Chapter 04
Guys.
Aren’t you seniors?
Don’t you need more credits? From where I’m sitting, it looks like you probably do.
Unlike me, who wasn’t yet a slave to GPA, you people were supposed to be bowing to professors and begging for mercy.
Whether they knew what I was thinking or not, the four protagonists—
No, the Four Heavenly Kings who had all been rejected by Selena—
sat across from me, leisurely sipping their coffee.
…Wait a second.
Shouldn’t at least one—or rather, two—of you be sitting next to me?
If all four of you sit on that side, this whole picture gets really weird, damn it.
This isn’t some four-on-one blind date.
And I’m not even the heroine.
Just because Selena’s your younger sister doesn’t mean this is some interview to see if I’m worthy of becoming your future brother-in-law!
“It’s been a while, Kal.”
“Yeah. Long time no see. Should I call you Senior now?”
“No need. Student ID year comes before grade.”
“Shouldn’t grade come first?”
“Student ID year comes first, idiot.”
“I think grade comes first.”
“I said student ID.”
“…”
Why are these idiots arguing among themselves with someone sitting right in front of them?
The worst part was that with all four sitting together, they looked like Cerberus having an identity crisis.
…Ah, right.
Cerberus only has three heads.
Let’s call them a Hydra instead.
“Anyway, Kal.”
Schlieffen—the man insisting that student ID year came first—finally tried to change the subject.
“Don’t dodge the question. Why exactly does student ID year come before grade, Schlieffen?”
Apparently Wilhelm still couldn’t accept his argument.
He just kept grabbing onto the topic, making it impossible for the conversation to move on.
Meanwhile Alexander quietly sided with Schlieffen while wondering if maybe grade should come first after all.
And Joachim?
That idiot had decided to become the referee.
“Interesting. Continue.”
Sometimes I really wanted to ask the author why these clowns became the male leads of a romance fantasy.
…Ah.
Right.
Because they’re ridiculously handsome.
Fair enough.
Though if they were going to be this attractive, it would’ve been nice if they had functioning brains too.
“Guys… can we maybe get to the point already?”
Unable to take it anymore, I finally interrupted them.
Thankfully, Joachim—the self-appointed referee—managed to stop the other Hydra heads.
Thank you, Joachim.
Turns out you really were the most useful head.
“Sorry, Kal. We got carried away.”
“As long as you know that. So why exactly are four busy fourth-year seniors wasting time dragging a first-year student out here?”
Finally.
After ten whole minutes, I was about to hear the reason.
“Well…”
“The thing is…”
“You know Selena…”
“We were curious.”
“…”
Even now, all four started talking at once.
Are you guys really a Hydra?
“Please. One person. Keep it short and… actually, don’t bother picking a representative.”
The idiots.
The moment I suggested choosing one representative, they all started glaring at each other competitively.
The battle for control of the body between Heads One through Four had begun!
Someone stop them!
If I let this continue, I’d be trapped here for another hour.
“Schlieffen.”
I pointed at Head Number One.
No special reason.
He was simply the one sitting furthest to my left.
“You explain it. Briefly. Short and clear.”
“Hmm. As expected of someone who’s completed military service.”
“What does military service have to do with—wait. How do you know I served?”
“I just came from seeing the teaching assistant. Anyway, very soldier-like. Short and concise. Excellent attitude. A real man pursues maximum efficiency through simplicity—”
“That’s enough. Wilhelm, you talk.”
Head Number One was disqualified.
Next up.
Head Number Two.
Wilhelm cleared his throat before speaking, as though he wanted to be eliminated too.
“It’s simple. We think you’re amazing.”
“Why?”
“Because you can talk to Selena so casually after she rejected you.”
“…”
That…
Actually hurt.
Would shooting him count as self-defense?
Why did her name have to come up now, you bastards?
“We still can’t even properly greet Selena.”
“…Huh?”
“If we spot her from a distance, we immediately turn around and run.”
“…Seriously?”
“It’s been as long as two years since some of us were rejected… but every time we see her, those memories come flooding back.”
“Well, would you look at that.”
“But today we happened to see you talking to Selena as comfortably as ever.”
“…”
“So we wanted to ask. How did you manage it?”
I suddenly understood why Selena was still single.
Normally, this wasn’t how things were supposed to go.
These idiots should’ve stubbornly kept pursuing her even after getting rejected.
Instead, they were cowering like frightened puppies.
No wonder graduation was just around the corner and instead of romance, all they could manage was whimpering.
I had no idea where things had gone so wrong.
But frankly, it wasn’t my problem.
Helping these guys wasn’t going to change my own future.
This wasn’t a possession story.
It was a reincarnation story.
More specifically, reincarnation with memories of my previous life.
