Chapter 48
Harriet was sitting leisurely with his eyes closed when a fresh breeze blew in, cooling the sweat on his forehead.
In the distance, Anschel and Angela, who now worked together smoothly, could be seen busily harvesting watermelons in the field. Though the round, large watermelons must have been heavy, Angela carried about ten of them at once and ran to the truck.
“Angela! Be careful not to fall!”
“I know, Lieutenant, you just worry about yourself~!”
Angela answered with a hearty laugh, and Anschel smiled at her as if looking at a cute younger sister. Even to Harriet, the two seemed to get along quite well. Angela now even dropped the formalities and teased Anschel.
It was a violation of military law, but Anschel didn’t particularly mind. If this had been the strict central headquarters, he might have said something, but this place was different. The colonel spoke respectfully to the sergeant, and the actual leader of the team was the sergeant. This was unthinkable in the military where everything is judged by rank.
Before long, the truck filled with watermelons departed with a vroom. Angela approached with a watermelon in each hand, as if she had been rewarded again, with soil on her nose. Anschel, sweating, received water from Harriet.
“How is the election going?”
“I’m planning to go to the city for promotion this time…”
It seemed things weren’t going well, as Anschel smiled bitterly.
“You have soil on your nose.”
Not just on her nose, but Angela’s cheeks and forehead were also covered with soil.
Anschel had once consulted Harriet about whether Angela might be dissatisfied with such unreasonable labor. But Harriet thought Anschel’s concern was meaningless. Angela actually disliked sitting in the office more.
Angela, who cut a watermelon in half with her finger, handed out three disposable spoons to them. Harriet took it and began nibbling on the edge of the watermelon. Anschel kept fanning himself, thinking it was hot even in the shade.
“Aren’t you hot?”
“Hmm… I used to go to the lake often on days like this.”
Harriet closed his eyes and replied, as if trying to recall the coolness of the lake. But now, Prince Ann of the mermen lived in that lake. When the topic shifted to Ann, Anschel lowered his eyes and silently ate his watermelon.
Seeing his eyelids twitch slightly, there must have been something. Angela seemed to have noticed and looked away, but Harriet naturally didn’t know. He became more lethargic the hotter it got.
“Where is the Colonel now?”
“His family summoned him. He’ll probably stop by briefly.”
Explanations were needed from the elders within the family or from the family itself. The McGuire family had been a military family for generations, and Ender was their treasure. People praised Ender as the finest masterpiece created by the McGuire family.
Now that he was about to be at odds with the president, the family had hurriedly summoned him. But what surprised Angela wasn’t that.
“Ender the Colonel went along obediently with his parents?”
“Well, he wasn’t exactly dragged…”
Anschel trailed off, mumbling.
Harriet opened his eyes vacantly while feeling the breeze. The two had already moved from the topic of Ender to wanting to order pizza for today’s lunch.
Angela truly loved fast food, and so did Anschel. The two, completely in sync, excitedly spoke with spit flying.
“Honestly, Ender the Colonel is quite picky with food.”
“He’s someone who doesn’t understand the lovely aspects of fast food.”
Anschel seemed quite pleased to have someone to gossip about Ender with. The peaceful rural village made them forget the desperate war.
When Anschel first came down here after being demoted, he shed tears, but now he thought this might not be so bad after all. The breeze was fresh, and although it was hot, perhaps because they were in the mountains, the heat was bearable.
Harriet kept drinking water from his bottle, thinking how nice it would be if the hot summer passed quickly.
“If the war ends.”
Angela suddenly said with round eyes.
“I’ll quit the military. Most ability users were predetermined to become soldiers, right?”
A law was enacted about 15 years ago making it mandatory for all ability users to enroll in the academy. Whether they liked it or not, those selected in the ability user test, which all citizens had to take at the age of 10, would enter the academy.
If someone who had already enrolled in a regular school later manifested abilities, it was mandatory to transfer to the academy. And those who graduated from the academy all became soldiers without exception. Just like Anschel, Angela, and Ryan did.
“What will you do if the war ends?”
In fact, Anschel had no intention of leaving the military even if the war ended. He had lived most of his life as a soldier. He couldn’t think of anything else he could do.
Angela thought for a moment and looked around. Her face held quite a mature smile.
“I’ll become a farmer.”
“……”
“I’ll save money and buy land. And I’ll have my own house instead of a military container.”
She seemed to quite like living in this rural village.
“I want to be a zoologist.”
Harriet blinked while staring blankly at her back. Harriet had answered like this when Alcita asked him about his dream. Yes, he quite liked animals. Harriet always carried an animal dictionary tucked under his arm.
He had no thoughts now, but recently he’d been thinking that after the war ended, it might be nice to travel around the world with Ender, observing and studying animals. It was very novel to think of a future with Ender by his side.
Until now, he had never shown possessiveness towards anyone. It was because his heart had never been moved.
Harriet didn’t even give affection to Alcita, who sponsored him. That didn’t mean he disliked Alcita. On the contrary, he liked him.
He also liked Angela, and liked Anschel. But it was clear that Harriet’s emotions wouldn’t be stirred even if they died or left.
