2
The largest military state in the world, the Empire.
Inside an Imperial military base.
“Everyone, we’ve got a trip coming up on the weekend.”
“You mean working security at the carnival? I remember, but it’s a pretty unusual mission.” Iska, the black-haired swordsman, turned to the commander. “We’re being dispatched to Bachils?”
“That’s right. We’re supposed to dress up in costumes and blend in at the carnival.” Commander Mismis nodded. Though she had a baby face and a child’s stature, she was an Imperial commander and a member of the forces.
“Hey, Commander? What are we supposed to do while we’re there?” In the corner of the conference room, a red-haired girl named Nene suddenly rose from her chair. “So we dress up like we’re tourists…and then we help guard the carnival? Does that mean we’ll be rounding up rowdy drunks or something?”
“That’s the job of the military police on the scene. It’s not our jurisdiction,” Jhin, the silver-haired sniper, replied.
The swordsman Iska, Commander Mismis, Nene, and Jhin made up a four-person unit.
“If the Imperial forces need to be there, that means we’ll be going up against astral mages. Did we get intel that they’re sending spies in?”
“You’re right. That’s exactly what’s going on.” Commander Mismis nodded at Jhin’s question. “And it happened last year, too. There were some suspicious tourists at the carnival who we believe were Sovereignty witches on an espionage mission.”
“Aha, I see. So that’s why we’re being sent in… But that seems like a challenge.” Iska sighed after imagining the bustling crowd at the carnival.
Bachils’s carnival was known for attracting tens of thousands of visitors. Trying to find a spy in that mess would be like attempting to locate a single ant in a vast desert.
“It’ll be difficult finding them and even worse trying to capture them.”
“Sheesh. And you want even me and Iska to dress up? That’s way too much work, c’mon.” Jhin leaned back in his chair and sighed at the task at hand. “So then what? What are we gonna wear?”
“I have the catalog,” Nene said. “Here, Jhin!”
She pulled a thick book out of her bag.
“Here, this is it! The most popular costume is this black wide-brimmed hat to dress as a witch, and the second most popular is a fiend. And they’ve got really realistic mummies and zombies on the next page!”
“All of these are monster costumes.”
“Well, it’s a costume carnival. What’ll you wear, Iska? I think this werewolf would work for you.”
“Me? I dunno… I’ve never attended one of these before.”
There were dozens of sample costumes. Settling on one would be difficult.
“It’s probably better to hide our faces, so the spies don’t find out we’re there.”
Suddenly, an idea came to Iska. He wondered who the spies from the Sovereignty would be. If they needed to blend in with the carnival, they probably wouldn’t look like stereotypical witches. He imagined the spies would be beautiful young women.
……Like…
……Alice, for example?
The Ice Calamity Witch Aliceliese, whom Iska had fought on the battlefield. Alice was an enemy princess, but if she concealed her identity, she could have worked as a model anywhere in the world.
“She would shine at the carnival…but there’s no way she’d be there.”
Iska shook his head and focused on choosing his costume.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login