How to Survive as a Genius Spy in the Game Chapter 207 - Temple (1)

Denif didn’t deviate from expectations at all. It’s not that I was talking about anything serious.

I just meant that from the moment we left the capital, he kept pestering me to spar. It started about 3 hours in.

“Huh? No, didn’t we still have four times left?”

Despite my outright refusal, Denif didn’t give up. However, it wasn’t a good choice near the capital.

“You want you and me to spar near Chenarus now that a new emperor has just been chosen? Are you crazy?”

“It’s fine if there’s no one around.”

“It’s a tough journey to the north, why are you trying to waste energy already?”

“Come on, what’s that compared to our stamina?”

“Not now. We need to get at least 5 days away from the capital.”

“5 days? Isn’t that too cautious? Or do you think you can’t beat me?”

It seems Denif had changed tactics to provoke my competitive spirit. I was tempted for a moment, but I’m not one to fall for such things.

“My body hasn’t fully recovered yet.”

“Wasn’t it okay?”

“It’s fine, but a bit uncomfortable.”

“Well, can’t be helped then.”

Denif nodded with a serious face. He hadn’t cared about logical persuasion, but… 

It was absurd that he immediately agreed when I said we wouldn’t have a satisfying match.

Anyway, Denif and my goal in heading north was initially to gather information. We planned to survey the two cities above Kahalin and up to the northern border. 

Nothing was decided for certain yet.

If I had my way, I’d like to scout out their dwellings beyond the northern border, but it seemed we’d have to go there. 

I did get some information through Erendil. When I said I was planning to go north, I heard worried words to be careful.

Even the empire only monitored the movements of those guys just below the northern border.

Even that involved many dangers. Most people who crossed the border never returned alive.

‘Even the few survivors didn’t go deep, they just felt a strange sensation and immediately fled.’

It’s probably the influence of the devil. I wonder if she’s observing beyond the northern border with her own power. 

Of course, I’m not certain. Their area, surveillance network might be more thorough than imaginable. I planned to decide after going near there first.

I headed north steadily while deflecting Denif’s urging. We didn’t just take the normal route.

Although we were posing as mercenaries, I had no intention of leaving clues that could trace our movements if something happened.

We moved along roads, then cut across mountains or plains, sometimes bypassing a city and taking a detour to return to the original path. 

Of course, as the journey lengthened, I couldn’t completely avoid sparring with Denif. It was fine. In fact, it was about time. It was also an opportunity to reduce the promised number of matches.

“Is it still the same up there?”

Denif tilted his head after hearing news of the north through a newspaper in a city we briefly stopped at.

“It will be for a while. They have nothing to gain by retreating either.”

Even though Erendil had become emperor, the devil worshippers in the north did not retreat. Rudehrn was still there too. 

But that didn’t mean battles were being fought.

They would retreat when Rudehrn advanced, and close the distance again when Rudehrn withdrew. It just meant they intended to openly harass.

“Is the devilish dragon giving them a headache?”

“Just because he’s a Sword Master doesn’t mean he can fly.”

That was why Rudehrn couldn’t easily chase them away. When the imperial army advanced north, they retreated, but the devilish dragon targeted cities. 

In other words, a meaningless standoff continued. I don’t think this will last long.

“They’ll retreat once the emperor gets a grip on the empire.”

Anyway, they don’t have the capacity for all-out war right now. They need to summon the devil.

Yet they’re still blocking because they also need time. Time to obtain Devil’s Blood.

If the northern standoff ends, the imperial army will be mobilized to stabilize internally. 

From their perspective, there’s no reason to leave it like that. 

They need to delay Erendil’s control of the empire as much as possible.

I told Erendil too. That it’s important to seize control of the empire as quickly as possible. 

But that won’t be as easy as it sounds.

‘Just because she’s ascended to the emperor’s seat doesn’t mean she inherits the previous emperor’s authority.’

There are as many nobles in the empire as its vast land. Post-accession management was essential right after the emperor’s enthronement. 

Of course, there’s a method of suppressing internal problems with war.

But the situation is a bit different now. The struggle for the emperor’s seat continued for a long time, but the decision was made faster than expected. 

So there are many issues to deal with. Imperial nobles supporting the prince remained throughout the empire.

“It’ll take a few more months to fully control the empire.”

“That’s right. There’s no shortage of people to deal with.”

The confidant nobles on the prince’s side surely know what will happen to their lives. 

And even if defeat is certain, how many people will simply accept their own death? They’ll probably resist since they’re going to die anyway.

Even if some people are accepted to prevent major chaos, small problems are inevitable. 

If Erendil were to go on a northern expedition now, they would be the first to rise up in rebellion.

Rather than making enemies behind, it’s better to settle everything while borrowing power from the west, southwest, and south. 

In fact, Erendil was living extremely busy.

‘Hanut Campbell, whom I recommended, is controlling as Erendil’s brain though.’

Erendil, who has to make the final decisions, also needs to understand all situations. 

When I met him briefly before leaving, he looked visibly gaunt in that short time.

-I didn’t know the emperor’s seat would be this difficult.

-It won’t last that long.

That was the conversation I had with Erendil. Anyway, since it was a war that had to be won, we couldn’t move too hastily either. 

In this situation, people like me are important.

The reason they don’t withdraw troops is partly to divert the empire’s attention even a little to make it easier to procure Devil’s Blood. 

The reason I’m heading north is also to interfere with that.

***

“Ugh. It’s freezing cold.”

“I told you I’d wrap you with my winds. Want me to do it now?”

Denif shook his head at my offer.

