WeTried Translations x Flame Comics
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 159: Side ep. Shaving the Beard, And (3)
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* * *
Rewinding time a little, this took place that afternoon.
On his way to Isabelle’s house after class, Ivan felt a faint irritation at the gazes following him.
The military’s surveillance was more blatant than he had expected. Unlike the Counterintelligence Command, perhaps they were unfamiliar with domestic intelligence work. Their use of students for surveillance was so conspicuous that it felt more like a display.
He needed to wrap up negotiations with the military as quickly as possible.
Ivan frowned as he walked.
-Tap.
A student approached and tried to bump into him. Brazenly enough that he could see it coming.
Ivan swiftly reached out, stopped the rushing student with a hand on her forehead, and drew a dagger with his other hand, pressing it to her throat.
“What is this?”
“Uh, I, um...?”
The female student froze, her face full of panic. She glanced at Ivan through the large hand holding her forehead, and her cheeks immediately flushed bright red.
Then her gaze dropped to the cold blade of the dagger.
She went pale in an instant.
“Soniya Blagominovna Bognin. Who sent you?”
“W-W-Who sent me...? More importantly, you know my name?”
“You thought I wouldn’t know the names of students?”
“B-But you even know what year I am... and I’ve never even registered for one of your classes...”
“That is irrelevant. Was it Count Valika? Or did Grand Duke Volonovin send you himself? House Bognin belonged to the Princess faction, if I recall correctly. Was it easy to win them over because they’re northern nobles?”
“What are you talking about...?”
The student called Soniya stammered in complete confusion. Ivan narrowed his eyes as he looked down at her. If this was an act, it was far too natural. Her training would have been absurdly advanced for someone her age.
“I-I was only going to offer to mend your clothes if they got wet...!”
“My clothes getting wet? Hm.”
Ivan turned his gaze and saw a cup of coffee clutched tightly in her trembling hand.
He flicked his dagger and took the coffee from Soniya’s hand. A pleasant aroma rose from the moderately cooled drink.
Keeping his eyes on Soniya, he lifted the cup and lightly wet his lips. He licked the trace of coffee from the corner of his mouth, holding it on his tongue for a moment.
If she had tried to spill it on his skin, the toxin should have been capable of entering through skin contact. Yet neither his sense of smell nor taste detected any poison.
It wasn’t an attempt to poison him. Then why try to spill coffee on his clothes? Was she deranged?
“Tell me the truth...”
“Mister!! Stop!!”
A shrill cry rang out behind him. Without changing his stance, Ivan turned only his eyes and found Isabelle. Sure enough, she was stomping toward him from nearby.
She ran up, out of breath, and smacked Ivan’s hand. Then she dusted off Soniya’s clothes and urgently said,
“Senior, you can’t just rush at that lunatic because he’s handsome! Do you want to die?!”
“Y-You are...”
“I’m Isabelle, a first-year! That’s not important! Run away before he drags you off to a torture room!!”
Making a great fuss, Isabelle sent Soniya away.
It did not matter. Abducting a noblewoman with this much attention on them would be difficult, but Ivan had already memorized that woman’s personal details and movements.
“I know you’re thinking about secretly abducting her somewhere!”
“Hmm.”
“Not ‘hmm’! I’m seriously going insane. Maybe I need to make you grow your beard back or something! How many more victims will there be? Those poor people... They’re just trying to get friendly with you! Like how men bump shoulders with each other!”
“You die if you do that.”
When picking a fight for no reason, one ought to check whether the other person carried an axe or a pistol.
And did women really attempt social interaction by spilling coffee on people? He had never even heard of such common sense in all thirty years of his life in Krasilov.
Isabelle thumped her chest as she stepped closer to Ivan.
“Anyway! There is such a thing! That senior did it without thinking, so don’t hold a grudge and start looking into her background or anything.”
“I have already finished looking into her background.”
All that remained was to question her in person.
“I’m going crazy.”
