Selmet recalls.

　The day he was discovered by Dariel and became a secret agent.

　She was also, in truth, from the Demon King's Army.
　She was nothing more than a lowly, lowly soldier.

　Even among the demon race, their abilities vary widely.
　There are those who are good at magic, and there are those who are not so good at it that they can't handle it satisfactorily.

　It is unlikely that they are completely useless like Dariel, but even so, there is a percentage of people whose magic power that can be used is so weak that they are unsuitable for actual combat.

　Such people had only two choices: get discharged and live as a commoner, or live as a lowly dark soldier for the rest of their lives.

　I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do that.
　I'm not blessed with a talent for magic.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the most out of this.
　It's a good thing that she joined the demon king's army with her own ambitions, so the reality she faced was harsh, and there were times when she cursed her fate.

　There was even pressure to retire from the army, especially since Selmet is a woman, saying that it would be more beneficial for her to join a family and raise children rather than leave them to rot as the lowest-ranking dark soldiers for the rest of their lives.

　It was then that she was approached by Dariel.

　At the time, Dariel was in the same rank as the same dark soldier, but Dariel was in a position where everyone looked down on her because she was 'completely unable to use magic'.
　Even Selmet looked down on Dariel, but then she made a suggestion.

"I have a job I want to leave to you.

　And.
　It wasn't immediately understood, but it wasn't until a short while later that he realized it was an intelligence operation to infiltrate the human race.

　Releasing spies within the nemesis human race and bringing back all sorts of information had been around for a long time, but until then, the activity had ceased for over a decade.

　It was Dariel's intention to restart it.

''Why would Dariel, who is supposed to be the bottom of the barrel, do such a big thing?'' And Selmet was suspicious, but she jumped at it without a second thought.

　Because there was no other way for her to stay in the Demon King's Army.

　There were several other candidates for inter-intelligence who were approached by Dariel, all of whom were junior soldiers who were forced to retire from the Demon King's Army due to their lack of ability.

　There were two reasons for choosing such people.

　One is that those who possessed too high of a magical power to be sent to human territory were likely to be discovered.
　The dense magical power was itself fraught with the risk of being distracted by veteran adventurers.
　And since the more magically adept a person was, the more he or she would develop a habit of relying on magic, there was a great fear that it would be exposed at the slightest hitch.

　Secondly, people with low magic power are not very important in the Demon King's army, so no one cares if they suddenly disappear.
Just the thought of ''finally being discharged from the army?'' was enough to convince anyone to stay away.

　With such careful preparation, the intelligence network under Dariel's leadership was developed and put into practice.
　The results came relatively quickly.

　Because of the hostile relationship between the demons and humans, information from both sides was completely unavailable to them.
　All they had to do was release an interrogator across the border and information would flow in like water flowing through a hole in a board.

　Ever since Dariel was selected as the Assistant to the Four Heavenly Kings, he used his investigative abilities to keep track of the movements of the brave, and there were many times when he had retaken the Rasperda Fortress that had once fallen, aiming to retake it in the absence of the brave.

　There have been times when a secret agent of the demon tribe who tried to infiltrate the adventurer's guild didn't reveal his aura, his true identity was revealed and he was captured...and that was a mistake.

　Generally speaking, the intelligence network under Dariel's command fulfilled its function perfectly and contributed to the Demon King's army.

　Many of the dark secret agents currently hiding in the city were low-ranking soldiers discovered by Dariel.
　Including Selmet.

　They were the only ones who would have definitely been discharged otherwise, and they were all grateful to Dariel for giving them a job that gave them a real sense of contribution, even if it was a shady job.

　It was said that the work of the shady work was more important than any other, as the motivation was more important than the other because of the labor and less merit.
　Their motivation for engaging in shady work was above all their gratitude and loyalty to Dariel for giving them a second chance.

　That's why, as they entered the New Four Heavenly Kings era, their anger turned to the Demon King's Army itself after Dariel's downfall.
　Even though it was an intelligence agency established for the Demon King's Army, they turned a blind eye to the Demon King's Army and sided with Dariel who had gone missing.

　Their loyalty was not to the Demon King's Army, but to Dariel personally.

　It should be taken as incompetence on the part of the four heavenly kings of the day that they could not understand such a thing and easily cut off Dariel....

　The spies have to have an official identity to operate in the enemy's sphere of influence.
　The spies must have a different title, another occupation, so that they can't say, "I'm a spy," and blend into society.

　A merchant, a laborer, a wanderer....

　Because they had those various professions as a cover, even if they were cut off from the Demon King's Army's support, they were able to afford to maintain their lives.

　The spies, who had once been dormant in their espionage activities and had spent their time as ordinary people, were reunited with Dariel and began to move again.

