Chapter 50
“This new recruit, Sanchez, is from a mercenary background, right? When I was talking with Ishina about him, we even mentioned the possibility that he might have some ties with a dark magician.”
“Sanchez… who was his senior again?”
“Benny.”
At that, Winter slowly opened and closed his eyes. His face looked like he was thinking about something.
“The most important thing in this Border Defense Force is the relationship with one’s senior. I’m concerned whether Sanchez can establish a stable relationship and adapt well to the unit.”
“Ah, really?”
Considering that they would be seeing each other face to face for six years, Winter was right—relationship with one’s senior and junior is crucial.
Excluding peers, the person you’re with the longest is your senior or junior. If you behave properly, they’re the people you’ll be closest to. I, too, often stuck with Ishina and Caron, excluding Aquila.
Judging from Winter’s concern about Benny and Sanchez’s relationship, it seemed he was recalling his own relationships with his seniors.
‘Gagne and Zara didn’t get along well with the 78th class.’
Since their juniors were too elite, constantly being compared, they eventually came to resent the 78th class.
“Benny is elite, but… I don’t think Sanchez will be jealous of his senior, and Benny is strong enough that he won’t be disregarded.”
“Hmm.”
But Winter still sounded skeptical.
“Benny tries to maintain good relations with everyone and never loses his temper. Sometimes you need to know how to get angry. I wonder if Sanchez, who seems to only acknowledge those stronger than himself, will ever truly recognize the always-kind Benny.”
“Ah…”
I couldn’t help but gape. Not only had Winter perfectly read both Benny and Sanchez’s personalities…
‘He’s even paying attention to the relationship between juniors.’
There was only one thought that could come to mind in this situation.
‘As expected of Winter.’
It felt like a proverb had come to life.
“So, Winter, what will you do about it?”
Curious about how he would deal with the insolent junior, Sanchez, I asked. Winter looked at me as if he couldn’t comprehend the question.
“Me?”
“Yes. About Sanchez… what will you do?”
“I mustn’t interfere.”
Winter interrupted me, speaking firmly.
“If someone intervenes in that kind of relationship, it will only make him think they’re easier to manipulate.”
“Ah, I see.”
I nodded in front of Winter, who stubbornly adhered to his principles. Hm, I see… wait a minute.
Wait… could it be…
“Winter, did you know about the relationship between Zayden and me?”
I had thought that Winter, being a different class, wouldn’t know, but I had underestimated the fact that he tried to control and analyze everything. He nodded naturally to my question.
“Yes, I knew. But it seems that Sarubia, you’ve handled it well now.”
“Wow…”
I couldn’t help but gape again. Winter really does raise his juniors strongly.
Even if this world somehow starts a romance fantasy plot like in the novels, and suddenly someone became obsessed with me, Winter wouldn’t treat me gently. This man would surely throw me off a cliff to make me stronger.
Meanwhile, Sanchez, who was trying to find a chance to get close to everyone, was bringing chaos to the unit rather than making friends.
Yes, exactly like what was unfolding right in front of my eyes…
“Hey, recruit.”
While performing weeding duties across the company headquarters, the 85th class troublemaker called out to Sanchez.
“Hey, go get a new pair of gloves.”
Sanchez stared at Blair with his gray eyes.
He said nothing, only glaring at him with a grim expression. Blair looked flustered.
“W-what? You—!”
“You want me to bring it?”
“What?”
“I don’t obey those weaker than me.”
“You—!”
Blair shouted in disbelief, and Topio nudged Sanchez.
“Hey, recruit. Are you kidding me? You wanna die?”
“…Are you serious?”
“What?”
“Can you actually make me die?”
The training ground fell silent. Milfi and Zayden were already quietly weeding, and Benny looked at me, eyes wide, clearly incredulous.
‘As expected of Sanchez… he’s insanely strong…’
Blair and Topio, realizing that Sanchez was a madman they couldn’t handle, were backing off despite their curses.
Hmm, okay. Let’s think. This ridiculous situation might be a way for the original male leads to show their real strength.
‘…Wait, a plot?’
My broken positivity circuit began to reboot for the first time in two years.
‘It’s a romance fantasy plot!!’
Yes, the original male leads would show how strong and impressive they are by subduing Sanchez!
