Irtysh Station was a rural railway station in southern Krasilof. There had been a mine, though nothing particularly impressive, and even that had been dug to exhaustion during the war and abandoned.

The nearby estates were nothing but unremarkable country villages that lived off trade. Yelyabinsk was the only sizable estate, and the station wasn't even on its main trade route.

In other words, it was quite literally the picture of a country railway station.

There were only two platforms, one for each direction. Beyond the ticket gate, a lone station attendant nodded off in the waiting room. It was the sort of remote place where reaching even the nearest village took well over twenty minutes by carriage.

"I'm honestly speechless."

Isabelle stood on the platform with a hand to her forehead.

"All of you? Really? Are you serious?"

"I'm barely keeping it together myself, so be quiet."

"There's something I don't understand, though."

Esidisi looked around, gripping her steel rod (Bang-Bang) tight.

Isabelle, fine. They'd had a few interactions, so that was understandable.

Elpihera? That elf girl must have pulled something again. Her sweet uncle would never make friends with pointy-eared creatures like elves.

But what was Oscar doing here?

"Having men within his acceptable range is a bit much. At this point, I don't even know where to start setting him straight..."

Isabelle nodded silently. All right, ignore that idiot.

"First off, this means mister didn't actually invite us on a vacation."

"I think it's obvious."

With a faint, knowing smile, Oscar took the [Invitation] from inside his clothes. Isabelle ground her teeth the moment she saw the envelope.

This was so fucking infuriating.

"Miss Isabelle, Miss Esidisi, Miss Elpihera. Don't you see what we have in common?"

"Thieves?"

"... That's certainly a novel interpretation, but since I'm here, I doubt that's it. No, more importantly, just what have you been doing for that to spring straight to... Never mind. All right."

Oscar quietly accepted it. All right, ignore these morons.

"We're the sons and daughters of the Hero's Party! And this is a deserted spot in the countryside. Isn't it obvious?"

"Lucia isn't here, though?"

"What, did he leave Lucia out because she's a disciple rather than a daughter? Professor Enrique couldn't have a daughter because she's infertile. That's so mean!"

"You're starting to scare me."

Oscar lamented the cognitive impairments afflicting two of their four party members. Esidisi was Einar's daughter, so fair enough, but what on earth had happened to Isabelle?

Hadn't she been famous at the royal castle in Thilles as a girl genius?

It made so little sense that he could only imagine Krasilof had poisoned her to weaken an enemy nation's military strength.

Fortunately, there was one other person among them he could reason with. He wasn't especially inclined to classify her as a person, but she was, at least, an intelligent being capable of conversation.

Elpihera, who had been listening, tilted her head and asked,

"So you're saying Sir Yeremov has gathered us here to assassinate us?"

"Of course not. If that were his intention, he's certainly had plenty of better opportunities."

How many attacks had there been in Prizhenkaya lately? Unrest within a city inevitably left gaps in public security.

Striking at those moments would have allowed for a much cleaner job. During the attack on their field exercise, for instance, Oscar and Isabelle would certainly have died had Ivan not intervened.

So killing them wasn't the objective. Rather, this was...

"Perhaps there's something he wants to show only us, or something he wants to teach us. Wouldn't that explain the invitation? Sir Yeremov knew the Hero's Party, is a close friend of Professor Enrique, and gave an overwhelmingly impressive performance in the tournament."

If your father's friend was a knight, wasn't it common sense that he'd help train you in a situation like this?

Elpihera gave Oscar a mocking smile.

"Humans really are adorable."

"Pardon?"

"Let's say you're right. What about me, then? Sir Yeremov certainly handles a sword quite well, but is he proficient in magic? What exactly could he teach me?"

If Ivan were good at magic, he wouldn't have brought her along to explore the underground ruins. Which also meant that she alone was better suited than everyone else here to make up for what he lacked.

As an enlightened elf, Elpihera didn't question Oscar's presence. Well, was gender really that important to sexual desire? Neither race nor age mattered. (The latter was the more important point.)

So that was what this was.

He'd gathered the humans interested in him to gently turn them down, explaining that he didn't need them when he had an elf. Hehe, quite a clever little scheme. How cute.

Reading the look in her eyes, Oscar despaired.

Was there not a single sane person here?

It wasn't that one of them was crazy, but that everyone except one was crazy?

These were the successors to the Hero's Party...?

Fortunately, his grief didn't last long. Just as the clock in the station waiting room began to strike five in the afternoon, heavy footsteps sounded.

THUD, THUD, THUD.

Elpihera's ears perked up. Everyone turned to look, and there stood a man at the station entrance, the sun at his back.

