Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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>Translator: Lord First
>Chapter: 29
>Chapter Title: A Night of Counting Stars (3)
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*
“When the hell is that thing going back?”
“Who knows? How should I know what the Privy Council is thinking?”
“Why bring up the Privy Council? That thing belongs to the Naval Command!”
The elves, who had begun their ordinary school lives, were now embroiled in chaos.
Even for elves, with their high self-esteem and steeped in national pride, there was a limit. They were now grinding their teeth amidst secondhand embarrassment and the subtle contempt of the humans.
On the first day the warship floated above their heads, the elven students had all puffed out their chests with pride, saying:
-Look at that. How awesome must we be for them to just stand by and watch, even with our warship floating in the middle of their capital?
These remarkable folk, who had floated a warship for an entrance ceremony, began to feel something was off after a week had passed.
-But even if warships are obsolete these days, is this really okay…?
It was a fear akin to a survival instinct.
After all, deploying a weapon of war in the capital of another nation was a massive military provocation.
And though it was highly unlikely, if that military provocation led to war, they would instantly be reclassified from students to prisoners of war.
In this uncivilized, pre-modern fantasy world, there was no Geneva Convention.
Of course, prisoners weren't openly executed in the United Kingdom's border disputes, and they wouldn't behead the noble sons and daughters studying abroad.
But that was only true in a world where ‘common sense’ prevailed.
In other words, just imagining what kind of rampage the human kingdom—believed by the elves to lack common sense—might go on was enough to make their survival instincts twitch.
And finally, after another week, a fortnight had passed.
Gazing at their proud aerial warship still floating in the sky, the elves finally displayed their racial trait.
They were the pioneers of civilization, parliamentary politics, and constitutional democratic monarchy.
Therefore, in accordance with their racial trait, they finally organized political parties. This meant that factional strife had begun.
The elven students were now divided into the Privy Council Faction and the Naval Command Faction, and had started a civil war. (Civil war was also one of their racial traits.)
Of course, who held royal authority among them couldn't resolve the situation. A perfectly good warship wasn't going to say, ‘Oh, congratulations,’ and return home just because they elected a first-year student council president.
In any case.
From the outside, the contempt and threats of humans.
From the inside, the friendly political activities among the elves.
And from above, that warship, just floating leisurely in the sky without any communication.
In this chaotic era, where peace had become a vulgar joke.
A gardener and a young human nobleman visited the elven students' dormitory.
This was the day after Dmitry had cautiously handed Ivan the ‘order’.
*
Let's turn back time to the previous day. To the evening of the day Elizaveta decided she needed to take an axe to the elven captain's neck.
Dmitry headed to the orphanage where, every year, he would personally crack the royal treasury, launder the funds cleanly, and then line their pockets.
Since Elizaveta was, fundamentally, a shy girl (in his personal opinion), this had been done without informing Ivan.
In other words, Dmitry had reigned as the orphanage's biggest benefactor until now. He'd vaguely explained it away as ‘a courtesy for a former official’ or ‘looking after a retired lieutenant colonel who couldn't get his military pension.’ In any case, wasn't he the one handing over the money?
“Oh, yes. Hello, kids?”
“…”
Dmitry walked through the school grounds, giving a friendly smile to these unnerving students who moved about with suspicious silence.
It felt like walking down the corridor of a political prisoner correctional facility at the Counter-Intelligence Command. Mainly because of the way the supervisors would stare silently from the corner of his eye without a hint of their presence.
I have no intention of meddling with my respected senior's personal hobbies, but isn't this grounds for treason?
How did he even think of collecting orphans and using them as field agents?
Dmitry rubbed the back of his chilled neck and walked towards the director's office.
He passed a soldier from Droan who was beating the laundry, making suspicious squelching sounds.
He then passed a teacher he'd never seen before, wearing a strange hat, who was being collectively lynched by the children.
“Senior, are you in?”
“You used the door today.”
As he opened the door to the director's office, he saw Ivan beyond the still-astonishingly bleak interior.
Ivan was rummaging through a pile of documents with cold eyes.
“What is it?”
“Ah, um. You have a guest?”
“Oh, you must be my big brother's friend! Don't mind me, please carry on with your business!”
