Chapter 30

Dinner with the company commander and battalion commander was unbearably uncomfortable.

I’d rather have dinner with Sergeant Gennadi Vilev ten more times.

Without realizing it, Aethlyn found herself thinking of the sergeant.

Of the time they’d spent together.

Of the silence and wariness that had always lingered between them.

He certainly was an uncomfortable person to be around.

Every conversation with him began pleasantly enough, yet somehow always ended up slightly out of sync. And every so often, the way he quietly observed her stirred an unease buried deep in her subconscious.

But no matter how uncomfortable Sergeant Gennadi Vilev was, compared to the two officers sitting before her, he was an infinitely better dinner companion.

Just as Aethlyn was silently criticizing her superiors, Captain Gordon spoke as if he’d read her mind.

“So, Second Lieutenant Wintercrown. I heard you spent your leave with someone from the Fenrir Detachment.”

Keeping her expression neutral, Aethlyn answered calmly.

“Because the trench raid succeeded thanks to Sergeant Vilev.”

You two may refuse to admit it, but that’s simply the truth.

Captain Gordon’s ingratiating smile twitched for a brief moment before returning to normal.

Seated at the head of the table, Major Brandon chuckled.

“Ha! Ha! Our Second Lieutenant Wintercrown is truly humble and kindhearted. Not only does she look after our own soldiers, she even takes care of Wildmen from another unit. What a philanthropist.”

Captain Gordon immediately chimed in.

“Exactly, sir. Doesn’t that show remarkable leadership? It’s a blessing that someone with such talent has joined our battalion.”

Aethlyn kept her mouth shut.

A philanthropist?

She wondered what expression her stepmother, Janet Wintercrown, would make if she ever heard someone describe her that way.

But there was an even bigger problem.

That’s not what happened at all.

She hadn’t been the one taking care of Sergeant Vilev.

He had been the one helping her.

Taking her silence as agreement, Major Brandon kept talking.

“Anyway, both you and the captain have had a rough time. Living alongside that pack of werewolves couldn’t have been easy. Still, don’t resent me too much. Headquarters shoved them onto us without warning. When the higher-ups give an order, all we can do is obey.”

Captain Gordon eagerly added, spraying flecks of saliva as he spoke.

“We didn’t have the flea problem we were worried about, but our cooks suffered terribly. Those beasts devoured an unbelievable amount of meat. Our own soldiers couldn’t even get a single bite, and the complaints were endless.”

“I ought to give the logistics department a piece of my mind. They should know how much trouble we’ve gone through feeding those Wildman werewolves. And…”

Major Brandon’s damp eyes drifted toward Aethlyn.

“I should also remind them that our battalion happens to have an outstanding Magic Army officer.”

In other words, because the daughter of Duke Wintercrown was stationed here, they should pay extra attention to their supply requests.

Aethlyn said nothing.

She simply watched Captain Gordon continue.

“Exactly, sir. And it wasn’t just the food. They’ve spread fear throughout the camp. The men have been completely shaken these past few days.”

“Hah!”

Major Brandon clenched his fist as if indignation had boiled over.

Snorting loudly, he continued.

“I don’t know what kind of glorious operation they think they came back from, but they’ve been strutting around the trenches as if they own the place. Anyone watching would think they dug those trenches themselves.”

“I started wondering whether I was the battalion commander or just someone assigned to handle their complaints.”

Captain Gordon, who had been gazing at the major almost worshipfully the whole time, quickly soothed him.

“I doubt they meant to cause trouble on purpose. Wildmen are naturally aggressive, after all. They’re not civilized people.”

“That’s true.”

“And they’ll be gone in two days anyway.”

“Right. We only have to put up with them for two more days.”

Only then did Major Brandon’s anger finally subside.

He looked back at Aethlyn.

“This is only the second time I’ve ever been stationed alongside a Wildman special forces unit. The first time…”

He stopped mid-sentence.

For a brief moment, fear flickered across his clouded eyes before they turned murky again, like muddy water.

When he spoke again, he had changed the subject entirely.

“They may look human from a distance, but once you see them up close, it’s obvious. They’re different from us.”

He emptied another glass.

