Chapter 88
Because I suddenly spoke, some water spilled, but that didn’t matter right now. No, it was Dallin who pissed me off first, right?
“Please calm down, Sarubia…”
Ishina, whose face looked drained of energy, wiped the water off my mouth with her sleeve.
“It’s good that you’ve been putting so much effort into training the new recruits, but still… please take care not to give yourself high blood pressure.”
“Yes…”
Then, I suddenly remembered that in the original story, Ishina had shown some interest in Dallin.
Of course, this world had completely twisted the human relationships of the original, but… do the original male leads really have no interest in Dallin at all?
“I hope you’ll continue managing the new recruits well, Sarubia.”
“Yes… By the way, Ishina, do you have no interest in the new recruits at all?”
“…What? You don’t mean you want me to manage the new recruits too, do you?”
As always, Ishina looked at me with dark circles under her eyes, tired from being overworked.
“Ah, no… Carry on with your work…”
Ishina looked too exhausted to take any interest in Dallin… Poor thing, so I gave him some extra “male lead power” +30 points out of sympathy.
Finally, it was time for Dallin’s first sword training session.
Dallin had caused quite a few incidents even as a new recruit, so some of the other recruits had already caught wind of her notorious reputation and glanced at her nervously. But when I glared, they immediately looked away.
Since Aquila mainly handled swordsmanship training, I called him over when the other soldiers began their self-directed training.
“Aquila, teach her.”
It had been a while since I wielded a sword, so it would be better for Aquila to instruct Dallin.
Soon, Aquila began explaining to Dallin how to hold the sword and infuse it with aura, and I narrowed my eyes, watching both of them alternately.
Hmm, the two of them…
‘Don’t seem the least bit interested in each other.’
I had expected Aquila’s reaction, but Dallin seemed to glance at me behind him more often than at Aquila.
“…Not focusing?”
“Yes, yes!”
Sigh, when will she finally be useful?
…Ah, I almost forgot this.
“Dallin, be careful not to stab the person next to you with the sword.”
“Yes? Yes!”
I nearly forgot the most important rule when holding a sword.
Anyway, following Aquila’s guidance, Dallin tried to concentrate and infuse aura into her sword, but…
“Um… I don’t think I can do it…”
The sword in her hand remained still, emitting no energy at all.
Well, even when I was a recruit, violence and fear had saved me…
“It’s okay, Dallin. You can do it.”
I gestured for Aquila to step aside and wrapped my arm around Dallin’s shoulder.
“You can do it if you focus. Because I…”
“I already know you’ll make it possible…”
“Yes, you know well. Then, now you can do it, right?”
“I-I think I really don’t have talent! My non-human blood flows too weakly… or… something like that…”
“Ah, you can do it!”
I was trying to be gentle today, but she still managed to frustrate me.
“You can do it! Damn it, you can do it!”
“I still can’t…”
“Even if you don’t show arrogance in the future, I swear you’ll regret it! Come on, you can do it!”
As I yelled, Dallin’s hands holding the sword trembled violently.
“But there’s no guarantee I can…”
“Isn’t this assassin sent somewhere to kill me via high blood pressure?! I’m telling you, you can do it! You might even be able to use elemental aura!”
“How am I supposed to use elemental aura…?”
“You can! You have talent!”
Knowing the original story, I was beyond frustrated.
“Use it! Please, use it! No, damn it! Just do it!”
“I can’t, so how am I supposed to…?”
“No, you can do it!”
For quite a while, Dallin wrestled with the sword, and I wrestled with Dallin. Then—
Pop!
“Uh, huh?!”
Dallin looked at her sword in surprise.
“Oh, the aura…”
“See! I told you, you can do it!”
Because our voices got louder, Winter, who was training nearby, turned and noticed Dallin’s aura, then walked over briskly.
“It’s a light-element aura.”
“L-Light element aura?!”
“Where did you shove the concept?!”
“Ah, no…”
As Dallin flustered, Winter began explaining her aura.
