“The 39th Infantry Brigade...?”
A name so familiar it sent a shiver down my spine flashed through my mind.
April.
That was the unit April had been transferred to after her promotion.
‘So Rosan spent two years in the military with April...’
There was no way that crazy woman had just behaved herself in another unit. If anyone even slightly annoyed her or disrespected her, she would have made their life a living hell—
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Wait a second.
“...Is that why? Is he taking it out on me?”
“Hm, I wouldn’t know since I wasn’t in your unit, but April was pretty infamous, you know?”
Even Beta Platoon had heard about her. That was how far her reputation had spread. Amazing. April, you legend...
‘So Rosan’s hostility toward me wasn’t about power... but revenge for whatever he suffered under April?’
The reason he targeted me more than anyone else, the way he constantly singled me out, had nothing to do with power struggles?
“...But why me? There’s Benny, Dalin, and Jina. If anything, Dalin and Benny are much closer to April’s height than I am.”
“Salvia, are you really that clueless?”
Blue’s voice was laced with pity.
“In this unit, the person who’s most similar to April in personality is probably—”
“What?”
“...Never mind.”
Blue shook her head, refusing to finish the sentence. But before leaving, she made sure to remind me.
“Just keep in mind—he’s looking to settle a score with you. And if you hear anything else interesting, be sure to tell me~.”
With that, Blue, the unit’s unofficial gossip queen, disappeared back to her own platoon, leaving me lost in thought.
So that’s the reason...
All that talk about “poor discipline” in our unit had just been a cover.
Ishina had been the one to openly challenge Rosan, but according to Blue, Rosan’s real target wasn’t him—it was me.
For now, I decided to take the advice and tread carefully.
‘Ugh, I just wanted to research monster births, and now this happens.’
At first, I was too frustrated to focus on anything. But my mind had cleared up a lot in recent days, especially when I considered something—
‘Not like I have to do anything. Ishina’s probably going to handle Rosan for me.’
With that comforting thought, I returned to what I did best—gathering information about monsters.
A few days later, I finally found the kind of book I had been searching for in the archives. And it was an unexpected find.
A Monster Compendium.
I had assumed that a book like this would only contain practical information about fighting monsters and wouldn’t delve into their origins.
But at the very back of the book, in a short appendix, there was a section about the birth of monsters.
‘The author categorizes the birth of monsters into two types.’
‘The first is reproduction. Like any other living creatures, they reproduce through mating, laying eggs, or giving birth.’
‘The second is spontaneous generation. These creatures come into existence out of nowhere, from nothingness itself.’
‘So they do just appear naturally...!’
That meant I hadn’t been imagining things that day!
Since this book was a Monster Compendium, the author was likely someone with extensive experience fighting them. Maybe even an Arkon like me.
My heart started racing with anticipation.
‘The author attempted to study the timing and locations of spontaneous monster births.’
Then—
The next page was ripped out.
“...What?”
I flipped back and forth, but no matter how I looked at it, an entire page was missing. Someone had deliberately torn it out.
‘Who the hell...?’
Whoever had taken it must have known how important that information was.
A wave of frustration hit me. To have come so close only to lose the most critical piece of information... I felt like I was going to lose my mind.
“Damn it.”
Of course, nothing could ever go smoothly.
‘Guess I’ll just have to observe monsters myself...’
Since the book’s author had conducted research on spontaneous monster births, I decided to do the same whenever I had the chance.
My wristwatch, which could detect nearby monsters, would help me.
And since I had guard duty soon, there was no point in returning to my barracks before heading out. I glanced around and spotted Dalin, who had been hovering nearby.
“Dalin. Go get my wristwatch from my locker.”
“Yes, sir!”
Dalin confidently ran off, and I stood in place, waiting.
Not long after, she returned.
“...Dalin?”
“S-Salvia, sir... I’m so sorry....”
Dalin was being dragged by someone—her wrist tightly gripped.
And the person dragging her was none other than Rosan.
In his other hand, dangling ominously, was my wristwatch.
The moment I saw it, every alarm bell in my head went off.
‘Shit.’
He must have recognized it for what it was.
And the one who had found it... was Rosan.
This wasn’t just bad. It was catastrophic.
I had no idea how badly I was about to get screwed, but I knew I was about to get very screwed.
‘This is all Dalin’s fault, isn’t it?’
I shouldn’t have trusted her. I really, really shouldn’t have. And she had actually been making fewer mistakes lately!
I was so exhausted by the situation that I didn’t even have the energy to be angry.
As I stared blankly, Rosan rattled the wristwatch in his hand with a smug grin.
