Chapter 7
“Have I ever inflicted such great harm? I’ve only shown a bit of insubordination… Well, perhaps I showed it a bit more often. Causing trouble for that traitor and making things difficult for the commander… But that’s not really my fault, is it? You can’t be dragging my past life into this, can you? So, why…”
While Mia was lost in thought, her body, on autopilot, continued to swing the wooden sword in a regular rhythm. Perhaps it was due to her excessive grip on the handle that her arms, cutting through the air, were shaking terribly.
“What else could it be… Was it that I didn’t support properly in combat? Or that I didn’t readily accept treatment? Or maybe it was that I got caught investigating the Rochefort family? Or… Ugh, why are there so many possibilities?”
With so many things pricking at her conscience, a lot came to mind. However, none of those seemed sufficient to warrant such childish revenge.
“My arms are about to fall off.”
In the end, Mia couldn’t pinpoint what grievance Etienne held against her. Before she could, Etienne had tapped her outstretched arm with his wooden sword, correcting her stance. Perhaps her form wasn’t as perfect as she thought. Mia remained oblivious.
Glancing sideways at Rochefort, who was busy correcting her form, she couldn’t help but feel irritated. Despite having undergone training twice as intense than what she was doing now, he bore a pristine expression, as if he had never suffered in his life.
“Oh, goddess. Why was I dragged to the frontlines to see this? Was this why you chose me?”
“Position your arms correctly.”
As Mia murmured some irreverent prayer in her mind, Etienne focused on correcting her posture. It felt like she had been corrected at least forty times already. She doubted that all forty corrections were wrong.
Mia let her sword drop and turned toward Etienne, pouring all her mental energy into hiding her trembling hands and gradually fading focus.
Unfortunately, Etienne had no idea what kind of pain Mia was enduring just to look him in the eye.
Looking down at her, Rochefort still had that damnably handsome face, even in this situation.
How could he be so composed while she was in such disarray? Mia shot a glare at the annoying man.
“… One thousand one hundred sixty-two. You have 578 swings left.”
“Sir.”
“Pardon?”
“If you have a complaint, let’s resolve it through discussion.”
Please, no. Mia barely held back the cowardly retort that was about to spill from her throat.
***
When the war first started, Mia hadn’t been a slacker, despite the slanders that downplayed her achievements due to her minimal combat involvement.
Although she hadn’t gained her position through formal enlistment, she was a strategic officer, and her strategies had proven to be quite effective for someone who had never experienced war.
Having witnessed firsthand how many people could die in a single night due to a lack of proper tactics, she couldn’t simply stop working just because she wasn’t recognized. Thus, the previous Mia Blanchard had suffered from overwork.
Such habits and the obsession with lives that couldn’t be accounted for didn’t simply vanish because she had died and come back. Therefore, the current Mia found herself in a similar situation.
After finishing training, which had been utterly beyond her physical capabilities, she returned, groaning with muscle pain, and the first thing she did was unfold a map.
She didn’t need any great sense of mission. No matter how difficult it was, this was familiar territory, a familiar landscape, and a familiar way of life for Mia.
However, there was one difference from her past life…
“Why don’t you take a break?”
“Sir, do you perhaps find yourself lacking in work?”
Mia was taken aback when an unexpected lump of annoyance followed her as she attempted to enter the tent.
Rochefort simply glanced down at the map Mia had spread out, his pronounced lips and trembling eyelashes betraying his disappointment instead of his demeanor resembling that of the oppressive commander from Mia’s memories.
Mia, realizing for the first time that a person could look pitiful despite their large stature, found herself at a loss when she missed the opportunity to kick him out. Consequently, Rochefort gained the right to linger a little longer in the tent of his difficult subordinate.
Well, since she had decided to cooperate with him to the best of her ability, it wouldn’t be too bad for him to witness the process of strategizing, would it?
“Is it really necessary to do this now? Even without your involvement, our strategists are developing plans, and above all, you should be resting after pushing yourself too hard…”
She nearly sent him packing again after hearing those words.
“So, you seem to realize that I’ve been pushed too hard?”
“Um, it’s just that, even though the war hasn’t officially started, in a situation where attacks can come from anywhere at any time, the best way to efficiently build strength is to start with basic physical conditioning…”
“Enough. I didn’t ask because I didn’t know that.”
Mia shook her head, having lost the will to argue further after hearing Étienne’s long-winded excuses about having some reasons. It was a rather disrespectful attitude to show toward a superior, but since she was being treated as a high-ranking official in the department, it seemed fine.
In fact, she was not as physically depleted as Rochefort seemed to worry. Thanks to having received an abundance of divine power the previous day, her body had already recovered to a considerable extent.
‘Although it does feel a bit unsettling to learn swordsmanship just to keep my virtue and yet be treated only as a shield.’
Ultimately, the only way to quickly escape her current state was to grow stronger fast. It would be best if she could manifest divine power, but even if she couldn’t, she needed to master at least one weapon perfectly.
‘Training won’t be easy, but I mustn’t neglect other responsibilities either.’
No, if she didn’t want to repeat her previous life, she had to live even more diligently than she had before.
When Mia fell silent with a serious expression, Étienne, worried about her, tried to make her lie back down.
It seemed he would continue treating her like a child until he could personally verify her usefulness.
Mia rubbed her temples.
It was quite unpleasant to be treated like a novice who knew nothing about tactics, but didn’t Rochefort still not know why she had managed to survive for five years despite such disdain? It would be easier to show him the reason she needed to strategize through results rather than a hundred words.
“Are you going to stay here? If so, please don’t disturb me and sit in that chair. Oh, and can you hand me a pen?”
To think she would order around her superior like that. Given that she had been treated poorly the whole time, Étienne had expected her to be a little cowed. Instead, he found himself smiling faintly at her unexpected attitude.
Mia seemed to be much stronger than he had anticipated. Not only in spirit but also in body. So perhaps Mia could survive this war after all. Étienne felt a strange sense of pleasure at that thought.
***
Since the scouts had yet to return, the duties of the corps commander were monotonously dull.
There were reports about the unproductive state of the capital, deployment requests for the rear units, supply-related reports, and even a letter from one of the scouts. None of these matters were unimportant, but there was nothing pressing either.
If he had to choose, the letter might hold a bit more importance. However, it contained only the lackluster sentence, [Glen has declared its surrender.], written without any enthusiasm, rendering it of little immediate value. They had already anticipated their surrender, making it even less significant.
Thud, thud. Étienne, half in autopilot mode, stamped his approval on the pile of documents like a mountain.
—You plan to advance on Glen, right?
—…I’m sorry. Although I’m a strategist, Your Excellency, you are an honorary position, and I cannot disclose confidential information.
—Hah… Is that why you’ve been excluding me from operations until now?
—It’s not exclusion; it’s to relieve you of the burden…
—Enough with the excuses. Just look at the map. I know there’s nowhere else to advance apart from the city.
—Yes?
—
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