Isabelle grumbled as she stopped in front of Ivan. She looked at his face, then hastily lowered her head and fixed her gaze around his chest before speaking.
“W-We still have time before dinner... so maybe tell me more about what’ll be on the exam. As payment for the meal.”
“I don’t extort improper compensation from individual students in exchange for their grades.”
“I’m really going crazy.”
Isabelle ground her teeth.
“Then just go kidnap someone at random and torture them to pass the time! Come for dinner later if you want, or don’t!”
“Hmm.”
Isabelle quickly disappeared from view. Ivan was a sensible man, so he had given up on understanding students that age long ago.
He soon headed for the dean’s office. He could not ignore the order to report in person every day.
* * *
Soniya clenched her trembling hands tightly and drew ragged breaths.
Only after running to the restroom and splashing cold water on her face several times did she manage to calm down. Those eerie, clear blue eyes still seemed to be staring at her.
“How did he know...?”
She bit her lip and sank into thought. She had failed the secret order given by her father, Viscount Bognin.
Spill coffee on his shirt, then slowly approach him under the pretext of making amends... On the surface, it was just an ordinary mistake, a cute accident, a perfectly standard little scheme.
“C-Can all five of us really fail...?”
Her knees weakened when she remembered Grand Duke Volonovin’s twisted face. Biting her lip again, she left the restroom.
* * *
Upon arriving at the dean’s office, Ivan immediately had to raise his hands and kneel.
“I hear you held a knife to a female student’s throat and threatened her on a public road.”
“I didn’t.”
“Was the report incorrect?”
“It wasn’t a threat. I was eliciting a statement.”
“So the report wasn’t what was wrong. It was common sense. I made a mistake.”
Elizaveta gave a hollow laugh and waved her hand. Ivan lowered his arms and sat on the sofa. Pressing her brow, she let out a sigh.
“Vanka, how about calming down a little?”
It had only been two days. That was how long it had been since that man returned to the university.
During that time, five students had suffered the same treatment. Every one of them had been female, and every one had tried to get acquainted with him through some small pretext.
It had not been like that before. In the brief time Ivan had been teaching, his methods might have been extreme, but he had never personally interfered with students outside class.
Because he shaved his beard...
At that thought, Elizaveta looked once at Ivan’s chin and smiled with satisfaction.
It is absolutely not because of that.
She quickly banished the wicked thought that had crossed her mind.
Certainly, the students’ approach might have something to do with his changed appearance, but Ivan’s unusually sharp response could not be because of that.
“I, too, regret the death of the Duke of Etakrikh.”
“...Yes, Your Highness.”
“I understand mourning him. Even if you mourned him for the rest of your life, I would understand. But I would prefer that you didn’t turn that sharpness on others. Vanka, I want you to fit into society a little better.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
His expression showed no sign of understanding whatsoever, so Elizaveta sighed and waved her hand.
“I have heard that there are students you associate with. A few even accompanied you to Tilles. In your opinion, are they Heroes of this age?”
“They are.”
“And you intend to teach those children?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Which means you believe they’ll be useful.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Elizaveta tapped the table as she sank into thought.
“Is the Demon King coming?”
It was a question without context.
She was someone who collected and received reports on every rumor, piece of gossip, wild tale, and unfounded claim in the country. She was the head of the Krasilov Counterintelligence Command, said to possess the finest domestic intelligence in the world.
Even for her, it made no sense that Ivan could know information she did not.
Yet the man before her was one of those who stood outside Elizaveta’s common sense. She never judged the Hero Party by the limits of common sense.
So Ivan had some plan he had not spoken of. If he had chosen not to say it, that meant she did not need to know. And perhaps even he lacked certainty.
“That is what I think.”
“Your basis?”
“It is not certain yet.”
Elizaveta nodded.
“Then do what you intend, Sir. I will be the certainty you lack. If you need resources, you may open the royal palace’s treasure vault.”
“Your Highness...!”
The attendant who had been quietly listening stared at her in surprise. Elizaveta smiled and waved her hand.
