9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 12 - White Raven Order (1)

“The White Raven Order is a secret organization I created. I put quite a bit of effort into recruiting comrades.”

In the dead of night while Mrs. Schmidt was fast asleep, Daniel and I were having a serious conversation in my room.

“Why the White Raven Order specifically? Does it have some special meaning?”

“I took it from an old legend. You know it too—the story of how people drifting on an ark after the great flood followed a white raven sent by an angel and set foot on this continent.”

“That thing from Genesis in the Bible? I didn’t know you were such a devout believer.”

Most people on the continent where Schufaben was located believed in the same religion.

It was similar to Christianity from the Earth I used to live on, yet different in nature.

Like Christianity, they believed in a monotheistic god called ‘God’ and held masses in churches, but there were no prophets like Jesus or the Virgin Mary, and there were no sectarian conflicts.

However, instead of sects, they seemed to maintain internal unity by oppressing the elves, who were the common enemy as heathens.

After the republican revolution, religion had weakened considerably, and when the Kruger regime came to power, even religious people became his lackeys, but Schufaben was still a nation that believed in God.

Anyway, Daniel waved his hand dismissively.

“It’s not like that. I don’t even go to church. I just picked the name because it’s a symbol of hope.”

“Hmm, sure. Setting that aside, how many people are in the White Raven Order total? And what do you do?”

“Five including me, and our main activity is making flyers criticizing Kruger and posting them around. Other than that, we investigate incidents that don’t make it into the newspapers, or compile lists of fervent Kruger supporters.”

I immediately covered my face with my hands in despair.

“Flyers… flyers, you say…”

“What’s wrong?”

Daniel tilted his head in confusion.

‘This is completely club-level activity. Good grief, I expected as much from their amateurish escape attempt, but this is seriously bad. Is joining hands with Daniel really the right thing to do?’

From what I’d observed so far, Daniel Hartmann himself was a good person. His intelligent and spirited demeanor seemed very promising, which is probably how he managed to recruit comrades in these harsh times.

However, I wasn’t confident whether I should stake my fate on the White Raven Order.

Making critical flyers was quite something too. In this country, even such minor acts could result in torture and execution, so if they were willing to take such risks, they must be brave young people.

But you can’t change anything just by distributing flyers and categorizing supporters. It wouldn’t even scratch Kruger’s rule.

‘I wasn’t expecting military forces capable of storming off to cut Kruger’s throat, but still, the numbers are way too small!’

Five people meant everyone I’d seen was the entire membership.

I was suddenly terrified.

I’d already spilled everything at gunpoint and earned Daniel’s trust, so there was no way out.

But joining the White Raven Order would mean putting my life on the line. Who knows when I might get arrested by Ossel again!

Since I’d already been caught twice, I was definitely under some kind of scrutiny.

But if I tried to back out, Daniel wouldn’t stand for it. To cleanly make it all go away, I’d have no choice but to slit Daniel’s throat myself.

Please, I desperately wanted to avoid such a disaster.

‘Damn it all! Can’t be helped.’

I lowered my hands and grinned.

“So, does that mean I’m now a comrade of the White Raven Order?”

“You were pushed into the situation, but I suppose so. Though we’ll need to hold an initiation ceremony.”

“Something like an ideological test? Get eliminated and disappear without a trace.”

“Not that extreme—you meet the comrades and gain everyone’s approval.”

“No, I think you guys should be doing exactly that.”

When I replied decisively, Daniel tilted his head.

“What do you mean?”

“I think it’d be better to discuss the details when I meet everyone. Anyway, I’m counting on you, leader.”

I shook hands firmly with the suspicious Daniel.

To survive, I had no choice but to change this amateurish group.

I wasn’t particularly confident, but for now, that was the only path I could see.

***

“Are you really going to keep acting like Ossel? Those people did the same thing. I guess the torture chamber’s location can’t be exposed.”

“Yeah, same for me. You’re not an official member yet, so it can’t be helped. Please understand.”

