“Ah, since we’re all here anyway, let me ask something I was going to ask.”
Ran pressed down on my head with an ice pack gripped tightly in her hand. She was wearing an expression that looked half-exasperated.
I had tried my best to run away, but in the end, I couldn’t dodge every single tool Ian swung at me. If Ian had seriously been trying to kill me, I’d already be dead.
Still, getting hit hurt either way.
It seemed like a lump had risen on my head. Until a little while ago, it had been aching and hot, but thanks to Ran holding the ice pack against it, it was much better now.
“Where are you going during break?”
That’s a really personal question.
Break, huh.
It’s been a long time since I even heard the word break. Since I didn’t go to university and spent several years unemployed, that was only natural.
And honestly, it was a completely meaningless question for me. I had no hometown to return to, no home, and no family.
The very first place I came to my senses in was a garbage dump. I never want to go back there again.
The most comfortable life I’ve experienced in this world is the academy, so is there really any reason for me to go to a garbage dump?
Still, I am curious. How did this body originally end up reaching that garbage dump? If I went back there, maybe I could find out why.
Well, not that I particularly want to go that far.
If anyone among us was going somewhere for break, that kind of story would suit Ian, who had imperial blood.
Thinking that, I looked at Ian, but Ian immediately put on a puzzled expression.
“What.”
“Uh, where you’re going.”
“Why are you asking me that?”
What is that supposed to mean?
When I turned my head, Ran was wearing the same thoroughly puzzled expression as Ian. Then, soon after, she suddenly lifted her head with an expression that said she’d just realized something.
“Deep, have you ever looked at something like the academy curriculum?”
“N-no.”
“You don’t even know the curriculum, and without any plan, you just studied hard and made it into the upper ranks?”
I don’t know what a study plan even is. I’ve never properly studied in the first place.
“W-well, when you put it that way, it sounds kind of weird, but yes.”
Ran frowned slightly as if she found it absurd, then tapped my head with the ice pack. She hit right on the lump, so it hurt a bit.
“Well, anyway. First-year cadets are required to go on a two-week dispatch during break after the first semester ends. You’ll either experience real combat about twice, or assist with operations.”
“Ah, th-then, when you asked where I was going...”
“I was asking which front you were going to choose. Usually, the pilot chooses the front first, the operator applies afterward, and then the engineer maintains the Titan to suit that front.”
So that was why she asked. I hadn’t understood the question at all.
“I asked because I thought you would’ve already thought about a front, Deep, but at this rate, you’ll need a bit more time. Can you tell me before finals season starts?”
“I-I’ll think about it now.”
Surprisingly, it might not be something that needed a long time to consider.
If I thought about it simply, all I had to do was choose the front that would help me the most right now, while also not involving people who would feel burdensome to meet.
The first place that came to mind was the Northern Front, which was not only covered in snow but also made up of rugged terrain.
Compared to other fronts, heavy Titans had a hard time performing there, so high-mobility Titans and support-type Titans were the ones that stood out.
It was the front guarded by the Dis Pater family, and if I went there, I’d probably also meet the Luna family. The former was fine, but the latter bothered me, so I intended to put it lower on the list if possible.
If it were only Levan who avoided the Luna family, that would be one thing, but Ian and Professor Sumeragi also seemed to have something about the Luna family that they couldn’t talk about.
It would probably be better for me to be a little careful too.
Most of all, I can’t return Ailey.
As for the Southern Front, I don’t want to go there because my relationships with Joshua Otto, who looked down on me, and Darka Sinis, who I fought while genuinely risking my life, are awkward.
Then naturally, only one most decent place remains.
No, I’d intended to go there from the start.
It was guarded by the Dike family, who I expected to be relatively well-disposed toward me, and it was the front where Professor Zeke, who had taught me the most, had once been stationed.
“The E-Eastern Front would be good.”
The Eastern Front, made up of wilderness and desert.
***
“The Eastern Front will be excluded from this break’s dispatch.”
If my luck were only moderately bad, that would be one thing, but since it was this bad, I couldn’t help wondering if someone had cursed me.
I wasn’t the only one disappointed. Sighs of lament escaped from the mouths of quite a few cadets at the same time.
Professor Zeke, who had been looking at the cadets for a while, lightly tapped the blackboard.
“Quiet.”
The lecture hall fell silent in an instant.
At times like this, I could really feel that they weren’t ordinary students, but cadets.
“Including Fafnir, the Eastern Allied Forces have intensified their activities. They say they’re plundering supplies on the Eastern Front without pause in order to make up for the failure of the academy surprise attack operation.”
Tsk. Aaron clicked his tongue.
“The Dike ducal family informed us of the current situation, saying that if we sent dispatches to the Eastern Front right now, casualties would be unavoidable.”
Maybe it was because I was sensitive to gazes, but quite a few eyes moved toward Aaron.
