Thanks to the lack of coordination between my mouth and brain I was now enrolled in the military.

Just peachy. Real fucking peachy.

I slammed my fist against the wall. FUCK!

Is it too late to leave the country and travel somewhere else?

I muttered curses under my breath as I paced around my room.

It's all the demons' fault. It was all going so well. But no... they had to come and fuck things up!

I slammed my foot hard on the ground.

And now I have to go, break my bones on this shitty military training. Next, I'll be suckered into a war I didn't want to take part in!

* knock knock *

My rampage was momentarily halted.

「Allen: YE- ahem... yes?」

I asked walking toward the door. I took a deep breath before unlocking the bolt to see who was behind.

「Ellin: Hi... are you well? You look... upset.」

Ellin went from happy to worried in half a second.

「Allen: Oh no, why would I be upset... I'm totally fine.」

I smoothed my face and faked a smile.

She glanced at my bruised fist.

「Ellin: Hmm... okay...」

She didn't look convinced.

「Ellin: I just wanted to ask... would you like to have breakfast with us?」

「Allen: Sure, give me a second.」

I gave her a thumbs-up and she nodded and walked away. Not before glancing again at my bruise.

Fuck, I made a bad impression, didn't I? I strangled the pillow to blow off the remaining anger, then I calmed myself. I was a little hungry.

I stepped out of the room and joined my friends at the table and got my plate.

「Grastel: So... what has fouled your mood?」

Grastel managed to ask that in an irritating way, probably thanks to his usual irritating smirk.

「Allen: Why would you say that?」

I feigned ignorance.

Grastel pointed at my hand.

「Grastel: You're trying to strangle that poor fork.」

I looked at my right hand.

「Allen: ...」

He's right. My knuckles were completely white. I relented my hold but the fork had already been misshapen, I must have used mana infused strength subconsciously. The innkeeper is not going to be happy about it.

Whatever it's just cheap fucking fork. I'll buy a dozen in reparations. I lifted my eyes. Everyone was staring at me.

I sighed.

「Allen: Alright, I'll tell you guys.」

And I told them how I trapped myself in my current situation.

「Namrick: If you didn't want to, you could've just said no.」

Namrick made a dumb statement. I slapped the table.

「Allen: Sure! It all sounds so easy...」

I made an ironic dismissive gesture.

「Allen: I'd like to see you try retracting your words with Violet staring you down with her cold gaze!」

I stared at Namrick doing my best imitation of Violet. He raised an eyebrow.

「Ellin: She can be quite scary...」

Ellin understands. Good girl.

「Grastel: She truly did a number on those goblins that day. If she stared at me I'd probably curl down and cry.」

Namrick closed his eyes and shrugged in defeat.

「Namrick: I guess... what's done it's done. When will you begin?」

「Allen: Tomorrow...」

I lowered my head grimacing.

「Allen: Sorry guys, but... I'll be away for a while. Could you...」

I raised my head again.

「Allen: Could you look after my valuables and check on Elaida and Lena for me?」

They looked at each other and smiled.

「Ellin: Of course!」

Feels good to have friends.

I warned Corgas and Elaida about my imminent departure, then I started making preparations.

Armor and basic equipment would be given on site. I'll take along my silver cube so I can do further development.

I asked Gregoris if he had any useful knowledge that could help me with the military life, he did. He showed me a few books about general knowledge, medicinal herbs, camp safety.

I transcribed what I could, along with some of my notes, into the cube thanks to the simple text editor I had coded. Texts take very little space. I planned to develop a searchable database system during the spare time outside the training.

After several hours of transcribing notes, evening came.

It was time to say goodbye.

Ellin, Grastel, and Namrick invited me out for a celebration. We went to an upper district restaurant. I have to admit, the food wasn't bad. Still, it was a far cry from the quality and flavors of my world.

We had just finished eating and our bellies were stuffed. We remained sitting at the table while chatting about stuff.

「Namrick: I'm sure you'll learn some useful tricks during your training.」

Namrick encouraged me. Yeah, I'll learn how fun is to be shouted at.

「Grastel: Yeah, you also said they'd impart the magical training as well. That's usually reserved to noble mages who joins the military and very few others. You should be thankful.」

Grastel nodded in self-satisfaction as if he had imparted me with some kind of mystical knowledge.

「Ellin: I'm sure you'll do fine. You've gotten this far, after all.」

「Allen: If you say so.」

I said without much enthusiasm. Seeing the archmages at work had made me realize just how steep the road to the top is.

I took out my silver cube.

「Grastel: Ohhh... it's Allen mistery's box! What's new in it?」

Grastel crossed his arms and pushed forward to peek.

「Allen: Not much yet, but I've stored a bunch of notes inside, so I can access them without having to lug around dozens of books and papers.」

Ellin gave it a curious stare.

「Ellin: Huh... can I see it?」

I explained to her how to try it.

「Ellin: I didn't know you could store all that inside!」

She stared open-mouthed.

「Allen: It's not really anything special.」

Text is just a sequence of bits, after all.

「Ellin: I've never heard of anything like that. I know there are some magic devices that can store messages, but they're very limited. And you're using common silver.」

I shook my shoulders. Common silver has indeed a low magic potential, if I had better I could try more interesting things. But this is good enough for a rookie like me.

「Allen: I guess they save the data in an inefficient way. There are tricks and algorithms to compress various kinds of information.」

My extensive IT knowledge was not just for show. The praises added a trace of smugness to my smile.

She gave me a puzzled look.

「Ellin: You always pull strange words when talking about these things. I wonder if you're not just making them up to look cool and wise.」

She pouted a little, misplaced suspicion on her face. I shook my head.

「Allen: No, I've been studying these things for half my life. It's also one of the reasons I got suckered into this deal.」

Violet had expressed interest. It was time someone recognized my genius.

「Ellin: An all-expenses-covered tuition at the academy. People would kill for such privilege.」

She reclined back on her chair and patted her full stomach.

「Allen: Hehhh, everything comes at a price, though. I just hope it won't be too high.」

I said with dread.

「Namrick: Allen... you really love to complain.」

Namrick interjected.

「Allen: Of course I love to complain! The only man that doesn't complain is a dead man. And I'm not dead yet.」

I put my hand to my chest. I was convinced of the truth of my words.

「Grastel: Haha, I'll write that down.」

Grastel laughed. Ellin grinned as well.

I scowled at them.

「Namrick: Come on, Allen. It's just training, nothing is going to happen.」

He slapped my arm.

Dude, stop raising death flags!

I screamed internally.

Once we had digested enough we could move, we stood up.

「Grastel: Well, man. What can we say... we'll miss your food!」

Namrick nodded in agreement.

「Ellin: Be careful and don't get yourself killed!」

I took the opportunity to perform a group hug.

「Allen: You too, kids. Don't get yourselves killed.」

We walked back to the inn and I entered my room. I looked at the night sky outside the window.

Tomorrow I'd have to join the group of recruits and leave towards the training grounds.

Well, I did all I could. Let's call it a day.

I tucked myself in bed but the anxiety kept me awake for a couple of hours.

I dreamed of Erne's farm, I could hear their voices, but there wasn't anyone there.