"You arrived on time."

"Mister!"

"Uncle!"

Isabelle and Esidisi shrieked and charged toward Ivan, looking ready to draw their swords. A bag was tossed to each of them.

"Huh? What's this? It's really heavy!"

"Take one each and follow me. I've packed what you'll need."

Ivan jerked his chin toward a black carriage outside the station. With bulletproof plating, gunports, and metal mesh over its windows, it looked exactly like a prison transport carriage.

"We're not getting kidnapped or something, are we?"

"No."

Ivan nodded and gestured.

At his signal, the attendant dozing in the waiting room, the beggar in the corner, the merchant selling dried greens, and the farmer waiting for the next train all sprang to their feet.

Before the students could do more than sputter in confusion, black cloths unfurled over their heads.

Having expertly bound them in an instant, the Counterintelligence Command agents turned shining eyes toward Ivan.

"Excellent. Load them up."

"Yes, Commander!"

Flushed with the legendary agent's praise, the agents hoisted the students like luggage and tossed them into the carriage.

Ivan climbed into the compartment where the students lay neatly stacked, settled into an empty seat, and slowly reclined.

"It's not kidnapping or something. It's kidnapping."

"Mister, are you actually insane? Untie me! When I get out of here, you're the first person I'm killing!"

"Uncle, bride kidnapping is illegal in Droan. Let's talk this out."

"I told you I'm allergic to human hair!!"

Ignoring the squawking luggage, Ivan unfolded a map.

Soon, the carriage set off.

* * *

How did one make students train during their vacation?

Unless they had a Status window or Quests, no student with a normal thought process would ever voluntarily train over vacation.

Students, after all, were not a class of people who lived to devote themselves to their studies. This was a "fact" Ivan knew better than most, having spent his entire life as a student under the highly structured educational system of the twenty-first century.

Without "motivation," such as avenging oneself on an older brother who had become a rogue ninja, or a British Heavenly Demon colluding with the government and committing terrorist attacks whenever boredom struck, no student would ever attend lessons voluntarily.

What "motivation," then, should he instill in university students of this peaceful age to make them train, and at a residential training camp during vacation, no less?

Not money. Isabelle, Esidisi, Elpihera, and Oscar were each wealthy enough to cover his orphanage's entire annual operating budget with their personal assets alone.

Honor and wealth, valuables and rare artifacts were not "motivation," but "rewards" to be given upon completing a trial. Motivation needed to be simpler and more compelling.

Back on Earth, "Sergeant" Kim Seonwoo, the number-one instructor in motivation, had already known the answer.

That answer was "survival."

* * *

People easily lost their sense of time when deprived of sight. The repetitive jolting of a carriage over rough roads, the wind, the sounds of breathing confusing the ears, and the absence of vision all made the passage of time slip away.

Thus, Isabelle had trouble judging how long she had been held captive in the carriage.

"Mister, this is seriously starting to get unfunny. Do you want me to get really angry?"

"We're here."

Ivan continued, scanning the scenery outside and the marked lines on his map.

"The backpacks I gave you contain enough ready-to-eat food for two days, along with camping gear."

"This is absolutely ridiculous."

"And there's a mountain lodge two days from here, fully stocked with food and equipped with accommodations."

Taking up his axe, Ivan swept his hand through the air. He precisely severed the ropes binding all four students' hands and arms, then rose.

"What if we just go back to the station?"

"That could be an option."

With those final words, Ivan left the carriage. Freed from their bonds, all four tore off their coverings and leaped out almost simultaneously.

The sun was already setting. Night fell earlier in the mountains than elsewhere, and darkness was swiftly gathering around them.

And the road the carriage had clearly taken...

"Wow. Seriously. I. I seriously can't... I can't even speak. What do I do? I want to kill mister."

"Anything I can help with?"

"Thanks for the kind words, Eshi."

Burly men dressed in black were erasing the road at the entrance to the mountain path.

Literally erasing it. Their work was so thorough that the mountain road, which must have been wide enough for a carriage, was already indistinguishable beneath dirt and fallen leaves.

"What are you all doing over there! You! Right there! You've seen me before! At Command! When I went to see mister!"

At Isabelle's shriek, one of the men engrossed in his work gave her a sunny smile and a wave, then vanished from sight in an instant.

"The horses?"

"Gone. Looks like they rode off on them."

"Wow. Seriously."

He'd sweet-talked a girl at least ten years his junior into going on a trip (he hadn't), abandoned her on a remote mountain (he had), tossed her a survival kit, then disappeared?

Wasn't this guy a complete fucking lunatic? (An accurate assessment.)