Chapter 274 Hole in the wall
“Welp… This is where I’ll be living now…”
Van had to take a few seconds to process everything he was seeing right in front of his eyes. It was literally a hole in the wall… But to his surprise, when he went in to check things out, he found that it was far more spacious than how it appeared outside.
“Okay… It doesn’t look that bad I guess…”
The room was decently furnished. With a moderate-sized bed, a desk with a chair, a small shelving unit for books and other things, and even a carpet on the ground. The room was a bit dim, but there were multiple mana lanterns that could be used to help brighten the place up. The only thing it was lacking was windows, which made some sense since this was part of the wall he supposed.
More importantly, in the center ceiling of the room was a small sphere. “This must be the alarm they told me about. I hope it doesn’t go off too often when I’m trying to sleep.”
Looking over to his left, he found that most of the things from his dorm were neatly transferred, not that he had a lot to move in the first place. Just a few books, nick-nacks, and extra pairs of clothes. He kept most of his more valuable stuff in a vault inside his soul realm, where he could pull them from and put them back at will.
Moving over to the bed he noticed a neatly folded uniform. Remembering what Malon had told him, he decided to change right away into it and then cast a spell to see his own reflection.
“This is far different from the school uniforms we were first given. It’s just an outright military uniform.” The uniform he was given was something he saw on soldiers and the like, though his seemed a bit different, more like an officer or something. It even came with a pair of uncomfortable military-style boots.
A sudden knock on his door made him turn and he got rid of the floating mirror. He was somewhat glad he had changed already since he wasn’t sure if this was the officer in charge of him or someone else.
Opening the door he was greeted by a young woman, who at least looked more mature than him, wearing the standard military battle dress. Though hers was a bit different, with extra stitching and a medal on her left breast. She gave a salute, the wind ruffling her hair and skirt, giving him a stoic look with eyes filled with experience.
“Vanris Vransolis?” She asked in a smooth and clear voice filled with an edge of authority that hinted at something greater underneath.
Van immediately felt a little out of place and tried to salute back but…
“Don’t do that.” She rebuffed him, not in a snappish way, but enough to make Van quickly put his hand back down and to this side.
“Uh-he-here.” He replied lamely.
She gave a cool-headed nod and put her hand away. “I hope your accommodations are to your liking, your sudden transfer was unexpected.” She said cooly as if only asking out of courtesy and not out of any genuine care for him.
“Uh, y-yes! It’s very nice.” Van said.
She studied him for a few seconds before giving another nod. “Since you are new here, I should tell you there is no reason for you to try and play soldier. While I appreciate the gesture, some here might not take kindly to what is basically a civilian, and a male at that, trying to act like one of the girls here. Until such time as you are properly trained and grasp the right gestures, and be acknowledged by your peers. Please refrain from doing anything that might embarrass yourself and your fellow soldiers. Is that understood? Reply with Yes ma’am if you do.”
Though her tone and voice never wavered, Van couldn’t help but feel some pressure from the women. “Yes ma’am…” He replied, feeling his body stiffen a little under the authority of this person he just met.
“Good.” She responded. “My name is Eliza Zathory. I’m your leading officer. For the next three days, you will be on your own and will be exempted from training duty. But you are still expected to come for the morning call which will be held at canteen 119. Where we will have breakfast and discuss the events we are going to do for that day as well as what might be happening for the rest of the week.”
“We will introduce you to the rest of the platoon and discuss what kind of duties you will be having and where you are going to work. This can range from medical duty, canteen duty, maintenance duty, and more. As you are a male, there are some… Other… Types of duties you may be called upon. Though considering your… Situation, you may be exempted from such tasks. Any questions?”
“Yes Uh-” Van paused when Zathory raised an eyebrow. “I mean… Yes ma’am…” He quickly corrected himself.
Eliza nodded for him to continue.
“Umm… Well, I kinda already have a duty given to me by Malon… I have to help power the shields that protect the city… For the next six months…” For some reason feeling bad about having to tell her this.
Eliza gave a thoughtful look. “...Alright, I understand. I suppose that is part of the punishment you will be receiving?”
Van nodded.
“So be it then. You are exempt from some of your duties for the time being. Anything else you need to tell me?”
“Yes, Ma’am. I also have someone coming to help me with the whole… Uh…” Van didn’t know how to say it, his face going a little red. He had never openly said it out loud before so it felt a little embarrassing. “My incubus thing… I also don’t know how um, this whole training thing is going to work out. When do we take our classes?”
Eliza paused for a few seconds, but her expression never changed or wavered, she answered him in the same cool tone of voice. “Training takes about half your day, whatever classes you want, you simply take when you are not training or in between training. We also patrol the walls at least twice a week for half a day. If you are feeling that there is too little time, then you can catch up by studying late at night like everyone else does. Seniors are giving some leeway when it comes to submitting class work.”
She then pulled a book from thin air, most likely from her soul realm, and handed it over to Van. “I’m sure you have at least been trained a little when it comes to keeping your body awake for long periods of time. But this book will help you learn a few mental and magical techniques, alongside a few meditation practices, to allow you to get by with a few hours of sleep without losing any of the benefits. It is a necessity for our line of work, especially when considering what we will be doing in the future.”
Van gratefully took the book from Eliza’s hand. “What will we be doing in the future? …Ma’am.”
“I’m sure you heard about the great march into the wastes, correct?” Eliza began to answer. “Anywhere between two to ten percent of students will die during the trip. Sometimes thrice that in soldiers. It is imperative that we train and harden ourselves to the best of our abilities if we wish to survive. Not just ourselves, but our troops as well. Your troops will be added into a shared pool of which we will draw on for all of those in the platoon. They will be trained to the best of our abilities for the overall survival of everyone.”
