Chapter 20
“After narrowing it down...
Three.”
It had taken Ivan three full days to reach this point.
Pressing a hand against his tired eyes, he slowly stood.
His selection criteria had been simple.
People who had suddenly begun to stand out.
People whose personalities or dispositions had changed drastically.
People who displayed bizarre patterns of speech or behavior.
Information like this would have been impossible to obtain without the Counterintelligence Command's support.
He would have had to investigate the House of Nobles himself.
“The problem is...
These three.”
One was an orphan admitted through the practical skills scholarship program.
The other two belonged to noble families.
In other words...
Members of the Crown Prince's faction.
They weren't easy to touch.
No matter how well Ivan's employment was disguised, tracing the chain of command would inevitably lead back to personnel within the Counterintelligence Command.
And the Counterintelligence Command was Elizaveta's right hand.
If he carelessly provoked the House of Nobles and exposed that connection, it would damage Elizaveta's political influence.
“So... kidnapping all three would be difficult...”
Ivan tapped the table as he muttered something that would have made both Dmitri and Elizaveta foam at the mouth had they heard it.
One was the academy's famous freshman who had entered on a full scholarship.
Although an orphan, the student had already attracted the attention of numerous organizations.
Provoking someone like that recklessly would end badly.
The remaining two noble children both came from Upper House families.
Naturally, kidnapping them without cause was out of the question.
If he were absolutely certain they were transmigrators, he could act much more boldly.
But at the moment...
He had only circumstantial evidence.
No concrete proof.
Therefore...
“I'll have all three placed under surveillance for now.”
Killing them could be done at any time.
Even kidnapping them wouldn't be particularly difficult.
But if he wanted to resolve everything cleanly and without unnecessary complications...
Preparation came first.
Thus, after three days, Ivan finally returned to work at the academy.
From that day onward...
A strange rumor began spreading throughout St. Yansk University.
That a mysterious figure had begun appearing on campus.
***
Having somehow become an outcast through a cruel twist of fate she couldn't possibly understand, Eshidis found herself with very few options remaining.
Fortunately, the semester had only just begun.
No matter how important first impressions were, there were countless ways to turn things around.
One obvious approach...
Was to befriend someone her uncle himself would hesitate to offend.
The Hero's friend's daughter...!
Whether it was because of a promise between their parents or simply an incredible coincidence, the children of the Hero Party had all ended up in the same year.
No matter how thoughtless her uncle could be, even he wouldn't casually meddle with the Hero's children.
That was how this lunch gathering had come to be.
“It's nice to meet you, Miss Einarsdóttir...?
Is that how I should address you?”
“Oh, that just means 'Einar's daughter.' Between ourselves, just call me Eshidis.”
“Umm...
Even so...
You're still... a princess.”
“Hahaha.
A princess?
This is honestly the first time anyone's treated me like one.
I'm actually getting emotional...”
Her eyes glistening with tears, Eshidis enthusiastically shook the pretty girl's hand.
“Ah, I was a little rude, wasn't I?
I'm sorry.
I've known Isabel for a while...
You're a freshman in the Faculty of Knighthood too, right?
May I ask your name?”
“I'm Yuri Frank.
Please just call me Yuri, Miss Eshidis.”
“Ecdy, quit fawning over her already.
You'd think she was someone incredibly important.”
“I'm sorry!
I don't know the list of Krasilov's court nobles...!”
“No, what are you talking about...?!
I'm not a noble!
Please don't say things like that!”
Isabel poked Eshidis with a grin.
Seriously...
Who in the world ranked above royalty?
Seeing Eshidis hesitate in complete confusion, Yuri blushed slightly before speaking.
“I'm just an orphan.
To be honest...
Frank isn't even my real father's surname.”
“And besides...
Yuri is a boy's name.”
“But it's hard for a girl to survive on the streets using a girl's name.”
Yuri answered with an easygoing smile.
Isabel chuckled before turning back toward Eshidis.
“She's the full-scholarship student in our department.
Seriously, she's amazing with a sword.”
“Wow...
Even better than Isabel?”
