I Became a Civil Servant Who Can Use Magic

The inspection support team that arrived in Brinut headed straight for the inner castle.

One chief executive overseeing support from the Eastern Branch, five 4-star seniors prepared for combat, and ten investigators in charge of administrative support.
A total of sixteen members of the support team appeared in the audience hall with a solemn attitude.

“Thank you for coming all this way.”
“Welcome.”

Count Lidyte and Loen greeted them with very welcoming expressions.
This confused the chief executive.

‘What’s this? According to the contents of the support request letter….’

He had expected a somewhat serious atmosphere,
but the mood in the audience hall was unexpectedly cordial.

“Count, then I’ll ask you a favor.”
“A favor? What are you saying? Of course I should vacate it for you.”

The count guided the support team to the reception room.
It was quite spacious, perfect for setting up a temporary headquarters.

“I’ll make sure to give strict orders that no one is to come near the reception room. Don’t worry.”

Afterwards, the count disappeared outside with his vassals.
The chief executive, who had been staring at their retreating figures, turned his head and asked Loen.

“You’ve worked hard. I’m the chief executive of the support team dispatched from the Eastern Branch. Um.. how is the war progressing-“
“The war is over.”
“It’s over?”
“Yes.”

The chief executive was taken aback.

“What about the dark mage?”
“Eliminated.”
“The purge?”
“The noble purge is already finished, now we just need to deal with their families.”

The chief executive’s expression became ambiguous.
Whether he should be happy about this or not.

“And this.”
“..?”

The chief executive picked up the report Loen handed over.

Collusion with dark mage … evidence of large-scale human sacrifices … discovered.
Accordingly, purge of Grade 1 target families in progress.
For Grade 2 targets, separate classification work needed.

The chief executive, reading through the report, fell into thought.

‘Well, well. I heard she was a new recruit who joined just a few months ago.’

Such doubts were brief,
The chief executive immediately gave orders.

“Set up a temporary headquarters here.”

As the support team investigators moved quickly, the reception room was instantly transformed into a temporary inspection headquarters.
In the meantime, the chief executive asked Loen a question.

“Investigator Loen. Here, what does it mean by classification work for Grade 2 targets mentioned in the report?”
“It refers to things like whether their families should be exterminated too, and such.”
“Ah, I understand what you mean.”

The day of the purge.
The total number of nobles annihilated by Loen was thirty-two.

Half of them belong to Grade 2 purge targets.
Compared to Grade 1, these had relatively lower contributions to the war, lower ranks within the faction, and less involvement in illegal activities. As such, more thorough investigation was needed.

Of course, it wouldn’t matter even if all their families were swept away too. However, the aftermath of that would have to be dealt with by the people of the Barrier. That’s why it was noted that classification work was needed to be certain.

The support team investigators immediately began investigation and classification work.

And the very next day, news came that the classification was complete.

“Is there anything I can help with?”
“Please rest comfortably. We’ll handle the rest. Since we came to support, we should at least do this much to save face, shouldn’t we?”
“That’s true.”

Five purge units composed of 4-star support team seniors and hundreds of troops selected by Count Lidyte.

The five purge units thus organized swept through the Barrier, causing a bloodbath.

Most family members were immediately executed on the spot, while direct family members were transported to Brinut for public execution in the square.
Then, even the traces of their families were completely erased.

‘It was good to request support.’

This was Loen’s thought as she watched the support team’s purge finishing process.

It may be called the frontier, but
Because the land area is unexpectedly large, without them, she might have been stuck here for another month or two.

As the purge was nearing completion, the chief executive approached Loen and asked.

“Investigator Loen. By the way, I heard you were going around pretending to be a goddess..”
“Well, that somehow..”
“We’ll contact the higher-ups separately and try to clean this up.”
“I’d be grateful if you do that.”

They’re even going to clean this up for me?
They’re not just any support team.

Loen nodded in satisfaction at the chief executive’s words.

Rumors about the goddess were already rampant within the Barrier.
Considerable effort and time would be needed to clean this up.

Nevertheless, the reason the support team chief executive readily offered to help was due to intuition born from experience.

Clear identity and background, above standard job performance ability, early promotion to senior confirmed in just two months, and so on.

‘Assuming she continues to accumulate achievements like this, for the next.. Director would be too young, but for the next next Director or Deputy Director, there’s plenty of possibility.’

It was an excellent opportunity to make a good impression on such a person.

“Then I’ll take care of wrapping things up.”
“Thank you.”

And so the purge was concluded.

Thanks to the support team’s thorough handling, there would be no unfortunate incidents of someone surviving and shouting ‘Revenge for the family!’

“So~ When are you getting married?”
“What?”
“..”

