NOVPUBLanci didn’t look back, but the voice was all too familiar.
It was none other than the Allied Forces’ female spy, Unity, whom he had had the misfortune of running into on the Bulida Train that day.
That day she had worn a white porcelain mask, and even though she wasn’t wearing it today, her appearance had surely been disguised.
"..."
The soberly dressed Unity didn’t speak for a moment.
She self-absorbedly picked up her coffee cup.
Clearly anticipating she would come to find him, he had deliberately waited here for her—a feeling of everything being predicted made her all the more uncomfortable.
Indeed, she wanted to find this guy quickly because, according to her colleagues’ intelligence, this man disguised as a professor had uncovered something incredibly significant within the Empire.
Learning that he had visited the Empire’s Special Operations Department today convinced Unity even more that this guy was one of the Empire’s Imperial Hounds, the top Imperial Hound.
Even if he’s been dealing with the Allied Forces for some unclear purposes, his fundamental wickedness was beyond doubt.
As she pondered it,
"When you go to pay later on, take a look at the coffee cups sold in the shop. I’ll have hidden an invisible recording crystal stone inside one of them. Get close enough to sense the magic power and you’ll find it. Buy it along with the coffee cup."
Lanci’s sudden speech allowed Unity behind him to hear his words.
"...What’s inside?"
Unity didn’t show any sign of shock, but her voice took on a hint of suspicion.
She didn’t need the help of magic tools, as a well-trained spy she was adept at ventriloquism.
"The thing you want, my research results."
Lanci straightforwardly told her.
"Why do you want to give these to me?"
Unity couldn’t understand for a moment.
When she was still contemplating how to make a deal with this man, he was already offering to give her the things she wanted?
Mission accomplished all too easily made her uneasy.
"Because this power should not belong to the Empire alone."
Lanci answered tersely.
It was hard for him to explain the concept of "balance of terror" in a few words.
Often only when the world truly changes do people understand.
"I’ll take it, then."
Unity didn’t delay any further, went around the coffee shop, found the cup Lanci had mentioned, and bought it, ensuring no other customer happened to take it away during the timeframe of their conversation.
Indeed,
If there weren’t the competition from the Allied Forces, the Empire wouldn’t realize the urgency and subsequently place greater value on Landry.
This guy’s ambitions were indeed frightening, willing to betray his own Empire for the sake of his status and power.
Unity paid very naturally and was getting ready to leave when she heard Randri’s voice again.
"Do me a favor."
Lanci’s request brought Unity back to the seat behind him.
"What is it?"
Unity asked coldly, her back turned to him.
Professor Landry’s research was still in its initial stages. If she wanted to get her hands on related information successfully, she’d need to work with him over the long term. With him needing something, she must also bring something to the table for the deal.
"I need a fiancée, who must come from the Northwest’s territory of Nixasende. Ideally, a smart Allied spy would play this role well. If you’re not comfortable, I just want the identity, not the person."
Lanci said.
"..."
This left Unity in silence for a full ten seconds.
She was analyzing whether this man truly had a mission requirement or was just driven by lust.
The bureaucratic air of the Empire repulsed her even more.
After all, given his strength, truly living under one roof, the safety of her Allied colleagues would be hard to ensure.
The woman in the black dress tapped her fingers lightly on the table, still seemingly contemplating.
Lanci did not turn his head to look at her. To anyone observing, they were complete strangers without any communication.
The sun dipped lower by half.
Finally.
"I can’t guarantee success, and even with an identity, I still need the other party’s consent—but I will do my best to find you an appropriate identity. You also need to maintain the identity of Landri and continue to work with me," Unity said in a low voice. After she finished speaking, she stood up and left.
She would, in principle, never cooperate with someone from the Empire’s Special Operations Department.
But compared to the brutal front lines, espionage was also a battlefield laden with the lives of countless people, and there were some things she had to weigh.
A piece of intelligence, an hour, might determine the fate of an entire division.
These days, the frontline situation kept her restless, even her nightmares were filled with images of her hometown consumed by war, waking her in a cold sweat.
Even a careless word spoken in her sleep could expose her identity and kill an entire line of colleagues.
She didn’t know when she might die or whether she’d die without a trace. Her only fear was dying in vain.
The intelligence in the brain of that ambitious man behind her was irreplaceable. Gathering information about him through other channels had its risks, perhaps even greater, and it was uncertain how complete the information obtained through several hands would be. Seeking intelligence directly from him was doubtlessly the dream option.
After a long while.
At the outdoor seating of the open-air café.
"...I seem to have been misunderstood quite deeply," Lanci thought, now that the Allied Forces spy had walked away and he felt at ease, a bitter thought crossed his mind.
With Unity’s response like that, he had achieved his purpose.
Now, his suspicions about Unity were gradually fading.
If everyone regarded him as an Imperial Hound, it was actually an acknowledgment of his acting skills.
If he could deceive his own people, then deceiving the enemy would be no trouble at all.
He’d bear all the misunderstandings and carry the burden alone.
"Is it possible that a big part of why you’re misunderstood is actually your own fault?" Talia felt it was unfair to blame Unity.
If she were Unity, she would also find it hard to believe that Lanci was on the side of the Allied Forces; he was too committed to his role.
"It’s impossible; it’s just that behind the glory there’s a mark of loneliness. That’s how Dean Loren made it through those times," Lanci immediately denied it.
"Why don’t you go ask Loren? Why was he doubted in the first place?" Talia almost laughed in frustration.
She now had to admit Loren was truly an honest and loyal person; what kind of saint could be so gentle with Lanci all this time?
"I actually did ask him when I came out of the Seventh-Order Shadow World Dark Solar Eclipse Demon Realm, he just smiled and didn’t speak, which means he thought the same as me," Lanci replied with conviction.
"..."
Talia was at a loss for words.
It looked like Loren indeed had no objections.
"Let’s call it a day, let’s go home," Lanci packed up his work diary and pushed the chair back under the iron table.
The network of spies in Poson was clearly not as vast as the representatives of the Allied Forces espionage in the Canberra Kingdom. It would take some time to get in touch with spies from Poson, and matters such as finding a fiancée had to be entrusted to Unity as a priority.
As long as the Allied Forces could arrange an identity, whether someone came directly or he got Talia to disguise herself, things would go smoothly.
Even though Old Man may not be able to convincingly play a suitor of his age, having all flaws being flaws meant none were flaws; if his portrayal brought out Talia’s own characteristic as a food lover, it would be less likely to be questioned.
"...?"
Talia felt Lanci was becoming more and more presumptuous.
"Rebel, I might not even want to be your fiancée."
She muttered to herself in her heart.
