Side Character Who Became the Pseudo-Protagonist

Chapter 53: A Date With Death

"...He..."

"...Hell—"

"...Hello! Wake up sleepy!"

As soon as I opened my eyes, I was met with a stranger’s face hovering above mine.

"Woah!"

My body reacted by on instict, springing up in my bed and hitting my head against the underside of the bunk above me.

The man that looked around my age, maybe a little bit older, was staring at me as if he’d just seen the strangest creature.

He had short brown hair and an unusually vivid pair of green eyes. Judging by his expression, he was looking at me as though he’d just discovered some strange new species.

"Damn. Lieutenant Reese really put you through the wringer, huh?"

"...Who?"

But as soon as the words left my mouth, the memories became clearer. I suddenly remembered how I had traveled to the military base in Brynn, and how I had been training with the Lieutenant.

"Ahhh..."

I sighed, just wanting to drop back into my bed and sleep. Actually, now that I thought about it...

’Where the hell am I?’

The man in front of me, seemingly able to read my thoughts—or just my extremely obvious facial expression, spoke up first.

"You’re currently in the Second Platoon’s dormitory. And don’t worry, you’re not going to be here for too long."

He reached a hand out to me, helping me up to my feet even through the slight confusion I still had.

"I’m James," the man said as I finally shed the last bit of nausea. "You are?"

"Nolan M..." I started, then realized maybe it was better to keep my last name out of it in a place like a military base.

"Just Nolan would be good."

"Come on, Nolan. Let’s go get some breakfast."

"Right..."

We traveled to the same canteen, and I was greeted with the exact same flavorless nutrition bar that had made itself acquainted to me yesterday.

"How do you guys eat this stuff?" I said whilst nibbling on the outside of the bar, trying to use to soften the rock-hard exterior with my saliva.

"Ehh, you’ll get used to it," James replied, though it didn’t look like he was doing much better. In between bites, he would sometimes gag, but tried to hide it.

But before I could take another bite, a voice suddenly yelled out.

"Attention!"

All the soldiers who were sitting around us suddenly dropped whatever they were doing to stand up and salute. Of course, I followed what they did.

Right on cue, Lieutenant Reese stepped through the front doors.

He looked considerably more presentable than he had yesterday. Now he actually resembled a military officer, dressed in an outfit similar to General Solaris’s—only without the white half-cape hanging from his shoulder.

"At ease, everyone."

The soldiers lowered their salutes, though none of them returned to their seats.

Lieutenant Reese stood before us with his hands clasped behind his back before speaking. "As many of you have noticed, we have new blood joining our ranks."

A few soldiers glanced in my direction and began whispering among themselves.

By now, nearly everyone seemed to know about me. Awkwardly introducing myself would’ve only made things worse in a place with military traditions, so I settled for giving them a small nod.

The Lieutenant continued. "Even if he’ll only be here for a month, you are to treat him as you would any other member of this platoon. Include him in every exercise and subject him to the same training program."

Everything was all fine and good until my brain caught up to what he just said.

’One month? Shit, I don’t have one month! When the hell did I agree to stay here for that long?!’

Normally, interrupting a superior officer in front of the entire platoon sounded like an excellent way to spend the rest of the day running laps. But unfortunately, this was one of those situations where I couldn’t afford to keep quiet.

"Lieutenant Reese, sir. The Seven Branches Tournament is happening in three weeks. I’m sorry but I can’t afford to stay here for a month."

Yet, instead of reprimanding me, all he gave me was a smirk.

"Well then, you better complete your training before then."

The next few days passed by in a blur.

When the Lieutenant told the others to include me in all the programs, they all took it to heart.

During these first few days, I had been subjected to all kinds of different training methods and sports activities.

Rock-climbing, trench crawling, target shooting, escaping underwater while tied up...literally anything and everything.

Honestly, I was surprised my mind had managed to hold together as well as it did. There were plenty of nights when I simply lay in bed, staring at the bunk above me and seriously considering quitting.

