Abandoned by my Childhood Friend, I Became a War Hero

18 – First Day of Punishment

In the middle of the night, Oznia came to my room.

The reason was simple. Because I instructed it to be.

I bumped into Oznia in the Opal Black dorm after class, and she told her to come to my room at this time as her disciplinary matter.

“You came just in time.”

Oznia nodded her head slightly.

She was wearing an academy student cape over her uniform, apparently following my instructions to wear it so she wouldn’t be cold. I put on my instructor’s coat, took my magic lantern, and left the room.

“Follow me.”

Oznia followed me quietly.

While we were walking side by side in the hallway, I realized that I hadn’t explained to Oznia what the punishment was today.

She didn’t bother to ask me about the punishment. So I didn’t even explain.

“… ….”

This is what happens when two people with poor communication skills come together.

Except for the first few years in the last match, I was mostly alone, so I was accustomed to being alone. Of course, I didn’t even have many opportunities to talk to anyone.

As a soldier, I usually had two conversations.

Listen to commands. Or give orders.

Although the rank was captain, the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Army was my immediate superior, so if necessary, even a general-level officer had the authority to extract supplies. In a wartime situation, if you put an order with the commander-in-chief’s seal on it, my order was the commander-in-chief’s order.

So there is no need to make the other person understand. Because if I do it, I just do it. If he still didn’t listen, then it was his turn to resort to force.

But this is not an army, and now I am not a soldier, but an instructor.

Instructors must have the way they speak.

“I’m going to patrol the campus.”

“… ? Yes.”

Only then did Oznia learn the contents of her punishment, and nodded her head a beat late.

Fillion Academy is very large. There are trams running around the academy, so of course it’s not the size for me to run around and patrol.

Actually, I could do it if I wanted to, but President Heinkel wouldn’t want me to do that, so the only area I would patrol was the Black Opal Dormitory and its surroundings.

As I was going down the stairs on the second floor, I ran into Saladin holding a broom.

“Oh.”

I also instructed Saladin to clean the dormitory starting today. At first, I thought, ‘How can I, as a prince, clean up… ?

The opal black dormitories are so spacious that just sweeping the hallways and common areas will quickly disappear for a few hours. It looks like he has enough stamina left to fight, so if you use that stamina to clean it, it will be quiet for a while.

“Good job.”

From noble mtl dot com

“… Yes.”

Saladin glanced at Oznia with an expression of disapproval when she passed her, as if she still harbored ill feelings toward her.

Actually, Oznia didn’t even look at Saladin, but she didn’t intentionally ignore her, she didn’t seem interested at all.

It will take a long time to become friends. No, can we really get to know each other? No matter how long it had been since the semester started, the future was already bleak.

I took Oznia and left the Opal Black dormitory. After all, the dormitory patrol can be done on the way back. We walked slowly along the forest path around the dormitory, relying on the dim light of lanterns.

Oznia seemed puzzled by the idea of going deeper into the forest. She slowly looked around as if she had noticed something about her while walking on a dark forest road with more trees than before.

“In the forest… It’s enchanted.”

“Yes.”

Hemeim Forest. Heinkel said so.

If you go down the wrong path, there is a magic that makes you lose your way and wander endlessly. Around the Black Opal dormitory or up to the back mountain is fine, but if you go deeper than that, anyone will get lost.

That’s why the Forest of Hemeim serves as a countermeasure against outside invasion. The only entrance to the Black Opal Dormitory is the tram, and of course, not everyone can ride the campus-only tram.

This means that even if an outsider attacks the students, they cannot pass through the forest. I heard that the other 4 dormitories have similar security measures in place.

I was unfamiliar with magic, so I thought I would just hear that, but Oznia was a magic major, so she seemed to notice that the forest was enchanted at once.

President Heinkel asked me to look around the forest periodically, in case outsiders or other students entered the forest intentionally or accidentally and were unable to find their way.

I briefly summarized the contents and explained it to Oznia. Oznia listened to my explanation and put on a puzzled expression.

“I don’t think it’s just magic.”

“Isn’t it magic?”

“I can feel the presence of the spirit. A lot. If it’s Titania, you’ll be able to recognize exactly what kind of spirit it is, but….”

Oznia blankly looks at the forest.

“I feel a certain will. As if protecting something important….”

