First Meeting Between Department Members

“Yena, did something happen?”

“Why?”

“It seemed like you were arguing with Rina earlier……”

“Ah, we weren’t arguing, just having a brief conversation. It’s fine. Thanks for worrying.”

After the whirlwind conversation passed and we sat apart without much commotion, I waved my hand to indicate everything was fine to Erika, who was worrying instead.

I didn’t expect the situation I had anticipated would actually unfold, but since this was an explosively popular department in the military academy, there was nothing strange about it, so my bewilderment quickly subsided.

Rather, it was probably Rina who was in a difficult position.

“Y-Yena. She’s staring intensely from behind.”

From back there,

“……”

Just seeing those golden eyes glaring as if they could bore holes through the back of my head with a lynx-like gaze, it was immediately clear who was most displeased with this situation.

“Maybe it’s because we’re in the same group.”

“Even so, that doesn’t seem right……”

Click, click!

“Shh. The senior is coming.”

I could have explained the whole story to Erika, but feeling it would only become troublesome, I cut off the conversation nonchalantly.

Click!

“Hey, hey. They’re coming.”

“It’s the seniors we saw during the interview……”

The protagonists who appeared amidst the cadets’ whispers were,

“Hmm, are you Yena?”

“Hello! We met before, remember?”

The woman who had helped me when I submitted the recommendation letter before, and a man whose name I didn’t know but whose muscles were clearly memorable at first sight.

“You’re the research department head, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And the male senior……”

“You can consider him in the same category.”

I was right indeed.

Judging by how they confidently handled the children in the department full of people, they must be the department managers selected from among the second-year students based on their grades.

In simple terms, they were geniuses among geniuses.

It’s not easy to join the Magic Tactics Planning Department in the first place, and among its members, they are the elites with the best grades and outstanding talent. What better explanation could there be?

“Who’s the supervising instructor?”

“It’s Instructor Gartel.”

“Huh, so that devout principled man wrote you a recommendation letter.”

Such a person holds this much interest in me. The impact of the recommendation letter must have been quite significant indeed.

“Hmm, your personality seems different from the rumors. I didn’t expect you to answer so readily. You seem quite docile.”

“Are there rumors about me?”

“Oh, you didn’t know?”

Thanks to that, I responded to the flood of questions cheerfully, but soon I was dumbfounded by the pink-haired senior’s words.

“They say you beat up the face of the Streman family heir while smiling? And that you touched the blood on your palm with a bright face, honestly, I thought you were a crazy kid.”

“……”

“But it doesn’t seem that way. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding.”

Even considering that news might be slow since I only talk with Erika, isn’t this a shocking statement that feels like being hit hard on the head? Only then did I realize why the cadets avoid me like this.

So that’s why those two seniors were watching me with displeasure.

I wondered why there was an inexplicable sense of alienation and pressure subtly enveloping the surroundings, but it was because of this strange agitation permeating the school.

In fact, it could have been inferred with just a little thought.

Not just the first-years, but also the second-years one grade above, and even the third-years about to graduate are mostly nobles, so anything related to the Streman family was enough to become a topic of gossip.

“Didn’t you hear from your friends?”

“I don’t have many friends.”

“Ah, ahaha, sorry……”

Seeing my hardened expression, the senior seemed to judge that I wasn’t pretending not to know, and stepped back hesitantly.

“Erika.”

“Y-Yes?”

“Did you know about this rumor? You must have heard it from someone, being a noble and all.”

Still, since Erika is a noble, shouldn’t she have told me if she had heard rumors through the grapevine? Why did she keep silent? I turned around and stared at Erika.

Shake shake─

“I-I didn’t know either. You’re my only friend, Yena……”

And at Erika’s answer, I put my hand to my forehead.

---

Tick─ Tick─ Tick─

The sound of the pendulum moving could be heard.

While other cadets were having welcome ceremonies in their respective accepted departments and getting acquainted with their seniors, two men in the military academy were sitting in a dormitory room drinking tea.

“It-It’s dark.”

“As expected, I knew you’d come.”

That too, in a place where the windows were completely blocked by curtains, pitch black except for the candle lit in the living room.

“Th-That offer, is it still valid?”

Bang─!

The middle-aged man, before even finishing a cup of tea, slammed his hands on the desk while sweating profusely.

