WeTried Translations x Flame Comics
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 158: Side ep. Shaving the Beard, And. (2)
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* * *
Isabelle staggered along, her eyes hollow. With winter rapidly approaching, Krasilov had become brutally cold.
It was already mid-November. In Krasilov, a season like this was generally called “real winter.” For reference, this country had three more fake winters.
The foreign students had taken every possible measure against the cold and were still debating whether they should cut off their toes. The gentle hill leading to campus was covered in ice.
“I seriously can’t believe this...”
“The weather, sniff. Is it because of the weather?”
“No, because of final exams...”
Isabelle grumbled at Aesidis, who sniffled beside her.
“We saved a country, put our lives on the line, and even finished a siege. Then we come back, and what do we have to do? Take final exams? I don’t have the courage to keep living in a world like this...”
“Oh, come on. We’re only first-years. What’s the problem?”
“That kind of laziness is exactly like a Droan. No, it isn’t. It’s just like a person. Mm-hm. People are naturally like that.”
Elphihara, walking beside them, laughed softly.
“I said we should speak casually, not abandon basic decency.”
“Well, it’s better than abandoning your studies, isn’t it?”
“Pick up a weapon. One of us is leaving school early today.”
“Planning to skip your finals by taking sick leave? You’re pretty impressive for a Droan.”
The two bickered so routinely that Isabelle simply sighed and kept walking.
“It’s really, really cold.”
She shook her head.
* * *
The stares pricking at him were especially intense today. This was not good.
A trained agent had to remain discreet and act naturally anywhere. No matter where they were or what position they held, they had to blend into their surroundings.
Ivan stopped and looked around.
“!!!”
“H-he looked this way!”
“I don’t think he’s an undergraduate...”
“A diplomat? Doesn’t he have that sort of air?”
The students hurriedly turned their heads as they whispered among themselves. Ivan narrowed his eyes and inspected them one by one.
The personal information of every student at this university unfolded easily in his mind. None of them had a suspicious background.
That meant no spies had been planted among them.
‘If they were not spies from an allied foreign country... Did Count Valika put a tail on him?’
There was still something to settle with Count Valika. In exchange for Ivan handing over the dwarves’ arms industry intact, the count had sent the Second Corps to save him.
Ivan would have to arrange a meeting at headquarters soon, but like most military commanders from the war, the count was a difficult old man. Ivan could not take him lightly.
Those stares were proof enough.
‘Is this preparatory work before negotiations? Well, if he has aligned himself with the princess’s faction, he might want to make a clear display of loyalty.’
The Counterintelligence Command could be called the princess’s longtime confidant. If the military had been won over as well, it would not be strange for them to prepare to keep the Counterintelligence Command in check.
Aware of the heavy pistol resting inside his coat, Ivan continued on his way.
* * *
Separated from the others, Elphihara sat with a frown between her brows. It had been a while since she had come to the university, and nothing much had changed, but it felt as if the irritating people had doubled.
“Oh my, Miss Grikenkos. I trust your preparations for finals are going well?”
“As well as Miss Lustpitz’s engagement.”
“M-my engagement is going well, you know?!”
“That was exactly what I meant.”
Having brushed off one clingy bitch, Elphihara sank back into thought. Unlike last semester, when she had filled all her credits with A-pluses, she was not confident this time.
Of course, the exams covered material she already knew. Still, she had had nowhere near enough time to prepare.
“But what matters is...”
Ivan Petrovich Yermof.
How to bring that mad human to Kallion.
She absolutely had to return home during winter break. Aesidis was no concern, but Isabelle... and then there was...
‘Elizaveta Kirillovna Krasilov.’
That scheming human would remain at Ivan’s side while Elphihara was gone.
‘What sort of relationship do they even have...?’
Elphihara bit the tip of her nail as she brooded. What could possibly connect a princess and a soldier? Though Ivan had once belonged to the Royal Guard, his time there had been brief. At the time, he had served in the late king’s direct strike unit.
The princess had only been in her late teens back then. There was no reason for her to have any connection to a strike unit on the front lines...
‘Wait.’
Come to think of it, the princess had held a marriage duel last summer.
