John Felt Like He Had It Again

John Felt Like He Had It Again.

After learning from Wendy that Laiya, who looked like a complete weakling, was actually an ace rookie—

He instantly realized that his blame-shifting plan, which had originally fallen through, could now be put into use again.

Of course, before carrying out the mission, he still had to properly brief Laiya, this scapegoat and super-thug.

After all, dealing with one troublemaking crouching dragon like Wendy had already exhausted him.

If another fledgling phoenix showed up, he truly could not imagine what kind of hellish life awaited him.

Ah, great gods of this world.

Please directly adjust Laiya's stats so that everything except combat power is zero.

No, make everything else negative! Negative, got it?!

I promise I'll make offerings to you afterward.

John prayed frantically in his heart. Then, suppressing his unease, he turned to Laiya, who stood before him with a slight frown, seemingly unaccustomed to being so close to others, and spoke with a kindly expression.

"Warrant Officer Laiya, after Wendy's introduction, I now understand your combat ability. Also, would it be convenient for you to tell me what position you previously held in the Black Eagle Special Forces?"

"..."

Laiya did not answer. Instead, she fell silent, staring at John expressionlessly, making it impossible to tell what she was thinking.

Just as John began to feel uneasy under her gaze and wondered whether he had spoken too softly for her to hear, intending to repeat himself, the chattering Wendy at his side spoke up as though claiming credit.

"I know this one! Warrant Officer Laiya was an assault soldier. After all, that was the position best suited to bringing out her strength."

"And she was the only one with that position in the Black Eagle Special Forces! Captain, now you understand how valuable an ace rookie like Warrant Officer Laiya is, right?"

An assault soldier?

I knew that much. There really was such a troop classification in the army's organizational structure.

But wasn't the Black Eagle Special Forces the Empire's assassination unit?

It wasn't an army assault unit, so where did this assault soldier position come from?

This made no sense at all!

After all, an assault soldier's main duty was to draw enemy fire for the larger force, creating an opportunity for the main troops behind them to attack.

Although this type of soldier was one of the core units on the battlefield and could play a decisive role in major battles—

Jett's Black Eagle Special Forces were the Empire's assassination unit. Those people relied on the Phantom Spell Formation; when carrying out missions, they could walk without making the slightest sound.

Putting an assault soldier into that kind of unit was like handing a house full of holiday goods over to college students for safekeeping.

It was pure side effect!

Something was off. Nine parts out of ten, something was very off.

Wait, could it be that Laiya was bad at assassination work, so Jett had specifically designated her as the assault soldier within an assassination unit?

Other than that possibility, there truly seemed to be no other explanation.

At that thought, enlightenment struck John. He immediately shifted his gaze to Laiya, and in his almost ecstatic eyes, the silver-haired girl lowered her head and replied in a muffled voice.

"The colonel said that aside from fighting, I have no talent in any other area."

"I know that I may find it difficult to be of much help to you in this mission as well, but I'll work hard."

For someone with social anxiety to say so much in one breath, that really was difficult for her.

Not bad. Very spirited!

Watching Laiya, who was so unused to talking with people that her clenched hands had turned pale from nervousness, Warrant Officer John, who had seen through everything, understood it all as clearly as a bright mirror.

But very soon, an unprecedented sense of happiness filled him.

Assault soldiers were great. Assault soldiers did not need to use their brains; they only needed to charge into battle.

Warrant Officer John needed talents like you who would not randomly stir up trouble!

He had thought a burden had arrived, only to discover it was an epic card.

This feeling of going from hell to heaven was simply too good. Hahaha!

The little man in John's heart threw back his head and laughed wildly, but not a trace of it showed on his face. He merely coughed lightly, then took the initiative to pat Laiya on the shoulder and spoke to her with a smiling face.

"Don't belittle yourself like that, Warrant Officer Laiya. After all, in my view, aside from unavoidable factors caused by physical defects, there is not much difference in everyone's intelligence."

"Besides, you are still young. You have plenty of time to try all kinds of paths. You have not even made an attempt or put in any effort, so how can you deny yourself just because of one sentence from someone else?"

"If you ask me, you should relax and have a little more confidence in yourself."

"Colonel Jett is nothing more than someone whose head is filled with missions. You can treat that one-sided evaluation he gave you as nothing but farting."

"After all, in my opinion, anyone can be absent from this joint operation—but Warrant Officer Laiya, you, and only you, cannot be absent!"

John spoke with absolute conviction, his tone filled with sincerity and solemnity.

Bullshit. If you didn't come, who the hell would I find to take the damage for me?

It can't be me, can it?

With combat power as pathetic as mine, that dragon girl Sellviya would probably send me to meet the Three Pure Ones in less than three seconds.

"Captain, Captain, what about me? What about me? Wendy is important too, right?"

Seeing John praise the newly arrived deputy commander so highly, Wendy seemed to feel that her status as Warrant Officer John's number-one follower had been challenged. She hurriedly pressed him for an answer, her big eyes full of expectation as she looked at him.

She was John's old subordinate. Although they had only known each other for two days, she had still arrived earlier than Laiya.

As an old subordinate, how could she lose to a newcomer?

Even if the other party was an ace rookie, that would not do!

Wendy kept cheering herself on inwardly while nervously watching John, waiting for the warrant officer's reply.

"Mm, yes, yes, yes, Wendy is important too. You're my right-hand woman. This operation definitely can't do without you either!"

John replied with a stiff smile, but inwardly he was gritting his teeth in fury.