“Then the body becomes weak. Huh? Training. And endurance. The body gets stronger the more you torment it.”

“Isn’t that just enjoying pain?”

“Tsk. Weak guy.”

Well, if he wants to be cold, I didn’t say anything more. I’m definitely not upset at being called weak.

We didn’t stop by Kahalin. Instead, we were heading to Selumin in the northeast. 

There was another city in the northwest, but we chose the northeast because there was a higher chance of discovering something there.

It’s connected to the east that they’ve occupied, and there’s the dwarves’ territory in the northeastern mountains. 

I planned to check on the dwarves while we were there.

‘I guess I can breathe a sigh of relief about the elves for now.’

In the current situation, it’s not easy for the elves in the southwest to create a connection with the devil worshippers. 

And Shahri, one of those important links, died by my hand.

Shahri wasn’t a stupid person. She probably told one or two of her followers, the extremist elves, while moving after receiving my contact. 

Since she died, the relationship between the elves and them won’t be easy to be positive in the future.

Anyway, we were heading to Selumin. Since there was only one road from Kahalin to Selumin, we chose to detour to the east. 

It simply meant we’d approach carefully from the outskirts.

We were walking on a snowy mountain path. Suddenly, a group entered the edge of my widely expanded winds sense.

‘Huh?’

It was a group of about 20 people. It was unusual for such a group to pass through this snowy mountain in the first place. 

Moreover, there were no wagons. They weren’t merchants. Of course, there’s nothing east of here, so they couldn’t be merchants anyway.

At best, they could be hunters or herb gatherers, but it was strange for them to move in such a large group. 

Suspicious.

Moreover, most of the 20 people seemed to be walking sluggishly with little strength, as transmitted through winds.

‘What’s this? They couldn’t have caught that much Devil’s Blood.’

Since there were no wagons, they weren’t smugglers from the east, but there was a possibility they were slave traders. 

However, even if they were slave traders, such suspicious movement in this north meant they were necessarily related to devil worshippers.

“Denif.”

“Yeah?”

“I think I’ve found something.”

“Already?”

Denif looked at me with strange eyes. His gaze said not to joke around.

I understand. In fact, such an encounter is an impossible coincidence.

Of course, that’s assuming it’s not me. No matter how much you expand your senses, it’s not as wide as my winds detection. 

Moreover, intentionally expanded senses are easier for the other party to notice, so it’s difficult to spread them easily.

Normally, we would have passed by without noticing. Denif seemed to immediately understand the reason and nodded right away.

“Where is it? Far?”

“We need to move a bit.”

“It must be them?”

“20 people. Only they would move in such a group here. Even if not, they must be related.”

Denif pulled out a map from his chest. It wasn’t an accurately drawn map. People don’t have much reason to come and go here. 

Still, I could pinpoint the approximate location with winds observing.

“We’re here and they’re here.”

“It’s the road on the map. Are they careless?”

“There’s no need to be careful since no one travels here.”

“How’s the surrounding terrain?”

The map didn’t show the surrounding terrain. I explained the terrain I felt with winds.

“There’s a high cliff on this mountain side.”

“If we go around slightly and up, can we meet them around here?”

“If we increase our speed a bit?”

“Then that’s fine.”

Denif nodded, then tilted his head for a moment and looked at me.

“Damn. It’s more convenient than I imagined.”

“You just realized?”

“We’ve been together recently, but we haven’t had a mission like this since we grew up.”

That’s true too. Denif looked at me with an aggrieved face.

“Damn… Some people have trouble even noticing if there are enemies, and if they have information, they have to run to check the surrounding terrain first, and if it’s terrain they haven’t scouted in advance, they usually don’t even think of going.”

“So what?”

“You bastard. You really had an easy life as a spy, huh?”

“If you’re jealous, why don’t you use sand too?”

“Sand doesn’t have as much versatility as you.”

Denif pouted his lips. It’s somewhat true, but sand probably has its advantages too. 

Denif wasn’t saying this because he didn’t know that. Of course, winds is better for espionage.

“What, so you don’t like it? Should I not tell you about these things and go classic like in the old days?”

“Who said I don’t like it?”

Denif glared at me and started walking first.

“What are you doing? You said we need to move quickly.”

Leaving the jokes aside, we started moving again seriously. Snowfield. Normally our feet would sink in, but this time we offset it with winds and sand.

We arrived at the top of the cliff not long after and could see a group passing by. 

On the surface, they looked exactly like slave traders. I thought they might be moving sacrifices. However, there was something that bothered me.

Most of the people who looked like slaves, walking weakly, were sturdy men.

‘If they’re sacrifices, it shouldn’t matter, is it because of the cold in the north and the travel?’

It was a plausible hypothesis, but for some reason, there was still something suspicious. If that were the case, they would all be sturdy men instead.

There were also about four children and women mixed in. Hmm. It felt like there might be some other reason. 

What’s certain is that they seem to be devil worshippers anyway. Both the atmosphere and situation.

“How is it?”

“Seems right.”

They were moving along an old road below the cliff. With the snow, it’s actually questionable to call it a road. 

However, the branches were cut only along that path, as if they had used it quite often.

“Well, we can probably find out for sure if we go down and beat them up first, right?”

That was Denif’s words. It seems reckless, but it wasn’t wrong, actually. I’m about 99% sure. 

But considering the possibility of them revealing secrets, it might be better to secretly follow them.

“We could do that, but…”

“Then let’s jump down.”

“What?”

“You can control it with your winds anyway, right?”

Denif said that and then jumped off the cliff without even looking at me. 

I was dumbfounded for a moment. Come on, you should listen to people until the end…