# Enhanced Translation
## Side ep. The Academy Genre is Open for Business
"A familiar ceiling."
Ivan muttered absently as he rose from the bed. With a clank, the iron chain of the handcuffs pulled at his arm.
The inside of the cuffs was luxuriously lined with silk and wool, ensuring no discomfort even while sleeping. The chain was long enough to cover the entire bed and more, allowing freedom of movement.
Beyond the soft silk blanket, long silver hair spread out like the sea. In the middle of it, a small head was turned away, sleeping peacefully.
This was Elizabeta's bedchamber. After gazing at the furniture and ceiling tiles decorated with precious metals, Ivan slowly moved his hand.
-Click.
With a faint sound, the handcuffs unlocked and fell away. As always, the only restraints that can truly hold a trained agent are conscience, morality, and dedication to the country. These physical chains cannot bind an Annihilation Squad agent.
Proving this fact, Ivan silently left the bed. After hastily dressing, he walked to the window.
Outside, the morning scene of Pritzenkaya unfolded. Wispy smoke rose from chimneys of homes preparing breakfast, and breadwinners could be seen heading to work on the streets.
Facing this peaceful atmosphere, Ivan whispered softly:
"Enrique. Come out."
"Wrong! It's Lucia!"
Lucia poked her head out from the shadows under the palace eaves with a cheerful exclamation. Under Ivan's expressionless gaze, Lucia awkwardly turned her head and said:
"Perhaps you needed security personnel?"
"When did you get hired?"
"I'm working without pay! Hehe, loyalty to this country? Something like that, right?"
"Enrique. Come out."
"How do you even know who's in the shadows?"
As Lucia grumbled, another face popped out from the shadow beneath her. Enrique turned her head awkwardly under Ivan's expressionless gaze and said:
"In case you needed security personnel...?"
After staring for a while at the vampire voyeur duo trying to smile and nodding at each other, Ivan sighed and said:
"Gather the party."
"Huh? Everyone?"
"Yes, everyone."
"Hmm... Ah. Are you planning a farewell party before everyone leaves? That sounds good!"
Just as with the previous Hero Party, the members of a Hero Party are essentially elite personnel selected by each country. With their mission accomplished, their homelands will need their talents.
That's the case for Elfihera who must rebuild the Astronomy Faction, and Oskar who must serve his country as a guardian knight. Asidis has obligations as royalty to help stabilize Droan's situation, and Isabelle...
What should Isabelle do when the party disbands? What use is there for Isabelle who isn't a hero...?
Could she become a chef since she's good at cooking...? She wasn't from a knightly background, had no noble family obligations, and held no official title or position—in short, she was merely a commoner.
Ivan was briefly lost in thought before nodding and gesturing. Lucia and Enrique disappeared, retreating into the shadows.
"The academy..."
"St. Yansk University must be rebuilt."
The audience fell silent at Ivan's words.
Was this what he gathered everyone to say? Reading the mind of a madman was not something people with normal thinking could do.
Even now, people were celebrating and reveling in victory parties whenever they had time. The current atmosphere in Pritzenkaya was festive wherever you went.
In this situation, someone who had been detained in the palace since the end of the war suddenly appears and talks about rebuilding a university?
"Oh dear... here we go again. Sir, please have some of this first."
Isabelle looked at Ivan with a sympathetic gaze, smiling warmly as she pushed a bowl of onion soup in front of him.
He's someone unaccustomed to peace. She removed her apron, scooped up some soup with a spoon, blew on it gently, and brought it to Ivan's lips.
"This will give you some strength..."
Isabelle spoke like a nursing home volunteer as she carefully leaned against Ivan's arm.
"W-what is that crazy woman wearing?!"
"Hehe, why?"
"D-d-don't you have any shame?"
"Oh my, I always dress like this at home."
Asidis stammered with a shocked expression as she looked at Isabelle. Wearing a short shirt with an extremely daring neckline, Isabelle leaned against Ivan's arm and smiled.
"There's nothing to see anyway!!"
"Nothing...? Wait, what? You...? Have you seen?"
"It's obvious from above too. Move aside. I have something to try."
