WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 98: 15. Real Combat Is Standard for Academy Summer Vacation Events (3)

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Irtysh Station was a rural station in southern Krasilov. There was one mine nearby, but it had never been particularly significant. During the war, they had dug it to the very end before finally declaring it exhausted and shutting it down.

The surrounding territories were nothing more than unremarkable rural villages that survived on trade. The only sizeable territory was Yelavinsk, and this station was not even part of Yelavinsk's primary trade route.

In other words, it was the sort of country train station one might draw in a picture.

There were only two platforms, one for each direction. Beyond the ticket gate, a single station employee dozed in the waiting room. The nearest village was more than twenty minutes away by carriage.

"I seriously have no words."

Isabelle stood on the platform, pressing a hand to her forehead.

"All of you? Really? You're serious?"

"I'm holding myself back right now too, so be quiet."

"Still, there's something I don't understand."

Aesidis looked around while gripping her steel baton, Bang-Bang, tightly.

Isabelle, fine. They had interacted a few times, so she was within the acceptable range.

Elphihara? That elf brat must have pulled something again. Her kind uncle would never go out of his way to socialize with some pointy-eared elf.

But what was Oscar doing here?

"Having men in the acceptable range is a little much, isn't it? At this point, I can't even tell where I should start fixing things..."

Isabelle quietly nodded. Fine, ignore that idiot.

"First of all, this means Mister didn't call us here to actually go on vacation."

"I understood that right away."

Oscar gave a faint smile and took the [Invitation] from inside his coat. The instant Isabelle saw the envelope, she gritted her teeth.

This was seriously pissing her off.

"Miss Isabelle, Miss Aesidis, Miss Elphihara. Don't you see what you have in common?"

"Thieves?"

"...That is certainly an original interpretation, but since I'm here, it can't be that. No, more importantly, what exactly have you all been doing for that to be your immediate thought...? Never mind. Yes."

Oscar silently agreed. Fine, ignore these idiots.

"You're the children of Hero Party members! And this is an isolated rural area. Isn't it obvious?"

"Lucia isn't here."

"So Lucia was excluded because she's a disciple, not a daughter? Professor Enrika is infertile and can't have a daughter, that's just cruel!"

"I'm beginning to find you all frightening."

Oscar lamented the impaired cognitive abilities of two out of the four Hero Party descendants. Aesidis was Einar's daughter, so perhaps that was understandable, but what had happened to Isabelle?

She had been famous as a genius girl in the Tilles royal palace.

The only explanation was that Krasilov had poisoned her to weaken an enemy nation's strength.

Fortunately, there was one more person among them capable of conversation. Oscar did not particularly want to classify her as a person, but she was at least an intelligent being capable of dialogue.

Elphihara, who had been listening to Oscar, tilted her head and asked, "So what, Lord Yermof gathered us here to assassinate us?"

"Of course not. If that were his goal, he would have had far better opportunities."

How many attacks had occurred in Pritchenkaya recently? Disorder within a city inevitably created gaps in security.

Had Ivan attacked during one of those periods, he could have handled them far more cleanly. Just as Oscar and Isabelle would certainly have died during the field trip attack if Ivan had not intervened.

So killing them was not the goal. Rather, this was...

"Could it be that he has something to show only us, or something to teach us? Lord Yermof was acquainted with the Hero Party, he is a close friend of Professor Enrika, and he showed overwhelming skill in the tournament."

If your father's friend was a knight, wasn't it only natural for him to help with your training in a situation like this?

Elphihara gave a crooked smile at Oscar's words.

"Humans can be rather cute."

"Pardon?"

"Let's say you're right. Then what about me? It's true that Lord Yermof is fairly skilled with a sword, but is he good at magic too? What could he possibly teach me?"

If Ivan had been proficient in magic, he would not have brought her along to explore the underground ruins. And that meant she alone was better suited than anyone present to make up for Ivan's shortcomings.

Elphihara was an enlightened elf, so she did not question why Oscar was here. Sexual desire did not necessarily care about gender. Nor did it care about race or age. The latter was more important.

So this was it.

He had gathered the humans interested in him and intended to gently reject them by saying he had an elf now, so he did not need them. Hehe. He had put some thought into it. How cute.

Oscar read the look in Elphihara's eyes and despaired.

There was not a single normal person?

It was not that one of them was crazy. Everyone except one was crazy?

These were the Hero Party's successors...?

Fortunately, Oscar's grief did not last long. The clock in the station waiting room began to chime exactly five in the afternoon, and heavy footsteps sounded.

Step. Step. Step.

