Illya looked back with a confused face.
'Why is he doing this now?'
When he took off his training uniform, his powerful upper body was revealed.
Collarbones and shoulders stretched straight out, with solid chest muscles underneath.
Illya felt heat rising to her face and quickly averted her gaze.
Then Axion approached her.
Her heart began to beat even more madly than it had before.
“Help me with this.”
Axion told her, pointing to his stomach.
She saw that the bandage wrapped around his tight stomach had loosened.
That's why then.
Illya silently nodded her head and grabbed the bandage wrapped around his stomach.
Tightly!
As if trying to restrain her turbulent heart, she wrapped the bandage tighter.
Axion's body trembled and he let out a moan.
"Yes…!"
A speck of crimson blood seeped from the bandage.
The wound seemed to have opened due to her being tied so tightly.
“Sorry, so sorry...!”
Elia quickly apologized, untied the bandage she had tied, brought the ointment and applied it to the wound.
Fortunately, the wound didn't open too badly.
After she re-tied the bandage, Axion put on his training uniform and lay down on the bed, covering himself with the blanket.
When she saw him lying down, hugging his body, she felt a strange tenderness.
'What is this feeling, I wonder?'
'She must be in arms.'
After they risked their lives and together overcame difficult and dangerous circumstances, wasn't it natural for comradeship to arise even if it had not existed before?
She believed it and went to lie down on her bed.
“Oh, I'm really going to die of cold…”
She lay on the bed and covered herself with the blanket, but since the mountain became cold at night, Elia shivered and closed her eyes.
However, tomorrow they will return to the Duke's Palace.
This intense suffering will end.
She was muttering this to herself at the time.
Pff~
Something fell comfortably on top of her body.
“?”
When she opened her eyes, she found Axion looking at her from above.
"Cover with this.
I'm hot, so I don't need it."
Her body was covered with two layers of blankets.
While she looked at Axion with a blank face, he returned to his bed.
Illya curled up inside the two layers of blankets.
A strange warmth reached her body from his blanket.
It was the temperature of Axion's body that was covering her by now.
As she felt the heat of his entire body, she automatically remembered the time they lay side by side in the cave of the monster world and hugged him.
Her heart started beating hard again.
You don't feel cold anymore.
•
After completing the return march, the entire unit returned safely to the Duke's Palace.
Once they returned, Keisha summoned Ilya and Axion, as well as Yusar and Lennox, to his office.
“What's the matter sir!”
Elijah asked out loud, and Keisha answered:
“Starting tomorrow, I will give the four of you a bonus leave for three days and four nights.”
“……!”
The four's eyes widened at this unexpected situation.
'Isn't this some kind of trap?'
That Kesha rarely increases bonuses; In fact, he usually cancels it if possible.
Elijah hurriedly asked:
“Wasn't what we got a one-day pass?
Only me and Ruppelt got it, so why all of a sudden...?”
“This is a reward for protecting this unit properly.”
Keisha looked at them one by one.
“Tringen and Ruppelt risked their lives and fought monsters, and Hadyard and Claude took charge of leading the unit in the absence of its commander.
This means...”
He continued speaking in a stern voice:
“You saved the unit in a critical situation that could have led to its annihilation.
You have accomplished the most important and greatest work.
Therefore, this is the reward I have given you.”
Elijah realized that Keisha's words were sincere.
No matter how crazy Keisha is, he is the best soldier in the empire.
As the overall officer in charge of the unit, he knew better than anyone that nothing was more important than protecting the unit.
Keisha then added:
“If you don't want to go out, you can cancel it.”
“Not at all sir!!”
When Elijah quickly shouted, a smile spread across Keisha's lips.
“Back will be by 16:00 on the last day of vacation.
If you are late by even one second, there will be no tolerance.”
"concept!"
“Then go away.”
•
“What a golden opportunity!
I never would have imagined a vacation!”
"exactly."
At Yusar's cry, Lennox nodded as he continued eating his food greedily.
“After eating real food after a long absence, and not just bad rations, I feel like life has come back to me.”
Then Lennox asked Elijah:
“Elle, what are you doing?”
Illya, who had already finished her food, was scribbling something densely in her notebook.
“I plan what I will do during vacation.”
Then Lennox waved his hand dismissively.
"Oh, Elle, really.
Four whole days, why all the extra planning?"
He doesn't seem to know anything about what he's talking about.
Time in the outside world during vacation passes insanely quickly.
It is as if a space-time force different from that applied in the army is controlling it.
Four days will certainly feel like four seconds.
“Every minute and second is precious, so you must have a solid plan.”
Lennox agreed with her statement, which she firmly insisted on.
"So, I should make a plan too.
But, Elle, how are you planning your vacation?"
“First, I will go to the bank to extract the money we earned.”
She was planning to take that money to the baron's fiefdom.
In the baron's fiefdom, she intended to enjoy all the things she had been unable to do all this time.
“I'm going home after a long absence to fully rest!”
Lennox also began to make his plans with a happy face.
“Yusar, what about you?
Aren’t you going home too?”
“No, anyway, even if I go, there is no one to welcome me.”
Yousar replied in a sarcastic voice.
When Lennox and Elijah looked at him, he changed his manner and added in a cheerful voice:
“I simply plan to stay in the capital for four days, spend money lavishly and enjoy myself.”
Ilya realized that Yusar had deliberately faked the tone of his voice to be bright as he answered.
According to the original account, Baron Haddyard had Josar, his illegitimate son, listed in his family records, but he had no affection for him.
In fact, because he was trapped by Yusar's scheming and forced into the registry against his will, he instead despised Yusar.
In any case, Yusar, who aspired to the status and honor of the nobility, did not expect any affection from the Baron.
Naturally, he was also aware of the disdain the Baron had for him, and the more this disdain increased, the more it fueled his dream of raising his status and achieving success.
'That's why he joined the military service here.'
But, from the way he spoke, it seemed that the relationship between Baron Haddyard and Yusar was not as good as she thought.
After making their vacation plans, they headed to their respective rooms.
Once she got to her room, she felt very excited thinking about packing her bags first.
She was walking fast then.
“Erhan Trincin.”
Someone called her, and she turned back.
It was Theo.
"Loyalty!
What's the matter, sir?"
Illya quickly gave a military salute and shouted loudly.
“Do you have some time now?”
"Yes!"
“Then, let's go to the military clinic.
Follow me.”
I followed him to the military clinic.
As she followed him, she felt something a little strange.
'Why is he looking for me in particular, and not Lennox?'
Theo was often looking for Lennox, who worked with him, not her.
When they arrived at the military clinic, Theo said to her:
“Sit over there.
I have something to tell you.
A very important conversation.”
Important talk?
She tilted her head in confusion and sat in the chair in front of Theo's work desk.
Then, she saw a small medicine box sitting on the desk, and Theo quickly removed it.
“This belongs to the Colonel, so don’t bother with it.”
Was Kesha taking medication?
Theo put the medicine box in the drawer, then looked directly at it.
“Erhan Trengen.
I will talk to you quite frankly, so listen carefully.”
The atmosphere seemed unusual.
She looked up at him with a tense face.
“I was very suspicious of you from the beginning.”
Theo continued coldly.
“Whether it's because of your skilled military career, or your superior abilities that sometimes exceed my common sense.”
He now began to look at Elia from head to toe with eyes shining sharply.
Under that gaze that seemed to penetrate her, Illya felt a coldness run down her spine involuntarily, and she shrunk in on herself.
“I still doubt you even now.
I think you're clearly hiding something.”
Theo stared straight at her with sharp eyes, and Elijah's heart began to pound.
'Have my identity been revealed?'