Oznia moved her steps in front of her as if possessed. But there were tree roots sticking out, and Oznia caught her foot on her tree roots, throwing her off balance and falling in front of her.

“Ah-“

She quickly stretched out her arms to support her Oznia.

“Are you hurt?”

“…… Yes.”

Ozunia was surprised to see that her pupils were dilated more than usual.

I let go of her lower back, which I was holding on to for her support. Oznia barely felt the weight. My strength was enough to lift an auger with ease, but even so, it was too small and light.

“If we go further, we will get lost. Let’s go back.”

Oznia silently nodded her head.

The way back was very quiet. I didn’t have to say anything, and Oznia continued to think about something.

Ozunia opened her mouth as she came into sight of the opal black dormitory building all the way back through the forest.

“That hand.”

“Hmm?”

“Are you okay?”

Suddenly, my hands are fine. What are you trying to say? She looked back at her, thinking that the habit of asking questions out of context was the same as her teacher’s.

Oznia’s gaze was fixed on my right hand. When the fight broke out during the day, she was the hand that held Oznia’s magic in front of her. Only then did I understand what she wanted to say.

Oznia seems to have been bothered by my hand ever since I helped her. The hand that supported her Oznia was also her right hand.

Without saying a word to her, I took off her gloves and spread her hands out.

Her bare hands were intact, with no marks or scars.

“I was treated.”

“Ah….”

It’s actually a lie.

For personal reasons, I have a much stronger body and quicker healing power than the average person. However, no matter how excellent her anti-magic ability was, it was strange that a human could receive magic with her bare hands and not have a single wound, so she had no choice but to say that to Oznia.

A superhuman who strengthens his entire body with magic would be able to do it, but it is obvious to the naked eye. At the time, I wasn’t using body enhancement.

Oznia hesitated before dropping her head.

“I’m sorry.”

“… ….”

Oznia didn’t seem to regret casting her spell on Saladin.

Then, the meaning of the word sorry must be an apology for getting me caught up in magic while trying to break up a fight. Actually, I wasn’t hurt, but Oznia would know that I was.

What should an instructor say at a time like this?

I thought for a moment before opening my mouth.

“Rage is a warrior’s weapon. Not a wizard.”

“… Yes?”

“Your master said so. Those who seek sorcery fight with this, not the heart.”

I tapped my temple.

Oznia’s eyes widened at the word teacher.

“Do you know Master?”

“We met several times on the battlefield.”

Not a very good memory. Please take off the helmet just once, begging me to take off my helmet, because I was so busy avoiding it later that it bothered me so much.

There are many types of wizards who are extremely obsessed with something they’ve been hooked on. He showed great interest in my body, so if I continued to deal with him, I could clearly see the future of conducting human experiments with me. He’s not a guy with bad roots, but he’s a tired type to deal with.

“Your teacher would not have lost his reason even if his parents were insulted in front of him. I would have reduced him to ashes with a sober laugh.”

“… ….”

Oznia made an indescribable expression. She wanted to deny it, but she felt that she couldn’t deny it.

“That’s the reason I got more penalty points than Saladin. Using magic on people is against the school rules, but losing one’s reason is not like a wizard.”

I tapped Oznia on the shoulder.

“Be diligent.”

Because I’m still young. Even if you are immature now, you will be able to get better.

It was awkward, but it was my maximum encouragement with such feelings.

Oznia did not answer for a long time. She looked up at me and gave me a look that she didn’t know what to say, then she cautiously nodded her head.

“Yes. Instructor.”

That was the first time Oznia called me instructor.

The two returned to the dormitory building. The dormitory building, after curfew, was very quiet, and Saladin must have finished cleaning and returned to his room, so the lobby with the lights off was very quiet.

I looked around the dormitory, but there was nothing wrong, and there were no students who vacated their rooms and went out to play. No matter how long the semester started, it didn’t seem like there was a student who would cause such trouble already, but you can’t miss the patrol.

Just when I thought the patrol was over, I saw Oznia off in front of her room.

“If you have nothing to say at this time tomorrow, come to my room. In addition to patrolling the campus, I will be helping with small tasks for the next week.”

“Yes.”

“Yes. I’m just going in.”

She left her room with Oznia bowing her head behind her.

Oznia didn’t enter the room right away, and the light in her hallway didn’t go out until I completely left.