“…Are you not in pain? Even if you received rough treatment, with your magic pushed to the limit and having taken emergency recovery medicine, you should be feeling a lot of pain by now…”
“…I think I’m okay. Just a little sore here and there… The test results didn’t show any particular problems, so I don’t think I need to be hospitalized. Is it okay if I leave?”
“Yes, that’s what the doctor said, and I also think it’s better for you to stay at the hospital for a few days. But I can’t force a patient who feels fine to stay. If you really think you’re okay, you can go, but please don’t overexert yourself for a while.”
“Understood. Well then, I’ll be on my way.”
Right after the interrogation of Scarlet Evande ended, Martina, who had been told by the medical staff to definitely stay in the hospital, stopped by, only to have a check-up and then head out.
As she exited the hospital and stretched, Martina grimaced at the throbbing pain in her chest and muttered.
“…Damn it, I said I was fine, but it really hurts…”
To be honest, what she told the doctor was a lie.
It wasn’t just some soreness here and there; it was a lot of soreness.
However, she thought to herself, “I’d rather not be hospitalized.”
Those who are hospitalized receive treatment regardless of what happens.
And patients never seem to reach out for help when emergencies arise.
She didn’t want to experience the delayed realization of a comrade suffering a severe injury and losing the cheerful squad member who always used to smile.
“I’m sure I’ll recover quickly without needing to be hospitalized.”
Muttering that, Martina returned to the frontline where her unit was stationed.
The break room, where the squad members should have been resting, was quite empty, except for a few of them.
Everyone was outside on guard duty, dispatched to protect against demonic beasts that had damaged the defenses and took care of the corpses piled up everywhere.
They would likely be busy for a while.
The Central Committee had also relayed that a major construction effort was underway to install magic circles throughout the boundary area to completely block unauthorized teleportations, like the marauding witch who could teleport freely.
I can’t afford to be in the hospital at such a busy time, Martina mused as she sought out Kanna, the deputy commander who was busily giving orders to the squad members.
“Kanna, you’ve probably been super busy since earlier; take a break and hand things over to me. I’ll take over from here.”
“…Captain, you came back quickly? I thought the medical team told you to be hospitalized?”
“Well, after getting checked at the hospital, they said I don’t really need to be hospitalized. I think my condition is fine, so I just came back. It would be too much trouble if I wasn’t here when everyone is so busy.”
“…I see, then you are okay.”
At that moment, as Kanna nodded while looking at Martina, she suddenly launched an attack with her hand.
Martina felt Kanna’s hand coming at her chest at a terrifying speed.
If it hit directly, it would hurt a lot.
Normally, she would have easily dodged it, but her body wasn’t at its best right now.
Thus, Martina couldn’t dodge Kanna’s playful attack, which slowed down just before hitting her.
And,
“-Heugh?!!”
Enduring the existing pain, Martina finally let out an embarrassing scream as someone else’s hand suddenly touched her.
Holding onto her chest and trembling slightly, she glanced up at Kanna, realizing how dumb she felt now.
What greeted her was Kanna’s disappointed look, as if she had anticipated this moment.
“…Did you really think I’d fall for such a blatant lie? Even if you received treatment, there’s no way you aren’t in pain after overexerting yourself. Why are you crawling around when you should be staying put in the hospital?”
“…Because I’m the captain.”
“…This is coming from someone who didn’t even want to be a captain in the first place. It’s good to take responsibility, but don’t overwhelm yourself by taking everything on.”
After hearing Kanna’s words, Martina looked at her for a moment, then let out a laugh.
“Kanna, you know me too well.”
That was the truth.
To be honest, when she first entered Astrape, becoming a captain was never her intention.
She didn’t even think it was possible.
The position of captain isn’t something that can just be obtained by being powerful.
She might have been strong, but she didn’t believe she could handle the responsibility that came with being a captain.
Truthfully, her style was to do whatever she felt like.
That’s why the previous captain was planning on handing the position over to someone else, not her.
Yoon Si-woo’s father, someone who had both responsibility and respect.
