"!" Ian froze on the spot, his eyes flickering uncertainly.
In fact, after hearing John call out to him, he had considered that John might offer him all sorts of conditions, such as turning him into a double agent and using him to gather intelligence from within the Old Guard Party.
After all, given the methods this rising star of the Empire had displayed before, it was perfectly normal for him to turn Ian into a pawn planted within an opposing party.
But he had never expected the other man to directly invite him into a new intelligence agency approved by His Majesty William, one responsible for the intelligence and counterintelligence affairs of all three branches of the military, and to immediately appoint him as a department head.
This could no longer be called a pleasant surprise. It was a fright.
Leaving aside John's true purpose in extending this invitation, Ian understood from the information John had just provided that if he, an outer-ring intelligence operative for the Old Guard Party, accepted John's invitation this time...
Then it would mean he was practically pushing himself onto the executioner's block.
After all, it was common knowledge among all Imperial officers that the Old Guard Party could not stand the Reformist Faction.
And if the organization John spoke of, Imperial Military Intelligence Section Five, which would handle intelligence matters for all three branches, were truly approved and established...
Then there was no doubt that, upon learning of it, the Old Guard Party would do everything in its power to destroy it.
After all, once such an intelligence organization responsible for supplying intelligence to all three branches took shape, the intelligence departments currently embedded within every Imperial army group would be abolished by Emperor William as redundant and overly complicated.
A large number