I Had the Talent to Kill People (1)
While I was being led to my personal tent, I casually raised my hand.
“Yes. What is it?”
“I thought I was assigned as a sniper, not a scout…”
“Our squad leader is a total idiot.”
The voice came from outside the tent.
“Misty! You can hear everything!”
“…Hah.”
“That girl has talent, you know? A scout fits her way better than a sniper!”
“She herself said she doesn’t want it.”
“Misty! You’re the observer here! Help her out!”
“……”
Senior Sergeant Misty’s expression tightened.
She looked utterly disgusted with me, the kind of dislike that made me unable to keep my face straight.
Honestly, I had no idea why.
Lieutenant Mauer walked into the tent and started chatting with Senior Sergeant Misty.
“Misty? Angry?”
“Yes.”
“Why?!”
“All my partners are dead. That’s why I decided I won’t be an observer anymore.”
“That’s because your partners were weak and died.”
Senior Sergeant Misty’s face showed her anger openly, but Lieutenant Mauer was just smiling.
A subordinate openly showing emotions and killing intent toward a superior.
This was an unnaturally weird scene, so unnatural it felt like my perception was fracturing.
Especially in the military environment, it was something that should never be seen.
“Misty. Face.”
Misty’s killing intent and emotional display lasted for several seconds, and Lieutenant Mauer finally ran out of patience.
Her smiling expression instantly turned into a blank face, and her tone changed as well.
“…I’m sorry.”
“Yeah. Let’s do well from now on! I like you!”
“Is it because I’m a spirit?”
“Yes!”
Misty pressed her lips shut.
Anyway… a spirit?
I had never seen this in the books. Could she really be an other race?
Lost in thought, Lieutenant Mauer waved her hand to get my attention.
“I’ll be going! See you tomorrow!”
“Yes. Please take care.”
“Your attitude is too stiff. Try being a bit friendlier.”
“…Like this?”
I showed a small smile.
“Perfect. With that pretty face, you’ll look even prettier when you smile?”
She left satisfied.
[Noise]
I want to say this first, but she is not a lesbian.
The reason she showed me special kindness was because the person she was closest to was very similar to me.
She rescued a person who had been bought as a replacement for the dead.
A common story in war.
So, stop being jealous.
—
Senior Sergeant Misty called me over.
“…Chloe Winterland, Private. Just call me Winterland. Is that okay?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you heard it already, but I’m a spirit. One of the ancient legends, a forgotten myth. I thought about living as an imperial citizen instead of being stuck near the World Tree like some endangered species.”
Ancient legend, forgotten myth.
I attached grand titles, but from how she spoke, she didn’t seem that impressive.
Was she really just at the level of an endangered species?
“……”
“Sorry. I said unnecessary things.”
“No need to apologize. You’re a superior, so…”
“Even if I’m a superior, I think apologizing between humans is only natural.”
She was a rare personality.
This person seems interesting to watch.
Her face was decent, her expressions varied, and she was bad at hiding emotions.
She immediately apologized to a child.
The kind of person where the emotions and expressions were delicious when they fell.
“May I ask one question?”
“Go ahead.”
Hmm, it felt a bit uncomfortable using honorifics toward a superior, but… I’d let it go for now.
“Why did I become a sniper?”
“It was empty, and you caught my eye.”
“…Yes?”
“The northern mountains are always flowing. Have you heard this proverb?”
“No. I haven’t.”
“…You grew up in a terrible orphanage. Most kids raised in the north know this proverb.”
It was true that I grew up in a terrible orphanage, and true that I grew up in the north.
I had nothing to say.
But why did she know I was born in the north?
‘Ah.’
My surname was Winterland.
Winterland region, Winterland orphanage.
It meant Land of Winter.
“But that’s…”
“What does that have to do with it? It’s because the mountain looks like that. Come outside for a bit.”
“Understood.”
I followed her out of the tent, and she led me in the direction she was looking.
And I saw it.
One of the Empire’s three legends, the northern border of the Empire, the flowing mountain, captured in her eyes.