But due to the incident 15 years ago, the previous captain and that man both died in action, leaving the position vacant.
The 4th Squad, having lost its center, needed a new captain.
Thus, it became unavoidable for her to take the role of captain.
And leading people came with responsibilities heavier than she expected.
Even if she pretended it didn’t bother her, there were times she felt overwhelmed, which Kanna seemed to have noticed, given how long she’d spent with her.
At that moment, Kanna sighed and took something out from her pocket.
“Here, take this. I figured you’d do something like this, so I prepared it in advance.”
“What is this… a leave order? Why…”
“You hate hospitals, right? If I say you should be hospitalized, you wouldn’t listen for anything. So I’m just giving you leave instead. Come back after you rest until you’re better. For at least a week, don’t show your face at the base. It’s an order, and if you don’t comply, it’s disobeying a command.”
Martina looked at Kanna, dumbfounded.
“I’m the captain, so why would I take orders…?”
“If the captain’s not around, the deputy commander acts as the captain. If you disobey, I, the deputy commander, won’t let it slide, so hurry up and go rest.”
“…What are you going to do if I disobey?”
“I’ll cry. Like a little kid. If you don’t want to see that, then follow the orders.”
With Kanna crossing her arms and giving her a challenging glare, Martina burst into laughter and accepted the leave order, putting it in her pocket.
She didn’t want to witness Kanna crying, so maybe it’s unavoidable.
With that thought in mind, as she turned to head out, Kanna’s voice reached her ear.
“Oh, right. On your way, please take that new recruit huddled in the corner with you. I also sent him on leave for at least three days, so he should rest too. He definitely can’t be okay after throwing up all that blood. Seriously, whether it’s a captain or a subordinate, they’re all the same.”
At that, she looked around and spotted Yoon Si-woo with a troubled expression, staring blankly at the damaged fortifications.
So, it’s a vacation together with Yoon Si-woo.
Not long ago, she would have been excited, but…
With a sigh, Martina approached Yoon Si-woo.
“You also got kicked out and given leave.”
“…Captain.”
“You look like you have a lot on your mind. I happen to know a good place to go for that. How about we go grab a drink together?”
*
Martina took Yoon Si-woo to a bar tucked away in a back alley.
The inside of the bar had dim lighting and no one else, creating an odd atmosphere.
Yoon Si-woo looked at his captain, puzzled, and said, “…Um, Captain. I’m still a minor, so alcohol is…”
“Don’t worry, do you think I’d be crazy enough to make you drink alcohol? They’ve got great fresh fruit juice here. My recommendation is the orange juice; do you want that?”
“…Then I’ll go with that.”
“Alright! Hey, old man, one martini and an orange juice, please!”
After Martina shouted that, a grumpy-looking middle-aged man came out a moment later, placing two glasses in front of them before disappearing again.
One martini adorned with an olive, and a decent-sized cup of orange juice.
With a straw in his orange juice, Yoon Si-woo took a sip and widened his eyes slightly, murmuring.
“…This is really good. It’s just orange juice, but…”
“Right? I don’t know where they get their fruit, but I can tell you there’s nowhere better than this. Most people don’t come to a bar just to drink juice, so if I didn’t tell you, you wouldn’t have found out this high-end info. I’m letting you in on it since you’re special to me. It’s just something I found out by getting dragged here.”
Martina, who was gazing at Yoon Si-woo sipping his orange juice with a dreamy look, took a small sip of her martini and murmured.
“…About your parents.”
Yoon Si-woo paused at that and slowly turned to look at Martina.
Looking at the expression on Yoon Si-woo’s face that was hard to put into words, Martina continued absentmindedly.
“…When I first joined the 4th Squad, my personality was very rough. I really hated losing to anyone. Well, I still hate losing, but back then, it was to an extreme.”
“…”
“I grew up without my parents. So, to make sure no one could speak carelessly to me, I tried to stay ahead of everyone in everything. That’s not easy at all. I ended up having conflicts with my squad members over trivial things, and one day, they made bets on who could handle more alcohol. I ended up coming in last. I couldn’t drink at all. It frustrated me a lot. Since I thought not being able to drink was because I never learned about it from my parents.”
