I'm Not That Kind of Hero
The Medal of Honor. The highest glory a soldier who has served in the military can receive.
In the Empire, for over two hundred years since its founding, fewer than a hundred people have ever been awarded it.
More than half of them were received on behalf of family members who had already been buried deep in the ground, resting alongside their comrades.
Receiving the Medal of Honor while still alive was an incredibly difficult feat.
No, it wasn't just difficult. It belonged to the realm of the impossible.
Yet, a person who had received the Medal of Honor alive had appeared at the academy.
Officers from the War College had come to guide the students with the utmost respect.
If such a thing happened, it would be strange if the story about the protagonist didn't circulate.
The problem was that rumors, as they always did, were mostly absurd.
“That, the returning student from the 19th batch this time… that senior cut the elf’s…”
“Not the neck, but the ears, and hung them dangling?”
“To receive the Medal of Honor in your twenties, how insane of an achievement must it be?”
“Wasn’t it that he single-handedly wiped out an entire regiment?”
“Or maybe he assassinated factors in the rear! Or extracted internal information!!”
It was really quick for an ordinary academy returning student to become a monster, or a killing machine.
“Hey, Karl-senpai!”
“How amazing is the achievement you’ve accomplished?! Tell me!”
“Really, did you fly in the air and shoot guns at the elves?!”
Crazy bastards. Please stop. There’s no such enemy. What amazing achievement!
And I’m not some Gundam, how can I shoot guns in the air!
Who is spreading such crazy rumors? Are there even War College propaganda guys hiding here?
“Congratulations on receiving the Medal of Honor, Karl-senpai!”
“Ah, thank yo—”
“Hey, but were you really called a messenger by the elves?”
“…”
It’s really grateful if you just give congratulations, junior. Messenger? I don’t have such a creepy nickname.
Instead, I’ve been called a fool by my comrades. It’s just one character difference, but the gap is huge.
If my comrades saw this situation, they would probably grab their stomachs and roll around.
Calling a fool a messenger. Haha, bastards. Suddenly I miss them.
“Seniors!”
“Karl-senpai!”
“Hey, Karl!”
“Shit! Stop it!”
Until recently, I was living like a ghost, and now all kinds of attention were pouring in.
The problem was that the attention was, from my perspective, too unwelcome ‘military memories’.
The person involved didn’t want to mention it, but they kept coming, so this happened.
As they say, overdoing it is bad! It would have been better if I was ignored! Damn!
If I was the focus of interest, maybe, but I didn’t want such concentrated gazes!
I just wanted to quietly live a normal student life like the other students!
“I’ve heard the news, Karl. It’s really amazing. At that age, receiving the Medal of Honor alive.”
“Thank you, Professor.”
“Karl, if you have time, how about having lunch together? I want to hear about Karl from the students in my lectures if it’s a good topic.”
“Ah, of course. It’s an honor. What would you like to know?”
Ah, of course, in front of the professors, I have to bow and say thank you properly.
The Medal of Honor is amazing, but that’s that, and the academy is the academy.
The people who will take responsibility for my precious credits. I need to score points at times like this.
If I’m lucky, at least one point or so, won’t you give it to me? …No? No, not at all.
Anyway, since people from the War College came, my evaluation has changed a bit.
From a strange 19th batch returning student who enlisted and returned, to a war hero, no, an elf judge.
Even if I haven’t judged the elves, they don’t even pretend to listen. Rather, they were acting modest?
“These damn humans… it’s not that people are modest, there was no reason to act modest…”
Honestly, I was secretly expecting the war hero title, but even in death, they wouldn’t call me that.
Damn! What is an elf judge! It’s so ugly! Lame! Call me a war hero!
Why not like some novel where people call a forgotten war hero!
Kyaaa! I’ll make you regret it! I’ll make you miserable! Regret! Miserable! Obsession!
“Ah, our elf slayer has come.”
“…Even Marcus-senior is saying that? And it’s not a slayer, but a judge. Judge! Even not a judge!”
“Or, or. Actually, it’s the same?”
It’s not the same! Completely not the same! If you’re going to call, call with something normal!
Slayer! Who would think it’s me if they hear that and peel my skin!
“More than that, you’ve done a lot. You said you didn’t do much in the war.”
