American Isekai - Chapter 196

December 1, 624

I arrived back at the Treehouse and to my great surprise, there was hardly anything for me to do. It seemed I had trained my people well. 

Polly had a few questions for me regarding the counterespionage division, but that was about the extent of my input. Since I was gone for a month, everyone had to figure out how to go without my presence, and they did. 

I just found it odd since I wasn’t getting pulled every which way as soon as I stepped foot on base. Unfortunately, that was because I was no longer in charge of certain things, my prior responsibilities as an intelligence agent all but gone. 

Of course, I was still a Lieutenant Colonel which meant my job, by default, lay at Polly’s side. I would just do whatever she wanted me to do, which I did in order to catch up on things. 

But that didn’t last forever, because not long after coming back, I received a transfer request. Not for location, but for my unit. 

I was getting moved to the Snow Doves. 

It took a couple days but about a week into my return, on the first of December, the request was authorized. 

I grabbed what few items I had and ditched my room, transferring to the building reserved specifically for the Snow Doves. 

Once there I prepared my bed, since there was actually a bed in my new room, and went down into their rec room. 

“Oh shit. Look who it is.”

“The newbie is here.”

“Dressed up all nice too.”

A few of the old Snow Doves smiled and quipped as I walked in. The unit had gotten reinforced with fresh bodies so nearly half were new like I was, though not first day new. Still, they didn’t say much unlike the others who seemed to enjoy seeing me in my Glimmers. 

Nonnen was already there, as well as the other Authority 10 that had finally come to replace Miron. I saw A. Cemil on her nametag. She was shorter than I expected her to be, standing no taller than 5’ 2”. She looked scrappy with greenish hair and faint freckles dotting her cheeks around her cute button nose.

I looked around a bit before approaching Nonnen. I was dressed up not because I was getting transferred, but because it was about time for my rank to match my Authority. 

Nonnen called. 

“Alright, everyone at attention!”

With his command all the Snow Doves rose from their seats and stood in their places semi-rigidly. 

Nonnen smiled at me. 

“Not much of a ceremony, but at least I’ll be the one pinning you.”

“I appreciate it, sir.”

“Mm. Now…”

Nonnen looked around as I stood at attention in front of him. He announced. 

“Today, John Cooper will become a Snow Dove! He will be my Envoy, the intelligence Liaison for the platoon, and our long range weapon specialist! And to commemorate his induction into our platoon…”

Nonnen brought out a new insignia, the pins for a First Sergeant, and replaced my old Master Sergeant rank. 

Once he was done, the two of us saluted each other. 

“John Cooper is hereby promoted to First Sergeant! For Honor!”

“For Honor!”

Everyone chanted, my salute going down with Nonnen’s. We both smiled and shook hands. 

“I’m honored, sir.”

“You’ve long earned it, First Sergeant. Now, Commander Bieito! Bring out the drinks! Colonel Polly made sure to give us the next two days off, so let's enjoy it!”

“Hurrah!”

Everyone cheered in celebration, several people rushing off to grab any alcohols they could get their hands on. 

……

…

“Everyone line up and collect one of the booklets, one of each. After that you can take your seat and we’ll start the meeting.”

Around 50 people all stood up and lined up promptly, not rushed, but not wasting any time with sluggish movements or fighting to be in front of one or the other. 

Vetsmon glanced at the table before them. On it were three stacks of booklets, each one thicker than the last. Each person took one booklet from each pile, Vetsmon following along with the others before finding his seat amidst many. 

Once he was sat down he looked at the titles of all three. One of the was titled Compiled Reports: Western Scourge Front, another called Chemical and Biological Threat Mitigation and Suppression, and the last titled Principles of Operational Security and Counter-Intelligence. Vetsmon found each of their titles curious, yet hardly understanding what each of them were supposed to be about. 

The last person grabbed the booklets and sat down, one of the commanding officers, a summoner, stepping up to the front. What little chatter there was instantly quieted down before the summoner even had to ask. 

The wall behind him suddenly flickered to life, an image of each booklet appearing on it. 

