I’m an Immigration Officer!

A few hours later, inside the Immigration Bureau’s internal conference room.
Although the sun was slowly setting, unlike the dim and gloomy office, the conference room shimmered with a brilliant golden glow.
On the door hung a newly made nameplate, looking hastily prepared.

[Recovery Room]
It was a newly established department since Erzena started working at the Immigration Bureau.
A place where those physically and mentally exhausted—those suffering from overwork and job stress—could come and receive the golden energy.

Despite repeated assurances from the Central Office that it was unnecessary, Erzena’s strong insistence finally earned her a rightful place there.
Thanks to that, sick leave applications at the Bureau had been reduced to one-tenth.
Now, without her, everyone found it hard to start their day.

In that very Recovery Room, Erzena stood at the door with a rare look of surprise.
“Uh...”
Because Elaine had just shown up.

“I-I didn’t expect you to come here.”
She stammered—uncharacteristic of her.
Though now her housemate, she hadn’t yet managed to close the distance between them. Elaine’s visit was entirely unexpected.

Not unwelcome, but there was still some distance left.
Besides, there was also something slightly awkward that she had witnessed a few hours earlier.
‘She was definitely with Nathan earlier.’

While caring for the exhausted attendants, she had seen through the window.
Nathan had taken her outside the Bureau.
At that time, she thought Nathan was just letting Elaine get some fresh air.
But now, Elaine looked even more withdrawn and intimidated than when she first saw her.

‘What the hell did they do outside...’
Erzena’s stomach twisted slightly.
It wasn’t about them going out alone without telling her.

No, it wasn’t that.
“What brings you here?”
Trying to regain composure, Erzena asked and quickly scanned Elaine’s condition with her eyes.

‘No visible injuries.’
Fortunately, it didn’t look like she was hurt. If she were, the entire border would be in chaos.
Only a little dust was clinging to the deeply hooded robe.

Elaine slowly opened her mouth.
“...Ugh.”
Her tone sounded apologetic.

But no words came out. Just mumbling.
For a moment, Erzena looked embarrassed.
“S-Sorry. You can’t speak, can you.”

She had forgotten for a moment.
That Elaine was mute due to aphasia from the tragic incident.
Then, the Gustatory Officer who came with Elaine spoke up.

“The Central Office told us to bring her here.”
“Nathan said that?”
Surprised by the unexpected message, Erzena tilted her head.
Why would the Central Office send her to me?

Especially to someone she barely spoke to.
“Did he really say to come to me?”
The Gustatory Officer nodded.

“Yes. They said they could trust you, Erzena. Asked you to stay with her a little while...”
At those words, Erzena’s lips twitched upward.
Nathan said he trusted her.

‘He hardly ever says that.’
Though brief, the phrase carried deep trust.
Until now, Nathan had only said he trusted someone twice.

Once when he promised to testify against the Pope at the trial.
And once when he confronted the Black Hand’s Master in the Iijei operation.
‘This is the third time.’

A man placing trust and responsibility on a woman.
It was never a trivial thing.
Something only said in the closest, deepest relationships.

If the Central Office trusted her enough to entrust a princess they worried so much about, it meant she was completely accepted into Nathan’s heart.
“That man...”
Her voice softened instantly.

Erzena’s expression relaxed at once, a faint blush coloring her cheeks.
“Come in.”
Elaine peeked up at Erzena through the robe’s gap.

Golden eyes met green eyes.
She nodded.
 

****
There were two prisons in Marquis Reyes’s territory.
One was the underground prison in the White Castle where those who committed crimes in the domain were locked up.

The other was the tower prison where the border guards sent detainees they caught themselves.
The place I was heading to was the latter.
— Step, step.

Small golems about the size of a person guarding the entrance blocked me by crossing their spears.
[No entry. Only authorized personnel allowed inside.]
“Guards, good work. This is Central Officer Nathan Kell.”

The guard golems scanned me and the people behind me briefly.
[Central Officer Nathan Kell, Olfactory Officer Blaszek Winterpeng, Auditory Officer Integratsil Diorephusa Sen, and Agent R. Verified. Entry permitted. Suspects detained in Room 24 on the third floor.]
Then they lowered their spears and opened the door.

I passed through and ascended to the third floor.
Room 24, located at the very end, was tightly closed by a heavy, solid iron door.
“This is it, Central Officer.”
“Let’s go in.”

— Creak.
When the Olfactory Officer opened the iron door, six mercenaries sitting on the cell floor with their hands bound frowned.
“Damn, what’s this?”
“We don’t know anything about it.”
“Hey, it’s that bastard from earlier!”
“What? Where? Damn...”

They greeted me with curses.
I addressed the largest one, Crane.
“Good to see you again, Mr. Crane.”

