Chapter 47 - Stalker vs. Stalker (2)

Ivan paid little attention to concealing his movements and intentions. He knew that this approach actually produced better results.

A university was, fundamentally, an open space. Nobody stopped anyone from coming or going, provided they stayed out of the classrooms.

Besides, students were indifferent to other people. Like most people, no student paid attention to every little movement a “staff member” made. To students, university staff were merely figures who faded away at the edges of their vision.

Ivan had therefore already established that walking around normally in ordinary clothes did more to maintain operational security than making a deliberate effort to hide.

There was, however, one problem. If “someone” began paying attention to him, the entire security strategy he had built would collapse. And at this very moment, one student was concentrating all her attention on his every move...

'What is she doing?'

Ivan frowned at the prickling gaze that followed him relentlessly. Why on earth was she doing that?

He bent down as though to tie his shoelaces, casually looking behind him. Esidisi was glaring at him with blazing eyes.

'Is that... camouflage...?'

She was creeping through the bushes, hiding her face behind a leafy branch she had snapped off somewhere.

The people of Droan were large. The men were hulking, and the women tended to be enormous in a slightly different sense. Esidisi, who had inherited Droan's finest bloodline, possessed a devastating physical asset despite her small-animal looks.

In short, a branch like that was useless for concealing her considerable height and something even more considerable.

Ivan regarded her for a moment as though she were pathetic, then took out his notes.

[Esidisi. Grounds to suspect cheating in the acquisition of course credits. Cognitive ability markedly deficient.]

An honest man, Ivan had no qualms about recording facts. He closed his notes and resumed walking.

He headed toward the Knight Department's main building. A familiar spell was stimulating his senses. Counterintelligence Command was calling him.

* * *

Esidisi crept along, so tense that her lips were parched.

Her concealment was perfect. None of her uncles had ever noticed her when she sneaked around. (Huscarls tended to indulge their niece's games.) She was therefore brimming with confidence as she spied on Ivan.

He was a peculiar man.

Sometimes he would abruptly vanish from view. While she was still startled, he would already be up a tree, surveying his surroundings.

The Magic Department, the Knight Department, and, astonishingly, even Philosophy. Ivan was constantly on the move, staring at someone.

Then he would suddenly scowl, dash off with uncanny speed, and throw himself into bushes where cigarette smoke was rising. Or he would seem to stride into a department building, only to vanish like a ghost!

[Gardener? Never seen him tend a garden. Is there anywhere on campus that could be called a garden? Don't know... What does he do? Keeps watching people. Never rests. Why? Has someone hired him? Or is it a hobby?]

Confusion engulfed her as she scribbled in her notebook. That diligent stalker kept roaming the campus without resting or eating...!

What on earth had made him like this? At this point, curiosity was beginning to outweigh fear. Esidisi searched for Ivan as she munched on a sandwich.

He had vanished again. He had seemed to be heading somewhere in the Knight Department building, but once he turned a corner, he disappeared like smoke.

“Hmm, hmm. Where did he go?”

She wiped the mustard from around her mouth and trotted along.

* * *

'I don't know why, but Esidisi is attempting to keep me under surveillance.'

She didn't stand a chance, though. Annoying as it might be, he hadn't grown rusty enough to let a novice like her stay on his tail. Ivan considered this as he walked down a corridor under a “recognition-obscuring” spell.

“Dmitry.”

“Have you been well, sir?”

Not a single student was walking through the department building's corridor, thanks to Counterintelligence Command's “recognition-obscuring” spell. Halfway down it, Dmitry stood looking out the window, a yellow document envelope in hand.

“You showed up the moment I laid down the spell, sir. I always think this, but you really are incredible.”

“What brings you to the university, Dmitry?”

“Well, um. One thing to ask, one thing to report. That's what I've got... Um. Yes.”

Dmitry took out a file and handed it over.

“We've found a lead on the entrance ceremony bombing.”

“Then shouldn't you simply take care of it?”

“There are a few complications.”

Krasilof's Counterintelligence Command was competent. In fact, it was the most competent organization in the entire Krasilof administration.

Fundamentally, Krasilof—no. This entire backward, premodern society was rife with corruption. A civil servant who had never taken a bribe was like a unicorn or a dragon. (Meaning they did exist.)

Even amid all this, Counterintelligence Command was incorruptible to an extreme. With Princess Elizaveta at its head, it could hardly be otherwise.

Thus, if Counterintelligence Command had tracked down the terrorists, it was strange that the matter should reach Ivan at all. Frowning, he tore open the document envelope.

“Droan...?”

“Yes. Droan.”

Droan, the land of warriors. Einar's homeland. That country had commissioned a bombing in the heart of Krasilof?

