“Why, Alexey?”
I asked back to Alexei, who sharply told me not to participate in the mission.
“Isn’t the picture coming out?”
Alexei relaxed his face and answered in a calm tone. It was a change that felt like a lie.
“painting? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“… … This mission is to cut down those who were once people.”
Alexei pulled a chair and sat down.
“It’s a place to see if you can do something that might feel quite dirty for Sangvis.”
Thought it might feel dirty, but it seems, I thought.
“Simply put, it’s a mission to prove your loyalty to Sangvis Sangvis.”
As Alexei said, this mission was to ask if a man of iron blood could do any kind of dirty work.
No matter how remnants of the rebels, they were once ordinary people. It is natural to feel rejected even if it is packaged and delivered to the public. It must have been a big part of the reward being generously set several times higher than the previous missions.
“However, if the Crown Prince participates, there is a concern that it may turn into loyalty to the Crown Prince himself. It’s clear that he wants to look good to the crown prince rather than iron blood.”
It was not wrong. Since I participated in the first place, the number of participating students is close to half.
“So what’s wrong with that?”
“That’s not the picture our military wants.”
Alexey said. I felt a little uncomfortable, and Katyusha, who had been silent, looked at Alexei and immediately averted his gaze.
“There are many good books in the library at the Academy of Knights. Instead of going to the mission, how about raising your intelligence ranking there?”
Raising his hand, Alexei kindly suggested. Depending on what you hear, it might sound like sarcastic, perhaps it was actually intended to be sarcastic, but because of the cool expression, it felt like a pure recommendation.
“… … indeed. I roughly understood what you were trying to say.”
I nodded and faced Alexei. Alexei smiled softly and waited for my answer.
“In other words, are you declaring that loyalty to me does not mean loyalty to Sangvis?”
At my question, which did not hide my displeasure, Alexei let out a small sigh as if he knew it would come out like that.
“It would be rude to answer a question with a question, but I will ask. Are you loyal to Iron Blood, Prince?”
Then, narrowing his eyes, he asked as if questioning. The tone was light, but it was a heavy question.
“I am loyal to myself.”
I answered that question simply.
“And I will be iron-blooded. To be loyal to me is to be loyal to Sangvis Sangvis.”
At my answer, Alexei closed his narrowed eyes. I didn’t know what he was thinking, but he sure didn’t look very pleasant.
“… … Negotiations are broken.”
Alexei, who had closed his eyes for a moment, opened them and said with regret.
“I guess you thought it was negotiations?”
I put my chin on my chin and scoffed at Alexei.
That moment,
“… … Corps commander!”
Alexei hit the desk and lifted his upper body. At the same time as the sound of kwaang, Katyusha shouted in panic.
“You do not intervene.”
Alexei said without even looking at Katyusha. Katyusha couldn’t help but cringe at the clear murderous intent in his voice.
“Prince.”
Alexey looked down at me, who was still resting on his chin.
“It’s a shameful statement, but if you weren’t the crown prince.”
Alexey whispered to me with his face not smiling at all.
“I would have killed you three times.”
It was an obvious threat.
“It’s okay to say that. Have you forgotten who I am, Alexei?”
I got up and looked at Alexei. Even this side won’t lose to glaring at people as if they would kill them.
“Are you thinking of telling someone? Is this Mustafa working as a teacher?”
“It’s nice to see you’re more candid than before, Alexei. Didn’t you say you were cooperating then?”
“Because I never thought it would be this much out of control.”
Alexei and I continued to stare at each other. A suffocating time follows.
“I would also like to maintain an amicable relationship if possible. Because I can’t let you keep doing whatever you want.”
It was Alexei who averted his gaze first. I closed my eyes and sat down again.
“I hope you can treat it as a light warning.”
And as if nothing had happened a while ago, he smiled calmly and said.
“To say that you killed three times is a light warning. It’s terrible.”
“sorry. I was getting a little annoyed. I hope you don’t take it to heart.”
He replied as if correcting a nonsensical mistake in response to my dumbfounded reply. I got annoyed with the obvious intention to kill, and I got a little fed up with the shamelessness of not taking it to heart.
“To be honest, I don’t know what I did that made me appear so hostile. At most, isn’t there anything other than bringing Mustafa and appointing him as a teacher?”
“… … You don’t seem to know how much talk has been going on inside the military about that ‘at best’ matter. I envy the irresponsible and continual position.”
As I came out brazenly to match, Mustafa’s eyebrows twitched.
“is it? However, it was your army that accepted Mustafa, an Amerian, as a soldier in the first place. Now that I’m here, I don’t know why.”
