WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 62: 11. St. Yansk University and the Chamber of Secrets (5)
──────
* * *
Ivan did not judge people by their profession, gender, age, or race when making friends, but he was not close with wizards. There was a very rational and valid reason for that.
Most wizards were born with defects in their character.
“What... what does that mean?”
“It’s true.”
Ivan gave Oswald, who was staring at him uneasily, a crooked look and calmly explained the facts.
“Wizards basically spend their time shut away in rooms, kneading mana or reading books.”
“Th-That’s true?”
“Now think about other professions.”
A warrior needed both real combat and training to grow stronger.
A warrior who only struck dummies in the training yard could not become strong. Naturally, they needed an opponent.
Finding a skilled sparring partner, sweating together, and building a friendship naturally improved one’s social skills. Warriors who failed to do so all got their heads cracked open.
Thieves had to learn the locations of their targets’ bases, hideouts, warehouses, safes, and so on. Since that was internal information, thieves naturally had to befriend their targets or “persuade” the target’s acquaintances to obtain it.
Only extremely sociable people could become thieves. Enrika had quite a lot of friends despite being a vampire.
Bards did not even need to be mentioned. Musical art was a field that only born social butterflies would dare attempt. Super-social Mozart and Salieri, who hated people like Mozart, proved that. (Salieri was also incredibly sociable.)
There was one more decisive piece of evidence.
“Nearly all elves are wizards.”
“Yes.”
“And nearly all elves suffer from congenital personality disorders.”
“...What?”
Having successfully persuaded Oswald with a flawless syllogism (all elves were madmen, all elves were wizards, therefore wizards were madmen), Ivan looked at him warmly and nodded.
To say it again, Ivan did not discriminate against people based on race or gender. He was a modern man from the twenty-first century.
In other words, this was not racism. It was only a calm statement of fact.
Sadly, every nonhuman race in this uncivilized world suffered from congenital personality defects by default.
There were dwarves, who invented average-ism and hated anyone taller than themselves, demonfolk, who viewed humans as somewhat unusual ingredients, and... elves.
Whenever something strange appeared in history, blaming the elves usually turned out to be correct.
That was all.
Anything further would not be cool. Ivan looked at Oswald.
Oswald, who had been staring blankly at Ivan, smiled sadly.
He seemed to have realized that he was both a wizard and an elf.
“Why are you telling me this...?”
Oswald looked around with an uneasy expression.
Many students were passing by, glancing at them. This was the Magic Department.
About half the students in the Magic Department were elves. In other words, this was the most densely populated area of elf wizards in all Pritchenkaya.
And he was saying these things right in the middle of it.
My school life is over.
Oswald smiled humbly.
If this were Earth, he could enlist and cleanly erase his past, but in this unfortunate world, joining the military was voluntary while leaving it was not....
Oswald had no options.
“I need a wizard.”
“Ah, so the reason you gave a lecture on the lack of character development among wizards and elves in front of the first-year lecture hall of the Magic Department was that you wanted to hire a wizard!”
Ivan looked at Oswald with fresh eyes.
He was good at organizing things. There had been no need to explain it like that from the start.
“...I’m really, truly grateful that Mr. Ivan did not transmigrate into a king or high-ranking noble.”
Any nation ruled by this man would become an evil empire armed with efficiency and rationalism. It might have become a lucky version of Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union.
Oswald let out a long sigh.
“And if you needed a wizard, you could have just asked me privately. I know how to use magic too.”
“Magical Interpretation, C. Classical Spell Commentary, C-minus.”
“W-Wait! How do you even know my grades...?”
“You are useless.”
“Wow.”
Mind Sorcery was war magic. It was also tremendously useful in intelligence work, but most of its applications were specialized for war.
Destruction spells looked spectacular, but their effects were poor by comparison. Throwing a fireball at the front line would only take down four or five people at most.
That level of firepower could be replaced with firearms. If an elite soldier trained to wield mana had that little efficiency, it was nothing but a waste of resources.
Mind Sorcery, on the other hand, could use the same amount of mana to strengthen the minds of an entire allied squad. It could remove fear, inspire courage, and plant a terrible hatred of the enemy in their hearts.
The momentum of war usually depended on soldiers’ morale. A front line with a wizard trained in Mind Sorcery could fight overwhelmingly longer than one without.
Back then, the purpose of the front line had been to endure, so it was an extraordinarily powerful effect. The war’s only objective had been to hold out until the Hero Party beheaded the enemy leadership.
In any case.
Mind Sorcery was war magic. What Ivan needed was a conventional wizard skilled in ancient magic interpretation and protective spells.
“So you are looking for a wizard who is not an elf, has learned protective spells, is well versed in ancient magic interpretation, and can keep secrets?”
“Yes.”
“I think finding a dragon or a unicorn would be faster.”
“So it is difficult.”
“It’s not difficult, it’s impossible! It might be possible if you gave up on the elf part and the secrecy part....”
