The Hero In The Military academy Suit

Chapter 14

( Part 08)The Nobel flower in my clumsy writing 

No one nitpicked the apology that was close to perfect.

“Is that good enough? Don’t hate me too much.”

“Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, sure.”

It was annoying to see Hugo staring at me with that stupid look on his face, just like his nickname suggested.

If you were going to react like that, why did you even ask for an apology?

Honestly, there was no need for me to cater to these young brats and do their duties for them.

They are naturally the protagonists and main characters.

Even without me, they would grow up on their own and become key players in the demon war.

I’ll try my best to get along, but if things go south, it’s enough for me to back up the protagonist’s group as a secondary force.

What’s important is that without me, they’re 100% doomed.

If things go wrong, we’ll all be walking on thorns, my friend.

Let’s try to get along nicely.

I shrugged and headed to the training ground.

I could hear murmuring behind my back.

“He’s kinda weird, isn’t he?”

“Shh, he’ll hear you.”

…I hear everything, you brats.

Since you’re right, I’ll let it slide this time.

In the face of overwhelming power, there’s no need for tough discipline.

I decided to engrave this quote I just made in my heart.

In the middle of the training ground, there was a huge crevasse in the shape of an ‘X.’

That was the handiwork of the training officer, Conrad.

‘Instead of slacking off, gather with your dorm mates and practice your weapon skills. The instructors will watch over you.’

It was a demonstration to gather the scattered trainees who were slacking off during the prolonged weapon selection time.

It must be a coincidence that this huge crevasse ended right in front of my toes.

You bastard.

You’re so dead.

Not now, but later.

“We will now begin squad self-training!”

The main goal of the combat training centre is to prepare for wartime.

Battles against humans and battles against demons.

While the main training policy includes splitting into units by class and preparing for large-scale human wars, the core focus is on small elite teams for the demon war.

Given the nature of demon warfare, where limited personnel need to defend vast areas, the standard approach is to deploy four-person teams for regional defence.

“All right… stop standing around and come here.”

I called over my two dorm mates, who were staring blankly at me, after gathering my thoughts.

Usher and Cory approached me hesitantly.

“Why are you guys so stiff? Do you think I’m going to eat you?”

“N-no.”

“Show me your weapons.”

“We picked what you suggested.”

Relatively big Usher chose a massive two-handed shield, and Cory, who seemed useless, picked a gun.

Both of them aimed to enter the academy, but their specs were way below the standard.

Their choices were more about team survival than their skills.

It was gaslighting to make sure these ordinary guys didn’t drag me down.

“Sorry, guys,” I apologized silently.

I’m pretty sure we’re going to have some issues with personalities.

“But I’ve never even held a gun before….”

“So, have you held anything else?”

“Well, no.”

“Guns are the best weapons to cover for low specs. No special skills are needed; just pull the trigger from a distance. At least at the beginner level.”

“Then what about after the beginner level…?”

“Cover it with money.”

“…What?”

“You don’t get it, do you? Spend money. Isn’t your family rich? Compensate for your lack of skill with expensive weapons.”

Cory blinked at my words.

“Then what about me…?” Usher asked.

“If you don’t hold the shield, who’s going to be at the front? Should I, a javelin thrower, do it?”

“At least let me have a sword….”

“Shut up. Do you know how much skill sword-and-shield fighting requires? You’re just a meat shield. When the fight starts, just hold on tight to that shield. If needed, bash them with it. I’ll handle the rest.”

“…”

“But where’s that kid?”

“Ludwig? He’s over there.”

Cory pointed to where the instructors had set up chairs for resting.

Ludwig was leaning back in one of those chairs, resting his chin on his hand with a tilted posture.

He looked like he couldn’t care less about anything.

Crazy guy.

Does he think he’s some kind of throne king?

I walked straight up to him.

I know he’s the only immediate asset to our team, but he should at least participate in training.

“What are you doing?”

Ludwig didn’t even budge; he just lifted his eyes to look at me.

“Is that your weapon?”

I pointed to the orb rolling around at his feet.

“They told me to pick one, so I did. This piece of junk is useless to me.”

“Whatever. So, what are you doing here? Let’s train.”

“Train?”

“Yeah. It’s time for group training. The two-week instructor evaluation is coming up; let’s get ready.”

“That kiddie play?”

Wow. I want to smack him.

I almost gave Ludwig a flick on the forehead, but I held back. He looked genuinely curious.

“You people are so annoying. I have no intention of participating in such childish play. Go away and don’t bother me.”

“Fine, forget the individual evaluation. Are you just going to give up on the group evaluation too?”

Ludwig glanced at our two dorm mates.

“They’ll just drag me down anyway.”

“Well, you’re not wrong. But you’re still a cocky little brat.”

“What did you say?”

“You heard me. Cocky, little brat.”

