My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros’ Obsession

D-698 Days Until Discharge.
"Salvia, is there anything bothering you these days...?"
"Not really."

"Haha, I see...!"
It's obvious. The way the squad treats me has changed lately.
It seems to have started after the monster subjugation mission, when I went a little overboard with the gunfire. They probably started recognizing my abilities after that.

Unlike before, they now actively tried to talk to me first, and even went out of their way to take care of me.
"Ah, damn it! It's freezing!"
"Hey! Salvia said she's cold!"

"Why the hell aren’t you bringing more blankets?!"
"Salvia! If you wrap this scarf around yourself, you'll feel warmer!"
...Well, at least I haven’t been feeling as cold lately, so I guess this is a positive development.

Among them, the one who took care of me the most was Norman, the lowest-ranking of the three senior privates. He gave orders on my behalf, making sure the juniors didn’t inconvenience me.
As I lay sprawled on my bunk, covered in layers of blankets brought to me by my squadmates, a disgruntled private muttered under his breath.
"I mean, how cold could it possibly be?"

...Huh. Now that’s an interesting comment.
"Hey, so you’re not that cold, huh?"
"Huh? Oh, uh... I've just been here for a while, that's all."

The private flinched, clearly not expecting me to call him out. But he quickly regained his attitude, shifting back into a cocky expression.
The one who seemed the most flustered was actually Norman.
"I'm sorry! I'll make sure to educate the junior properly! Hey, you little shit! Get over here, right now!"
"Nah, no need to trouble yourself."

The bastard was rude to me. I can’t just leave his punishment to someone else.
"If you’re not cold, then great. That works out perfectly. If it’s really not that bad, go make me a snowman."
"...Excuse me?"

"A snowman! Make a snowman! I wanna see one!"
"S-Salvia, I apologize! I'll make sure to discipline him properly!"
As Norman dragged the private away by the collar and the barracks door slammed shut, I smiled brightly at the retreating figure.

"A snowman! Make me a snowman!"
***
"Haha, Salvia."

"What?"
As I was buried under blankets, writing a reply to Aquila’s letter, Luna walked into the barracks with a cheerful expression.
"Well, we had some leftover fruit today, so I thought I’d bring you some."

"Leave it there."
She placed a plate in front of me, with a slice of peach resting on top. In a place where we usually only got limp vegetables, fruit was a rare commodity. That was enough for me to view her a little more favorably.
Yeah. I liked her name from the start.

Even after setting the plate down, Luna didn’t leave. Instead, she sat beside me, grinning like an idiot.
From the way she fidgeted, I could tell she wanted to strike up a conversation. I raised an eyebrow at her in silent question.
"Haha, I was just curious about something. Would it be alright if I asked you a question?"

"Go ahead."
"...Oh! Uh, yeah... I just wanted to know—what do you plan to do after discharge?"
There it was. The classic question: "What will you do after you’re discharged?"

It was the go-to icebreaker in the Border Defense Army. The most common question between soldiers trying to get along. Like a slightly aggressive "Wanna grab a drink?"
"Hmm, after discharge..."
I suppose I’d get married and start a family?

Having a home and people to return to was something I’d always envied, so it was a thought that had lingered in my mind for a while.
I’d buy a house, decorate it with pretty furniture, wear beautiful clothes, and then...
"Rebellion?"

"...Excuse me?!"
"Mm, no, forget that. Let’s call it that which must not be named. Anyway, something along those lines."
Luna’s face turned deathly pale. She immediately got up and backed away.

"Haha, uh, okay...! Well, I’ll be going now. Take care...!"
***
Lately, Norman and Luna hadn’t been showing up as often. I thought they’d given up.

But apparently, they were still trying to get closer to me.
Because now even Ash, the guy who used to ignore me the most, had started hovering around me.
"Good afternoon, Salvia."

"What do you want?"
I scanned the senior private from head to toe. He had cautiously knocked before stepping inside, holding a newspaper in his hands.
"This is last week's newspaper. I delivered it to the company commander, but I thought you might be interested in reading it."

"A newspaper? Hand it over."
There were hardly any ways to get news from the outside in this sealed-off hellhole. So, the fact that he was offering me a newspaper made me much more receptive.
The moment I snatched it from his hands, Ash’s face lit up.

"If anything catches your eye while reading, I’d be happy to explain! I overheard the company commander muttering about his disappointment."
Ah, so our commander is also one of those guys...
Well, that wasn’t important. I flipped through the newspaper, scanning the latest headlines.

Most of the stories had nothing to do with me—a merchant company had hit it big, some duke’s family arranged a marriage with a count’s household, a wanted criminal was captured, blah blah.
Then, my eyes locked onto one particular headline.
"Black Magic Investigation Unit triples its arrests compared to last year—evidence of successful reform?"

As soon as I read the title out loud, Ash immediately chimed in.
"Ah, I heard about this! Ever since the Black Magic Investigation Unit’s reforms, they’ve become much more independent."
"Oh… really?"

