WeTried Translations x Flame Comics
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 161: Side ep. Shaving the Beard, And (4)
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* * *
Unfortunately, the final exam had to remain within the scope of Enrika’s instruction. Since Ivan had spent the entire previous semester in Tilles, there was not much he himself had taught.
‘To assess the results of training properly, they needed actual combat.’
Ivan frowned as he reviewed the exam questions. It seemed Enrika had limited her teaching to roughly the level of basic recruits.
“What do you think? I've still got it, right? I'm pretty good at teaching too, aren't I?”
“I can't agree.”
Enrika grinned as Ivan complained.
“What can't you agree with? The students I taught even took down one of the Seven Dragon Generals.”
“This isn't university-level material.”
Ivan dropped Enrika's lesson materials onto the desk and sighed.
Her survival training barely skimmed the surface, stopping at camping skills. Anatomy went no further than basic field first aid, and her lessons on demonfolk covered nothing beyond common knowledge.
Improving survivability in extreme conditions, continuing to fight immediately after losing part of a limb, introducing unexpected variables into combat against demonfolk...
She had not even begun to cover any of it.
What exactly had she taught for an entire semester? This was material they could have finished by the second week without issue.
“Hey, hey, all that stuff is classified military information. If we open the entire training curriculum to foreign nobles, how are we supposed to make a living, eat dirt?”
Enrika snickered and lay back on the sofa. The sight of her taking over a professor's office sofa and swinging her legs was irritating.
A soft silk dress peeked through the gap in her coat. Ivan was a sensible man, though, so he did not stare at an old woman more than two centuries his senior.
He silently reviewed the materials and narrowed down the scope of the exam.
“Good grief.”
Enrika soon sat up with a grumble. She glanced at Ivan, then snickered to herself.
“What?”
“What do you mean, what? I'm looking at your face.”
“Don't you have anything to do? What about the Knight Department exams?”
“My class is one hundred percent practical. I just watch them spar, give them some rough scores, and I'm done.”
“I'd like to recommend a pay cut to Her Highness.”
“Uh... then I'll just retire?”
Grinning, Enrika walked over to Ivan's desk.
“By the way, I heard you'll be negotiating with Grand Duke Volonovin. Is the preparation going well?”
“Where did you hear that?”
“I have several students in the Counterintelligence Command. Did you think I wouldn't know?”
“...I'll have to revise the training schedule.”
“Look at you, trying to make their lives miserable for no reason. You're mean-spirited.”
Ivan stared at Enrika for a long moment. She burst into laughter and waved a hand.
“That look doesn't scare me anymore. The day has finally come. Going to work is actually worth it now.”
“Stop talking nonsense and leave if you have nothing to do.”
“Don't want to. I'm going to watch until you get off work.”
“Do as you like.”
Ivan turned back and focused on writing the exam.
Enrika had no idea why he was going to the trouble of preparing an exam for a class where everyone passed as long as they met the minimum attendance requirement, but she hummed to herself and sank back into the sofa.
Scratch, scratch. The sound of Ivan's pen echoed through the late-night office.
Then Ivan suddenly spoke.
“Gilles Ver is dead.”
“...I know.”
Enrika answered without looking at him. After a brief silence, Ivan continued without stopping his pen.
“Beolgreen and Einar are in danger too. There's a scheme targeting the Hero Party.”
“Alexander?”
“Probably. Though he won't be the only one.”
“What a wonderful world. You protect it to death, and it falls apart all over again.”
Neither looked at the other as they spoke. Enrika watched the teacup turning in her hand, Ivan the test paper.
“Which one should we handle first? I think it would be best if we each took one.”
“No. You need to protect Pritchenkaya.”
“You're going to both of them yourself?”
“Someone has to protect Patricia. You're more conspicuous than I am. You're not suited for infiltration.”
“That is true.”
There were two people in this city who absolutely had to be protected. Elizaveta and Patricia, the princess and the Saintess.
If either of them died, the consequences would be serious. Krasilov, which had only barely been kept together, could collapse, or the Holy Kingdom could declare a holy war.
As it happened, both were based at this university. As long as Enrika remained here, an outside intrusion would never be easy.
While he was gone, one member of the Hero Party had to protect this city.
“So you're thinking of starting with Droan?”
“Probably.”
Ivan answered casually as he turned a page.
Kallion and Droan. If they had to support one of the two nations first, Droan naturally had to take priority.
Droan was connected to Krasilov by land. It was also a human nation. That meant Krasilov's foreign intelligence network had spread through it to some extent.
Kallion's internal situation was completely unknown, but at least Droan's situation could be assessed.
It was also the nation that would suffer the greatest collapse if a member of the Hero Party died. Einar's authority was the only thing holding present-day Droan together.
Kallion, on the other hand, maintained a strict parliamentary system under its queen. Even the great Beolgreen was no more than one Privy Council member in Kallion.
Beolgreen's death would inevitably weaken the nation, but it would not bring the country itself to a halt.
The situation was different from Droan, which would immediately collapse if Einar died. If they had to set priorities, Droan was the more urgent problem.
“Who could possibly kill Einar? I can't imagine anything but old age doing it.”
“The same could have been said of Gilles Ver.”
“True enough.”
Enrika set down her teacup and rummaged through her coat. She took out a flask of strong liquor and opened it.
She took three shot glasses from the cabinet in the corner of the office and set them on the table.
“Do you know the secret to living a long life?”
“No.”
