I, who was eager to retire, became an Imperial General.

Chapter 299 The Confused Reborn Sage and the Perplexed Knight of Justice

"..."

Listening to General Olko's instructions, Maye Sistana, a member of the Allied Special Operations Department, felt an unprecedented sense of confusion.

In fact, as someone who joined the department with powerful healing techniques, she has always been hiding a major secret from her superiors and other department members.

That is, she actually possesses memories of her past life and is a reincarnated person!
Unfortunately, it is unclear whether this was due to the influence of divine power or an inherent flaw of rebirth.

She did not awaken her past life memories from the day she was born, but only three months ago when she turned 18.

As a result, in the eighteen years since Maye's rebirth, she has never made use of the intelligence advantage that comes with being a reborn person.

Logically speaking, after gaining access to her past life's memories, as a prophet, Maye's life should have been able to rise rapidly thanks to her intelligence advantage, and it's not impossible that she could even directly become the new empress of the Saga Kingdom.

"But can someone explain to me why the Allied Special Operations Department, which I thought would be established a year later, was established a year earlier?"

"Besides, what's with peace negotiations and assassinating high-ranking empire officials? How come I never encountered anything like this in my previous life?"

"According to my memories from my previous life, wasn't the empire forced to shift from an expansionist state to a defensive one during this period due to the defeat at the Battle of Walden, the loss of Faoken Bay, and the collapse on the northern front?"

Why is the situation now different from what I remember?

"It's not just different, it's completely opposite!"

Honestly, did I really come back from the dead?
Or are these just figments of my imagination after fusing with the Sage's Crystal?
Otherwise, why would John, who should have been the first commander of the Allied Special Operations Department and the one who could best utilize the strengths of herself and the other members, not join the Allies as an orphan?

Instead, he transformed into the Empire's newly promoted lieutenant general?
He even led troops to help the empire complete two desperate counterattacks.

That's absolutely outrageous!

"So, is my madness caused by fusing with the Philosopher's Stone and absorbing too many ancestral memories? Or am I truly a reincarnated being?"

"Is the reason why the world has become so different from what I remember due to some unexpected factors that I am not yet aware of?"

"If we analyze it according to common sense, then John, who helped the empire complete the transformation of its destiny and pushed everything to the current situation, is probably a reborn person just like myself!"

"But if the John I remember has also been reborn, then why would the other party do this?"

"Clearly, we are his allies all along, and given his kind nature, he would never betray us like this. Therefore, this situation is simply impossible!"

"So, what's going on here?"

"I can't tell the difference, I really can't tell the difference!"

At the conference table, Maye, recalling her memories of her past life but finding none of them matching what she knew, couldn't help but begin to doubt her own existence.

However, just as this reborn sage lost his advantage of foresight and intelligence, he fell into a state of confusion and was even on the verge of developing a split personality due to the torment.

At that moment, Anna's voice slowly rang out from inside the meeting room:

"General Olko, is there a list of targets for this assassination and sabotage operation? Or are we to choose our own targets?"

"I will have someone give you the list of targets and individuals after the meeting. Although you can choose them yourselves, it will also be a good test of your intelligence gathering and mission planning abilities."

"But considering that we are in the enemy's capital, and this is the Special Operations Department's first operation, I do not want any unexpected factors to cause the mission to fail."

Olco stated this expressionlessly, then, as if remembering something, paused slightly before adding with emphasis:

"I don't want any unexpected factors to arise!"

“…I see. I have no further questions. Thank you for your explanation, Minister Olko.”

Upon learning that there was a corresponding list for this infiltration and sabotage plan, a hint of disappointment flashed in Anna's eyes, but she quickly regained her composure and said nothing more.

In fact, after learning about this mission, she subconsciously recalled the scene from two months ago when she fought against that red-haired half-dragon woman.

The words the other person said that night still leave her confused.

