My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros’ Obsession

What do you think was the most frequent thing I said after entering this damn military?

"Sorry?"

"I'll correct that?"

No matter what you expect, all of them are wrong. The correct answer is:

"Wow, this actually works."

One week into military life, I realized:

Humans built the pyramid.

Is there anything humans can’t do in this world?

Over the past week, the daily life of the new recruits looked something like this:

"Do 1,000 jumping jacks!"

"Are you out of your mind...?"

An hour later, I was saying:

"Wow, this actually works."

I realized that physical strength can be improved with mental strength.

"Hey! Hold the log better! Work together, work together!"

"Forget working together, how am I supposed to carry this?"

"...Wow, this actually works."

I also learned that muscle strength can be built through mental strength.

"Don’t you care if your blanket’s crooked?"

"...Wow, this actually works."

Surprisingly, I discovered that blankets could be perfectly folded.

"The floor’s not shiny enough, it’s dull!"

"...Why is this actually working?"

I realized that by scrubbing the wooden floor properly, you could make it shine so much that you could see your reflection.

'Even the special forces probably don’t train like this... Oh, wait. This is the special forces...'

Except for basic cleaning and making our beds, our day was filled with training from morning till night.

'...This is honestly a bit weird.'

After failing miserably in push-ups, I rolled on the dirt floor and thought to myself:

'Are they really training us this much?'

We had no rest for even a minute during the whole week of training, so I had never had a proper conversation with any of the recruits. The senior soldiers weren’t any different.

Above all, I kept thinking about what my senior said on the first day I arrived in the military:

"I heard the previous batch didn’t make it out alive."

Dealing with monsters is incredibly dangerous, and I fully understood that countless hetero sapiens have died because of it...

'Will I be able to survive?'

A sense of foreboding kept creeping in.

In Four Obsessed Madmen Cling to Me, the character I reincarnated into, Salvia, starts off already dead. It must’ve been because of the monsters.

I want to somehow avoid my inevitable death, but the biggest problem is that my survival isn’t really up to me.

No matter how hard I try, I won’t be able to achieve the physical abilities required to defeat all the monsters.

Even hetero sapiens men, who are stronger than me, die at the hands of monsters—so can I really survive, serve for eight years, and make it out alive?

Romance is definitely not a part of my life, unlike in the original novel.

I gritted my teeth while picturing Aquila doing push-ups with a face that looked like he wanted to desert the army.

‘...Right now, I don’t think I’ll ever become like one of the original male leads’ first loves.’

Aquila didn’t seem to care about me at all. To him, I was just a weak recruit who gets punished along with him under the excuse of 'collective responsibility.' Expecting help from him was utterly pointless.

And actually, the biggest problem is...

'Right now, it’s four years before the original story even starts.'

Which means, the original male leads haven’t yet reached the level where they’d be taking care of anyone.

Even if the "obsession" of the male leads starts, it probably won’t be of any help in my life...

***

"How much of the basic training have the kids gone through?"@@novelbin@@

After enduring the hellish training, we were sitting on the dirt floor with dead eyes. Leon, the senior who had mentioned the "complete annihilation of the previous batch" on our first day, spoke to Plato, who had been conducting our training. Leon always spoke with a casual tone, like he was chewing gum.

"We've been pushing them hard all week. Starting next week, we’ll follow the usual recruit routine."

'Right? We don’t train at this level every day, do we?'

The first week was brutal, but after that, it seemed like we would follow the usual recruit training under the guidance of other seniors.

I felt a sense of relief to the point where I almost cried. Yeah, if they kept training us like this for eight years, I’d definitely desert—even if it meant risking my life...

"Now, the last thing left is basic sword training."

"Really? Hey, the others are training in the back training field. Go over there and get them to hold swords."

"Understood. Hey, you guys! Get up again!"

Plato, following Leon's orders, glared at us and gestured sharply.

‘Seriously? We didn’t even get five minutes of rest, and now you're joking?’

Of course, I couldn’t voice that. After all, I’m just a new recruit... damn it.

When we arrived at the training field following Plato, there were already some of our seniors holding and swinging swords.

"Alright, new recruits, last part of your basic training. This is the most important part. Today, you’ll practice imbuing your swords with aura."

"Plato, I’ll handle the swordsmanship lesson."

"Lady Louise? Ah, understood."

Louise, a senior even more senior than Plato, stepped forward with her sword.

She was one rank below April and the second highest rank among the senior soldiers. With long hair that looked almost elf-like, she stood out.

While she was more composed than Plato or Leon, that didn’t mean her rank wasn’t something to be underestimated. Perhaps she’d grown calm because she didn’t need to bully the new recruits anymore, having earned her place...

Still, it was nerve-wracking to be holding a weapon for the first time after only physical training.

