WeTried Translations x Flame Comics
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 162: Side ep. Shaving the Beard, And (5)
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“Senior, they’re coming!”
Ivan did not bother replying. If Dmitry could see them with his own eyes, Ivan could naturally see them too.
Dmitry knew that. It only showed how tense he was.
He often said pointless things, but he was not someone who ever showed his anxiety to others. It would be seen as a weakness. They had been trained not to show weakness, even to their families.
Ivan briefly looked Dmitry over, then turned away.
“Grand Duke Volonovin is over seventy.”
“…I know, Senior.”
“Don’t be afraid.”
Dmitry put on an awkward expression and deliberately stepped back at Ivan’s words.
A thick cloud of dust rose beyond the horizon. Soon, banners gleaming coldly in the sunset came into view. They were the banners of the First Corps. The Grand Duke’s family crest was nowhere to be seen.
‘He came as a commander, not as a duke.’
He had not brought any private soldiers merely to make that point. Of course, the First Corps itself was practically his private army, and the Northern Demonfolk Military Government where it was stationed might as well have been his duchy.
Just as expected.
Ivan watched the approaching force and waited.
A little over a hundred soldiers stood in formation behind him. They were not from the Capital Defense Force, but Counterintelligence Command agents gathered from around Pritchenkaya.
The Command’s banner fluttered in the wind at his back.
‘I am here not as an individual with power, but as a commander myself.’
That was the message. Though he could call himself the princess’s closest confidant, he had not brought a corps to block their path.
Once the approaching soldiers noticed them, they gradually slowed. The dust began to settle, and Grand Duke Volonovin’s fine horse soon came into view.
An old man over seventy had ridden hard from the distant north, in the middle of a Krasilov winter. Yet the Grand Duke’s horse showed no sign of fatigue, snorting hot breath in excitement.
Ivan flicked the reins and urged his horse forward. Clop, clop. The two men rode toward one another.
“Grand Duke.”
“Little Ivan.”
Bright blue eyes flashed beneath the helmet. His gaze alone seemed capable of killing a man. Age had not broken him.
Wrapped in a thick coat, the Grand Duke waved away the escort officer approaching him. He stepped forward alone.
His body was so lean it could have been called frail. Yet his presence brought to mind a finely honed longsword.
The Conqueror’s Sword.
Before the war against the demonfolk, he had trampled more “Allied Nations territory” than anyone else in the present Allied Kingdoms.
He was the man who had doubled this country’s borders. Had the one holding his reins not been the previous king, he would surely have founded an independent state.
Ivan knew the man’s nature well. He lowered his gaze slightly in a respectful nod.
“Have you been well?”
“I have.”
“Your eyes look good. Better than back then.”
Since the Annihilation Unit had been disbanded, Ivan had spoken respectfully to no one except Elizaveta. Still, the man before him was one of the exceptions.
The Grand Duke had helped him achieve the perfect retirement that would have been impossible through Elizaveta’s power alone.
Until Ivan returned to service, he had been one of only two people in the country with power who knew Ivan was alive.
“Retirement must have suited your temperament. You should’ve rested a little longer.”
“I rested enough.”
“Is that so? Good.”
The Grand Duke glanced sideways. Dmitry, standing behind Ivan, made a show of surprise and stepped back.
The Grand Duke smirked.
“It’s been a while for you as well. That snot-nosed brat from back then has grown up well.”
“Y-Yes, Your Highness.”
“I am here representing the Northern Front. Correct your form of address.”
You didn’t say anything to Senior, so why me...?
Dmitry grumbled under his breath, then bowed his head.
“The Counterintelligence Command welcomes Your Excellency, the Commander of the First Corps.”
“Good. It’s cold. Clear the way.”
“That is not possible.”
Ivan blocked the Grand Duke as he tried to pass.
“We will receive you at Command headquarters.”
“How many who entered that place made it back out alive? Does Her Highness wish to eliminate this old man?”
“Is there anyone in this country who could replace the Grand Duke? Her Highness is always concerned about this country’s lack of capable people.”
“After purging so many, it would be more surprising if anyone still dared raise their head.”
If he could have been replaced, they would have killed him.
