My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros’ Obsession

"I'm really fine…."
"Alright."
She kept insisting she was fine, which probably meant she just needed time alone. I left her there and headed back inside. If anyone came looking for Luna, I’d tell them to leave her alone.

"Salvia."
"Ah, Frost."
Leaning against the wall in a pose that looked effortlessly cool, Frost turned to face me.

"Is your original decision still valid?"
"...Oh."
He was talking about what I’d said when I first arrived—that I wouldn’t get close to anyone here, and I wouldn’t let them get close to me either.

"Not anymore."
…Originally, I’d planned to coast through this place, sleeping my way through the days without getting involved.
But now, it seemed like I had to accept these soldiers as my juniors.

"They’re my recruits now."
"Hah, I figured."
"Oh, did you?"

Aside from my newfound resolve, I’d also realized something else.
Frost, you’re enjoying this, aren’t you…?
He was clearly someone who thrived on playing the role of the ‘wise, cryptic mentor.’

In the end, there really were no normal people in the Border Defense Army.
***
Ever since I decided to acknowledge them as my recruits, I changed.
How, exactly?

"Wait, I pulled the trigger—why the hell is there no bullet hole?! Someone just shot a gun but hit nothing?! What kind of idiot—drum roll, please—!"
Before, I’d been a proper senior soldier—one who lazed around without a care, leaving the training to others.
But now, I’d started personally supervising their training.

"It seems you all need to develop better dynamic vision. I’ll be throwing steel marbles into the snow. Your job is to find them."
To increase their survival rates, I was even sacrificing my own sleep to help train them. A truly selfless senior.
"A-Ash, please save us…."

One of the privates, teary-eyed, turned to Ash for help.
"I can't help you either…."
Standing behind me, hands clasped behind his back, Ash simply shook his head.

And so, the recruits had no choice but to widen their eyes and dig through the snow.
"Good, this will also train your hands. If your fingers freeze up in the cold, you won’t be able to shoot properly. I’ll make sure you all thrive in freezing temperatures."
I focused particularly on their marksmanship training, pushing them harder than ever.

"I told you not to wake me up when I’m sleeping! And to not make noise in the hallways, you bastards! From now on, anyone who makes a sound in the barracks will play hide-and-seek in the snowy fields. And if you get caught? You’ll roll in the snow."
Naturally, I didn’t forget to punish anyone who dared disturb my peaceful daily life.
Unlike before, the senior privates now carried out my orders with enthusiasm. Of course, that didn’t mean they got to slack off.

"Ash? You’ll be the one hunting them down in hide-and-seek."
"Ah… understood…."
As if I, at this rank, would be running around outside, playing games with recruits.

I wanted to minimize my time out in the cold. And to make that happen, Ash had to obediently track them down and toss steel marbles into the snow for me.
"The longer it takes you to find them, the worse your punishment will be."
"...I will find them all within a minute."

Dealing with Ash was ridiculously easy.
Norman, meanwhile, was in charge of tracking the recruits' shooting accuracy and catching anyone who dared make noise in the hallway.
The only one who ended up with a relatively comfortable job was Luna.

"Luna, just keep doing what you’ve been doing."
"Yes! Thank you!"
Why?

Was it because I saw her grieving the other day? Because she was one of the few female recruits?
Nope. Wrong on both counts. The reason I gave Luna an easy job was…
"I like her name."

When I said I liked it from the start, I meant it. That was the only reason.
***
"...Are we really doing this right?"

That was what Ash muttered after another round of frantically searching for recruits in the bitter cold.
After spending so much time outside in the freezing wind, hunting for his juniors, he was starting to feel like he’d turn into a snowman himself.
"Is there really any meaning to this training…?"

"Well… I don’t know. But Salvia is strong, so I feel like we should follow what she says…."
Standing in the hallway, listening for the slightest sound, Norman replied.
He had become so hypersensitive to noise that he could now tell exactly which insect was buzzing just from the frequency of the sound.

The two of them turned their envious gazes toward Luna.
Just because Salvia liked her name, she had become the squad’s favorite. Now, she practically worshiped Salvia.
"Everything Salvia says is right. It has to be beneficial for us."

"...What if she tells us to break the ice on the lake and catch fish with our bare hands?"
"That means the fish must be really nutritious."
"…She’s lost it."

Ash clicked his tongue in exasperation.
Unfortunately for him, not long after, Luna was proven right.
Salvia’s insane training was actually working.

"Ash! My shooting accuracy has improved!"
"Ash, the recruits’ stealth skills have leveled up—they don’t even get spotted by monsters anymore! Thanks to Salvia’s training, they can move without making a sound, and they’re way better at hiding!"
"Ash! The recruits are so tough now that they don’t even feel the cold anymore! They’ve developed their own body heat regulation!"

"T-This is ridiculous…"
The more Salvia’s methods proved effective, the darker Ash’s expression became.
Because while this should have been a good thing—stronger recruits meant a better unit—there was just one small problem.

