My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros' Obsession-Chapter 63Vol 2. .2

Patty and Matty were filthy rich!

They were, without a doubt, the wealthiest soldiers in the entire unit.

Patty, who had said he worked at a trading company, was actually the heir to a massive merchant guild. Matty, who had claimed he was a simple farmer, was actually the owner of vast lands equivalent to an entire estate.

In truth, they hadn’t even known they were Arkons until they were suddenly dragged into the Border Defense Army.

Since their mother’s side had only a faint trace of Arkon blood, they had never shown any physical traits of their lineage—until the conscription magic activated and they were forcibly enlisted.

For Patty and Matty, it was like being struck by lightning out of nowhere.

Their parents had practically sent them off to war as if they were already dead, fully expecting they would never return.

But they were gag characters.

So, of course, they didn’t die.

Not only did they survive, but in the original novel, they even became close friends with the heroine, Dalin.

That was why Dalin, by the end of the story, had both Benny, who provided power, and Patty and Matty, who provided money, in her inner circle of allies.

‘This is exactly why I needed to remember the original story.’

In an emergency, Patty and Matty would be incredibly useful to me as well.

It would be best to get on their good side now, but...

‘...Would I even be able to hold a proper conversation with them?’

Considering their mental state, it seemed more likely that I’d lose my patience and start yelling at them before I ever managed to befriend them.

But there was still one way left.

In the original novel, they had a mediator—their closest comrade and their only sane fellow recruit, Jason.

If I could get close to Jason, I would naturally secure my relationship with Patty and Matty as well.

...The problem was, things weren’t going like they did in the original.

‘They were close in the novel, weren’t they...?’

But right now, Jason was suffering.

“Haah....”

Jason sat hunched over on the ground, sighing heavily, while Milphy and Benny hovered nearby, trying to console him with sympathetic expressions.

“Just Jason, why are you sighing so much?”

I asked in a light tone, but Jason only made a face like he was on the verge of death.

“I'm really struggling....”

“...Yeah, that makes sense.”

Jason was an incredibly average recruit.

He made average mistakes, got average levels of nervousness around his superiors, and had average thoughts about desertion.

But, thanks to the sheer contrast created by Patty and Matty, Jason looked like an elite soldier by comparison.

Because while Patty and Matty were wreaking havoc, Jason was simply standing still, doing nothing.

That alone made him seem competent.

As a result, Jason was constantly hearing things from his superiors like:

“For the love of God, control your fellow recruits.”“Do you think only your own performance matters? Take care of your comrades.”“Have you never heard of collective responsibility?”But no one—not even the most experienced senior soldiers—could stop Patty and Matty from causing disasters.

Expecting Jason to do it alone was pure insanity.

“I just don’t understand what’s going through my fellow recruits’ heads....”

“Yeah, none of us do.”

The senior soldiers often said that most clueless and accident-prone soldiers—the so-called "burdens"—tended to act the way they did because they lacked confidence.

They made mistakes, which hurt their self-esteem, and then they made more mistakes, leading to a vicious cycle.

Usually, those types just needed encouragement and support to build up their confidence.

But Patty and Matty were NOT those types.

They were something completely new.

They acted first and thought later—if they thought at all—and made mistakes constantly, yet they never seemed particularly afraid of their own blunders.

No matter how much their seniors yelled at them, they just grinned, dusted themselves off, and went right back to their nonsense, making their seniors clutch their heads in despair.

Even the training doctrine of "Fear and Violence" didn’t seem to work on them.

“...I’ve never seen people like this before in my life.”

I muttered, and Jason looked like he was about to burst into tears.

“I hate my fellow recruits... I really, really hate them...!”

‘Thank God my fellow recruit was Aquila.’

...But seriously, how the hell did they become close in the original novel?

Under normal circumstances, I’d try to encourage Jason and tell him to be more open-hearted toward his comrades, but...

As I thought about the sheer number of disasters Patty and Matty had caused, I found myself unable to speak.

‘...I guess I’ll just wait and see how things go for now.’

Who knows?

Just like how Aquila and I became close, maybe something will happen that brings them together too.

In the end, I couldn’t bring myself to offer Jason any words of comfort, so I simply walked past him, leaving him to continue clutching his head in agony.

***

"Ah, Ishina!"

My face lit up as I spotted Ishina down the hallway.

Ishina—though he was, without a doubt, a hidden schemer—was also exceptionally skilled at handling interpersonal relationships.

He got along well with all the juniors, and even managed some level of communication with the sociopaths of the 85th batch. That alone was proof of his skill.

'I should casually ask Ishina what he thinks about Jason’s batch.'

He might have some good advice!

Just as I was walking toward Ishina with light steps, I suddenly stopped in my tracks.

No, that bug stuck to the window was...

