Chapter 52
…So although it looked like Sanchez and Altair had settled their hierarchy, in truth the matter wasn’t completely resolved.
In front of Altair, Sanchez was surprisingly polite, and he listened well to the senior soldiers.
But toward Privates and trainees, his attitude was still disrespectful.
Even if he didn’t pick fights with Privates, he still ignored the instructions of the trainees.
Since Caron had been promoted to Private this month, the only remaining trainees besides Sanchez were Zayden, Milfi, and Benny.
And none of them complained about Sanchez ignoring them.
Because Benny didn’t care about him at all and only focused on improving her swordsmanship,
Milfi was a coward among cowards,
and Zayden was the perfect example of “strong to the weak, weak to the strong.”
Actually—just thinking about Zayden pissed me off again.
‘So… how exactly am I supposed to ask Sanchez about the Artifact?’
At this rate, the only real method was to use Altair’s authority.
Of course, because Altair liked me, if I asked him to let me speak with Sanchez, he’d warn Sanchez to behave.
But—
‘If I ask directly about a black magic artifact and get caught, I’m dead.’
…No matter how long I thought, I couldn’t find an answer.
After agonizing for a while, I decided to kill time by chatting with Aquila about something useless.
Sometimes it helped clear my head.
“Aquila.”
I peeked into the training yard and spotted him.
Training hours were long over, but diligent Aquila always trained even afterward.
“Sarubia.”
He spotted me and lowered his sword right away.
There were no seniors inside the training yard, so I walked in with light steps.
“My shift is at three a.m. today. I’m so pissed.”
I really wanted to whine to someone, so I approached him.
At that moment, I noticed the trainees training nearby.
‘Benny is still doing great.’
She was sparring with Milfi, but anyone could see that Milfi was getting absolutely destroyed.
Soon Milfi’s sword flew across the yard, and Milfi gasped.
“Wow, Benny. You really have no openings, huh?”
“Thank you….”
Benny smiled shyly.
“She’s amazing, right?”
“Yeah.”
But Aquila’s voice made it clear he didn’t care.
I could tell from his tone exactly what he was actually thinking.
My eyes followed his.
Aquila had noticed something I hadn’t.
‘Sanchez?’
He wasn’t looking at Benny.
He was looking at Sanchez—who was staring intently at Benny.
Sanchez must have seen her sparring too.
And the way he was staring at her… his eyes looked hot.
“Oh.”
Apparently, Benny belonged to the category of “people Sanchez acknowledges.”
Benny herself didn’t seem aware of it.
It was funny how Sanchez, who used to ignore her, was now staring at her so intensely—
so I decided to poke the beehive a little.
“Benny!”
“Oh—Sarubia!”
She brightened instantly when she saw me.
“You’re working hard today.”
I walked over cheerfully and put an arm around her shoulders.
“I haven’t seen your sword in a while. Can you show me your aura blade?”
“Of course! Right away!”
“Yeah—show me what you’re best at.”
Benny, who always listened to me well, lifted her sword with a cheerful smile and prepared.
I glanced in Sanchez’s direction with a satisfied grin.
Under all of our eyes, Benny gripped her sword with both hands and stood still.
After a deep breath, she stepped lightly and jumped high into the air.
Her sword swung—
And from her blade, short aura blades shot out in rapid succession.
Unlike other archons, who created huge aura blades in one swing,
Benny made short, precise blades repeatedly—and silently.
Her aura sliced three branches cleanly off a tree.
The birds sitting on them flapped away in shock.
“Benny, you’re incredible.”
“Thank you…!”
Her swordsmanship was quiet and precise.
Most aura blades tore trees in half and left marks everywhere—
but Benny only cut the branches.
The tree remained untouched.
The birds weren’t harmed at all.
Anyone who understood swordsmanship would know how difficult that level of control was.
And Sanchez, standing some distance away, was watching her with his mouth open.
‘There— that’s your superior.’
Seeing Benny made me strangely proud.
Maybe because I’d taken care of her early on—
not as much as Caron, but it still felt like watching a kid I raised.
I was about to walk away, feeling smug, when Sanchez’s deep voice came.
“…Benny.”
“Huh?”
Benny blinked, not expecting him to call her.
Sanchez looked at her with burning eyes.
“I have a request. Can you show me something harder?”
“Huh? Like what?”
“For example… can you aim at a flying bird?”
