Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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>Translator: Lord First
>Chapter: 47
>Chapter Title: Stalker vs. Stalker (2)
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*
Ivan didn't pay much mind to maintaining a low profile. He knew this attitude often yielded better results.
A university is fundamentally an open space. As long as one didn't try to enter a lecture hall, no one would stop them from coming or going.
Moreover, students are indifferent to others. Like most people, no student pays attention to the every move of a staff member.
To students, the faculty and staff were nothing more than figures who faded into the periphery.
Therefore, Ivan had already figured out that walking around normally in plain clothes was far more effective for maintaining security than actively trying to hide.
But there was a problem. If ‘someone’ started paying attention to him, the entire security strategy he'd built would crumble.
And at this very moment, there was one student who was hanging on Ivan's every move….
‘What is she doing?’
Ivan frowned at the ticklish sensation of a gaze constantly following him.
Why on earth is she acting like that?
He bent over, pretending to tie his shoelace, and casually glanced behind him.
Esidis was glaring at him, her eyes burning with intensity.
‘Is that… camouflage?’
Holding a leafy branch she must have broken off from somewhere to cover her face, she was tiptoeing through the bushes.
The people of Droan were large. The men were brawny, while the women were sizable in a slightly different sense.
Esidis, who had inherited the finest Droan bloodline, possessed a destructive physique despite her small, animal-like appearance.
This meant a mere branch was useless for concealing her considerable height and something even larger than that.
Ivan watched her for a moment with a look of pity, then took out a notepad.
-Esidis. Suspect academic dishonesty in her course credits. Cognitive abilities are remarkably low.
Ivan was an honest man, so he had no hesitation in writing down the facts. He closed the notepad and started walking again.
He headed toward the Knight Division's main building. A familiar spell was stimulating his senses.
The Counter-Intelligence Command was calling him.
*
Esidis tiptoed forward, her lips dry with tension.
Her concealment was perfect. None of her uncles had ever noticed when she snuck around. (The Huscarls were rather indulgent of their niece's pranks.)
Therefore, she was spying on Ivan with great confidence.
He was a strange man.
Sometimes he would suddenly vanish from sight, and just as she was getting startled, she'd find him up in a tree, surveying the area.
The Magic Division, the Knight Division, and surprisingly, even the Philosophy Department. Ivan moved about restlessly, glaring at someone.
Then he would suddenly frown and, like a ghost, dash and throw himself into a bush from which cigarette smoke was rising.
He would stride into a department building, only to disappear like a phantom!
-Gardener?
>-Never seen him tend to a garden.
>-Is there anything that could be called a garden on campus?
>-Not sure… What does he do? Constantly watching someone.
>-Doesn't rest. Why? Is he hired by someone? Or is it a hobby?
She scribbled notes in her notebook, overcome with confusion.
That diligent stalker was roaming the campus ceaselessly, without resting or eating…!
What on earth made that man this way?
At this point, her curiosity outweighed her fear. Esidis nibbled on her sandwich as she searched for Ivan.
He had vanished from sight again. He seemed to be heading somewhere in the Knight Division building, but when he turned a corner, he disappeared like smoke.
“Hmm, where could he have gone?”
She wiped the mustard from the corner of her mouth and trudged on.
*
‘I don't know the reason, but Esidis is attempting to watch me.’
But that was out of the question. It was a bit of a nuisance, but he hadn't grown so dull as to be tailed by a novice like her.
Ivan thought as he walked down a corridor under a 'perception-altering' spell.
“Dmitry.”
“Been well, Senior?”
Not a single student was in the department building's hallway. This was due to the Counter-Intelligence Command's 'perception-altering' spell.
In the middle of the hallway, Dmitry stood holding a yellow manila envelope, gazing out the window.
“You appeared the moment I cast the spell, Senior. I always think this, but you're really amazing.”
“What brings you to the university, Dmitry?”
“Well, um. One thing to ask, one thing to report. That's about it… Uh. Yes.”
Dmitry took out a file and handed it to him.
“We've found a lead on the entrance ceremony bombing.”
“Then shouldn't you just resolve it?”
“There's a bit of a problem.”
The Krasilov Counter-Intelligence Command was competent. In fact, it was the most competent of all Krasilov's administrative bodies.
Fundamentally, Krasilov—no, this barbaric, pre-modern society—was rife with corruption. An official who didn't take bribes was like a unicorn or a dragon. (Meaning, they did exist.)
Even so, the Counter-Intelligence Command was extremely incorruptible. It had to be, with Princess Elizaveta as its head.
Therefore, it was strange for the matter to be passed on to Ivan if the Command had already tracked down the terrorists.
Ivan frowned and tore open the envelope.
“Droan…?”
“Yes, Droan.”
Droan, the land of warriors. Einar's homeland.
