Chapter 107
“Ha. And why are you butting in now?”
Rosanne tilted his head as if dumbfounded, but Ishina didn’t back down.
“…It would be best if you lowered your hand.”
“What?”
“I’ve never laid a hand on even my junior colleagues, Rosanne.”
‘…Huh?’
Yes, this was truly something I had never imagined happening even once.
‘Ishina is standing up to a senior?’
The same Ishina who constantly reminded me to obey my seniors, especially emphasizing not to cause trouble with the commanding officers and to behave quietly for half a year?
“Hey, you let your junior act so disrespectfully, and you don’t even train them properly? Looks like the mistake starts with you.”
Now Rosanne’s anger seemed to shift toward Ishina. He approached Ishina, raising his hand as if to strike, but Ishina still stood firmly in place.
Until now, I hadn’t fully realized, but perhaps because of Ishina’s trait as the original story’s male lead 3, she didn’t look weak at all compared to Rosanne.
Even Rosanne, who had leaned in threateningly to intimidate her, flinched at Ishina’s cold, unwavering expression.
“Yes, my mistake. Sarubia will continue to be disrespectful, I suppose.”
‘…What?’
Usually, in moments like this, one would explain that it’s not about being disrespectful, but that they’re just close friends… right?
I awkwardly rolled my eyes, unable to intervene between the two seniors, when Ishina continued speaking.
“And Rosanne, you haven’t been with our unit for long, have you?”
“What?”
“We’ll handle the unit operations ourselves.”
At this point, my jaw nearly dropped at Ishina’s words.
‘Isn’t she openly picking a fight?’
Unbelievably, Ishina was the one who had sparked this conflict…! What is this? Is her “black-hand” trait surfacing now because she can’t contain it?
“What did you just say…!”
Rosanne looked as if he might grab Ishina by the collar at any moment, but other soldiers began to gather around, observing our standoff.
Among them were the senior corporals and the commanding officer Kyat, who had enough experience to intervene.
“Hey, Rosanne. Take it easy. I’ve been here a while, and this unit’s discipline is a bit lax, you know?”
Kyat grinned, draping an arm over Rosanne’s shoulder. But he didn’t actually seem to be trying to restrain him. On the contrary, he was encouraging Rosanne by pointing out the unit’s weak discipline right in front of us.
Seeing Rosanne and Kyat’s arrogant attitudes, I could now be certain that they intended to crush us to gain control of the unit.
‘Damn it, we’re about to get dragged into Part 2 of political maneuvering.’
“Officer Kyat, surely you know better than anyone that you should be careful in your final years of service.”
Even amid this, Ishina maintained a remarkably cold expression I had never seen before, standing her ground against the officers…
Then one of the senior corporals piped up.
“Isn’t it the same for Ishina too? Not much time left until promotion, right?”
Of course, Zayden, who never missed an opportunity, was right there! With his usual annoying grin, he looked at Ishina.
‘That guy…’
Since becoming a senior corporal, he had apparently grown bold. He couldn’t have dared utter a word in front of me before, but gaining official authority to manage juniors must have restored his confidence.
Now the situation was even more complicated.
Kyat and Rosanne were trying to assert their power by putting us down, and now Zayden, having become a senior corporal, might try to seize control himself. Seeing Zayden’s shameless expression, it seemed possible he could ally with the officers.
‘Isn’t political scheming supposed to happen in royal courts, not here?’
Not the Crown Prince faction or the First Prince faction—this was just “commanding officers + senior corporals vs. junior corporals,” and somehow I was supposed to navigate this in a fantasy military world?
“What’s going on here?”
Even Aquila now held my arm and glared at the commanding officers. Karon, clueless about the situation, simply stood next to me.
Clearly, the factions were divided.
‘I need to end this standoff somehow.’
Of course, I’m confident in politics to some degree, but engaging the officers without preparation in this state would obviously make us lose. They outrank us, and if we provoke them, it could be seen as insubordination!
So, we needed to exit the situation and plan for the future…
Then I caught Dalin’s eyes from a distance, watching the scene.
‘Dalin!’
At that moment, I was happier to see Dalin than ever before.
I signaled with a fierce look, telling her to do something, and she seemed to understand, her face lighting up.
Dalin dashed over and began shouting toward Rosanne and Kyat.
“Rosanne! Kyat! Do you know why?”
“What?”
“The reason the entire continent is shocked at Arcon’s amazing power, why the people of the Adolbe Empire are outraged, and why everyone wants to become an Arcon!”
“Wha—what?!”
Rosanne and Kyat, who had been glaring at me moments ago, were instantly distracted by Dalin as if hypnotized.
‘…What is this?’
It felt like a YouTube clickbait title from my past life if you just changed the subject… No, this isn’t the time.
