A Suspicious Theater

「Princess Helena of the Doicheun Empire becomes His Majesty the King’s consort!?」

「The imperial family of the Doicheun Empire shows active approval of the Polia Kingdom’s decision.」

「The Polia royal family, having already formed a marital relationship with the imperial family of the Magnia Empire, now forms one with the imperial family of the Doicheun Empire as well?!」

「A marital relationship with the Doicheun Empire. Is it truly all right for the future of the Polia Kingdom?」

「His Majesty the King’s bold decision to conceive a new heir?」

In the end, Ian decided to take Princess Helena as his consort. Not only had he thought about it a great deal, but the atmosphere in his family was also positive, so he decided to accept her. Of course, his own thoughts were important too. In truth, Princess Helena’s beauty could be called quite considerable.

As he himself was a man, it was only natural that he felt attracted to Princess Helena. Meanwhile, he also had to think about his relationship with the Doicheun Empire. He had already formed a secret agreement with them and was developing all kinds of weapons. Since that was the reality, marriage with her could become something that would make his relationship with them even tighter.

From the start, Emperor Rednix of the Doicheun Empire may have sent Princess Helena in advance because he had also thought of this reality. Of course, even Emperor Rednix likely had not known that Ian would hesitate for this long and only make a decision belatedly.

The moment Ian accepted Princess Helena as his consort like that, the atmosphere in the Polia Kingdom had no choice but to change quite a bit. In truth, until now, the nobles had given up on making their daughters consorts after seeing the king cherish only the queen and refuse to accept any consorts.

In such a situation, since he had accepted a consort for the first time, they began to think that they now had a chance too, and with their eyes lit up, they showed movements to make their daughters consorts. In truth, since Ian had been worried about this and had thought about it all this time because of it, it was quite a troubling matter from his standpoint.

Ian, who had suddenly come to have two women as his wives, thought that any more than this was impossible, so he had to make it so that the issue of consorts would not be brought up at all. Thus, he deliberately announced that there would be no second consort, but in reality, no one believed those words.

From the start, in a situation where he had repeatedly said he would not take any consorts after the queen, he was now taking Princess Helena as his consort, so everyone tried not to give up because they knew his words could change. They thought that if they only had time, there would be an opportunity.

While Ian was experiencing such troubling matters in his own country, in the Bain Kingdom, acts of terrorism targeting the Pope were taking place day after day. Naturally, the ones carrying out these acts were none other than the Polia Kingdom’s intelligence department, the Mauter.

Claaang—!

Along with the sight of a window shattering, fragments scattered all over the hallway. At this scene, the people walking through the hallway had no choice but to hurriedly throw themselves to the floor. Everyone could only roll their eyes around, knowing that bullets might fly in again at any moment.

At the same time, everyone tried to escape from the hallway, even by crawling. This scene could be said to be something commonly seen these days. After the first assassination attempt against the Pope, bullets could be said to fly without fail wherever the Pope was.

They even flew in not targeting the Pope, but targeting the building itself, so anyone inside the building had no choice but to feel, day by day, the reality of their blood running dry. Naturally, the mercenaries hired by the Rat Religion moved in large numbers to catch these snipers.

However, because they vanished without a trace, there was no opportunity to catch them. Amid this, it would have been good if the holy knight moved, but he always had to stand guard beside the Pope, so he could not move at all.

Meanwhile, if there was rooftop space where an assassin might be positioned, mercenaries of the Rat Religion were stationed there, but even using such a method was useless. Even when there were people guarding those places, when they went to check, they had always been annihilated, so now there was no one willing to take charge of those places.

“Again! Again, bullets have flown in!”

The face of the Pope, who had once been rather plump, had lost weight and become quite gaunt. Even his eyes were bloodshot, showing that he had not slept properly for a while. It could not be helped. Thinking that there was an assassin targeting him anytime and anywhere, he could not possibly sleep comfortably.

He knew that a holy knight was protecting him right beside him, but as the Pope, he could not feel at ease. Of course, since he was in a place closed off on all sides, bullets had no chance of flying in, but after hearing reports that bullets were flying around the building, he could not possibly feel at ease.