"Would you like to know more?"
Ash was about to launch into a full explanation, but I could barely process his words.
Because a certain name kept flashing through my mind.

April...
That insufferable woman.
"The higher-ups reshuffled the leadership, so now the unit is almost entirely independent, with a flat hierarchy. Apparently—"

"Aaagh!!"
"S-Salvia?!"
"Shut up! Stop talking about it! I don’t care! I don’t care!"

"I-I'm sorry!"
"God, I hate this!"
***

"How’s everyone’s progress?"
As the three senior privates gathered, Luna was the first to speak. Norman shook his head with a grim expression.
"Failure. I tried to show off my leadership skills in front of Salvia, but she’s way better at commanding juniors than I am…"

"Yeah. That was honestly impressive."
"I mean, what kind of person makes their subordinates build a snowman?! The recruits are traumatized now—every time they see one, they flinch, wondering who got punished this time."
Luna sighed dejectedly.

"I failed too. Never, ever ask Salvia about her future plans."
"What? Why?"
"You don’t want to know. Trust me. It’s better if you don’t."

She looked genuinely shaken. Norman and Ash decided not to press her further.
Instead, Ash reported his own failure.
"I thought she was interested in the Black Magic Investigation Unit, so I brought it up, and she seemed fine at first… Then she lost her mind mid-conversation."

"Oh, that’s not all. She also flips out whenever she sees blond hair. Why?"
"...I have no idea what sets her off."
Their expressions darkened.

At this rate, would they ever succeed in getting closer to Salvia?
***
D-685 Days Until Discharge.

"Goddamn it. It’s freezing."
I just wanted to laze around in the barracks like usual, but instead, I forced myself out into the freezing cold. I had to check whether the recruit I’d ordered had built the giant snowman—human-sized, just as I’d specified.
Each breath I exhaled turned white in the air, but I pushed forward, determined to make sure that recruit got properly disciplined.

"...Luna?"
When I reached the training field, it wasn’t the recruit I’d assigned to the task that I found—it was Senior Private Luna.
Her long blonde hair cascaded down her back as she turned sharply at the sound of my voice. Under the moonlight, her yellow eyes gleamed like molten gold. She hadn’t expected to run into me here, judging by the way her eyes widened.

"Oh, Salvia. What brings you here?"
"Came to check on the snowman."
I pointed to the massive figure standing beside her. Luna’s expression turned somewhat reluctant.

"Ah… so that was your order…?"
"Yeah. Some idiot was making a racket outside my barracks while I was trying to sleep."
"Haha…"

Her gaze toward the snowman clearly carried a sense of bafflement, as if she couldn’t understand my thought process. But I chose to be magnanimous and let it slide.
"What about you? What are you doing out here?"
By the time I’m discharged, will I also be as accustomed to the cold as she is? Will I be able to just stand around at night, taking in the frozen air like it’s nothing?

"Ah, just…"
Luna hesitated, then gave me a somewhat wistful look.
"I was thinking about my seniors."

"Seniors? …Ah."
Not long ago, during a monster subjugation mission, the Alpha Platoon had suffered heavy losses.
Now, only three senior privates remained—Luna, Ash, and Norman. Luna and Ash were from the 396th training class, and Norman was from the 397th. There had been others above them, but they had died in battle against the monsters.

"Yeah… It was exactly a month ago today. I couldn’t sleep, so I came out here."
Luna hugged her knees tighter to her chest, curling in on herself.
I didn’t know the soldiers who had died, so I had nothing meaningful to say. Instead, I remained silent.

Oddly enough, that seemed to encourage her to speak further.
"They were good people. I got a lot of help from them."
"I see."

"But does it make any sense that they died…?"
Luna stared into the empty air, her expression hollow, like someone who had lost everything.
"They lasted six years… six years, and yet, they still died. How is that possible? How does something like that even happen…?"

A single, clear tear slipped down her wind-reddened cheek. It caught the moonlight, glistening like a pearl.
"...I’m sorry."
"Hm?"

"In the beginning, we might’ve seemed like we were rejecting you, Salvia… But it wasn’t intentional. We were just confused."
She didn’t seem to be looking for answers from me—she just needed to say these things aloud, to sort through them in her own mind. And as an outsider, a senior she hadn’t known for long, I was the perfect audience.
"The death rate in our unit is insane. People from other platoons see us as easy prey because we’re always losing people… And then, our seniors never even had the chance to be promoted because they died, but you came in, already promoted… It just felt… strange."

"Ah."
I remembered what Frost had told me when I first arrived. Had he gone through the same process to earn recognition?
"If I had known they were going to die, I never would’ve let myself care. I would’ve built walls from the start…"

Watching Luna struggle with the grief of losing people she had let herself care for, I thought of Ishina.
In the original novel, Ishina never let himself get attached to anyone. That was how he avoided the pain of loss.
But not everyone has the ability to control their emotions like that.

At last, Luna couldn’t hold back anymore. She broke down into sobs right in front of me.
I reached out and patted her back.