WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 3: Terrorism Always Occurs on the Academy Entrance Train (1)

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Every genre had its formula. The thing called a cliché.

It made sense when you thought about it. For a group of works to form a distinct genre, they needed common elements.

Take a standard hero story, for example. In Ivan's view, the formula for this old-fashioned genre went like this.

The Demon King, or some other great enemy, appeared.

The Hero formed a party.

The Hero set out on a journey to defeat the Demon King.

Along the way, the Hero defeated the Demon King's commanders one by one.

One of those commanders became fascinated with the Hero.

At the end of the journey, the Demon King died, and peace returned to the world.

Based on that formula, Ivan had believed this world was a standard hero story.

But now, Ivan was desperately dragging up Kim Seonwoo's memories from thirty years ago and making a list.

What was the formula for an academy story?

Ep. 3. Terrorism Always Occurs on the Academy Entrance Train.

The princess had gone on about winter coming as though she belonged to some Stark family, but she was wrong.

It was January. Naturally, it was the middle of winter, and they had only recently held a grand New Year's party at the orphanage.

That meant there was still plenty of time before the university began its term.

“An academy...”

Ivan sank into thought, missing the reference books he had impulsively burned thirty years ago.

He remembered there being at least a few academy stories among them. He could barely remember their titles now, but they had been about a Heavenly Demon going to an academy, a quick-draw swordsman going to an academy, a shaman going to an academy, or a sorcerer going to an academy...

He hastily wrote down what came to mind.

They were, in a sense, the rules of academy stories.

‘Anything can come to an academy.’

Literally anything, from cowboys to Heavenly Demons.

Which meant that included assassins who would stab the Hero Party's precious sons and daughters in the back.

‘An academy is always invaded.’

Sadly, academies were invaded more often than strategic fortresses on the front line.

It was widely known that, statistically, if the protagonist did not drop out, the odds of the academy being invaded approached 98 percent.

‘Demonfolk hide in academies.’

At this point, the Demon King was dead, all Seven Dragon Generals were either dead or missing, and the demonfolk had been enslaved or driven to the ends of the world.

Setting aside how they could possibly infiltrate the heart of the Allied Kingdoms, of all places, and a simple educational institution at that, there would definitely be demonfolk supporters or demonfolk themselves hiding in the academy.

He could exclude demi-humans like goblins and orcs for now. They did not have the kind of appearance that could hide itself.

It was better to assume that someone capable of disguise, like a succubus or a demon, had infiltrated.

‘There is a traitor among the undergraduates and faculty.’

He needed to find the faculty member who was oddly hostile toward the protagonist.

There was a good chance that person was a demonfolk infiltrator.

‘There is a secret ruin or hidden artifact inside the academy.’

Saint Yansk University had been founded less than ten years ago. It was an obviously public university in the middle of the capital, built by order of the late king himself, but for some reason, he had to assume there was a “Secret Chamber” inside it...

‘Academy undergraduates fall into three broad categories. Students, demonfolk-related villains, and government agents.’

Students here did not mean model pupils who studied hard. They were little better than ticking bombs.

They got caught up in trouble at the slightest provocation, and naturally, the protagonist had no choice but to save them.

The other students, those who did not get caught up in trouble, could be divided into two groups. Quiet students whose names were only mentioned, and students jealous of the protagonist.

Of course, that much could be considered part of a cute school life. The problem came next.

Students connected to demonfolk. In practice, they were the sort who should be classified as demonfolk infiltrators, demonfolk spies, or demonfolk guerrillas.

‘If they stand out, kill them early.’

The orphanage director, a former Annihilation Unit officer, narrowed his eyes and underlined the line.

The best way to protect allies was to exterminate the enemy.

Up to this point, it was little more than an ordinary hobby.

‘Next, government agents.’

If the children of internationally prominent figures enrolled in large numbers, then agents would naturally be sent to protect them.

The problem was that agents rarely went on assignment to carry out only one mission.

In other words, the children's bodyguards would make excellent spies for allied nations in their spare time.

He could not kill people like that. They were not from enemy countries, so touching them would immediately cause a diplomatic incident. Officially, their position would be that of students.

‘There is no age limit, so it would not be strange for agents who served during the war to enroll.’

The orphanage director, a former Annihilation Unit officer, rubbed his chin and fell into worry.

It would be better if people I know came. At least we could talk.

Ivan stared at the hand axe hanging as decoration on the wall by the director's office entrance.

‘If an instructor says [it is safe] during academy exams, training, or any other situation, a crisis will definitely come.’