The reason Sir Yermof had entered it was not because he wanted to get married...
‘Coercion...!’
Sir Yermof was a soldier, and all royal military authority now belonged to the princess. If the princess had been after him since then... (It was true.)
“I have to take him with me during winter break. Absolutely, definitely, without fail.”
She would get rid of all the other thieves and monopolize Sir Yermof for three months. If she properly showed him Kallion’s beautiful cities, magnificent scenery, delicious food, and excellent culture...
He would surely escape this cold, lonely, dark human country and finally decide to become naturalized. The conditions for naturalization would include an extended lifespan and marriage to a Kallion Privy Council noble.
“Heh heh heh...”
Making the sort of sound a young elf woman should never make as she swallowed her drool, Elphihara happened to glance out the window and tilted her head.
Outside, a group of students was trailing after Sir Yermof. That was impossible.
She blinked several times, pressed her fingers to her eyes and rubbed them, then checked her mana reserves.
“Did I use magic? No, I didn’t use a spell today.”
She had not used [Grikenkos Style Fantasy Shaving]...?
Then why couldn’t she see his beard?
* * *
Professor Ivan Petrovich Yermof had many nicknames. The Beard Monster. The Torture Technician. The Wraith.
His overwhelmingly intense first appearance, followed by his vanishing like the wind, had caused rumors to snowball. There was little else to do in Krasilov during winter, after all.
He opened three courses, tortured every student equally, acted as though he would teach them something, then vanished without a trace. Naturally, the students had no complaints.
Enrika, who had come in as a substitute professor, was extremely popular. More importantly, it was a perfect chance to pass a fifteen-credit course simply by showing up.
-Step.
That day, the students remembered.
-Step.
The terror of being tortured by Professor Ivan.
“Quiet, everyone.”
Before fear, a perfectly reasonable question arose from the man who had appeared with that familiar voice and those chilling eyes, yet looked entirely different.
Why had he been hiding his face all this time?
“Focus. I’ll briefly summarize the material that will be on next week’s exam.”
The lecture hall fell silent. Ivan did not even need to tell them to be quiet. They had already heard rumors that he was returning, but that was not why.
The students stared blankly at the man standing on the podium.
“Assuming you have all completed Professor Enrika’s course, I will set the exam from within that range. The exam will consist of thirty percent written work and seventy percent practical work...”
No one dared ask why a Pass/Fail course had a final exam. The thought never even occurred to them.
Isabelle listened blankly to Ivan, then nodded.
“This class is fun...”
Why was it fun? It was fun just watching him. How strange...
She decided she should hurry home and make kimchi.
* * *
“Esi! Esi! Did you see him? Did you see Uncle?!”
“Shh, be quiet, Isabelle!”
Aesidis had just finished the written exam for the Command Department and hurriedly covered Isabelle’s mouth. Even with her mouth firmly covered, Isabelle was grinning.
Had she finally gone mad? Poor thing.
How much pressure had the exams put on her? It wasn’t as though she studied especially hard.
“What’s going on?”
“You need to see this for yourself. It’s insane!”
“What is it?”
“Big Brother shaved.”
“Hey! Don’t spoil it!”
Isabelle shrieked and repeatedly smacked Eugene on the back. Eugene only shrugged.
“Well, everyone in the Knight Department is talking about it anyway. They’ve made enough noise for the Theology Department to hear.”
“H-he shaved? Why?”
“That’s what I want to ask. Are you free this evening? We’re all meeting up for dinner at my house, a little afterparty too, and Uncle himself told us to gather everyone!”
“Even if I’m not free, I have to be free for this!!”
Aesidis struck the ground in regret. Ah, I should have gone to that class. It was Pass/Fail, so I skipped it to prepare for the final ensemble performance. Why now of all times?!
Grumbling, she pulled her polar fox fur coat closer around herself.
* * *
At last, that evening, they sat before the dinner Isabelle had prepared with all her effort.
Ivan, who had remained silent, looked over everyone at the party and opened his mouth.
“Within five years, the Allied Kingdoms will certainly collapse.”
The party members dribbled kimchi stew from their mouths.
* * *
Footnotes:
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