My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros’ Obsession

I was certain I hadn’t crossed any lines this time. I’d given an objective assessment of Winter’s abilities and hadn’t said anything about needing him more than Aquila.

"Why do you seem upset…?" I asked hesitantly.

"I’m not upset," Aquila replied flatly.@@novelbin@@

"What are you talking about? You think I can’t read your expression? You definitely look upset."

"Ha…"

This time, Aquila let out an even heavier sigh than before.

While I fidgeted, unsure of how to respond, a voice suddenly spoke from right behind me.

"Salvia."

"Ah!" I gasped and spun around in surprise, only to find Ishina standing there.

"Ishina?"

"Why do I always seem to pass by at times like this…?" he muttered, shaking his head.

"Uh… what do you mean by ‘times like this’?"

"Are you doing it on purpose?"

"Doing what on purpose…?"

"Never mind…" Ishina sighed deeply, shaking his head as he brushed past me.

Standing there, faced with Aquila’s still-stormy expression, I felt a sudden urge to cry. Did he have another trauma I didn’t know about? This was harder than I thought.

***

Winter's lessons continued relentlessly.

For two hours every day, he made me sit down and study writing. I lost an hour of free time every day, though it meant I also got to skip an hour of labor.

Should I be happy about this? Or was this like the monkey in the fable who was tricked into trading morning chestnuts for evening ones?

"Salvia, focus. This is the fourth time you’ve lost your concentration today."

"Yes, sir…"

I quickly snapped my eyes back to the letters he had written in front of me.

"You keep reversing this letter. This is the twenty-eighth time. Why?"

"…I don’t know, sir."

"'I don’t know' isn’t an answer. If we think about it, there’s surely a reason behind it."

Of course. Winter, the control-freak, data-gathering supercomputer, and perfectionist, can’t handle not knowing something.

"Um… I really don’t know why I keep reversing that letter…" I replied, though I already knew the reason.

The Adolph Empire's alphabet had a character that looked like an inverted English "S." Naturally, I always wrote it the way I was familiar with—as "S."

"Typically, children reverse letters like this. But you’re not a child, and even Blair and Topio didn’t make this mistake."

"How dare he compare me to Blair and Topio…"

My pride took a severe hit. I couldn’t keep my frustration off my face and gave Winter a slightly annoyed look before quickly replacing it with a forced smile—my standard "dealing with seniors" expression.

Winter, however, didn’t comment on my earlier expression. Instead, he nodded slowly and muttered, "You really are fearless."

"…Pardon?"

Caught off guard by his unexpected statement, I blinked and asked for clarification. What did he mean by that?

While I was still puzzled, the door opened, signaling the end of our lesson. Altair walked in casually, as he often did these days.

"Hey, are you done?"

Since Winter started teaching me, Altair and I had been seeing each other more frequently. This had also given me the opportunity to subtly sow some negative thoughts about Gagne into Altair’s mind. But I’d check the results of that effort another time.

"Altair." Winter’s serious gaze fixed on him. "As I mentioned before, she’s incredibly bold."

"Wow, seriously? Salvia, you might be the gutsiest person in Alpha Platoon," Altair added with a grin.

Listening to their back-to-back comments, I felt my head spinning.

"What on earth do they think of me?"

From the way they spoke, it was clear they’d discussed me before. Whether their conversations had been positive or not, I wasn’t so sure.

Confused, I glanced at Altair and asked, "What were you two talking about?"

"Who knows?"

Altair, who would normally have snapped at me for asking a senior such a direct question—earning him the nickname "Grumpy Altair" in my mind—looked surprisingly amused.

"Maybe Winter will tell you someday."

He dismissed my question lightly. But while I was distracted by Altair’s response, Winter refocused his attention on me.

"Salvia, we still have seven minutes left. You’d better get back to concentrating."

"Yes, sir…"

"Speak with more conviction. And remember to maintain your expression. Finally…"

It was torture. What made it worse was that everything Winter said was correct.

"Winter, you seem to have complete control over everything in this unit. I’m sure just the 78th generation alone could keep it running smoothly," I said with a sigh.

"Salvia, refrain from voicing every thought that pops into your head," Winter retorted, his tone calm but firm.

…Patience. I need to endure this.

Silently chanting "Overthrow Gagne" and "Defeat Jaiden" like a mantra, I gritted my teeth and bore through Winter’s endless barrage of corrections.

***

I was in the middle of helping with company repairs.

"Ugh, I’m so tired I could die," I muttered while shoveling dirt.

