Seraphina's Secret

A few more days passed, and 3rd Platoon became an entirely different unit. The rumor spread like wildfire, and the soldiers began falling in line under my command.

Late one night, after the day's training had finally ended, I lay collapsed on my barracks bunk, utterly spent.

Just then, a familiar sound rang in my ears.

Oh.

A grin spread across my face. The fatigue evaporated in an instant. So all that suffering had been worth something after all.

1. [Enhance Existing Skill]

2. [Acquire New Skill]

This time was slightly different from before. Hoping to get used to the interface, I took a moment to examine each option.

Upon inspection, there wasn't much to see. [Acquire New Skill] offered the same selection of fresh skills as last time, while [Enhance Existing Skill] let me upgrade what I already had. It said exactly what it did.

Which meant it was time to deliberate. At my last promotion, I'd had to choose between [Bullet Time] and [Status Analysis], and had gone with [Status Analysis].

What about this time?

Two skills glittered on the [Acquire New Skill] list.

The first was the one I'd seen before — the skill I'd unfortunately had to pass on.

The second was a skill I'd never seen before.

Both abilities were tempting.

[Bullet Time] went without saying. The ultimate survival skill — the kind that could guarantee my life even if a battle broke out tomorrow morning.

[Charming Speechcraft] was equally perfect for a commander. I could have tamed 3rd Platoon in half the time it actually took, and it would no doubt prove useful for winning over demanding superiors like Serafina as well.

But I hesitated. The past week had taught me something.

More important than brute force or silver words was information.

...If I'd known what that bastard Kurt was really thinking from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the start, things would've been so much easier.

Right up until ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠day four, I had no idea what he was plotting. [Status Analysis] only told me he harbored resentment. It wasn't until day four that the truth — that he was instigating deliberate slack-off — finally surfaced.

If [Status Analysis] had been a higher level, I would have seen through him immediately.

I turned my gaze to the first option, [Enhance Existing Skill].

Without hesitation, I pressed the floating "Yes" button.

A sensation of the skill deepening seeped into my mind.

Let's put it to the test.

I immediately used my newly enhanced skill on myself.

Status Analysis.

"Hmm...?"

I laughed, dumbfounded. A skill ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that could even pierce through my own anxieties. The emotions that the [Strong Mind] skill had been forcibly smoothing over were all laid out there. Reading them directly was... a deeply strange feeling. To put it plainly, peering into my own inner self was not a particularly pleasant experience.

I shook my head and brushed the distraction aside. What mattered was the skill's performance. I could now see emotions and hidden traits. Even the fact that I was an "otherworlder" and that I had downloaded the Harem Overload All-in-One Mod was displayed there, along with the skills I'd received as perks.

But I had a feeling this alone wouldn't be enough. I was a special case, after all. I needed other people to test it on. As it happened, I spotted two soldiers patrolling outside the barracks window, and the minimap showed their two green dots creeping slowly across the terrain.

I walked to the window and looked out. Fixing my gaze on the soldier in front, I activated the skill.

Status Analysis.

...Absolute Pitch?

I nearly burst out laughing. A trait completely useless on a battlefield. The [Emotions] field was more informative, at least. On the surface he was just a sleepy recruit, but beneath that, he was aching with homesickness for his family. I was definitely getting far more detail than before.

I immediately shifted my gaze to the soldier trailing behind him.

Status Analysis.

This one was rather interesting. Outwardly a veteran corporal trudging through his patrol in silence, but inside, jealousy and impatience seethed. The [Natural Gambler] trait, intertwined with that temperament, made him a time bomb that could go off at any moment — or perhaps a problem-solver who'd step up at the decisive hour.

Fascinating stuff.

Two men already — three counting myself — and I'd barely started scanning, yet it was already fun. This went far beyond simply reading information. This was stripping a person bare and gawking at their desires and weaknesses.

