9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 69 - Hostile Symbiotic Relationship (1)

“It’s been a while. Two weeks already? Thanks for coming.”

Johann read the undisguised sincerity in the grinning opponent’s eyes.

‘I hate people like you.’

Of course, Johann also muttered to himself.

‘This mongrel certainly runs his mouth well.’

Late at night, in the cozy and warm atmosphere of a hotel restaurant.

Johann drank high-class coffee worth 100 pelts per cup and thought.

‘What the hell is he doing with all that money?’

It was a question that arose every time he saw Fa-Elhar.

A wealthy man who owned this kind of luxury hotel in District 3, Rubellia’s most affluent neighborhood. He had enough to enjoy life to the fullest, yet he dove into terrorism and was chased by police.

‘Does he perhaps find pleasure in that?’

It was a sentiment Johann would never understand even if he died and came back to life.

Johann despised Fa-Elhar.

Just as much as ordinary people did.

He didn’t think elves were like cockroaches that should all be caught and killed, that they should be exterminated.

But he also didn’t think they were their neighbors who should be welcomed with open arms and shown warmth.

To be precise, Johann had no interest in the elf race.

The things he wasn’t interested in were infinite in this universe.

He set down his cup and opened his mouth.

“Let’s get started.”

“Ah, before that.”

A muscular elf with cropped ears approached and placed something on the table.

A box wrapped in shiny packaging. Opening the lid revealed an ornate pistol decorated with silver.

“A promotion gift.”

Now, of all times?

Johann turned the pistol this way and that, indifferently demanding an explanation.

“I was thinking of lending Lucas money, but he said if I had that kind of money, I should give you a gift instead.”

Johann twisted the corner of his mouth.

Was he still playing the faithful hunting dog? Even though he wasn’t controlled by anyone anyway.

“You’re already giving me enough.”

Fa-Elhar crossed his legs and spoke affectionately. Anyone watching would think they were having a very friendly conversation.

Johann had been receiving appropriate amounts of ‘gifts’ from him.

In exchange for maintaining good relations with the White Raven Order.

Or rather, in exchange for turning a blind eye when elves impersonating the White Raven Order committed accidents or crimes.

Johann had that kind of power.

Who to arrest and who to release—it was all decided at his fingertips.

“Trying to solve everything with money isn’t a good attitude.”

When Johann spoke sarcastically, Fa-Elhar smiled beautifully.

“You’re someone who can solve almost anything with money.”

It was an insulting remark, but Johann nodded halfheartedly.

“So what about today?”

Fa-Elhar also opened his mouth without much concern.

“How many ‘criminals’ have I handed over to you so far?”

“Exactly 22.”

They were cooperating.

Bletter, impersonating the White Raven Order, caused incidents and accidents, disrupting public order and tarnishing Kruger’s reputation.

Johann arrested the trash fabricated as criminals they provided, boosting his performance and strengthening his authority.

That was about it.

“Isn’t that somewhat insufficient?”

Fa-Elhar pulled out a sheet of paper from his jacket and pushed it toward Johann.

Personal information of citizens Johann had handed over for large sums of money. Several names were marked in red.

Police executives, successful businessmen, mayors of small cities, etc.

“…Bundle them together?”

Johann slightly frowned, then became serious.

“Why should I?”

“Would it be difficult?”

Fa-Elhar tilted his head.

“Foolish question. Whether it’s difficult or not isn’t the issue. Why should I jump into this insanity?”

That mongrel bastard was now proposing a large-scale fabrication case.

Connecting high-ranking figures as White Raven Order members and supporters, then exposing them.

Making what they’d been doing several times bigger. Making it impossible not to attract attention.

Setting aside how to pull it off, what was the reason it had to be done?

“10 million pelt.”

“Only 10 million? You don’t seem to know how difficult it is to touch these big shots.”

Johann replied dully to Fa-Elhar’s proposal. This wasn’t something that could be done with money alone.

“You’ll earn merit.”

“I’m already doing that.”

“Or eliminate whoever you want.”

“And?”

“You might catch the Supreme Leader’s eye.”

“That’s not a good thing.”

Johann immediately countered.

“That’s all there is.”

“Let’s pretend this never happened.”

He left those brief words and exited the hotel. He could feel the elf’s gaze following him from behind.

