episode_0143

“Oh, it’s the professor!”

“Professor! hello! Long time no see!”

The soldiers jumped up.

This is not a Bayou expression; I was really startled and screamed and flinched.

Soldiers who encountered more than a hundred people with special abilities were shocked and surprised by the spirit of mana coming from them.

Normally, they also store their mana, but it seemed like the mana they had been holding in was leaking out due to the long absence of joy.

In a way, it felt like there was a tremor in the ground, so I didn’t know that it was touching trauma from the perspective of the soldiers who had been tormented by monsters.

“It’s been a while, everyone. Wasn’t the long journey difficult?”

“Not at all. Thanks to the professor taking care of it earlier, we were able to arrive comfortably.”

“We came here comfortably in the car. Rather, I feel a bit sorry.”

Several people laughed at my words and said, “Haha.” Everyone laughed with relief.

Although they said so, their hard work was clearly visible on their faces.

It’s not just a long journey, it’s the fact that we’ve come close to the moon through this searingly hot and painfully humid African land.

It must have been difficult to relax like I did when I was at the academy. Each person’s face was covered in sweat and dust, representing their hardships.

I wanted to resolve the issue with them a little, but this is still a battlefield where I don’t know when and where what will happen. It is not a safe zone.

Forced to think that they too would be acting resolute, I nodded my head in response and after about an hour, they dispersed, leaving an order for only the representatives to come to the command barracks where I was staying.

*

In Africa, the sun rises quickly and sets extremely quickly.

The image of the prairies turning orange at sunset, often shown in places such as wild savannah documentaries, is actually just a fleeting moment.

Did you say that it takes about 15 minutes to actually see the color? To exaggerate a bit, they say that you can feel your eyes getting darker every time you blink.

Well, given the nature of the region near the equator, it was inevitable that the sun would move quickly.

“I’m sorry I called you and I’m late. I should have called you around tomorrow morning.”

“Ahm~ Oh, no, Professor.”

“It took us some time to prepare. The wait time isn’t that long.”

After the outpost was set up, the phone call with the Academy and the defense organization took a long time, so they had to wait.

Even though it was late at night and it had already become dark, each of the children who were in charge of the unit did not go back and sat on the uncomfortable, creaky chairs in the barracks, waiting for me.

They must have been tired too, but of course they couldn’t go back first.

Although they were all at an age where they had crossed the adult line, it felt like they had traveled a long way and left behind a child. I’m sorry.

It felt like they dozed off a little from fatigue, but they denied it.

Jimmy, the red-haired ignitor, was stretching and yawning. He can feel Jang A-hyun giving him a prickly look.

After the outpost was completed and she had washed her face with soap and water, her face, which had been soaked in dust and scruffy, was clean. She was also smiling, but the fatigue on her face made her feel even more sorry.

As I looked around, I saw a boy with long black hair smiling brightly, so I nodded and said hello.

Now, it seemed that among the battalion commander-level people, there was no one who did not know the relationship between her and me.

There may have been no reason for Jang Ah-hyeon or the other characters to talk to people around them due to their personalities, but it seems that most of them have a vague understanding of Yoon Si-ah, perhaps because they have seen it for a long time.

To be honest, not only is she not that good at acting, but it may be strange that she doesn’t notice after spending a long time together.

“Tsk.”

After receiving my greeting, her face brightened, and a small chuckle was heard from around her, and Jang A-hyeon glanced at her with narrowed eyes.

“I’m sorry. Even though I said it was a unit leaders’ meeting, Yoon Shi-ah was so stubborn that she would attend… .”

“… Yes.”

I sighed once and started to get to the point.

“As you all saw on the way here, it is a fog area from here on. You will no longer be able to receive backup from soldiers.”

“Are we the only ones going in?”

“A small number of people wearing special protective suits to protect against dark mana will also enter, but it will be difficult to receive close protection like now. Since they are accompanying us to communicate with the outside world, it would be best not to expect combat assistance.”

“Is that so? Well then, I guess I can start using my strength properly from now on.”

Gideon answers, fiddling with the handle of his huge greatsword. Jimmy looked a little relieved.

“To be honest, it was a bit uncomfortable. It would be better for us to go separately. It is true that it was a bit uncomfortable.”

“… Hey.”

For a moment, I had a questioning look on my face as to what he was saying, but when I looked at the other people who were looking at Jimmy with puzzled faces, I immediately figured out what was going on.

That’s it. I know. Since I was receiving regular contact with the latecomer units every day, I was roughly aware of what was going on between them.

Although it was said that the advance team and I were in charge of the big battle, there was no way that no trouble would arise after coming to a foreign place like this.

Naturally, we were on our own, and the academy students being escorted seemed to be very busy in their own way.

“… Jimmy. It’s in front of the professor. Refrain from making unnecessary comments.”

“No, Gideon. It was something that could not be helped. To be honest, I think it was right to refuse. Didn’t you make that decision because you thought so too? I also think Jang is right?”

“Hey! Why are you bringing up that story now? Do your best.”

“No, regardless of right or wrong, if there is a problem, shouldn’t you report it? Aren’t we professor’s students? Why is everyone so prickly?”

When the words reached that point, Jang Ah-hyun, who was about to retort something, sighed, touched her forehead, and closed her eyes.

“Are you talking about that healing power?”

“Yes. Something a little unpleasant happened. Professor.”

I carefully and quietly brought up the story, and as expected, I immediately received a positive response.

My eyes narrowed sharply when I heard the answer. It’s exactly what they say.