By the looks of it, Hans would crumble easily if I appealed to his love of family and sentiment, while Friedrich would throw away his own life if I stoked his hunger for recognition. It was information that would be useful in command, and in countless other ways besides.

This really is quite good...

The next day, I headed to the company command barracks carrying the weekly training report. Half-heartedly returning the salutes of soldiers I passed on the way, I stepped inside. Captain Serafina stood before an operations map, studying something intently.

"First Lieutenant Max Jäger, reporting on 3rd Platoon's weekly training results."

A soft rasp of fabric. She turned away from the map, her body tracing a graceful curve as she rotated, the taut uniform drawing a sleek line along her slender waist. Between cascades of silver hair, her cold blue eyes emerged.

"Very well. Report."

A voice cold and crystalline. I launched into the briefing without delay.

"All weekly training objectives — physical conditioning, marksmanship improvement, and squad-level tactical maneuver drills — have been exceeded."

Serafina's brow twitched almost imperceptibly. Without so much as glancing at the report, she stared straight through me. I did not avert my eyes; instead, I quietly activated the skill.

Status Analysis.

...Mana Overload?

I swallowed dryly. Completely unexpected information. The field that had previously shown as nothing more than "suppressed fatigue" on Serafina was now spelled out in far greater detail — and it was far worse than I'd imagined.

Mana Overload. A chronic internal injury, no less.

Mana Overload was one of the debuffs in Heart of the Empire: Eagle Chronicles — a rare trait, and a curse, granted only to a tiny handful of hero units in the game.

To put it bluntly, an absolute piece-of-garbage trait. Characters afflicted with it took periodic damage-over-time as their health drained, had a chance of slipping into status abnormalities, and suffered heavy stat debuffs on top of everything else. And that was just the start — it was slathered with every penalty imaginable.

In a flash, the in-game description of [Mana Overload] surfaced in my memory. A pain like thousands of fine needles stabbing along the veins all at once, a prickling discomfort spreading through the entire body, disrupting sleep and concentration. As it worsened, the pain burrowed into the organs, twisted them, and left the marrow aching. In the end, the sufferer became unable to use mana at all — or was reduced to a total invalid.

Which meant that even at this very moment, Serafina was suffering agonizing pain as the mana inside her body ran rampant on its own.

And she was suppressing that through sheer mental fortitude...?

I looked at her face again. This time, what struck me was her skin — pale to the point of ghostliness. The nickname "Ice Witch" she carried wasn't some accident of birth. It was more likely that every ounce of her concentration was devoted to numbing her pain and controlling her body.

"Word travels fast about you, Lieutenant."

Watching her speak without a single flicker of expression, I felt something close to awe.

But I gave nothing away and waited for her next words. Even knowing what I knew, there was nothing I could do about it. Not yet.

I answered as calmly as I could manage.

"You flatter me, ma'am."

"They say you whipped 3rd Platoon into shape in a week. I've even heard you invoked the Eastern Front to put the fear of God into them."

"It was a necessary measure."

"Fine. The method doesn't matter, so long as the results are certain."

Satisfied with my answers, Serafina gave a brief nod.

"I've now seen your abilities for myself, so I'll assign you your next mission."

"Awaiting your orders."

She spread a map across the desk.

"Several of our scouting teams have gone missing recently in the Ashen Forest. Tomorrow morning, your 3rd Platoon will conduct a search-and-reconnaissance operation of the area to determine the cause."

The Ashen Forest. One of the bloodiest grounds in the fighting against the orcs. The situation had cooled for now, but it remained a dangerous zone where small units from both sides were still tangled in intermittent skirmishes.

"Understood."

At my instant reply, her eyes wavered — barely. The enhanced [Status Analysis] didn't miss even that fleeting shift in emotion.

"Be careful. It is unlikely to be a simple case of men losing their way."

"Understood, ma'am. Dismissed!"

With those words, I left the barracks.

At dawn the next day, 3rd Platoon began its march toward the Ashen Forest.