You’ve killed so many that you can’t purge me even if I do this, can you?
That was the unspoken exchange between them. Dmitry stared anxiously at Ivan’s back and lamented inwardly.
‘Her Highness clearly told you to conclude these negotiations calmly and amicably, Senior!’
Yet neither proud commander looked willing to yield. Fortunately, Elizaveta had sent Dmitry because she had expected something like this.
Dmitry rubbed his gloved hands together, edged closer, and smiled.
“Then why not set up camp here for a while? It’s cold.”
“If you keep us here, the Capital Command will have time to finish preparing for deployment.”
“Even so, you cannot enter Pritchenkaya with armed personnel in tow. For Her Highness’s sake, please withdraw for now.”
The Grand Duke smirked at Dmitry’s words and turned back to Ivan.
“How many could you handle, including me?”
“Two hundred would not be a problem.”
“Oh? You have only a hundred men, yet you claim you can face twice that number of the north’s elite cavalry?”
“No. I meant I could do it alone.”
“What? Ha, hahaha!”
The Grand Duke slapped his knee and laughed loudly. Then he nodded and gestured.
“You will set up camp here and wait for me. Mikhail, lead two hundred cavalry and follow.”
“B-But, Your Highness!”
“I do not give an order twice.”
He grinned at Ivan. Ivan met his gaze, then turned and shouted.
“From this moment on, the Counterintelligence Command will receive our guests.”
“But Senior...! You’re letting the Grand Duke and two hundred First Corps cavalry into the capital without disarming them? And you’re handling them alone?”
“I am not someone who gives an order twice either.”
The Grand Duke nodded emphatically and burst out laughing at Ivan’s words.
“You’ve grown well,” he said, then urged his horse onward.
Ivan moved alongside him without a word. The soldiers following the Grand Duke glared at Ivan with hostile eyes.
He had said he could face every last one of them alone, so it was only natural that the First Corps’ elite felt insulted. In truth, that had been half the point.
Was the Grand Duke really here to pledge complete loyalty? If not, he would not lower his pride. Ivan had provoked him enough that it would not have been strange if fighting broke out on the spot.
If it had, the Capital Command and the Second Corps would have instantly treated the First Corps as an enemy. It might have been difficult to defeat every force before them, but as long as Enrika was there, getting Elizaveta to safety would not have been hard.
If they branded the First Corps rebels and began a campaign of suppression, they might lose the military government, but they would be able to seize complete control of the military as a whole. Elizaveta might even have preferred that outcome.
The Grand Duke had seen through it and followed Ivan without protest. Ivan watched his back and smiled bitterly.
‘You haven’t aged.’
The Grand Duke was only a little younger than the previous king. If not for what had happened back then, the previous king would likely have remained just as vigorous. The previous king had been ten times stronger than the Grand Duke, after all.
Ivan thought of him for a moment, then shook his head and rode on.
* * *
As Ivan had once recalled, his orphanage was located a suitable distance from the heart of the capital. It was an ideal place to gather without worrying about prying eyes.
Other than the Counterintelligence Command and Saint Yansk University, there was nowhere else in the city where he could meet someone so freely.
When the Grand Duke arrived at the orphanage, he looked around with an odd expression.
“What is the point of openly showing me an agent training center...?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
He narrowed his eyes and watched the children approaching them. As always, they smiled brightly and whispered among themselves.
Even though over two hundred fierce cavalrymen had ridden in, they showed no sign of surprise. A teacher wearing a strange hat hurried over from the distance, gathered up the children, and left.
Watching them go, the Grand Duke grumbled.
“So Command agents don’t even fear soldiers anymore.”
“They never did.”
“Ah, is that so? I didn’t know. I truly didn’t know.”
Though he spoke sarcastically, the Grand Duke followed Ivan’s lead without much objection. They soon reached the director’s office.
In the bleak office, with gleaming weapons and equipment filling one wall, the Grand Duke sat on the sofa and stared at the tea before him.
It was plain, hastily brewed corn tea, served in cheap-looking teaware that seemed to have come straight from the market. The Grand Duke glanced at Ivan as he naturally prepared the tea, then shook his head.
Ivan looked far too used to this poor tea for it to be a deliberate slight.