‘Dalin really is the queen of trolling.’
While Dalin drew all the attention, I quickly led Ishina, Aquila, and Karon out of the area. I decided to award Dalin one “forgiving patience token” for her efforts.
As soon as we were clear, the first thing I did was ask Ishina why she had acted that way.
“Ishina, why did you…?”
“Haha…”
Her demeanor had returned to the usual calm and gentle attitude, contrasting sharply with her earlier icy expression. That made it even scarier. Truly a mastermind-like presence…
“The person is leaving soon anyway; couldn’t you have just endured it a bit…?”
“But Sarubia, how could I endure that.”
Indeed, whatever Ishina had done was already beyond our control.
We had openly opposed them, and now a power game had begun that wouldn’t end until one side lost…
‘Ugh, commanding officers should just quietly serve out their time.’
Still, I could understand why they acted that way. As a senior corporal, they had power in their old unit, and now as a commanding officer in a new unit, losing that power was probably hard to accept.
‘Kyat is probably just testing Rosanne.’
Kyat’s playful attitude with juniors had always been slightly unsettling; perhaps he had some ambition for power as well.
The arrival of Rosanne, a commanding officer with strong ambition, would have presented an opportunity for him. If Rosanne gained control, it wouldn’t harm Kyat, and even if Rosanne failed, Kyat could just bide his time until leaving the unit.
Hmm… What’s the best course of action here? Ishina had openly clashed with the officers, but seeing her calm, usual expression now suggested she wasn’t looking to escalate further.
“Phew…”
Ishina let out a deep sigh. I quickly put on an innocent, blank expression.
“Ishina, I really wasn’t thinking…”
“You’re annoying.”
“Eh?”
Ishina didn’t seem to hear me, instead looking back at the spot we had left, a strange expression on her face.
“Yes, annoying…”
That line was straight out of a villain’s script—was I imagining it?
“I should tidy up the unit a bit before leaving, after all.”
…Not imagining it.
I couldn’t have misunderstood the meaning behind that final line. I’ve read too many fantasy romance novels to miss it.
‘I can just stay quiet then.’
Finally, Ishina’s “black-hand” trait seemed to be activating!
Surprisingly, Ishina didn’t make any notable moves after that statement.
“Ishina, are you planning anything lately?”
“What do you expect from me, anyway?”
…True, if a mastermind broadcasted their plan to everyone, that wouldn’t be very mastermind-like. A real mastermind works behind the scenes.
Still, the officers also weren’t making any moves, so a tense, precarious atmosphere lingered in the unit.
‘Well, Ishina will handle it.’
This time, I could trust the true mastermind Ishina with everything.
I spent the rest of the time searching the company library for materials on how monsters are created, while also maintaining good relations with my juniors for any future power games with the officers.
“Dalin, your trolling last time was excellent.”
“Hehe…”
“I’ll let you off for falling behind during training last time.”
“Really? Thank you!”
“But I won’t forgive spilling water on my peer by accident, you little…!”
“T-That…!”
As I scolded Dalin in my usual way, Blue, my peer from the Beta squad who had just arrived at our company building, opened his mouth in surprise.
“S-Sarubia? I’m fine…”
Only then did I release Dalin and approach Blue. He had been accidentally drenched by Dalin and looked like a soaked mouse.
“Sorry, Blue. I’ll properly handle junior training.”
“I’m fine… Oh, Sarubia, is that rumor true?”
Blue seemed more interested in something else than being wet.
“I heard your squad’s atmosphere isn’t good lately. That you fought with the new commanding officer.”
“How did you even know that?”
Of course, a meaningless question. Rumors spread quickly in the military, and Blue was an excellent source.
“Well, that’s all I heard. Didn’t you just lose your temper and charge in?”
“I didn’t.”
“Oh, then Aquila? Did he fight instead of you?”
“Not Aquila either.”
“Then who?”
Seeing that Blue had no clue, I decided to tell him exactly who fought Rosanne.
“Ishina.”
“…What? Your senior? That kind person? No way!”
“It’s true.”
“Then Rosanne must have been in the wrong.”
Blue immediately assumed that Rosanne was at fault; Ishina’s reputation within the company was excellent. She was known as kind and considerate, so anyone hearing that she fought Rosanne would naturally think the problem lay with him.
“So why exactly did they fight?”
“They kept picking on us first. Clearly trying to crush our morale and make a power grab in the new unit…”
“Wait, Sarubia.”
Blue narrowed his eyes at me.
“So nothing unusual happened between you and them originally?”
“Yes! I didn’t do anything wrong first!”
“…Then I think I have an idea.”
“An idea?”
I thought Rosanne was just hostile because of power, but apparently, that wasn’t the case.