“From the beginning, the Amerian case was not very popular. It wasn’t even a fuss because the prince pushed on and even became a teacher at a knight academy.”
When I asked as if I really didn’t know (albeit half-sarcastically), Alexei looked away and answered.
“Well, I don’t think it’s bad. Because I was the one who made it possible for him to remain in the military.”
and added briefly.
At first glance, the words seemed to have goodwill towards Mustafa, but the truth was different.
The reason why Alexei left Mustafa in the army was to acquire the secret art of the earth. It was for this reason that Mustafa was sent to the knight academy in the original story.
It was because he might teach someone the secret art of the earth if he sent him to the Knights Academy, and he actually succeeded.
“It’s just a pity that things didn’t turn out the way we wanted.”
But now, Mustafa is my direct subordinate. It is not a position where you can handle it at will. Even if I teach a student the secret art of the earth, information about that student will come to me first.
‘Actually, I’m already familiar with it.’
And that’s not all. In fact, the military has lost the authority to control Mustafa, but if Mustafa causes or is involved in something, responsibility will surely return because he was ‘belonging to the military’.
It would be like killing a dog and giving it to him. It will be quite a headache.
“It would be nice if nothing special happened.”
There must have been quite a bit of sincerity in Alexei’s words as he sighed.
“Take care not to let that happen.”
“I hope you will.”
Of course, I had no intention of making Mustafa do anything strange.
In the original work, he sacrifices himself after getting caught up in various things, mainly about the Revolutionary Army, but under me, I have no intention of letting him rest so quickly. I plan to use it for another 10 years.
“So, are you planning to sortie for the Saratov mission after all?”
“Don’t go out. Even if it’s just for one year, I want to spend a sincere school life.”
When I didn’t bend my thoughts, Alexei clicked his tongue openly as if he was getting annoyed. However, Katyusha’s expression sharpened as if he were angry at that attitude, but when I poked him with my finger to calm down, he flinched and soon calmed down.
“Then would it be all right if I ask you one thing?”
“what?”
“Do no favors to the people of Saratov.”
Alexei spoke in a firm tone, different from his usual joking attitude.
“… … .”
I guessed what that word meant.
“Why?”
But I couldn’t help but ask.
“Because an iron-blooded ruler does not need mercy. It is also advice for the crown prince.”
Unfortunately, Alexei’s answer was unexpected.
“… … I get it. don’t let that happen.”
It was a request that could not be refused. Because now I don’t have enough time to be merciful to the people.
“All right. Then I’ll just have to go. Because the corps commander is busy.”
As if satisfied with my answer, Alexei rose from his seat.
“ha. It’s been a lot of trouble.”
I inadvertently let out a sigh of relief at the thought that the conversation was finally over. I wanted to be sorry for the thought of showing weakness, but Alexei didn’t react much.
“… … Come to think of it, I don’t know if you know it or not, but recently the emperor mentioned the crown prince.”
And he said something that made his spine freeze, more terrifying to hear than any words he heard today.
“… … .”
I didn’t want to ask. But it couldn’t go on like this.
“What did you say?”
I mustered up my courage and asked. Alexei looked at me without laughing at me.
“The Crown Prince.”
“… … me?”
“They said it was cute.”
And delivered the emperor’s remarks. I could never imagine that it would have come out of the emperor’s mouth,
“That’s pretty… … That’s a scary word.”
“It rarely has the same meaning.”
It was a fearless sentence.
“… … Big hum. Hmm, Coke! Sin, sorry.”
Katyusha coughed with a painful expression and apologized. The shocking remarks must have caused a stir.
“Hmm, hmm. hahahaha… … . Big hum. hmm!”
… … It’s probably an illusion that it looks like he’s holding back a laugh.
The story that Commander Alexei had come to the knights academy quickly spread throughout the academy.
From noble mtl dot com
The high-ranking people who heard the story hurriedly prepared to greet Alexei, but before the preparations were finished, Alexei returned.
High-ranking people suspected that the student had gone away in anger because he had been rude to Alexei, and they began interrogating the student who was in the cafeteria for hours to see if he had done anything disrespectful thanks to this.
And, of course, there were a lot of remarks that Berg was the problem, and in the end, just before the expulsion order was given to Ver, who was constantly bowing down with tears in his eyes.
“Alexei came to see me. I went back as soon as my business was over. I don’t care about Ber, so let him go.”
I was barely able to hear what I was saying.
However, because it was too big an incident to pass without discipline (I agree with you because it almost killed me), Ver was ordered to clean the dump for six months.
Of course, since it’s self-employed, I have no intention of helping.
A week after Alexei came to visit, the mission began.
And the development of reality began to flow in a different direction from the original work.