Oswald looked around with a complicated expression, then lowered his voice to a whisper.
“You said you’re close with the Hero Party, right?”
“Mm.”
“Then there’s one person. A wizard who ranked first in theory across every subject, including ancient magic interpretation, and got A-plus grades even in unrelated magic like protective spells. She is an elf, but she is the daughter of one of your friends, Mr. Ivan, so she should be able to keep a secret too.”
There was only one wizard among the Hero Party’s children.
“...Elphihara.”
“Yes, Miss Elphihara Grikenkos. She is kind and well-mannered too.”
A prodigy said to have inherited her father’s magical talent in full. She had earned the highest score in Saint Yansk University’s entrance examination history....
“Hmm....”
Ivan knew her too.
Twelve years earlier, just before the Hero Party had departed.
He had seen her for exactly four days.
That little girl had been an extremely elf-like child.
* * *
“Ugh, what is that smell? Human, have you forgotten how to wash? Where is your master? I shall personally teach that person how to bathe a pet.”
“...???”
Ivan turned his head as he listened to a doll-sized child chatter away.
The child barely reached below his chest. Pointed ears stuck out from between shimmering blond hair.
Ah, an elf. They said there was one in the Hero Party. I see.
But... he had heard that Beolgreen Grikenkos was an elf over four hundred years old. Could an elf look this young?
Long-lived races really were amazing.
Ivan rapidly sorted through his thoughts and nodded.
“Are you Lord Grikenkos?”
“Hm? Yes, that is correct! I am Grikenkos! You recognize me, so you must be an intelligent human despite your appearance!”
The child puffed out their chest and shouted. The mana he could sense was nothing special. Was this an old master who had returned to youth?
Ivan was impressed.
The oldest person he knew was Enrika. Even she could not take on such a young appearance.
This world seemed not to have such concepts, but Ivan, who had once sent a 5,700-character denunciation to martial arts novels with equal fervor, knew terms like “returning to youth,” “reforming one’s bones and body,” and “reverting from old age to youth.”
Faced with a character from those novels made real, Ivan could not help feeling awed.
“So, human, where is your master? I am terribly hungry. Humans seem not to know the proper etiquette for treating honored guests, so I suppose I must find your elven master.”
“What do you mean...? Did the army camp’s supply corps not serve you a meal? I will speak with the quartermaster....”
“No, not that fodder. I need food, not feed.”
“...Oh.”
Ivan’s image of elves began to warp slightly.
“Lord Grikenkos. I am sorry, but this is the front line. The share given to your group was made up of luxuries that the soldiers could not even dream of.”
“The human language is mysterious. The word luxury means ‘made by elves.’ Which item in the trough of fodder I received today was an elven-made meal?”
The elves in his mind were no longer mysterious, long-lived fairies.
If this was a great wizard who had lived for four hundred years, Ivan thought he could understand even if his character was somewhat broken, so he forced himself to keep his expression under control.
Surely not every elf was this insane.
Ivan’s easygoing thought was shattered by the next person to appear.
“Elphihara. What kind of language is that?”
“Father!!”
A tall young man approached from the distance with a smile and opened his arms. The child who had been snapping at Ivan ran over and threw herself into his embrace.
The young man smiled warmly and ruffled the child’s hair.
“Fodder? That was the finest feast a human could make. Poor humans enjoy such things while calling them feasts, so calling it fodder is deeply rude.”
“Father, but it wasn’t edible!”
“Elphihara. Humans become deeply hurt when the offerings they present are rejected. Have I not repeatedly told you how important it is to care for inferior races?”
“Yes, Father....”
Ivan swore it was the most astonishing display of family education he had ever seen.
He could only stare blankly at the elven father and daughter, his mouth hanging open.
“Ah, human. My daughter was rude. My apologies.”
The man smiled kindly and held out his hand. Was he asking for a handshake? His hand was positioned strangely for that. With the back of his hand facing upward, it looked exactly like....
“I am Beolgreen Grikenkos, Acting Chair of the Privy Council of the Kalion Archipelago. By human custom, you kiss the back of a noble’s hand when you meet them, is that right? Hehe, it is a primitive but adorable tradition. I shall graciously permit it.”
Would it not be better to exterminate these bastards for the peace and future of humanity... no, the world?
Ivan seriously resolved to submit the matter to the Great King and glared coldly at Beolgreen.
That had been twelve years ago.
It was Ivan’s eighteenth year since his transmigration and his eighth year of military service, when he had just joined the Royal Guard.
His first impression of elves had been the worst. Given that it had not improved afterward, elves appeared to be that kind of race by nature.
* * *
Returning from his thoughts, Ivan looked at the elf before him.
The female elf, who placed a hand neatly over her chest and dipped her head gracefully, was picturesque in the literal sense.
After hearing Oswald’s explanation, she gave a shy smile and spoke.
“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Elphihara Grikenkos.”
“...?”
Ivan was baffled.
* * *
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