“I didn’t. Really.”
“Don’t bullshit. No achievements, but receiving the Medal of Honor? Do you think the Empire’s War College is a place for kids’ war games? Don’t say that, be honest. What exactly did you do?”
“Damn. It’s not acting modest, I really did nothing.”
My answer made Marcus-senior tilt his head.
“Then the rumor that you’re an elf slayer.”
“No, damn! It’s not a slayer! And that itself is a distortion!”
Frustrated, I told the senior the most likely reason.
The story of entering the enemy encirclement alone and bringing out the squad members.
Then, really lucky, the moment I brought out others as well.
Yeah. I just had good luck. I didn’t fight bravely like others.
It wasn’t an important matter that decided the war’s direction, and there was no important person among those rescued.
…Ah. It was said that Selena oppa was there. Good. I saved the female lead oppa.
“Anyway! Now you understand? I’m not that kind of guy who just slaughters elves like that!”
“…Hey.”
“Thinking you’re receiving the Medal of Honor, you think I’m a war machine!”
“Hey. Karl.”
“Why!”
Again, annoyed by what strange nonsense he would say.
“…”
The senior’s expression looking at me is quite interesting.
That expression is, yeah, the one he had when I said I enlisted as a soldier.
“You’re really a crazy bastard?”
“If you keep saying that to your junior, you’ll get hurt. Language violence, just report it…”
“Do it, do it! Crazy bastard! What? Entering alone and rescuing hundreds? Was that nothing?! Huh? Others couldn’t do it and didn’t even think of doing it, but you did it alone!”
“No, that was just really good luck! I didn’t fight bravely, and I didn’t kill many elves either! I didn’t have any decisive influence on the battle, right?”
I just wanted to save my squad members.
Those bastards who saw each other for over two years without being able to meet, I didn’t want them to end up in body bags.
If they didn’t have even their skin, how much more pitiful would they look.
Their faces like melted mud, but still smiling. They have to live, otherwise I can’t look at them.
That was it. My going to hell wasn’t because of the medal.
*
Suddenly, the graduation project hit. Thanks to that, Selena had to stay up all night for several days.
After barely winning the battle against the assignment and catching up on the sleep I missed, the time to regain composure.
“Strange…? Is something happening?”
The academy is strangely noisy. Whenever they gather, they’re busy gossiping.
At first, I thought someone confessed to someone, or a couple broke up, or a new relationship started.
[Lena.]
Until suddenly contact from my oppa.
“Oppa? What happened suddenly?”
[Heard the news? I just heard it and contacted you right away.]
“News?”
I myself have been busy with assignments for several days and sleeping off the missed sleep.
I don’t know what happened or the situation, so I answered that I don’t know anything.
Then, from the communication device, Selena’s oppa let out a sigh.
[Do you remember what I said last time, Lena?]
“Yeah… the story about the soldier who helped us rescue the squad members?”
[Yeah. That nameless hero. I now know who that person is.]
“Really?! Good news! Found a benefactor! Who is it?”
A person who saved countless lives, including my oppa.
If it’s a common soldier, I have to express gratitude myself.
Thinking that, Selena smiled at the corner of her mouth and waited for the next words.
[…Ah, Lena, you don’t seem to know anything yet.]
“Huh? Eh, what do I know?”
[Don’t you know that there’s a Medal of Honor ceremony at your academy next week?]
Medal of Honor? Is it referring to that ‘Medal of Honor’?
The most glorious proof given only to the greatest heroes.
A symbol of sacrifice that all in the Empire show respect for.
“Really? Why is such a thing held at the academy?”
[Because the recipient is an academy student. That person also saved my life.]
“An academy student? Who exactly…”
Before I could finish, someone suddenly came to mind in Selena’s mind.
The person who sat with me drinking tea until recently. Before that, it was a difficult relationship that was uncomfortable as we had a lot of issues.
“Karl?”
And immediately after, the survivor from the communication device spoke.
[Karl Adelheit. Yeah, that was definitely the name.]
“…”
So, what? Karl says his enlistment had nothing to do with me.
But in the end, among the reasons, there is clearly my rejection of his confession.
In the middle of it, he saved my oppa? In the middle of that horrific battlefield?
“Impossible…”
Karl. You… how much did you…!