Chapter 10

In the end, Ivan was the first to raise his hand.

In other words, he cautiously began revealing information.

After all, he had to save Priscilla's life first.

(Of course, it wasn't just Priscilla's life. Ivan had no confidence whatsoever in defeating Enrique.)

"...I heard you've taken on a disciple."

"Oh?"

A deep smile spread across Enrique's face as she tilted her head.

For a brief moment, Ivan tightened his grip around the haft of his hatchet before forcing himself to relax.

That expression...

She only makes that face when she's in a bad mood.

"Go on."

"I heard they're planning to enroll at Yansk University this year."

"Hmm... and?"

"Someone was worried. If anything were to happen to them, it would be a tremendous loss for the nation."

What Ivan meant was this:

'Elizaveta was worried about your disciple, so she ordered me to protect them.'

'That's my job these days. You know what Elizaveta's like.'

'But if you don't understand what I'm saying... I'll have to assume you've sided with Aleksandr.'

However, what Enrique heard was something entirely different.

"We've already identified your disciple's identity, location, and personal information."

"I was paid handsomely for it."

"It would be such a shame... if they happened to get hurt. So watch yourself."

The nerve.

The absolute nerve.

To stab your own revered master in the back?

Who accepted the contract? Aleksandr? Has that bastard finally decided to get rid of me?

And this brat...

If I'd been hired to kill him, I would've refused—or at the very least warned him in advance!

Instead, he barges in here, threatens me, and now he's using my disciple as leverage?

And he still calls himself my disciple...?

Just what kind of monster did I raise?

If these are the only disciples of mine who survived the last war... then what have I...

Still smiling from ear to ear, Enrique slowly nodded.

"I see. So that's how it is."

"Yeah. Nothing serious."

"Hmm... nothing serious, you say?"

"...Mm."

The atmosphere turned ice-cold as they exchanged curt replies.

Even so, Ivan relaxed a little.

She seemed to be in a foul mood for some reason, but at least she appeared to understand the situation.

If that was the case...

Then the problem was essentially solved.

After receiving a warning like this, even once the "Tutorial" began, Enrique's disciple wouldn't end up in any real danger.

Enrique herself would protect them.

Lucky.

Priscilla's kidnapping had unexpectedly led him here, but the meeting had produced far greater results than he'd anticipated.

That leaves only three of the 'protagonists' whose tutorials haven't begun.

Even the earliest one is still more than two weeks away.

"Lucia! Lucia! Come in!"

"Yeees, Master!"

With a cheerful reply, someone opened the reception room door.

A young woman in her late teens entered, her glossy chestnut hair swaying behind her.

Wearing a smile that seemed almost testing, Enrique looked toward Ivan.

"Go on. Say hello. This is your senior disciple."

"I've heard so much about you, Sir Petrovich! Master always told me to become even half the person you are!"

No. Don't praise him.

That ungrateful little brat.

Grinding her teeth inwardly, Enrique somehow managed to keep smiling.

"...She's human?"

"Huh? Yes, of course...?"

"'Of course'...? Do you know what race your master belongs to?"

"Master is human!"

Lucia answered confidently, puffing out her chest.

"My master may have rather unusual dietary needs, but she cherishes me and protects this country. She is a true hero! If you ask me what truly defines a person's race, my answer would be their humanity, Sir Petrovich!"

"Oh..."

Ivan couldn't help but admire the answer.

After the war against the demon race, the United Kingdom had become fiercely hostile toward other races and demi-humans.

Naturally.

Most of the nation's citizens had lost close family members to the demon race.

(Elves were a separate matter. Despite belonging to the United Kingdom, those pointy-eared people were shunned largely because of their notoriously awful personalities.)

Against that backdrop...

The idea that race wasn't defined by species itself, but by one's humanity—

That was the sort of open-minded thinking one would expect to find on 21st-century Earth, not in this dreadful fantasy world.

And after hearing such an astonishing answer—

A breathtakingly radical idea by this world's standards—

Enrique's expression melted into a proud grin.

"See? I've taught her everything I know. It'll take her time to truly master it, but she's already learned it all. If there's another Hero's Party in the next generation, she'll be the perfect choice."

Ivan couldn't disagree.

Since she could even walk beneath the sun, she'd fit the Hero's Party even better than Enrique herself.

Moreover...

The phrase 'I've taught her everything, but mastery will take time' gave Ivan another realization.

She's talking about the skill tree.

In most games, characters automatically acquire new skills whenever they level up.

Which was, when you thought about it, rather strange.

Whether they were adventuring or fighting, a new technique would suddenly pop into their heads out of nowhere.

Apparently, this game worked differently.

"You've already learned it. You simply lack the experience and mastery to use it."

That description fit perfectly.

Ivan silently nodded.

"She's a disciple I'm proud of. Better than me... no, better than all of us. She's the precious child I found in my later years. Which is why..."

"I don't want to kill you, Ivan."

"...Hm?"

Out of nowhere?

Ivan flinched and instinctively rested his hand on the haft of his hatchet again.

Facing Enrique alone was daunting enough.

Facing both master and disciple in a two-on-one battle, inside Enrique's own dungeon, while a hostage was involved...

There was no guarantee he could win.

He watched her hands carefully, his expression grave.

"For the sake of the memories we share, I'm asking you."

"Leave this side of the world."

"This is my territory."

Enrique spoke with complete sincerity.

In other words...

There only needed to be one assassination organization operating in this city.

Don't earn blood money in the city's underworld.

That wasn't why you'd retired.

Aleksandr couldn't be trusted.

If he insisted on getting involved in politics, he should align himself with Elizaveta instead.

That was the message she desperately wished to convey.

And then—

"So... it came to this after all."

