Genius Wizard Conceals His Origins

The autumn scenery of Frauzen, glimpsed beyond the pillars of the railway station, was soaked in rain.

This was already the third time I was looking at the city through the train window while arriving in Frauzen.

The first time was when I arrived, and the second was when I visited the World Expo in Lutenberg.

And now.

It’s already the third time, and I’ve been staying in Frauzen for almost five years. By now, I should be used to it, but it’s curious how it still feels fresh somehow.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve been wandering throughout the Federation for the past couple of weeks.

“Dr. Oslo. Take this.”

“Yes.”

Whatever the reason, I put aside my thoughts and looked across the compartment.

Lieutenant Colonel Odilo Dietrich was handing over something about the size of a palm.

A round-cut iron plate.

I attached this iron plate, which had a pin on the back to be attached to clothes, to the chest of my raincoat. Looking down, it looked quite peculiar.

“While there’s no reason for a symbol to be functional, this looks particularly useless. I might have been a little happy if it was as cool as the Lieutenant Colonel’s collar patch.”

“There wasn’t anything like a badge indicating ‘An Imperial recognized as an Honorary Federal Citizen’, so it couldn’t be helped. Please bear with this hastily made item.”

Ahem. 

After clearing his throat lightly, the Lieutenant Colonel spoke in a seemingly stern tone a moment later. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

“Dr. Eugene Oslo. Do you swear to contribute to the development of Federal Magic Studies as the first magic scholar to defect from the Empire?”

“Yes. I swear.”

The Lieutenant Colonel, who finished the oath in an instant, put on his coat.

As I was also getting ready to disembark, fumbling with the umbrella I had been given, the Lieutenant Colonel spoke in a much more relaxed manner.

“The formal procedures are now over. Now, you’ve become a Federation-certified excellent scholar symbolizing all sorts of positive things like the legitimacy of the Federation, openness of knowledge, and the composure of a great power.”

“Although that’s not really the case…”

“We can’t bluntly say you’re a propaganda scarecrow.” *1

“…You just said it bluntly.”

“Lies and euphemisms are not virtues of a soldier.”

Clunk.

Opening the first-class compartment door, the Lieutenant Colonel came out into the corridor.

I followed behind him.

I opened my mouth towards that tall, strong back.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect the Federation side to accept my proposal so readily. I should thank you, Lieutenant Colonel.”

“Don’t say things you don’t mean. To you, I’m just the messenger who brought a cruel binary choice.”

“…”

“Those who only looked down at the forest from above and couldn’t see the trees found utility in your proposal, that’s all. Don’t think of me as a cooperator. Because―”

“If I fail to prove my utility, you’ll send me back to the Leslie National Laboratory.”

“…That’s right.” [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

“You’ve already said that several times.”

The full story of my plan seems complex at first glance but is simple.

I will follow the path of ‘an Imperial-born magic scholar sincerely dedicated to the Federation’ and refresh the Federation’s external reputation.

I proposed to the government that this would be better than running me as a member of the Research Institute and…

They partially accepted it.

“In exchange for acting as the Federation’s propaganda scarecrow, the area of your house arrest is expanded to downtown Frauzen while simultaneously providing the new medicine to Benjamin Oslo. This new option has been accepted, but there are still skeptical views about the doctor’s influence.”

“I know.”

“Work hard on your research.”

The steps getting off the train.

Lieutenant Colonel Dietrich, who stopped right in front of them, turned to look at me.

“You haven’t completely shed suspicions of being an agent, so participation in group research will be restricted. You must demonstrate your influence on the Federal government through research achievements in that state. Only then will your third option function normally. Are you confident?”

“Lieutenant Colonel Dietrich. Do you have a grandchild?”

“I do. A three-year-old child. Why do you suddenly ask that?”

I said jokingly.

“By the time that child learns magic studies at school, the textbooks will have changed. Because of my theory.”

“…You can even make jokes?”

“Whether it’s a joke or not, I’m confident.”

I said so with a weak smile.

Because magic studies are still my soul and life.

I’m young compared to senior scholars. I wasn’t satisfied with just having two papers published in journals.