But every day I wasted here was another day closer to the Seven Branches Tournament.

Most of our activities took place during the morning and afternoon. Once the afternoon arrived, the soldiers were generally allowed to enter the city and do whatever they wanted—go have a drink, hang out with each other, that sort of thing.

I was always invited, yet chose not to go.

Most of my free time was spent on trying to figure out how to control [Overload]. And that was exactly why I was in the empty gymasium right now.

Surprisingly, James had been a tremendous help.

He always stayed behind to practice with me, either acting as my sparring partner or offering whatever perspective he could.

"Maybe you need some kind of limiter?" James suggested. "Like putting a nozzle on a garden hose, you know?"

I lowered the generic Spell Driver in my hand.

"A limiter?"

"Yeah. Right now, it’s like you’re turning the hose on all the way and letting the water explode out."

James gestured toward the training dummy—or rather, what remained of it.

"Isn’t that what a Spell Driver is supposed to do?"

"Well, in my opinion, anyway..." James started. "The Spell Driver already is already equipped with all those "nozzles". What you’re lacking is the ability to adjust them."

He made a twisting motion with his hand.

"You know, like turning the nozzle on a garden hose to control how the water comes out."

"That’s...actually not a bad comparison."

I stared at the Spell Driver in my hand for a moment and tried to imagine how it would all work.

’The Spell Driver breaking is like the equivalent of a garden hose receiving too much water. So limit the water, Nolan...just stop it from breaking first.’

’Wait...if I could see my own stream of Logos...wouldn’t I know what I needed to control?’

Raising my Spell Driver at the dummy, I took a deep inhale and held it in my chest...before pulling the trigger.

[Spell Sequence Initializing: Innate Structural Disruption Type—]

[Overload]

A beam of blue Logos shot out from the barrel, launching itself across the space and seeping into the dummy. Instantly, the dummy’s arm, which was designed to be kept together using a Logos Battery, had fallen apart.

At the same time, I activated [Material Sight]. Lo and behold, once the world had turned into an outline of itself, I could see my own stream of Logos clear as day.

More importantly, I could see what happened after [Overload] reached its target.

The Logos used to destabilize the dummy’s Sequence didn’t simply disappear. The excess remained inside the Driver, tangled together with the mismatched data and energy rebounding from the disrupted Spell.

But I couldn’t do much else, as if I tried to let it out of the gun, the entire sequence would try to find the next nearest processor...which was my brain.

’Yeah, that’s not happening.’

So all that happened was—

KRRRRK—!

The Spell Driver once again fell apart in my hand, internal parts scattering onto the floor in a messy heap.

"And that’s number twenty-three," James sighed, bending down to collect what remained of it. "You know, these might be generic, but they’re still expensive."

"...I’ll let my dad handle the bill."

After all, what was the point of being a chaebol if I couldn’t enjoy the occasional perk?

Still, I looked at my hand, finally realizing the path forward. It had been painfully obvious what the problem was...and yet—

The solution wasn’t simple at all.

If I wanted to prevent the Spell Driver from breaking, I could redirect the rebound toward another processor. But that would mean carrying around a collection of disposable cartridges.

And really, would that solve anything?

’Then there’s only one solution...’

I couldn’t worry about where the excess water went, but limit the amount of water that left the source in the first place.

That was the only way.

Though in the middle of my hypothesis, my phone suddenly vibrated, causing me to flinch and almost kick James in the face.

But when I pulled it out, a text message appeared on my screen.

[Ophelia: If you want to strike a deal with me, then meet up at XXX at 8PM today. If you’re late by even one minute, I’m leaving.]

’There it is, the fish has caught its bait.’

Ophelia was the second reason I had come to Brynn.

She was a world-class information broker who just happened to operate from this city. By sheer coincidence, both of my objectives had brought me to the same place.

"Could you clean the place up? I’ve got a date to go to."

"You? What kind of date would you even have?"

I headed toward the exit.

"A date with death."