WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Dark Fantasy Doctor Was Mistaken for a Saint ◈
Chapter 69: I Want to Become a Hero (1)
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* * *
The car ride home was steeped in an odd silence.
If I had my way, I would have used that silence as background noise and caught some sleep.
That was how intense today’s events had been.
But I could not close my eyes so easily.
There was still something we needed to discuss.
When I looked up, Freya was watching me silently.
Her glacier-colored eyes rested quietly on me.
She knew I still had something to say.
“...Freya.”
“Yes, brother.”
In the end, I was the first to break the uncomfortable silence.
“A moment ago, I said I was going to draw a line between Director Schun and Julian, didn’t I?”
Freya nodded without a word.
I began explaining why.
“Actually, I gave it a lot of thought on my way to get you. What the black mages might be after.”
I still did not know who was behind this incident or what their objective was.
I could only vaguely infer their purpose from the fact that they had kidnapped my scholarship students and used black magic.
“They are probably after Director Schun. They caused this incident because black magic includes curses that use a connection or a piece of someone’s body as a catalyst.”
To place a curse, you needed part of the target as a catalyst.
The easiest way to imagine it was someone tying a strand of hair to a doll before cursing them.
Bodily fluids made for stronger catalysts than hair, and an actual body part was stronger still.
And a connection could substitute for such a body part.
“They probably targeted the scholarship students for that reason. The students are Director Schun’s only publicly known connections.”
Publicly, the scholarship students were the only people Director Schun was known to have close personal ties with.
The black mages must have acted as soon as they learned that.
“So when I heard the students had vanished, and that you had disappeared with them, it felt like my heart had dropped.”
Of course, even then, I had not worried about a curse reaching me.
I had the knowledge to reverse-track black magic, as well as the knowledge to block it.
That was why I was not especially afraid of black mages targeting me.
But it was different if they targeted the people around me.
“So I thought about it a lot on the way here.”
“You will understand someday.”
Only then did I understand what my master had meant.
“Freya, isn’t preventing illness better than treating it after someone falls sick?”
Why had my master never introduced their family or me to the other mage tower masters?
Why were the identities of imperial family members kept secret until they began appearing in public?
What could people as powerful as the Great Sage and the Emperor possibly fear enough to hide their families?
The reason was simple.
Given countless chances to thrust a spear, eventually even the strongest shield would be pierced.
Those protecting someone only had one chance, while they could not even guess how many people might be aiming for them.
And they knew how much such endless attacks could wear down an ordinary life.
That was why even people like them chose to hide rather than face things openly.
To protect not only themselves, but those they loved.
“So I’ve decided. From now on, I will separate the identities of Director Schun and Julian.”
I had decided to follow their example in my own way.
The first step was ensuring that my family’s names would not be added to the list of targets for those after Director Schun.
It was better for Director Schun’s personal relationships to remain unknown.
“I plan to apply to the Inspectorate for protective supervision of the scholarship students before long.”
They had been the ones who cleanly severed the connection between Director Schun and Julian when I developed the vaccine.
They handled matters reliably, so I could entrust this to them.
It would cost a rather large donation, though.
“That’s why I delayed explaining things there. Director Schun came here after receiving Julian’s help in leading the private soldiers. Discovering the black mages’ methods needs to be Julian’s accomplishment.”
And the first step toward making that happen.
It was to separate the two identities into different fields of expertise.
Julian’s specialties would be forensic medicine and black magic.
Director Schun’s specialties would be medicine and alchemy.
Of course, I could not divide them perfectly.
There would be times when Julian needed to act as a doctor, and times when Director Schun needed to work as a forensic specialist.
But that was not a problem.
You would not call an internist a surgeon just because they knew how to treat surgical conditions, would you?
Their fields overlapped anyway, so occasionally crossing into each other’s territory was natural.
What mattered was what specialty people thought of when they heard the names Director Schun and Julian.
“So, Freya, I’m asking you. Help me keep our stories straight.”
“All right, brother.”
Freya’s response was unexpectedly calm.
“You’re not surprised.”
“I had wondered whether this would happen someday. Ever since the day you healed me, I suspected things would turn out this way. There are already other nobles I know who live like this.”