That nation ordered a bombing in the heart of Krasilov?
Ivan flipped through the documents, lost in thought.
“When we dismantled the mana bomb used then, we found most of the parts came from Droan.”
“Droan ordered a mana bomb attack? Do you think that makes any sense?”
“Of course, by common sense, it's impossible, right?”
“Hmm…”
The warriors of Droan were a people widely known for harvesting enemy skulls with axes in the time it would take to plan a bombing.
Therefore, thinking conversely, they were also the ones least likely to be suspected when a bombing occurred.
After all, the 'common sense' of the Counter-Intelligence Command had to be the polar opposite of civilian common sense.
If there were those whom no one would suspect, they were, conversely, the ones who should be suspected the most.
“So we dug a little deeper. Please read from page 11.”
“…Looks like Einar's cleanup was sloppy.”
“Yes. It's not like Great King Einar, is it? Showing mercy to his enemies.”
After the Demon King's death and before Einar returned to his homeland, Droan was not a unified nation.
It was an era of warring states, with numerous warlords called 'Jarls' running rampant. With the threat of the Demon King gone, they were now running wild like untethered colts.
In such a time, Einar founded a nation with two axes. That is why he is called 'Great King'.
Einar brought peace to his homeland, and a sense of identity as a single people.
Or so it was known.
“So one of the five Jarls who submitted to Einar is the culprit. Has this information reached Einar?”
“The Director is currently considering it. If Einar finds out…”
“There will be a bloodbath.”
“Yes, and with our borders touching, we'll certainly be affected as well. And as you know… Crown Prince Aleksandr's whereabouts are currently unknown. The military's movements are also suspicious.”
Ivan flipped to the end of the file, infused mana into the magic circle on the last page, and dusted off his hands.
The confidential document instantly burst into flames and scattered as ash.
“We know who ordered the attack, but we can't seem to catch the ones who are actually preparing it. But their target is clearly…”
“Esidis.”
“Yes, Great King Einar's most cherished daughter. If she were to die or be injured, knowing the Great King's personality, a war would break out immediately. The responsibility would fall to Her Highness the Princess. Since she is the Director of the Counter-Intelligence Command.”
“Then the military would support the Crown Prince.”
The military needs war to justify its existence. Conversely, in a nation without the threat of war, disarmament is inevitable.
Only four years have passed since the Demonic War. The nation is rebuilding, and the Royal Household Department has been diverting funds meant for maintaining the legions to reconstruction efforts.
Therefore, if anyone desired war right now, it was the military.
And the Crown Prince, who wanted to oust the Head of the Royal Household, Princess Elizaveta.
“The terrorists will definitely target Esidis again, Senior.”
“Relay this to Her Highness the Princess.”
Ivan glanced down the empty hallway and turned.
“That I will do what must be done.”
“Thank you for your dedication, ‘Little’ Ivan.”
“It’s nothing.”
Ivan gave a short shake of his head and left. Watching his retreating back, Dmitry dusted off his hands.
The 'perception-altering' magic circle at the end of the hall crumbled, and students began to enter the hallway again.
In the now-bustling hallway, there was no trace of Dmitry.
*
Ivan was a very logical person, so he formulated a plan with simple deduction.
1. Someone is targeting Esidis.
>2. For some unknown reason, Esidis is attempting to watch him.
Combining the information that his protection target was in danger with the surprising fact that said target was tracking him led to a simple and clear solution.
QED) He simply had to remain consistently within Esidis's line of sight, making it easier for her to watch him.
There was no reason to hide in this fortunate situation where the target of his surveillance and protection was willingly following him. By simply revealing himself, he could keep Esidis within his own field of vision.
At the same time, by lurking near Esidis, he would inevitably be able to get on the trail of the 'unidentified terrorists'.
As he had once recalled, a well-trained agent never moves with only a single objective in mind.
To set up two or more objectives with a single move.
That was the way of the Annihilation Squad.
*
‘What in the world…?!’
Esidis spilled her coffee, dribbling it down her front, as she stared blankly at the space behind the roadside trees.
“Essie? What's wrong?”
“Uh, um. Uh, uh-huh. Um… Um… Bella, is Bella nearby?”
“No? Isabelle said she was eating lunch separately today because of class… Why?”
“Then… then… me…?”
Staring at the gardener who was glaring at her from behind the trees, Esidis looked like she was about to cry.
“I'm the target…?”
“Huh? What do you mean…?”
“No, it's nothing. Nothing… Yuri. I'm going to head out first. I'm sorry.”
“It's okay, I had to get going for my next class anyway. See you tomorrow!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Esidis staggered away. Standing at the entrance to the Orchestra Division's main building, she looked back with a trembling gaze.
“...!”
At the exact same distance as before.
‘He’ was glaring at her.
Esidis suddenly felt like crying.
*