"First... Do not mourn those who have departed before us."
"Your Majesty."
"I too, and someday you as well... will stand in the same ranks as them."
"Your Majesty, please."
"I have been a hypocrite all my life, so you too shall live as a hypocrite. Perhaps if enough falsehoods accumulate, they might eventually touch the truth. Live. Live and continue my hypocrisy. Will you promise?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. I give you my word. I will certainly do so."
"That is enough."
Ivan took a moment to collect himself before opening his eyes. Sunlight was streaming in. Rising from the sofa, he composed his racing emotions with a dry face wash.
The same nightmare as always. The same daily routine. And contrary to expectations, the still-familiar ceiling remains the same as always.
Ivan calmly organized his surroundings, tidied his appearance, gathered his clothes and put them on before leaving the director's office.
It was the morning of the festival day.
The main entrance to St. Yansk University was packed with an enormous crowd. Street vendors, observing citizens, foreign tourists, excited students and their acquaintances.
Just four years after the end of the war, this was an international-scale festival in a country with few celebrations to speak of. No wonder the citizens were excited.
Ivan scanned his surroundings as he cut through the crowd. He displayed the remarkable skill of passing through the dense crowd without brushing against a single person's clothing.
It was a basic movement technique, nothing particularly difficult. Before he knew it, Ivan had arrived at the plaza with the statue of the Great Teacher in the courtyard where the festival was in full swing.
Three people were passing time—one checking a watch, another looking around at the surroundings, and the third just standing blankly.
The meeting time was clearly supposed to be 20 minutes later.
Ivan tilted his head briefly. He had come early to detect any potential dangers, but he hadn't expected his protection targets to move this quickly.
These troublemakers, who usually arrived late even for weekly classes that always started on time, were now moving so diligently. Had they matured?
In any case, it wasn't a bad thing. He already had the feeling that this escort mission would be easier than initially thought.
"Oh, mister! You're here?"
Isabelle came running, waving her hands enthusiastically. With a bright smile, she dashed over and naturally grabbed his arm, pulling him along.
She wore an unnecessarily tight outfit that looked difficult to move in. As a student of the Knight Department, her attire would hardly earn a passing grade. It was the kind of clothing one might wear only in Tilles Kingdom with its year-round mild climate, and even then only on very special occasions.
"What, you're wearing work clothes again today? Geez, even if you're a secret agent, don't government employees in this country get vacations? They make you work even on days like this?"
"Vacation?"
"Yes! My goodness, the country must be crazy. Do they also forbid civil servants from ge-ge-getting married?"
"That's not the case."
Krasilov Kingdom was actually actively promoting marriage and childbirth policies. This was due to the significant damage to the national foundation after the recent war.
Though he couldn't understand why marriage suddenly came up in the conversation, there was no reason to give foreigners such misunderstandings. Ivan briefly shook his head.
"Isn't there anything you want to do, mister? I looked around a bit on my way here, and there's something over there that would suit you perfectly..."
"Isabelle?"
As Isabelle was chattering away, Asidis, who had been blankly watching the crowd in front of the statue, gracefully walked over.
"What are you doing with uncle?"
"Huh?"
"Oh, you were in the middle of a conversation. Right, you said you were learning various things from uncle. Well, if you're done, could I borrow uncle for a moment?"
"...Huh?"
"Huh?"
As the two stared blankly at each other, once again.
An elf who had just noticed them approached.
"Lord Petrovich, you came early? That divine punctuality so unlike humans should truly be everyone's model. I haven't been waiting long either, so please don't worry too much."
"Huh?"
"Hmm...?"
Two humans and one elf. The three looked at each other and fell silent for a moment.
"Sorry, girls, but I made plans with our mister for today."
"I don't understand what you're saying. Uncle said he had no special plans today. Oh, I know what this is. It's the Tilles way of speaking, right? Just insisting on something."
"How typical of humans. Your racism comes so naturally that I can't even call it primitive anymore. Mr. Ivan, humans are contagious. Come over here."
"Mister is human too, you know?"
"Is it only humans who confuse chickens and phoenixes just because they're both birds? They have different scientific names, you know."
"They have the same scientific name...?"
Meanwhile, Ivan looked around. Many people were looking in their direction, but the crowd's armament status was acceptable.
Due to the hot weather, people were dressed lightly, making it difficult to conceal weapons. At most, they might have daggers or pistols, which could be easily detected just by observing how they walked.
Even if there were more covert ambushes, the more easily concealed a weapon is, the less powerful it tends to be. Ivan was relieved that this mission seemed much easier than he had initially thought.
'They're competent this time.'
He had heard that the Counter-Intelligence Command was stationed nearby, controlling personnel. Fortunately, they seemed to be acting quite competently this time.
But it was too early to be relieved. Academy festivals are typically the harbingers of murder cases, terrorism, ambushes, massacres, and large-scale demon invasions.
Therefore, Ivan made thorough preparations, conscious of the dagger hidden in his sleeve and the pistol tucked behind his waist.
If one acts sensibly, things usually don't go wrong in most cases. That's why common sense is important for people.
Sadly, the other three people, unable to read Ivan's thoughts, cried out at this nonsensical situation.
"Mister, have you really lost your mind? Tell me. What were you thinking... No, no. Don't tell me. I feel like I'm going to burst."
"Hmm."
"Aaaaargh!!"
Isabelle pounded her chest and screamed. After squawking for a while, she finally sighed deeply and muttered.