While exchanging final greetings in the count’s office, Psyche suddenly dropped a bombshell statement.
Momentarily flustered, Veronica quietly distanced herself from the count.

What’s the use of distancing yourself now when there have been all those actions until now?
Such thoughts swirled in Loen’s mind.

Indeed, they say love blooms even in wartime.

According to what Psyche heard, in the extreme situation of war, because Veronica stuck close to the count under the pretext of protection, their relationship progressed rapidly.

Well, after their first meeting with the count, they spent nearly three months in the military camp, so wouldn’t it have been stranger if nothing happened during that time? Moreover, they were said to have been childhood friends even before that.

Loen offered congratulations.

“Congratulations in advance. Looking at you two, it seems there’s no need to worry about heirs.”
“Wow~ I’m envious.”
“Thank you..”
“..”

Veronica blushed and kept her mouth shut.
Usually she acts coldly, but it seems she gets shy about this kind of thing.

The count seemed equally awkward, fidgeting unnecessarily with documents.

After gazing at the two fondly for a moment, Loen changed the subject and offered words of advice.

“Count. I’ve done everything I can do at my level for you. The rest.. you know, right?”

The Barrier has completely fallen into Count Lidyte’s hands.
There are no more enemies.

Now all that’s left is to rebuild the war-ravaged Barrier, initiate reforms, and develop it further.
And all of this depends entirely on the count’s capabilities.

He answered with a grave expression.

“I will certainly prove that your choice was not wrong.”
“No, well, it’s not to that extent.”
“When you have time later, come visit the imperial capital holding hands. I’ll tell you about an incredibly delicious bakery!”

What are you saying, Psyche?
Wouldn’t it be better to just go our separate ways like this?

“Although the Barrier is treated as the frontier of frontiers, its population is by no means small. Rather, it’s above average.”
“Is that so?”
“I guarantee that as we break out of isolation and undergo changes, we will have much stronger military power than now. When that time comes, I will certainly lend strength to the Franz familyㅡ”
“Yes. No, wait. There’s no need to go that far, just living safely in the Barrier is enough.”
“I understand. Let’s leave it at that for now.”

Fearing that a sudden declaration of support might pop out like with the Grand Duchy, Loen quickly brought up her original purpose.

“The reason we came to the Barrier in the first place was to investigate your tax evasion case, Count.”
“You have to pay taxes on time!”
“Ah, so that’s what it was.”

Nodding as if he only now understood, the count launched into an explanation about why he had evaded taxes.
Having roughly guessed the content while helping him, there was nothing particularly special.

“…… I will pay all the evaded taxes together on time. And if you wish… I’m willing to set aside something extra for youㅡ”
“No. There’s no need to go that far.”
“Please set aside something extra for me.”

Whack!
Ow.

As Psyche was about to spout some strange nonsense, Loen gave her a knock on the head and also calmed the count.
And she added one last thing.

“Count. I’m saying this just in case, but I have no interest in power. I just want to live quietly, so I hope there won’t be any unnecessary misunderstandings.”
“??”
“..?”

Everyone except Loen looked at her with strange eyes.
Even Sigvalt, who was quietly closing his eyes in the corner of the office.

The words ‘What nonsense are you talking about, Loen’ rose to the tip of Psyche’s tongue, but she succeeded in suppressing them with superhuman patience.

The next day.
As Loen’s group boarded the carriage for their return journey amidst a fervent send-off, the count conveyed his final greeting.

“I will never forget this debt of gratitude.”
“..”

However, his gaze felt extremely burdensome to Loen.
Did you really listen to what I said yesterday..?

Silently nodding her head, Loen immediately boarded the carriage.
Now it was time to return to headquarters.

It was quiet inside the carriage.
Only the endless sound of wheels scraping the road could be heard.

At the end of a long silence, Psyche opened her mouth.

“Why is grandpa coming with us?”
“Psyche, calling the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency ‘grandpa’ is a bit..”
“There are plenty of people who don’t know how to be polite, this much is nothing.”

Sigvalt shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Anyway, it’s time for me to return to the Intelligence Agency as well, so I’ve taken the liberty of joining your ride.”
“I see.”
“Ah.”

The carriage fell silent again.
While everyone was lost in thought, looking at the scenery outside the carriage.

Suddenly, Sigvalt brought up an unexpected topic.

“The final condition for reaching 5-star.”

At his words, Loen’s head turned.
Sigvalt’s gaze was still fixed outside the window.

“Unless you clearly define your own path, no matter how much you’ve attained, you can’t progress further.”

“No matter how much one without a path walks, it’s just wandering. Not moving forward.”

Suddenly, his gaze turned towards Loen.

“In that sense.”

Loen flinched at his gaze that seemed to pierce through her.

“It seems you haven’t decided your path yet.”