Even if it’s a ridiculous logic, I needed some hope to get through this…
I looked at Ishina, who was right next to me, with sparkling eyes.
“Ishina, shouldn’t you do something?”
“What?”
“Well, the junior is being insubordinate, isn’t he?”
Ishina didn’t look concerned, so I added:
“Back then, you couldn’t even imagine something like this happening.”
“That was… April’s…”
“…Ah, PTSD. Don’t talk about that… Anyway, don’t these kids nowadays listen at all?”
Ishina stared at me, then sighed deeply.
“Haa…”
He mumbled, eyes vacant.
“Yeah, kids these days really don’t listen… sigh…”
“…Why are you looking at me?”
“They really don’t listen at all, ugh…”
…I decided to keep my mouth shut in front of Ishina.
‘I really followed Ishina well, though?’
No matter how unfair it felt, he was my senior, so I had to accept it. Ishina clearly didn’t intend to control Sanchez.
I looked at Caron, who had been trying to get attention from my right side.
“Caron.”
“Yes?!”
Caron, bent over weeding to get attention, perked up at my call.
…Is he drawing some sort of mysterious circle right now?
“Do the weeding properly. I’ll applaud you later…”
“Yes…”
He seemed to be turning into a real attention seeker, but maybe it was just my imagination.
‘Winter’s already hopeless…’
He was the type to raise juniors insanely strong.
‘Then maybe Aquila?’
Being the original main male lead, he might prove his strength by subduing Sanchez.
“Aquila.”
I ran to Aquila, who was working a bit further away, and tapped his arm. He looked up.
“What?”
“You… Sanchez… ugh, what is this?”
I couldn’t help but marvel at the neat work he’d done weeding. He had done it cleaner than anyone else in the unit. How could he do that? Truly an elite soldier. Main male lead level: high.
“I’m confident in weeding since the sergeant or squad leader occasionally asks me to do it.”
“I see…”
I felt a little sad realizing he seemed to have become the company’s best worker after Winter.
What do I do? Your main male lead strength just dropped –20 again… Your pride is now triple-digit negative… I was hoping for a romance fantasy plot to start, but meanwhile, the original main male lead’s strength keeps dropping.
“Ah, no. That’s not what I wanted to say.”
Regaining focus, I turned back to Aquila.
“What do you think about the recruit?”
“What?”
He looked at Sanchez with emotionless scarlet eyes. Then, turning his hot gaze on me, he said:
“I don’t think much of him. Why?”
“Uh, he said he won’t obey anyone weaker than himself… I wondered if you’d try to fight him and win.”
“Why would I?”
“No reason.”
Surprised at his seemingly uninterested voice, I realized something when I saw his eyes.
‘He really doesn’t care.’
Aquila never intervened unless it concerned him. Since Sanchez posed no threat, there was no reason for conflict.
What mattered most to him now was not how insolent Sanchez was to other seniors, but the weeding task assigned to him…
“Did he act insolent toward you? That shouldn’t be the case.”
“No, it had nothing to do with me… But how can you be sure?”
“Because I didn’t see it.”
“But maybe you just didn’t see it?”
“No way. I watched everything.”
“Wait… you’ve been watching me this whole time?”
I felt a little pleased. It’s nice when someone pays attention to you.
While I was smiling, Aquila asked:
“Are you sure I’d win if I fought Sanchez?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Why?”
“You’re super strong.”
Well, he’s the main male lead, so of course. A main lead can’t lose to a minor character—logically impossible.
But at my words, Aquila slightly raised the corner of his lips.
‘He likes being told he’s strong.’
Then Ishina, watching nearby, muttered in a bored voice:
“See? Whatever the topic, they always end up in their own world.”
Let’s get back on track about Sanchez.
Anyway, all the first-class soldiers failed to subdue Sanchez, who said, “I don’t obey anyone weaker than myself.”
We can ignore candidates like Aquila who weren’t interested in him anyway.
I watched, intrigued, the confrontation between the first-class soldiers and Sanchez.
‘It’s interesting not being involved myself.’
“You’re committing insubordination now?”
El asked incredulously, after ordering Sanchez to run an errand and receiving “I don’t obey weaker people” as his answer.
Sanchez followed official training and formal duties but only showed defiance to recruits and first-class soldiers during chores, so the upper-class soldiers only knew he was difficult to control, unaware he was causing this insubordination behind their backs.
