Chapter 86
D–1460 until discharge.
Today marked the day I still had four years left until my discharge.
Let me repeat that.
Four. Years. Left.
And what that meant was—
“Damn it… me, getting promoted…?”
Today, I was promoted to Senior Private First Class.
I had finally survived half of my service in this hellhole. Considering that my chances of survival had skyrocketed because of it, I was so moved I could’ve cried.
Ha. So this is the taste of social ascension…
Of course, I knew that getting promoted wouldn’t magically make my life easy—new problems would surely follow. But still, I was happy.
“Caron.”
“Huh? Oh! Lady Sarubia! Congratulations on your promotion!”
Caron came trotting over with a bright smile the moment he spotted me. I patted him on the head and asked about Aquila.
“Have you seen Aquila? He said he’d stop by the barracks and come right back, but he’s late.”
“Oh! He was talking with Lady Ishina earlier!”
“Hmm, thanks.”
Lately, my daily life had been perfect.
People say the army is a nonstop spectacle, but recently there hadn’t been any major incidents. Jason had learned how to keep Patty and Matty in check.
Aquila, Ishina, and I—now all senior privates—were far more comfortable than before. The morally bankrupt Class 85 still caused trouble now and then, but Winter often stepped in to help.
Like me, Caron would be promoted soon, and Benny had earned a fair amount of respect among the juniors thanks to his excellent swordsmanship.
…Though Benny’s mental state seemed a bit shaken after Angel died recently—but deaths like that were just everyday occurrences in this hell known as the Border Defense Corps, so let’s move on.
Anyway, right now, I was exactly who my past self had dreamed of becoming: someone who had completely seized power within the unit.
“…Feels like I’m forgetting something.”
An uneasy feeling crept over me, but no matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t recall making any mistakes today. I decided to ignore the feeling for now. Patty and Matty were probably causing trouble again or something.
What mattered more was that I’d been promoted and had secured a very stable position within the unit.
“Perfect~.”
Just as I hummed to myself, Aquila suddenly appeared from around the corner.
“Been waiting?”
“Not really. What were you talking about with Lady Ishina?”
“…Just unit matters.”
“Yeah? Oh, by the way…”
I naturally hooked my arm around his and started talking about our peaceful, beautiful future.
“Back then, talking about what we’d do after discharge felt like a pointless joke. Now it actually feels real.”
“Same here.”
“Especially after seeing the outside world during external assignments. It feels so unfamiliar.”
I muttered seriously.
And it made sense. Not long after possessing this crazy world, I enlisted. Once enlisted, all I had to do was follow the given rules.
But after discharge, I’d be thrown into the outside world—a place governed by a completely different set of rules I didn’t know. Social rules were far more ambiguous than military ones, which made them even harder to adapt to.
“So when I get out of here, you’ll have to help me a lot.”
“I’ll always be by your side.”
“Mmm… okay.”
As we sat side by side nodding, we heard someone running toward us.
“Looks like a new recruit’s here.”
“Seems like it.”
It was obviously one of the youngest coming to report that a recruit had arrived—because recruit management was Aquila’s and my responsibility.
…But why does this uneasy feeling keep getting stronger?
Given the bad premonition that had been nagging me, Patty and Matty were definitely up to something again. Once I found them, I’d tear them apart.
We’ve already handled recruits once. We should be better at it this time.
Until last month, the only senior privates were Blair, Topio, and Ishina, so the workload had been insane. Aquila and I had already been helping with senior duties, and we’d personally trained the last four recruits.
Two of them died, though.
Sadly, two of the four recruits we trained had died. Watching trainees you taught die was a strange feeling.
But no matter how sad I felt, the dead wouldn’t come back.
What I learned from that was simple: I needed to push future juniors even harder.
…No, seriously, I’m definitely forgetting something.
The ominous feeling only grew stronger, but nothing came to mind. I tilted my head.
Whatever. What matters now is the new recruit. I’ll think about what I forgot later.
“New recruit has arrived!”
Just as expected, Jason came running up, panting as he delivered the news.
“There’s only one this time. The platoon leader has finished all procedures and told me to hand them over to you two.”
“Got it.”
Aquila stood up, and I grabbed the arm he offered to pull myself up.
Another peaceful day of our military life was about to begin.
* * *
And then I immediately realized what it was I had forgotten.