Elphihara's ears perked up. When everyone turned to look, a man was already standing at the station entrance with the sun behind him.

"You made it on time."

"Mister!"

"Uncle!"

Isabelle and Aesidis screamed and ran toward Ivan. As they rushed at him as though they were about to draw swords, he tossed a bag to each of them.

"Huh? What's this? It's really heavy."

"Carry one each and follow me. I packed what you'll need."

Ivan jerked his chin toward the black carriage parked in front of the station. It had armored plates attached to it, gun ports cut into its sides, and windows covered with iron mesh. It looked exactly like a prisoner transport.

"We aren't being kidnapped or anything, right?"

"No."

Ivan nodded and made a gesture.

At his signal, the station employee who had been dozing in the waiting room, the beggar in the corner, the merchant selling dried wild greens, and the farmer waiting for the next train all sprang to their feet.

Before the students could even react, black cloths were thrown over their heads.

The Counterintelligence Command agents bound them perfectly in an instant with professional skill, then looked at Ivan with shining eyes.

"Excellent. Load them up."

"Yes, Captain!"

Thrilled to receive praise from a legendary agent, they carried the students like luggage and tossed them into the carriage.

Ivan climbed into the carriage compartment, where the students had been stacked one atop another, took an empty seat, and slowly leaned back.

"It isn't like a kidnapping. It is a kidnapping."

"Mister, are you insane? Untie me! When I get out, I'm killing you first!"

"Uncle, abduction marriage is illegal in Droan. Let's talk this out."

"I told you, I'm allergic to human fur!!"

Ignoring the shrieking pieces of luggage, Ivan unfolded a map.

Soon, the carriage began to move.

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How should one train students during vacation?

Unless students had a Status Window or a quest, no student with normal common sense would willingly participate in training during vacation.

Students were not people whose natural calling was to devote themselves to academics. Ivan, who had spent his whole life as a student under the highly systematized education system of the twenty-first century, understood that fact better than anyone.

Without motivation, such as avenging a brother who became a rogue ninja or stopping a British Heavenly Demon colluding with the government from committing terrorist attacks whenever he got bored, students would never voluntarily attend class.

Then what sort of motivation was needed to make university students in this peaceful era train, especially to make them undergo residential training during vacation?

Money was not the answer. Isabelle, Aesidis, Elphihara, and Oscar were each wealthy enough that their personal assets alone could cover Ivan's orphanage operating costs for an entire year.

Honor, wealth, valuables, rare artifacts, and such things were not motivations. They were rewards to be given after one completed a trial. Motivation had to be simpler and stronger.

'Sergeant' Kim Seonwoo, the top motivational lecturer of his Earth days, already knew the answer.

The answer was survival.

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When a person's vision was blocked, they easily lost their sense of time. The repeated jolts of the carriage racing over rough terrain, the sound of wind, the breathing that muddled their hearing, and their blocked sight all made it easy to forget time passing.

As a result, Isabelle had no idea how long she had been confined in the carriage after being kidnapped.

"Mister, this is really starting to stop being funny. I'm going to get seriously angry, okay?"

"We're here."

Ivan studied the view outside the window and the marked lines on the map before continuing.

"The backpacks I gave you contain enough rations and camping supplies to last two days."

"This is unbelievable."

"And there is a mountain lodge two days from here, fully stocked with food and lodging."

Ivan grasped an axe and swung it. He precisely cut the ropes binding the four students' hands and arms, then stood.

"What if we just go back to the station?"

"That could be an option."

With those final words, Ivan left the carriage. Once freed, the four immediately tore off their hoods and jumped out after him.

The sun had already begun to set. Night arrived earlier in the mountains than elsewhere, and darkness rapidly spread around them.

And the road the carriage had clearly taken...

"Wow. Seriously. I... I seriously have no words. What am I supposed to do? I want to kill Mister."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Thanks for the warm words, Esi."

Burly men in black clothes were erasing the road at the entrance to the mountain path.

They were literally erasing it. Their work was so thorough that the broad mountain road, which had been large enough for a carriage to pass through, was covered with dirt and fallen leaves until it was impossible to distinguish.

"What are you all doing over there! You there! I've seen you before! At the Command! When I went to see Mister!"

When Isabelle screamed, one of the men focused on his work smiled brightly and waved at her before vanishing from sight in an instant.

"What about the horses?"

"They're gone. He must have ridden away."

"Wow. Seriously."

He lured a girl ten years younger than him by asking her to go out and have fun. Not true. He abandoned them in a remote mountain. True. Then he threw them survival kits and disappeared?

Wasn't he actually insane? He was.

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Footnotes:

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