The Retired Supporting Character Wants to Live Quietly

Chapter 88 - Bustling Group Training (5)

Ismera must have encountered the students while arriving a bit early for the afternoon theory lesson.

"You’re here, Professor Ismera?"

"Professor Dian, what in the world is going on here?"

Professor Ismera asked sharply, though her tone had noticeably softened compared to when we first met.

"How harshly did you train them for one of them to run off crying?"

At that, Hindrasta, still crying, buried herself in Ismera’s arms.

"Professor... sob, sob..."

Ismera embraced Hindrasta, glaring at me.

"It’s not the training; it’s for a different reason. It’s a money issue. There’s no need for you to worry about it, Professor Ismera."

"A money issue? What could cause an academy student to have money problems?"

"It’s nothing serious. She just didn’t get a chance to retrieve the money she earned from her previous mercenary work before being selected as a special student. I was planning to take care of it after today’s training."

"That’s not serious?"

Ismera’s voice rose in pitch.

"If she’s running away crying over money, it means she literally doesn’t have a single coin to her name. How can you say it’s not serious?"

It’s understandable for Ismera to react this way since she doesn’t know that Sophie is actually the infamous Hindrasta. As for me, I’ve spent four years being chased by this dragon, so her whining about being broke doesn’t exactly tug at my heartstrings.

"For now, use this."

Ismera rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a few silver coins, placing them in Hindrasta’s hand.

"There’s no need to pay me back. Just win first place in the competition."

"Thank you, Professor."

Hindrasta bowed her head as she accepted the money.

"Oh, there’s no need for that. I’m sure she has plenty of money in the bank. She is from the Leblanc Mercenaries, after all."

"Is that money accessible right now?"

Ismera gave me a sharp look before addressing the students.

"Alright then, everyone, go ahead and wash up, and we’ll start the afternoon class afterward."

As the students headed to the bathroom one by one, Ismera and I sat at opposite ends of the sofa, waiting in silence.

Ismera didn’t say a single word the entire time.

I glanced at her and noticed that she looked extremely tired, staring down at her knees.

"Did you stay up all night?"

"No, I didn’t."

"You look really pale."

"It must be the heat."

But from what I know, elves aren’t particularly affected by heat or cold.

As proof, despite walking from the main building to here, Ismera hadn’t broken a sweat.

If it were any other race, they would have been drenched in sweat walking that distance in this weather.

I can only guess that she stayed up late or didn’t sleep at all to prepare for the students’ lessons.

Ismera is very similar to Knightley in many ways.

She’s sharp, rational, competent, and more diligent than anyone else.

This competition is a crucial opportunity for Ismera to prove her abilities.

She won’t take it lightly.

It’s truly unfortunate.

The fact that Ismera didn’t become the headmaster isn’t due to her lack of ability, but solely because of the Emperor’s stubbornness.

Kirrin has her own desperate reasons for not stepping down.

Even the formidable Second Princess couldn’t do anything about it, so what could a mere elf without any backing do alone?

I once considered having a serious conversation with Professor Ismera about my past, but now I wonder if that’s really the right thing to do.

‘The truth is, I worked with Linus on a special task force to slay the Demon King, and the academy wanted me to become the headmaster. But I have no intention of taking that position and would rather stay where I am, so please don’t worry about me.’

It’s easy to say, but for Ismera, it would just be another insurmountable wall.

Even Kirrin, who doesn’t want to be headmaster, is stuck in that role, so would Ismera truly believe me when I say not to worry about me?

I don’t know.

For now, let’s focus on finishing the competition and think about it afterward.

# # # # #

Once the students had all washed up and changed clothes, we began the afternoon theory lesson.

We didn’t go to a classroom; instead, we sat around the kitchen table, like a group study session.

"Professor, you can go take care of your business."

Seeing me sitting in the corner, Ismera spoke up.

"You’re not seriously here to monitor whether I’m teaching correctly, are you?"

"That’s not it. I wanted to learn more about the field of intelligence."

Before Kaiden, the magical prodigy, joined the task force, Linus and I were clueless about espionage.

Neither of us was particularly bright, so we preferred the brute force approach often referred to as the \'rubber hose\' method.

If we couldn’t understand a cipher or if there was a password lock, we’d just grab the relevant people and torture them until they talked.

When our continuous breaches forced the Demon King’s army to step up their security measures, they responded in kind.

They increased the protection for security officers, spread the password among multiple individuals who all needed to be present to unlock it, and if someone was kidnapped, they’d spout a fake password that triggered a self-destruct spell. Even if we cracked the code and opened the door, they’d rig it with traps.