“Brat? I may look like this, but—”

“Shut up. I don’t care how old you are; acting like a kid and whining about not wanting to do something makes you a brat. If you don’t want to train, fine. Just don’t hold us back later.”

“Hah!”

I turned away.

I could feel a murderous glare on my back, but I ignored it.

As much as I wanted to teach him a lesson, I knew it wasn’t the right time.

Even if Etranger showed up, I couldn’t guarantee a win.

Besides, he wasn’t entirely wrong.

Ludwig was a potential threat, and the other two were dead weight.

“I’ll have to turn the dead weight into proper people first.”

It wasn’t urgent right now.

“Usher. Cory.”

“Yeah?”

“Forget about that kid for now. The three of us will get in sync, and we’ll use him as a wild card if needed.”

The two boys nodded.

“As you might have guessed, Usher, you’ll be at the front. Cory, you’re in the rear. I’ll be in the middle. The four-person formation is designed for demon warfare, so the mid-term evaluation will likely be a 4-on-1 match against the instructor, and the final evaluation will involve taking down a demon.”

“Uh-huh.”

“But first, you need to get used to your weapons. Cory, you have a lot of friends, right?”

Cory, being the son of a trader, was good at socializing.

That was his only redeeming quality.

Thanks to him, we quickly gathered some of his friends from nearby dorms and started practising our formation.

While we were training, I noticed a group of soldiers laughing and chatting on the other side of the training ground.

They were the protagonist’s generation.

Somehow, they’d managed to mix boys and girls, creating a rosy, college trip-like atmosphere.

For a moment, my eyes wandered to our section.

It was a sausage fest.

For some reason, it felt like a preview of our future, and I couldn’t help but mutter a few words.

“Lucky protagonist bastards.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. This isn’t a romance novel. Let’s train. Hold your shield properly. And you, at least try to hit something. My three-year-old nephew could shoot better than you.”

“What? That’s harsh…”

Usher’s shield was knocked into the air by a poorly swung sword from a nearby dorm mate.

It looked like a new form of bat throwing.

Then, Cory’s practice rubber bullet hit Usher on the back of the head.

Haha.

What a mess.

“Cadet Russell, return to your dorm. It’s time to clear the training ground.”

“Oh, it’s that late already?”

I had been training alone for hours after sending my dorm mates back.

Eventually, I was the only one left in the training ground.

The wooden dummy in front of me was half-broken and battered.

The instructor’s eyes fell on the dummy.

It had a deeply indented spot from relentless stabbing practice.

No, it was from practising nothing but stabbing.

“A thousand? Two thousand times?”

“Overexerting yourself on the first day of weapon training isn’t good. Hand over your armoured mail here.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going.”

I was about to head to the dorm, feeling the instructor’s gaze on my back, when I heard a call.

“You there, stop right now. Name… Cadet Hugo.”

Turns out the protagonist, Hugo, had stayed behind, hidden from my view by one side of the training ground.

This guy sure is diligent.

I felt a bit guilty for cursing him in my head, thinking he was just enjoying a harem life.

“Yes, sir! I’ll head in right away.”

I glanced over at Hugo through the mountain of piled-up weapons.

He was drenched in sweat, surrounded by broken wooden greatswords, clearly having trained harder than me. In the shade, his childhood friend, the ‘Drunkard Lobelia,’ was dozing off.

It looked like a scene straight out of an illustrated book.

Even though I was exhausted, I couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

I chuckled and turned back towards the dorm.

“No food left?!”

“Oh my, why did you come so late? We just closed up…”

When I arrived at the cafeteria after returning my gear, the lights were already off.

A dim night light illuminated the place, and Hugo and an elderly cafeteria worker were standing awkwardly on either side of the closed metal door.

“What, is the cafeteria closed?”

“Oh? Yeah.”

Hugo looked a bit uneasy.

I guess he felt awkward around me after Parsons left.

“Didn’t you eat either? Oh dear, I’m so sorry.”

“Ma’am, is there no leftover food, even scraps? Soldiers need their strength.”

“I’m sorry. According to training camp rules, we can’t serve food outside of meal times. What should we do…?”

“No worries. If that’s the rule, we’ll just make do with rations. Let’s go wash up, Hugo. Don’t make it hard on her.”

Hugo, standing there awkwardly, was dragged back to our dorm by me.

“Russell, you’re just getting back? Oh, Hugo, right?”

“Yeah. Hey.”

Cory greeted us cheerfully.

“Did you eat? The cafeteria must be closed by now.”

“Yeah, it’s closed. We’ll just manage with rations.”

“I figured. I brought something extra. Want some?”

Cory handed over some whole wheat bread and milk wrapped in plastic.

The bread looked golden and smelled great, definitely not standard army fare.

“Wow, what’s this? This is some high-quality bread for a training camp.”

“Russell, you’ve got a good eye. Our company supplies the cafeteria. I got it from one of the delivery guys.”

“You’ve got some guts. Nice job!”