　With the funds provided by Dariel, the spies quickly resumed their activities and quickly unraveled the inner workings of the Center Guild and discovered the relationship between Dariel's mother-in-law and the President of the Center Guild.

　The intelligence organizations that were once prepared for the Demon King's Army now rage for Dariel personally.

　Selmet, in particular, is ostensibly involved in peddling in human territory, peddling goods from city to city.
　In doing so, it was to facilitate communication with fellow secret agents hiding in each city.

　Because of such a role, he was now in a position to organize the intelligence network, but there was no one but Dariel to praise him for such a position.

　It was an intelligence organization that was originally highly loyal to Dariel, but Selmet was outstandingly high.

''I will be useful to Dariel-sama at all costs...!''

　That desire was stronger than anyone else.
　Hence, she even takes the initiative to act without being instructed to do so.
　All in order to repay Dariel.

◆

　Today's action was supposed to be part of that.

　A visit to the village of Lax, and then the tail of Lorselwy fleeing back.

　The fact that the Center Guild Chancellor was successfully defeated by getting the President of the Center Guild on his side was also a credit to the intelligence organization led by Selmet, but Selmet was not satisfied with the result.
　He followed his opponent, hoping to gain more information and steal more of the information from his benefactor, Dariel, in an attempt to give him more ammunition.

　After following them for a while, the opponents have settled in for the night.
　Selmet sneaks into the inn, hoping to get a glimpse of the inn's attic.

　For Selmet, who had a reasonably long career as a dark secret agent, he was equipped with the skills of infiltration in general.
　With pure skill, regardless of magic or aura, Selmet could sneak into any locked place without making a sound.

　However, as they made their way through the inn, Selmet noticed something strange.

'No people...?'

　There should have been more people in the inn.
　There should have been other guests in addition to Roselwy, and there should have been a few guards for Roselwy himself.

　And yet there was no one there.
　It was as if someone or something had wiped them out.

　But if you listen, you can hear them talking from somewhere.
　I crept over, killing my footsteps, and tracked down the room where the voice in question was coming from.

　Peeking through the keyhole, I saw two people there.

　One of them is Roselwy, the one in question.
　Then, Selmet was astonished to see the other figure who was probably the person he was talking to.

(A bright red cloak...?!　That couldn't be........?!)

　The top priority search target ordered by Dariel.
　It fits the description of the mysterious person who is believed to be the mastermind behind a certain incident.

　Even before the Roselwy-related investigation, she and her colleagues were unable to catch even a shadow of her, even with their investigative abilities.

　Why is it here, of all things, is it here?

　Selmet was able to overhear the conversation between the mysterious Red Cloak and Lorselwy.

'I've looked into it, Jolt. He seems to have a special attachment to the village where he lives, Dana. And that's why he refuses to be a brave man, Il.'

　It was a horrible conversation to hear.
　They wanted to destroy the village of Lax itself. They wanted to instill hatred in Dariel and control her for their own sake.

"I have prepared a force of men, disguised as demons, to attack the village. "My men will dress up as demons and attack the village, and I want you to go after him. If the culprit turns out to be a demon, he'll be able to turn his enmity towards the demon.

　Moreover, they are trying to blame the demon tribe for the crime and make it a source of conflict.
　I've been trying to find out as much useful information as possible, but this has turned out to be more dangerous than I imagined.

(We must report this to Dariel-sama as soon as possible...?!)

　Just when Selmet was about to move away from the door to escape........

"Oh, handsome, there's a handsome rat!
'Guhaaaaah!'

　It was an instant.
　A tremendous shock struck Selmet from through the door, and in an instant, he was slammed into the wall.

　Its neck is gripped tightly by a hand.

''Gu.........Haha.......?
''Oh my gosh, you really are a cute little mouse ♡ Although he was skillfully concealed in his own way, it's useless in front of my magic detection ♡.

　The red cloak that captured Selmet was talkative.
　It was supposed to be the same person, but his tone, as well as his disposition, was different from before.

''.........?　Inferno?　Your tone of voice is...?

　Even his roommate Roselwy is baffled by this...?

Never mind that handsome handsome handsome handsome.
I'll take care of it.

　The red cloak the inferno's tone changed again.

"Control your mind with my brainwashing magic. You will soon be able to tell us everything.

　Selmet felt it immediately.
　The abnormality of the red cloak that was now relative to him.

　This presence, it was hard to believe that it was a straightforward creature.
　It wasn't a person or a demon race.
　A hint of something other than that, something beyond that.

　It even seemed that there was no one in this world that could resist such a thing.

(Dariel-sama........!　I'm sorry...!

　Her thoughts were fogged up and drowned out by the red light that pierced directly into her brain.
　The word that came to mind on the verge of this was an apology to Dariel, whom she admired.