mana tobacco.

The safehouse was the outskirts even among the outskirts of the castle. Right beside it whether a hole was pierced the wind was unusually strong.

There were traces of houses around, but they were all collapsed. It did not seem like a place where people lived.

Between them there was a small house. Both sides’ houses were collapsed so it looked exactly covered, a exquisite location that one would not notice if not looking carefully.

Snow was piled softly in front of the door. Galahad examined the door.

The door was a shabby exterior that seemed it would fall if shaken. There was a small groove in the center. It looked like just a dented trace, but in reality it was a high-grade security device.

The Intelligence Bureau’s safehouses opened by bringing a magic tool that matched each door.

It was a method using the difference in mana speed according to the concentration difference.

If the door is forcibly opened an alarm rings inside, and everything is incinerated.

Because calculating the mana that matches the corresponding magic tool was practically impossible it is currently the most excellent security method.

‘Still the same.’

It was exactly the method Galahad had proposed during the Intelligence Bureau entrance exam.

He only presented the basic theory, and the Intelligence Bureau took it and developed it. Of course, Galahad’s name was not in the credit.

‘Guys like unscrupulous professors.’

He lightly badmouthed and loosened his hands.

In this security method there was one very small problem.

If a mage knows the mana concentration of the magic tool and can match it, it is easily breached.

But the mana concentration was top secret, and from the beginning one could not even memorize and carry it, and along with that even if one knows the mages who can match the mana concentration without a magic tool are even rarer.

Of course, Galahad was a very rare mage.

‘The mana here······.’

Galahad placed his hand on the groove and concentrated for a moment. Mana flowed along the hand.

If Galahad’s memory was wrong, or if the empire had changed the safehouse’s magic tool a big problem could arise.

The Intelligence Bureau would send the inspection room guys. They were very terrible guys. It was clear the situation would become quite troublesome.

However, there was no way Galahad’s memory would be wrong, nor that the empire would have become diligent enough to change the safehouse.

‘As expected.’

Click. With a pleasant sound the door slowly opened.

“Who······ Who are you?”

A stupid-looking man blinked his eyes and asked.

Galahad hardened his expression as if he had gone out for safehouse inspection.

“Who are you—?”

“······Yes?”

“You, did you just ask me who I am?”

“That···,”

When he asked roughly, the man trailed off. He would be confused. There is no visit scheduled, yet Galahad opened the door and entered.

“Surely you did not receive the report? Clearly the report would have gone at dawn?”

Galahad narrowed his eyes and scolded the man.

Galahad presented one assumption to the man. Is it that you did not receive the report because you did not do the work?

The man would be unsure. People who firmly believe in themselves to the extent of not shaking were rare.

“Ah··· No! I was forgetting like this! Recently there is a lot of work! No! Lady Rose would have received it. Recently there is a lot of work! Please enter inside. She will be waiting.”

“Rose?”

“Ah, she is my superior. I also was deployed here not long ago. Recently there were piled things to organize so I was out of my mind doing that. Haha—.”

The man entered inside while pouring excuses verbosely. Galahad stealthily looked around and followed him.

Knock knock.

“Lady Rose, a guest has come from headquarters.”

At some point Galahad had become a guest. The door opened with a creak— sound.

A place like a study with books and documents stuck full all around, in the center a woman was sitting.

A woman with dark red hair and red pupils that were impressive.

‘Rose—. Interesting.’

The corners of Galahad’s mouth subtly shook.

“Guest?”

The woman raised her eyes while looking at Galahad.

Galahad carefully examined the woman. There were no calluses on the long extended hands. No darkness was visible under the eyes. The hair flowed with luster.

Management is very well done. Exactly like a noble of the capital.

“Are you that Galahad—?”

The woman said in a voice mixed with a nasal sound.

“Yes, I am that Galahad. But Rose— is it the real name? A name as pretty as the face.”

Galahad sat opposite the woman and raised the corners of his mouth.

“Oh my, thank you, but it is an agent name.”

The woman twisted her own hair with her finger and let out a sticky smile.

Galahad laughed softly and rummaged through his pocket.

“Ah, can I smoke a cigarette?”

“Yes, as much as you want.”

“Yes? Thank you.”

