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Never once in her life had Aethlyn been cursed at to her face.
In a way, that was only natural.
Who would dare hurl insults at the eldest daughter of Duke Wintercrown?
Not even her stepmother, Janet Wintercrown, could openly speak to her that way.
And yet…
Someone had just shouted at her.
“Move your damn foot, dumbass.”
Startled, Aethlyn looked down.
A gaunt, skeletal-looking soldier was lying on the ground.
Only then did she realize she had been standing on the hem of his trousers.
Still lying there, the soldier pointed a finger at her.
“You deaf?”
“…”
Unable to take it anymore, the orderly1 stepped in front of Aethlyn.
He jabbed a finger back at the soldier.
“The fuck’s wrong with you? Watch your mouth! That’s the new Second Lieutenant assigned to Delta Company!”
“Ah, hell. How was I supposed to know? This is Beta—”
“Shut it and get your head down if you don’t want to die. She’s a Magic Army officer.”
“A Magic Army officer?”
The once-quiet trench stirred with murmurs.
The soldier who had been so brazen only moments ago instantly went pale.
He sluggishly climbed to his feet and gave Aethlyn an awkward salute.
“My apologies, Second Lieutenant. I thought you were just another replacement.”
“Apologize properly, you disrespectful bastard.”
The orderly clenched his fist.
Sensing the situation about to spiral, Aethlyn quickly stopped him.
“…That’s enough. Let’s keep moving.”
The two silently continued on their way.
Nothing around them had changed.
The desolate trench corridors.
The wooden planks that creaked with every step.
The hollow-eyed soldiers who wandered around like zombies.
Taking it all in, Aethlyn made a silent vow.
‘I definitely need to restore discipline first.’
After walking a while longer, the orderly finally slowed his pace.
Before long, he came to a complete stop and turned toward her.
“This is Delta Company’s sector.”
“I see. Where is Captain Gordon—”
At that moment, someone slammed into her from behind.
“Ugh!”
Caught completely off guard, Aethlyn was knocked sideways and crashed to the ground.
Splash.
The neatly pressed sleeve of her officer’s uniform was instantly smeared with mud.
‘An attack?’
Aethlyn immediately activated the magic circuit in her left hand.
If this was an enemy trench raid, she had to retaliate at once.
Then an unbelievable sound reached her ears.
“Cluck-cluck! Squawk!”
At first, she thought it was some kind of crow.
Or perhaps one of the demon rats she’d heard were common here.
But this…
“Squawk! Squawk! Cluck-cluck!”
“I’m so sorry! The little bastard escaped the coop again!”
Aethlyn turned toward the voice.
A blank-faced soldier stood there.
Cradled in his arms was…
A chicken.
An actual chicken, with a bright red comb and yellowish feathers.
“What…”
As Aethlyn stood there with her mouth hanging open in disbelief, the orderly behind her exploded in anger.
“Dosit! What the hell do you think you’re doing in front of your new platoon leader?! Apologize already!”
At the words “your new platoon leader,” the soldier’s face turned even paler.
He repeatedly bowed his head.
“I-I’m sorry, Platoon Leader.”2
As the soldier stumbled through his apology, the chicken in his arms struggled even harder, squawking its dissatisfaction at the top of its lungs.
Watching the utterly surreal scene unfold before her, light slowly returned to Aethlyn’s eyes.
The light of anger.
Snapping fully back to her senses, she planted both hands on her hips and barked at the soldier.
“Stand at attention, salute properly, and state your name and rank.”
Just over two weeks had passed since she arrived at the front-line trenches.
During that time, Aethlyn had fought.
“How can you maintain your rifle like this? It’s packed with mud! Are you trying to cultivate slime inside the barrel?”
“Shave that ridiculous beard. It’s unsanitary, and it weakens the seal on your gas mask. Do you want to die breathing poison gas?”
She fought.
And fought again.
Not against the Barbaros Army—
but against her own side.
From the day she arrived at the Kran trenches until now, her common sense had been challenged over and over again.
Everything she had learned growing up as a citizen of the Republic of Esta…
Everything she had learned during officer training about a soldier’s honor…
It all seemed to hold no meaning or value here.
Discipline within the unit was so lax that it barely existed.
Even the concept of following the chain of command was weak.
Neither the officers nor the noncommissioned officers seemed to have the slightest intention of correcting it.
They simply watched Aethlyn’s efforts from a distance.
Not once had any of them stepped in to help.
It was no different now.
Whether Aethlyn was reprimanding a soldier or not, the company’s senior master sergeant merely stood off to the side, watching like someone observing a fire from across a river.