"Everyone, I'm wasting too much time here. I'll head to Tilles first?"
"I want to return to Kalion too. How vulgar. Oswald? Let's prepare to set sail."
"Huh? Miss Elfihera. Aren't you joining in?"
"Hehe, Elfi is my ally."
Lucia snickered as she spoke.
"We're in the long-lived alliance, you know? In 30-40 years, they'll all be middle-aged women anyway."
"...By then, wouldn't Ivan be a grandfather?"
"Humans get weaker as they age."
"Excuse me?"
"Will a weakened executioner be able to stop me?"
Lucia smiled, flashing her fangs. Feeling a chill run down his spine at the terrible implication, Oswald carefully took his seat.
Yu-jin, who had been watching this scene with a smirk, turned to Ivan who was still eating his onion soup without reaction.
"I think I understand what my brother is saying. It's because this is an academy genre, right?"
"Mm."
Ivan was a civilized person, so he didn't refuse others' kindness. He was eating the soup that Isabelle was feeding him.
"Since the ending of an academy story is when the protagonist's child enters the school... Aha!"
Yu-ri nodded with admiration. That was the final cliché of academy stories.
Even if Hogwarts is practically destroyed, dark elementary school terrorists slaughter the principal, faculty, and students, there's a massive dungeon beneath the school, and murderous monsters roam the backyard—the protagonist still ends up sending their child to that hellish school.
The transmigrators nodded silently. Indeed, if one had to close the final page of the story, that would be the right way. And then.
The uncivilized pre-modern fantasy world inhabitants couldn't understand this. The empathy of the insane trio was difficult to gain universal agreement. Isabelle tilted her head in confusion.
"We can rebuild the school, sure. Umm... shouldn't we be talking to Her Majesty the Queen about this rather than us...?"
"There are things we need to prepare first."
"Prepare...?"
"Yes."
The academy genre could be the optimal environment for a protagonist's growth if only a few minor issues were resolved.
This is largely due to its format as an educational institution. Systems to protect students (mostly ineffective), world-class faculty (mostly incompetent), crises appropriately distributed through grade-level curricula (mostly too severe for students to handle), and enormous rewards.
Of course, the problem might be St. Yansk University's short founding history, which means it can't have massive rewards, ancient dungeons, or hidden chambers of secrets.
But naturally, every problem in this world can be solved.
'Hidden dungeons and rewards can be solved by intervening in the construction.'
With St. Yansk University completely in ruins, starting construction from scratch would obviously allow intervention in the overall design without issue.
'Here we can use the Lundis and dwarves...'
Dwarven construction technology is the best in the world. Building more solid and complex structures wouldn't be a problem. Underground dungeon? Use what's already there. Beneath the St. Yansk University site, there's an ancient temple...
And as for grade-level "crises"...
'Train attacks can be carried out without a trace by mobilizing the counterintelligence command, and direct intervention in the curriculum is straightforward.'
It's a situation where personal information of all students can be collected annually. Additionally, with orphans from St. Vasilisha Orphanage continuing to grow up, it wouldn't be difficult to mix informants among the students.
If he could coordinate this process from beginning to end, creating an academy story would be all too easy.
What's needed now is a world-class faculty.
"..."
Looking over the faces of his companions, Ivan nodded. Reflecting once more, these individuals' talents were more than sufficient for a Hero Party. What they lacked was only time.
When these people all mature, they would possess abilities no less impressive than the previous Hero Party. In other words, even after just ten years, no better professors could be found than these individuals.
Tilles, Kalion, Droan, Krasilov. These would be the leaders of the four northern powers. If such individuals settled in Krasilov as professors, that alone would establish solid alliances between the countries.
If they were invited as faculty, the problem of student recruitment would largely be solved. Apart from the minor detail of receiving lessons from each country's top figures, the opportunity to form connections with them would be incredibly attractive to nobles from all nations.
If the nobles of the allied nations sent their children to study in Krasilov...
'That alone would create a war deterrent.'
Recovering the two legions that Krasilov lost would be a difficult task. The country's domestic economy is too severely collapsed to invest in military expenditure.
At a point when the country's strongest diplomatic card has disappeared, the same forceful diplomacy as before would be difficult to establish. Even with Ivan's existence, it wouldn't be easy.
