However, Ishina suddenly raised his head and strode toward Winter, his steps so large and deliberate that it was almost unsettling.
“Winter! How could you?!”
“What do you mean?”
“How could you just drag them—without warning—to meet your parents?!”
“Uh... Ishina, I followed him because I was curious...”
“Salvia, go inside. It’s raining,” Ishina ordered before turning back to Winter with a pointed glare. “Winter! Were you trying to get on their good side from the start?!”
“Ishina, I think you’re misunderstanding—”
“You can’t just take someone to meet your parents without backup! Do you know how nerve-wracking that must’ve been? Were you trying to intimidate them?!”
What is happening right now?
Seeing Ishina get completely worked up, I quietly inched away. As I backed out of the conversation, I spotted Altair and Yuri in the distance and hurried toward them.
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“Altair! Yuri!”
“Oh, Salvia!”
Altair greeted me warmly, but as soon as I reached them, he immediately fired off a question.
“Salvia, I heard you and Winter destroyed the dark mage’s catalyst?”
“Yes, but it wasn’t just us—Aquila was with us, too.”
“I figured Aquila had to be involved... Anyway, you seem to be getting along with Winter better than I expected.”
“Why wouldn’t I? He’s reliable.”
At that, Altair and Yuri exchanged a subtle glance. Was it embarrassing to them, seeing a fellow recruit get praised?
“We just got back from Winter’s home,” I continued. “We were looking for some information, and his parents knew about it.”
“...You went to his house?”
Realizing it was time to leave, I quickly gave them a parting message.
“Altair, Yuri! Congratulations in advance on your discharge!”
“Uh... yeah...”
“If possible, let’s meet up after we’re out...”
The Cool Mint Ice 78th batch was finally getting discharged. I guess I had been in the military for quite a while now. From now on, I should call them Cool Mint Ice Civilians 78.
***
After Salvia left, Altair and Yuri exchanged another long, meaningful look.
“Were we wrong about something?”
“At the very least, it seems Winter is special to Salvia.”
“...Winter, huh. He really is good at everything.”
“I told him to work on his relationships, but I didn’t think he’d be this fast.”
“From a standard senior-subordinate relationship to meeting the parents already...”
“He really is incredible, even for my fellow recruit...”
***
When we arrived at the dark mage’s house, I was met with unexpected news.
“Aquila broke the dark mage’s leg?”
“Uh... yeah,” Benny answered in a strangely hesitant tone.
Looking over, I saw Aquila standing at attention as Winter reprimanded him.
Sure, the dark mage had done plenty to deserve our hatred, but taking personal revenge like that could cause problems.
“Next time, try to follow the rules more strictly,” Winter said.
“I will correct my actions.”
Only after Winter had scolded him for quite some time was Aquila finally released. As soon as he was free, I rushed over.
“Aquila!”
His face, which had been tense the entire time, finally relaxed a little.
“I see you’ve been taking good care of Karon,” I noted.
Looking at Karon, who seemed surprisingly cheerful, I could tell that whatever trauma he had suffered from dark mages was completely gone.
“So... why did you break the dark mage’s leg?” I asked.
“...He had it coming.”
“That so?”
I blinked at him slowly, then smiled, meeting his eyes.
“Good job.”
That was my honest opinion. Just locking them up wouldn’t have been enough.
“...Really?”
Aquila seemed taken aback that I’d say something like that.
“Yeah. You did well.”
At my second reassurance, his expression completely softened.
“Honestly, Salvia.”
“Hm?”
Aquila didn’t finish his sentence, but since he looked satisfied, I didn’t push for an answer.
***
By the time we got back to base, the rain had finally let up.
But after walking through it for so long, we were already thoroughly drenched, so everyone immediately went to wash up and dry off.
Normally, I would’ve just toweled off enough so my hair didn’t drip, but today, even looking in the mirror, I could tell my lips had gone blue. I had no choice but to dry my hair completely.
And now, behind me, Aquila was gently rubbing a dry towel over my damp hair.
“Achoo!”
“Cold?”
“No, I’m fine now. I was just cold earlier.”
As we chatted while he carefully dried my hair, Ishina sat a short distance away, watching us like a hawk. Despite that, his tone was still oddly gentle.
“Salvia, do you have a cold?”
“I think it’s just from the rain. I’ll be fine soon.”
Even though I had warmed up a bit at Winter’s home, it hadn’t been enough.
That castle was strangely cold...
Even with a blanket wrapped around me, it hadn’t felt particularly warm. Probably because of Winter’s family’s literal icy aura.
Honestly, I really could’ve used some close contact with human heater Aquila, but since Ishina showed no signs of stopping his surveillance, I decided to test the waters first.
“You know, just standing next to Aquila makes me warm up real fast—”
“No.”
“...But I know military regulations say—”
“No.”
“...Okay.”
Honestly, we all knew that just hugging Aquila would be enough to get rid of the chill, but Ishina practically jumped out of his seat to grab me by the collar and pull me away.
“Ishina, but you know there’s no ill intent, right? As long as no one misunderstands and reports it, we wouldn’t actually get punished...”
“Salvia, please just listen to me. You have too many things to be wary of right now. This is for your own good.”
“...Fine.”
Back when Ishina first accepted me as his person, I had been really touched.
