Presentation Rehearsal!

“I-Is this good enough?”

“No, it’s not enough. Don’t hesitate, apply more force! The moment you delay, Erika, this cadet here is dying!”

“Eek! Yes, I understand!”

“If it’s difficult to insert the gauze, cross your index fingers and insert them into the wound. That will make it easier to stop the bleeding.”

“Yes!”

I could see Erika moving frantically after hearing Gartel’s scolding.

Gunshot wound hemostasis training, how practical. They recreated wounds using pork, which has a texture similar to human skin, and even filled it with a liquid mimicking blood for added realism.

Amidst the repetitive and mundane physical training and marksmanship improvement exercises, encountering this kind of training made me focus on mastering hemostasis techniques out of sheer novelty.

In fact, I already possessed skills that were no less than those of a professional.

“Yena, you’re… doing well as expected.”

“You’re too kind.”

“Still, don’t let your guard down and be careful not to let the wound open up.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Gartel, who had been walking around the training ground with his hands behind his back, checking the condition of each piece of pork, stopped briefly in front of me to examine the area around the gunshot wound, nodded, and then passed by after uttering a short comment.

It seems it was perfect medical treatment even from the instructor’s perspective.

How many years have I rolled around on battlefields? Of course I should know this much. Pull out the gauze long, insert it into the bullet hole with both index fingers, and tie a string at the farthest point from the wound to stop the bleeding.

It took less than ten minutes to complete the above procedure with skillful hand movements. At this level, one wouldn’t die from excessive bleeding due to a gunshot wound.

Unless it’s from shock.

Clap clap!

“Everyone, attention! Place your bandages on the table and line up in formation. We will immediately collect the body models and reflect them in the evaluation.”

Gartel, having roughly checked the average progress of the class, prepared to end the lesson.

It had been ten days since I received Ernst’s letter.

It was a day that had passed roughly one to two months since the end of the joint training in Sevirpol.

“Erika, how did you do?”

“I feel like I made a few mistakes… but I think I did okay!”

“How about you, Lina?”

“I think I did alright as well.”

While Gartel was helping some cadets who hadn’t finished tidying up their places, I chatted with the two who were now no different from close friends.

Erika von Rosehild.

Lina Victoria Wilhelm Hohenzollern.

As if proving that Ernst’s letter wasn’t a bluff, since that day, Lina’s expressions and personality had noticeably changed for the positive.

She still used short answers and tried not to show her emotions outwardly, but at least she had completely broken the habit of pushing away cadets who approached her or speaking to them sharply.

“Lina.”

“Yes?”

“…It’s nothing.”

She was already overflowing with elegance, but as her expressions brightened, she became much more beautiful.

Whether for better or worse, being a child of the imperial family, her hair, which sparkled white like fresh snow due to the influence of her awakened divine power, filled the space like a background, and within it, her delicate features and golden eyes shone.

I could confidently bet that there was at least one student in this class who admired her. If only the genders were reversed, I might have joined that group.

“…Unnecessary worries.”

I shook my head and shifted my gaze to Gartel, who was standing on the podium.

“The education you’ve completed this time will become an important tool that may one day save your friends, colleagues, or family. Don’t forget it and engrave it in your hearts.”

“Yes!”

“Then, good work today.”

“Thank you for your hard work…!”

Gartel looked at the students answering in unison with a pleased smile and came down from the podium, about to put a final period on the lesson as he always did.

“Ah, right.”

But in less than a moment, he twitched his mustache and quickly climbed back up the stairs.

“You all know that the departmental research report presentations will be held next week, right? If there are any students who haven’t even completed the first page yet, it would be good to resolve it quickly, as there will be a significant deduction in the evaluation if not submitted.”

“Yes… Yes!”

“If you don’t want to see yourself being confirmed for commission failure before the aptitude test, do your best.”

“Yes!”

Research project,

Finally, we’re just a week away from the deadline.

“Yena Freud, you will be participating in the Sevirpol expedition training that will be conducted at the request of Director Serty starting next week, so prepare well.”

Serty’s research assistance was also right around the corner.

It seems the procedures have been finalized well. I had been missing the monsters, which were Sevirpol’s specialty if you could call them that, so this was a timely development.