A few nights later, deep in the night.

Daniel dragged me somewhere with my eyes covered by black cloth.

With a pale face wrapped in cloth, I probably looked exactly like a prisoner being dragged to the execution ground.

“All the other members went through the same thing on their first day.”

In the dead of night when no one was around, avoiding patrols while blindfolded, heading to an abandoned house on the outskirts of town.

“This doesn’t feel good. Smells moldy too.”

I muttered like singing, reciting the scene that would obviously unfold.

“A roof with rafters rotted and fallen off in places, a yard overgrown with weeds, windows almost completely shattered by neighborhood kids’ pranks.”

“That’s creepy. Have you been here before?”

“My sixth sense is just incredible.”

I heard Daniel chuckle.

“There are rumors that vengeful ghosts appear in this house, which makes it even better for secret meetings. We’re here.”

After entering some building and climbing short stairs.

Daniel made me kneel on the creaking floorboards and removed my blindfold.

An interior shrouded in darkness.

All the windows were blocked with planks, shutting out even moonlight, and only dim candlelight illuminated the small space.

In the candlelight, unfamiliar faces shadowed by the glow stared at me intently with expressions that seemed far from ordinary.

Eyes mixed with interest, anxiety, and wariness.

‘This does give off a proper secret society vibe. Classic, but effective.’

Tension flowed through the silence.

‘Kind of like a job interview too.’

I remembered wandering around to various companies as a job-seeker long ago. Though the sense of crisis that I might die if I handled this wrong was incomparable to back then.

“Well then, let me introduce our White Raven Order comrades.”

Daniel cleared his throat and began speaking.

“First, Erika Brightner.”

A slender, black-haired beauty with a cold aura nodded slightly in greeting.

“Richard Enke.”

A modest young man with platinum blond hair and a freckled face. Whatever work he did, his Buddha-like gentle and peaceful expression was striking.

“Georg.”

It was that surveillance guy who had called me a rat.

I hadn’t noticed because of his tanned skin, but looking now, he had a small build and a youthful face. At most thirteen or fourteen. However, beneath his bushy straw-colored hair, his eyes shone with intelligence.

“Lastly, Oscar Fisher.”

A man who looked like a pampered-looking guy swept his red hair back with a sly grin.

“Friends, this is Lucas Redan. As I mentioned, he’ll be joining us from today.”

“I’m Lucas Redan. As you’ve probably heard from Daniel, I work as a 9th-grade civil servant and clerk assistant at the District 13 office.”

I greeted them politely first and offered handshakes to each person. The members seemed surprised or reluctant but obediently accepted.

After a brief silence, Oscar was the first to speak.

“So, you’re the person living in the same house as our leader?”

As expected, his first words dripped with smugness.

The type whose self-esteem and narcissism reached the sky. Fortunately, these kinds of people were easy to deal with. I smiled just as smugly back.

“Yeah, I live with your leader, sharing meals and even bathing together. Got a problem with that?”

When I kept my words short, Oscar’s eyes narrowed. I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at him. Since neither of us intended to look away first, it became a staring contest.

“Ahem!”

Unable to watch any longer, Daniel cleared his throat and waved his hand at Oscar, who was glaring at me.

“Oscar is currently working at a munitions factory.”

“Assembling giant airships. With the mindset of stealing the enemy’s core technology.”

Oscar spoke good-naturedly as if he’d never frowned.

“What about the other three?”

“Richard is a surgeon running a hospital, Georg does newspaper delivery work, and Erika is a student studying political science at Lüdelheim University.”

“Hmm, so you’re a doctor. And newspaper delivery—we might have passed each other on the street once. But what, political science? That brainwashing education full of Kruger’s influence?”

When I spoke sarcastically, displeasure flashed across Erika’s cold face.

“Don’t talk about things you don’t even—”

“But you still had the backbone to join the White Raven Order despite that. Really impressive!”

I put on an expression of genuine admiration. As expected, she blinked in apparent confusion.