But why was Ender different? No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand.
Ender returned to the base after Angela had ordered as many as four pizzas. Ryan also ran over and eagerly tore into the pizza.
Since Harriet couldn’t eat greasy food well, he was just sipping an ion drink on the side. It wasn’t that he couldn’t eat at all, but he had no appetite now. So he was eating pudding that looked sickeningly sweet to observers.
Surely that’s not his lunch, Angela, who was inhaling pizza like an animal, worried about Harriet’s health. What if the captain collapsed? But Angela didn’t stop eating.
Ender, who was about to open the door and enter, hesitated slightly at the pizza smell that filled the office. He came in and sat next to Harriet. Harriet, who was eating pudding, noticed that Ender’s complexion wasn’t so good. The shadows on his face made him look tired.
My poor cat.
Harriet took a spoonful of pudding and held it out to Ender. Anschel, who knew that Ender detested sweets, paused momentarily, but Ender opened his mouth normally without any grimace. Opening his lips, neither too small nor too large, he extended his red tongue. And gladly savored Harriet’s pudding.
Even Angela, who was his fan, stared blankly at Ender; he looked splendid today with his eyes closed. To think that Ender, who was always confident and arrogant, would come so exhausted, she thought his parents must be quite formidable.
During his academy days, Harriet had once seen Ender’s mother from a distance. Rachel McGuire was a very spirited and beautiful woman.
She was a capable soldier with red hair and passionate red eyes. As her ability was fire, she had a flashy appearance that matched her ability. Rumors said her temperament was also fiery, but whether that was true, he couldn’t know.
“Did something happen?”
“No, I’m just a bit tired.”
When Harriet stroked Ender’s cheek and jawline, Ender whispered so quietly that others couldn’t hear. Harriet paused his hand for a moment.
“I used my ability on my parents who were trying to stop me, and knocked them unconscious. I couldn’t kill them, but…”
“Were you on bad terms?”
“No.”
Harriet didn’t understand others’ pain. He had never felt heartache, and wasn’t sad even when abandoned by others. But Ender’s matter-of-fact words strangely pricked somewhere around his heart.
Although he couldn’t know why Ender had done such a thing, he seemed tired from using his ability but showed no regret or pain. He decided to think that it hurt to see Ender looking so nonchalant, annoyed, and tired.
“…Everything will be alright.”
Harriet whispered. Ender smiled.
* * *
Swoooosh-
Rain poured down. No, it wasn’t rain.
Boom!!!
With a tremendous roar, the seabed exploded. Shortly after, the corpses of mermen floated on the surface, which was gradually turning red with blood. But that was only momentary, as huge waves that could shake warships began to surge.
“Turn!! Turn the ship to the right!!”
“It’s too late!”
Amid the confusion of screaming and sobbing soldiers, the warship was being tossed around and gradually sinking into the center of the sea whirlpool. Just as the massive warship completely sank into the whirlpool, mermen rushed toward it.
The mermen’s eyes were filled with anger and hatred. The mermen, who once loved peace and songs, now showed murderous intent toward the humans who were killing their kind and families.
“The Northern mermen are too strong. 45 warships were annihilated at once.”
The bearded old man was Commander Antonio, who, though lower in rank than Ender, was a quite capable and reliable soldier. He spoke with a groan.
“Is it because of the royal family?”
“Yes. They’re on a completely different level from the Eastern, Western, and Southern mermen.”
The face of the man reporting had turned pale. The mermen of the Northern sea were truly strong. But for some reason, they didn’t come down to the waters below the North.
No, from the beginning, the Southern, Eastern, and Western mermen also just kept to their places and didn’t flee to other waters. Though the reason was unknown, it was thanks to this that humans had been able to achieve victory over a long period of time.
“At this rate, we’re in serious trouble. There’s a high possibility that the reinforcements coming later will also be annihilated.”
Antonio’s aide gasped while sweating cold. They were currently engaged in a covert battle with the Northern mermen. Since it was a secretive operation, it was they, not Ender McGuire, who were deployed. But the Northern mermen were too strong, and the power of the merman royalty was tremendous.
When he heard the report that there was a merman royal family revered like gods by the mermen, Antonio laughed until his sides split.
He laughed for a long time, saying it was like something from a novel to claim these primitive underwater species had a royal family. Those things that just sang songs and flopped around had dared to claim they ruled the sea, and had killed Alcita Maxim.
“So what do you suggest we do?”
Antonio muttered with a groan. His beard was messily disheveled by the sea breeze. His aide, though slightly lacking in ability, was cunning and never missed an opportunity. Antonio didn’t particularly dislike this aspect of him.
“To defeat the Northern mermen, there’s only one way.”
At his words, Antonio turned his head. Already, a total of 45 warships had been sunk into the sea. The damage was enormous, beyond what an ordinary person could imagine. Not only the numerous supplies and bombs on the warships, but also precious ability users had been lost to the bottom of the sea.
“What is it?”
Antonio barely opened his mouth. The aide replied with a vile expression.
“We need to call upon the hero.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