Although it was a flaw that I would be helping with weapon development for the Federation, a potentially hostile country, as I would be engaging in life-and-death battles becoming one with the hideous monsters, there were no better materials for improving combat skills.

“Yes, I will keep that in mind.”

“Good, anyway, I’m always rooting for you as your instructor, so do your best. If there’s anyone bothering you, tell me right away. …Though I doubt there would be such a brave soul.”

Gartel called a few staff members, lifted the human models together, and disappeared like the wind.

“Yena, have you finished preparing your research project?”

As soon as the staff had left, leaving only the cadets, Erika immediately approached, bringing her face close.

“Yes, almost. How about you, Erika?”

“I’ve written the report, but…”

“You haven’t practiced the presentation yet, right?”

“Yeah…”

Is this why she came to confide her worries? Looking at Erika, who was fidgeting and twirling her fingers, resembling a puppy whining to go for a walk, it was clear what she wanted.

“Shall I watch your presentation for you?”

“R-Really?”

“Yes. It’s good to practice in advance, right? Unless you don’t want to?”

She jumped up as if she had been waiting for this, landing right in front of my toes. Then she grabbed both my hands and shook them vigorously as if shaking hands.

“I’d love that!”

“Then let’s go.”

“N-Now?”

“Yes. If we ask Instructor Gartel, we should be able to borrow a small conference room. It’s better to do it quickly since we need to spar as well, right?”

“If that’s what Yena says… alright!”

The moment Erika agreed, I immediately set up the appointment. As the saying goes, “pull out even a bull’s horn in one go,” there was no reason to delay when there was neither need nor time to dawdle.

I was a bit curious.

On the other hand, it was a decision made out of a desire to check Erika’s ambitiously prepared report as quickly as possible. I would be satisfied if she showed excellence in the intellectual aspect as well.

“Then I’ll go ahead quickly! I need to stop by the dormitory.”

“Okay, I’ll wait for you in the square.”

Erika ran off so quickly her feet were barely visible, disappearing beyond the horizon. It would probably take her twenty minutes to gather her presentation materials and get ready.

What should I do until then?

“Lina, how about you come along too?”

“…Me?”

The deliberation didn’t last long. I turned my upper body and narrowed the distance with the girl who had been walking silently, kicking pebbles.

“Do you have other plans?”

“No, that’s not it, but…”

I tried to build as close a friendship with Lina as possible. I used the remaining time while waiting for Erika to persuade Lina.

We can’t remain in this ambiguous relationship.

In the end, we’ll just become strangers after graduation. To become close enough to call each other comrades without reservation, the only way was to accompany her throughout the remaining school days and break down the huge wall surrounding her.

“I asked because you’re also in the Magic Tactics Planning Department, and on the other hand, you’re a colleague who participated in the joint training together. If you don’t want to, it can’t be helped.”

Lina stood still for a few seconds, stopping her foot that had been sweeping the ground.

“…Alright.”

It was an answer I couldn’t have even hoped for before. The memory of not saying a word out of awkwardness when we unexpectedly met as members of the same department on the day of the induction ceremony was still vivid. It felt novel.

Now, is she the only one with an awkward atmosphere?

Helena.

The head maid responsible for Lina from her childhood to the present.

Since getting thoroughly beaten in Sevirpol, whether she was intentionally avoiding me or not, it had been difficult to see her face even once since returning to Astrakhan.

No, perhaps she had gone into hiding after being shocked in succession by the news that the son of the Stresemann family, with whom she had actively interacted for over a decade, had become a prisoner, and that Lina had severed ties with the imperial family.

If I stay by Lina’s side, I’ll have a chance to see her.

Although I hadn’t yet made the last of the three wishes Helena had promised to grant, I buried this deep in my heart, believing that time would resolve this as well.

Let’s be patient. If it’s a necessary meeting, the day will come when fate will make it happen.

“Let’s meet at the square café at the top of the hour.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Lina, if you want to rehearse too, feel free to bring your assignment materials.”

“…I’ll think about that.”

It was the day I looked forward to the most since returning to Astrakhan from Bern.