Sometimes, they’d even preemptively feed the captured individuals false information to mislead us.

So we developed countermeasures for their countermeasures.

We’d kill all the security personnel, capture everyone who knew part of the code, and if the self-destruct spell triggered, we’d reopen it and destroy all the traps.

If they tried feeding us false information, we’d track down the person who knew the real information and capture them.

And surprisingly, this method was quite effective.

We’d spend months collecting and handing over intelligence to the espionage department, only for them to take over a month to decipher it.

Using our method, we’d have the relevant person strung up, dunking them in water repeatedly until they cracked the code, processed the prisoners, and then celebrated our success over tea in just one hour.

However, this was a crude and loud method.

The best approach is to solve things quietly on the spot with sharp wits, vast knowledge, and experience.

In that regard, Ismera is... well, perfect.

"This is a runic cipher. You learned about runes in the public academy, right?"

"Yes, Professor. I took it as an elective."

"Well done. Knowing runes is never a disadvantage."

Merilda smiled brightly at Ismera’s praise.

"Among cipher systems, there’s something called a lattice cipher with combined encryption. It’s unfamiliar but surprisingly simple..."

Ismera’s voice, like that of a pureblood elf, was nothing short of gentle and soothing.

"This problem will be quite difficult. If you get stuck, I’ll help you with the solution."

Whenever she leaned forward to help the students, a pleasant scent wafted over.

It wasn’t perfume or soap—something more... like the fresh scent of a forest.

Elves really are...

"What’s got you daydreaming like that?"

Without realizing it, I had been watching with a smile, and Ismera noticed.

"About what?"

"Weren’t you going to learn along with us?"

She gestured with her chin toward the worksheet in front of me.

"Since you were in the task force, this should be a piece of cake for you."

"Ah, yes. Of course. Absolutely."

Of course not. Just by reading the problem, I could tell I wouldn’t be able to solve it.

Hindrasta was frowning deeply, holding her head, while Knightley was struggling, trying to solve it with her pen.

In contrast, Merilda seemed to be working it out effortlessly, jotting down calculations and answers.

"Aah..."

A sigh of despair escaped Knightley’s lips as she looked at Merilda’s work.

It can’t be helped. No one can excel in everything.

"Let’s go over the problem again."

Ismera’s problem-solving was flawless.

She’s undoubtedly the ideal candidate for the position of Head Theoretical Professor at the Imperial Special Mission Academy.

Most pureblood elves are highly disdainful of other races and tend to stay within their forests, so people often only see them as outwardly beautiful and noble, not realizing how intelligent and capable they truly are.

But every elf I’ve met so far has been brilliant, and Ismera is no exception.

If elves were just a little less exclusive, the history of the continent might be very different from what it is now.

# # # # #

"Good job, everyone. I’ll check the assignments I gave you in tomorrow’s class."

With the afternoon lesson over, Ismera packed her bag and smiled at the students.

As always, her smile was beautiful, but she seemed tired.

After Ismera left, I took the students out for physical training.

Physical training, dinner, self-study, and then bed.

But Hindrasta was making a fuss.

"I’m going to get my money!"

Does it really have to be today? I was about to say, but then I reconsidered.

If I told her we’d go tomorrow, she might actually start breathing fire.

If we wait until after physical training, the bank might close, so it’s better to go now.

"Bank? What are you talking about? We need to go to the mercenary camp!"

It turns out all her money is stored in the mercenary camp’s vault.

"Then we can’t go now. Let’s wait until after the competition."

"Waaah! I don’t have any money!"

"But Professor Ismera gave you some silver coins earlier."

"That’ll be gone after I buy some panties and a few slices of cake! We need to go now, right now!"

As Hindrasta stomped her feet and caused a commotion, Knightley snapped in frustration.

"Where are we supposed to find time to chase after a few coins with the competition so close?!"

With that, she pulled something out of her pocket and tossed it to Hindrasta.

It was a gold coin, gleaming brightly.

As Hindrasta hastily caught it with both hands, Knightley snapped at her.

"Take care of your urgent needs with that! And stop talking nonsense about running back to the mercenary camp! The competition is our top priority right now!"

As Hindrasta stared blankly at the gold coin, Knightley clicked her tongue and rummaged through her pocket.

"Is that not enough?"

Hindrasta blinked in surprise as a second gold coin landed in her hand, and she looked up at Knightley.

"This is when you say ‘thank you.’"

Merilda prompted her, and Hindrasta stammered.

"Th-thank you... sniff..."

Hindrasta covered her mouth and ran to the bathroom, where the sound of quiet sobbing soon followed.

Ah, that crybaby.