WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 100: 15. Real Combat Is Standard for Academy Summer Vacation Events (5)
──────
* * *
What was line-of-fire detection?
It was the clearest reason a superhuman was called a superhuman. Simple speed and physical strength did not make someone a “superhuman.”
A superhuman. The term meant one had surpassed the human realm, reaching a level ordinary humans could not dare approach.
Once a person became nearly immune to the most powerful weapons humanity had devised, with all its skill and wisdom, solely to hunt other humans, they were classified as a superhuman.
-Click.
Ivan chambered a round in his pistol and slowly exhaled.
The humans of this world were biologically identical to Earthlings. Unlike in Earth's fiction, they did not possess some internal organ for sensing mana, nor did some special function operate through the pineal gland in their brains.
Their blood volume, muscle tissue, internal organs, the structure and function of their bodies, even the workings of every limb were all identical to those of Earthlings.
Which meant there was only one fundamental reason the people of this world could perform feats that would be unimaginable on Earth with their bare bodies.
They possessed a power Earth could not even imagine.
Mana.
-Haaa....
Ivan drew a deep breath and accelerated mana through his neural pathways. This incomprehensible power was what transformed humans into superhumans.
As he had reflected before, mana was a convenient power that could be made into anything one wanted. Most people from this world took it for granted because of that.
A power anyone could wield if they had talent. A power that strengthened the body, wove spells, and made the production of strange manufactured goods possible.
But an Earthling could not accept that so easily. Anyone who understood the absence of mana had to consider how it worked. Every phenomenon in the world had an underlying principle, after all.
So, ever since Ivan had awakened to mana during his long years of military service, he had conducted every kind of experiment.
How did mana strengthen the human body?
What were the limits of enhancement through mana?
What effects did excessive or severely insufficient mana produce?
They had been a kind of human experimentation conducted on his own body, supplemented by countless samples gathered on the border between life and death known as war.
In the end, he had gained two things.
An exceptional ability to synchronize with mana, and an understanding of how mana and the body interacted.
It was only natural. He had earned that sensation by driving his own nerves to their limits.
That was why Ivan was certain.
With proper guidance and talent to support it, superhumans could be mass-produced.
A curriculum for producing superhumans meant a limitless supply of capable agents. Ivan had therefore confidently introduced the program to the Annihilation Unit.
Unfortunately, the Annihilation Unit had never numbered more than eight hundred in total, and every last one of them had been lost.
Those kids are different.
They carried the blood of the Hero Party, and after half a year of testing, their aptitude and talent had proven to be top-class. Those children certainly possessed enough potential to complete his training.
There was one more point worth mentioning. Ivan was a rational educator, so he did not commit the bizarre act of forcing his students through things he had never experienced himself.
If he had done it with a handful of mana while demonfolk stood before him, there was no reason those children could not manage it now, in a situation incomparably safer than that.
That was the kind of merciful person Ivan was.
After holstering his pistol, Ivan flicked his fingers.
At his hand signal, the order to begin spread among the agents positioned throughout the forest.
It was the first day of a delightful summer vacation.
* * *
“Achoo! Pff-choo!!”
“Why do humans even have hands? Covering your mouth when you sneeze is basic hygiene. Hands were not made just for playing in the dirt.”
Aesidis sniffled and ignored Elphihara.
She had been doing that ever since realizing Elphihara had been dozing inside the carriage while everyone else suffered through terrible things in the forest.
On top of that, Elphihara had even cast a warming spell only on herself and slept soundly through the night!
“W-Why is this happening... Pff-choo!”
“There’s... a note....”
Oscar blankly picked up the note lying on the ground.
It was written in neat standard lettering.
[Even a small flame is highly visible at night. Do not light fires in enemy territory.]
“Since when did Krasilov become enemy territory?”
“Mister kind of likes stuff like this. Just accept it.”
Isabelle muttered as she pressed at the corners of her eyes.
“So, should we go down or up? Anyone confident they can find the way?”
“The route Aesidis and I took yesterday while gathering firewood happened to head downhill. I learned quite a bit from it.”
“Hm?”
“Down there is hell.”
Oscar wore a dreadful expression.
“There was a trap every three steps. If we found and disarmed one, or avoided it, there would be another trap positioned in the direction we moved. I have heard of this. This is... Annihilation Unit handiwork.”
Among the Allied Kingdoms' many special-purpose military organizations, Krasilov's military institutions were particularly notorious for their unusual methods.
Unlike other nations, whose organizations focused on force and responsiveness regardless of their purpose, Krasilov's military organizations operated by a single fundamental principle.
Put simply,
How could they make their opponents even more furious?
Put more kindly, they were masters of psychological warfare, preemptively cutting off information, crafting meticulous designs aimed solely at weaknesses, and drawing up filthy operational plans involving explosives, biological and chemical weapons, and sometimes even hostage-taking.
Their entire method of planning operations was devoted to pouring every available resource into disrupting the enemy command's judgment.
And among Krasilov's forces, there had been a legendary strike force. Rumored to have served as scouts for the Hero Party during the war. Famous throughout the field for its short existence and the grim rumors surrounding it....