Half-frozen winter rain was drizzling on the street. Philip opened an umbrella beside him and held it over him.

Johann took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and pulled a small folded letter from his inner pocket.

“The Queen… What is he plotting?”

He held the letter to the tip of his cigarette. The paper that flared up soon became black fragments scattered on the soggy street.

***

However, the next day, Johann had no choice but to sit across from the elf again.

“Why did you change your mind?”

“It’s the Supreme Leader’s will.”

Questions settled in the sapphire-colored eyes.

***

Lieutenant General Leon Kaiser stood in rigid attention.

Even his lips, which usually wore a cheerful smile, were firmly set.

In his field of vision, angled down at 45 degrees, he could see glossy shoes walking back and forth.

If he raised his head, he would see an angelically beautiful face. An angel who could be more cruel than anyone.

“Lieutenant General, I hear work has been difficult lately.”

“No, sir.”

The Supreme Leader’s shoes moved out of his field of vision. Along with squeaking sounds, there were signs of the famous gold dragon Chryseus being embraced by the Supreme Leader.

“Look up.”

Hesitating here would be a mistake. When he raised his head, he saw the dazzling dragon scales and the Supreme Leader’s hair shining even more brilliantly.

Red twilight poured through the large window, dyeing the golden hair crimson.

The scenery outside the window with rolling clouds was fantastic, but the Supreme Leader didn’t spare it a glance.

“I heard an interesting story recently.”

The Supreme Leader, who had been walking around, sat in an armchair with a languid expression. The atmosphere was relaxed, as if he were just making small talk.

“There was delicious cake with six pieces and seven people. What do you think the mediator who was supposed to distribute the cake did?”

“I don’t know.”

“He shot the other six with a gun and threw a party with his friends! Hahaha! I thought you’d know better! Ahahaha!”

The Supreme Leader burst into innocent, childlike laughter while rapidly firing his pistol.

Bang!

“Weiss!”

Bang!

“Wolff!”

Bang!

“Schwarz!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“König! Müller! Huber!”

One bullet, one name.

Sofa cushions burst, and furniture and decorations shattered. Amidst the gunshots, feathers and debris flew everywhere.

The gun stopped in front of the lieutenant general’s chest. All the blood in his body froze.

‘How? Since when did he know?’

Only three people in the world knew about the deaths of the six majors the Supreme Leader had sent.

Himself, his aide Major Lorenz, and Lieutenant Colonel Johann Werner.

He hadn’t planned to hide it forever, but this was faster than he’d imagined.

But why was he still breathing?

‘Does he plan to toy with me?’

The gun aimed at him was withdrawn, and the Supreme Leader, who had stopped laughing, leaned back against the chair.

“Eve.”

“Yes.”

A woman in a perfectly neat suit walked over and handed documents to Lieutenant General Kaiser.

“Those white ravens or seagulls or whatever have been making noise lately?”

The lieutenant general respectfully received the documents and bowed.

“I apologize, Your Excellency. I’ll handle it immediately.”

***

“All of them?”

“It’s His Excellency’s order.”

“Did the White Raven Order kidnap them? Two out of ten dead, eight rescued?”

“Exactly, Lieutenant Colonel! You really are smart.”

Johann looked down at the list in his hands.

Real big shots from politics and business, on a completely different level from that elf bastard’s targets.

Were they really going to touch all of them…?

The lieutenant general looked at him and spoke bluntly.

“His Excellency the Supreme Leader thinks we ate all the cake. I wonder whose fault that could be?”

Johann, who had been lost in thought, answered monotonously.

“I’ll look into it.”

“Yes, Lieutenant Colonel! Give it a good investigation. Let’s see, there are three suspects. But if Major Lorenz and I are excluded, only one remains. Or did I call His Excellency in my sleep?”

“That’s possible.”

When he answered shamelessly, the lieutenant general laughed.

Johann saluted the lieutenant general, who was humming a cheerful melody, and left the office.

Walking through the soggy streets, he organized his thoughts.

Let’s go back to the very beginning.

Lucas Redan and his gang orchestrated various incidents to inflate the reputation of the White Raven Order.

As a result, shocked citizens clearly remembered the existence of the White Raven Order.

Meanwhile, Lucas joined hands with those mongrel bastards and attacked Ossel headquarters.