And the one who received that question,

“Of course.”

Wolf nodded with his eyes narrowed, exuding composure.

“Th-Then……”

“I’ll keep it a secret, you know me, right?”

While the man who looked several times older glanced around to see if anyone was nearby, Wolf sipped the black tea in his porcelain cup with a grin, a scene that clearly showed how the power dynamics were formed.

‘I knew he’d come around.’

Wolf inwardly mocked the man before him as he lifted his teacup once more.

Sip─

The fragrant aroma of black tea spreading through the hot liquid flowing down his esophagus added to his mood unnecessarily. It was enjoyable, like savoring a feast after winning a war.

‘To think he’d come on his own after deflecting a few times.’

The conversation with this guy prior to the current situation was simple.

Help me get rid of one troublesome cadet. In return, I’ll give you as much money as you want, I swear on the Streman family title, on a soldier’s honor.

‘He refused at first.’

Saying he couldn’t harm a fellow imperial citizen, that as someone working at the military academy he should protect the cadets, that it would be losing a soldier’s virtue…

Well, he listed many other reasons too, but the longer the tail of words, the more it sticks like a mouse, doesn’t it?

“Here, I’ve prepared the down payment as promised?”

Thud─!

In the end, he too was human, succumbing to money in keeping with humanity’s ugly aspects.

‘More precisely, I was targeting that type.’

Tremble tremble─

When the man saw the plump pouch placed on the table, he couldn’t control his trembling even more. With his face covered in what might be sweat or saliva, he twitched his fingers.

It was the ugliest appearance of a human.

“Gulp, I-I’ll do it!”

“How about thinking it over thoroughly? You can’t take it back now.”

“……I-I came after serious consideration.”

Despite being asked several times, when the guy consistently answered, Wolf raised the corner of his mouth and sneered.

“You’ve thought well.”

Thud─

And he pushed the pouch towards him.

“Hu-huhu. Don’t worry about what you asked for. I’ll manage it somehow. I may not look it, but I’ve got a good head on my shoulders, you know?”

“I’ll be grateful if you do.”

“I-If I just take care of that Yena kid, then here……”

“Yes, I’ll give you fifty times this amount in Dena. Don’t doubt the financial power of the Streman family.”

“Khuhu, understood.”

There was no further conversation. The man hugged the deflated pouch to his chest as if cradling a baby and stood up.

Click─

As he left this dim dormitory, Wolf placed his interlocked hands on the desk and

“Pu-puhehe──!”

Celebrated the completion of the long-awaited deal.

‘That bitch is finished now.’

He flicked his tongue while spinning a gold coin that had spilled out of the pouch.

The man who just left, though looking ugly and disgusting, was none other than an equipment manager, and one in the important position of being responsible for the gear for the upcoming joint training.

He had prepared so thoroughly to make up for his previous defeat.

Now all that remained for Yena was not a happy military academy life, but only a miserable end to be recorded.

“Ha, haha!”

I’ll make you personally realize how terrifying a future money can create. Wolf burst into laughter bordering on guffaws as he painted a rosy picture of the future ahead.

---

To say she didn’t hear the news because she has no friends…

“He-hehe.”

I looked at the senselessly laughing Erika in disbelief, then shook my head and averted my gaze.

In fact, it was essentially because of me that she had no friends.

If the rumors were true, for other cadets, Erika was essentially hanging out every day with a cadet rumored to be vicious and scary. She couldn’t make friends.

I felt needlessly sorry, feeling like I had caused this.

“It-It’s okay. Don’t be disheartened! Now that I see it, it seems to be just a baseless rumor, so I-I’ll speak to the other seniors and clear up the misunderstanding, hahaha……”

The pink-haired senior, recognizing the commotion formed around Erika and me, tried hard to change the atmosphere with cheerfulness.

“Thank you.”

I expressed my gratitude for her consideration. I didn’t show that I was what you might call a loner among the first-years.

It hurt a little to find the reason why Erika, who was always cheerful, asked only me to have lunch with her every day, but we can change things from now on.

“Whatever the rumors, Berto and I won’t have any prejudices, so don’t worry. Now, I’ll start the explanation.”

As the brief commotion ended, the senior moved to the center of the department room, where all members could see, presumably to introduce herself and the large man beside her.