“Hey. What’s this?”
“...It’s a personal item.”
“That looks like a black magic artifact to me.”
Honestly, it was hard to deny. That watch did look like a black magic artifact.
Despite its gold exterior, it reflected an eerie, dark shimmer. The glass face was cracked, and it even radiated an unsettling aura...
Anyone who had survived in the Border Defense Army for long enough would immediately recognize it for what it was.
“Hah. You smuggled forbidden contraband into the unit?”
Rosan’s eyes gleamed as he sneered at me.
“You do realize how serious this is, don’t you?”
“......”
Honestly, whether I answered or stayed silent, I was screwed either way.
So I just lowered my head and stared at the ground, choosing to stay silent.
That, of course, was the same as admitting guilt.
“I could hand out any punishment right now, and you wouldn’t have a word of protest. Am I wrong?”
He was practically spelling out how he was going to make my life miserable.
But honestly—he was right.
It was better for this to end at his level. If this got reported to the higher-ups, I was going straight to military prison with a 100% chance of conviction.
“A prison sentence? In a romance fantasy novel?! What the hell is this?!”
If I were locked up for attempted assassination of the Emperor, at least that would sound cool. But getting thrown in the slammer for bringing in illegal contraband? That was just pathetic.
-30 protagonist dignity points.
I just hoped he’d settle for pulling my hair out or slapping me, anything quick and brutal that would be over soon.
As I braced myself, someone stepped up beside me.
“Rosan.”
“...Huh?”
That was a voice I knew all too well.
I snapped my head up, only to see Aquila speaking up in my place.
“That item belongs to me.”
“What?!”
I wanted to scream What?! too, but thankfully, I had enough sense to keep my mouth shut.
Aquila reached behind his back, where my hands were also positioned due to our at-ease stance, and lightly grabbed my hand for a second before letting go.
It was a silent signal: Stay still. Let me handle this.
‘No, but why are you covering for me?!’
Sure, I’d made plenty of mistakes back in our recruit days. And back then, Aquila had always taken the blame for me before I even had the chance to step forward.
But this time was different.
This wasn’t just taking a beating in my place—if he took responsibility, he could end up in prison.
Yet despite that, he didn’t hesitate.
“Salvia probably didn’t even realize it was a black magic artifact.”
“Hah. Do you think I’m dumb enough to fall for that obvious lie?”
Rosan grinned wickedly.
“She just said it was her personal item. You’re obviously trying to take the blame for her.”
He stepped closer, lifting his hand to tap Aquila’s shoulder.
“You think you can get away with bullshit like this? Huh?”
His hand started to rise—the exact same motion he had done to me earlier.
Aquila didn’t even flinch. He just stood there, prepared to take the hit.
That was not happening.
I shut my eyes tight and yelled before Rosan could strike.
“That watch is mine!”
“Salvia.”
Aquila warned me, calling my name. But I stared straight at him, silently telling him to stand down.
I knew he didn’t understand why I was doing this, but I needed to calm him down—
“...Fine.”
‘...Wait, did he actually understand?’
To my surprise, Aquila backed down immediately. He returned to his usual blank expression and simply stood beside me.
“Rosan, sir. That watch is mine. And...”
I hated that I had to say this, but this was the best option.
“Go ahead and report it to the higher-ups.”
“...What?”
“I don’t mind if you report me. If a punishment is decided, I’ll accept it.”
Rosan looked genuinely taken aback.
And it made sense—he had planned to milk this situation to make my life miserable, but instead, I was outright inviting the worst-case scenario.
But before he could say anything else, I grabbed Aquila and dragged him away.
I also picked up Dalin along the way, who was still standing there looking helpless.
“Dalin, what the hell happened?”
“I-I was running back quickly, but I tripped on my own foot...! And the watch flew out of my hand...! And then it landed right in front of Rosan, sir....”
“...Go back to the barracks and bang your head against the floor.”
“Yes, sir...”
After sending Dalin away, I pulled Aquila into an empty alley behind our platoon building.
He hadn’t said a word this entire time, just quietly following as I dragged him.
Only when we were completely alone did he finally speak in a low voice.
“You’re not actually planning on going to prison. You have a plan, don’t you?”
“Yeah. I have something in mind. So don’t worry.”
“...Don’t take all of this on yourself, Salvia.”
Aquila paused, then spoke slowly.
“If things go wrong and you really do get thrown in prison... then I’ll go with you.”
“...What?”
“If I’m going to prison anyway, I’d rather get locked up for something better. But I guess this will have to do.”
He sounded completely serious.
And for a moment, I was speechless.