Know Your Place, Mongrel

“Uiii…”

It’s boring.

And tedious.

Although not even half a day had passed since Yena left, it felt like days had gone by. Erika lay on the bed, rolling around for a few minutes before staring blankly at the ceiling.

‘Will she be okay?’

She was worried, thinking about the time she had been severely injured in the individual duel.

What if she gets hurt again this time? No, Yena is super strong, so that won’t happen. Actually, there’s nothing dangerous about going to the Empire, right?

But still, there’s always a “what if”! What if the truck gets into an accident, or if some strange group intimidates Yena?

“Aah, I don’t know!”

Erika sat up on the bed as if having a fit and messed up her hair. She thought about taking a nap, but her mind was so unsettled that it was difficult to close her eyes.

‘Don’t worry, Yena promised!’

However, she soon collected herself and regained composure.

If a friend doesn’t trust, who can? Still, she firmly believed that since Yena was much smarter and more capable than herself, she wouldn’t get hurt anywhere.

‘Rather, it’s me who needs to show something.’

Erika stopped lounging around in the dormitory and strode to the closet to take out and put on her coat.

According to Yena, it would take about ten days to return to the military academy from Bern. During that short but not too short period, she couldn’t just play around.

‘If I had been a little stronger in the joint training, if I had been perceptive enough to notice that Yena was in crisis…’

Yena wouldn’t have had to spend time in the infirmary just smelling alcohol. Now, she felt that she was not a team member to Yena, but just a burden.

In the end, she needs to improve more. At least before Yena comes back, she needs to change to be able to properly act as a comrade.

‘…Only then will she look at me alone.’

Erika clutched her sleeve, thinking of Rina Victor something-or-other who was rapidly getting closer to Yena recently.

Of course, it’s good that Yena is making friends, but she wished that she would be the closest friend.

However, the reality was that she was lacking compared to Rina.

She didn’t have a solid backing to protect Yena like the princess, and in terms of ability, she felt infinitely overshadowed compared to that monster with 2nd grade mana.

At this rate, Yena might be taken away, and she might have to eat alone again.

“Erika, from today I’ll be hanging out with Rina.”

“O-Okay. What about me?”

“Sorry. I’ll be going then.”

“I’ll be going too. Let’s go together, Yena.”

Erika’s rich imagination worked as a disadvantage at times like this. Even while thinking it wouldn’t be like that, Erika was on edge due to the creeping anxiety.

‘I’ll become stronger!’

To be able to help Yena sufficiently! Even when she’s not around, I’ll train consistently and improve my skills!

Don’t they say effort never betrays?

“I-I need to go train right away.”

Erika asserted that even if she wasn’t confident in anything else, she wouldn’t fall behind anyone in terms of utmost effort.

Creak, clank!

Having gained confidence and made her resolution, she no longer stayed in the room. She quickly grabbed her gloves and cap and moved to the training ground despite it being the weekend.

It was the moment when the seed of development sprouted in one child’s heart.

---

“Huff, huff!”

The rough breathing of an unknown man echoed inside the Diet building, which should have been empty long after working hours.

Clang, clang!

The sound of oil cans rolling on the floor also reverberated loudly.

After a few of his actions, the white marble floor that had maintained its nobility was filled with yellow oil and became slippery, and a musty smell rose from the space that should have felt fresh.

“…”

It was truly pitiful. Does this man even know what impact his actions will have?

“D-Damn Labor Party bastards!”

Hiding in a window in the ceiling of the Diet building to avoid being discovered, I shook my head while watching the guy empty oil cans one by one with his eyes rolled back.

He seems mentally unstable as rumored.

Georg Darnoff, although this was the first time I directly encountered the perpetrator of the Diet building fire incident, I could tell at a glance that he didn’t possess a normal person’s mind.

If he were sane, he wouldn’t be doing such a stupid thing as burning down this building.

So a mentally ill person burned down the Diet building, which was used as a pretext to frame it as a communist plot, and based on this, they started suppressing the party and gained an advantage in the general election?

Right, there’s no way the Communist Party would plot to burn down the Diet building. I only encountered it as a past event without confirming the reality, but now I understand.

Darnoff, that poor fool, was a kind of sacrificial lamb.

