# Enhanced Translation
"I need to infiltrate the Alchemy Faction."
"I'm giving up on trying to understand this person. Can someone explain?"
"I mean exactly what I said, Miss Grikenkos."
"Wow."
The group gathered in the cabin stared blankly at Ivan. He nodded silently and continued his explanation.
"The security at the dock is at wartime levels."
"...Have you been to the Kalion dock before?"
"Not officially."
Elfihera closed her mouth at Ivan's words.
"Isn't it strange that the island's security is stricter now than it was back then? Even the carts heading to the warehouses are being held up. It's clearly inefficient."
Corporations will do anything for profit. And when the owner is an elf, ethics are no longer an important issue.
From their perspective, security so thorough that it disrupts factory operations is close to overinvestment. Who would attack an island belonging to the Kalion Archipelago anyway?
Even demons have never directly attacked the mainland across the ocean. Elves are supreme on the sea, and the elves' paradise floats on water.
So the current security on this island could be seen as vigilance against their own kind.
After all, the only beings that could make the inland of the Kalion Archipelago tense were the elves themselves.
Listening to this explanation, Edel raised her hand.
"But isn't it strange? Although the Alchemy Faction exports to the continent, their main products are items for elves. Why would a company focused on the domestic market be hostile to elves?"
"That's what we need to find out."
With a Privy Council member as chairman, a company that does business with elves is actually wary of other elves.
And at a time when high-ranking families of the Privy Council are visiting, they're so sensitive that they issue expulsion orders at the dock. This is clearly suspicious.
"But... what if this is just a personal matter? What if something happened to create this situation, and it really has nothing to do with us...?"
Lundis raised an unreasonable point. Ivan shook his head. She must not understand yet, having only recently joined the party.
It should be common sense that there are no "personal matters" when faced with some kind of "suspicious incident" that happens to occur in a newly visited region.
Moreover, there are three problems in Kalion right now:
1. Alexandr is hiding on one of this country's islands.
2. There's a possibility of civil war or a similar situation.
3. There's potential for Beolgrin's betrayal or a method to assassinate Beolgrin.
These three could be reduced to one depending on the situation. For instance, Alexandr assassinating Beolgrin and starting a civil war, or Beolgrin joining hands with Alexandr and starting a civil war.
In an extreme lack of information, a good scout should always keep all possibilities open.
And there are no "coincidences" in front of any possibility. If you fail due to lack of information, it's inevitable; if you resolve the situation through sufficient information gathering, it's destiny.
This world is never benevolent.
One always had to assume the worst and take only the best actions. Like solving a puzzle, no. Like playing chess with a national-level knight. Each move careful, yet bold, and cunning.
"If it really has nothing to do with us, that's even better."
"...What? Not deportation?"
"Because we can find out what they're trying to hide from their own kind. Whatever information the largest capitalist and current Privy Council member in this country tried to hide, it would be helpful."
Using a nobleman's weakness to utilize them as an informant was just one of the basic operational protocols for the counterintelligence command.
"...If a nobleman doesn't listen, infiltrate and investigate behind their back..."
While Lucia was taking notes of Ivan's explanation in her notebook, Lundis sighed and shook her head.
"Joining hands with Krasilov might have been my father's worst decision."
Late at night, Ivan was lying in wait near the walls of the Alchemy Society headquarters.
Should it even be called a wall? It was more like a smooth fortress wall. There were no footholds or terrain suitable for climbing.
And on top were numerous surveillance devices. Magical engineering devices that constantly received magical power through superior design.
Behind them stretched alarm spells and biological monitoring means accompanied by familiars, covering every angle.
In terms of security, it could be said to be superior to the Counterintelligence Command headquarters. Just by looking, it was difficult to find a gap to penetrate.
However, even when elves were active on the battlefield, espionage, infiltration, assassination of key figures, and protection of allied figures were human roles.
At that time, Ivan's most uncomfortable opponents weren't elves. They were dwarves. Those dexterous little people were born to dig underground tunnels, wreak havoc from the rear, and neutralize allied facilities with strange tools.
And now his party includes a dwarf. The daughter of the dwarf supreme leader, who has inherited dwarf magical engineering.
"Lucia. Magic is leaking."
"Ah, sorry. I'm nervous, hehe."
"Elves are sensitive to magic. Contain it."
Ivan lowered his body as he scanned the wall. Even at a distance he could normally reach with a couple of jumps, such acrobatics were difficult now.
