# Ep 15. Field Experience is Standard for Academy Summer Vacation Events
In the principal's office, his belongings couldn't even fill a single bag. Since weapons were available at headquarters, he only needed to pack essentials, which could mostly be supplied by headquarters anyway.
So Ivan took out a notebook from under the principal's desk drawer after a long time.
"..."
It was filled with scribbles he had hastily written when he first thought this world was an academy genre prologue. His personal notes on academy "common sense."
Though only a few months had passed, Ivan felt a strange nostalgia as he flipped through the notebook. Surprisingly, many of the "common sense" points he had written down were already resolved.
Wait.
Resolved?
Ivan sat down, trying to grasp the vague memories floating in his mind.
Staring at the notebook, he tried to recall something he had heard somewhere. Something that had left a strong impression...
Ah.
"Title: Truly Disgusting Points of Academy Genres
-Seriously, the protagonist takes all the growth events, quest rewards, hidden pieces, monopolizes all the heroine redemption narratives, and then whenever there's a problem it's 'I guess I have to step up again' BS.
ㄴTrue lol"
"Oh..."
Ivan quietly looked down at the notebook as he finally grasped the thought.
Academy first tutorial. Train attack. I resolved it.
Field practice attack. I... resolved it.
Academy secret chamber. I resolved that too.
The tournament, supposedly the highlight of academy stories. I... no, this wasn't related to the academy in the first place.
Dealing with nobles conspiring against the princess (headmistress). This is closer to an academy cliché from a macro perspective (Death Eater-like), so yes. I resolved that too.
At this point, Ivan put down the notebook and thought for a moment.
Isn't the hero party becoming too weak?
I've been overseeing their training to some extent, but in academy stories, training is just daily routine mentioned in passing. Heroes don't get stronger through training—that's common sense.
Studying at school isn't an academy genre—it's a documentary. An academy, by definition, isn't a place that teaches things but rather throws students into terrible adversity, raising them like a lioness with her cubs.
A protagonist should naturally grow stronger through practical experience, hardship, adversity, friendship, and love. There's no protagonist in this world who gets stronger through physical conditioning and skill training.
The world isn't that earnest and soft. That's how academy genres work. Even Naruto couldn't get stronger through training. The fate of the taijutsu boy who dared to grow stronger through effort makes this easy to understand. (That village was serious enough about practical experience to use elementary school children as child soldiers.)
So, is this a big problem?
At this rate, he would have to defeat the final boss—probably the Demon King or someone equivalent—all by himself. Whether that was possible was one thing, but whether it would count as a proper ending was another issue.
Enrique told him to turn his own page, but looking at the series of events happening now, isn't it crystal clear that this story's genre is academy?
"They need practical experience, not training."
Ivan finally reached a conclusion. He felt a sense of urgency that the hero party's children shouldn't be left to focus solely on academics.
Even in literary fiction, people don't study at school. Literary fiction even features murders or male love triangles. School is never a place for studying. (No, it's not.)
Practical experience, practical experience.
Ivan stared at one wall of the principal's office with dry eyes.
The sight of numerous meticulously maintained weapons hanging cleanly on racks.
The memories of those days when he had to wield them with all his might.
The northern front where snow fell.
Ah, that's right.
"Vacation is coming soon."
It's common sense that during academy vacations, students go on training retreats. Ivan nodded quietly in the darkness.
In the late night without a trace of light, Ivan's two eyes glowed blue as he sat at the principal's desk with his fingers interlaced.
The protagonists need practical experience,
And for him, practical experience means killing.
St. Yansk University is always lively. This is natural, of course. Considering the enormous tuition fees, students who can afford them generally don't worry about college credits or post-graduation life.
This is easier to understand if you think about art schools on Earth. Parents who can afford to send their children to art school for four years are generally wealthy. Under such circumstances, art schools could almost always maintain a vibrant atmosphere.
Even at worst, a noble's child would inherit the family name after graduation, which means becoming the owner of a large estate is guaranteed. It's like how studying isn't essential for a factory owner's child.
Therefore, St. Yansk University was enjoying a festive atmosphere day after day, with final exams having just ended.
"Bella! What are you doing after school? Want to go to a café together?"
"No, I'm busy."
Isabelle trudged along with a gloomy expression, looking around. Of course, she wasn't looking for students. She was searching for a man who had been missing for several days.
Is he injured again? She had definitely seen him collapse, but then heard the princess was personally nursing him, and the hospital was immediately sealed off, so she couldn't visit.
It had been the same ever since. The orphanage was still under repair, and the counterintelligence headquarters was busy, cut off from the outside world for some reason. (Intelligence agencies should be isolated from the outside world by nature.)
So...
"Sir, I heard your marriage attempt failed! Oh, how sad. Doesn't someone need to take you in now? Do you know any women at all?"
"Hmm. I guess I'll have to wait two years. If you're still single when I graduate, I'll just have to take you in out of charity."
"Don't be too touched. Hehe, I'm in my prime, you know? Who knows? I might meet someone else in the meantime."
"No, no, no, don't be hurt! There's no one! No one at all! I don't even think about it!"
You know, those kinds of situations.