But now that I thought about it, maybe it was just because he didn’t have many people he trusted to begin with.
It seemed Ishina just had a lot of worries.
***
D-1096 until discharge.
Today was finally the day Winter was getting discharged.
"Winter, congratulations on your promotion to civilian status."
"Salvia, it's not a promotion. It's discharge."
"Ah... yes, sir."
As expected, military humor didn’t work on Winter at all.
While we were preparing for Winter’s discharge ceremony, he simply looked around the base with a strange expression.
Well, he has been here for eight years.
Of course, leaving this godforsaken Border Defense Army was something to celebrate, but after spending eight years in one place, it was only natural to feel at least a little empty about it.
I couldn’t fully imagine what it felt like to be in his shoes yet, so I just stared at him. After taking in the base one last time, Winter turned and walked toward me.
"Salvia."
"Yes?"
He handed me an envelope. I had no idea what this was about, but I accepted it anyway. It felt slightly heavier than expected.
"It has my address inside."
"Oh."
"If you need to, send me a letter."
After becoming an officer, I’d be allowed to correspond with people outside the base. That must have been what he was referring to.
So Winter considered me a close friend, huh?
We had spent five years together in the army. I had saved his closest comrade. He had acknowledged me as part of his circle and even looked out for me.
Thinking about it, I was probably the closest junior Winter had in this unit.
For someone as cool, minty, and icy as Winter to care about a subordinate—it was honestly kind of touching.
"Yes, sir! I will!"
"Good. And whatever else is in the envelope, use it if you need it."
"...Sir?"
Something else? Now that he mentioned it, the envelope was a bit heavier than just a piece of paper.
I tilted my head in confusion, but before I could open it, the officers’ discharge ceremony began, and I had to hurry back to my position.
"Attention! Salute for Winter’s discharge!"
Officer Jay called out, and we all raised our swords in unison to honor Winter as he left.
Watching him walk that final path, I thought about the officers who had discharged before him. But none of them had ever been as close to me as Winter.
"Hope you live well out there, sir..."
I murmured to myself, offering my last farewell.
Sigh, with Winter gone, who’s going to be the ‘pillar of trust’ in this unit now?
"...Guess I’ll have to train my juniors well!"
Who was I kidding? I had no time for that. There were still plenty of recruits who had failed their last training session—I had work to do.
***
After properly grilling the newer recruits, I finally got around to opening the envelope Winter had given me.
Inside was a neatly written letter with his address. His handwriting was clean and sharp—the same familiar script I had seen before while studying.
"No matter how much I practice, I could never write this neatly..."
I pulled the paper out and peered into the envelope again. Then, I spotted something familiar.
"...Huh?"
It was a key.
Not just any key, but the golden key Winter had taken from his family’s estate—the one to his personal vault.
"...Why do I have this?"
Why the hell was he giving me access to his family's fortune?!
At most, I had expected him to leave me some spare change for travel expenses—not this.
Did he put it in by mistake?
No matter how I thought about it, there was no logical reason for Winter to hand over his vault key as some kind of parting gift.
While I stood there in shock, holding the key up to the sunlight to confirm I wasn’t hallucinating, Ishina and Aquila strolled toward me, looking particularly pleased with themselves.
"Ahh, one problem solved. Feels good," Ishina sighed.
"Yes, very satisfying," Aquila agreed.
"If only you disappeared, Salvia, it’d be even better—" Ishina paused as he finally noticed what I was holding. His gaze sharpened instantly.
It was perfect timing—I needed someone to explain this insanity, and Ishina was usually my go-to for rational advice.
"Ishina! Look at this!"
"What is it?"
"Winter gave me his vault key! What the hell is this supposed to mean—"
"ACK!"
But before I could finish, Ishina clutched the back of his neck and staggered, looking like he had just suffered a stroke.
"I-Ishina?! Are you okay?!"
"Ugh... I never thought my blood pressure would rise faster than yours... No, no. I should have expected this."
"Why?! What’s going on?!"
"You idiots... all of you... Karon!"
Ishina called over Karon, who had been hovering nearby, clearly eavesdropping.
"Yes, sir?!"
"Take that key from Salvia."
"What?! Why?!"
"That key is dangerous. We need to confiscate it."
"Ah! Understood!"
Before I could even process what was happening, Karon lunged forward and snatched the key from my hands.
"Ishina! Why are you doing this?!"
"Salvia, for now, that key is confiscated."
"It’s not like I can even leave the base... But seriously, why would Winter give it to me?"
"That’s exactly why you shouldn’t be thinking about it. If you keep seeing the key, you’ll start overanalyzing things. So we’re keeping it."
"That doesn’t make any sense!"
I turned to Aquila, pleading for help, but he just nodded along seriously.
"Salvia, you should listen to your senior."
"YOU?! Since when do you—?! You and Winter don’t even like each other!"
I was so betrayed I could hardly form words. This was ridiculous.
Wait a minute... could this be... one of those rofan plotlines where the male leads start competing over me...?
"Salvia! We have a problem!"
Patty came running at full speed, her face pale.
"Patty? What now?"
"Patty and Matty were using the laundry line as a jump rope, and—!"
"WHAT?! Are they out of their damn minds?! What the hell does that even mean?!"
Forget the rofan nonsense—I had completely forgotten that those stories didn’t include idiots like this.
And that was my mistake.