A bitter smile spread across Freya’s face.
“It’s unfortunate that we have to keep your greatness secret, brother, but I respect your wishes. So I’ll be careful too.”
This secret could not be kept through my caution alone.
The people who already knew Director Schun’s identity, my family, would have to live while concealing my secret too.
Fortunately, Freya seemed to understand that immediately.
“However, brother, there’s one thing I’d like to say.”
“Go ahead.”
“If I’m to keep the secret, I think I need to properly understand what position Director Schun holds.”
“Hm? I’m surprised you don’t know.”
“It’s not just me. I don’t think anyone in our family knows very well.”
That was unexpected.
I had never particularly hidden my income from my family.
“I’m surprised Father doesn’t know either.”
“Father only knows a little because he has a joint stake in quinine. He doesn’t even know exactly what other medicines there are. We’re complete outsiders when it comes to the healer’s field.”
Now that she mentioned it, she was right.
People outside the medical world would find it difficult to gauge Director Schun’s social standing.
Even after Newton discovered universal gravitation, his mother supposedly told him to go work on the farm.
They said Einstein’s wife typed his papers without understanding in the slightest how extraordinary they were.
It was natural not to grasp how remarkable something was when it lay outside your field.
That was even more true for close family.
“Hmm.”
So I thought for a moment.
What was the quickest way to make Freya understand Director Schun’s social position?
After considering it, I chose the simplest method.
“Freya. How much do you think this number is?”
“It’s our Academy High Division’s total budget for this year.”
“This is our trading company’s revenue for one weekend day.”
“...”
For reference, weekends were holidays for our trading company.
Freya fell silent.
Her glacier-colored eyes traveled twice between the notebook with the number written in it and me.
Then she opened her mouth very carefully.
“Brother.”
“Yes?”
“Could you perhaps increase my allowance?”
“How much do you want?”
“Twice what I receive now...”
“Will that be enough?”
“...Four times?”
“I’ll give you one last chance. I won’t raise it again for a while.”
“...”
That day, Freya was promised an allowance comparable to that of a duke’s daughter.
* * *
Before long, the car arrived at the Academy High Division building.
The Empire called it the Academy High Division, but by the standards of my previous life, it was basically a high school.
Though the level of study was more like something you would learn at university.
I decided to accept that as part of living in an age where romance still thrived.
The school was called Adler College.
Literally translated, it meant Eagle College.
What a name.
Anyway, we had arrived at Adler College.
“Let’s get out.”
Captain Shen got out first to secure the area.
I followed, and the others got out after me.
Naturally, I did not forget my fedora.
How ridiculous would it be if I entered as Director Schun and came out as Julian?
When we stepped out of the car, I saw people waiting for us.
The principal of the Academy High Division and five or six teachers.
They were all formally dressed despite the late hour.
“Oh, Director Schun. You have returned safely.”
The principal approached as though he knew me well.
He was a middle-aged man with hair that had gone half gray.
If I remembered correctly, he was the second son of some count’s house.
It was not unusual. Second and third sons with uncertain positions in their families often became High Division teachers.
“Are the students safe? Ah, we too began investigating day and night as soon as we received word. We were just about to dispatch the knights.”
A lie.
When I contacted the Academy immediately after learning the students had vanished, all I received was a one-line response saying, “We are investigating.”
The problem was that I had not seen a single investigator when I checked the scene.
I still wondered whether that investigation had ever really taken place.
One of the teachers standing behind the principal added, “We also devoted all our efforts to analyzing the residual traces of magic around the dormitory and reconstructing the missing students’ movements.”
All their efforts.
I had not seen the results of all those efforts, though.
“We detected a suspicious magical reaction near the laundry only yesterday. Unfortunately, the report was delayed because you had already left, Director.”
Unfortunately.
What a convenient word.
In short, they had detected the mana reaction in the laundry only after I had already found the fairy ring there, persuaded the brownie, and learned the location of the hideout.
“...”
“...Director?”
The principal silently watched my reaction.
It was as if he was trying to read my expression beneath the fedora’s shadow.
I opened my mouth after a beat.
“Principal.”
“Yes, Director.”
“The students were imprisoned for two days.”
“...Yes. It is truly regrettable.”