“…Big brother…?”
It seemed his senior had surprisingly acquired a much younger brother.
Dmitry stared at the cheerful-looking young man's face for a long moment before snapping his fingers. He'd thought he looked familiar; it was a face he knew.
“Aren't you Sir Karamzin! My, to think I'd see you here!”
“Sir? I'm just a mere student! Please, speak comfortably!”
The incident of high society's worst troublemaker suddenly enrolling in a seminary had been the talk of Pritschenkaya for a while.
Wasn't he the youngest son of the Duke of Karamzin, a family that had produced numerous generals?
A guy like that, calling my senior—who had absolutely no interest in politics—‘big brother’…?
As Dmitry's eyes glinted sharply, Ivan tapped the desk.
“Yevgeny. You may leave.”
“Yes, big brother! Please take your time! I'll be doing my volunteer work!”
“Keep an eye on Mord and see how many pieces of laundry he ruins.”
“Yes, big brother!”
Yujin exited the director's office, walking backward with a sycophantic smile. Dmitry, watching him with a blank expression, tilted his head slightly.
“Your tastes have changed quite a bit, Senior. Didn't you used to dislike guys like him…?”
“The kid is decent.”
“Come to think of it, your disposition seems to have improved a little, too. Sir Enrique really is something.”
Ivan tapped the desk heavily. *Always so impatient.* Dmitry grinned and took a letter from his coat.
“Colonel Kirillovna…?”
“She's the Lord Chamberlain now. Anyway, um, the situation is a bit complicated. And you're the only one who can do it.”
Dmitry handed over the letter and sprawled on the sofa.
“You know, I give you a lot of money every year. You could at least buy a more expensive sofa.”
Ivan, ignoring Dmitry's comment, read the letter and scowled deeply.
This is… a pretty big job.
“Is she serious?”
“Our princess isn't one to joke about such things.”
Infiltrate the Kallion warship floating above Saint Yansk University and threaten the captain.
However, at the same time, avoid casualties among the warship's crew as much as possible.
“The reason?”
“Ah, it's a bit complicated.”
Dmitry frowned. Where to begin explaining this?
“It seems that warship has suffered a malfunction. No matter how crazy those pointy-ears are, they wouldn't commit a military provocation in our capital for over a fortnight. There's no reason for it.”
“And?”
“So. We're going to use this opportunity to bait our Foreign Minister… His Highness Aleksandr.”
Dmitry slowly straightened up. His smile vanished, replaced by the face of a Lieutenant Colonel, an internal affairs inspector for the Counter-Intelligence Command's investigation headquarters.
“The Kallion folk know full well that our country is a mess. And amidst all that, our princess went and personally ‘threatened’ them.”
If the warship comes under a real threat during all this, the captain will certainly try to join hands with the Crown Prince.
That's why she provoked the captain in the first place.
“We need a scene where His Highness the Crown Prince makes contact with the elves. A scene we can use to frame him for plotting a military coup using the elven warship.”
“Drastic.”
“That's how our princess does things.”
“Is that the only objective?”
“Of course not. When have we ever worked like that?”
Dmitry stood up with a sly smile.
“We are going to capture the Kallion warship. While condemning those pointy-ears who dared to aim their cannons right at the Great Krasilov Royal Palace. After declaring that they conspired with His Highness the Crown Prince to stage a coup, we are already prepared to send an official letter of protest to the Kallion Privy Council.”
“Kallion will dismiss it as the rogue action of a single captain, and in return…”
“They will have to approve the ‘docking’ of the ‘totaled’ warship on the outskirts of Pritschenkaya for ‘repairs’.”
The aerial warship is a weapon of war unique to Kallion.
But as is the nature of technology, there is always a risk of it being leaked.
Therefore, we capture the warship. After its capture, under the pretext of repairing the ‘totaled’ warship, we will attempt to reverse-engineer it.
From Kallion's perspective, it's not a total loss. Considering the cost and labor required to build a warship of that size, the number of ships Krasilov can maintain will never surpass Kallion's navy.
But for Krasilov, even a few aerial warships are desperately needed. Without a warm-water port, Krasilov's maritime trade comes to a complete halt in the winter.
