The Federation’s Top Scientist

“Haah…”

In Rina’s room in the dormitory.

Inside, Helena let out a sigh while leaning against the wall.

Her head was throbbing.

Her stomach churned, feeling like she might vomit at any moment, darkening the reality she had tried to keep bright.

‘She knew all along.’

Yena’s words drove a nail deep into her heart.

She had been played by her.

Pondering over the girl’s words that she had detected her tailing from the beginning, it now explained why she couldn’t follow her all this time.

How could she not avoid it if she knew?

I was the only one foolishly chasing after Yena.

Thud─

Helena clutched her head in deep despair.

She had been too arrogant all this time.

She had dismissed her, thinking she was just a commoner.

She had misjudged her as an unremarkable child just by looking at Yena’s innocent appearance.

In reality, there was an enormous backing that she couldn’t even comprehend.

‘How on earth…’

Does she mean she noticed me tailing her?

She didn’t think Yena could have figured it out.

No matter what, that seemed impossible.

She was certain it was the work of some enormous power behind Yena that she alone couldn’t approach.

Who could it be?

What is Yena’s true identity?

Whoosh, whoosh─!

She looked around in a chill.

There was no one.

The only things in the room were the curtains fluttering from the wind seeping through the window frame and the coat the princess might have left before leaving.

No presence could be felt in the shabby dormitory.

“Haah, I’m going crazy…”

But for some reason, she felt tense.

Ever since her conversation with Yena,

She couldn’t relax comfortably, feeling anxious and suspicious that someone might be watching her from somewhere.

‘I can’t tell the imperial family either.’

A bleak reality.

Helena bit her lip in a lamenting state of mind.

She couldn’t reveal it to the family.

As much as she wanted to, she wished to confess everything about Yena and personally request an investigation from His Majesty the Emperor, but…

The moment she was caught, everything would be over.

For me,

And for Lady Rina’s life at the military academy.

Private inquiries about cadets were a serious matter that would be severely punished if caught.

Didn’t Principal Rustet say it himself?

During the casual talk to get permission for accompaniment before the joint training.

“Damn it…”

Helena uttered a curse she had never used before.

That’s how much guilt enveloped her entire body.

She was living at the military academy on the orders of the head of the family to protect Rina, but she had found herself in a situation where everything could end because of her carelessness.

‘What on earth is that child?’

She swallowed dry saliva and trembled.

She wasn’t an ordinary cadet.

It wasn’t just a cliché story of having an unusual backing or unknown power, but her eyes were not those a child of her age could possess.

She had only seen such eyes in elderly politicians or old people who had gained composure after rolling through the Great War…

What is her real identity?

Naturally threatening and drawing out a deal, not blinking an eye at my threats – these weren’t behaviors a commoner child who had just become a first-year could show.

But to say she was disguising her identity…

Her father was too famous a figure for that to be likely.

It didn’t seem like she would take the risk of being discovered by disguising herself as a simple country girl.

So, there was a cognitive dissonance.

Having a strong backing,

But not being a noble?

What kind of ridiculous situation is this?

Thud─!

Helena struck the floor, filled with frustration.

‘Did I not figure out anything at all?’

She lamented, feeling the stinging pain in her hand.

When she thought about it, she didn’t know anything properly about Yena.

It was as if all the time invested so far had been meaningless.

How could that girl have such enormous power despite being of an ordinary class, what is the identity of that power…

Not one thing,

She didn’t know a single thing.

“For now, is following her proposal all I can do?”

She looked up at the ceiling with empty eyes.

There was nothing she could do to counterattack.

For now, the best she could do was to fulfill the two favors Yena had requested and try not to cause harm to Lady Rina.

She would have to wait for an opportunity to find a weakness.

‘She said to investigate Wolf, didn’t she?’

And the other one was to disclose the data collected about Yena so far?

She had no intention of swapping the documents.

Not knowing who was behind Yena at this point, she didn’t want to risk Lady Rina’s reputation unnecessarily.

Let’s comfort ourselves that it was the plan we were going to execute originally.

Let’s think that we actually wanted to investigate Wolf.

“Haah…”

She sighed while justifying it like that.

She had to do this,

It seemed like the only way to relieve her stifled feelings.

---

“I’m hungry.”

Was it because I ran so intensely?

My stomach felt empty.

Should I order food at night?

Or should I stop by the store on the way back?

Trudge─ Trudge─

I moved my steps, immersed in various thoughts.