Ivan leafed through the documents, lost in thought.

“We took apart the mana bombs used that day. Most of the components came from Droan.”

“Droan commissioned a mana-bomb attack? Does that make sense to you?”

“By common sense, of course it would be impossible, wouldn't it?”

“Hmm...”

Droan's warriors were widely known as the sort who would rather harvest their enemies' skulls with axes than spend time on a bombing. Looking at it the other way, that also made them the least likely suspects when a bombing occurred.

Counterintelligence Command's “common sense” was, by necessity, the exact opposite of a civilian's. If there were people no one would suspect, they were precisely the people the command had to suspect most.

“So we dug a little deeper. Read from page eleven.”

“... It seems Einar did a sloppy job finishing things.”

“Yes. Not like the Great King Einar, is it? Showing mercy to his enemies.”

After the Demon King's death, and until Einar returned home, Droan had not been a single nation. It had been an age of warring states, with countless warlords called “Jarls” vying for power. Now that even the Demon King's threat was gone, they were running wild like unbridled colts.

In that tumultuous age, Einar had founded a nation with two axes. That was why he was called the “Great King.” He had brought peace to his homeland and a national identity as one people.

Or so the story went.

“So one of the five Jarls who submitted to Einar is responsible. Has Einar received this information?”

“The minister is considering that now. If Einar learns of this...”

“There will be a bloodbath.”

“Yes, and since we share a border, we're bound to be affected too. And as you know... Crown Prince Alexander's whereabouts are currently unknown. The military has been making suspicious moves as well.”

Ivan finished leafing through the file, fed mana into the magic circle on the last page, and shook off his hands. The classified documents burst into flames in an instant and scattered as ash.

“We know who commissioned the attack, but we haven't been able to catch the people who actually prepared it. Still, their target is clearly...”

“Esidisi.”

“Yes. The Great King Einar's most cherished daughter. If that child dies or gets hurt, given his temperament, war will break out immediately. Her Highness the Princess will bear the responsibility, as the minister in charge of Counterintelligence Command.”

“Then the military will support the Crown Prince.”

The military needed war to perpetuate itself. Conversely, in a nation without the threat of war, military cuts were inevitable.

Only four years had passed since the war against the demons. The nation was rebuilding, and the Palace Ministry was diverting the funds needed to maintain the legions into reconstruction.

Thus, if anyone wanted war most at present, it was the military. And the Crown Prince, who wanted to bring down the Palace Minister, Princess Elizaveta.

“The terrorists will definitely target Esidisi again, sir.”

“Tell Her Highness the Princess.”

Ivan glanced down the empty corridor and turned away.

“I will do what must be done.”

“Thank you for your dedication, ‘Little’ Ivan.”

“Think nothing of it.”

Ivan gave a brief shake of his head and left. After watching him go, Dmitry shook off his hands.

The “recognition-obscuring” magic circle at the end of the corridor crumbled, and students began entering again. By the time they returned, no trace of Dmitry remained.

* * *

Ivan was a highly logical man, so he devised an operation through simple reasoning.

1. Someone was targeting Esidisi.

2. For some unknown reason, Esidisi was attempting to keep him under surveillance.

Combining the intelligence that his charge was in danger with the astonishing fact that she was tracking him yielded a straightforward solution.

QED) He simply had to remain consistently in view so Esidisi could watch him easily.

In this welcome situation, where the person he was meant to watch and protect was following him of her own accord, there was no reason to hide. Merely remaining in plain sight would let him keep Esidisi within his own field of vision.

At the same time, lurking in her vicinity would surely let him pick up the trail of the “unidentified terrorists.”

As he had reflected before, a well-trained agent never acted with only one objective at a time. Every move laid the groundwork for at least two aims. That was the Extermination Unit's way.

* * *

'No, what on earth...?!'

Esidisi let her coffee dribble out as she drank, then stared blankly at the space behind a roadside tree.

“Eshi? What's wrong?”

“Oh, um. Uh, uhh. Hmm... Hmm... Is Bella, is Bella nearby?”

“No? Isabelle said she'd be eating lunch separately because of her classes today... Why?”

“Then... then... me...?”

Looking at the gardener glaring at her from behind the tree, Esidisi looked ready to cry.

“I'm the target...?”

“Sorry? What do you...?”

“No, no. It's nothing... Yuri, I'll be going first. I'm sorry.”

“Don't worry. I had to leave for my next class anyway. See you tomorrow!”

“Yes, yes.”

Esidisi walked away on unsteady legs. At the entrance to the Orchestral Music Department's main building, she turned to look back, her gaze trembling.

“...!”

Exactly the same distance away as before, “he” was glaring at her.

Esidisi suddenly wanted to cry.