Law of Thorn-in-the-Side. First, if you ask, just do it.
Well, this is true for any company, but especially at Thorn, it is unforgivable to even mutter a word against your boss. At least in big corporations, they pretend to listen.
There were many cases where they enforced military-style hierarchy just because someone had served in the military. And I intended to utilize that properly in the current situation of the Royal Knights.
I first assigned three people to the largest room available. Not each getting their own room, but sharing! Just like a barracks. Naturally, there was a huge backlash.
“Are you kidding me? Sharing a room with this dwarf garbage?!”
“I’ll be bursting inside if I have to share a room with a loser like Kanp!”
“I want to share a room with the teacher!”
In a way, it was understandable. Not only did it restrict their privacy, but to shove the elves and dwarves, who naturally don’t get along, into the same room? That’s bound to be stressful.
But.
More dangerous than that was loneliness. The memory of losing a comrade might suddenly make someone take drastic actions. I have an obligation to prevent that.
“I told you before, didn’t I? Now that we’re in the same boat, we are family.”
“…….”
“What’s so difficult about sharing a room as family?”
Here comes the Law of Thorn-in-the-Side.
Second, we are family, kids!
I still think it’s legendary that when I asked for an employment contract, they replied that families don’t write that sort of thing. Anyway, everything was about family!
They don’t even give overtime pay for family! Families don’t write contracts! If it were a real family, they wouldn’t do such things. But surprisingly, it works quite well on first-timers.
Honestly, how would fresh-faced employees know any better? They just fall for such plausible words. Clara and Ruby shot me dissatisfied glances at the mention of family, but I ignored them.
There are actually more laws of Thorn, but let’s stop here for now. If I go further, they might really bail out on me. I proceeded with interviews for the members right after.
“But why are we doing this interview in the confessional?”
“It feels cool and nice, right? Even though I’m not a priest.”
“What’s that supposed to mean.”
Though I grandly called it an interview, it was just like squad leader talks in the military. Still, it’s better than doing nothing. The first interviewee was Clara.
In Lionheart Fortress, there was a confessional room specifically created for confessions. Thanks to that, I could finally take off my helmet. It was boiling hot wearing it all the time.
“So? What do I have to do in this interview?”
“You just have to answer a few questions.”
“That’s easy.”
“Where were you and what were you doing?”
“I was doing my duties as a guardian in the forest. Ah, the guardian role is for elves who protect the forest. It’s not something just anyone can do, you know?”
Just having someone to listen to your story brings an unfathomable sense of relief. Of course, I’m not a psychologist or anything, but it’s okay.
No matter how I am, I can at least listen to someone speak face-to-face. Clara said she worked as a guardian in the forest, and she was only 100 years old—a young age for an elf.
For an elf to have taken on the guardian role at 100 means it’s similar to becoming a knight at 10 in human years. Truly a talented member of the Royal Knights.
“What were you working so hard for?”
“I wanted my mother to recognize me. She was always looking ahead.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, so I thought if I ran forward, then maybe she would look at me.”
“So that’s why you applied to the Royal Knights. A splendid talent!”
They say compliments can make whales dance. It’s a simple saying everyone knows, but the effect is much greater than expected. However, Clara coldly replied to my compliment.
“No, that’s not it.”
“Huh?”
“I was just a clueless rookie. Like an idiot, feeling superior with just that… A frog in a well.”
Her voice felt like it was sinking in ink. What’s going on? Wasn’t the atmosphere good just five seconds ago? Did I accidentally touch a trigger? If so, then I’m really screwed.
“My mother would probably click her tongue at me seeing me like this. I didn’t run away from the forest for this—!!”
“That’s not true.”
“How can you be so sure? You don’t even know anything! You’ve never met my mother!!”
Desperately trying to salvage the situation before it nosedived, but the reaction was more intense than I thought. I was merely trying to brush past it with a few compliments, but was that too naive?
“Yeah, I haven’t met her.”
“But what gives you the right to act so superior?”
“The heart of a parent thinking about their child is all the same.”
“…….”
“I told you, right? We’re family.”
Even I thought it was a pretty disgusting thing to say. I had heard that annoying word ‘family’ so much at Thorn. But thanks to that, I gave a surprisingly plausible response. I continued speaking.
“Surely your mother is thinking the same way.”
“Is she…?”
“Without a doubt.”
“……Thank you, I feel a little more at ease now.”
The interviews that followed had nothing special about them. However, if Clara’s voice, which was low a moment ago, felt somewhat elevated after this, is that just my imagination?
No, it mustn’t be just my imagination.
*
The same words can be an insult depending on the recipient, or conversely, the highest praise. Therefore, we need to take a moment to look into Hans’s past life.
He was an office worker at Thorn. Of course, not all small-to-medium companies are like that. However, the Thorn Hans joined was the worst among the worst.
They leveraged the term family whenever they needed it, yet cut ties mercilessly when they became useless—a pure selfishness. Hans suffered far longer than one might expect there.
So every time Hans heard the word family, it made his teeth grind. That’s why he emphasized family so much. Because he thought others would feel the same way hearing the word family.
“The commander is weird, isn’t he? Emphasizing family out of nowhere.”
“What nonsense are you blabbering about?”
“Isn’t it strange? We are completely different races.”
“…….”
“Let alone, it’s weird for a human, the commander, to say such things.”
However, this was fresh to Clara and Ruby, who belonged to different races. Elves and dwarves don’t get along well, but they also don’t have great relations with other races either.
Humans, in particular, are notorious for discriminating and looking down on all races. Yet here was a human proclaiming that we are one family. It was a first for them.
Even the commander, who saved them, had declared they were comrades sailing the same boat, but never declared family. After a moment of silence, Ruby sighed and said.
“Don’t take this too lightly. The commander is still human, after all, he might have hidden motives.”
“I thought that at first too, but now I’m starting to think it might not be the case.”
“Huh? Is it that you fell for the commander’s face under the helmet?”
“Not a half-elf, why would I feel anything for a human? Quit joking around.”
Clara scoffed as she replied. Maybe for a half-elf that would be different, but feeling emotions for a different race was out of the question. Ruby seemed to take it as a joke, brushing past her words.
“Then why did you suddenly say something like that?”
“……I just felt that way.”
[The heart of a parent thinking about their child is all the same.]
Even though the face wasn’t visible, that voice surely held the tone of someone enduring pain. The commander must have had a family as well. However, enduring pain means…
Clara shook her head, trying to shake off the thought. That was merely her own wild assumption. Guesswork is never good. For oneself and especially for others.
“Right, he is that kind of person.”
“Come to think of it, Helia said she is the commander’s apprentice, right?”
“How did she become the commander’s apprentice?”
“The commander saved me.”
Just being together allows people to talk to each other, and as those conversations continue, connections are built. Especially when they share the same pain, those ties strengthen even more.
Let alone, Clara and Ruby had unknowingly started to rely on each other even before Hans arrived. They—the elf and the dwarf, who supposedly had the worst relationship.
Of course, wounds don’t heal easily. However, simply gathering together, laughing, chatting, and having silly conversations would gradually, little by little, heal those wounds.
“So, does that mean you have no interest in the commander, Ruby or Clara?”
“Of course not.”
“Desiring a different race would mean it’s not sexual desire.”
Helia observed Clara and Ruby, especially Clara with whom she had the interview today, closely. There was no emotion visible on their faces. Only then did Helia let out a sigh of relief.
“That’s a relief.”
I’m really glad I won’t have to kill them later.
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Bro literally changed her character trope.
A tsundere turned into a full-blown yandere, lol 🤣