The more I did, the more my sight was filled with the building boasting an impressive appearance.

An arched roof reminiscent of an auditorium.

Vast outer walls stretching endlessly below it.

I didn’t know how much budget was invested, but it was larger and more magnificent than any building I had encountered at the military academy.

To the point of making me forget my hunger for a moment.

“It’s splendid.”

I appreciated the exterior while giving silent applause.

I couldn’t help but be happy.

Now, if I entered through this wide door, I could train against monsters.

I wasn’t worried about having to turn back since it wasn’t closed like last time.

This seems like the happiest day.

It was the happiest day since the joint training began.

In the morning and afternoon with Helena,

Evening and night would be spent on monster combat training.

I carefully pulled the handle of the iron door, hoping it wouldn’t fall below expectations.

Creak─!

And the moment I finally saw the inside,

“Oh…”

An exclamation naturally came out.

“How is this project progressing?”

“Not bad. The increase in mutation rate has stabilized…”

It was full of researchers wearing white gowns.

Click, clank─!

Complex mechanical devices were everywhere.

Even at a glance, they were professional equipment.

Although they were lacking compared to the scientific equipment I had seen in the past, considering the times, it was an impressive facility.

It made me wonder if there could be training grounds of this level in other countries.

There might very well not be.

This monster combat training ground in Sevirpol was the culmination of all technologies from the Federation and the Empire.

“What brings you here?”

A bumpy build.

A height that made me question if it would even reach my chest.

“I came for monster combat training. I’m Yena Freud, a first-year cadet from Astrakhan Military Academy.”

I opened my mouth to the middle-aged dwarf man.

“Ah, follow me.”

He nodded with an exclamation and guided the way.

Judging from his fluttering coat, he seemed to be a researcher.

Only monster researchers would be stationed in the facility wearing pure white coats reaching down to their legs.

Thud─ Thud─

Anyway, I followed his gestures and stepped forward.

The training ground was extremely spacious.

Or rather, looking at the scenery so far, it was closer to a research institute. It seemed to handle various tasks as vast as the building’s size.

“Hmm.”

“Is there a problem?”

“It’s nothing.”

Above all, what caught my eye was…

That dwarf researcher with short legs.

He was one of the sights of the training ground.

I didn’t feel much dissonance seeing elves or ordinary humans in clothes, but dwarves alone looked comical.

Short legs,

Short torso.

I had seen them a lot in games in the past, but facing them in reality provided a different kind of enjoyment.

If I had thought of them as just graphic lumps before, now I was looking at them as an actually existing race, so the feeling was different.

It felt like looking at toys.

Although I’m not one to talk, being short myself…

“Go in this way. The director of the research institute should be inside.”

“Thank you.”

Anyway, at the destination─

I bowed to thank the nameless dwarf who was talking with his back to the office.

“Then I’ll be going.”

“Take care.”

And when he left,

“The research director, huh.”

I erased my smile and calmly gazed forward.

In the pure white marble corridor, a large wooden door stood alone.

Next to the tightly closed entrance, as the dwarf had said, a card saying ‘Research Director’s Office’ was inserted in a glass panel.

Is my memory correct?

But I had no interest in those things.

What did I care if there was such an office in the pure white wall or not?

However, I became interested in who might be inside.

If what I knew was correct,

Because they were one of the people necessary for the Empire’s victory.

It would be faster to check directly.

Click─!

I turned the handle without hesitation.

There was nothing more foolish than standing blankly in the cold corridor thinking.

I could find out the director’s identity just by opening this one door, so there was no need to be deeply lost in thought.

“Hm? Who is it?”

An office with an antique atmosphere.

The interior boasted an atmosphere opposite to the outside.

It was a truly classic and refreshing scene with classical music playing from a record on the brown desk.

“I’m a first-year from Astrakhan Military Academy. I came to ask if monster combat training is possible.”

“Oh… The first cadet I’m greeting, hoho!”

And I,

Rustle─

As soon as I saw the man laughing heartily while sitting at the desk, I gently raised the corners of my mouth.

The Federation’s top scientist.

However, a tragic man who meets his end during the Great Purge period.

It was the person I had been expecting.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Serty Gottfried.”

My cheeks flushed slightly red.

My shoulders trembled a bit.

How could my heart not pound?

It was the first time I met someone who had a significant influence on the world outside the Empire.

Thud!

That’s why I grasped the hand Serty offered.

“I’m Yena Freud.”

With a bright smile.

Looking up at him due to our height difference.