“Light-element aura is quite rare, and it can be useful in many situations.”
The light emanating from Dallin’s sword was dazzlingly white.
It was bright enough to illuminate the surroundings even on a dark night, making Winter’s explanation seem accurate.
“Furthermore, monsters are evil, darkness-based creatures, so they are completely incompatible with light. If you use your aura, you can cut through a monster’s tough hide with less effort than others.”
“Ah…”
Dallin stared at her sword with a stunned expression.
She usually looked clueless here, but now she had a calm gaze for the first time.
She seemed touched by manifesting her elemental aura.
“See, I told you, you could do it! Geez, all that trouble just for this…”
“That’s true…”
Dallin still seemed unable to believe the power she had just used.
“See? You looked like you could use elemental aura and had talent, right?”
“How did you know…?”
“…If I thought so, then I thought so, damn it.”
At that moment, I heard whispering from behind.
“Wow, scary human…”
“Does he really read minds…? Or see the future…?”
“I don’t know, but in any case, he’s superhumanly scary…”
“…Milphy, just Jason, headbutt. Execute.”
Have those guys lost all fear lately?
Anyway, I felt a little proud that Dallin was radiating light-element aura…
“…It’s blinding, you crazy idiot! Don’t blind me with it, just turn it off!”
“Uh, I don’t know how to deactivate it…”
“You crazy…!”
In the end, after wrestling with Dallin again, I finally made her able to control her aura freely.
“Phew, using elemental aura… She really does have talent…”
Then Dallin spoke cautiously.
“No matter how I think about it, I don’t feel like I have talent… Was the elemental aura not really that big a deal?”
“Well, look at you being modest.”
I glared at Dallin, dumbfounded.
“Hey, how talented and amazing that is! How versatile, how many uses, how cool, huh?”
“Really…?”
Dallin genuinely smiled shyly, like a heroine. Aquila, standing behind her, also lifted the corner of his mouth.
“…Why are you smiling?”
“Hmm.”
“She got praised, so why are you smiling?”
Suddenly, I felt bad. Not that I didn’t usually feel bad in this stupid place, but still, I felt bad.
“What? Why are you smiling?”
As I glared sharply at Aquila, Benny, who had been glancing this way, came and whispered.
“Um, Sarubia….”
“What?”
“It’s because Sarubia said the elemental aura looked cool…”
“…Ah?”
I recalled what I had just said in my mind.
“Ah… You felt good being praised for using elemental aura too…?”
Aquila realized he had just enjoyed being praised and backed off quietly.
Unlike other female protagonists I’d transmigrated into in romance fantasy worlds, thinking “the male lead must naturally like the original heroine,” I knew too well about Aquila.
‘As expected, any kind of romance in this world is just dead.’
Even with the original heroine appearing, this world would continue to be an apocalypse. I laughed bitterly at how absurd the situation was.
I lifted my head to look at my apocalyptic world again and met Winter’s gaze.
“Hm.”
Ishina and Aquila were already confirmed uninterested, but would Winter have no interest in Dallin too?
Meeting my gaze, he approached and spoke.
“Sarubia, you’ve been working hard managing the new recruits lately.”
“Yes, that’s my job…”
“But don’t overdo it, and tell me if you need help.”
“Yes…”
He had a habit of interrogating me about my duties like this, and sometimes I wondered if Winter didn’t trust me.
“And as advice on handling recruits, encourage those who can’t adapt to gain confidence, and instead of getting angry, guide them well.”
‘What? How long has it been?’
It had been a long time since Winter lectured me in such detail.
But I didn’t want his long sermon, so I grabbed my head and acted.
“Ah, these recruits are giving me such a headache lately.”
“…Manage them at your discretion from now on. And if anyone gets sick, I’ll take them to the infirmary immediately.”
“No, it’s not that bad…”
Winter seemed completely uninterested in Dallin as well.
Well, that reduced the risk of anyone in this unit going to the disciplinary barracks, so it was a good thing.