“…”
“So, I went to a corner alone, crying. And your parents, trying to comfort me, brought me here. At first, I thought they were just teasing me. Bringing someone who was upset about not being able to drink to a bar? But then they ordered three glasses of orange juice and said. Honestly, they thought the juice tasted better than alcohol. So they told me not to worry about such ridiculous things like how much bad tasting alcohol I could drink.”
Martina felt her throat tighten as she coughed a few times before continuing.
“…It wasn’t anything special, but at that time, their words meant so much to me. Since then, I became close to them and often came here to drink with them. I learned how to drink from them. Even though there wasn’t much of an age difference, they were like parents to me. I just wanted to share that with you.”
“…They were good people.”
“…They were truly good people.”
Martina responded in a small voice, taking a few sips from her drink.
At that moment, after hesitating, Yoon Si-woo lowered his head and spoke.
“…Um, thank you for today. For listening to my request.”
“…Ah, about that? Honestly, I thought about it a lot. But it felt wrong not to help you when you asked so earnestly. More importantly, she doesn’t seem like a bad person at all.”
Martina answered with a bitter smile.
Before returning to the boundary area after rescuing Scarlet, Yoon Si-woo had kneeled before her, desperately asking her not to tell anyone about what he witnessed today.
So during the interrogation earlier when she was asked questions, she had a tough time deciding.
Considering a possible future danger, it would have been right to testify about what she witnessed today.
However, if she spoke the truth, that girl named Scarlet would not have made it through today.
But Martina decided not to share what she witnessed today.
Because she wanted to believe.
Not in the girl.
But in the resolve the girl showed while training with her.
The resolve she made to sacrifice herself to save the students, to save people.
Martina wanted to believe in that heroic spirit she witnessed.
However, there remained a nagging doubt, so Martina opened her mouth again.
“…But, can I ask you a few things in return for helping me?”
“…Yes, go ahead.”
“…During the interrogation today, did you ever lie?”
“…No, I didn’t lie. I hate lies.”
Martina swallowed as she asked Yoon Si-woo.
“If you didn’t lie, then you meant what you said? Was it sincere?”
Without needing to clarify what she meant, Yoon Si-woo slowly nodded in understanding.
“…Yes, it was sincere.”
“…Did you know everything from the beginning?”
“…I kind of had a guess.”
“…I see. Yoon Si-woo, can I ask you one more thing?”
Martina recalled what she witnessed today and started speaking.
The girl who was fine even as the miasma kept trying to seep through her layers of magic.
The girl who remained unscathed even after being hit by a blaze of fire so intense it could melt the ground.
“What was that girl…?”
And Yoon Si-woo answered without hesitation.
“Scarlet is simply my dear friend.”
Martina slowly nodded at those words.
That answer was enough.
More than anything, she just hoped that the day would never come when he would have to carry out what he had told her.
Thinking that, as she took another sip, Yoon Si-woo glanced at her and asked.
“…Captain, you said you couldn’t drink before, but are you okay now?”
“…Yeah, after drinking for a while, you get used to it.”
“Is it worth drinking even if it’s forced? I’ve never had alcohol before…”
Martina smiled slightly as she handed Yoon Si-woo her glass to look at intently.
“…Curious? Want to give it a try?”
“…Can I?”
“Sure, just a sip.”
“Well then, I won’t hold back…”
Yoon Si-woo accepted the glass from Martina and took a sip of the martini, then grimaced slightly before handing it back to her.
“…It’s bitter. I really don’t get why adults drink this.”
“Yeah, it’s just bitter. Honestly, I still don’t know what it tastes like.”
“…Then, why do you drink it?”
“…Well, if I had to find a reason…”
As Yoon Si-woo asked, Martina looked at the martini glass, recalling the day she first drank it.
“…Memory, perhaps.”
Martina said, tilting her martini glass.
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