Grip strength 25%, overall strength less than 40%, and flexibility of the rotator cuff system equally reduced.
A frontal approach, huh.
Nostalgic, too.
"Okay, it's ready. This thing Lundis made—"
"Circuit neutralization auxiliary device."
"...I think it had a different name, but anyway, that's it."
Lucia, who had been assembling the mechanical device, looked up. Her red eyes were sparkling even in the darkness.
Ivan took the device from her hand.
'Unintentionally, all party members can use magic.'
Half-vampire Lucia, magical engineering expert Lundis, and of course, the other elves.
It was quite fortunate that the party composition consisted entirely of magic users. He had absolutely no talent for magic.
The same was true for these types of magical engineering devices.
"There, there, and at 130 meters, 87 degrees, that one. We need to neutralize those three first. We need to go in simultaneously, should I take the right or the left?"
"You handle the surveillance."
"What?"
"Follow exactly where I step."
Ivan ran without waiting for Lucia's answer.
The moment he hit the wall, he twisted his body. The invisible but clearly felt thin lines extending from the detection devices brushed against his back.
He twisted his waist to escape the field of view of the next device. Like a spider, he gripped the wall and drove a spike he had drawn out at exactly the right angle and timing.
With a silent thrust, the well-sharpened tip, precise technique, and perfect angle met, and the spike was driven in without a sound. Deep enough to barely hang by two fingers.
With a bounce, he kicked off the wall twice, and in less than a split second, drove in another spike with a crack.
Under superhuman time, even in the slowly blurring afterimage, he aimed precisely at the target once more.
-Crack!
This time he drove in the magical device activated by Lucia. He could feel the magical tool under his fingertips rapidly being neutralized by the strike that had been driven in from outside his field of vision.
Now the next one, 2.5 meters up to the right.
As he kicked off the wall, he flipped his body to get the angle right. The flowing vision was dizzying. But his spatial awareness was perfect. At the moment of his leap, he could calculate his exact speed based on his angular force and travel distance.
"Now come up."
So, everything was no different from what he had initially expected. He had to perform several acrobatic moves, but doing it with technique rather than strength was no problem. It was his muscles that were the issue, not his skills.
"Um... oh. The same way?"
"You don't need to copy my posture. The surveillance means have been neutralized."
After all, it would be inefficient to imitate even the mid-air twisting he did to find blind spots.
Gritting her teeth, Lucia followed his trajectory at a not-bad level. Her speed and technique were lacking, but it was hard to call it a failing grade.
She's learned well. Ivan nodded. It wouldn't have been easy to follow without using magic, relying only on physical ability.
"Huff... hah. Phew... okay. What's next?"
"Practice, repetition, mastery."
Following Ivan's gesture, Lucia turned her gaze and grabbed her forehead with a sigh.
"We're doomed."
Three more walls similar to the one she had just crossed.
And a long security system with at least twenty more surveillance measures that she had just passed through was in front of her eyes.
"Not a bad design for an infiltration mission."
"What?"
"I mean it helps with growth."
Ivan smiled slightly and placed several spikes in her hand. Lucia, who received them blankly, looked up at Ivan with a confused expression.
"Why are you giving these to me!"
"I've shown you the demonstration, now it's time for practice. Lucia, if the security system's alarm goes off even once, today's operation is a complete failure."
"Then you should do it!"
"Do I need to learn more?"
"Do you really need to learn something right now?!"
"Because there won't be another controlled environment as safe as this one."
Lucia was confused by Ivan's words.
But it's not bad. Lucia has already learned as much as she could from Enrique. What she lacks is not training but practical experience.
Then, where else would there be a safer environment than now? This isn't demon territory. Even if they were caught here, their lives wouldn't be in danger.
If she failed, he was planning to throw Lucia to the guards and act alone, but if she didn't fail, it wouldn't matter.
"You'll back me up if I make a mistake, right?"
"Such a complacent attitude creates gaps."
"This is really crazy."
Lucia grumbled as she firmly gripped the spikes and slowly began to place her foot on the wall.
"Hmm."
Ivan let out a contemplative groan in front of the exhausted Lucia.
"It's been a while since I've seen this."
Looking through the glass window of the first research building's laboratory at the Alchemy Society headquarters, Ivan narrowed his eyes.
"Do you... huff... phew... hah. Do you know what it is?"
"Deep sea leech."
Staring at the forearm-sized lump of flesh floating in the tank, Ivan whispered softly.
"It's a magical beast."