Whether he ignored the joke or interpreted it as serious, the Lieutenant Colonel nodded and stepped off the train.

I followed, stepping onto the platform.

The solid ground of Frauzen.

I had returned after three weeks.

Inhale, exhale.

As I was taking a deep breath, filling my lungs with the thick, settled air, I noticed several people approaching the Lieutenant Colonel on the platform.

“Are those people?” [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

“Hm. The monitoring personnel.”

Slightly furrowing my brow to focus, I could see clearly.

There were four people in total. All of them were in Federal Military uniforms.

“The doctor is still under house arrest in downtown Frauzen. The surveillance won’t be as strict as with a full house arrest, so you can rest easy.”

The fact that he says I can rest easy basically means there’s potential for anxiety.

I looked at the faces of the approaching monitoring personnel with an ambiguous expression.

Soldiers.

I even had the experience of being chased by them when I was in the Empire.

There was no way I could have good feelings, but I still smiled slightly. After all, I’ll have to face these surveillance officers for years.

And as I was beginning to be able to identify each of their individual faces…

I felt a bit strange.

For some reason, the face of the woman at the front seemed familiar.

“Ah.”

I moved forward as if enchanted.

Lieutenant Colonel Dietrich, seemingly having anticipated this, didn’t particularly restrain me. Therefore, my steps continued, and the distance to the surveillance officers narrowed twice as fast.

In a few seconds, close enough to face each other…

In a daze, I called out that name.

“Dorothy?”

“Yes. It’s me.”

Dorothy embraced me with a gentle movement.

I also put my arms over her shoulders but still felt no sense of reality. Warmth permeated my body, chilled by the cold autumn rain.

Blinking my eyes, I asked:

“Was this also part of the plan?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Haha…”

I thought, putting strength into my arms.

That it was all in Julia and Lena’s palm after all, and that indeed, lying is not a virtue of a soldier.

Lieutenant Colonel Dietrich, having completed his mission, boarded the train again and left Frauzen.

Thus, only I and the four monitoring personnel were left on the platform.

Naturally, the Federal Military is not stupid. They didn’t make the leader of the monitoring personnel a relative of the person being monitored.

Only after exchanging names with a man who looked as solemn as Lieutenant Colonel Dietrich were we able to depart.

“You don’t need permission to move. Just remember not to head outside of Frauzen, and always be accompanied by at least two monitoring personnel when going out.”

I nodded my head and took a step.

And so, a man with a round iron plate on his chest and four soldiers began to stride through downtown Frauzen.

It’s late October. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

Although soldiers walking around downtown Frauzen—reportedly for transporting equipment to set up the Leslie National Laboratory—had become almost unseen, it was just a month ago that the Imperial side had launched intense pressure.

Therefore, I, who had declared myself Imperial, along with four soldiers, received quite a lot of attention.

That is, the gazes of almost all pedestrians who had gone out despite the harsh rain.

The meanings contained in those gazes were truly diverse.

Doubt, wariness, bewilderment.

Among them, the gazes of those holding newspapers were especially aggressive.

What those gazes contained was none other than hatred.

A look that I hadn’t experienced much in the Federation. A look that only comes out when there’s certainty, not doubt.

By the time we were passing through Lapien Square, it had gotten even worse, to the point where it was difficult to count the number of gazes.

Dorothy’s expression, walking on my right holding an umbrella, was not good.

But I tried to calmly ignore the gazes.

These were gazes I would have to face continuously from now on, and ultimately, gazes I would have to change.

I wonder if even the scariest things become somewhat indifferent if you face them for five years. Fortunately, my walking speed didn’t slow down.

Instead, I voiced an old thought that suddenly came to mind.

“Dorothy.”

“Yes?”

“Do you remember? When we hadn’t known each other for long, there was a time when I chased after you as you were going to the market to prepare for the year-end party.”

“Yes. I remember.”

“I’m reminded of that time. I miss it.”

Dorothy smiled bitterly.

“You know, Eugene.”

“Yes?”

“When I saw you outside the train after returning to the Federation… I, I felt a bit relieved.”

Dorothy’s black eyes slowly scanned my appearance from head to toe.

That gaze finally rested on the badge on my chest.

