Want You to Become a Spy

Li Qi regretted it deeply.

He regretted it very much.

He knew that shopping with a woman would be exhausting, but he never expected Berry, that perverted shota complex enthusiast, to keep trying to make advances on him.

So along the way, Li Qi became Berry's "doll," accompanying her in playing dress-up.

Li Qi changed into clothes of every possible style, and Berry bought all of them!

If Li Qi had not insisted on returning to the dormitory, Berry probably would have taken him away that evening and devoured him whole.

How brutal!

Li Qi was only thirteen this year!

"Next time... I absolutely can't be alone with Berry next time... It's too dangerous..."

Carrying large and small bags and dragging his exhausted body back to the dormitory, Li Qi sighed like this.

Although, in a sense, Berry had meant well, Li Qi was an orphan, and he saved all the wages he received to buy books or items related to magic.

He only had a few sets of clothes to his name, which he wore over and over.

Berry felt that this wasted Li Qi's face, which could charm both men and women, and that he lived far too frugally, so she took it upon herself to buy all these things.

But the problem was...

Li Qi didn't need them.

He wasn't living off his face in this life.

If this had been the life in which he was a singer, Li Qi might have cared somewhat about his appearance. But in a war-torn world like this, appearance was completely useless.

Once they reached the front lines, with artillery fire filling the sky, everyone's face would be covered in all kinds of grime.

No matter how beautifully one dressed, it was useless if it did nothing for one's combat strength.

He might as well save the money and have Li Qi buy some magic books that were banned from circulation...

But no matter what, this was still Berry's good intention.

After returning to the dormitory, Li Qi put away all the clothes Berry had bought for him. Only then did he begin considering what Berry had said to him that day.

It was still uncertain whether the assassination of an important official in Falor was true.

Even if it was true, there was no way to know whether the assassin had truly been sent by Uno.

Perhaps Uno really had sent someone to do it, but it was also possible that the Kingdom of Falor had staged the whole thing itself.

Or, thinking in an even darker direction, perhaps someone did not want the two countries to cease hostilities. They had deliberately sent someone to carry out the assassination, then shifted the blame onto the other side so that the two countries would go to war again.

Any of these possibilities could be true. Thus, the current issue was not whether the Assassination Incident had been carried out by the Duchy of Uno, but how the upper echelons of both countries would interpret it.

If both countries wanted to fight, then the Assassination Incident was the perfect spark.

If both countries wanted a ceasefire, then before long, the "truth" would come from Falor—for example, the investigation would conclude that the assassin had not been sent by Uno... or something along those lines.

But no matter which it was, Li Qi had to prepare in advance.

He either had to agree to Berry's offer to join the Medical Department or agree to Bolent's proposal to seek refuge in Inglis.

He had to find himself a way out.

Otherwise, would he really be returning to the front lines?

Playing a round of The Chronicles of Li Qi in another world?

Give me a break. Li Qi did not want to remain on the battlefield forever.

"...I'll take the assessment ahead of schedule. Let's get some results out quickly."

Li Qi had yet to decide where he would go, so he decided to take the Military Academy's monthly assessment first and finish the Military Academy's curriculum as quickly as possible before thinking about anything else.

After all, if war really broke out again, Li Qi feared he would not have much time left to study.

Things might have been even worse than Li Qi had anticipated.

Just as Li Qi passed the end-of-month examination and officially began following the main group's curriculum, news arrived from the front lines: the Kingdom of Falor had openly torn up the ceasefire agreement and resumed fighting with Uno.

Of course, that was how things were described within Uno.

Internationally, however, Falor claimed that Uno had first sent someone to assassinate their country's Grand Prince, that Uno had been the first to break the agreement, and that Falor had therefore been forced to retaliate.

It was only then that Li Qi learned that the person who had died on Falor's side was actually the first heir to their country's throne.

Damn, did they really have to take things this far?

Li Qi had never imagined that the "important official" who had been assassinated was actually the other side's Grand Prince!

Now it seemed the two countries had no choice but to go to war.

Although the Duchy of Uno repeatedly stressed that they had not done it, Falor did not believe them.

Or rather, they were unwilling to believe them.

Their offensive on the front lines earlier had already made it clear that Falor did not actually want to end the war. They wanted to completely annex the Duchy of Uno.

And that was not the only piece of bad news.

According to rumors, Inglis, the Magic Nation, also seemed ready to join the war. They apparently intended to ally with Falor against Uno.

Li Qi had no idea what the Duchy of Uno had done to make two countries declare war on it at the same time.

He could understand Falor declaring war on the Duchy of Uno.

After all, the two countries shared a border and already had a grudge against each other—calling it a generational feud would not be an exaggeration. It was perfectly normal for their fighting to grow genuinely heated.

But Inglis was very far from Uno geographically, and another neutral country lay between them.

If Inglis wanted to go to war with Uno, it would have to sail around through the Outer Sea and launch an attack from the waters southeast of Uno.

The Duchy of Uno's naval forces were not particularly strong, but Inglis was no stronger!

Li Qi truly could not understand Inglis's reason for declaring war on Uno.

But no matter how he thought about it, the fact that war was about to begin again was beyond dispute.

For that reason, Li Qi took the initiative and went to find Bolent.

He had made his decision.

When Bolent saw Li Qi coming to him, he immediately understood what Li Qi was thinking.

He smiled at Li Qi and said,

"Looks like you've made up your mind."

"Yes, sir."

Li Qi exhaled and said seriously, "But there's something I don't understand, sir. Why did you choose me?"

Li Qi possessed the Unicorn Combat Medal, which might have been Bolent's reason for trying to win him over.

But that was not an absolute reason.

Perhaps Li Qi had great potential and would go far in magic in the future, but compared to Li Qi, who had no one backing him, other talented noble children might bring Bolent greater benefits.

The Reformist Faction's greatest problem at present was the small number of nobles within it. Although it had many important officials, it had far fewer nobles among the upper ranks than the Traditional Faction.

And although many nobles did not hold positions in the upper levels of government, their influence was very real.

Bolent could have won over nobles with greater influence to stand on his side instead of Li Qi.

If Bolent had been nurturing Li Qi as an ordinary subordinate, Li Qi could still have understood it.

But going to such lengths to send Li Qi to the Magic Academy for further study... Li Qi found that difficult to understand.

At least from Li Qi's perspective, the effort Bolent had invested in him did not seem proportional to what he had gained in return.

Having lived through three lifetimes, Li Qi had never believed that anyone would be kind to him without a reason.

Everyone had their own motives, regardless of whether those motives were benevolent or malicious.

Berry included.

If Li Qi had not resembled Berry's deceased younger brother, Berry probably would not have cared so much about him.

As for Bolent... As far as Li Qi knew, he had no deceased siblings.

Therefore, Li Qi completely failed to understand why Bolent treated him so well.

The young man's confusion was plain to see. Bolent narrowed his eyes slightly and said without hiding anything,

"Because, across the entire duchy, you're the only person who possesses Strategic Rank strength at the age of thirteen."

"Is that all?"

"Of course not."

As he spoke, Bolent took a prepared dossier from his desk drawer.

"I want you to become my spy."

As he said this, he threw the dossier in front of Li Qi.