“Think about it before answering, brat. Hmm... You try to remember more happy things than sad ones.”
Sad things came to mind without any effort anyway. And when one lived long enough, such things happened so, so often.
So the secret to longevity was to make an effort to recall happy moments first, no matter when or where one was.
That was why Enrika did not mourn those who had gone before her. Rather than lamenting their departure, she chose to preserve her memories of them forever.
-Trickle.
Strong liquor filled the glasses. When she flicked her hand over them, whoosh, flames rose from the liquor.
“Let's have a drink.”
At her gesture, a glass floated toward Ivan. He took it without a word.
“To those we will never meet again.”
“Mm.”
Ivan raised the glass and emptied it in one swallow.
Those they would never meet again.
Unlike her, a vampire, or him, with so much blood on his hands, Gilles Ver had surely gone to heaven.
So this was for a comrade they could not meet again, even in death.
For the good people who always left first. And for Gilles, who had finally found eternal peace, they raised a toast with envy.
Enrika emptied her drink and wiped her lips.
“I'm leaving first. See you tomorrow, my student.”
“Mm.”
Enrika left without showing her face until the very end. Ivan did not look at her. Everyone had expressions they did not want others to see.
Even after Enrika left, the sound of Ivan's pen continued in the office for a long time.
One flaming glass still shone alone on the table.
Night deepened. Only when the fire had burned away every drop of liquor in the glass and gone out did Ivan finish preparing the exam.
In the darkened office, he looked at the empty glass on the table.
“Cheers.”
He gave the empty glass a short nod, then left the office. The rich, peaty scent of whiskey drifted through the open door and spread into the sky.
White snowflakes fell beneath the dark night sky.
They piled thick beneath the mana lamps lighting the streets.
Ivan headed for headquarters, feeling the snow crunch beneath his feet.
* * *
“I will now begin the exam.”
At Ivan's words, the students looked down at their test papers with tired eyes, quietly setting aside the question of why a Pass/Fail general education course even had a final exam.
Standing at the podium before them, Ivan continued calmly.
“You may attempt to copy someone else's answers. If you don't get caught, I'll recognize it as skill.”
If they could act outside his line of sight in a place like this, he could pass them even if they got every exam question wrong.
Ivan nodded to himself and clicked open his pocket watch.
“Begin.”
The students sighed and grabbed their test papers. The quiet lecture hall filled with the sound of pages turning.
Ivan slowly looked over them, measuring the time.
-Knock, knock.
About thirty minutes later, someone knocked on the lecture hall door. Every student's gaze turned toward it.
“What is it?”
“Senior, urgent news. A moment.”
Dmitry, who had cracked open the door and poked his head in, was pale. Ivan frowned and stepped outside, and Dmitry hurriedly spoke.
“Troops are approaching.”
“Whose?”
“Grand Duke Volonovin's. Everyone at headquarters is gathering near the capital, but they will have trouble making it in time. Their advance is too fast.”
“The Grand Duke is attempting a rebellion at this point?”
“All agents sent to contact the Grand Duke's side have gone silent. Senior, you need to prepare for deployment.”
Ivan glanced at the exam room and let out a deep sigh.
The commander of the First Corps attempting a rebellion after the Second Corps had been subdued? Without even a warning sign?
It was impossible. The Counterintelligence Command's domestic intelligence was flawless. There were far more than one or two things to prepare for a coup, and completing all of it outside the Counterintelligence Command's intelligence network was clearly impossible.
But if a corps was truly marching on the capital...
“Numbers.”
“Three thousand, all cavalry.”
“Tell them to go onto a war footing, but not to strike first.”
“...What? Why? If we don't buy time, the enemy will reach Pritchenkaya before the Capital Defense Force can assemble.”
“Because it isn't a coup.”
Ivan sighed and pressed his fingers to his eyes.
“This is only an attempt to gain the upper hand at the negotiating table. Why else would he lead a mere three thousand cavalry to where Enrika is, without a supply line? And without the First Corps artillery.”
Grand Duke Volonovin was no fool. No matter how sudden the attack, he would know that three thousand cavalry could not occupy Pritchenkaya.
This was only a somewhat aggressive negotiating strategy. It was closer to a display of military strength.
‘You must be desperate, Grand Duke.’
It meant the Grand Duke's political position was precarious. He was not someone who would fail to know that harsh methods always brought harsh repercussions.
So this was a strategy to show the princess that he was still standing, and make her place a higher value on him. Of course, now that they had detected it beforehand, it would be meaningless.
He was an old man once called the strongest person in this country. He was also the first high noble Ivan had ever owed a debt to.
“Let's go.”
“Yes, Senior.”
Ivan's military record began when he was a conscript thrown onto the front lines. From that time onward, the First Corps had always held the front lines.
The commander of the First Corps, Mikhail Arturovich Volonovin, the Gallows Duke. The Iron Fist of Great Ivan. The Conqueror's Sword. The Reaper of the North. Krasilov's artillery commander.
A man considered worthy of recommendation to the Hero Party in Enrika's place, if only he had been twenty years younger.
Ivan walked on in silence.
Has it been ten years?
* * *
“What happens to our exam?”
“I don't know either... Do we just turn it in? Did this class even have a teaching assistant...?”
“Can someone go get Professor Enrika...?”
A professor who disappeared from the second week of class onward for the entire semester.
Then showed up one week before the end of term, gave them a final exam, and disappeared again in the middle of it?
Faced with this unbelievable reality, the students fell into confusion.
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Footnotes:
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