“Ha. And why are you interfering?”
Rosan tilted his head as if he couldn’t believe what was happening, but Ishina didn’t back down.
“...It would be best if you lowered your hand.”
“What?”
“She’s someone even I haven’t laid a hand on, Rosan.”
‘...Huh?’
Right. This was something I had never even considered possible.
‘Ishina... is standing up to a senior right now?’
Ishina, who always drilled into me to listen to my seniors, who never failed to remind me not to cause trouble with the commanding officers and to just lay low for six months—that Ishina?
“Hey, your subordinate is acting this disrespectfully, and you didn’t train her properly? Now that I see it, you’re the problem here.”
Now Rosan’s anger had shifted to Ishina as well. Just as he had done with me, he raised his hand toward her, but Ishina remained standing firmly in place.
Until now, I hadn’t fully realized it, but maybe because he was originally Male Lead #3, Ishina didn’t look weaker than Rosan at all.
Rosan, who had leaned in to intimidate Ishina, flinched at the sight of Ishina’s unchangingly cold expression.
“Yes, it’s my fault. And I fully intend to let Salvia continue being disrespectful.”
‘...What?’
Shouldn’t he be explaining that I wasn’t actually being rude, just that we were on familiar terms?
As I awkwardly rolled my eyes, unable to insert myself into the standoff between two seniors, Ishina spoke again.
“And besides, Rosan, you haven’t been with our unit for very long, have you?”
“What?”
“We’ll handle the unit’s operations just fine on our own.”
At this point, my jaw nearly dropped.
‘Isn’t that just outright provoking him?’
Unbelievably, Ishina had just escalated the situation...! What the hell? Was he finally giving in to his hidden villain tendencies?
“You little—!”
Rosan’s expression made it look like he was about to grab Ishina by the collar when others started gathering around us.
Among them were senior soldiers who had been around long enough to interfere in a situation like this, including the commanding officer, Kayot.
“Hey, Rosan. Take it easy. I’ve been here long enough to know this unit’s discipline is pretty lax.”
Kayot grinned as he slung an arm around Rosan’s shoulder. But there was nothing about his attitude that seemed like he was actually trying to de-escalate things. If anything, he was egging Rosan on, right in front of us, calling our unit undisciplined.
Watching the two of them, I became certain of it—these guys were really trying to break us in order to take control of the unit.
‘Shit, looks like I’m about to get dragged into Political Drama: Military Edition.’
“Kayot, sir, you know better than anyone how important it is to be careful towards the end of one’s service.”
Even in the middle of this, Ishina was staring down the officers with a level of icy coldness I’d never seen from him before.
Then, one of the gathered senior soldiers spoke up.
“And Ishina, aren’t you also close to a promotion?”
Of course. If there was drama happening, there was no way Jaiden wouldn’t show up! He was smirking at Ishina in that particularly annoying way of his.
‘That bastard...’
Ever since Jaiden got promoted to senior soldier, he’d been acting way too full of himself. Back when he was a recruit like me, he wouldn’t have dared say a word in front of me. But now that he officially had authority over juniors, it was clear he had regained his confidence.
And just like that, the situation got even more complicated.
So basically, Kayot and Rosan wanted to crush us to consolidate their power, and Jaiden, now a senior, wanted to push us out and take control himself.
And judging by that smug look on his face, there was a good chance he’d team up with the officers.
‘Isn’t this the kind of political scheming that’s supposed to happen in the Imperial Palace, not here?’
This wasn’t some faction war between the Crown Prince and the First Prince! This was just “Commanding Officers + Early Seniors vs. Late Seniors.” Why the hell was I being dragged into a military drama in a romance novel?
“What’s going on here?”
To make things worse, Aquila had now grabbed my arm and was glaring at the officers. And Karon, despite not even knowing what was happening, had come to stand beside me.
Anyone could see it now—the lines had been drawn.
‘I need to find a way to end this standoff.’
Sure, I was decent at scheming, but if we went up against the officers right now, we’d lose. Because in the end, they were our seniors, and if we fought back, it would be considered insubordination.
So for now, we needed to withdraw and plan.
And just then, I locked eyes with Dalin, who had been watching from a distance.
‘Dalin!’
For the first time ever, I was glad to see her.
I widened my eyes at her in desperation, silently urging her to do something. And, like magic, Dalin’s face lit up in realization.
She immediately skipped over to us and, in a loud, cheerful voice, called out to Rosan and Kayot.
“Rosan, sir! Kayot, sir! Did you know?”
“What?”
“There’s a shocking reason why the entire continent is in awe of the Arkons, why the citizens of the Adolph Empire are furious, and why everyone wants to become an Arkon!!”
“...What?”
“What the hell? Now I have to know!”
Rosan and Kayot, who had been glaring at me just seconds ago, suddenly looked completely entranced by Dalin.
‘...What is this?’
If she just swapped out a few words, this would be exactly like those clickbait video titles from my past life... But this was not the time for that thought!
‘Dalin really is the queen of aggro.’
While she was sucking all the attention to herself, I quickly grabbed Ishina, Aquila, and Karon and got the hell out of there.
Dalin had earned herself a “One-Time Free Pass from My Wrath” as a reward.