"Right, it was my fault for expecting anything. My fault is greater. Yes. I'm just a terrible person. I should rather teach love to a golem. At least that has some possibility."
Isabelle looked at Ivan with sad eyes, then shook her head and turned away.
"So, does anyone know what FIFO is? I think in cases like this, the concept of first-come-first-served should apply."
"Is that how it's done in Tilles? Hmm, in Droan, we usually resolve things with force. Foreign cultures are so difficult. Shall we take this opportunity to exchange some cultural knowledge?"
"Resolve with force...? Are you confident?"
"Oh, Isabelle. I didn't fail to get into the Knight Department—I chose not to enter. Unlike you, I also have talent with musical instruments. Someone told me to learn."
Asidis said this and looked at Ivan with warm eyes.
Ivan, being a reasonable person, had no intention of getting involved in the students' petty disputes. His mission was to protect the Hero Party's children from external threats, not to mediate inexplicable emotional fights.
Students of that age typically become friends through fighting anyway.
"How typical of humans. So adorable. Come, Lord Petrovich. Shall we go look around over there?"
"Wow, the elf keeps elfing. Should I really draw my sword? Dad, I'm sorry, today I'll be staining my blade with human blood instead of demon blood!!"
"My goodness, you came to the festival with a sword? This is why people say Tilles people are sneaky."
"Check your instrument case. I've heard all about how you've been hitting our kids over the head with that violin!!"
"Hmm, Asidis of Sincerity doesn't know about such things. Our clanger isn't a weapon."
This is somewhat confusing.
Ivan considered whether he should block out his hearing. The courtyard was already noisy enough with the festival crowd, so his hearing wasn't particularly helpful in this situation anyway.
"Girls, let's just set an order. Me first, Asidis in the afternoon. The elf until before dinner. And me at night. How about that?"
"Shall we settle this cleanly with a duel?"
"Since this is official business, would the civilians please step aside?"
This is hard to ignore.
Ivan shook his head briefly. Why scatter the protection targets that had been so carefully gathered?
How incredibly unreasonable people in this world are.
"Everyone will move together."
"...Mister, are you really crazy?"
"Um... Uncle, even I think that's a bit..."
Dealing with squawking youngsters was already all too familiar. This situation wasn't much different from handling the orphanage children during class time.
Ivan declared with the stern and dignified demeanor of a director:
"Everyone line up. Now, we'll handle each suggestion fairly, one by one, in the order they were proposed. There's no need to fight. Isabelle, you lead the way first."
"This isn't reality..."
Isabelle looked at Ivan with a confused expression, then looked up at the sky, then bowed her head deeply and gave her face a dry wash.
"Hurry up."
"This is really driving me crazy. How can he be so confident? Trying to seduce three teenage girls at once? Such shamelessness..."
Isabelle grumbled as she took the lead and walked ahead.
When one thinks of university festivals, only drinking establishments come to mind, but that's due to the narrow culture of 21st century South Korea.
This case is different, as it has evolved from a university festival into a regional festival. This event, a bizarre mix of apartment bazaar and local small business promotion festival, featured everything one would expect at a "festival."
For example, the place Isabelle had led them to.
"Tang—!!"
"Oh my, just missed! Well, you hit four targets, so here's your doll!"
It was a pistol shooting booth with small targets.
Surprisingly, they used live ammunition, but there was nothing strange about it. This was a world without the concept of air guns, and guns were generally disregarded as weapons incapable of taking down superhumans.
Additionally, if someone tried to point that gun at civilians, the booth owner could stop them immediately. The owner was also a superhuman.
Superhumans beyond the owner's ability to restrain could commit mass slaughter without even using guns. They wouldn't need such loud, attention-drawing weapons.
Therefore, despite using live ammunition, this booth was safer than any other stall. In this world, there might be no food safety management leading to rampant food poisoning, but there were Counter-Intelligence Command agents responsible for gun safety at events.
"Let's try that, shall we?"
Isabelle ran over with a bright smile. She knew Ivan was skilled with pistols, but she wanted to show off what she had practiced as well.
Showing "hard work" to a shooting expert was already a major scoring point. It was something Asidis or Elfihera couldn't even dream of. Had those two ever even held a pistol?
This political prowess—naturally securing another opportunity to get ahead under the pretext of exploring the festival—was the terrifying political monster with 10 years of experience in the Tilles court.
"Oh, senior?"
"Hmm?"
"Why are you... um, would you like to try this?"
The booth owner was looking at Ivan with a surprised expression.
"What are you doing here?"
"As you can see... um. Undercover duty...?"
"Excellent."
Dmitri hesitantly handed the pistol to Ivan.
Indeed, undercover duty. With loaded pistols readily available, it was easy to respond to emergencies, and carrying a gun wouldn't raise suspicions as it would just look like a normal festival stall.
How competent.
Ivan nodded with satisfaction.
Perhaps the festival really could end safely. Remarkably so, for an academy festival.
Well, this wasn't a world with bizarre events like inter-department dueling competitions. Nor did it have incomprehensible friendship events like forcing elementary school students into a first-come-first-served race to steal dragon eggs.
Perhaps the academy "common sense" of festival terrorism was a warning against such dangerous events. Maybe it was to widely spread the lesson that educational institutions shouldn't gamble with students' lives.
If so, good. There should be healthy festivals like this too.
Ivan could relax a little.
He shouldn't have. Because it's "common sense" that academy events always end in a massive explosion.