“Better than me—and even better than Oskar.
Honestly, I was shocked.
Where did someone like her even come from?”
“You're giving me far too much credit.
I was just lucky.”
“If luck let you beat us, then that's called skill.”
Warmth slowly spread through Eshidis' heart.
Yes...
This is how it should be.
A lively spring.
Warm sunshine.
Sharing a meal while praising one another's abilities.
Friendly competition.
This was the dream.
Without realizing it, she sniffled quietly and deliberately pushed from her mind the image of her uncle, who was probably fooling around with the students from the Faculty of Knighthood right about now.
***
Isabel.
Eshidis.
And the freshman.
Perched atop a tree, Ivan quietly observed the group while turning another page in his notebook.
He hadn't gotten close enough to hear their conversation.
But he was an exceptionally skilled lip-reader.
The conversation appeared perfectly ordinary.
The name...
Yuri.
Or perhaps Yuli.
Both names appeared in the freshman registry.
However, among those listed in his suspect file...
Yuri was the more likely match.
That presented a problem.
Of all people...
The suspect had made contact with members of the Hero Party.
And of all names...
It had to be Yuri.
Naturally, within Krasilov's culture, Yuri was a masculine name.
But in Korea...
And, more broadly, throughout East Asia...
It was commonly used as a feminine name.
If there was a woman named Yuri...
The odds that she was a transmigrator increased considerably.
Ivan drew another red line beneath the suspect's name.
One more reason to keep a close watch.
Enrique merely shrugged before melting back into the shadows.
“What's that bastard doing?”
Wearing a wide-brimmed hat, Enrique stared blankly at her disciple.
Normally, Ivan was sensitive enough to notice anyone approaching from this distance.
Yet he was concentrating so intensely that he hadn't even realized she had come near.
She turned her gaze toward the direction Ivan was watching.
In the distance...
Several freshmen were chatting together on a bench.
An utterly ordinary scene.
“Hmm... Isabel...?
That one must be Eshidis ...
Those two were close to begin with...
But who's that?”
The Counterintelligence Command had begged her to come take a look for herself.
When she finally did, she found Ivan tailing freshmen as though he were a field agent.
“He doesn't seem like he's lost his mind.
Maybe they were just overreacting.”
That emotionless gaze.
That nearly flawless concealment despite his apparent lack of caution.
It was the Ivan she knew.
As obsessively vigilant as ever.
***
“Yevgeny! Wait up! Let's go together! Which class are you taking this afternoon? I-I'm heading to the Biblical Interpretation orientation!”
“Classical Gospel Language Studies. Sorry.”
“O-Oh, it's okay! I'll... I'll see you later! Have a good class!”
Watching the student—whose name he couldn't even remember—walk away with a smile, the young man called Yevgeny let his expression harden as he walked through the Theology Building's corridor.
What a pain.
And honestly... this is confusing.
If I'd known there'd be this much to study, I never would've chosen Theology.
But at the time... it really was my best option.
There's no way I can make a living swinging a sword.
It was the only logical conclusion.
He'd never held anything more dangerous than a kitchen knife in his entire life.
There was no way he could suddenly start hacking apart monsters and demons.
On the other hand, choosing a profession that never participated in combat would be just as problematic.
He needed a class that at least entered the battlefield.
Which was why he had chosen Theology.
After becoming a priest, he'd gain access to every sort of buff and healing spell imaginable.
He'd even learn Holy Smite-type offensive miracles.
Besides...
This body is actually talented with a sword.
The protagonist of The Sword Genius, Good-for-Nothing Young Master of the Northern Grand Duke's House, Eugene, was a genuine sword prodigy.
The system itself proved it.
While every other freshman hovered around Levels 8 to 10 with unimpressive combat abilities...
This body had started its very first day after transmigration with [Sword Mastery Lv.5].
That already placed him roughly one tier below a first-year instructor in Yansk University's Faculty of Knighthood.
In other words...
He had already surpassed the level of an ordinary freshman.
The problem was...
Knowing swordsmanship and actually using it to butcher another human being were two completely different things.