A few gazes also landed on me.
Probably because I was one of the people who faced Fafnir and stopped the surprise attack operation. At this point, this much attention wasn’t all that burdensome anymore.
I just had to bounce my leg a little under the table.
“Well, most of you probably haven’t applied for a front yet, but I intend to give special priority to cadets who have already applied for the Eastern Front. This is an accident, after all.”
Tap, tap.
Professor Zeke tapped the blackboard once again.
“Any impatient cadets who have already applied for the Eastern Front, raise your hands.”
I raised my hand.
Quite a few cadets raised their hands at the same time. In terms of ratio, about a quarter of the class.
Considering there were four fronts, it seemed to be distributed fairly evenly.
“About what I expected. Then, among you, cadets who want to go to the Western Front, keep your hands raised.”
The Western Front?
Come to think of it, I’ve never heard anything about the Western Front.
I’d heard about the north, east, and south, but I hadn’t heard a thing about the west.
Before I could even think it over, the cadets suddenly began lowering their hands in droves.
Only three cadets were left with their hands raised. And that was including me.
They were all familiar faces.
“Saya Aslan, Aaron Dike, and Deep, is it. I’ll put you on the list for now. If you want to change it later, come find me.”
The imperial princess beside me glanced at me, then nodded.
“I’ve seen you in a new light, Deep. You’re not something like a spy, but a true citizen of the Empire.”
I don’t understand, so I wish someone would explain.
As I stared intently at Aaron, Aaron grasped the situation and let out a deep sigh. At the same time, he jerked his chin toward the lecture hall door.
It meant we’d talk after the lecture ended.
***
“The Western Front is the only front where the Empire is at a disadvantage.”
There was a battlefield unfavorable to the Empire too?
No, now that I think about it, it isn’t impossible.
War is something people fight, after all, and nothing people do can ever be perfect.
“I can tell just by looking at you. You kept your hand up because you’d never even heard about the Western Front in the first place, didn’t you?”
“Y-yes.”
“That makes sense, since the Western Front itself isn’t mentioned much. The Empire...”
Aaron, who had been about to speak, looked around for a moment, then lowered his voice.
“Has a tendency to shut its mouth completely about things unfavorable to itself.”
“A-are you allowed to say things like that?”
“You’re lowborn.”
What even is being lowborn, that everyone keeps saying that?
They say with great power comes great responsibility.
Since the lowborn have no power, they must not have any responsibility either. So that’s why everyone is like this.
“If Fafnir weren’t running rampant right now, the Western Front would be the front with the highest casualty rate. To be honest, I don’t think you’d survive if you went there as you are now.”
“But A-Aaron, and Her Highness...”
“Don’t put me and Her Highness on the same level as you. We’ve both been soldiers rolling around on the front since before. No, before that. Why do you subtly leave the ‘sir’ off with me?”
True.
Both Aaron and the imperial princess had rolled around on battlefields even before entering the academy.
Strictly speaking, they were already veterans. There was no need for me to worry.
“Hey, answer me...”
“B-but then, are there a lot of people who go to the Western Front?”
“You’re really not going to answer to the end, huh.”
Aaron’s expression crumpled.
“In absolute terms, the number of cadets applying to the Western Front isn’t small. There are plenty of cadets who dream of becoming war heroes who turn an unfavorable front for the Empire into an advantageous one.”
I see.
“Anyway, go tell Professor Zeke you’ll change fronts now. It’s too much for you as you are. Maybe if you were a top-twenty-level fighter, but otherwise.”
If it was top twenty.
“I-I’d have to win in the midterm exams without letting my opponent land a single effective hit.”
Going from 176th to 59th was surprising, but not impossible.
Going from the lower ranks to the upper-middle ranks wasn’t difficult. It was something you could do by working a little harder than everyone else. As long as you did better than average, you could manage it.
But from the top twenty onward, that was clearly the upper echelon. In practical terms, it was the range of rankings for those aiming for the top of the academy.
“You do understand that I’m not telling you to climb into the top twenty right now, right? I’m saying you’d need that level of skill and be truly prepared to die for the Empire before going to the Western Front...”
“I-I’ll try.”
“What?”
If it was the worst front, then the best combat experience would be waiting there.
It was also the place I needed most.
“If I make it into the top twenty, I’ll go to the W-Western Front.”
“I’m telling you this because you don’t seem to know, but once the finals are over, the application period will already be closed, so you won’t be able to change it.”
“Th-then I’ll have to go. There’s a saying I l-like, you see.”
When I raised my wrist, the speaker of my smart watch rang out.
“If you don’t like something, you have to say you don’t like it, and if there’s something you want to do, you have to do it!”
At Ailey’s words, Aaron frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“I don’t know anymore. Do whatever you want.”
I was already planning to.