If this succeeds, the princess will gain tremendous justification.
Aleksandr won't be ousted by a single plot like this, but he will be driven into a political corner, rendering him immobile for the time being.
And if we acquire the ‘aerial warship designs’ on top of that.
We can sway the military, which has remained neutral in the conflict between the Crown Prince and the princess. A powerful weapon of war is naturally bound to fall into the hands of the military.
Practical gain, justification, and support.
One operation, aiming for three objectives at once. Even if we don't achieve the best outcome, the princess will suffer no damage.
After all, wasn't it the elves' fault for parking their warship in front of the palace in the first place?
“It's impossible without you, Senior. All the agents we can mobilize are exposed, and it's difficult for the undercover guys to carry out the operation.”
Right now, the only force the princess can mobilize in Pritschenkaya is the Counter-Intelligence Command.
Enrique does not follow the court's orders, so the most powerful card the princess has is Ivan.
The Lumberjack, the Butcher of the Seven Dragon Generals, the Great King's Executioner.
‘Little’ Ivan.
“If this one job is wrapped up nicely, you won't have to proceed with the original operation, Senior. If His Highness the Crown Prince ends up in a vegetative state, there will be no need to protect the dignitaries at Saint Yansk University. If you require other compensation… um. Her Highness the Princess asked me to convey this.”
Dmitry hesitated for a moment before speaking cautiously.
“She will offer you the position of Prince Consort… she said.”
“I'll pretend I didn't hear that.”
“Uh… um. Her Highness will be hurt.”
“Tell Her Highness to keep an eye on the sky.”
Ivan said as he rose from his seat.
*
“Any changes?”
“Yep, big brother! The text in the [Quest Window] has changed!”
Ivan nodded at Yujin's words.
After Dmitry left, Yujin had returned to the director's office and quickly wrote down the changed text from the quest window to hand over.
[“B-Rank Chain Quest” Krasilov Palace Intrigue]
[The princess seeks to seize control of the court by exploiting the crown prince's weakness. Now, the fate of the Krasilov royal family lies in your hands!]
[Objective: Following the princess's orders, prove the collusive relationship between the Kallion aerial warship captain and the crown prince.]
[Optional Objective: Survival of all aerial warship crew members]
[Optional Objective: Capture the aerial warship]
[Optional Objective: Report the full details of the plot to Crown Prince Aleksandr and proceed to the next chain quest]
[Objective Reward: ????]
[Failure Penalty: ????]
After reading the memo once, Ivan nodded.
“You'll have to come along on this operation.”
“…Huh? Me?”
“I need to confirm how the success rewards are given and how the quest proceeds.”
This ‘quest’ thing generally appears before an ‘event’ occurs.
It's only natural. They wouldn't give you a quest for an event that's already over.
Therefore, the quest serves as an early warning system for things to come.
In fact, the quest that appeared before Dmitry's visit was [Palace Intrigue]. The kind that required one to grasp the conspiracy surrounding the aerial warship and proceed with the mission by siding with either the princess or the crown prince.
In other words, a ‘faction choice’ quest.
The faction choice hasn't been finalized yet, but the moment I heard the princess's plan, the quest's content changed. To the form of proceeding with the plot or reporting it.
An early warning system that updates in real time. A very useful resource.
Ivan thought as he looked at Yujin, whose value was steadily increasing.
‘The transmigrators I know are the Demon King, the Hero, and myself.’
The commonality between the three of them was that they were beings who had reached the pinnacle in their respective fields.
And considering this kid, though still immature, shows more than enough potential.
‘It's possible the other transmigrators are the same.’
What abilities they possess.
What stories they hold.
And what kind of ending they will meet.
At the end of that conclusion, in what form will they see the ending credits?
The Demon King died, the Hero disappeared, and I still remain.
So what about the other transmigrators? If they bring their stories to a close, will they die? Will they disappear? Or will they remain?
There was much to find out, a clear method to investigate, and a reason to know.
“By tomorrow morning, ‘persuade’ the elf named Oswald and Yuri, and we'll commence the operation tomorrow night.”
“Then what should I do, big brother?”
“Assist.”
I'll have to raise this kid as an agent. Ivan thought to himself and nodded.
*