Life didn't get easier, even in another world

238 The first mission

It was just another ordinary day at work.

The others were all gone on a mission, so Kairen and Glenn were the only ones in the hall. Since the war broke out between the two countries, they had to go on missions more frequently. They had to deal with another issue on top of Philomns so the workload was quite high.

Kairen felt a little bit guilty that he couldn’t help them. They didn’t take him with them this time either, saying that he could skip missions until he had settled down in his new house.

He couldn’t help but wonder if they didn’t take him on purpose. He did nothing but cause trouble for everyone in each and every mission he took part in, so he couldn’t help but think that they had ditched him, using his situation as an excuse.

They could probably handle things better without a freak sticking to them, right?

Anyway.

It was a nice and quiet day at work. Glenn especially enjoyed the days when everybody was on a mission. He would happily say how he could now work in peace and deal with fewer headaches when all of the musclebrains were gone.

Kairen too was happy that he could read all of the spellbooks without being cursed by Serria. The books here were really nice. He thought he could only find good books in SMF’s library, but he was wrong.

It was on that peaceful day that he received an unexpected message.

.....

A message from the commander, saying that his first mission was decided.

The first mission.

The mission he was so curious about.

He was so excited about it. He didn’t know what the mission was but he was told to prepare for conflict.

Kairen did as he was told. He prepared everything for the mission.

He even talked to Mrs. Neal about the probability of him not coming back the night and asked her to take care of Ariyan. She agreed to look after Ariyan if Kairen didn’t come back at night so he could go to work with an easy mind.

Even the things were arranged for him at work. The commander had long talked to team leader Dains and had informed him that Kairen would work for him from now on. The team leader would also help Kairen in arranging his missions with his work. The team leader didn’t seem happy that Kairen would work for the commander, but he still promised to help him.

Being absent from work was not something unusual. If the agents didn’t have much, they could just not come to work. Of course, at this point, everyone was busy with issues about the war, but Kairen again was an exception because of the things that had happened to Kain and all of his unit was aware of it. So, Kairen being absent and not coming to work also wouldn’t be so suspicious.

Kairen even made sure to help Glenn as much as he could the day before the mission. He even did extra work so Glenn wouldn’t be buried under paperwork today when Kairen was absent.

He didn’t even have such a hard time persuading Ariyan. The kid was in such a good mood since the day that Kairen started to pick him up just on time that he didn’t nag much and was even easily persuaded. He thought he would need to promise the kid to do something once he comes back, but he didn’t request anything. Maybe he was growing up...

Everything was fine. Everything was perfect for his first mission as one of the Secret Operations Unit agents. But again, what was his mission?

Kairen first thought he hadn’t heard it right, but he heard the same answer no matter how much he asked.

He would be sent to the battlefield.

That was all he knew.

‘I should... go watch people fight?’

He was sent to the borders of Hainston and Bordkly. The borders were where an intense fight was going on between the two countries, but he was suddenly teleported right there without any further information.

“....”

Kairen hid behind a big boulder as soon as he found himself on the battlefield.

‘What am I supposed to do?’

He wasn’t even told what he needed to do. He was just teleported here after he heard about the mission through a special communication device that was given to him by the commander. He said that only the members of the Secret Operations Unit used this device and that the person talking to him on the device would inform him of the details of the mission.

Again, no one told him what he was supposed to do?

“Um... Sorry, can you hear me?”

-....

“Sir, would you please explain the mission?”

-....

No one answered him no matter how many messages he sent by the communication device.

‘Maybe there is something here?’

Looking down at himself, Kairen started to check every pocket of the uniform given to him. He thought there might be a piece of paper hidden somewhere but there was nothing.

‘I mean...’

Kairen peeked at the battlefield not too far away from where he was hiding.

CLANGGG

BOMMM

“Kill them!”

“Proceed!”

“AAAHHH!”

“Mages, fire!”

BROOOMM

ONNGGGG

“The second team, to the front!”

“Arghh!”

“Uhhh!”

It was utter chaos.

Gulp

Kairen gulped and hid back again.

‘Am I being tested? Is this something like... a first mission where you should find out what you should do to prove that you are capable of doing the job?’

This unit was a part of SMF after all. These SMF dudes did any kind of crazy stuff they liked all the time so this too wouldn’t be much surprised.

An intense fight was going on. The two sides were out for the other’s heads. Everyone was struggling to kill the other and survive.

Kairen had known about the battle, but he had never seen it up close. Even on his previous missions, he hadn’t seen something like this. Yes, he had seen corpses and dead bodies, but nothing at this scale. The scene was actually frightening. Everywhere was filled with corpses and the ground was wet with blood. Numerous young soldiers were desperately fighting each other while some people with different uniforms were giving orders.

The soldiers were mostly normal people who didn’t have unique skills, but there were also some who had weak unique skills such as low-level mages or swordsmen. Both sides had equal members and it seemed that their strength was also similar.

‘Should I jump between them and... Um... kill the enemy?’

But again, who was the enemy and who was not? At this point, Kairen couldn’t even tell the enemy from the friend. Everything was so messed up that he was scared he would kill their own soldiers if he joined the battle.

‘I mean... I’m sure this isn’t what Secret Operations Unit members usually do. Aren’t they... like... the front line fighters against Phliomns?’

These guys sure weren’t in charge of this kind of battle. Did they change jobs because of the war? That wasn’t unlikely as they worked for the safety of the country.

B-BAAAANGGG

“Gasp!”

Kairen gasped and threw his body down. Covering his head with his arms, he curled up in one corner and hid in that spot.

It was because something was thrown just beside him and exploded. Kairen hadn’t cast any shields around him. He was scared that his location would be found out of he used mana and he would be in greater danger so he hadn’t used any spells until now. Now, he was starting to regret that decision.

‘Damn! What should I-Ah?’

Just as he was curled up in that corner behind a boulder, his eyes caught on something.

‘Isn’t that... A camp?’

Once he looked behind the spot where the soldiers were fighting, he could see a bunch of camp-like structures. And they had Bordkly’s flags on them as well.

‘Hmm?’

Kairen narrowed his eyes.

‘I’m sure there should be some kind of a... main camp? Commander’s camp? Central camp?’

He didn’t know what the name was, but there must be a camp where the higher military heads of Bordkly would reside. The ones who were giving orders and controlling the battle from behind would be there.

‘Should I perhaps... Take care of them?’

Kairen stared at the camps far away, wondering if he was sent here to deal with those commanders while others were fighting.

‘That must be it! Right!’

Glancing at the intense battle that was going on behind him, Kairen sneaked away and moved toward the camps.

‘But I’m a mage... A mage shouldn’t be given such a mission...’

Kairen shook his head. It was the mission given to him so he had to do it without complaining.

‘How to go there...’

.....

To reach the camp, he needed to somehow move through the battlefield.

‘There is no other choice...’

Hoping that the uniform given to him by the unit would have some mana concealing function that would help him stay hidden, Kairen started to cast a flight spell.