The truth was, if he had not feared that leaving this idiot in the unit would result in her causing him even more trouble while he was out on a mission, John would never have brought her along.

After all, this girl had ruined his plans twice already, proving just how cursed she was.

Honestly, if he did not know that there were no true villains in this world, John would have suspected Wendy of being the villain.

After all, he had only made up that mission on the spot to fool her, so how had she directly found the real target the moment she took it over?

And she had done it twice! Those two incidents had directly dealt the Allied Forces, where the protagonist faction was based, a devastating blow. If that was not villain behavior, what was?

So there had to be something wrong with this girl. He would have to keep a closer eye on her from now on!

Otherwise, one day this idiot might corrupt him into the head villain, and then there would be nowhere for him to cry.

John warned himself inwardly. Naturally, Wendy had no idea that the Warrant Officer John she admired was badmouthing her in his heart.

Once she heard John acknowledge that she was also an important member of the mission, she immediately raised her little head proudly and shot Laiya a look that said, See that? I'm Warrant Officer John's most trusted subordinate. A newcomer like you is nowhere close to competing with me.

However, Laiya paid no attention to Wendy's provocation.

After hearing John's comforting words, she froze on the spot. She had not expected that someone like her, with no talent for command whatsoever, could be so firmly chosen by this person—someone even Colonel Jett could not help but call a true genius.

Having long grown accustomed to being denied, she felt dazed for a moment, and his words continued to echo in her ears.

An indescribable, strange feeling suddenly welled up in her heart.

For some reason, her nose felt a little sore as well.

Feeling the strange changes in her body, Laiya could not help feeling somewhat flustered.

Just as she was about to turn and flee this tent that had made her feel so strange, heading for the room where she practiced spell formations and attempting to restore herself with that comforting darkness—

The next second, when her anxious gaze met John's in midair, she discovered in surprise—

The turmoil in her heart had somehow completely vanished, replaced by an indescribable sense of security.

So was that feeling just now an illusion?

Laiya was somewhat confused. She simply stood there without saying a word, blankly staring at John across from her.

What was going on?

Why was this scapegoat staring at me? Did I get dust on my face?

No, that couldn't be right. When I entered the tent earlier and looked in the mirror, I did not see anything dirty.

Should I take another look?

Seeing Laiya continue staring at him without saying a word, John could not help muttering to himself inwardly.

But after thinking about it, there were two people in his tent, and both were women. Looking in a mirror in front of them would seem somewhat vain.

So John suppressed the urge to fix his appearance. Instead, pretending to feel a little hot, he raised a hand and vigorously wiped his face.

Then he took out his pocket watch and glanced at it. Ignoring Wendy, who was continually blinking as though "demonstrating to the newcomer," he turned to Laiya, who was lost in thought, and said solemnly.

"Though I would very much like to continue speaking with you, unfortunately, Warrant Officer Laiya, it is getting late. I'm afraid we should depart."

"After all, the other units participating in this operation have already assembled. It would not be good to keep everyone waiting, would it?"

"So, if there is anything else to say, let's talk on the way."

John clapped his hands, making some noise and pulling Laiya, who had somehow drifted far from the present, back to reality. Once she nodded, he turned to Wendy, who was watching him with a face full of excitement, nodded, and ordered.

"Wendy, go assemble the members of 14th Squad. It's time for us to leave."

"Yes, Captain!"

Meanwhile, just as John prepared to lead his troops out after assembling them and carry out this suppression mission—

Inside the study of a private residence in Bahamut Town.

Rustle!

Under the bright lights, a thin red-haired woman sat before a desk, frowning as she examined the intelligence report in her hands.

When she saw that the three Allied Forces legions had completely withdrawn from the Walden Front, while the Imperial army had occupied Walden Lake and was now encircling and eliminating the remaining troops within the Walden region, her brows immediately knit tightly together.

Only after reading the entire document did she toss the report onto the desk.

Her wine-red eyes looked at the intelligence report on the table, while a mocking smile slowly appeared on her delicate face.

Then she murmured to herself.

"I thought they would be a good buyer, but in the end, they were no match for the Empire?"

"The Allied Forces? It seems they are nothing special after all."

They had clearly held the numerical advantage and even possessed a device capable of countering the Empire's Mage Soldiers.

As long as they held the line, they could have won this war.

Yet those people had allowed a squad sent by the Empire to launch a surprise attack on the Anti-Magic Device stronghold.

As a result, they completely lost the equipment that could restrain the Mage Soldiers.

In just one night—no, less than three hours—they had been beaten by the Empire's assault until they scattered armor and abandoned helmets.

Even a brigadier general from their faction had been captured by the Empire.

Could Allied Forces like this truly help her realize her wish of overthrowing the Empire?

"Perhaps it is time to find a new place to go."

Sellviya muttered to herself. She slowly rose and walked to the bookcase, her gaze settling on the map hanging at its very top. Looking at the map representing Bahamut Town, she stared at the area representing her own faction that she had circled in red ink.

A flicker of struggle passed through her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by resolve.

Just as she was about to order someone to gather the gang members, intending to leave Bahamut today and seek another path—

Accompanied by a burst of hurried footsteps, the door to her study was suddenly pushed open.

Immediately afterward, a tall male figure entered, surrounded by a group of guards.

Then, beneath her icy gaze, the visitor first smiled and bowed to her before stating his purpose.

"Honorable Miss Sellviya, Baron Hardman has sent me to invite you to the castle to discuss important matters. Would it be convenient for you?"

(End of Chapter)