Van winced. “My girls may not like uh… Listening to others who are not me… They might be a bit difficult to order around without me saying so.”
Eliza raised a brow, as if not sure to fully believe him. But slowly nodded anyway. “Alright, then I would like to ask you to help explain the situation to them. It is important that everyone is on the same page. Division within the platoon is not allowed, it is important that we all understand our role that we play within it.”
Van felt somewhat relieved by her understanding and appreciated it.
Eliza then took out some paper and handed it over to him. “While your troops are transferring and you are getting your bearings. I also came by to give you some forms. These are mostly questions about what you want to do and what you want to learn while you are here.”
She then began to explain. “As you will be training here, you can choose a field or two to become your expertise. The options are as follows.”
“Officer core, engineer core, artillery/siege core, medical core, intelligence core, logistics core, mage core, infantry core, tamer core, air core, and breeding core. The last one of which is usually given to males. Each core has its own subsets within it. Such as the mage core can also be alchemists, golemancers, or mages that train for long range aoe attacks. Logistics is also divided into transportation, finance, ordinance procurement, and more. And while the breeding core might sound self-explanatory, it isn’t actually just breeding the next batch of soldiers, but raising them and training them to be fighting fit as soon as possible, as well as procuring food and tools for them. So there are also women whose task is to help raise various monster-kin races to standard while the male takes care of… The other side of things… Which may or may not include helping with stress relief for everyone else… Though that is a choice.”
“During this week I want you to familiarize yourself with each corp and tell me which ones you are interested in. fill out the forms on the questionnaire as it will help us get an idea your aptitude is and where you may fit in best mentally. The forms are magical in nature, and the answers are open-ended. Just write whatever feels right and it will help us determine where your talents and skills might be best put to use, as well as what you can handle.”
Van wished he had something like this in his other lives. Imagine, just by filling out a few forms one can find out their perfect aptitude and best fit job for them without the fear of it being one they may hate.
“With that my task is done. I wish you a pleasant rest of your day. Be by the canteen first thing in the morning. Breakfast starts at eight.”
With that Eliza gave one final salute and turned and walked away. Her movement’s well-choreographed yet smooth, as if she had been drilled to walk like that way for years.
Van watched her go then looked back to the book and papers in his hand. With a small sigh he went back inside and put them on his desk to check them out.
It really wasn’t anything beyond what he was expecting. For all intents and purposes, the school really played to its military academy side when someone finally became a senior. No safe classes, just drills and training for the next two years. It should be noted, someone was a senior when they became a fourth or fifth year. His predicament was unique, but it was largely agreed that he was probably going to be held back a year to make sure he kept up with all his studies and classes.
He really wondered what field he should follow. Officer core should help him learn how to lead his troops better and form battle plans. But should he pair that up with logistics? “What is that old other life saying? Kids play with tactics, teenagers with strategy and adult’s logistics? Or maybe I should forget all about that and instead go for where my skills are at the strongest, in the mage core?”
He gave himself a snort. “If I actually went to where my skills were I would be in the breeding core…” Then a small deprecating sigh. “In this life and all the previous ones… I still can’t figure out what I want to do with my life. I don’t want to be just good at one thing, but with everything. Yet at the same time I just want to be able to be good at one thing because I don’t know what I'm good at or what my purpose is…”
He looked through the papers. “Hopefully this questionnaire may help shed some light on what I should put my time towards.” He then decided to cheer himself up. “It’s not so bad, even if I don’t get a favorable answer, at least I’m not human. I have forever to fuck up and improve or find my calling, humans only have at most a century… Poor humans…”
He felt somewhat weird thinking that, considering quite a few of his past lives were human-ish in some form or another. But he held that opinion to be largely true irregardless.
Shrugging off such thoughts he went back to filling out his forms well into the night when a knock came at his door. He was so into his work he jumped a little in his seat, startled by the sound. Then got up nervously wondering if it was Eliza again.
“Yes? Who is it?” Van asked as he opened the door, he was taken by surprise by who he found instead in front of him. “Luna? What are you doing here?”
“Sorry… I know it’s a little late…” She said sadly, head hanging down.
Van looked up realizing that the sky was very dark. He must have been more engrossed in his forms and studying than he thought. “Not at all, please, come inside.”
Luna entered his room.
“So, what brings you here? Other than how much we already miss each other.” He smiled, but Luna surprisingly didn’t.
“I’m sorry Van… This is all my fault… If I hadn’t been so insistent with pushing you to other women.” She sniffed. “I-”
Van immediately felt like he knew where this was going and stopped her. “Now hold on. I thought we already went over this.” Wondering what brought this on all of a sudden. “It’s just as much my fault for not being able to stand up for myself or stop my own desires. If anything you were influenced by me to this. So if anything it’s my fault.” He paused, giving a look of concern to his beloved wife. “What’s wrong… What brought this up?”
Luna looked down. “I… I was in bed and… I realized you weren’t there… And…” She sniffed. “I realized… I’m too scared to sleep on my own…” She then began to cry.
Van felt a little lost on what to do. But then realized what he had to do was simply be a good husband. With that in mind he just brought her into his arms and gave her a big loving hug.
“Then just for tonight we can sleep together. Don’t view this as us parting forever. But time spent to help us grow, even if it’s apart. I promise you I’ll always be there for you. Always…” He said gently. Her shaking and crying reminded him of when he first met Luna, how frail she was, and how she seemed afraid of everything.
That night, a loving couple fell asleep in each others arms.