Although Anna has been in training since the department was established, she has had no time to investigate and verify.

But as she continued to explore her own abilities, reminisce about the past, and experience the headaches that hadn't recurred for two months since the inexplicable slap on her face that night, she found herself completely at peace.

Her inner confusion not only did not dissipate, but became even stronger, even making it difficult for her to fall asleep at one point.

Therefore, upon learning that the location of their first mission was in the Empire's capital, Anna felt not the slightest bit nervous, but rather an unprecedented sense of joy.

After all, if the mission location is in Eleno, she can try to secretly go to the Binott family to find out the situation and verify whether what that hateful female half-dragon said is true or a lie she made up to affect her loyalty.

If Olko grants her sufficient authority in this operation, she can easily achieve her goal.

Unfortunately, this operation was not only monitored by spies.

Furthermore, our side also needs to carry out assassinations according to the targets on the list.

This means that her purpose in going to the Binott family under the guise of a mission will most likely fail.

Of course, for the intelligent Anna, such restrictions were no challenge at all.

All she needs to do is complete the task quickly and, during the break on her way back, secretly visit the Binott family to successfully verify the information.

At that point, the other party's lies will fall apart on their own, and you will no longer have to suffer for such a meaningless conspiracy.

Anna pondered silently.

Unaware of Anna's inner thoughts, and seeing that their captain, Anna, did not refuse, Olko nodded slightly and then looked at the others at the conference table:
"Very good. Does anyone else have any questions?"

"Um, Minister, in assassination missions, are support-class members also required to participate directly?"

The speaker was none other than Margaret DuPont, the green-haired girl who had traveled to Gooseberry Village with Anna and Royce two months ago. At this moment, she was timidly raising her right hand, her expression filled with nervousness.

As one of the few support-type members in the department, Margaret not only possesses healing spells, but also a unique spell called 'Touch of the Illusionary Moon'.

As the name suggests, this technique is related to mental illusions.

However, unlike common illusions that can be used in combat, Margaret's spells are more inclined towards support.

At this stage, the general effect is simply to leave a spell anchor point by touching it, and then use the spell to disguise the target as another being. Because the spell can operate continuously and hardly emits any magical fluctuations, and because it works through psychological suggestion, even when facing a super-rank mage two ranks higher than Margaret, her unique spell will not let the other party detect anything.

Of course, such tricks can't fool powerful Grand-ranked players.

In addition, their professional role is that of a healer and support mage, and their training focuses only on functional spells and the enhancement of unique spells.

Therefore, Margaret herself did not possess any combat skills, and was unable to defend or dodge even ordinary bullets in time.

She is arguably the most vulnerable member of the team, even less so than Maye, who has a similar role.

After all, although Meyer is also a healer and enhancement-type support mage, she is an inheritor of the beastman's physique, and in addition to healing spells, she has mastered more amplification spells.

When necessary, the opponent can use this ability to achieve a leap in combat capability, thus achieving the goal of embedding the enemy into a wall with a single punch.

However, Margaret, being a pure support mage, was completely unable to achieve this goal.

Therefore, upon learning that her team's first mission involved an assassination, Margaret's first thought was that she was doomed.

Given that she is a support mage who has devoted all her talents to healing and illusion magic, it would be absurd to expect her to carry out an assassination.

It's better to pray that the assassination target will fall to their death because they didn't look down the stairs at night.

After all, the latter has a much higher success rate than the former.

"Apart from Margaret, who is not capable of combat, all other members of the department will participate in and carry out this assassination mission."

It seems that they also considered Margaret's abilities, knowing that having her participate in the assassination would only increase the risk of failure and make the Empire aware that the assassination was related to them, and there was no other possibility.

Olco didn't insist, but instead granted a special privilege to the nervous Margaret.