Sanchez clearly wanted to see more.
I smirked—Benny could definitely do it if she wanted.
But Benny gave an unexpected answer.
“I can’t cut birds. You can’t kill animals for no reason.”
Her words stabbed me with guilt.
Because on my first day, I’d totally tried to shoot birds for no reason…
“For that kind of request, I won’t obey. I didn’t learn the sword to harm life.”
Benny said firmly.
And my conscience started hurting even more.
‘Is she indirectly calling me out?’
…No, Benny was too kind for that.
Still—this worked beautifully.
Since today, Sanchez officially acknowledged Benny.
And because Benny listened to me well, if I asked her,
she might help me talk to Sanchez like a normal human being.
Not what I planned, but the result was perfect.
In the end, the one who tamed Sanchez wasn’t any of the male leads.
It was Benny.
‘I hereby deduct 5 protagonist points from every male lead.’
Although, to be fair, none of them ever had any positive points to begin with.
“Benny. Let me do that.”
“Benny, is there anything I can carry?”
“Benny, what’s that?”
Just as I expected, after seeing her aura blade,
Sanchez followed Benny around like an obedient puppy.
He was even more polite to her than he was to Altair.
Benny looked overwhelmed, but she seemed to accept it.
‘Excellent. Just as planned.’
Since then, Sanchez had been polite to everyone.
Especially because Benny liked me best, Sanchez was extremely respectful toward me too.
Caron even growled, saying anything Sanchez did for me belonged to him.
Thinking about it now, that was… an odd claim.
Either way, our Alpha squad was peaceful again.
“Benny, you seem to get along well with your junior?”
When Yulya left the room, I casually asked.
Benny’s face turned bright red.
‘…Is this a romance subplot?’
My brain started spinning.
I always thought Sanchez was just a plot device meant to prove the male leads’ strength.
But the romantic fantasy formula had already shattered.
‘…Was he actually Benny’s male lead?’
This is what happens when I assume the world revolves around me.
Just because I reincarnated doesn’t mean I’m the protagonist of the universe.
Sanchez matched the classic trope:
—ignores all weak girls
—acknowledges the one strong girl
—“you’re different from the others” type of guy
And now that I thought about it,
Benny did have strong heroine qualities:
Genius.
Connections.
Hidden power.
Quiet outside, strong inside.
Cute, innocent appearance.
…Oh. It really was her.
If she confessed later that she fell in love with Sanchez, I shouldn’t even be surprised.
“Sarubia, thanks to you we get along.”
Benny said shyly, cheeks red.
‘…Why are you blushing?’
Yep.
Definitely a romance arc.
But wait—that didn’t make sense.
I hadn’t helped at all.
“Sanchez got close to you because you’re strong. He respects you.”
But Benny shook her head and whispered softly,
“No… It’s because you spoke well to me…”
“Why are you being so helpful to me all of a sudden?”
Benny asked Sanchez.
They were doing laundry, and Sanchez was scrubbing shirts intensely, insisting on doing everything himself.
With his strength, the laundry would be finished in no time.
But just a few days ago, he never touched laundry at all.
So Benny had no idea what was going on.
“Because you are strong.”
Sanchez answered, looking at her with gray eyes.
Benny was even more confused.
‘Aquila is strong. Winter is strong. If he saw my swordsmanship, he must have seen theirs too…’
But Sanchez only followed her.
“Why me?”
Sanchez replied stiffly.
“Because you’re the strongest person I’ve ever seen.”
“That’s not true… Winter and Aquila—”
“When I say strength, I mean inner strength.”
Benny fell silent and listened.
“I’ve only seen people use swords without any purpose.
But you have a reason. A conviction.
That’s why I want to become strong like you.”
He remembered her words:
“I won’t obey. I didn’t learn the sword to harm life.”
Hearing that, he had changed.
There were a few strong people here: Winter, Aquila… and of course Altair.
But among all of them, he knew who was the strongest.
‘She’s incredible.’
Before joining the army, he worked as a blacksmith’s assistant and learned weapons from mercenaries.
To them, the sword was just a tool—something to take what they wanted.
But Benny treated the sword like life itself.
For her, it wasn’t a tool.
She had purpose.
And Sanchez was deeply moved.
He felt ashamed of his past self,
and wanted to learn what “true strength” meant.
So he decided—
to treat Benny as his teacher.