In such a situation, having the children of nobles from various countries gathered here would act as a powerful war deterrent. They would essentially be hostages.
Rebuilding the academy would bring numerous benefits. They had more than enough ability to rebuild it. The reasons were sufficient and the will was firm.
When this explanation ended, the group looked at Ivan with exhausted expressions.
"So you're saying let's all meet again in ten years! Is that it?"
"More or less."
"I-I'm not going?"
"...?"
Oskar frowned at Isabelle's words.
"Hey, does that make sense? What will you do here? Our country isn't in a great situation either, you know?"
"What would I do if I went back...?"
"Hmm."
"Umm..."
"Hmm."
The knight of the Hero Party can continue being a knight. It's what he's been doing.
The berserker of the Hero Party would continue being a berserker. Everyone in Droan is a berserker anyway.
The mage of the Hero Party? Actually, mages have no employment problems. They can do anything and make a living without issues.
The thief of the Hero Party... is from this country.
And the "hero" of the Hero Party...? Can being a hero be a profession? In peaceful times, isn't a hero perhaps more useless than a farmer?
As the group fell silent at Isabelle's anguish, she cheerfully said:
"But I'm good at cooking!"
"That's true."
"And you like strange food!"
"That's also true."
"Then I have no choice. I'll have to keep feeding you."
"If you want to be employed as a court chef, I'll speak to Elizabeta for you."
"No? What are you talking about?"
Isabelle chuckled and replied:
"I'm going to be employed as your wife?"
"...?"
"Didn't your father tell you to take responsibility? You have to take responsibility. What are you saying?"
"Actually, my father told my uncle to take responsibility too."
"My father did too."
Oskar rose from his seat, bowed to Ivan, and said:
"I'll be going first, Lord Yeremov. When it's time for the wedding, please send the invitations together if possible."
"Mm."
Watching the dispersing group, Ivan briefly sank into thought. This is troublesome, he thought.
This wasn't the Japanese isekai-style "oh no, I'm too popular" kind of trouble... but a more fundamental "trouble."
According to Ivan's undisclosed final plan...
'The story is only complete when I appear as the final boss to my child.'
Confrontation with the shadow mastermind (all true) who was the previous generation's hero, directly and indirectly instigated the academy's chaos, planted minions throughout the country, and grasped political power in one hand.
That was his ideal ending for part two of the academy story.
If he has too many children, he can't repeat that every season, can he?
"I have a reason! A truly valid one!"
"...?"
"My father is badly injured right now... *sob* If I go back alone, civil war might break out...? *sniff*"
Asidis burst into forced tears and continued:
"But if the hero who killed the Demon King and is also an assassin becomes the son-in-law of the Droan royal family, what madman would dare attempt rebellion? Not unless they want to die... Will you... protect me...?"
Asidis slowly leaned against him and whispered.
A reasonable justification. Indeed, there is no better alliance than a marriage alliance. If Krasilov's royal family forms a marriage alliance with Droan at a time when Droan is weakened, it would greatly stabilize the political situation of both countries.
Krasilov would no longer need to focus on its border with Droan, and Droan could eliminate internal divisions. The minor advantage of being able to pressure the Six Southern Nations through Droan is just a bonus.
An excellent move. Ivan found himself nodding unconsciously.
"What are you nodding at, you old man!!"
Isabelle shrieked.
"Has he gone mad, Vanka?"
Elizabeta muttered as she watched Ivan return to the bedchamber with three women in tow.
She had been dismayed to find an empty bed and unlocked handcuffs when she woke up. Still, she had been patient, thinking there must be some reason he had left without a word.
A marriage alliance, before even marrying her or having children born...?
Bringing three teenage girls and saying...
"Ugh..."
"Your Majesty!! YOUR MAJESTY!!!"
"Y-you monster... Get out now, now!! L-leave this country!!"
"Is nobody there!! Rioters! Rioters are trying to harm Her Majesty!!"
"You must calm yourself, Your Majesty!! Call the royal physician! Quickly!!"
As Elizabeta fainted, her ladies-in-waiting scattered in all directions, screaming.