Chapter 49 - Stalker vs. Stalker (4)

The sword plunged down, scattering moonlight. A powerful attack, with flawless form.

Excellent. Ivan nodded, angling his axe to catch the blade.

CLANG!

Caught on the tip of the axe, the blade veered off course and fell. Ivan lifted the sword from where it had struck the ground and examined it.

"How was that?"

"Good enough."

"Hehe, what did I tell you? I'm a quick learner!"

"So you are."

Ivan nodded and tossed her the sword. Isabelle deftly caught it as it spun through the air and grinned.

"How good do you think I am? Compared to my father at my age, I mean."

"Anyone on the continent would fall short beside Maximilien."

Her audacity made Ivan chuckle. He approached Isabelle as she puffed out her cheeks and grumbled, draped a towel around her sweat-soaked neck, and pressed a hand down on her head.

"Don't lose yourself in the shadows of those who walked before you."

"Oh, that sounds great! Did you come up with that?"

"No. Enrique said it to me."

She had said it to "Little" Ivan, who had lost himself in the late king's shadow.

Admiring someone was natural. The world was vast, and full of exceptional people. But trying to emulate every one of them would amount to nothing more than a poor imitation.

Enrique had told Ivan what he was now telling Isabelle: Don't lose yourself in the shadows of those who walked before you. Take your own steps along your own path.

"Mm-hmm. It's good advice, but somehow it doesn't really fit Professor Enrique!"

"She was a serious person back then."

"What about you? Did you only ever say things like 'Hmm,' 'I see,' 'No,' and 'I'm busy' back then too?"

"Hmm..."

Back then, was it? Ivan stroked his chin for a moment, thinking.

"I wasn't much different."

"You're no fun! Ugh, honestly. Did your softer side die in the war too? What even lives inside your heart? Let me guess. Axes and healing potions?"

"Nonsense."

Ivan chuckled, ruffled her hair once, and stood.

Since the terrorist attack on the field exercise, Ivan had been making Isabelle train every night. Though the chain of events bore closer examination. Strictly speaking, Isabelle had been the one to corner him and ask for lessons.

It was special training to reach the so-called "realm of superhumans."

"Okay, let's do the next part. Come on, hurry."

"All right."

Isabelle sat cross-legged on the grass. She exhaled softly and closed her eyes.

"Hurry up and put your hand on my back!"

"You shouldn't need that anymore."

"Oh, come on. I'm still not used to it."

Entering the realm of superhumans began with channeling mana to strengthen the nervous system. To help her develop a feel for projecting mana into the nerves throughout her body, Ivan had initially placed his hand on her back and helped direct its flow.

He would send his own mana into her to open a path, guiding it so she could more easily get the hang of it.

Of course, this was the most basic of basics. Getting a feel for it and actually doing it on her own were separate matters, and even if she succeeded in strengthening her nerves, moving her body at that speed was another matter entirely.

"Haaah..."

"Close your mouth and focus on the sensation."

"But, ahhh... it's so warm..."

As Ivan poured mana into her, Isabelle went limp with a sigh.

"Yuri and Eshi have both been so busy lately... Even when I want a break, I haven't had any friends to hang out with..."

"This isn't a break."

"Yes it is. It absolutely is."

Isabelle opened her eyes a sliver and looked up at him. Shooting him a playful sidelong glance, she gave an impish smile.

"Then what, are you working with me right now?"

"I'm teaching you."

"Well, I'm going to call it a break. I'm hanging out with you, after all."

"I'll have to reconsider the intensity of your training."

Ivan was somewhat shocked. He was an exceptionally objective judge of himself, so he could confidently assess his teaching as consistently strict, ruthless, and demanding.

She considered this playing? Truly Maximilien's daughter. Ivan gave a short nod.

Watching him, Isabelle looked as though she were staring at something profoundly pathetic, then sighed. She stretched out and stood.

"Never mind. Nnngh. Thanks for the lesson today."

"Mm."

"Oh, right. You're still doing secret-agent work, aren't you? I heard something strange recently."

"Something strange?"

"Yes! I meant to tell you. You know Sir Dian? He said he saw some strange guy outside my house a few days ago."

"A strange guy?"

"Yes! He was standing at the corner of the wall, staring blankly at our house for a while. Sir Dian wondered what he was doing and went after him, but lost him."

Ivan frowned. Dian was the military escort assigned to her by the Thilles monarchy. For a man like him to lose someone right before his eyes... Whoever it was, he was no ordinary student or civilian.

"It wasn't one of your colleagues, was it?"

"No."

Counterintelligence Command didn't work that way.

"I'll look into it. Don't worry about it."

"Um... If someone's watching the house I live in, I can't exactly help worrying, can I?"

"That's for me to worry about. Students should focus on their studies."

"Uh..."