Separate from the advance team, the latter team also fought minor battles.

This is because the monsters approached not only targeting the advance convoy, but also the late convoy.

This is because, even excluding direct battles with the main force of monsters, numerous damage was suffered from animals and plants that had been transformed by the demon energy that had previously covered this area.

Rather, in this respect, perhaps the advance team I was in was relatively safe.

A situation where a tree mutates due to dark mana, hides in the sand, hits the soldiers like a land mine, and suddenly comes to life and smashes the surrounding soldiers into pieces did not happen often in the main unit I was in.

After returning to the body of a dragon, my mana sensitivity greatly increased, and I moved forward, excluding all such minor monsters.

It was difficult to call it a misfortune or a blessing, but in some ways, it might have been better this way.

Even in human history, there are instances where soldiers in a unit who were shot by a sniper hiding in the dark complained of much more extreme stress than in a large-scale all-out war.

“We do not believe it was wrong to deny their request in accordance with the order to conserve power. Honestly, it’s a bit like that. The healer in Jang’s unit is the most important person, but isn’t it possible to lose his strength even before entering battle?”

“Phew.”

I looked at Jimmy Ramirez. Although this person with the ability to speak had a bit of a sense of snobbery, he was not the kind of person who would take on a sarcastic attitude to the point where he would tackle his colleagues at every turn.

Although he had a similar image, at least he was also a person who had led a faction in the past. This means that he is a professional who knows how to keep his work and emotions separate.

But for some reason, Jimmy is at an angle to his colleagues to the point where they raise a few eyebrows.

I was able to get a rough idea of the situation, but it seems the trouble was more serious than I thought.

Healing abilities were controlled externally to an almost taboo level, but it seems that they eventually leaked out somehow.

I don’t know if it was someone who was quiet among the academy students who said it, or if they also found out about it through their connections to the organization.

After briefly listening to the situation, it seemed like the commander of the late unit had personally asked them to help those who were seriously injured.

You can tell just by looking at Jimmy’s words, but he rejected it for power conservation reasons. If you help one or two people like that, there will be no end to it, so they refused from the beginning.

‘Then I asked important people like officers to help me, but they refused.’

Here, even among students at the same academy, opinions seemed to be slightly different. Let’s recover the important officers. No, considering entering the dark fog, mana cannot be consumed in advance. And so on.

In any case, although the colleagues were okay with each other, the relationship with the soldiers seemed to be a little bad.

After hearing the slightly sarcastic explanation, I scratched my neck and tried to restrain them so that it wouldn’t escalate into an emotional fight.

“We have already reached the front line and it is over. Focus on what’s ahead. From now on, we need all of your strength. If you keep having that kind of trouble, you’ll have a huge headache.”

“Oh, sorry, Professor.”

“… Sorry.”

I shrugged my shoulders and continued.

“After resting here for about two days and recovering from some fatigue, we enter the Fog. Since you’ve probably already grown tired of the details of the operation, I’ll skip the basic outline and just give you the details.”

“Yes, professor.”

“After taking a quick look inside before you guys arrived, we found out that a magical vortex was continuously occurring inside the fog.”

“Yes?”

“To make it easier to understand, it would be easier to view it as an isolated space, like the inside of a dungeon, rather than the fog that existed in Tbilisi in the past. It would be better to think that the monsters did not remove the fog from Africa, but rather collected it and concentrated it densely.”

I said that in an unmotivated voice, as if I was a little annoyed.

They may have flinched a little at my attitude, but their voices became a little cautious.

Even if there were reasons for this or that, there is no way they wouldn’t have known that the problem wasn’t something I was particularly satisfied with.

Of course, I also induced that kind of reaction.

In any case, although I spoke roughly in Yongin’s characteristic low-pitched voice, the content was composed of easy vocabulary so that they could understand it properly, so in fact, it may have been easier for them to understand the content than if they had listened to my lecture in the classroom. .

“I see.”

Just by looking at their reactions, everyone nodded as if they roughly understood, so I also nodded a couple of times in response.

After that, I explained the operational plan inside the fog to them in detail for about an hour, and when they all understood my story and showed their approval, I nodded with a satisfied expression.

It was so late at night that I was about to leave the place when something occurred to me and I said, “Ah.”

“… This is what you need. Everyone, take one and give one to each important person in your unit.”

He took out a handful of small coin-shaped badges from his pocket and handed them to them.

“… What is this?”

“It is a communication badge. To be precise, it does not have a communication function per se, but acts as a receiver that allows the opponent’s magic power to be properly received even in a state of mana confusion. Since Nakajima’s magic power has been infused into the badge, you will be able to hear his communications from inside.”

When Gideon took the bundle of badges I gave him and had a questioning look on his face, I continued and explained the contents.

“I think I roughly heard the whole story. It’s quite late, so let’s stop here. Thank you all for your hard work until late at night.”

“Yes, I understand. Thank you for your words.”

After the story is over, they leave the barracks one by one.

Sia seemed like she wanted to talk more with me, but I deliberately ignored her.

It’s in operation now. There is no reason to have a sad affair with her. It is not a place for just the two of them, and public life and public life must be separated.

A regretful expression flashed across her face for a moment, but she soon lowered her head as if she understood the situation and followed Jang Ah-hyun out of the barracks.

When they left, I slowly got up from the chair I was sitting on and looked outside the barracks.

‘We finally arrived at the point. ‘Alexstras.’

Looking at the pitch-black space in the distance, clearly visible even in the dark sky, I quietly repeated in my mind.