"Kyaaaah!"

I practically jumped back from the window at the sight of the bug.

XX, are you kidding me? What the hell is that?? XX, XX, XX!

"Ahhh! Kyaaaah!"

Feeling an unbearable shiver run down my body, I frantically shook my hands and screamed. That was when Ishina ran up to me and clamped a hand over my mouth.

"Mm, mmph—?"

Still covering my mouth, Ishina turned his gaze toward the window. He tapped the glass a few times, successfully chasing the bug away, before finally letting go of me.

"Salvia, come on... it's just a bug...."

"But it was huge! Ishina, you saw it too, didn’t you?"

Our unit was stationed on a goddamn mountain, and I'd seen all kinds of bugs here—ones so bizarre that people back home wouldn’t even believe me if I told them.

If I said I once saw a moth the size of my palm outside, no one would believe me, but it was a painfully common sight....

Even so, the bug stuck to that window had been grotesque enough to shock even me, someone who had long since grown used to these horrors.

It looked like a green moth at first glance, but its body and antennae were so unnervingly long that—ugh, no. Just thinking about it made me nauseous. I shouldn’t dwell on it.

"Haaah... You really need to calm down."

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Ishina muttered with a distant look in his eyes. I shut my mouth. Hmm. Maybe I had been a bit too loud....

He then turned toward the window with a serious expression.

"Salvia, you're right. That thing was definitely strange."

"See! I wasn’t overreacting!"

"No, you were. You totally were."

"...Yes, sir."

"Still, something about it bothers me. I should probably report it."

With that, Ishina walked off, leaving me with a sinking feeling.

XX, to hell with my death, Patty, Matty, and Jason’s situation—none of that mattered.

That bug needed to be dealt with first.

I knew it. I just knew the peace wouldn’t last.

***

A little later, the company commander addressed us with a grave expression.

"It looks like a Fairy swarm is moving in this direction."

'...Huh?'

As far as I knew, "fairy" meant some kind of magical creature from fairy tales or romance fantasy novels. I had never heard of anything like that existing in this world.

However, the senior soldiers all turned serious at the commander’s words.

"Everyone, prepare for the Fairy swarm. While they’re attacking, there’s no need to stand guard duty. Move quickly before the company commander gets disappointed!"

"Yes, sir!"

'What the hell is going on?'

***

The explanation about the Fairies came later.

According to the seniors, "Fairy" was actually short for Red-Eyed Green Bodied Yellow-Legged Moth.

Its absurd size and alien appearance often led people to mistake it for a magical being rather than just another oversized insect.

"And Fairies always move in swarms."

Apparently, they traveled in groups of hundreds—no, thousands—devastating everything in their path. It sounded eerily similar to those locust swarms I'd heard about back on Earth.

The single Fairy I had seen was likely a scout moving ahead of the swarm. In other words, the rest were coming—straight toward our company.

"Then... does that mean Fairy swarms are classified as monsters?"

When I asked, Yuri shook her head.

"No. Surprisingly, they’re not monsters."

"...Excuse me?"

"They’re just regular insects."

"But they look exactly like monsters...."

"They’re worse than monsters."

Yuri scowled as she spoke.

"They can move freely across the borders because even monsters avoid them."

"...At that point, shouldn’t they just be classified as monsters?"

"I agree. We should take this up with the Dark Magic Classification Association."

"Oh, you mean the Mage Tower?"

"What?"

Yuri frowned, confused.

"What’s a Mage Tower?"

"You know, an institution that manages magic, where mages gather to study and practice their craft?"

"What the hell are you talking about? No such thing exists."

Yuri’s face was one of utter confusion.

That was when I realized—this world didn’t have a Mage Tower.

Which meant there was no handsome, arrogant, genius mage lord either?

All we had was the goddamn military. XX....

"So these Fairy swarms just move around however they want? Isn’t it possible to wipe them out?"

The moment I asked that, Yuri’s expression twisted in distaste.

"You really don’t get it yet, do you? You should be grateful they haven't given us orders to exterminate them. If anyone's going to get stuck with that job, it’d be us."

"Ahh... You’re absolutely right, Yuri. I wasn’t thinking straight."

I nodded in agreement. Yuri watched me for a moment before muttering,

"Honestly, if we had to nitpick, this should really be the job of the Dark Magic Investigation Special Forces...."

"Wait. But didn’t you just say the Fairy swarms aren’t monsters? Then why would the Dark Magic Investigation Special Forces be responsible for them?"

"Oh, you guys don’t know yet, huh? Well...."

Yuri hesitated, glancing around before gesturing for me to lean in.

I immediately crouched down and brought my ear close.

"I only heard some rumors from the higher-ups," she whispered. "But apparently, this particular Fairy swarm might be a side effect of dark ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) magic."