“Get lost. I don’t have anything to say to you.”
A curt reply.
But when two others followed me inside, he was shocked and shouted.

“O-Olfactory Officer!? And the Auditory Officer too...”
The two examiners stood next to me and said,
“Hmm. Looks like we’re quite famous, Auditory Officer. If even mercenary trash like these know us.”
“Yeah. Or maybe they know us well because we’re not just mercenaries but professional smugglers.”

The Olfactory Officer of brute strength.
The Auditory Officer skilled in magic.
If it were a simple interrogation, I could have come alone.

They were bound and under guard anyway.
But there was a reason I brought these two.
Intimidation.

A two-meter tall werewolf and a magic-proficient elf were a burden in themselves for mercenaries.
— Creak.
I dragged a chair from the corner and sat down in front of them.

“You seem to have cooled your heads a bit. Now I have a few questions.”
I asked the first question.
“Did you know Elaine was here?”

“...Elaine? Who’s that?”
Crane asked me as if hearing the name for the first time.
“Is she your girlfriend?”
“If that’s the case, you’re screwed.”

At that moment, Matthew, who was standing behind, frowned and muttered.
“I’ve heard that name before... Elaine... Macbeth? No, Elaine Cas... Castor...”
About five seconds later.

“C-Could it be... Princess Elaine Castor!?”
A shout filled with shock echoed.
“What!? Fuck, what did you say!?”

Crane jumped in surprise at those words.
“Hey, seriously? The princess was really here!?”
“...”
I stayed silent.

Not even worth answering.
An unauthorized artifact was about to be activated where the princess was.
This was no longer simple terrorism.

It was terrorism aimed at assassinating the princess.
Therefore, this interrogation would be handled with utmost gravity.
Crane, realizing the truth from my silence, shook his head violently and said,

“W-We didn’t know. We really didn’t! That idiot Matthew went wild on his own—”
“The main office made one vow four years ago.”
Cutting off their pathetic excuse, I muttered low.
“No matter the weakness, no matter the low status, no matter the youth, never again will I look the other way. No criminal organization will be allowed to operate in the South Border.”

I gestured toward the door. The Auditory Officer quietly drew runes on the wall and murmured,
“Imraba Hashuroa Dimetadis.” (= No one will hear this.)
At the same moment, a muffled sensation covered everyone’s eardrums.

Like being on a high mountain, ears clogged.
Complete soundproofing magic.
Now, no one would hear what was spoken here.

Not even screams.
“But you all came here to break that vow.”
Memories pierced like thorns.

And they never come out.
You dug them again.
“Smuggling. Attempted terrorism. Even trying to assassinate the princess.”

I lowered my voice.
“You crossed the line.”
A line that must never be crossed.

And yet, you crossed it right before our eyes.
You dug into memories like thorns, scraped away the present, and almost erased the future.
You made the princess’s trauma flare up again.

Even my plan to show her the brighter side of the world—something she’d only ever seen cruelty in—was thrown off course.
You’ll have to pay for that.
“Y-You said the name first, about the princess!”

One mercenary shouted desperately.
“We didn’t know, we really didn’t! Fuck, why the hell is the princess here and not at the castle!?”
“That’s not important. What matters is that the princess is here.”

It didn’t matter whether they knew Elaine was here or not.
The fact they tried to activate an unauthorized artifact where she was constituted a grave crime.
They could never be forgiven.

“And one more thing.”
But the charges were not finished yet.
“Only a select few are supposed to know that the princess is in the South Border.”

Royal orders must be obeyed.
Yet now, you know.
Another justification was established.

A justification for why you cannot be spared.
“Y-You crazy bastard... You came here to kill us from the start...”
One mercenary muttered, completely losing his will to fight.

I didn’t deny it.
“You’re immigration officers! You don’t have the right to do this to us!”
Crane shouted in a desperate voice.

“I know. People like you government officials have to act according to your positions. What you’re doing now is overstepping authority!”
He was right.
Immigration officers were not authorized to conduct interrogations involving force.

They had to be verbal and in non-hostile environments.
At least they had done some investigation.
“Watch your mouth before I tear it apart.”

The Olfactory Officer sharpened his claws and bared his teeth.
I raised a hand to stop him and said,
“Correct. The Central Office doesn’t have that authority. But I know a department that does. Auditory Officer?”
“Yes. Wait here a moment.”

The Auditory Officer went to fetch someone standing outside the cell.
“Let me introduce you. Agent R.”
It was the intelligence bureau agent who had worked with us in the previous Iijei operation.

Since she was still active in the South Border, I brought her along.
“An agent? You mean an agent of a national agency?”
Their fearful question met the agent’s stern gaze as she looked down on them.