“Th-this is insane…”
I could feel my body trembling.
My gaze was locked onto the girl standing in front of me.
Light orange hair. Golden eyes. A lovely, innocent face.
“Ah—hello!”
“…‘Hello’?”
How could I have forgotten this?
“Are you two demi-humans as well?”
“…Haaah.”
I felt Aquila, standing beside me, let out a long sigh. I narrowed my eyes even more as I stared at the recruit.
“You insane—‘hello’? ‘HELLO’?! Are you kidding me?! Do you speak without thinking?!”
“I-I’m sorry…!”
Tears welled up in her golden eyes, forcing me to shout again.
“What did you even do to deserve crying?! If those tears fall, you’re dead! Did you leave your common sense at home?!”
How could I have forgotten?
Damn it. I’d been so focused on the good news of avoiding my scheduled death that I forgot the most important event that was destined to happen in this unit.
If the story had changed, she could’ve gone to another platoon—why ours?!
But no matter how much I denied it, reality wouldn’t change. It was time to accept what stood before me.
The legendary troublemaker.
A disciplinary nightmare unlike any other.
A walking bomb that dragged disasters wherever she went.
A recruit beyond your imagination—
The original novel’s female lead, Dallin, had arrived.
* * *
Let’s recall who Dallin, the original female lead, was.
From the perspective of someone who had actually experienced life in the Border Defense Corps, Dallin was an utterly hopeless disciplinary case. But the important thing to remember was this:
She was still the protagonist of the novel.
A very mainstream one, at that…
The female lead is the character readers most immerse themselves in. She can’t be unlikable.
The fact that the story was a military novel set in a unique world was what differentiated Nemi’s House.
But novelty alone wouldn’t have made the novel popular.
Nemi’s House was packed with clichés and followed a thoroughly mainstream structure.
Handsome, capable male leads forming a reverse harem.
Male leads who only looked at the heroine and obsessed over her.
Male leads who saved her in times of crisis.
The villain Jaiden who tried to interfere with their love.
And the heroine’s junior, who became a mid-level antagonist out of jealousy.
Among those “mainstream elements” was Dallin’s personality.
She was oblivious, lovable, and yet possessed a certain level of ability.
You might ask what ability that was—but you mustn’t forget that Dallin wielded light-attribute aura.
She was terrible at almost everything else and constantly made mistakes, but she had an innate talent for aura that flowed through her blood.
And in the original work, Dallin was incredibly lovable. The supporting cast—and even the other soldiers in this unit—liked her.
I hadn’t thought much of it when reading the novel, but now I understood why.
Dallin was someone who seemed completely unaware of the dark side of society.
To soldiers who had been discriminated against for being demi-humans, her untainted innocence was something they had never experienced—and something they longed for.
Those who had suffered because of their origins naturally grew fond of her naive demeanor.
Watching side characters and male leads fall for her one by one because of her adorable behavior was fun, and readers naturally immersed themselves in Dallin as a result.
And most importantly—
A heroine who’s just kind doesn’t fit modern trends anymore…
Once again: Dallin was a heroine perfectly aligned with current trends.
A heroine who’s nothing but nice and constantly gets bullied by villains wouldn’t be loved by readers.
In the original story, the villains were Jaiden and the heroine’s junior.
And Dallin—through her signature obliviousness—completely screwed them over.
For example:
“Seriously, what can you even do? Aquila-nim protects you so much—why don’t you go tattletale again?”
“Hic… okay! Aquila-nim! Aquila-niiiim!”
When Jaiden scolded her, she took his words literally.
Or:
“Do you even have the skill to help me, Lady Dallin?”
“You’re right, I don’t think I’m skilled enough… I’ll go ask Sir Benny instead!”
“N-no, how did we get there…?”
“Huh? Weren’t you saying you wanted someone else’s help?”
And with Gina—the junior who started as a villain and later joined Dallin’s side—Dallin drove her mad by repeating “Huh?” dozens of times.
If she did that to me, I’d lose my mind—but watching her do it to others was hilarious.
In the original, Dallin was innocent and pure without malice, yet that very trait flustered others—and readers loved that about her.
But when that same Dallin became a junior I had to train?
That was a whole different story.
Why did my very first official junior after becoming a senior have to be this kind of person?
I really wanted to desert.