***
As soon as we got away, the first thing I did was ask Ishina for an explanation.
“Ishina, sir... Why did you do that...?”
“Haha....”
Unlike his cold demeanor just moments ago, Ishina had now returned to his usual calm and easygoing self. In a way, that made it even scarier. He really did seem like a hidden mastermind....
“Someone who’s leaving soon should’ve just endured it a little longer....”
“But Salvia, how could I possibly endure that?”
Well, at this point, there was no use blaming Ishina for what was already done.
We had openly made enemies of them, and now a power struggle had begun—one that wouldn’t end until one side was completely defeated.
This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.
‘Damn it, couldn’t the commanding officers just quietly mind their own business?’
Then again, it wasn’t like I couldn’t understand why they were acting this way. They had spent their time as senior soldiers holding authority in their previous units, only to be transferred and suddenly lose all their power. That must’ve been hard to accept.
‘Kayot’s probably just testing the waters by egging Rosan on.’
Something about the way Kayot always teased the juniors had felt unsettling. Maybe deep down, he had a hunger for power too.
And now that someone as power-hungry as Rosan had arrived as a commanding officer, this was the perfect opportunity for Kayot. If Rosan managed to take control, Kayot would benefit. And if Rosan failed? Kayot would just bide his time and quietly serve out the remainder of his term.
Hmm... What was the best way to handle this?
Ishina had openly challenged the commanding officers, but looking at his now-relaxed face, it didn’t seem like he intended to escalate things further.
“Haaah...”
Then, Ishina let out a deep sigh.
Sensing something, I quickly put on the most innocent, thoughtless expression I could muster.
“Ishina, sir, I swear I wasn’t thinking about anything—”
“They’re annoying.”
“...Excuse me?”
But it was like he didn’t even hear me. Ishina glanced back toward where we had come from with a strangely unreadable expression.
“Yeah. They’re really annoying....”
That was definitely something a hidden villain would say. Or was I imagining things?
“I suppose it’s necessary to tidy up the unit before I leave.”
...No, I wasn’t imagining it.
There was no mistaking the meaning behind those words. I’d read far too many romance fantasy novels to miss the implications.
‘Oh, so I don’t have to do anything, then.’
At long last, Ishina’s hidden mastermind tendencies were about to awaken!
***
But surprisingly, Ishina didn’t do anything obvious after making that statement.
“Ishina, sir, are you really not scheming anything these days?”
“What exactly are you expecting from me?”
...Hmm, well, it wouldn’t be very mastermind-like to go around broadcasting his plans. Hidden masterminds always worked behind the scenes, after all.
Still, the commanding officers weren’t making any moves either, and because of that, the unit was now wrapped in an unbearable tension, like we were all walking on a tightrope.
‘Well, I’ll just let Ishina handle it.’
For now, I focused on my own tasks—digging through the company records to research how monsters were born, and making sure to strengthen my relationships with the juniors in case another power struggle broke out.
“Dalin. Your aggro-drawing skills last time were exceptional.”
“Hehehe...”
“I’ll let it slide that you fell behind during training.”
“Really?! Thank you!”
“But I won’t forgive you for accidentally spilling water on my squadmate, you little shit!”
“T-That was...!”
As I scolded Dalin as usual, my Beta Platoon squadmate Blue walked into our barracks and froze in shock.
“S-Salvia? I-It’s fine, really....”
Only then did I release Dalin and turn to Blue. She had come looking for me, but thanks to Dalin’s clumsiness, she’d ended up soaked.
“Sorry about that, Blue. I’ll make sure she learns her lesson.”
“I told you, it’s fine.... Oh, right! Salvia, is that rumor true?”
Blue seemed far more interested in something else than the fact that she was dripping wet.
“I heard the atmosphere in your platoon has been awful lately. Something about a fight with the new commanding officer?”
“...How the hell do you know about that?”
Then again, that was a stupid question. In the military, every rumor spread like wildfire. And on top of that, Blue was incredibly well-connected.
“Well, that’s all I heard. You snapped and went after him, didn’t you?”
“It wasn’t me.”
“Oh? Then it was Aquila? Did he fight for you or something?”
“Nope.”
“Then who was it?”
Since Blue seemed completely clueless, I figured I might as well tell her exactly who had fought Rosan.
“Ishina.”
“...What? Your senior? That kind, gentle Ishina? No way!”
“It’s true.”
“But why...?! Wait, then Rosan must’ve been the one at fault.”
The fact that Blue immediately assumed Rosan was to blame showed just how good Ishina’s reputation was. Everyone in the company saw him as a kind and reliable senior. If even he had gone against Rosan, then there was no way people wouldn’t suspect something was up.
“So what was the fight even about?”
“Oh, Rosan just kept picking fights with us. It’s obvious he wants to crush us so he can establish himself in this new unit.”
“Hold on, Salvia.”
Blue narrowed her eyes at me.
“Are you saying you didn’t have any prior issues with Rosan?”
“Yeah! I wasn’t the one who started anything!”
“...Then I think I’ve figured something out.”
“...What?”
So Rosan wasn’t just coming after us for power?
What the hell was going on?