“They’re savages. Barbarians who don’t understand the laws of civilization or reason. Though… what was his name? Sergeant Vilev? I heard that Wildman NCO you’ve been looking after is at least capable of holding a conversation. Is that true, Second Lieutenant?”

This time, Aethlyn couldn’t remain silent.

She answered with some effort.

“Sergeant Vilev is an outstanding soldier. I received a great deal of help from him.”

Apparently dissatisfied with such a by-the-book answer, Major Brandon clicked his tongue.

“Well, I suppose so. I heard he’s the Fenrir Detachment’s de facto leader.”

At that moment, Captain Gordon added with a knowing smile,

“I heard he was raised by humans when he was a child.”

“Huh. How did that happen?”

“There are all sorts of stories. Some say his biological mother was human. Others say he was adopted by human parents.”

His biological mother was human? How could that even happen?

Startled, Aethlyn looked at Captain Gordon.

Major Brandon seemed just as puzzled, because he immediately asked again.

“No, wait. How could his biological mother be human? Can a human even give birth to a Wildman?”

“Very rarely, children are born between humans and Wildmen.”

“Then wouldn’t they only be half Wildman?”

“No. They’re either human or Wildman. It’s always one or the other. Like I said, the chance of them having a child in the first place is extremely low. But if they do, there’s no in-between.”

Major Brandon clicked his tongue with a conflicted look.

“So it’s like flipping a coin. Heads or tails. Human or Wildman. The real question is… why would anyone flip that coin in the first place? I can’t understand why any woman would sleep with a Wildman. Isn’t that basically bestiality?”

Captain Gordon chuckled as though he’d just heard an amusing story.

“There are all kinds of strange people in the world. Honestly, there are even weirder fetishes out there.”

“Well, I suppose she was just the sort of woman who liked rolling around with beasts.”

Aethlyn’s expression turned ice-cold.

The chicken steak she’d just eaten suddenly felt like a lump of stone lodged in her throat.

She hadn’t known Sergeant Vilev for very long, but they had still fought through life and death together.

Hearing them speak about him with such contempt was almost impossible to endure.

The hand holding her fork trembled.

Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—Captain Gordon seemed to notice her discomfort.

He abruptly changed the subject.

“By the way, the sudden cold has the men in an uproar. We should issue the extra blankets a little earlier.”

Major Brandon answered indifferently.

“Leave that to the NCOs. We won’t know whether this is just a passing cold front or the start of winter until we wait and see. At least the Imperial Army will be dealing with the same thing. According to Intelligence, they’ll be hiding in their holes without making a move.”

The rest of the conversation barely registered in Aethlyn’s mind.

That night, Aethlyn finally threw up.

Outside the trench, she grabbed hold of a crumbling stone wall and emptied her stomach.

A crushing sense of self-loathing washed over her.

I shouldn’t be getting shaken up by such crude jokes.

Once again, she bitterly accepted the truth.

She really was nothing more than a flower raised in a greenhouse.

To think that a superior insulting a subordinate she barely knew could upset her this much.

If I throw up every time I hear this kind of garbage—or every time I fight—I won’t have an esophagus left before long.

This is just because I still don’t have enough experience.

After rinsing her mouth with water from her canteen, she looked up at the sky.

It was a pitch-black night.

Thick clouds covered the heavens so completely that not even a sliver of moonlight showed through.

Cold, damp air filled her lungs.

I’d better make sure the Fourth Platoon gets enough blankets.

Then—

“…!”

A chilling sensation shot through her entire body.

Startled, Aethlyn instinctively stumbled backward.

She suddenly felt as though someone was watching her from somewhere.

After hesitating for a moment, she snapped the fingers of her left hand.

“[Lumina.]”

A small flame darted around her surroundings before vanishing.

Doing something like that inside the trenches was absolutely forbidden—creating light was practically the same as telling the enemy, I’m right here.

But the feeling had been too unsettling.

There’s nothing.

She checked once.

Then twice.

Then a third time.

There was nothing around her.

Aethlyn snapped her fingers again, extinguishing the light.

She needed to get back to the trench as quickly as possible and prepare for tomorrow.