“Corporal Buffon! Are you joking? You’re saluting with a cigarette hanging out of your mouth?!”
“Haa… Sorry…”
“‘Sorry?’”
“Sorry, Second… Lieutenant.”
Aethlyn fixed the man before her with another icy glare.
“Corporal Buffon. Do you think I’m some clueless fool just because I’m a mage?”
“Absolutely not, Platoon Leader.”
Corporal Buffon answered lazily without even letting go of the cigarette in his hand.
Aethlyn glared at the man before her, her eyes burning with anger.
Corporal William Buffon.
There wasn’t a single thing about the man that wasn’t sloppy, from his attitude to the way he wore his uniform.
For a moment, Aethlyn was seized by the urge to burn that insolent thug’s ridiculous mustache clean off.
Should she just pull off her left glove and throw a Fireball?
The thought was incredibly tempting.
But she forced herself to tighten the reins on her emotions.
‘I have to endure.’
I’m a mage.
I can’t allow myself to be dragged around by ignorant non-mages like them.
Suppressing her anger with great effort, Aethlyn snatched the cigarette from Buffon’s hand and threw it onto the ground.
She ground it beneath her boot.
“Corporal. If I see you behaving like this in front of me again, I will not let it slide.”
“Yessir, Second Lieutenant.”
As she turned away, she heard snickering behind her.
“What’s with that self-proclaimed mage throwing another fit? It’s not like she’s staying here long anyway. She’ll get transferred to another unit soon enough.”
“Just leave her alone. Looks like she wants to prove something. She’ll wear herself out and give up eventually.”
“What a pain.”
‘I really have to keep my temper.’
Aethlyn forced herself to swallow.
When she had first arrived, the soldiers had at least shown the bare minimum of respect.
But lately, they had been crossing the line more and more.
They had probably noticed that despite arriving as a Magic Army officer, she had never actually used magic in front of them.
They must have concluded she was nothing more than a “mage” in name only.
Probably some non-mage born into a family of mages.
But they would find out soon enough.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t use magic.
She simply chose not to.
‘It’s just unfortunate there hasn’t been a battle yet.’
She wanted nothing more than to show them.
Her true ability.
The true power of magic.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the time.
She couldn’t waste her magic just to show off in front of a bunch of idiots.
When the time came, she’d reveal it in its strongest and most magnificent form—on the battlefield.
Just as Aethlyn barely managed to suppress her anger and walk away, one of the soldiers deliberately raised his voice so she could hear.
“You never know. Maybe one of the monsters roaming No Man’s Land will take care of her, just like Colson. That’d save us the trouble.”
“It’s a shame, though. She’s pretty good-looking.”
“Ugh, not for me. She looks cold as hell. Just making eye contact with her feels like it’d freeze me solid.”
Snap.
Something inside Aethlyn broke.
Second Lieutenant Colson.
The platoon leader who had died before she arrived.
Hearing them mock the dead filled her mind with blazing white-hot fury.
The resolve she’d made only moments ago vanished in an instant.
Slowly, Aethlyn turned back toward the soldiers.
The group that had been happily mocking her stiffened all at once.
Apparently, they had never imagined she’d confront them directly.
Without a word, she stared coldly at their frightened faces as she slowly rolled her left wrist.
A faint stiffness ran through the joint.
She didn’t even know what spell she intended to cast.
All she knew was that those bastards deserved to be taught a lesson.
She was prepared to accept whatever consequences followed.
Should she really throw a Fireball?
“P-Platoon Leader… Is there… something you need…?”
The soldiers’ faces drained of color the moment they saw her loosening her left hand.
They knew exactly what that gesture meant.
Watching them hastily throw their cigarettes onto the ground was almost laughable.
It’s too late to start acting respectful now.
You’ve already crossed the line.
Aethlyn finally removed her left glove completely.
Above the angry red scar on the back of her hand, a translucent crimson sphere slowly began to form.
And then—
“Eek…”
One of the soldiers suddenly trembled and let out a frightened whimper.
The others reacted the same way.
Their faces weren’t merely pale—they had turned deathly white, some so terrified they seemed unable to breathe.
“…?”
Something felt off.
That wasn’t the reaction of people afraid of magic.
It was closer to the look people wore when confronted by a terrifying monster.
Had a monster really appeared?
Aethlyn turned around once more.
And like the rest of the soldiers…
She froze where she stood.
A man she’d never seen before was standing there.
He wore an unfamiliar khaki military uniform and cap unlike anything Aethlyn had ever seen.
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