MDHO 18

Chapter 18

A little while later, once things had settled down, I was sticking close to Aquila’s side, chattering away.

“Did you change your mind?”

“About what?”

I looked up into his orange eyes.

“Mmh, you never planned on looking after Caron before. What’s with the sudden change?”

Normally, even the privates would’ve grumbled at Aquila, asking what the hell kind of trouble he’d caused this time—but they must’ve guessed he’d volunteered to take the blame, because no one said anything.

‘Still, I guess it’s lucky it ended like this.’

Instead of punishing the whole squad under joint responsibility, the officers had just come down on Aquila alone. That made it a relatively light outcome.

Caron, who was probably back at the barracks right now, was surely fidgeting in guilt, thinking Aquila had been punished because of his mistake.

“…You said he’s a kid.”

“Huh?”

Aquila looked down at me quietly, then spoke in a low voice.

“If you think he’s a kid, then I’ll think of him that way too.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll just think of it as practice for parenting or something.”

“Aquila…!”

I made an emotional little sound and threw my arms around him.

“What else am I supposed to do? I can practically see him dying if I don’t look after him.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m really touched.”

After that, Aquila really did seem to accept Caron as his own junior to take care of.

‘Now I get why Caron followed Aquila around so loyally in the original novel.’

To Caron, his two seniors—Aquila and Saruvia—were like family.

At first, Caron was awkward around Aquila, but he soon adjusted and started smiling brightly whenever he was with me, Aquila, and Ishina.

Caron was always a cheerful, sociable type, but life in the Border Defense Corps forced him to suppress his natural personality.

‘Honestly, it feels less like having a junior and more like raising a dog…’

“Alright, prepare to head out for the regular monster subjugation!”

Every two weeks, the company held its routine extermination mission, and by now, I was used to packing efficiently.
Since the operation lasted two days and one night, you had to be ready for anything.

But today, my condition was the worst.

‘Damn nature. Seriously, f** this…’*

If I’d possessed the author’s power, I’d have made it so that the special Arcon race didn’t have to deal with that time of the month.
The body I was in—Saruvia’s—was blessed to feel little to no pain, but still, rolling around in the freezing mountains could make even the healthiest person ache.

“They said they found traces of a Class 2 monster—Land Hydra—in this area. Why can’t we see it?”

“It’s probably breeding season. They’re sensitive to their surroundings, so it must be hiding.”

The company commander frowned at the explanation one of Gamma Squad’s officers gave him.

“Hmm… you might be right. So what do you think we should do?”

“It doesn’t attack humans unprovoked, so perhaps we should cancel the mission and return to our posts.”

“You people have no spirit… The company commander is disappointed in you.”

“…On second thought, I agree we should eliminate the Hydra completely.”

“Right. We’ll wait here until it appears. We can’t let it breed any further.”

‘You already knew the answer, you bastard.’

I sighed in exasperation as the commander finally issued orders.

Apparently, he’d decided we’d camp near the Hydra’s habitat.

Of course, camping near a monster’s lair was practically asking to die—but since it was breeding season, the Land Hydra was hypersensitive to danger and wouldn’t attack first.
If humans camped too close, it would show itself to drive us away.

The squads began moving efficiently.

“Shall we set up tents?”

“No… by the time we wake up and get out, it’ll be too late. The Hydra’s fast—it’ll be gone.”

“Then should we just lay down sheets and sleep on them?”

“Yes, do that.”

‘Why the hell today, of all days?’

Sometimes, when things were urgent, we didn’t set up tents—just laid a tarp on the ground and slept there.
Sleeping bags were warmer, but crawling out of them in a hurry was a pain.

Being in the mountains meant the cold seeped up from the ground, and the hard earth pressed into your back.
It was the perfect recipe for the worst night’s sleep imaginable.

By that point, we were all so filthy from training in dirt that no one cared who was sleeping next to whom.

“Alright, don’t forget to get up when it’s your watch. Everyone else, get some rest!”

At Elliot’s order, I crawled into the blanket-like sheet.

Aquila was on my left, Ishina on my right.
Within seconds of lying down, I could already hear Ishina’s soft, steady breathing—she’d fallen asleep fast.

‘God, I want to desert. I always want to desert, but tonight… I want it so much more.’

Grimacing, I clutched my aching lower abdomen.
It was the absolute worst feeling.

I wanted to curl up, but of course, the Border Defense Corps had strict sleeping postures.
It had felt awkward at first, but now I couldn’t even sleep unless I was lying flat on my back, staring at the sky.

“Ugh…”

I clenched my teeth to stifle the sound, moving my hands under the blanket to distract myself from the pain.

Then, suddenly, my hand brushed against something warm.
Instinctively, I grabbed it.

I already knew it was Aquila’s hand.

The moment my cold fingers clung to his, he wrapped his much larger hand around both of mine.