Taking advantage of that opportunity, Lieutenant General Kaiser eliminated the watchers the Supreme Leader had sent and covered it up appropriately.

Several months had passed.

The mongrel bastards were committing various crimes while promoting the White Raven Order.

Every day, violence, murder, and kidnapping occurred somewhere, and the White Raven Order’s mark was left there.

And finally, the time had come to use that reputation to start the show.

Johann smiled unpleasantly.

‘He was waiting for this to happen.’

The Supreme Leader had systematically condoned the White Raven Order from the beginning.

He didn’t know that Lucas was the head of the White Raven Order, or that Johann had joined hands with him.

That’s why he nurtured the White Raven Order.

That was certain.

‘An external enemy…’

Johann muttered to himself.

The Supreme Leader wanted Schufaben to be peaceful. But he didn’t want it to be ‘too’ peaceful.

Citizens who no longer worried about making a living would naturally desire freedom.

The people’s peace was the enemy of those in power; the people’s anxiety was the friend of those in power.

There are enemies targeting us.

Very close to us—no, they’ve infiltrated among us.

We need a strong leader to root them out.

Johann twisted his lips.

‘He must have grasped that it’s a convenient structure to exploit.’

The interrogation reports he had written made the White Raven Order appear like a cell organization.

As if unrelated individuals used the White Raven Order’s name when committing terrorism.

He had no choice but to write it that way.

It was impossible to logically connect those innocent pieces of trash.

The cunning Supreme Leader realized he couldn’t destroy the non-existent White Raven Order and decided to use it instead. Sprinkling in the seasoning of a kidnapping drama.

The recipe was to the Supreme Leader’s taste.

Fear and fanaticism for the people, and a throne for himself.

‘There’s no choice.’

Johann muttered bitterly.

It was Johann who had exposed the lieutenant general’s betrayal to the Supreme Leader.

He didn’t have the power to report directly to the Supreme Leader. He had simply written an incident report.

「July 21st.

The White Raven Order attacked, and after the battle, many Ossel members were casualties. Lieutenant General Leon Kaiser took advantage of the situation to kill six subordinates who were acting as the Supreme Leader’s watchers, then covered up the incident itself.」

He had placed a report with such content somewhere in Ossel headquarters.

As expected, a lackey who was surely a low-ranking Ossel member brought it to the Supreme Leader…

Also as expected, the Supreme Leader was satisfied with Ossel’s defeat. Ossel had become too bloated recently.

And while learning that the White Raven Order was a stronger organization than expected and becoming wary, he also tried to exploit even that.

‘But I didn’t expect it to be like this.’

He had thought the Supreme Leader would secretly pressure Ossel after obtaining the information.

He never imagined that instead of killing Lieutenant General Kaiser, he would openly reveal there was an informant and blackmail the lieutenant general into orchestrating a new fabrication.

He felt very unpleasant.

‘Does he know?’

Did Kruger know?

Did he know that Johann had deliberately leaked information to use the Supreme Leader in order to eliminate the lieutenant general?

Knowing this, he had made Johann and the lieutenant general check each other.

The lieutenant general also knew Johann was the culprit and understood the Supreme Leader’s intentions…

The Supreme Leader was blackmailing the lieutenant general and Johann,

The lieutenant general was blackmailing Johann,

And Johann was blackmailing the lieutenant general.

“What a mess…”

Johann muttered irritably.

***

On the top floor of the hotel, in a hidden space, quite a commotion erupted.

“This is absurd! Why should we move for the Supreme Leader!”

Assad, his face flushed red and blue, protested roughly, and the elves nodded vigorously.

“If the Supreme Leader deliberately nurtured the White Raven Order, why don’t we just abandon that name and operate on our own? Why must we—”

“Think more long-term.”

A clear voice cut off Assad’s words. It was Hannah Art, who had rushed over from training, wearing protective gear and wiping sweat from her face.

“We’re dancing to Kruger’s tune, but it benefits us too.”

“But—”

“Hannah is right, Assad.”

“Lord Fa-Elhar!”

“This is a good opportunity for us. And a self-defeating move for Kruger.”

“What? How so?”

“How long do you think someone this paranoid about controlling everything will last?”

The room fell quiet.

Fa-Elhar looked around at his subordinates and spoke resolutely.

“We’re joining this game too.”