“When did they say additional holy knights would be mass-produced?!”

“Very soon. They will come here soon. Then we will be able to send them separately to catch the assassins.”

“How long must I go through this situation! Will it not end only after that damned King of Polia is killed!”

“Th-that is correct.”

“Kill that king at once!”

“I apologize, but I reported to you before that all the assassins you ordered, Pope, were discovered in advance and killed…”

“Then just send more! He also sent assassins at me, so is there a reason I cannot send them!”

“U-understood. I will make a new assassination request.”

The inner thoughts of the one speaking were skeptical. He did not know whether there would be an assassination organization willing to accept the request. They had already once made a request to an assassination organization and sent assassins. In truth, it was something that had only been able to proceed after offering an enormous request fee.

It was only natural, since it was a request to assassinate the king of a country. However, what they heard from that assassination organization was a report that they had failed. Somehow, they said the entire country’s surveillance system was incredibly powerful, and not only the underworld but the entire city where millions lived was under a large-scale surveillance system.

From the start, it could be said that even approaching the royal palace was difficult. Meanwhile, Pope Bain turned his gaze toward the holy knight standing near him and spoke as if making it certain.

“Holy knight. You must never move away from me. You must protect me no matter what.”

“Of course. Protecting you, Pope, is the mission I possess.”

“Ooh, I can certainly trust only you.”

Having already had bullets flying in blocked by the holy knight before, the Pope had come to rely excessively on the holy knight. The gaze of the person watching this sight could not help but be worried. These days, everyone had begun to have doubts about the Pope.

‘It would not be good if he only keeps showing such a weak appearance.’

The person who was the center of the Rat Religion should show a strong appearance, but because he kept showing signs of trying to hide, everyone’s faith in the Pope was gradually thinning. They were beginning to think, Is that person truly the one who represents God?

At the very moment he thought that the Pope had to please regain normality and show everyone the same strong appearance as before, in another place, there were gazes examining a suspicious location.

“Is that really the right place?”

“Wouldn’t it be? It looks pretty suspicious.”

“That’s true, but I was wondering whether there would really be a secret facility in a place like that.”

Two agents belonging to the Mauter intelligence department were hiding in an alley and looking toward a building located fairly far away. It was a place named “Pierre Theater.” Recently, while searching areas where people were frequently disappearing, they had been monitoring a theater that showed suspicious movements.

“Did you forget what kind of people those bastards are? They are the sort who are everywhere and create secret spaces everywhere. A theater would be easy enough to remodel. They even said there was large-scale reconstruction two years ago. Then isn’t it exactly right?”

“It certainly is suspicious. But I hope it isn’t a bust like that tavern we investigated last time.”

“That place was definitely suspicious too, but it wasn’t it.”

“By the way, how are we going to search that place?”

“How about going in as customers for now? Since it is a theater, we might learn something if we watch the actors performing.”

“That is true, but the two of us?”

It was actually rare for men to go to a theater with only other men, not with women. The two looked at each other and shook their heads. If they went, they might be seen as suspicious. To go as naturally as possible, they needed women.

“Where are we supposed to find women to watch a play with us?”

“There weren’t any female agents in this branch, were there?”

“There weren’t…”

“Then how about buying them with money? If we go to a brothel or somewhere like that, I think it would be possible enough.”

“That must be the only way, right?”

Since they could mobilize as much money as needed, if they simply put in the legwork, they would be able to find women to enter the theater with them. They immediately had to disappear from the alley. And half a day later, the two were each able to bring a woman, hand over the tickets they had obtained for the theater, and enter.

Pierre Theater was currently performing a play related to the war. Along with the wide stage, the actors performing the play were acting with considerable passion. Naturally, since it was related to war, it had no choice but to contain very gloomy content.

Clap, clap, clap—!

Before long, the play ended, and the audience could be seen applauding. Amid that sight, the curtain began to descend. The two agents examined their surroundings in this situation, but in truth, it could be said that nothing seemed special. The facilities were like that, and the actors performing the play were all uniformly “real.”