“Because of this reason, our squad hardly moves. We’re in a position where we can’t move in the first place.”
“…I understand.”
The flowing mountain was a legend in its own right.
A peculiar fluid half water and half snow flowed down from the peak of the mountain.
Once it reached the ground, it began climbing the mountain in reverse, heading back to the peak.
It repeated this cycle.
This mountain was flowing.
“That’s why the Empire’s northern border with the Federation doesn’t move at all.”
“I see. Then what is the role of our scout squad?”
“Assassination and scouting.”
Senior Sergeant Misty said it calmly.
If the enemy was blocked by such mountains in one direction, they couldn’t attack, and we couldn’t move either.
The border was set based on that mountain range.
—
[Noise]
The Empire’s three legends.
These legends were estimated to have been created by the Empire’s mages. They were the Empire’s bulwarks, fortresses, and supply lines.
Inheriting from the mythic age.
—
Senior Sergeant Misty opened her mouth again.
“From now on, you’ll scout with me as a unit.”
“…Yes?”
“You’ll wait until the next scouting schedule is set. Inspect the rifle inside your personal tent.”
“Understood.”
“If you have talent, you’ll be sent into assassination with me. That’s Lieutenant Mauer’s squad’s role.”
Assassination, guerrilla tactics, and free scouting through the air.
A squad isolated in the flowing mountain that no one can invade, receiving no attention from anyone.
It was truly the worst squad for me.
***
I returned to the assigned personal tent and immediately inspected the interior.
A personal tent as a privilege just because I was a mage. I had never had my own room in the orphanage.
My chest felt a little tight.
Even if it was small enough to be embarrassing to call a personal tent, it was the first space I had ever had!
One sleeping bag, one small wooden box, one folding table.
On the table lay a brand-new bolt-action rifle that had just been oiled.
A long scope was attached to the barrel, and something was engraved on the stock, like someone had used it.
It probably wasn’t new.
‘No, there’s no way they’d give a brand-new gun to a new recruit during war.’
The previous owner had either died, had their fingers cut off, their arms severed, or something similar, and it had ended up in my hands.
I turned the muzzle and checked the safety.
I pulled the bolt back and forward.
Click.
The chamber was empty.
It had a different structure from the rifle I used in the Korean military, but it was still a rifle.
Well, of course the structure was different.
‘It’s the era.’
For now, the three basic rules.
Never point the muzzle at a person.
If you don’t intend to shoot, keep your finger off the trigger.
Always check if it’s loaded yourself.
If you follow these three, you won’t die stupidly.
The problem was…
‘It’s heavy.’
I lifted the rifle and tried to shoulder it.
The stock was too long.
To put my finger on the trigger, I had to twist my shoulder forward, and that made the distance between the scope and my eye feel weird.
From the uniform to the helmet and the rifle.
A world that didn’t consider even a 150 cm tall girl.
Knock, knock.
As I tapped the stock, a voice came from the tent entrance.
Someone had been watching since earlier.
“Have you ever handled a rifle?”
It was Senior Sergeant Misty.
“…No.”
“You checked the chamber so skillfully.”
“Basic stuff is from the training center…”
“I see.”
They pulled me in before I even received rifle training at the training center.
If Senior Sergeant Misty had sensed something suspicious from me and reported it to Lieutenant Mauer…
Tight.
I put strength into the hand holding the rifle.
Senior Sergeant Misty walked up to me and took the rifle.
Without any resistance, she took it away.
She measured the distance between the stock and my shoulder with her fingers and let out a small sigh.
“The length doesn’t match.”
“…Can I replace it?”
“Not right now. I’ll use a rest.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll manage the ammunition. Don’t load without permission.”
“Yes.”
“In thirty minutes, we’ll do live fire practice.”
Was there a place nearby to do live fire?
“Won’t shooting near the outpost reveal our position?”
“There’s a good space under the flowing mountain. Where water and snow collide, it makes a boom.”
“The target…”
“I’ll make it.”
Make it?
How?