“Alright, today’s meeting will be relatively brief, but you’ll all be expected to study the contents in each of these books later. The Compiled Reports will give you information on your soon-to-be operational area. You’ll be shipping out to the Kingdom’s western front where the Scourge is mounting a heavy offensive they won’t be able to handle. However, the two other booklets have been recently studied and are going to be adopted into our operational policy. All of the information in these booklets came from one place, and almost entirely from one person.”

The wall behind the summoner changed, Vetsmon’s brows rising as he felt his heart send a wave through his chest. It was the last image he expected to see today. 

It was John. There were 3 pictures depicting him in various situations. One was from afar and showed John with an odd mask on his face as well as two metal cylinders on his back, a hose going from the cylinders to the mask. Vetsmon couldn’t image what it did but he assumed it protect John from the red gas around him. Another picture showed John walking while ordering some troops around in the open. Another was a silhouetted picture of him, kneeling in some snow, pointing one of his guns off into the distance from behind a tree. 

“John Cooper. 23 years old, a Cold Summoner, recently advanced to Authority 6 and just recently promoted to Lieutenant Colonel despite only being in the military for around a year. His record thus far has been particularly striking. His reports alone have moved over a hundred thousand troops to the Kingdom’s western front, most of those troops coming from reserves. Not only that, but he’s the one who developed the two booklets on Operational Security and Chemical and Biological Threat Mitigation.”

The summoner glanced across the room, Vetsmon noticing his gaze linger on himself for several seconds. There was no way they didn’t know about their relationship, he thought. 

“This person is someone you’ll feel the effects of while operating in that area. He’s on our watchlist, but so far he’s done nothing but improve the Kingdom’s situation on the western front. Without him, the western front would have already fallen, overrun by the Scourge and we’d be having a much harder time keeping the Scourge from routing the Kingdom’s forces beyond the River of Desolation. He’s smart, competent, and the booklets that he’s developed will give you a glimpse into the knowledge that’s managed to keep the Scourge’s new species and weapons from toppling a small forward base. Turn your attention to the compiled reports.”

Everyone picked up the booklet, Vetsmon included, going through the compiled reports on the situation over on the western front. 

Millions of Scourge monsters were priming for invasion, and they had an Epicenter and Gargantuan Intestine supporting their efforts. This clearly indicated that the Scourge was getting ready to attack with forces capable of leveling long standing bases like it had Purple Sky, and yet the Kingdom was yet to arm the Treehouse with the forces necessary to at least defend themselves against it. There wasn’t even a Sovereign there. 

Clearly negligence, mainly because the Kingdom barely knew what it meant for a Scourge Epicenter to be somewhere. Those were only present where Sovereign-level Royals nested. 

However, some credit still had to be given. The fact that they had even discovered the Epicenter was a great achievement. Apparently John had arranged an infiltration mission to scout beyond Hare’s Pass, the canyon between Stronghold Charlie and most of the Scourge forces. He had carried it out marvelously which was the only reason it was able to succeed at all. Even the Church only had barebones information on the mission, only coming from the confirmed deaths of the three infiltrators as well as the intel that came of it. They knew nothing else about the specifics, an impressive feat, and yet not nearly as impressive as what would be talked about afterward. 

Vetsmon read along as the summoner gave general overviews of the situation over there. It was looking grim but that was exactly why they were going over there. Like many missions, their job would be to bolster the Kingdom’s weaknesses, making sure they didn’t just roll over and die. And yet they had to do it in the darkness. Only the most observant would be able to pick up on the effects of their presence. 

They did it that way in order to keep the Kingdom from attempting to politically leverage them. Relations between the Kingdom and Church were rocky at best and in recent years it was only getting worse. With Anarchy stepping into the mix, it was clear that things wouldn’t remain as they were for very long. A lot of things were about to change soon, all at once, and they had to prepare to face all of it head on. That meant doing what they could to give everyone the greatest advantages before they were weakened as a whole. 

Vetsmon perked up when they moved on to the next booklet, the one on Chemical and Biological Threat Mitigation. 

The summoner briefed. 