“Then isn’t there something you should say first at a time like this?”
The principal’s eyes moved slightly.
But the answer I waited for did not come.
In the end, I spoke first.
“Have you discussed measures to protect the students who were harmed?”
Silence followed.
The principal’s mouth moved once, then closed.
Glances passed among the teachers behind him.
At last, the principal cleared his throat and replied.
“That matter... will be discussed later through a faculty meeting.”
“How very reassuring.”
I said it sarcastically.
I had intended it to sound that way.
For a moment, I looked over each of their faces.
The principal looked flustered, but not afraid.
The teachers were the same.
They appeared uncomfortable, but there was no sense of crisis.
Their expressions said it all.
What could a commoner merchant possibly do to us?
Perhaps because this was not a democratic society.
They seemed to believe capital could not overpower social status.
And strictly speaking, that was not entirely wrong.
In the end, I gave up on having a constructive conversation with them.
“Principal.”
“Yes.”
“Julian wishes to discuss how this incident will be handled, rather than me.”
“Of course. That is how it should be.”
The expressions of the principal and teachers brightened strangely.
I could not read minds, but I could almost see their confidence that a mere baron’s son could do nothing to them.
They probably thought he could do no more than protest in the baron’s name.
Thanks to that, I was able to make up my mind.
“And the students are exhausted in body and mind. I would not be comfortable sending them back to the dormitory in their current state.”
The principal’s brows lifted slightly.
“I will personally take them under protection. They will stay in the trading company’s lodgings until they have fully recovered, and they will return only after their safety has been confirmed.”
Subtle looks passed between the principal and the teachers.
This was practically a declaration that I did not trust the Academy’s ability to care for its students.
They could not possibly be pleased.
But they had no grounds to refuse.
I was offering to protect the students with the trading company’s money. What reason did they have to stop me?
In the end, the principal reluctantly nodded.
“...Understood.”
The principal pressed his lips together once, then nodded.
His face showed that he was swallowing his displeasure.
His attitude was irritating in a rather unpleasant way.
“Thank you.”
I bowed in farewell, then led the students back to the car.
While Captain Shen helped the students into the car, I stopped just before getting in.
Then I turned around.
The principal and teachers were standing in formation before the main gate, seeing us off.
Even now, they had not said a word to the students.
That helped me make up my mind.
“Principal.”
“...Yes.”
“I wish the people you were interested in had been the students behind me, rather than me.”
With those words, I got into the car and closed the door.
I did not check their expressions.
They were not faces I would ever see again anyway.
* * *
The following day, at noon.
The principal’s office at Adler College.
Principal Creon sat before his desk, sipping tea.
His eyes were dark from tossing and turning all night, but his expression itself was not bad.
Director Schun’s final words last night had bothered him somewhat.
The accusation that they had spoken to him before speaking to the students.
It was not wrong.
It was not the proper attitude for a teacher.
But so what?
Even if he was disciplined for neglecting student care, there was a limit to the punishment that could be imposed on him.
That was why the principal was not particularly worried about the aftermath of this incident.
Knock, knock.
At the sound, the principal raised his head.
“Come in.”
The door opened, and three teachers entered.
All of them looked as though they had stayed up all night, but their eyes held more relief than tension.
“Principal, we came to speak about last night.”
Senior teacher Hight spoke as he sat on the sofa.
“It’s concerning that Director Schun took the students away, but overall, the situation is not too bad. We looked into it, and Director Schun does not appear to hold a title.”
“That’s fortunate. Then what about this Julian? I hear he is the discipline captain’s brother.”
“We looked into House Nihirit. It is the house of an ordinary magistrate.”
When students suffered an incident here, the first thing they checked was the victim’s family.
What teachers could do depended on the student’s family title.
And a baron’s house was merely the sort of parent who was somewhat bothersome.
The principal set down his teacup and nodded.
“What about the incident report?”
“We have prepared a draft. The Academy began investigating immediately after learning of the incident and actively cooperated with Director Schun’s swift response. That should be enough.”
Vice Principal Müller crossed his arms and spoke up.
“Honestly, Director Schun’s influence is frightening, but he is still a commoner. There is a limit to the pressure he can exert.”