This was why companies should abolish their internal safety inspection systems and outsource every safety inspection.

Given an academy where spies, assassins, demonfolk, and traitors outnumbered students, the only safe place was probably the headmaster's office.

Dumbledore had not died in the headmaster's office, after all.

Usually, headmaster or chancellor was an important post that should be held by an administrative bureaucrat, yet somehow, in academies, it was “common sense” for the strongest person in the setting to be the headmaster...

Next. The most important point.

He tried to recall the “ending conditions” of an academy story...

‘The ending conditions of an academy story are [survival] and [world peace]... Wait. Wait a moment.’

If this world was an academy story, and everything that had happened so far had been nothing but “background events.”

Let us put it in order.

The Demon King appeared, the Hero killed the Demon King, and peace returned to the world.

Only four years had passed since the war ended. The Allied Kingdoms were on the verge of shattering, and though every country was now busy rebuilding, competition for resources and colonies was growing fiercer by the day.

In countless occupied territories that had once been the demonfolk's homeland, the military governments of various nations were still exploiting demonfolk slaves.

What could possibly count as the main story?

‘World war? No, that is not it.’

Academy stories featured characters around high school or university age as their protagonists.

If a war grand enough to be called a world war broke out, rather than a simple local conflict, there would be clear limits to what such students could accomplish.

Then... ‘The Demon King's resurrection...?’

Ivan took a sip of coffee and glared at his notepad with sunken eyes.

No matter how he looked at it, that was the most logical possibility. A story where the descendants of the Hero Party fought the resurrected Demon King and restored peace to the world.

Assuming the Demon King's resurrection was a constant, and that the students dropped out around their second year... If he expected the academy invasion to happen at least a year from now.

What did he need to do right away?

He added one more sentence to his notes, picked up his coat, and stood.

‘Terrorism always occurs on academy entrance trains, or other means of transportation.’

Ever since Harry Potter, academy admissions in any setting with trains had to involve trains. (Otherwise, they sometimes used carriages. The common point was that both trains and carriages were vulnerable to terrorism. In fact, every form of transportation was vulnerable to terrorism. Traveling on foot was no different.)

And during the war, the Allied Kingdoms had laid railways extensively for military transport, then simply used them as civilian passenger lines.

Of course, military transport trains were also vulnerable to terrorism. Ivan's eighteen years of military service could prove that.

The demonfolk also favored trains for transporting supplies inland, so Ivan had stopped train terrorism so many times that he was sick of it. He had carried out train terrorism just as often.

That was simply how the Annihilation Unit operated.

Today as well, Ivan missed South Korea. That peaceful world where boarding a train meant fighting baked eggs and tuna gimbap, not terrorists or magic bandits.

Ivan added baked eggs and tuna gimbap to his “things to eat when I return to Earth” list.

* * *

“Just you wait!! Just you wait and see! All of you, watch closely!! Watch how successful I become! How successful I become!!”

Standing on the train platform with an instrument case and a suitcase, Aesidis sniffled and glared at the crowd.

The crowd was seeing her off while holding large banners.

-Great King Einar's eldest daughter! Entering Saint Yansk University as top student!!

She was not even second, let alone first, but Aesidis did not argue. They had written that on purpose because they enjoyed her reactions.

-Proud of you! Best in the Droan Kingdom! Beauty!

-Inheriting the blood of the great Conqueror, Great King Einar, she takes on the challenge of mastering orchestral music!!

“What is wrong with orchestras?!”

Aesidis shrieked, turned around, and boarded the train.

A roar of laughter rose behind her.

Terrible, terrible people. They could not even cheer for me...!

The train pulled away, and she buried her face in her sleeves as she sobbed.

The crowd watching her through the train windows murmured among themselves and dispersed.

“Do you think the young lady will still manage to steel herself?”

“Of course. Whose daughter do you think she is?”

“I just cannot trust those pale Krasilov people...”

“Still, His Majesty did not send her alone, so do not worry. Things will work out.”

The crowd that had teased Aesidis, Great King Einar's retainers, departed while whispering their worries to one another.

The eldest daughter of Einar Ulrikson, the Hero Party's berserker, the Slaughterer. Aesidis Einarsdottir.

Entering the Orchestral Department of Saint Yansk University's music department!

* * *

That very train, which had received such a grand send-off from High King Einar of Droan's retainers, overturned near the border of the Krasilov Kingdom two days later.

Naturally, Ivan was not surprised. It was “common sense” that an entrance train bound for an academy would be caught up in terrorism.

Instead, he picked up a pistol and an axe.

* * *

Footnotes:

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