“These are the ones who attempted to assassinate the princess.”
“Yes.”
“Nothing more to see here. Let’s begin, Central Officer.”
“Agreed.”
A brief exchange.
I stood and cleared my throat.

“From this moment, under the ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) supervision of the intelligence bureau agent, this interrogation will begin. Before starting, do you agree to the intelligence bureau’s oversight of all procedures carried out by the Immigration Bureau during this interrogation?”
The agent nodded without hesitation.
“I agree.”
“Authority granted.”

The intelligence bureau approved.
This meant only one thing.
All acts performed henceforth would be considered part of the interrogation and recognized as legitimate procedures.

There would be no shield to protect you anymore.
Realizing this, the mercenaries’ faces went pale.
“Olfactory Officer.”
“Yes.”

The werewolf had been waiting for this moment.
“Begin the interrogation. Let’s get everything out of them.”
A low growl echoed inside the cell.

The Auditory Officer closed the door behind us.
— Creak.
“No, no! Noooo!!!”
“I’ll tell everything, just stop!!!”

Just before the door closed, a terrified scream burst out alongside the wolf’s roar.
— Bang.
But the moment the door shut, only silence remained in the underground prison.

No one would hear.
No one would see.
There would be no mercy for those who tried to pile tragedy upon tragedy.

No seeds of unrest could be allowed at the border.
By any means necessary.
 

****
Thirty minutes later, outside the prison, in the park.
The interrogation had concluded excellently.

The bodies would be handled by the golems and the intelligence bureau.
What was extracted during the interrogation would be dealt with alongside the intelligence bureau, with no records left behind.
Our part was done.

— Splash.
At the water fountain, the Olfactory Officer silently washed his hands.
Dried blood and flesh stuck beneath his nails finally came off.

“...”
He was unusually quiet after the interrogation.
“Good work, Blaszek Winterpeng.”

I spoke his name aloud for the first time in a while.
“Go get some rest now. You may leave early.”
I offered an unprecedentedly generous treatment first.

After wiping his hands clean, the Olfactory Officer laughed heartily without surprise.
“Hahaha, it’s fine. I’ll just hang around until we all leave together.”
“...”
His attitude made the Auditory Officer and me look at him with even more concern.

Violence was part of the werewolf’s nature.
Therefore, getting excited at the sight of blood and sometimes exploding into uncontrollable savagery was perfectly natural.
But what he had just shown was different.

Somewhere... crueler, excessively threatening.
The blood that splattered all the way to the ceiling was still vivid in my mind.
I held back but eventually couldn’t bear it and left the cell first.

‘I know why.’
The taboo of smuggling was not mine alone.
— If it were you, could you show a different path than Gerard?

— It could have been stopped. I could have stopped it... but I...
— ...Give me a chance to make it right. No, please!
For him too, smuggling was akin to his own mistake.

The past failures he had committed came to mind.
He could never forgive himself for having worked under Gerard.
That was why he handled the mercenaries more harshly than usual.

“At least in this matter, it’s right for the Central Office to handle it.”
The Olfactory Officer muttered in a low voice.
“You promised me that.”

— Tap, tap.
The Auditory Officer silently patted his shoulder.
“It’s okay. You’ve already paid enough. You even forgave the Sight Officer.”
“…Thank you, Sen.”

The two who had guarded the Immigration Bureau longer than I did stared quietly at the water flowing from the fountain.
I simply watched quietly.
Everyone carries painful memories.

For them, the tragedy from four years ago was like a thorn embedded deep inside.
After a moment, the Olfactory Officer returned to a brighter voice and changed the topic.
“What do you plan to do now?”

His words made me recall Crane’s desperate shout.
— They said they were hunting a dragon! They said they needed the artifact for that! That’s all!
That terrified cry was no lie.

But even then, they didn’t say who said it.
— I don’t know... Please save me...
Words spoken out of genuine ignorance.

“Hunting a dragon, huh...”
It weighed on my mind.
Who the hell would do something so insane?

Dragons were a race of time, mana, and strength.
The highest among all races, living for thousands of years.
‘Hunting such a creature is nearly impossible.’

Just as no one could overcome time, dragons could only be killed by time.
At least, as far as I knew.
Yet someone had gone so far as to smuggle artifacts to accomplish that.

Showing sincere intent by preparing large amounts of unauthorized artifacts.
This was no trivial matter to overlook.
And not something we could handle with the Bureau alone.

‘Then it’s best to report the artifact matter and talk to someone who knows dragons well.’
Besides, I also needed to ask about the ‘Blood Diamond’ the dwarf brought.
Recalling the most appropriate department for this, I said,

“Connect me with the Royal Magic Society.”
And incidentally, I had a few questions about the princess’s abilities.
“I need to speak with the society’s director briefly.”

At that, the Auditory Officer’s eyes lit up.
“Ah. Our junior?”