In truth, there was no fabricated place anywhere. In this situation, the two agents thought they might end up leaving the theater without any result. At that moment, someone who seemed to be the host came onto the stage and could be heard raising his voice as he spoke.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for watching our play. We will continue to be Pierre Theater, presenting high-quality plays in the future as well! Then, please visit us again next time.”

At the sight of the host taking off the hat he had been wearing and bowing politely, everyone again clapped, clap, clap—! With whistles also going back and forth, everyone began rising from their seats. Amid those people, the two agents also had no choice but to stand up with the women who had come with them.

“I really enjoyed it.”

“Did you enjoy watching it?”

“Of course. We do like watching plays like this, you know. Hohoho.”

“If so, I am glad. Let us go.”

If they talked any more than this, it would pointlessly reveal that they had come after being paid, so the agents answered appropriately and began moving to leave. Even so, they could not help but feel regretful. They had gone to the effort of even paying money to infiltrate the theater, so it was regrettable to leave without any result.

Had they been moving past the seats and along the passage leading outside like that? There were people who blocked their path. At that sight, the two agents had no choice but to flinch. The women who had come with them also had flustered expressions at the sudden event.

“What is the matter?”

“You will come with us for a moment.”

“Do you mean me?”

“Yes. I mean you and that person over there.”

At the words of the man who pointed precisely at the two agents, the two realized in that instant that they had been found out!? They did not know how they had noticed, but they were openly trying to catch them. The two grew tense, while at the same time trying to maintain their composure and continue the conversation.

“Why should we do that?”

“Who are you to tell us to come and go?”

“We have no intention of listening to an answer. If we tell you to follow, you just follow.”

He was speaking in a voice full of threats. At this sight, even the other people passing through the passage had stopped walking and were murmuring. Seeing this, the man frowned as if it had become troublesome, then immediately fabricated words as he spoke.

“We know everything about your plan to set fire to our theater. Stop talking nonsense and follow us.”

“Fire?”

“My goodness, setting fire to a theater? What are those people?”

Murmur, murmur. The people were looking at the two agents with suspicious gazes. At these words and this sight, the two agents could not help but be dumbfounded at both those people fabricating such poor words and the people who believed them. Whatever the case, the situation was turning strange.

“W-wait. We did nothing wrong.”

“That’s right. We only came because these people paid us and asked us to enter the theater with them.”

At the words of the two women, who confessed after getting frightened in advance, the two agents realized that they had given the people even more credibility. It was the moment when a poor explanation had suddenly changed into the truth. At the same time, they were able to become certain. This place was absolutely not normal. Perhaps it was the place they were searching for.

‘We are getting out of this place. But it does not matter even if we fail.’

‘…In any case, all the other agents know that we came here.’

They had informed the plan they were carrying out in report form in advance. From the start, it had been necessary to claim expenses to hire the women. Therefore, the two thought it would not matter even if they went missing. However, they intended to resist as much as possible.

Although their skill was inferior to the special agents, they too were people who had become agents of the intelligence department through extreme training. They had no intention of being taken down easily. One of those people read their intentions, curled his lips into a cold smile, and said.

“It would be best to resolve this among ourselves, so let us send the people out first.”

“Good. Send the people out.”

At these words, someone who seemed to be a theater official asked the people to leave for now, saying they would handle it themselves. Hearing this, the people hesitated and began leaving. They thought that getting involved pointlessly would do them no good.

“Wh-what about us?”

“We did nothing wrong…”

“Those ladies were simply hired with money, so why not send them away?”

At the agent’s words, the theater official looked at the women for a moment, then nodded. At this, the women, whose faces brightened, began leaving the theater as if running out. The agent watching this saw some people following them and realized that, from the start, they had no intention of simply letting them go.

“Do you really have to go that far?”

“We cannot let women with even a little suspicion escape. I think now is not the time for you to worry about that.”

“As expected, you people are deeply connected to the Rat Religion.”

“Who knows?”

Amid the sight of him speaking meaningfully, they began to move quickly. In that instant, the passage turned into a battlefield, and soon after, bang, bang, bang! Gunshots burst out before the sounds stopped. And not long after, the two fallen agents were lying there.

Several people were dead and wounded. And the fallen agents were being dragged away as they were.