Has the royal treasury fallen on hard times lately?
“I pride myself on living fairly frugally, but this is something else...”
Old furniture without a single luxury item, and a table polished only because it had been carefully maintained. The Grand Duke smirked and took a sip of tea.
“The First Corps will submit to Her Highness.”
“You rode all this way to say that.”
“If Her Highness recognizes the First Corps’ autonomy.”
The Grand Duke leaned back into the sofa and slowly interlaced his fingers.
“I hear the Second Corps has recently begun making agreements with the dwarves. They’ve been purchasing an enormous amount of military supplies.”
“These are harsh times.”
“Harsh because you made them so. Half the nobles in this country had their heads mounted on pikes a few months ago, did they not?”
There was no fear in the Grand Duke’s eyes. Yet Ivan could sense deep misgivings beneath his words.
The man before him was a soldier who had devoted his whole life to the royal family. Even when countless soldiers were purged after the war, he had never abandoned his post.
There had been only one reason the blade never turned on him. He had declared absolute neutrality in the central government’s power struggle.
The First Corps was Krasilov’s strongest single corps, and it was no exaggeration to say that the immense wealth generated every year by the military government supported Krasilov’s northern economy.
It was fair to say that he had devoted himself solely to Krasilov’s stability. He had proven his loyalty to the royal family over two generations, so no one could deny his dedication.
“Does Her Highness ultimately intend to root out the First Corps as well?”
That was why he had no choice but to ask.
With domestic affairs stable, it was difficult to see any other reason for strengthening the Second Corps on the Northern Front.
He could understand the purge of the nobles. Strengthening the Second Corps could even be viewed as an ordinary counterbalance.
Yet the Second Corps had recently sworn loyalty to the princess and marched as far as Tilles. The Capital Command had long since fallen into the princess’s hands, so it was fair to say that Elizaveta now possessed Krasilov’s military.
In that situation, he could no longer claim to be uninterested in politics.
Ivan set down his teacup and slowly lowered one hand beneath the table.
“Grand Duke, where does your loyalty lie?”
“Of course it lies with this country’s royal family. How dare you ask me that?”
“Only one bearer of the royal bloodline remains in this country now.”
If the Grand Duke truly meant he was loyal to the royal family, there was no reason not to swear loyalty to Elizaveta. At Ivan’s pointed remark, the Grand Duke took a bitter sip of his tea.
“Is that so?”
“...?”
“Crown Prince Alexander is alive.”
Ivan’s grip suddenly tightened. He barely managed to relax the hand holding his pistol.
The Grand Duke noticed the movement and smirked.
“He tried to contact me a few months ago. He asked that the military government not deploy when the dwarves and demonfolk attacked the Second Corps.”
“...”
That must have been during the Andgrund Civil War. Ivan narrowed his eyes. If Andgrund’s civil war had ended with Aviditas’s victory, the Second Corps would have suffered a surprise attack by the dwarves.
If the First Corps had not provided support from the front, Aviditas’s forces would have reached Pritchenkaya without meeting any resistance.
“But how?”
As Ivan had once recalled, the Krasilov Counterintelligence Command’s domestic intelligence network was close to perfect. That was not simple pride.
It truly was, objectively, close to perfect. They knew every minor drinking habit of the country’s nobles, every small secret drinking gathering held in a salon.
What was more, the military had been the Counterintelligence Command’s greatest concern at the time. After purging all the domestic nobles, it was the only group that could oppose the princess.
Naturally, they should have known everything happening in the First Corps as though it were in the palm of their hands. Yet the fact that Ivan had not known meant there had been a gap in the Counterintelligence Command’s intelligence network.
“It’s only natural that even you could not notice. Are there not agents in this country better than yours?”
“There are no such people.”
“No, there are.”
The people with the finest foreign intelligence network in the Allied Kingdoms.
And the people whom no spies had ever dared build an intelligence network against.
The Grand Duke raised his index finger beside his ear and smiled. It pointed outward, as if his ears had grown longer.
A crunch came from Ivan’s hand. The teacup in his grip shattered into pieces.
“Kallion...”
“Yes. Alexander is in Kallion.”
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Footnotes:
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