Seriously, sometimes he caught her off guard like that.

Isabelle stared after Ivan as he strode away, then let out a sigh. This wasn't easy. Really.

She chuckled and hugged the towel around her neck close.

* * *

Someone was watching Isabelle.

Naturally, it wasn't Counterintelligence Command. Not only did they not work that way, but Isabelle and the other children of the Hero's Party fell under Ivan's jurisdiction. Dmitry would never do anything to upset him.

Ivan walked the nighttime streets, deep in thought.

'Someone, or some group, is watching the children of the Hero's Party.'

'One of Droan's five Jarls attempted a bombing at the academy.'

What connection could there be between the two? The latter had clearly been an attempt on Esidisi's life.

If Esidisi were killed or injured, Great King Einar would make his move. And Einar and his brothers were currently the strongest military force in Droan. If they left, Droan would be all but undefended.

That was what one of the Jarls was after. Presumably a scheme to overthrow the kingdom in Einar's absence.

'And Isabelle is mixed up in this?'

He could be overreacting. The two incidents might be entirely unrelated. But something nagged at him, and his instincts had been honed through over twenty years of war.

'As long as Morde is there, Esidisi is safe at night.'

Morde had graduated from volunteering at the orphanage and returned to his role as Esidisi's personal military escort. With him there, even if something happened, he was more than capable of buying enough time for Ivan to arrive.

That was why Ivan had been watching developments after sundown with relative peace of mind.

'I'll have to watch Esidisi during the day and Isabelle at night.'

Settling his schedule, Ivan headed for the director's office.

He had never expected this to be easy. He had to find a culprit whose trail Counterintelligence Command had failed to pick up for two months. Granted, they probably couldn't devote all their attention to this one case. Even so, it was no easy thing for an individual to accomplish what a state agency's investigative resources could not.

But as always, whether he could or couldn't do it wasn't the question that mattered.

For the Extermination Unit, only one question held any truth: Did it have to be done, or not?

If it did, they didn't agonize over it. They simply got it done.

Ivan dismantled the booby traps in the director's office one by one, returned to his seat, and switched on the mana lamp. The sounds of reports being organized and ledgers updated continued in the office late into the night.

* * *

Esidisi trudged across campus toward the bench. Beside the Knight Department's outdoor training area, it was their little hideout, where she always ate lunch with Isabelle and Yuri.

Today had been exhausting too. Classes were hard, her classmates were cold, the world was cruel...

Clutching her lunch bag, she approached the bench—and froze.

"Oh, Eshi! You're a little early today!"

"Um, uh...? What...? What's going... on...?"

"Oh, say hello! He's going to have lunch with us for a while, starting today. You haven't met, right? This is the man I've been telling you about!"

Isabelle beamed and slapped "his" back.

"Honestly, getting him to eat with me even once has been impossible, but I ran into him today and asked, and he just said yes! Seriously. I don't know what came over him, gracing us with his presence like this..."

Isabelle chattered away in high spirits. Esidisi didn't hear a word. She stared blankly at Ivan, then turned to send a look at Yuri, seated beside him.

-What is going on?

-I'd like to know too.

Weren't stalkers supposed to watch from a distance, indulging their sinister desires? Those somewhat timid but thoroughly malicious people? Why was he being so brazen...?

She cautiously sat on the bench and took out her lunch. Then she fixed a fierce stare on Ivan, who was quietly taking out a lunch box beside Isabelle.

Bella liked him that much, and he was trying to seduce another girl? And his method of seduction was surveillance...? He really was the worst.

After enduring Esidisi's stare for some time, Ivan suddenly raised his head. Their eyes met briefly, and just as she grew frightened and lowered her gaze...

"...?"

Something was set down on her lunch box, right over her precious chicken sandwich.

"What...? Wh-what is this?"

"Vegetables."

Ivan spoke as he took out more lunches, providing different meals for Isabelle and Yuri.

"You usually eat nothing but carbohydrates and protein... bread and meat. That makes it easy for your diet to become nutritionally unbalanced. Make sure you eat vegetables, fruit, and nuts."

Being a sensitive, considerate man, Ivan explained it in terms even the children of this premodern society could understand.

He ran an orphanage. And an orphanage was, quite literally, a place that took in children who had lost their parents, feeding, teaching, and raising them.

Planning meals, managing schedules for rest and study, and maximizing children's talents, interests, and potential were Ivan's "real job."

Feeling a certain sense of satisfaction, he handed out lunches to Yuri and Isabelle as well.

"Wow, amazing! Thank you! If I'd known, I'd have prepared something too. I'm actually a really good cook. What do you think of girls who can cook?"

"That they can cook."

"I seriously want to kill you..."

Unlike the animatedly chattering Isabelle, Esidisi stared at Ivan with eyes full of terror.

'He was even monitoring what I eat every day...?'