Ivan slowly rose to his feet, tightening his grip around his hatchet.

So Enrique really has sided with Aleksandr.

Fighting a member of the Hero's Party was clearly beyond the scope of his duties.

But it seemed unavoidable.

"What did Aleksandr offer you in exchange? People? Blood? Territory?"

"...What?"

"If you still stand with the House of Krasilov, then let me ask, in the name of the memories we share."

"Where does your loyalty truly lie?"

"...Huh?"

After staring into Ivan’s eyes for a long moment, Enrique broke into a cold sweat and spoke.

“Weren’t you working with Aleksandr?”

“What are you talking about? I have never once met that man with a smile on my face.”

“Neither have I.”

“...Hm?”

A brief silence settled between them.

“So, then... you didn’t gather up a bunch of orphans and teach them assassination techniques?”

“Our orphanage curriculum complies with the standard education program.”

“Then what was that girl? She’d properly mastered ambush techniques!”

“That was the children’s own effort. They’ve been training hard in various fields while looking into possible employment after graduation.”

“You didn’t teach her?”

“No.”

Another silence fell.

So she had really just been some fifteen-year-old orphan who happened to be good at sneaking around?

And Enrique had simply kidnapped her, used her to summon this man, and then threatened him...?

No, wait.

“Then what was all that about my disciple? Why did her name suddenly come out of your mouth?”

“Elizaveta asked me to do it. She said many children of former Hero’s Party members would be enrolling this year and told me to guard them from the shadows. Had you not heard?”

“No! That little brat, seriously! Why would she ask you when I’m still perfectly alive and well? Who does she think is washed up?!”

Enrique shouted before collapsing limply against the sofa.

“This is exhausting. Seriously. Talking to you is always like this. Why is God so fair? He should have given you at least a little skill with words. That’s the only thing you’re missing.”

“That is not true.”

How dare some prehistoric old monster say such nonsense to a man educated in twenty-first-century argumentative writing?

The Kim Sunwoo inside him surged up in outrage, only to be suppressed by Ivan and forced back down.

“You see that? This is what your senior disciple is like. He speaks in half-sentences, so nothing in the conversation ever connects properly. Honestly.”

“Uh... um.”

Lucia hesitated, seemingly bewildered by how the atmosphere in the reception room had abruptly flared up and then died down.

“I think the two of you suit each other very well!”

“That is not true.”

“What are you talking about?!”

Laughing brightly, Lucia carefully closed the door and slipped away.

After a short silence, Enrique lifted her teacup.

“Want me to bring you another coffee?”

“This is fine.”

It had gone completely cold, but it still tasted good.

Ivan had originally come from a country where people filled espresso with ice, so he did not care much about the temperature of his coffee.

Thus, the parent-teacher consultation for a prospective student of Saint Yansk University concluded successfully.

***

“Directoooor!”

The moment the door opened, Priscilla rushed out and threw herself into his arms.

Ivan carefully patted her shoulders a few times before pulling her away.

“From now on, do not look for work in deserted places.”

“Yes, yes! It was really, really scary!”

“It is all right now. Do not worry.”

He took a handkerchief from inside his coat, wiped Priscilla’s cheeks, and began walking.

They left the reception room and Enrique’s dungeon, passed through the underground sewer, and returned to the surface.

They made their way out of the back alleys and continued toward the main road.

After walking for a long time without exchanging a word, Priscilla suddenly stopped.

“Um, Director.”

“Mm.”

“This is just... just in case.”

Standing beneath a streetlamp glowing with magical light, Priscilla tightly gripped the hem of her skirt.

“Are you... preparing to leave somewhere?”

“Probably.”

Once preparations were complete and the new semester at Yansk University began in earnest, Ivan would inevitably have to leave the orphanage.

Under a new identity, he would work as a “gardener” and protect the children of the Hero’s Party.

For about three years.

To him, that was not a particularly long time.

But it was different for the children.

They had spent their entire lives as war orphans, and now that they had finally found a home, they could not bear to lose it.

It was a family they had barely managed to create.

A place to sleep they had only just obtained.

A “home of their own” they had fought desperately to secure.

From the perspective of children who had always been abandoned, it had only been two years.

Even so, the orphanage had become their final refuge—the one place they never wanted to be cast out from again.

Priscilla continued haltingly, her voice thick with tears.

“I... sniff... I wish you wouldn’t go. If you... hic... if you disappear, then we’ll be abandoned again... hic...”

“Hmm...”

Ivan removed his coat and draped it over Priscilla’s shoulders.

He remained silent for a moment.

He had no memory of ever comforting a child.

He had certainly never comforted a young girl before.

Searching through Kim Sunwoo’s old memories was no help either.

Kim Sunwoo had been a freak who spent all day reading webtoons and web novels, then posted 5,700-character hate comments every single day.

And there was no need to mention the years after that.

Ivan had devoted more than half his life to military service, so he could not easily think of how to address someone without using either an axe or a bullet.

“Do not worry. I will visit often.”

“Where... where are you going?”

Surely it was fine to tell her this much.

She was practically his daughter, and it was not especially important information.

Flustered by Priscilla’s tears, Ivan answered.

“Saint Yansk University.”

“You have to come back.”

“I am not leaving immediately, nor am I leaving forever.”

He had poured far too much effort and affection into the orphanage to abandon it.

To Ivan, the orphanage was no different from home.

The director’s office was the only sanctuary in his heart.

Resolving himself firmly, he patted Priscilla’s trembling shoulders a few times and turned away.

And then—

Saint Yansk University.

I heard the entrance examination is difficult...

The exam for next year’s admissions will be held this coming November.

Every resident of the Vasilisha Orphanage—

would now begin studying for the Yansk University entrance examination!