"Ash, today’s hide-and-seek count is six."
"Urgh! Yes, ma’am!"
No matter how much the recruits improved, he was still stuck suffering.

Truly, a tragic fate.
***
"Ha. I really am the perfect senior."

After receiving reports from the senior privates that my training had significantly improved the recruits' overall combat abilities, I lay back in my bunk, legs crossed, feeling proud.
I had made them strong. And I would continue to make them stronger. I needed to come up with more training regimens—tougher, more effective ones.
Just as I was grinning in satisfaction at the thought, there was a knock at the door. When I called them in, three privates peeked their heads inside.

"Salvia, would you like three more blankets?"
"...What? Did we get extra supplies?"
I narrowed my eyes at them. It was highly suspicious for them to voluntarily bring me blankets. In a place where we barely had enough materials to sew up torn ones, how could there be any spares?

"Oh, no, we just decided to share blankets among ourselves!"
"...Wouldn’t that make you cold?"
"We’ve trained our bodies to generate heat even in freezing temperatures! Haha!"

What a bold claim. In no time at all, they’d be shivering and regretting this decision. But a chance to hoard extra blankets wasn’t something I was about to pass up.
"Alright, I’ll take them. You guys keep getting stronger."
"Thank you!"

The door shut behind them, and as soon as they were out in the hall, their voices carried back through the thin walls.
"Nice! If we keep her warm, maybe she’ll be less irritable and stop coming up with insane training drills!"
"Let’s give up our scarves too!"

"Good idea. Let’s convince the trainees to donate whatever they can!"
"Ugh, that lunatic… I'd rather endure the cold than deal with her wrath…."
"Even Ash is completely powerless in front of her. Meanwhile, Luna’s living the easy life just because Salvia took a liking to her. The only way to survive is to get on her good side."

...Those little shits.
Talking behind my back?
"I told them not to make noise while walking, so now they’re making noise talking?!"

That settles it. From now on, I’m adding silent communication training. Only eye contact allowed.
***
D-618 Days Until Discharge.

"Hmph. You’re looking well."
"Ah, Frost."
I had just crawled out into the hallway, wrapped snugly in my blankets, when I spotted Frost emerging from his own quarters. He leaned casually against the wall and lifted a hand in greeting.

"Well, I am doing pretty well now."
Thinking back, when I was first assigned to this platoon, Frost had warned me that it would be difficult to gain recognition.
"How long did it take you?"

"Hm? To do what?"
"To be accepted here."
"Hah. Not long at all. I came from a nearby unit, after all."

...So that's how it is?
This bastard made it sound like he had struggled too, just so I’d feel miserable about my own chances?! I was pissed.
"Still, you managed to be recognized much faster than I expected."

Frost threw out another smug, dramatic line, as if to soothe me. But that didn’t make me any less irritated.
I turned to glare at him, openly seething. Noticing the murderous intent in my eyes, he quickly changed the subject.
"The people here are more sensitive than most. Death is always right at their doorstep."

"Yeah…."
"That’s why this unit is mostly made up of hetero sapiens with particularly strong bloodlines. You could probably tell just by looking at them."
He was right. The Arkons assigned to this unit had significantly superior physical abilities compared to the soldiers from my previous platoon. I had assumed it was due to rigorous training, but it seemed their natural talents were on a whole other level.

So assignments weren’t random after all.
"Death is so common here that even the officers don’t make it out alive."
"...Really?"

It wasn’t unheard of for commanding officers to die in battle, but for Frost to mention it so casually… it must happen a lot more often in this unit.
…Did I just set off another death flag for myself?
I’d been getting too comfortable after becoming a platoon leader. Should I start increasing my training again?

As I frowned in thought, Frost misinterpreted my expression as lingering hostility.
In a desperate attempt to redirect my attention, he launched into another story.
"About a few decades ago… Our company commander and the commander of the neighboring unit were actually a married couple. They died together during a monster subjugation mission. After that incident, officers stopped volunteering for this place."

"...Damn."
It was already surprising that two commanders had been married, but for them to die together? It really was a tragedy, just like he said.
"They had a son back home too. No one knows what happened to him after that. Maybe it’s just an old platoon ghost story, but still, quite the tale, don’t you think?"

"Shocking, for sure."
I responded absentmindedly, lost in thought once again.
"Even after discharge, my death routes are still insane."

If I settled down and tried to live a normal life among imperial citizens, I’d just end up alienated, drowning in their fear of me.
If I had a child, that kid would inevitably be dragged into the Border Defense Army.
And if I chose to stay in the military, I’d eventually die a forgotten, unacknowledged death.

The empire loved to paint discharge as the gateway to happiness. But there was so little information about the lives of Arkons after their service.
All of them just… disappeared.
Every path was terrible. No matter what I chose, I was screwed.

Which meant…
Revolution really was the only option.