‘Ah, now that I think about it, this part also appeared in the original novel.’

Even though this is a military setting, the way hetero sapiens fought in the original novel wasn’t with guns, but swords.

Some hetero sapiens used massive guns or whips as their weapons, but that was only for those who deemed such weapons the best for them. The basic weapon that hetero sapiens first wielded was a sword.

But it wasn’t just any sword. The author of NemiJip borrowed fantasy elements for the hetero sapiens’ combat.

Hetero sapiens could imbue their swords with aura.

Humans who weren’t hetero sapiens could also learn to imbue their swords with aura after years of training, but hetero sapiens could instinctively do so much faster. This was one of the reasons the Adolph Empire conscripted hetero sapiens.

Also, the aura each hetero sapiens could use varied.

Those with a lighter touch of hetero sapiens blood could only use a basic aura with no particular attribute. But the more hetero sapiens blood they had, the more diverse and powerful the attributes of their aura could be.

‘The original heroine, Dalin, had a light attribute.’

Very few hetero sapiens possessed blood strong enough to use that rare light attribute aura, but Dalin, being the special "heroine," could.

Though, let’s be honest, she didn’t do much in the original—just romance, no real action.

‘...Wait a minute, thinking about it again, this is really pissing me off.’

I didn’t realize this when I was just reading the novel, but now that I’ve been reincarnated and enlisted, I’ve realized something shocking.

‘Original heroine Dalin, you legendary good-for-nothing... If you didn’t do your job, someone else had to take over for you…’

If Dalin didn’t do her part, it was left to some poor junior soldiers to take her place.

And honestly, isn’t Dalin supposed to pay 3,000 Marknes after her 8 years of service, not receive them?

As I continued to grumble inwardly about the original heroine, Louise, holding her sword, began explaining.

"Alright. This is probably your first time holding a sword. Be careful not to stab anyone next to you—it’s dangerous."

‘...Huh?’

I stared at Louise in disbelief, but he had a very serious expression. I had to bite back the laughter that almost escaped my lips.

In typical sword-and-knighthood fantasy novels, they usually lecture about "holding a sword with reverence… the mindset that it is for protecting people…" and other such speeches.

And here, all we’re hearing is a warning not to stab the person next to us? We’re not elementary school kids.

‘Well, yeah, I guess we shouldn’t accidentally stab someone... huh...’

We didn’t have any special mission to protect the empire's citizens, so we didn’t need some special mindset when holding a sword. We just had to follow orders.

Following Louise’s instructions, I grabbed the sword. He even corrected each of us individually to make sure we were holding it the right way.

"Now, focus on imbuing it with your aura."

‘Huh?’

Was I the only one who thought this sounded absurd? Everyone else widened their eyes in shock and glanced at Louise before quickly looking down to avoid his gaze.

"It’s instinctively embedded in you. It’s not difficult. You can do it."

‘What? How am I supposed to do this if I don’t know how...?’

Louise seemed completely indifferent to our confused reactions.

"Just think of it as imbuing your sword with aura and do it."

‘Are you kidding me...?’

But even though I felt ridiculous, I had to at least pretend to try. After all, I’d learned in the past week that nothing here was truly impossible.

I stared hard at the sword until my eyes started to water, but nothing happened.

‘Focus, and draw out your inner strength… This sounds like something from a cult.’

It felt just like those cult-like promises of "enduring hardships now means happiness in the future..." and climbing the ranks, too—so cult-like...

"...Excuse me, Louise! I’ve been trying, but I don’t think it’s working!"

Finally, one of my fellow recruits bravely raised their hand and shouted. We all stared at them as though they were a hero.

"...Not working?"

Louise shot them a cold glare.

"This is the military, and it’s not working?"

‘Damn it.’

Unfortunately, my fellow recruit’s comment seemed to trigger Louise’s anger.

"If you really can’t do it, I’ll help you."

Louise walked behind the recruit holding the sword, and with a swift kick, struck their calf.

"Hey, still not working? Is this enough for you?"

‘This damn military, always so harsh...’

We, the recruits, quickly lowered our eyes as though nothing had happened. Then...

"I did it! I got it to work!"

The recruit, who had been getting scolded and kicked by Louise, saw the blue light emanating from their sword and excitedly shouted.

‘...That actually worked.’

"Alright, do you need help too?"

"No!"

We all shouted in unison. It was touching how united we were... truly heartwarming teamwork.

"Do it! Do it well!"

"Yes, I’ll do it!"

Of course, no matter how hard I stared at the sword, nothing changed.

Eventually, like the others, I was only able to imbue my sword with aura after going through the "only violence and fear" lessons...

‘Wow, this really works...’

The military—truly an incredible place the more you learn about it!