“Still, the scale of his trading company means we should be cautious, should it not?”
“We should be cautious. But Principal, where are we?”
Vice Principal Müller gestured toward the window with his chin.
Beyond the Academy grounds, flags fluttered over the training field.
“Adler College also serves as a military educational institution. Every faculty member here holds military status. What can a trading company director do to soldiers?”
“That’s right. At most, he can issue a statement.”
The military’s influence within the Empire was absolute.
Every industry and administrative institution existed on the premise that the military protected them from the magical beasts beyond the wall.
A little noise within the military could easily be ignored.
That had always been the case, and it would continue to be so.
“Neither Director Schun nor Magistrate Nihirit will be able to do anything.”
Of course, it would be impossible for the matter to pass quietly.
Director Schun’s reputation within the military was far from low, even if he was a commoner, and a magistrate was still a central government official.
They would probably receive pay cuts and a few months of suspension.
But that would be all.
This was the military, and the influence of commoners and magistrates had its limits.
At the very least, none of them would lose their positions.
That alone was enough to reassure them.
They wanted only one thing.
As long as they kept their faculty positions and could remain residents of Sanctum Hill, nothing else mattered.
“Ah. Then at the morning faculty meeting...”
That was when it happened.
Bang.
The principal’s office door flew open.
An administrator rushed in with a pale face.
Creon frowned at the administrator, who was too out of breath to speak.
“What is the matter? Entering without knocking.”
“P-Principal.”
The administrator barely caught their breath before speaking.
“The commander-in-chief of the Southern Reconquest Operation has arrived.”
The air in the principal’s office froze.
Creon’s hand stopped in midair as he was about to set down his teacup.
The Southern Reconquest Operation.
It had been the largest operation in nearly twenty years, intended to reclaim the steadily collapsing Southern Front.
There was an imperial prince who not only commanded soldiers from the very front lines but also achieved overwhelming military feats personally.
For his achievements, he became the youngest front commander-in-chief in imperial history, and eventually succeeded in retaking a strategic location that had been seized by magical beasts two hundred years ago.
Thus, no Academy faculty member, no one with military status, could possibly fail to know whom the title “commander-in-chief of the Southern Reconquest Operation” referred to.
“His Highness Prince Edmund has passed through the main gate.”
The war hero of the south.
Twelfth Imperial Prince Edmund had crossed the school gate.
* * *
The Academy descended into chaos at the sudden arrival of a general.
Why now?
And right after an unsavory incident had occurred?
The principal had many questions for the general who had appeared without notice, but he did not have the courage to ask directly what the prince intended.
Prince Edmund arrived at the principal’s office without notice, as though it were his own home.
Additional teacups were hurriedly brought in at the prince’s arrival.
Edmund sipped the tea poured by an administrative teacher with trembling hands.
“It is stronger than I expected.”
“My apologies. I-I will brew another...”
“No. This sort of tea has its own charm. Return to your usual duties.”
After dismissing the administrative teacher, Edmund naturally seated himself in the place of honor.
The teachers, including the principal who had owned this office, each took a place on the sofas.
“...”
“...”
Only the sound of teacups being raised echoed through the principal’s office.
Edmund was relaxed.
He sipped his tea while looking over the grounds outside, examined the portraits of past principals hanging on the wall, and tapped his fingers lightly against the sofa’s leather armrest.
That ease was gradually gnawing away at the nerves of the other four people.
The teachers held their teacups to their mouths, but barely drank.
At last, Edmund, who had been watching the flags outside, spoke.
“Sorry for coming without notice. As you know, I transferred to the capital after my child was born.”
“C-Congratulations, Your Highness.”
In the Empire, nobles spent their youth risking their lives on the front lines, then returned to the capital to raise their children once a child was born.
Protecting people was a noble’s duty, but raising successors to inherit their martial arts or arcane magic was also a duty.
“Perhaps because I was a soldier on the battlefield, sitting still at a desk makes me restless. So these days, I have been visiting military facilities around the capital.”
Edmund raised his teacup once and added, “As I visit the military’s various institutions like this, I can share in other people’s passion. I think it was an excellent decision to begin.”
“If you require it, I can guide you...”
