In the wide training ground, young faces were standing at regular intervals.
Thick logs spanned like a stepping-bridge over their narrow shoulders, standing at an angle. Those who had endured the heavy weight of the log that descended down the waist and legs with evil, and looked ahead with their reddened faces, rolled all at once as soon as the leader blew the whistle.
– The hall of learning in a small garden. Oh, the arms of Hameln.
Small and deep footprints are falling one after another on the sandy ground, and the children, who are carrying logs several times larger than themselves, began to canter, wearing uniforms similar to theirs. The children clenched their fists and screamed, feeling the strange bond that grew in the pain.
-Burn all your blood and sweat to defeat your enemies… .
for a while too. Body pain makes you forget all about it.
The whistle sounded as they walked, and the heavy log pressed the children even more. Adding to the pressure of the flesh being crushed, the children squeezed their lungs, making it even worse.
-For the sake of a brilliant country, I will sacrifice my life to advance… .
The canting is over. Even his voice, which had been bitter, slowly lost power. Nearly reaching the limit, the children approached the finish line seen from the other side at a pace.
– Forward, forward.
They go along with the lyrics of the song.
And the song ended as soon as the lead reached the finish line.
-To the future of the military.
“Ah-oh! Breathe!”
I took off the whistle I was biting on and took a deep breath. The sweat-soaked clothes were sticky. It was hard to tell if it was skin or clothes.
One of the training curricula of the Secondary Military School, the log canter.
To nurture the physical strength and unity of students who are not yet ripe for military service… I put it on for a reason. In reality, it's just a little bit closer to the country's tricks.
“What is unity? Politics will increase.”
People are of different heights. The stride length, shoulder height, gait, and even breathing intervals don't match anything. However, the log forcibly pressed the student, so he had to put in all his effort to keep the breath together.
If breathing does not work, the log will tip over or fall, and someone will be severely punished.
“Oh, my shoulder. ok. Try not to grow taller or become a pair of shoulders. It's all the fault of this damn school… .”
It was a time when I was sitting down and moaning during a short break.
There was a light rattle on the ground. I didn't even have to see who it was. While everyone fell to the ground and moaned during the training that was nothing short of overuse, there was only one being who could walk lightly.
Historia came to me without breaking a sweat. She looked bored rather than tired.
“Leah. well come Come and rub my shoulder aa cancellation! surrender!”
great pressure! Heavier than a log!
When I was engulfed in pain, I bent my knees and declared surrender, only then did Historia release her hand.
“day off. Remember the promise?”
“What drug… Ahhh! I remember! Stop because I remember!”
The grip that threatened my shoulder was gone. I caressed my shoulder and looked at the owner of the grasp.
In Hameln's parade ground where the dust was splattered, Historia Bay was heterogeneous. He didn't make a single breath alone, and there wasn't a single dust on his long hair that fluttered from his waist. I won't be able to confirm it here, but you'll feel more certain if you roll her shoulders.
Because the shoulder that should have had a red scar on it will be clean without a blemish.
If anyone sees it, it looks as if he has missed the canter by himself.
“Thank you for participating in the log canter. It was a little dangerous today because there were not enough people, but thanks to that, there are no losers today!”
“The words that came out of my mouth are okay. therefore. Promise, will you keep it?”
“… uh, that.”
“If I make up for the shortage, you become my opponent for an hour instead. That must have been a promise?”
However, in fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that today's Gubo moved the log by herself.
Although not the strongest in the military, Historia is the strongest student in the military.
She had an extraordinary talent for qigong from birth, and at the age of 18, she has already attained prowess and mastered the senses. Her power had already surpassed her lieutenant-level officers and was comparable to that of her generals. The stars just don't twinkle because she doesn't have any light yet.
It was because of my condition that she, who could lift a log from a seated position, participated in the canter that she did not have to.
“Ahh. I'm going to get beaten up again.”
“Don’t be rude. It’s a condition that we don’t use each other’s qigong anyway.”
“It’s no different from being beaten without using Qigong. How about working with someone who is good at qigong instead?”
“no. The other guys are swayed by their power. Instructors take care of themselves. At least you are the only person I can share a number with.”
It's not about dividing the number, it's about reading ahead and avoiding it with mind-reading. Not long after that, when Historia starts to get excited, she gets beaten mercilessly.
But what? that a promise is a promise.
“Ehh. okay. It's a little bit right today. If you want to hit me like that.”
“In the first place, if you truly mastered Qigong without wasting time. He wouldn't have been enough for me.”
“It wouldn’t be.”
The difference in talent is stark when you see that the other side is unilaterally beaten by the deceptive technique of mind-reading even on the condition that he does not use qigong. It doesn't seem like anything will change if you learn a little qigong there.
Historia, who was dissatisfied with my lukewarm attitude, vomited her complaints at the time of speaking.
“You are weird too. Why waste your time on useless things like canter logs?”
“It’s useless. How much log canter is of great help in cultivating cooperation and training.”
“Don’t say anything you don’t mean, listen carefully. Hugh, I say it again.”
As if chasing me as I sat still, Historia spoke one word at a time.
“You, the chief, don’t have to sacrifice for them.”
Historia, who shook her head roughly, looked around. The indifferent gaze when looking at the stones on the side of the road, a little different from when they turned towards me.
The most revealing emotion was nuisance.
After entering Hameln, the other infinitely weak and young comrades were nothing less than holding the ankles of Historia. The best friend I have is like me.
And while I faithfully served as the class president, Historia felt that I was unable to carry out my will because of them.
Is that so? Historia seemed to be directed at me, but she spoke so everyone could hear it.