Expecting such scenarios, she went to the training ground every day, sat absentmindedly in the courtyard at night waiting, and wandered around the campus during lunch looking for suspicious gardeners.
But he was nowhere to be found. She couldn't find Ivan anywhere. Now anxiety was starting to well up.
The old man is an intelligence agent, and a very competent one at that, with a high enough rank that the princess personally directs his operations.
Plus, he participated directly in the princess's marriage tournament and fought with all his might against an old man (he's not) who was supposedly the strongest elf, showing how serious he was about marriage.
Could the princess perhaps be interested in the old man too?
"No way!!"
That can't be. Sure, his eyes might be pretty, but look at that beard. Always hanging down, annoyingly well-textured, and his hair is always a bird's nest. Who would want a man who always wears shabby work clothes?
Yes, that's right. He's just a pitiful old man (he's not) that no one but me would take.
Then is he really badly injured? Too injured to move?
Isabelle continued grumbling as she walked. Today she was going to try that fermented vegetable stew again, and this time she planned to marinate it with salted meat that the old man liked.
If Ivan had seen this, he would have shed tears and marveled, "To think the day would come when I could eat spam wrapped in kimchi."
"Miss Einarsdottir, if you don't have any plans after school today, would you like to..."
"Oh, I'm sorry. My fiancé wouldn't like that."
"Fi...fiancé?! You're engaged?"
"Yes, hehe. My father insisted. We're planning to marry right after graduation."
Asidis was enjoying life in the conducting department.
These future unemployed nobles who didn't play instruments themselves were generally the most sociable among art school students. This was due to the academic characteristics that significantly dulled the typical sharpness of artists.
Issues like how cheap or expensive someone's instrument was, or how they played it, were distant concerns for the conducting department.
While expensive batons were plentiful, even if one were carved from gold, from a noble's perspective, it was just an expensive stick. The price ceiling was completely different from high-end instruments.
Moreover, Asidis's baton was made of iron. The Goddess Who Sings Rage, Boomer (2nd: 2 months old) was actually closer to a mace than a baton in form.
Foreign princess, elegant appearance, gentle personality, and frugal behavior—Asidis could never be lonely in the face of the burning youth of first-year college students.
"Einarsdottir is engaged...?"
"Impossible... impossible!"
"This isn't reality. What have I been attending this university for...?"
Thus, the male students of the conducting department scattered like a disorganized mob, wailing at this bolt from the blue. (They accepted it. Engagement was a common marriage practice.)
"Essie! Who's your fiancé? Is he handsome?"
"Hmm. I just found out recently that he's some local nobleman... He's handsome. He's a friend of my father's..."
"Ugh."
Engaged to dad's friend...? How old is he then?
The faces of students who had been excited about this century's romance cracked beside Asidis.
Essie's dad would be Einar the Great, the Butcher of Droan...
Oh, if the "Butcher" liked him... and if he's a friend of similar age... then their tastes might be similar too...
The image of a muscular middle-aged man with beer foam all over his beard, bursting into laughter, flashed through the students' minds.
"Miss Einarsdottir! Ma-marriage should be approached more carefully...! No matter how important political issues are, they're not more important than your life! Do you understand? I, I will definitely save you, Miss Einarsdottir!!"
Some son of the Tilles Count family ran out wailing. Asidis watched his retreating figure coldly before shaking her head.
"Where is he now? If he's in Pritzenkaya, I'd really love to meet him!"
Asidis's expression hardened at her now-close classmate's words.
Yes, where could he be?
After getting engaged, he went and participated in a tournament to marry another woman, fought until he passed out, was carried away, and there's been no news since.
This behavior would fundamentally be unacceptable in Droan. Droan is a civilized society where monogamy has become tradition. Such barbaric polygamy would be subject to "traditional games." Usually, castration.
Since they were only engaged with the permission of both families, such things wouldn't happen yet... but still, considering their future married life, discipline needed to be established.
Asidis quietly stroked Boomer (baton: steel) and sank into worry.
At that moment, Ivan was sitting in the headquarters' operations room, examining a military map of Krasilov.
"Supply lines?"
"They can be secured from nearby territories. Conveniently, Yelavinsk is nearby. The newly enthroned Duke Sheretif will certainly be favorable to our operations."
"Excellent. How many troops can be deployed?"
"Excluding agents operating within Pritzenkaya, and those dispatched to the north and west... there are about 63 personnel in the southern Krasilov region."
"Armed personnel excluding essential internal counterintelligence staff?"
"In that case, 47 remain."
"Sufficient."
So excluding agents currently deployed on operations who can't be touched, and requisitioning personnel on standby for training, there would be just under 50 people.
That number would be sufficient to form a strike team capable of being used as a rear disruption unit in a small-scale theater.
It means there are more than enough people to control a group of five or six.
Ivan nodded with satisfaction. The operations officer cautiously asked:
"I'm about to issue the training announcement. Would you like to submit an operations plan?"
"I'll do it myself. The operation name is..."
Summer vacation.
One of the essential elements absolutely necessary for an academy summer vacation.
Setting an operational area encompassing both sea and mountains, he would conduct "practical" training that incorporated all his combat experience.
So, the operation name is Summer Vacation. That would do.
Ivan nodded and rose from his seat.