“The contents of this booklet are relatively simple, however, they hint toward greater knowledge of biological organisms, diseases, and chemicals than someone like John Cooper should know. We want to highlight a few key areas. Most of this information is rather standard for us but these key areas are what make it stand out for its effectiveness. One of these areas is the text on the permeability of different materials and the filtering of different chemicals and diseases. Distinctions are also made between things called viruses and bacteria, how they work and how they spread, and the differences between how they should be handled in order to ensure one does not get infected. You’ll need to study these details for when you encounter them in the field. We are already making countermeasures against the various infectious encountered out there, which you’ll be equipped with. Still, you can’t forsake knowledge that may help you should you encounter something new, or should your equipment fail.”

The summoner went on to explain some complicated points, mainly things about “transmission vectors” and the different types of diseases and infections and how they manifested in the body. It was a lot of sheer information but Vetsmon knew that it would be valuable to learn. He’d probably be tested on it anyway to make sure he didn’t disregard it. They didn’t let anyone skimp on studying this kind of stuff. 

What really caught his attention though was the third booklet. 

“Alright, last one. Everyone open up Operational Security. This booklet is all about preventing your enemy from attaining intelligence on your operations. To preface this, I’d like to show you the information we collected on a new division within the Treehouse. It was created recently by the Marshal and headed by John Cooper. On paper, it’s called the 6th Intelligence Agency. As for what it does? Well, this is what we know.”

The summoner changed the images on the wall, and only 6 lines of information popped up. 

“The 6th Intelligence Agency has captured and disappeared 6 people that we know of. These are their names. The reason for their capture is unknown. We don’t know where they were sent to. We only know the date and time that two of them were arrested because Cooper did it in the open, probably on purpose. What little else we know about the Agency is spread through rumors, of which are saying that the 6th Intelligence Agency is responsible for weeding out traitors to humanity. This is what we’ve surmised as well, but as of now…”

The summoner sighed and waved at the wall.

“This is all we know about what they’ve done. They’ve managed to keep almost everything they’ve done secret. We don’t even know the names of the people who work within the Agency. The only two names listed down are the Marshal’s, and John Cooper’s.”

Suddenly, the summoner turned around again, facing everyone with an excited smile. 

“You see that? You see those 6 lines of text right there? That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you keep things secret! That is what it means to operate in the shadows! That’s what it means to keep a leash on information. How do they do it? Well, we were lucky enough to get our hands on the text that Cooper wrote down to teach others about how to do what he did. And the only reason he wrote it down is because he was effectively getting removed from his post. All you need to know is that this booklet right here, this term “operational security,” will be your bread and fucking butter from here on out. Open to the first page! I’m going through all of this with you guys, Lord forbid you misunderstand something and fuck it up later.”

Everyone flipped open the booklet with the summoner’s enthusiastic command. Vetsmon himself felt the texture of the paper on his fingers as a wave of astonishment went through him, soon replaced by feelings of pride and excitement. 

That was the John he knew, doing crazy shit like this. Leading the charge, sending waves through the Kingdom, excelling at damn near everything he did. He didn’t know where John got all this knowledge, but he had always been a man of mystery. After all, there was always one thought in Vetsmon’s mind. 

Summoners, specifically Cold Summoners, were supposed to get their weapons from other worlds. That was the consensus, at least. But then how did John always know so much about his weapons? Why did he always talk about them with such fondness and familiarity, as if excited to show off a toy and not some esoteric weapon the summons were supposed to be? 

Vetsmon had his suspicions about John’s origins, and the knowledge he displayed, knowledge he shouldn’t have, only led him to one outlandish conclusion. He almost refused to believe it, but the longer it lingered in his mind, the less opposed to believing it he was. 

There were many mysteries in this world. It wasn’t so crazy for John to be one of those. 

With those thoughts in mind Vetsmon paid close attention to the information at hand. This would definitely be tested material, and he couldn’t slack off. In the Order, knights had to be just as educated as the rest. Unfortunately, being a meathead was a privilege reserved for the Paladins and the dead. They were neither.