He was merely a justification needed to suppress the party so that the Labor Party could firmly rule the Empire.

“Uh, uhahaha! Now…”

Whether he knows this or not, he excitedly prepared for arson, enjoying himself. After pouring several cans of gasoline on the floor, he finally took out matches from his pocket.

“It’s time for judgment!”

Soon the floor will start to catch fire. Actually, I could stop it even now if I wanted to, but I didn’t want to intervene at this point.

Isn’t it meaningful to catch this bastard after the Diet building burns?

What does it matter if the Empire’s symbolic building burns down completely? What does it matter if the Communist Party is suppressed and suffers? My own benefit was most important.

I didn’t care that Darnoff would be executed later if I didn’t stop him right away. He’s just one of the many people swept away and disappearing in the era of war, right?

I’m not a nice person. I’m a thoroughly individualistic person who is cruel if you call it cruel, and brutal if you call it brutal.

“Uwaaa!”

Based on this iron-blooded personality, I achieved the feat of victory in the past Great War. What couldn’t I do for the Empire’s victory, no, for my own safety?

Whoosh!

As the dark interior was dyed crimson, I landed in the middle of the hall to match. Lest the ends of my hair catch fire, I tied it well and tucked it inside my collar.

“Wh-Who are you!”

Encountering an unexpected visitor, Darnoff flinched and took a step or two back.

“The person who came to catch you.”

“Eek!”

His face, which had been flushed with excitement, turned pale blue. It was completely different from when he was excitedly talking to himself earlier.

Thud, patter, thud thud, patter patter!

When I tried to get closer, he moved away, and when I tried to narrow the distance by speeding up, he retreated accordingly. Overcome by fear, he only kept running backwards.

“Wh-Why are you interfering!”

Darnoff only stopped when the flames approached close behind him.

“…I’ll kill you if you come closer!”

Ching!

He even took out a pocket knife from his pocket. Although the knife was small, about the size of a finger, it was well-sharpened and looked sufficiently threatening as it glinted.

An ordinary person would have hesitated for a moment, unable to withstand the pressure.

“Pfft.”

Yes, if it were an ordinary person.

“Cough, cough! Y-You’re laughing?”

Inhaling the smoke from the fire he started and coughing endlessly, his appearance of trying to escape while holding a knife with his thin wrist was utterly pathetic.

“I don’t like killing kids. I don’t know how you got in here! If you leave now, I’ll let you go.”

“…”

“I don’t want to hurt you, kid. Just leave while I’m asking nicely! If you come any closer, I’ll kill you.”

And then to give such warnings just based on my appearance, he’s lost his sense of fear without even grasping the situation.

Since coming to this world, the behavior I’ve come to hate the most is being looked down upon just because of my small height and frail build. That’s why I punished Wolf so terribly.

“Haha.”

But for a mere terrorist who’s not even an Awakened to dare to insult me, I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity.

I was just going to take him away, but I’ve changed my mind. Before dragging him outside, I’ll make him personally experience how great the price is for burning down the Empire’s National Diet building.

Bang!

I dashed forward, stomping on the floor as if a bullet leaving a gun barrel. The marble shattered into pieces from the recoil.

“Huh, huh?”

In less than a second, the distance of over ten steps was narrowed to about an arm’s length. Darnoff couldn’t even react and just stammered stupidly.

That would be the last words he spoke before being thrown into jail.

Grab, Wham!

I grabbed the back of his neck and slammed him into the floor. The impact was so strong that the flames faltered from the wind created by Darnoff’s body shaking.

“Ugh, uuuh…”

Since he was an ordinary person without the ability to protect his body with mana, the situation ended with just one attack.

His face was smashed into the ground, his nose bridge crushed, and his front teeth all fell out, leaving him in a hideous state. To compare, it was like Wolf’s appearance when he fainted.

Phew, that feels better.

Having successfully captured the suspect, the next course of action was clear. I put on the most girlish smile I’d made recently, hoisted Darnoff over my shoulder, and kicked open the main gate.

“B-Bring more water!”

“There’s someone coming out…?”

“What?”

I approached without hesitation towards the firefighters and Imperial guards who were staring with their mouths agape.