For clarity, when I say "shoveling," I don’t mean the "shoveling" used in romance fantasy novels, where the leads misunderstand each other’s feelings. This was literal, backbreaking, dictionary-definition shoveling.

"Ugh, at least in romance fantasy, shoveling doesn’t involve this much physical suffering."

Yawning widely, I dug into the dirt with my ever-improving shoveling skills, honed since enlisting.

"Yaaaawn…"

"Are you tired?"

Karon’s voice came from beside me. At some point, he’d joined me, looking at me with concern.

"Yeah, as always…" I replied, glancing around.

The supervisors for this task were Gagne and his cohort Zara, and unsurprisingly, Jaiden was lazily shoveling dirt near them, barely putting in any effort.

When Jaiden caught my eye, he smirked and raised the corner of his mouth in a cocky grin.

"This guy…"

I wanted to unleash "violence and fear" to save the day, but I held myself back. After all, Gagne was protecting him, and I had bigger plans in motion.

"Why does he act so recklessly, knowing he’s doomed later anyway?"

It made me wonder if I’d unknowingly offended him before enlisting. Or maybe he just didn’t think far enough ahead to realize there would be consequences for his actions.

As I glared at him in disdain and took a deep breath, a thought struck me.

"Wait, disdain…?"

If he was aware that acting like this would hurt him in the long run but still chose to antagonize me, what if…

"Could he… enjoy being looked down on?"

I’d sent him countless disdainful glares. Was it possible that my attempts to humble him had actually been encouraging him? That would be a truly troublesome preference. If it were true, I’d need to adjust my approach.

To test my theory, I looked around for someone who might know Jaiden better. My gaze landed on Milphy, who was struggling with his work nearby.

Milphy was Jaiden’s only remaining cohort; the other three had already died. With his small build and meek demeanor, Milphy seemed the polar opposite of Jaiden. However, he was quick and obedient, which helped him survive battles against monsters.

"Milphy," I called.

"Y-yes?!" Milphy flinched and hurried over to me, clearly nervous.

"I need to ask you something."

Milphy looked even more tense, as if he thought I might take out my frustrations with Jaiden on him.

"Keep this between us and answer honestly," I said, lowering my voice.

"O-okay!"

"So… does Jaiden have any… unusual preferences?"

"…Huh?"

"Does he, I don’t know, enjoy being looked down on by seniors?"

"…W-what?!"

Milphy stammered in shock, then seemed to realize why I was asking. His eyes widened as he hastily replied, "No! Not at all! As far as I know, Jaiden is completely normal in that regard!"

"Really? You’re sure?"

"Yes, he doesn’t enjoy being disliked by others. That’s not his thing at all!"

"Alright. Got it. Go back to work."

Nodding, I gestured for him to continue his tasks. Before he left, I added in a low whisper, "And avoid Blair and Topio. They have a habit of yelling at juniors during tasks. They’ll keep shouting no matter how you respond."

"Understood!"

Milphy quickly moved to a spot far from Blair and Topio, clearly taking my advice seriously.

"Another junior saved from the clutches of the monstrous 85th generation," I thought, feeling a rare sense of accomplishment.

Just then, Karon’s voice called out behind me, sounding strained.

"Salvia…"

"What now?"

Karon, crouched on the ground with his shovel, looked up at me with a pitiful expression.

"I… I forgot how to shovel."

"…Why are you lying?"

He’d been shoveling just fine earlier. What could’ve possibly happened while I was talking to Milphy?

"Stand up," I ordered.

"My legs have given out," he replied, still seated.

"What? That doesn’t even make sense!"

What was going on with him? My head was starting to ache.

Sighing, I extended both hands toward him, but even when I pulled with all my strength, I couldn’t lift him. Naturally—there was a massive size difference between us.

"This isn’t going to work…"

But Karon looked up at me with such pleading eyes that I tried again, only to stumble backward when I lost my grip.

"Whoa!"

"Salvia, careful."

Before I could hit the ground, Aquila caught me from behind. His high body temperature spread through me instantly.

"Why are you so warm today?" I asked.

"I’m always like this," Aquila replied, his hand firm around my waist as he helped me stand upright. Then, he glanced at Karon and spoke firmly.

"Anyway, he’s just acting spoiled. Don’t indulge him—it’ll only encourage bad habits."

"What?"

"He’s sulking because you haven’t been paying attention to him lately. He’s just doing this to get your attention."

There’s no way… he’s not a puppy or something!

"Salvia, but—"

"Wait… he really is?"

Karon stood up, his lips pouting in frustration.

"As your junior, I don’t understand why you’re suddenly paying so much attention to other people!"