For a modern Korean who had never even wrung a chicken's neck...
That hurdle was simply too high.
“Which is exactly why becoming a priest is the best choice...”
A rear-line support.
A class that simply healed allies instead of charging into battle.
If he also happened to wield a sword better than most people...
Then he'd become the picture-perfect overpowered protagonist.
People had always said your true talent should remain your side job.
After all, wasn't it natural that an idol who happened to be an excellent actor became even more popular than a full-time actor?
The only two problems were...
First...
St. Yansk University's Theology curriculum was every bit as brutal as a modern Korean university.
Second...
A deranged Santa Claus with murder in his eyes was chasing him.
Seriously... what the hell is that guy?!
Nothing like this had ever happened in the original novel.
In fact...
This world barely resembled the original novel at all.
The original story hadn't featured some vaguely communist empire.
There had been no Demon King.
No Hero Party.
It had simply been a fairly standard noble-family novel where the protagonist spent roughly a thousand chapters battling an evil family of mages.
The only things this world still shared with that novel were...
The familiar skill tree.
The familiar status window.
And the familiar circumstances surrounding the protagonist's family.
A Northern Grand Duke...?
This country's called Krasilov, and it's already in the far north.
How does a Northern Grand Duke even make sense?!
And why can't I even see that guy's level?!
He knew that once the level difference became too great, the displayed value changed into "???".
But there had to be limits.
Why in the world was a university gardener's level like that?
He couldn't help remembering that even the head of his own household was only Level 59.
Despair washed over him.
Then, as he desperately looked away...
There he was.
A bearded madman.
Perched atop a tree.
Staring directly at him with wide-open eyes.
Apparently nobody else had noticed.
He had been trying his best to ignore him.
But through [Expanded Intuition Lv.3], the figure remained faintly visible.
...!
***
“He's tailing three people.”
Enrique was now certain.
At first she'd assumed he'd simply been ordered to protect the Hero Party's children.
But something had felt off, so she'd followed him herself.
The problem was...
The three targets had absolutely nothing in common.
One belonged to Theology.
One to the Faculty of Knighthood.
The last to the Faculty of Magic.
Even their backgrounds were completely different.
A duke's son.
An orphan.
The youngest daughter of a viscount.
Nothing matched.
And then there was that killing intent.
The way he stared at them...
Like a tiger crouching silently inside the undergrowth, glaring at sworn enemies.
“...”
“Maybe...
He really shouldn't be allowed to get anywhere near those kids.”
The orphan had practically smashed through the scholarship system with sheer talent and was already being courted by organizations from every direction.
The other two were nobles from House of Nobles families.
Clearly members of the Crown Prince's faction.
There was nothing to gain by provoking them.
To make matters worse, one belonged to the Faculty of Magic while the other studied Theology.
Those two departments shared one important trait.
Neither department chair was from Krasilov.
The Theology Department was, naturally, headed by the Saint.
The Faculty of Magic was overseen by the elves of Calion.
In other words...
Attacking either student would create a diplomatic disaster.
“Come on...
Surely...
Even he wouldn't go that far...?”
Enrique chuckled to herself.
Yet deep down...
She couldn't completely dismiss the possibility.
If anyone would have some absurd reason to do exactly that...
It would be that lunatic.
The Hero Party's thief.
The vampire who had ruled Pritchenkaya's underworld for over a century.
Prepared to intervene at any moment if the situation spiraled out of control...
She continued stalking the student-stalker.
***
He saw my eyes.
He'd been following from well outside the Theology Building.
Yet that man had still detected him.
With dry, unwavering eyes, Ivan continued watching the young man listed in his Suspect File.
Yevgeny Novikov Karamzin.
Yevgeny was an ordinary name.
Nothing remarkable about it.
However...
Across much of Asia, Yevgeny was also rendered as Eugene.
Naturally, not in reference to Saint Eugenius.
It simply meant the name existed in both European and Asian cultures.
Which made the man recorded in his file another likely transmigrator.
Ivan drew a second red line beneath the name.
Detected concealed surveillance.
Suspicious behavior.
Suspicious name.