“So that’s why we’re curious.”
“Yeah.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s right.”
“Please tell us.”
Hydra.
If I specifically asked one head, then only one head should answer!
My head was starting to hurt.
Please, Four Heavenly Kings.
I’m begging you.
“Fine. I’ll tell you. Get ready to take notes.”
You’re curious?
You think it’s amazing?
You really want to know?
Then I’ll tell you.
When the protagonists themselves are asking, what power does an extra like me have to refuse?
“Enlist.”
“…Huh?”
Amazing.
Whenever it mattered, all four of them reacted exactly the same way.
“Join the army. If you’re going to do it, enlist as an ordinary soldier like I did. If they try to make you officers because you’re nobles, just tell them, ‘I wish to serve alongside the brave soldiers who dedicate themselves to the Empire day and night!’ They’ll love hearing that and gladly assign you as enlisted men.”
“Uh…”
“Once you’re in there, you’ll start feeling like you can handle anything. Your confidence grows like you’ve swallowed tiger energy. You’ll meet people from every corner of the Empire, so it’s great for improving your social skills. Your body gets stronger. Your mind gets healthier. Speaking from experience—you can trust me.”
Hey.
Join the Army.
Come on, give it a try!
You can do it!
Being an enlisted soldier is honestly so great I’d recommend it to everyone!
“Hmm…”
“Military service…”
“This is…”
“…”
Honestly, I’d expected them to recoil in horror and shout,
“No thanks! Stop trying to scam us!”
Instead…
They were seriously thinking about it.
Looks like being rejected had traumatized them more than I’d thought.
Then again…
Maybe that was why I’d enlisted back then too—
No.
No.
Even so.
That still shouldn’t have happened.
“You wanted my secret. I told you. Can I leave now?”
“…Kal.”
While everyone else remained stunned, Head Number Three—Alexander—finally looked up.
Could it be?
Had he become the first to recover from the Rejected status effect?
“If I do that… will I really feel better?”
“I did.”
Whether it was because I enlisted…
Or because military life was so brutally exhausting…
Or because remembering my previous life had diluted the pain…
I honestly didn’t know.
The only thing I knew for certain…
Was that it felt unfair if I was the only one who’d suffered through military service.
So I’ll bestow upon you all the sacred duty of defending the nation!
Go forth!
Become glorious heroes of the Empire!
“There’s no way they’ll actually do it.”
At the time, I was certain.
Whatever else they were, these Four Heavenly Kings were saner than I was.
The longest had been rejected two years ago.
The shortest, over six months.
Surely they’d gotten over it by now.
No way they’d actually do something as crazy as I had.
* * *
“Did you hear? Schlieffen suddenly stopped coming to class.”
“Wilhelm’s absent too.”
“Alexander and Joachim as well!”
“They’ve all disappeared from the Academy since yesterday!”
…
Those lunatics…
Don’t tell me they actually enlisted?
* * *
“Renny?”
“Big Brother.”
“It’s been a while. What made you contact me all of a sudden?”
“I wanted to ask you something.”
She felt a little guilty for getting straight to the point after contacting him for the first time in so long.
But Selena was simply too anxious to waste time.
“Brother… you fought in the war against Luzens, didn’t you?”
“…I did.”
“Could you tell me more about it? One of my classmates recently came back from the war, just like you did. I think it’d help if I knew something so we could actually have a proper conversation.”
On the other end of the magical communication device, the man hesitated.
Revisiting a nightmare no one wanted to remember was never easy.
Seeing his reluctance, Selena hurriedly opened her mouth.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s okay—”
But before she could say it—
“I don’t know about anything else, but I’ll tell you this, Renny. During the height of the war, my unit was surrounded. We were on the verge of annihilation. Nearly three hundred Imperial soldiers were about to die without even getting a proper fight.”
“…”
“And then someone broke through the encirclement.”
“What?”
“There was another unit trapped nearby. One man insisted on rescuing them.”
“My goodness…”
“The Luzens forces thought our lines had been broken because a massive Imperial counterattack had begun. They immediately withdrew the encirclement. Thanks to that, hundreds of us survived.”
It was unbelievable.
Even hearing it directly from someone who had lived through it…
It sounded like a miracle.
“Do you know who that person was?”
“No. I don’t know his name. I don’t even know what he looked like. We were all filthy beyond recognition back then.”
As he recalled those days, the survivor’s eyes became distant.
“…Ah. There is one thing I know.”
“The man who saved hundreds of lives…”
“…was an ordinary enlisted soldier.”
An enlisted soldier had saved that many people.
What an incredible person.
Thinking that, Selena quietly resolved to ask Kal about it later.
He had enlisted because of her.
She felt that, at the very least, she ought to get to know him better.