“You’d grown a bit taller and were well-dressed. I was also grateful that you were wearing the scarf I gave you.”

“…”

“I was relieved, thinking that you had adapted well to the Federation, and wouldn’t have to receive such gazes anymore. But.”

Dorothy looked around.

There were gazes there.

Gazes that were quite similar to those from that day at the market.

“It’s turned out like this again. Once more.”

Dorothy’s eyes rippled gently, reflecting the rain streaks.

At a glance, it might seem no different from usual, but I read melancholy in that expression.

Surely, words of comfort would follow. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

It would be troublesome for me, who had acted arbitrarily, to receive comfort.

Just as I was about to utter words of apology, Dorothy’s lips parted first.

“Don’t you regret it?”

“…Pardon?”

The monitoring personnel were faithful to their duties. Which means they only needed to be faithful to surveillance, not to eavesdropping.

As the three considerate soldiers pretended not to hear a few steps away, Dorothy continued.

“Eugene. Don’t you regret coming to the Federation? Don’t you resent Benjamin, who marked you as his disciple, and me, who brought you here when you were badly injured?”

“…”

“Are you happy now?”

Dorothy was looking at the past.

As one of the two people who knew the detailed past unlike others, what Dorothy harbored wasn’t simple sadness or sympathy.

A sense of debt and guilt. An ambiguous feeling between the two.

Towards Dorothy, who was blankly waiting for an answer, there was only one thing I could return.

“Thanks to you.”

I smiled. Then, Dorothy also drew an honest smile.

Of course, if everyone had been as honest as Dorothy, there would have been no wars in the world.

And one of the least honest people I know said this:

“If you’re not going to discuss anything, why do you have that mouth?”

It was Lena.

With reddened eyes, yet with an angry expression, she rushed at me, so I ended up having to kneel as soon as I got home.

Besides that, due to Susan, who looked visibly tired, Ellie, who shed more tears than words, Sally, who started using books as blunt weapons without a word, and Louise, who rushed at me half-naked, the commotion didn’t easily subside.

I had returned, and would never leave without a word again.

…Only after declaring that could I calm the commotion.

#October 22nd. Slightly cloudy.

The next day…

I faced a daily life not much different from before I left. A daily life with commuting and meals.

The daily life I had longed for.

“I’m off.”

As I called out and stepped out onto Kram Street…

A great sense of discomfort greeted me.

A person who shouldn’t be here was blocking my path.

Chestnut-colored hair swayed in the wind after the rain.

I called out that name in a daze.

“…Julia?”

“Yes. It’s been a while.”

Hearing her voice made it feel real.

Whether she had run here in a hurry, despite her elegant clothes, she looked disheveled. Julia approached me with a tearful expression.

I reflexively took a step back.

There was no big reason. It was awkward to meet her again after just three weeks, having done strange things when leaving, and I owed Julia several times more apologies than I did to Lena.

I hadn’t even decided how to apologize yet.

“Why are you running away?”

However, Julia, who immediately followed the one step I had retreated, murmured coldly.

I’ve never seen those amber eyes look so chilly before.

“Don’t run away.”

For a moment, I thought I heard a cracking sound.

Julia, who approached me with big strides as I stood frozen, took a hugging posture with an extremely sad expression. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

I also reflexively bent down and spread my arms.

Then, she hugged me tightly and…

“Are you ready for your punishment?”

“Huh? Ugh―”

With a “AAAAH―” she bit my nape as if to tear off the flesh and then licked it once.

It was a hunting scene with no trace of the tenderness of reunion.

T/N

“Scarecrow” is a propaganda tactic where the enemies’ arguments are made to seem weaker than they originally were. If we see where this is used in the line in the newspaper from the previous chapter, ‘Magic scholar Eugene Oslo, who stirred up the academic world after a year, confesses Imperial origin… ‘Will dedicate myself to the development of Federal Magic Studies, Reactionary Government should not use the academe as an excuse for war,’ the latter half of the statement makes it seem like the Reactionary Government is not doing their advancements for their original purpose of ‘getting their magic back’ and therefore makes their reason seem more superficial and surface-level.

Hello! Axiomatic here.

Thanks for reading this set of five, see you in the next!