“That won’t be necessary. After I finish my tea, I’ll look around quietly on my own, so don’t follow me.”
Edmund spoke calmly.
“Ah, now that I think of it, my child seems likely to start walking soon. Perhaps that’s why younger people no longer feel like juniors to me. They feel like my own children. Is it only me? Or is that simply what happens when one becomes a parent?”
“Haha... Your Highness has come to understand a parent’s heart.”
Creon laughed awkwardly.
Unbothered by that awkward laugh, Edmund wrapped both hands around his teacup and continued.
“When I was at the front, there were times when I wondered about the meaning of life. Every day, I cut down magical beasts, lost comrades, then cut down more. After a while, the thought would suddenly come to me. Why am I here?”
“...”
“But watching my child grow, I came to understand.”
Edmund smiled warmly.
Fine lines formed around his eyes.
“I fight so that this small life can live without fear. That alone is reason enough.”
The steam rising from the teacup slowly dispersed.
“And the more precious this child becomes, the more natural it is to remember my gratitude toward the person who gave us such happiness.”
At that moment, Principal Creon’s fingers froze over his teacup.
Only then did a rumor he had pushed into a corner of his mind return to him.
The Princess Consort’s infertility.
And the one person who had resolved it.
Could it be...?
He had heard the rumor.
That the imperial couple met Julian during last year’s Founding Festival, after which the Princess Consort gave birth safely.
But nobles who had not been there at the time had not considered the rumor especially important.
According to the rumor, Julian had introduced the imperial couple to Viagra, which had not yet been released, and resolved the problem.
Of course, that was a great accomplishment.
But it seemed like the sort of thing that would end with a gift or a medal.
They did not think it was enough for an imperial family member to favor that healer.
The principal had thought so as well.
But Edmund’s next words corrected the principal’s and teachers’ misunderstanding.
“Sir Julian still visits the Imperial Palace often. He says vaccinations are necessary for babies. Once they receive them, they will gain permanent immunity against black magic curses, will they not?”
There were things the principal did not know.
That the imperial couple had wanted a child far more desperately than he imagined.
That Julian’s kindness toward them was not merely a pregnancy consultation.
And that the prince had watched what Julian had done for the mother and child from before the baby’s birth until now.
The principal and teachers had not experienced that pain themselves, had not been beside them, and had not cared.
That was why they did not know how the prince regarded Julian.
“Truly, I cannot express how grateful I am. He knows everything my child needs and takes care of it before I do. Sometimes, it feels as though he cherishes our baby even more than we do.”
Even when the couple disturbed him at dawn, he never showed displeasure. He worried about the mother and child first, then scolded them.
Even when the baby’s stool got on his face, he did not so much as flinch and examined it carefully.
At every appointment, he told them in advance what the baby would be able to do at each stage.
From the prince’s perspective, Julian devoted more care to the baby than the parents did.
That was why, at one point, he had even made Julian an offer.
“I once asked him to become the child’s godfather, as I wished to. But he adamantly refused. He said that would make it impossible to remain objective toward his patient as a healer, and that he would accept only the sentiment.”
The backs of the principal and teachers were drenched with cold sweat.
A godfather.
Prince Edmund regarded Julian that dearly.
And the prince had visited this Academy the very next day after an incident had befallen Julian’s younger sister.
The meaning was obvious without explanation.
Just from hearing this much, some of the teachers sensed their fate and squeezed their eyes shut.
“Sir Julian is that sort of person. Even when I offered to lend him my name, he did not care because he said he had no need for it in his work as a healer. Yet...”
Edmund crossed his legs.
“Yet that very person told me this morning, after conducting my child’s regular examination, that he had many concerns because of this school. How very strange.”
“...”
The doting prince’s face, which had been wearing a pleased smile while praising his baby, turned hard.
“Tell me. What exactly did you do to make such a person say something unpleasant? I am truly curious about the secret, Principal Creon.”
The former commander-in-chief of the Southern Reconquest Operation.
The current chief of personnel for the Imperial Central Army stared coldly at the faculty.
The principal thought quietly to himself.
It would have been far better to finish the conversation with Director Schun yesterday.
Author’s Note
I was late because I dished out a bit too much rice.
I am sorry.
Footnotes:
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