“If a hero who saved two countries needs something, how could that be too much? If Vanka were someone who sought private gain, would he have risked his life in Tilles in the first place?”
“But the ministers will object...”
“Oh?”
Elizaveta gave the attendant a chilling smile.
“Do you fear the ministers’ objections more than my will?”
“N-No, Your Highness!!”
“Is there still someone in Krasilov who would keep their head when I order them dead? I didn’t know.”
The attendant went pale and hastily fell to their knees, bowing their head. They did not even dare open their mouth, only breaking into a cold sweat.
“Are you unwell? Leave. Rest sufficiently, then return.”
“P-Please spare me, Your Highness!”
“I told you to rest. What are you saying? I’m not someone who speaks indirectly when I intend to cut off one of my own limbs.”
Unable to steady their trembling body, the attendant stumbled out of the dean’s office. Ivan watched for a moment before speaking.
“Whose side were they on?”
“She is the daughter of the late Count Egon. He was one of my worthless brother’s lackeys.”
“Count Egon. A palace protocol official... Are there remnants left?”
“If I beheaded every person in the Palace Ministry, what would become of this country? If caring for that girl alone can reassure the Palace Ministry, it is a profitable trade.”
Elizaveta smiled lightly.
Most of the Crown Prince faction nobles had been administrative nobles. Removing every one of them would naturally paralyze the nation’s administration.
So it was right to eliminate a few key figures while keeping the puppets who had worked beneath them close.
But a simple oath of loyalty was not enough. There was no telling how much influence Alexander still possessed. It was better to warn them and win them over at the same time.
That was the meaning behind keeping the dead protocol official’s daughter at her side.
Ivan lowered his head with quiet admiration.
“I hear Grand Duke Volonovin is coming to Pritchenkaya.”
“He is making his oath of loyalty late.”
“Do you think that is an oath of loyalty? He intends to settle his price properly.”
Elizaveta rose with a crooked smile.
“Vanka, can you handle it?”
“If Grand Duke Volonovin dies, it will be difficult to control the First Corps.”
“...No, who told you to kill him? Why does everyone turn every word I say into talk of killing, sparing, and saving people? Why do you use such harsh words? I simply meant that you should go in my place and conclude the negotiations. As warmly and amicably as possible. Can you do that?”
“It will be as Your Highness wishes.”
Ivan rose and bowed deeply. It was nearly evening.
He needed to tell the Hero Party their course of action going forward, arrange the training schedule, and most importantly, eat Isabelle’s cooking for the first time in a long while.
He gave a respectful bow and left the dean’s office.
“Heh, hehehe...”
After sending him away, Elizaveta let out a sly laugh in the otherwise empty office.
Starting with sending Ivan to negotiate with the Grand Duke, she would keep placing him before domestic political circles.
She would let every noble know.
This man belonged to Elizaveta.
He was her man, the man she trusted most and sent in her place to the most important positions. The man who would be appointed prince consort after she became the monarch of this country.
She smiled as she flipped through the dossier on the table that had been hidden from Ivan’s sight.
It was a report listing the personal details of the Hero Party.
Isabelle, Aesidis, Elphihara... At least those three felt more than passing affection for Vanka.
But no one would dare take a treasure from the ruler of Krasilov.
Elizaveta had lived a life more accustomed to taking what she wanted than to having something taken from her.
* * *
“Eat lots!”
Isabelle beamed as she placed dish after dish across the table. The sight of Ivan holding a fork, the sight of him scooping stew with a spoon, was so entertaining that she could hardly look away.
Wow, this is seriously too fun. Just watching him makes my heart feel so full.
“Sir... Your beard... is gone... Why...?”
Rundis was on the verge of tears, refusing to accept reality. Everyone except her was happy, so if one calculated the total amount of happiness, it was a cheerful gathering overall.
Ivan silently moved his spoon, then lightly wiped his mouth and looked around the table.
It was time to tell these children about reality.
* * *
Footnotes:
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