But before Margaret, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, could thank him, Olko's next words made the seventeen-year-old girl's face turn deathly pale again:

"But in return, while the others are carrying out assassination missions, Margaret, you will need to conduct infiltration and intelligence gathering, and this activity will be judged and scored by our professional spies. If the score is not up to standard, I think you know the consequences."

"I...I will definitely work hard and try my best not to let you down, Minister Olko!"

Upon hearing this, realizing that she had just escaped one danger only to fall into another, the underage girl immediately expressed her distress with a bitter face.

Looking at her angry but speechless expression, no one doubted that if Olko hadn't been at the conference table, she probably would have burst into tears on the spot.

But her immature behavior only elicited a flash of annoyance and displeasure in Olko's eyes, without eliciting any sympathy.

In fact, in Olko's eyes, the members of the Allied Special Operations Department were more like useful tools than humans.

The reason why this assassination and infiltration plan was entrusted to this newly established department was, in addition to verifying the effectiveness of the training.

More importantly, he wanted to use this method to test out the truly talented individuals within the department.

This also eliminates those inferior tools that other countries have placed in the team, either to appease them, to seize power, or to try to gather intelligence on the Kingdom of Victoria.

This department, after the Victorian Kingdom defeated the Empire, or even destroyed it, has, through long-term mission execution and subtle influence, completely submitted to the Victorian Kingdom.

Moreover, it possesses deadly weapons capable of easily changing or even overthrowing a country's political power.

After all, the expansionist plans of the Emperor have forced the Allied nations to unite and launch a counterattack.

But once the empire falls, the allies, without a common enemy, might scatter like birds and beasts, or even start wars among themselves.

In order for the Kingdom of Victoria to emerge as the ultimate winner in this inevitable war, a special operations department is essential.

And it not only needs to exist, but it also needs to possess unprecedented power!
Thinking of this, Olko unconsciously turned his gaze to Anna, who remained calm beside him, then glanced at the empty chair at the end of the conference table, a subtle coldness flashing in his eyes.

In fact, compared to Anna.

In fact, at the very beginning, Olco believed that Celestine was the one within the Special Operations Department who had the potential to become the strongest and most suitable to serve as the sharpest weapon for the Kingdom of Victoria.

After all, the opponent's unique technique can be described as the most powerful one in history.

Furthermore, the fact that the other party is a Limit Breaker means that their power will not stop here, but will continue to increase over time, and it is even possible that they will rival the Demon King.

What Olco considered the other party's most criticized personality flaws were not weaknesses at all, but rather unprecedented strengths.

Because the worse and more wicked someone's personality is, the more likely it is that they have a weakness.

It is something that, if handled properly, can be easily won over and made to be completely devoted to the Kingdom of Victoria.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the director had seen through his thoughts. After learning that he intended to include Celestine in the Allied Special Operations Department, the director personally rejected the proposal and had Erwin relay a message to threaten him.

Honestly, at his age, this is the first time he's ever been verbally abused by name like this.

However, since the other party was a foreign senator and a Grand Rank powerhouse, Olko could only endure it no matter how unhappy he was.

However, compared to the humiliation he suffered, the main reason that made Olko so unhappy was that he was unable to recruit Celestine into his ranks.

If they were to truly recruit the other party, then without a doubt, the future Victoria Kingdom would have one more Grand-level powerhouse.

But now that possibility has been completely eliminated by the 'allies'.

Furthermore, once they become enemies, the other party may even become a fatal threat to the greatness of the Victorian Kingdom.

All of this stemmed from the fact that his plan failed to proceed as scheduled!
Thinking of this, Olko's mood worsened, and he completely lost the will to stay. He immediately raised his hand and gave the order:
"Since no one has any objections, then let's proceed according to plan!"

"Four days later, I will arrange for a member to lead you to meet with the delegation responsible for the negotiations and then proceed to Elena."

"Seven days from now, the infiltration and assassination mission will officially commence. Understand?"

"Yes, Minister Olko!"

"Tap, tap!"

……

(End of this chapter)