Galahad swallowed the bitter saliva and put the mana tobacco in his mouth. Tak, fire blazed on the finger. Beyond that fire a woman who had fully raised the corners of her mouth was visible.

Galahad adjusted the mana while looking at the woman. The fire that had risen on the finger grew and then became small. It matched the original size. Fire attached to the tobacco.

‘Appropriate.’

Then he deeply drank the tobacco. The lungs fully inflated. Mana rotated as if responding. The head became clear. As if the heart was beating the mana greatly inflated and then sank.

This was solemn like a knight wearing armor.

“Will you throw this away?”

“Yes? Yes!”

Tak tak, Galahad gave the fully smoked tobacco to the man, and put a new mana tobacco in his mouth.

‘This much should be okay.’

Galahad deeply spat the smoke.

“How long has it been since you came here?”

“About a year now—?”

“Not long. It will be hard, living in such a cold and uncivilized place after being in the capital.”

“Because it is all work for the empire.”

“Yes? Did you also marry the empire?”

“Marriage does not suit the constitution.”

“I see. Recently I also had similar thoughts to you.”

The woman burst into laughter. That appearance of covering the mouth was bewitching as if tickling. Oops. Galahad muttered softly.

Silence continued for a moment. The woman hummed a small song as if in a good mood, and the man was in the middle of putting the received butt into his pocket.

Galahad tapped the tobacco. The lemon scent pushed away the unpleasant smell.

“Yes—.”

Galahad who had finished the calculation said calmly.

The gazes of the woman and the man stuck at the same time.

“Where is the real Rose?”

At Galahad’s question the man tilted his head.

“Isn’t she in front.”

“This is a secret, but agent names are made with the name that least suits the agent. To make it hard to remember.”

Galahad pointed to the woman’s red hair and eyes. The corners of the woman’s mouth stiffened.

Tak, fire blazed again. Warmth pulled the mana.

“Second, the North’s safehouse usually does not get deployed as the first region. One goes through other regions and comes. But you came directly from the capital, extremely strange. Yes, it could be so.”

The woman opened and closed her mouth as if to answer something. Galahad raised his hand and blocked it.

“Will you listen a little more? Thank you. Here, third, you knew that I belong to the Intelligence Bureau. If you only knew me as Galahad who will become Adrianne’s husband, the safehouse being exposed to a civilian, you would not have reacted so peacefully.”

Hoo—. Smoke spread small from Galahad’s mouth. The woman’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Knowing the me of the Intelligence Bureau. There is no way the upper would absolutely tell, yet. Even looking like this I am a quite useful agent. I receive special treatment.”

“Your confidence is amazing?”

“It is not confidence but an objective evaluation. A request, will you close that mouth a bit. Because it is an important part. Yes, because the Intelligence Bureau rolls like an idiot these days I could know who I am. The problem is the next.”

The woman spun her finger as if telling him to do more. The mana concentration became denser. Interest resided in Galahad’s eyes.

“Knowing me, and smiling even while facing me in the safehouse—. This is the most nonsensical. Usually one wails and begs to save them. Or attacks first—. But you?”

Galahad coughed softly. Smoke was spat as if cut off.

“Interesting.”

The corners of the woman’s mouth rose deeply again.

“I am not interesting. It is unpaid overtime. Here, I will ask again. Who are you?”

At the plain question the woman smiled faintly. For a moment that mask cracked and the face split. Between that sharp thorns were shot.

‘The worst.’

Galahad clicked his tongue and overlapped his fingers.

Bang! A sharp sound resounded in the air, and sparks flew. Crackle! The hideous face of the woman split in half flashed in the orange light.

Between the vertically split lips a long tongue like a snake licked.

“It was a demon race.”

“Oh my, you found out?”

The woman said in a sticky voice mixed with laughter.

“How smart—. The head will be very tasty.”

The woman’s tongue divided into two strands moved gracefully as if teasing.

The concentration of mana rose rapidly. To the extent that a sticky touch was felt on the skin.

In an atmosphere that seemed it would explode if one moved even slightly—.

“You! You were not Rose?!”

The man shouted stupidly.

I am going crazy.

Galahad smiled faintly and flicked his finger.

It was overtime.