“The same goes for everyone else. To break through the brainwashing you’ve received repeatedly since childhood and even engage in this kind of movement—I’m ashamed of myself for worshipping Kruger as a god until recently.”

At the cringe-worthy praise, Daniel struggled to hide his ‘why is this bastard acting like this’ expression, but the other members seemed to have warmed up at least a little.

‘Not too good.’

While successful in terms of making a good first impression, watching their amateurish displays left a bitter taste.

The problem was that they weren’t naive enough for me to completely control and manipulate either.

It would have been easier if they were, but even now they’d only loosened up slightly—the wary atmosphere still remained.

Somehow I’d gotten tangled up in a troublesome situation.

“Thanks for the praise, Lucas. Now, I think that’s enough introductions, right?”

Daniel clapped his hands once to redirect attention.

“What do you all think? Would Lucas fit in with the White Raven Order?”

A brief silence fell. Everyone seemed to be organizing their thoughts.

“…Well, since you picked him out. There’s no way to kick him out now anyway.”

Finally Oscar spoke frankly, but Erika frowned slightly as if she disagreed.

“I would have preferred a mage or something. Having just one mage would be incredibly helpful.”

“How do you recruit a mage? They’re treated as precious strategic resources under government management.”

“I know, I was just saying. Stop picking on me, brother!”

I chuckled at Georg and Oscar starting to bicker.

“I’m not a mage, but I’m a civil servant. As far as I know, none of you are public officials, but civil servants can access state information. Even though I’m just a lowly clerk assistant working at a small office, I can freely read records and such. I’ve already investigated quite a lot.”

“For example?”

Erika asked in a chilly voice. I smiled at her, full of wariness.

“If you accept me, you’ll find out.”

Erika seemed about to object, but Daniel stopped her.

“Enough, enough. Let’s have a proper evaluation period. Anyone have questions for Lucas?”

Just as Georg hesitantly started to raise his hand.

Creak!

A very faint sound of wood twisting reached my ears. Everyone in the room seemed to hear it as the atmosphere grew sharply tense.

“It’s probably from yesterday’s rain. The house is old, so when the wood gets wet and then dries, it warps and makes those sounds.”

“Quiet.”

Oscar whispered, seemingly trying to shake off his anxiety. I irritably waved my hand to silence him and pricked up my ears.

While everyone held their breath.

Creak!

I heard it. I heard it again.

This time it was right outside the door.

“Shit…”

A curse leaked through my teeth without me realizing.

We were screwed.

Bang!

Someone struck the locked door handle with a hard object.

“Everyone get down!”

I screamed in a shrill voice and pressed my body flat to the floor while reaching out to Daniel.

“Daniel! The gun!”

Daniel’s face went white as he pulled out his pistol with a confused look.

Slide!

I caught the pistol sliding across the floorboards and immediately put my finger on the trigger.

Bang! Bang!

The door handle half fell off. I glanced back to see everyone diving toward corners or windows, lying flat in the darkness.

Erika, who had been pressing her chest to the floor, suddenly noticed the candle placed in the middle of the floor and blew on it. The light disappeared and the room was plunged into complete darkness.

Excellent response.

Crash!

As soon as the light went out, the door burst wide open. The light from a magic lamp blazed before my eyes.

I gripped my trembling hand and applied pressure to my finger.

“Special police! You wicked reactionary bastards are all…!”

Bang!

The gun barrel spat fire.

As the magic lamp fell to the floor and the light flickered, red blood spattering through the air was clearly visible.

The blond man was staggering while clutching his thigh.

“You, you bastards!”

The moment his right hand twitched, Daniel snapped out of his frozen state and charged at the man.

Thud!

The man was sent flying by the full-force tackle, and I crawled across the dusty floor and picked up the gun he’d dropped.

“Hah, hah…”

Standing on the fallen man’s neck, I quickly looked around at the members.

“Anyone here ever killed someone?”

My voice was trembling uncontrollably.