Sweetcrasy

That didn’t mean the humiliation was over. Surrounded by the knights’ gazes, I felt deep self-loathing and shame. But I steeled myself, clenched my teeth, and let out a barking sound.

“…Woof!”

“Right paw.”

My face was probably flushed red. But I obediently held out my right hand to Cedar, to cover my face. Cedar took my outstretched hand and rubbed it like he was actually petting a dog. Then, turning to the knights who were frozen in shock like me and said.

“Do any of you still think my dog could go around leaking military conference intel?”

“…”

The knight named Yulis just stared at me, seemingly at a loss for words. When the Knight who had been most opposed shut his mouth, naturally, no one else dared to object. As Cedar turned away from the knights and walked toward the conference room with me, the Knight whispered in disbelief from behind.

“H-How can someone of royal blood…”

“Does he have no pride?”

“He looks fine on the outside… Just what kind of torture was used on him?”

“They’ve utterly destroyed his sense of self…”

I even heard words laced with pity. I glanced bitterly at Cedar beside me, caught between irritation and emptiness.

“Sorry, hyung.”

Cedar immediately apologized in Korean. And on his face, there wasn’t even a hint of amusement at having made me bark like a dog. That alone helped ease my irritation a little, but…

‘This bastard… is he the real Cedar?’

How the hell did “make him bark” come to mind so quickly?

Still, Cedar’s move was undeniably effective. I didn’t get a chair and had to sit on the floor at his feet, but I could listen to everything said during the meeting without issue.

“First, this is the result of tracking Johan Milos.”

The knight fixing the map to the wall was a familiar face. Cedar’s aide, Immanuel… He had long silver hair tied back into a ponytail, wore an impeccably buttoned imperial officer’s uniform, and his glasses perched on a cold, sharp face that looked as though even a needle couldn’t wedge its way in.

‘He looks smart… Glass’s characters are always smart.’

As expected, Immanuel led most of the meeting. He pointed a stick at a map marked with red circles over Milos’ capital, saying they had found traces of Johan in the marked regions.

“As expected, Johan seems to be heading for the Duchy of Persia. Once he enters the duchy, we’d practically have no way of apprehending him except through assassination. So we need to catch him before he crosses over.”

The Duchy of Persia, Johan’s maternal homeland and a long-time ally of Milos. Though its military strength was weak, similar to Milos, it had a massive harbor entangled in the interests of various nations.

If the Empire invaded the duchy, many countries would exert political and military pressure to protect that port. More than anything, without justification, the Empire couldn’t move recklessly.

‘That’s why Johan headed to the duchy first after escaping Milos in the original story.’

Moreover the timing was right as the Emperor summoned Cedar back, causing him to miss the chance to capture Johann.

‘If we miss him now, it’ll get harder and harder to catch him. We have to succeed before returning to the Empire.’

“Johan is expected to pass through this region within a week.”

As he spoke, Immanuel pointed to the northernmost area of the capital, the territory of Gilia. It was slightly off from the shortest route to Peresia.

“Some Milos remnants split off toward Alpession to confuse the trackers, but they were unable to evade the warlock’s tracking spells.

The mention of black mages didn’t cause any stir among the knights. On this continent, black mages were known as evil beings. Their calm reaction only meant one thing.

‘They’ve already been using black mages in secret for a while…’

Of course, having read the novel, I knew the Empire had long been supporting black mages behind the scenes. But I didn’t know they’d use black magic even for tracking Johan.

“Then we have to capture him in Gilia?”

“There’s still quite a distance to Persia. And since Gilia is slightly off-route, the encirclement isn’t complete yet.”

At that moment, Cedar spoke.

“Johan has an accomplice hiding in Gilia.”

Instantly, every knight in the room turned their eyes to Cedar.

“Is that true?”

“Yeah. A genius in long-range teleportation magic.”

Immanuel frowned, as if realizing who he meant.

“Irene Staresia…!”

“The Witch of Severance…!”

“She cut off her own hand and escaped, didn’t she? How the hell was she being guarded? We capture them with such effort, and they just escape?”

“They say all a mage needs is a tongue to chant spells… Of course, negligence is still a sin.”

“That lunatic is still wandering around Milos!?”

Irene’s infamy must’ve been great, because the knights visibly tensed. Amid the commotion, Immanuel adjusted his glasses and asked Cedar,

“Sir, pardon the question, but what is the source of that information? Our intelligence division has received no such reports.”

As soon as that question ended, a large hand dropped onto my head. Cedar gently patted me and replied,

“There’s a very capable informant in Milos. It’s a personal connection, so I can’t reveal their identity.”

‘This bastard…! Why are you patting me while saying that?!’

Might as well just announce that I’m your informant!

But no one in the room paid any attention to me at Cedar’s feet. They all just assumed he was patting his “dog.” There was no sharp remark like, “Could the informant be Prince Louis?”

Even the uptight Immanuel accepted the information Cedar brought without protest.

“Understood. Then, for this mission, we will proceed under the assumption that Irene Staresia is part of the enemy forces.”

“I’ll instruct that equipment with anti-magic enchantments to be prepared.”

“How about asking the black mages if they can prepare a wide-area coordinate disruption barrier?”

“Additional black mage personnel…”

“Reinforce with red-grade knights from nearby units…”

The knights began offering their thoughts on how to execute the mission. It seemed they were planning to mobilize the maximum forces their departments could muster. After all, the mission wouldn’t be complete without capturing Johan.

“And I’ll be carrying out this mission personally.”

Cedar (Just like in the original) stepped forward to capture Johan himself. It showed his will to bring this to a definite end.

“Understood. I’ll relay this to the Gilia operations team.”

Everyone agreed with that plan. Nothing was more reassuring than knowing Cedar would lead the mission himself. But then, when Cedar spoke the next sentence, the knights shot to their feet.

“I’m taking my dog with me.”

“That’s absurd!”

“What if he makes contact with Johan…?!”

Their opposition was expected. Cedar remained unshaken and smiled smoothly.

“Louis said that if Johan saw him, he would not be able to run away.”

Immanuel glanced at me, then asked Cedar,

“So you’re going to use him as bait?”

“Exactly. It’s a trap.”

“You think Johan won’t realize it’s a trap?”

“Louis’s role is only to make him hesitate for a moment. All he has to do is show his face.”

Johan had a few royal mages and knights, known as Milos remnants, who remained loyal to the Crown. Not many, but even Irene couldn’t instantly teleport over twenty people all the way to Persia.

“There’s probably a pre-set magic circle by Irene near Gilia. It will be a high-level magic circle, the kind that triggers long-range teleportation the moment someone designated by the caster steps on it.”

“Then wouldn’t it be better to find and destroy the circle beforehand…”

“They say if the circle is damaged, the caster will know. Then they’ll run away from the trap. But wouldn’t it be easier to just wait nearby than hunt them down like rats?”

Immanuel finally seemed to understand what Cedar was planning.

“You’ll show Louis to Johan just as he’s about to step on the circle.”

“Right. All I need is a moment of hesitation.”

Because Cedar will be there to catch that moment, Immanuel no longer objected, he must have judged it a high-probability plan.

“Understood. I’ll inform the Gilia team of the plan.”

With both the commander-in-chief and the strategist in agreement, no one raised objections. And just like that, Cedar and I were set to depart for Gilia the very next day.