“If you lead a group of rabbits, you will only become the head rabbit. You have to hang out with the underdogs or those who are going to fall behind. Please, I beg you, save your time, Huey.”
It was a word that digs the hearts of children.
However, no one who heard it refuted Historia's words. Their feelings were entirely theirs, but none of them even made eye contact with Historia.
I just clench my teeth and turn my head.
Historia let them go without laughing at them, so the frustration felt by other motives was even greater.
“Your time is much more precious than a prospective loser who has neither courage nor spirit. Please don't turn your attention to useless things.”
One strong man overwhelms a thousand. Historia was an example to prove it. overwhelming strength.
Literally. Historia during joint combat training… Because I've won against all of Hameln's students except for one.
… Except for one person.
A boy reading a book in the shade without even participating in the canter came up to him with a smirk upon hearing Historia's voice.
“Do what you think and live.”
A boy with bright red hair, with an academic and nervous impression, walked towards him. He popped the thick book over and tapped his forehead.
“You still don’t know? Destroying the whole world is not a skill. Huey, who is the head of the class, the class president, and an example for all students, is now taking grades to show off to the military.”
His sudden appearance made Historia look as if something was coming, and sighed briefly.
“I didn’t ask you, Rancarte.”
“I am not the one to answer for you instead of the chief who is passionate about image management. Engrave it.”
with a bang. His fingers pointed towards the instructors. On the podium, the instructors who ordered the canter of logs were looking at Historia and me and discussing something hard.
Rancarte glanced at the instructor whispering in silence so as not to be heard by this side, and said with a smirk.
“The greedy chief said. I'm thinking of becoming ambidextrous. I want to show the instructor that I can handle not only heterogeneous left-handed people like you and me, but also ordinary right-handed people, this is what I said.”
In Qigong, there is Historia, in magic there is Rankart. A person standing at the extreme opposite of Historia. The military's only mystery.
Rankard Spendry.
He was a sorcerer who awakened his own magic, and at the same time a magi, he was only a Hamelin, but he was already an undisputed genius who was leading a mage officer. Even the instructor had a hard time dealing with him.
Of course, it was a story that had nothing to do with Historia.
“Are you right-handed or left-handed? Again, he makes up and writes words that only he knows. Rancarte, isn't it inconvenient to live like that?”
“You bastard. He cannot admit his ignorance and blurs the point.”
A genius of qigong and a genius of magic. Two carriages expected to lead the future of the military… were growling when they looked at each other. Historia glared at Rancarte, crumpling her canteen that she was holding in her hand.
“Do you know that Huey is a computational s*xualist like you?”
“no. You're a far greater s*xualist than I am.”
“Well, you know that everything you see is something like that.”
“Isn’t it a lot more objective than you with a bean pod?”
Rankart walked calmly despite the sharp momentum of Historia. Without hesitating to put his feet in his range, he sighed as a mockery.
“There are a lot of qigong masters in the military. Wild boar, no matter how strong your four years are, it will be the limit for you to win even one of the Five Majors. You'll be very important, but anyway, you're just an important part. I will make the gigantic machine called military service work well, but without you, there will be only a difference in performance and nothing will change.”
If you look at the world pessimistically and computationally, you will have a view similar to that of Rankart. For him, everything that exists in the world is nothing more than an explainable phenomenon, something that can be understood and used.
He had a way of thinking that was more like a wizard than a wizard, and he looked at me with eyes that looked like his peers.
“In comparison, Huey is in a unique position. Magic is worse than me. Qigong is no better than you… But he is fluent in all fields. Personnel can be deployed in the right place. I know a lot, so it's popular with nerds. Even with unusual cases like you and me, you can have conversations. Huey is the only talented person like this.”
“… You mean, it's all calculations, right?”
“okay. Huey will be the command center itself.”
It wasn't guesswork, it was certainty. Rancart said so without a single doubt. Anyone who sees it will know that he is a mind reader.
In response, Historia whimpered in her ear.
“It’s like a frog in a well. Everyone in the world thinks they are the same, so they only see it. You would know if you had met Huey in person.”
“Ahh. I didn't expect a hard-headed bitch to understand.”
“… But why is this inferior student arguing like this today? Do you want to die?”
Historia threw the crumpled canteen at Rancart. Along with Paang and Pagongseong, the canteen was shot like a cannonball. If a person is hit, it has the power to die instantly.
However, neither Historia nor Rankart felt any threat.
The canteen twirled as if someone had grabbed it from the air, then smashed into the ground nearby and locked itself in place.
As if he had known from the beginning that the attack would not reach, Rancart was not even agitated.
“It’s barbaric. That's why I don't even want to talk to idiots.”
“… Without magic, it is neither porridge nor rice.”
The two growl as always. But there has never been a real fight. Because I always mediate between the two.
But today I am tired too. If I keep going, I want to be caught by Historia and beaten. Leaving the two of them to fight, he hurriedly left. The two of them were growling not knowing I was gone.
walk through the training ground Various emotions are felt among the crumbling sand and among the children struggling to recover their bodies after finishing the log canter.
Pain, pain, envy, regret, fear, inferiority, and despair.
and resentment against me.
Unlike the other two who have brilliant talents, my talents are ambiguous.
Rankart and Historia each reached a point that no one could match in the fields of magic and qigong. It's so high I can't even dare look at it, but I'm only one step ahead of the stairs.
No one complains about natural disasters. Human emotions are bound to be incapable of being immeasurably gigantic.
Even if I'm the senior, I'd be even more resentful of myself for being so far ahead in front of my nose.
Dark emotions are directed towards me. Instead of the stars in the night sky that I can't hate, I resent the ordinary me who dares to hang out with them.
I passed through the land of dark emotions and turned to the instructor who called me.