“What is it?”

He turned his head slightly, whispering so quietly the seniors wouldn’t hear.

“It’s warm.”

“Not that—are you hurt?”

Even in the dark, I could see his red eyes clearly.

Every time he looked straight at me like that, expressionless but sharp, I felt something I couldn’t quite name.

“Yeah.”

“Want me to hold your hand?”

He didn’t ask where it hurt, but I knew he understood everything.

His hand was hot.
That heat contrasted with the chill seeping from the ground into my back and the cold air brushing against my neck and face.

Eventually, I guided his hand down to my lower stomach.

“Not just your hand,” I whispered.

“Leave it there?”

“Yeah.”

As the warmth spread through my abdomen, the pain eased a little.

“Goodnight.”

“You too.”

That was all we needed to say.

To outsiders, it might’ve looked strange—but to us, we were each other’s only comrade, the only ones who wished for the other’s survival, the only ones we had.

“…Guys, I’m not asleep,” came Ishina’s awkward voice from my right.

We both shut our mouths at once.

‘…That must’ve looked weird.’

Sorry, Ishina. As always.

“Land Hydra sighted! Wake up!”

At that shout, I jolted upright like a bullet.

Everyone in the Border Defense Corps had that reflex—one month in the army, and you learned to shoot up at the sound of “Wake up!”

It was dawn.
One side of the horizon was lightening, while the other was still dark, turning the sky above the dense forest an eerie shade of blue.

At least it wasn’t pitch-black—small blessings.

‘God, just remembering night ops in total darkness gives me PTSD…’

“1st Squad, 2nd Squad! Ready positions!”

My rifle was already in my hands, right where I’d left it by my pillow. That was just how conditioned we’d become.

“Ugh…”

The stench—like that of a snake—made me grimace, but I gripped my weapon firmly.

A disgusting red serpent with nine heads.

Ordinary Hydras were aquatic monsters classified as Class 1, highly venomous, and leaving poisonous residue wherever they slithered.
The Land Hydra was a variant—not poisonous, thankfully—but when its head was cut off, two more would grow in its place.

“Winter! Aquila! Switch positions to the center!”

Aquila’s fire-elemental aura could cauterize the Hydra’s necks to prevent regeneration, while Winter’s ice aura could freeze them to stop regrowth.

“You two cut the heads! Second Squad, defend them from other attacks! April, support!”

At the order, Winter and Aquila dashed forward, taking left and right positions.

“Take this!”

Using her plant-type aura, April redirected one of the Hydra’s lunging heads away from Aquila.
The rest of the squad joined in to protect them.

The rest of us couldn’t cut heads—we’d only make it worse—so we had to distract the monster instead. Which was even harder.

“Hey! Watch it! Don’t cut the head!”

But of course, someone did.
As one head rolled off, two more instantly sprouted in its place.

It was Topio, looking mortified as he realized he’d used his aura wrong.

“Marksmen! Aim carefully! Fire!”

Came the commander’s order.

At that, we all ducked and spread out, avoiding the line of fire.

I took a deep breath, steadied my aim, and raised my rifle toward the Hydra.

“You damn bastard… because of monsters like you, my life’s a living hell.”

The more I thought about it, the angrier I got.
If it weren’t for monsters, I wouldn’t even be in the Border Defense Corps.

You were supposed to stay calm while shooting—but this place made it impossible.

Eyes blazing, I pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The shot hit.
Blood sprayed from one of the Hydra’s eyes as it reeled back in agony.
With its vision ruined and its head mangled, Winter quickly froze the neck and sliced it clean off.

“Saruvia, nice shot.”

My senior, Louise, said in her usual calm tone.
Her words boosted my confidence immediately.

“Yeah, damn right. You’re all going down now.”

Fueled by rage, I kept firing, each shot filled with the pent-up frustration of my entire enlistment.

The rest of the squad handled themselves well, too.

Winter and Aquila sliced off heads, the seniors blocked attacks with their aura, and I provided cover fire—blinding, wounding, or outright killing with precise shots.

Thud—

Finally, the Hydra collapsed, all nine heads gone.

“Good work! Privates, handle the corpse!”

“Saruvia, for all your worrying, you’ve gotten pretty strong,” said Altair, the senior who’d once listened to my swordsmanship complaints, smiling slyly as he approached.

“…Ah, y-yes, sir.”

My hands were still hot from holding the gun.
The heat spread through me, clouding my thoughts.

‘Weird… the more I use a gun, the more pissed off I get.’

Altair gave me a puzzled look at my expression, then grinned again and called out to his fellow senior.

“Hey, Winter! You told her to start using a gun, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I knew it~! You were watching her so closely during training—what’s with you playing the caring senior all of a sudden?”

‘Wait… Winter was watching me?’

For the first time in months, my brain flickered back into romance-mode.

Was this… the start of a romance subplot?