The Annihilation Unit had left a deep impression on intelligence units in every nation through its combat records and wartime maxims alone. As a member of the Tilles Secret Intelligence Service, Oscar knew about the Annihilation Unit.
“What is that?”
“It was this country's old intelligence unit, but that is not important. What matters is the situation we are in, where we have to deal with someone from that unit.”
Oscar gave a bitter smile.
“There must be a reason they told us to go up. Either the journey itself is part of the training, or the real training begins once we get there. Then why did they say we could go down?”
“Because they know we cannot make it down.”
“Exactly.”
“That is always how it goes. Anyway.”
Isabelle stretched and grinned.
“I never planned to back out. Whatever they have prepared, I think I will feel better after giving them at least one good hit.”
* * *
Two hours later, the students were scrambling along the ground, their bodies covered in mud and dead leaves.
-Bang!!
Whenever a gunshot rang out in the distance, they cried out and dropped to the ground. The rounds were apparently not live ammunition, so they were not injured when hit, but they hurt like hell.
“They are shooting at us? They are shooting at us?!”
“They shot at us yesterday too! Get down!”
-Bang!!
The instant the gunshot rang out, blue sparks flew and Elphihara crumpled. Her protective spell had shattered.
“I am out of mana!! Stop shooting already!! You lunatics!!”
Wailing, Elphihara crawled across the ground in search of cover. She crouched behind a large rock, looked around, then cautiously poked her head out.
“Are they gone...?”
“They are probably still there. It seems like they will shoot whenever we let our guard down.”
“What kind of training is this?! Is this just an excuse for them to practice shooting?!”
“It appears to be line-of-fire detection training.”
Oscar said this while scanning the forest from behind a tree.
“They ambush us with gunfire when we are not tense. It seems they intend to awaken line-of-fire detection by repeating that....”
“Does the real military train like this?”
“Of course not.”
Oscar sighed with a devastated expression.
* * *
“Captain, Team Four has returned.”
“Good work. Send Team Eight to observation duty, and give Team Four eight hours of rest.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Ivan had been studying a map in the field tent when he noticed that the soldier who had reported to him had not left. He looked up.
“Do you have a question?”
“Yes...! If it would not be rude, I have a question regarding the operation!”
“What is it?”
The soldier swallowed hard. He had at least five years of field experience as an agent, but the person before him was a living legend.
That hated Counterintelligence Command “training” plan. The so-called New Recruit Torture Guidebook. The man who had written it was now personally training civilians. It was not hard to imagine the terror the soldier felt.
“I do not understand what evacuating the settlement residents at twelve o'clock from the operational area, and the withdrawal of forces from that region, mean for this operation!”
“Hmm.”
Following the soldier's gaze, Ivan examined the operations map. Twelve o'clock from the center of the mountain's operational zone.
It was an unremarkable mountainside with a small slash-and-burn settlement, directly opposite the training cadets' range of movement.
In other words, it was an area the cadets could never reach, no matter what they did. The soldier did not understand why Ivan had wasted manpower evacuating the settlement residents there, only to withdraw the troops deployed in that area as well.
The twelve o'clock sector had become a literal no man's land. In an ordinary military operation, one could not create such an area. At the very least, it required an observation post.
“What is your name?”
“I, I am Mikhail... Mikhail Soromovich, sir!!”
“Excellent, Mikhail. What do you think?”
This operation was, of course, a training exercise for the students, but that was no reason to neglect the education of the field agents.
A rational educator had to raise the learning capacity of all those under their charge as much as possible.
At Ivan's question, Mikhail stiffened and continued in a stammer.
“This does not seem to be for the cadets within the area. It seems more like a mock battle drill against a hypothetical outside enemy.”
“A mock battle.”
“Yes, sir. It is as though we have deliberately opened a route that would be easy for enemy forces to infiltrate....”
“Passed. What is your rank?”
“Sergeant, sir!”
Ivan nodded with satisfaction. If Mikhail had enlisted as a commoner and risen to sergeant in the Counterintelligence Command strike force, he must have plenty of field experience as well.
“When this operation is over, you will become a commissioned officer. Report to the command office.”
“It, it is an honor!”
“And to answer your question, you are correct.”
Ivan looked at the empty section of the operations map and spoke quietly.
“A mock battle drill to lure in enemies. That is right.”
An excellent agent never planned an operation with only one objective.
Even if the purpose of the operation was a training plan for the students, why would he force through such a large-scale deployment of personnel for that alone?
Ivan slowly checked his gear as he answered.
“Because it is common knowledge that an academy training camp gets attacked.”
“Pardon?”
The Crown Prince faction.
The remnants of the purged nobles.
Demonfolk.
Or perhaps insurgents from another country, or an international terrorist organization. Whoever it might be.
Let us see who comes this time.
Ivan was a sensible person, so whenever he prepared for this sort of attack, he also prepared a torture plan.
And there were at least fifty more Counterintelligence Command field agents here to support him.
* * *
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried