He was always watching.
He was always observing everything, and he remembered everything he saw.
Aquila had always been the type to be easily misunderstood since he was a child.
With his piercing crimson eyes from birth, a sharp gaze, a perpetually stoic expression, a reserved personality, and few words, he often gave off an air of indifference.
These traits led people to wrongly assume that Aquila was detached and insensitive to everything around him.
In truth, he was perceptive and sensitive, but he didn’t feel the need to correct these misunderstandings.
As a child, he hadn’t understood the consequences of people misunderstanding him. He had grown used to being labeled as an ominous child.
But as he grew older, and the crimson hue of his eyes became more striking:
“Dear, it seems... our child inherited too much of the hetero bloodline.”
“What? I thought you said you were mixed-blood?”
“...Maybe you’re not fully imperial either. It’s possible your blood has a stronger hetero lineage than we thought....”
And when his exceptional physical abilities surpassed even the elite among hetero sapiens:
“It seems our child will activate the contract magic.”
“Does that mean... he’ll be conscripted into the Border Defense Army?”
Watching Aquila grow, his parents realized that the activation of the contract magic would inevitably lead to his enlistment in the Border Defense Army.
Despite their deep love for one another, they decided to abandon him before their bond grew stronger, fearing the pain of losing him.
“Still... I believe you’ll be able to live well, no matter what.”
Fearing the heartbreak of sending a cherished child to the military, they left the young Aquila behind.
Even then, Aquila stared at them with his crimson eyes, his gaze unwavering. His parents never knew what was in his heart.
‘You think I’ll live well?’
At that moment, he felt as though his heart was being torn apart. He froze in panic, unable to move or speak.
Mistaking his silence for something else, his parents departed with sorrowful expressions.
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This was how, despite having living parents, Aquila ended up in an orphanage.
It was also the reason he resigned himself to being misunderstood.
At seventeen, when the contract magic appeared on his wrist, he left the orphanage without hesitation and volunteered for enlistment.
Assigned to the "Kledor Mountain Battalion, 18th Company, Alpha Platoon," Aquila adapted quickly.
He possessed a natural talent for fire-attribute aura and outstanding physical prowess.
While his fellow recruits struggled and dropped out, Aquila stood out unmistakably, and his peers seemed to find him intimidating.
‘Linia, Cal, Salvia, Magne, Johann, Billy, Hippo.’
He remembered all of their names.
Yet, because of his demeanor, his peers seemed to think he was indifferent. Aquila didn’t care. As always, he simply stayed quiet and accepted his environment.
But when he faced the deaths of his comrades right before his eyes—
He was unable to do anything.
Just like when his parents had abandoned him, he froze in place, unable to act.
‘No.’
Even when he tried to shut his eyes, his eyelids refused to obey.
At that moment, he thought he had lost everything again.
“Hey! Why isn’t he coming out yet?!”
“Torches! Bring all the torches and get over here!”
Finally, his legs moved.
He didn’t have time to think. He plunged into the river and grabbed hold of a struggling hand beneath the water.
Falling below the waterfall, when he finally saw the face of the sole surviving recruit—
“Don’t die. Don’t die, please....”
He muttered like a madman, performing chest compressions over and over.
And when he finally met her gaze, his heart stopped.
On her pale, deathly face, her golden eyes shone brightly, full of life, as they stared straight into his own.
She was reading beyond his gaze.
“I—I’ve never wished for anyone to....”
I never wanted anyone to die. I didn’t want to be at odds with you all.
For some reason, he felt the need to explain himself to her. Trembling, he tried to speak.
“Ah, cough! I know.”
That was what she said.
“I know everything, cough! You’re thinking.”
It wasn’t just his imagination. Their thoughts were completely in sync.
For the first time in his life, he felt the exhilarating sensation of being connected to someone.
‘Salvia.’
Her name dominated his mind.
The only thing he could do was make a promise to himself: no matter what, he would ensure Salvia survived.
For the first time, feeling this bond, he wanted to give her everything.
“Hold me.”
Her weak, trembling voice asked.
As he embraced her shivering body, he made a silent vow to make her warmth his own forever.
‘...This is bad.’
He knew exactly what he felt for Salvia, and he knew it wasn’t appropriate for the situation.
But he couldn’t help it.
He simply couldn’t imagine himself not loving Salvia.
***
We began climbing the mountain again to return to where we had fallen.
There was the option of scaling the cliff beside the waterfall, but we were far too drained—mentally and physically. The fact that we both survived the fall was already a miracle.
Though neither of us spoke as we climbed, we were undoubtedly thinking about the comrades we had lost.
Now, it was truly just the two of us.
"Want me to carry you?"
"Yes."
When my pace slowed because of the burns on my legs, Aquila immediately turned his back to me. I climbed onto it.
"Are you cold?"
"Yes."
Both of us were soaked, but the heat radiating from Aquila’s body seemed to dry my clothes little by little.
So using fire-attribute aura makes the body warm too?
As I pressed closer to his back, the shivers that had wracked my body since falling into the water began to subside. Even my fingers, which had turned blue, were slowly regaining their color.
"Aren’t you cold?" I asked.
"No."
"Aren’t you tired?"
"If you insisted on walking, that’d be more tiring."
Our conversation was dry to the point of absurdity, but it was enough.
Sometimes, you don’t need words to understand someone’s feelings.
Love, friendship, camaraderie, maternal instincts... There are emotions that can’t be neatly defined by such terms.
That was the kind of emotion we felt when we realized we were the only ones left, after a month of struggling together with comrades who had all died.
"Salvia," Aquila said.
"You know that’s the first time you’ve called me by my name?"
"Want me to say it again?"
"Just today?"
"No."
"Then I’m fine with it."
To an outsider, our exchange might have sounded strange, but to us, it was everything. Even though we hadn’t really spoken much over the past month.
As he carried me up the mountain, I could hear Aquila’s breathing grow heavier with exertion.
But I didn’t ask him to put me down.
"Are we going the right way?" I asked.
"The direction’s correct."
"What if no one’s there when we arrive?"
"Then we’ll head to the main unit."
After that, silence fell. It wasn’t uncomfortable, though.
"Aquila, I have a question."
"Go ahead."
"Can I bother you in the future?"
"As much as you want."
"Can I whine to you?"
"Feel free."
"What do you want, then?"
I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear it from him.
"Don’t die, Salvia," he said.
"Okay."
"Whatever happens, don’t die. Don’t leave me."
"I won’t."
"Keep showing me that you’re alive. Stay by my side."
"I promise."
Just then, we heard voices in the distance.
"They must be nearby," someone said.
"Yeah, looks like it."
"Put me down," I told Aquila.
"Okay."
He gently lowered me to the ground and looked at me quietly.
"Your lips are blue," he said.
"Guess I’m not fully warmed up yet."
Aquila raised a hand and carefully brushed his fingers over my lips.
"Your hand is warm," I murmured.
"Should I keep doing it?"
"Yeah."
It might have looked strange from another’s perspective—Aquila holding his hand to my lips—but I was just cold, and he simply didn’t want to lose me.
"Feeling better now?"
"Yeah."
"Then let’s head back."
"Okay."
After walking a little further, we finally sensed the presence of the other soldiers. The realization that they hadn’t left gave me a sense of relief.
But that relief didn’t last long. I overheard the company commander speaking to the squad leaders.
"I’m disappointed in you," he said.
...That didn’t sound good.
"Failing to properly take care of even one of the new recruits... You’ve neglected your duties."
The commander’s voice was heavy with genuine disappointment.
"Everyone’s gotten lax lately. It seems we’ll need to start company-wide training again."
When he finished, the squad leader chimed in.
"We’ve been going too easy on the officers. We let them skip training to focus on fieldwork, but if they’re this incompetent in the field..."
What the hell?
This was bad.
Even the highest-ranking soldiers in our platoon were getting chewed out.
Soon, the commander and squad leader fell silent, and the remaining seniors began grumbling among themselves.
"Did you just slack off? At the very least, you should’ve stopped that recruit from jumping in after his comrade!"
"We’ll do better next time."
"What have you all been doing? You didn’t notice the recruits getting swept away by the waterfall, and you couldn’t even stop one from diving in to save them. What’s your excuse?"
It was Chris, the most senior officer among the company commanders, berating the sergeants.
Aquila and I exchanged a glance, frozen in place.
"Are we totally screwed right now?" I asked.
"Seems like it," he replied.
This was bad. We were the reason they were getting chewed out, and if we showed up alive, we’d definitely be next.
"...Sigh, I just don’t understand you guys."
This time, it was April, the highest-ranking sergeant in the company.
"Okay, fine. I’ll admit you didn’t expect a dragon to show up. Dying to a dragon is understandable."
Even in this situation, April’s bright, cheerful tone sent shivers down my spine. Those who hadn’t heard her voice in person wouldn’t understand the terror it instilled.
"But letting recruits get swept away by the waterfall? What the hell is wrong with you?"
"......."
"Get on your knees, idiots."
No!
Warning bells blared in my head.
If this kept up, the berating would escalate, and the atmosphere would turn hostile when they found us. Without a word, Aquila and I bolted toward the group.
"Huff... Huff... Sergeant April!"
When we finally arrived, everyone stared at us as if they’d seen ghosts.
The privates and recruits who had been averting their eyes during the scolding opened them wide in disbelief.
The senior officers looked at us as though questioning why we were still alive.
April and Louise, standing side by side, wore unreadable expressions.
An awkward silence fell, broken only when April finally smiled.
"...You’re back?"