One day, while we were out training, the Generals had some pretty dire news to share with us – those being that the Carmen army has been steadily advancing towards the center of the country, leading to fears of them reaching our base soon after. The anxiety showed in their voices, but only for a moment, as soon enough they psyched themselves up before proclaiming with a loud and cheery voice…

“And so, I think we’ve trained you enough for now!” Aaron clapped his hands, “How about we go for some more, ehe, practical examinations?”

“A-Aaron, you’re not suggesting…?” Pierre’s throat dried out completely, “Are you really thinking we send the rookies off to the battlefield like this? They’ll get slaughtered!”

“Now now, General!” Aaron refuted, “You’ve mentioned recently how you’ve been running out of things to teach your group when it comes to using their Bows, so why would you suddenly say it’s not a good idea to send them off?”

He what? Surely, Aaron must be joking. There’s just no way a person with as much wartime experience as Pierre had all but run out of things to teach his rookies in just over two months! Surely, there must be more to it than that! Although, I am inclined to believe Aaron’s words, given that almost all the rookies have simmered down to near perfection. They all let go of their pride, leading to their bodies developing, and their mind focusing fully on the issue at hand, that being the war, of course. Wait, could Aaron really be right in his assumption? Are we all really fit to fight?

“But…!” Pierre shot back, “But what about the missing reinforcements? You said your other General friends and my brother would be showing up soon after you, but we still haven’t heard a word from them!”

“Eh, do we even need them at this point?” Aaron shrugged nonchalantly, “I mean, Ed’s got all of Maxwell’s spunk and then some, meanwhile Meil perfectly replicates your brother’s tactical prowess. I say we just promote them already!”

“Eh?!” Both Edward and I jumped out of the line, “P-Promote?!”

“Agreed.” One of the rookies nodded his head, “Despite this annoying pair practically always showing off during out trainings, I really can’t argue with facts here. If there’s anyone I’d be more than willing to follow out of every one of the rookies here, it’d probably be those two.”

“Seriously?” Edward turned to him, “Dude, you were cussing us out behind out backs for the entirety of our first month here. Are you sure you want us to be your new leaders?”

“Ah, sorry about that…” The rookie clicked his tongue with a wry smile, “Didn’t think you’d remember, but hey, that just goes to show how much you know each and every one of us on an individual level.”

“Edward, listen well to the words I’m about to say.” Aaron approached me, “You’ve got a gift, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Something about your friendly, warm, but stern nature somehow always brings out the best in people. I believe that we can make use of this.”

“How so?” Edward asked.

“Alright, for argument’s sake, let’s just assume you need to assign Garrett here a fighting role in the formation.” Aaron hugged the rookie that was just complimenting Edward a moment ago over the shoulder, “Where would you put him – the vanguard, or the sides?”

“Are you crazy? Neither!” Edward almost immediately shot back, “Garrett’s one of the best archers we have here! Putting him anywhere but the back would be too much of a loss on our end! If we lost our best archers, we’d have no way to initiate an attack!”

“See?” Aaron applauded him, “That’s exactly the type of critical thinking we need in a General! Now do you see why I think you’d fit the bill?”

“A-Ah, I guess…” Edward scratched the back of his head with a content smile peeking out.

Whoa, to think Edward has gotten this friendly with his peers. Really, since he picked training with Pierre, and I with Aaron, we didn’t at all get to see each other, so apart from the minute moments we got to share together in the mess hall, we couldn’t at all grasp how much progress the other’s made. Ugh, and to think while he was making connections from all over, focusing on the team and all that, I was only selfishly thinking of myself the entire time…

“And you, Meil. What’s got you so down?” Pierre sighed, “While I don’t like the idea of rushing things, I won’t accept you not thinking yourself to be suitable as the General.”

“Wait, weren’t you against the idea, Sir?” I muttered with a question mark above my head.

“Not at all.” He shook his head, “Actually, I was always for promoting you two one day, but I at least wanted to wait for my brother and General Maxwell to show up before making any executive decisions. Surely, you must realize how good that noggin of yours is.”

“Well, I certainly can’t deny that.” I figured, “But I don’t know the men I’d be leading like Edward does. It just wouldn’t work out.”

“Yeah, but you do have something which is arguably better.” Aaron smirked, “It leads back to that compliment Pierre gave you – your noggin. You see, I’ve been paying very close attention to you during our sparring sessions, and each time I would stop to ask you what you thought of these guys’ attacks.”

“Yes, I remember that.”

“And that’s the thing, you’d always find faults in them. Some faults were obvious, and were thus ironed out pretty quickly, but others even I didn’t notice. You can pay attention to multiple things at once, so to speak. You can imagine the entire battlefield and react appropriately to any and all surprises. And if you can use that head of yours to maybe even predict the enemy’s movements, then I’m sure that’ll be the winning factor in this war.”

“But don’t listen to us.” Pierre turned our attention to the rookies, “Ask them yourselves! Listen up, soldiers! Anyone who disagrees with the decision to promote these two to Generals, step forth!”

Turning around with our stomachs churning, both Edward and I were left speechless as we were met with absolute silence. Not one person stepped out of the line, and some didn’t even hesitate to salute us just as they would Aaron or Pierre. In a way, this proved that we had gotten their respect, in one way or another. Sure, they were pretty against us being here at the start, but it seems that them seeing how hard we worked all the time moved them enough to come to appreciate us.

“And with that…!” Aaron yelled out, “Let’s celebrate these two’s promotion all night long tonight! To the revolution!”

“To the revolution!” The rookies yelled out in unison, “You guys, lead us to victory!”

***

Getting up the next morning was a total pain, however, as the hangover from last night’s drinking was all too present. Geez, was I really this much of a lightweight? I barely remember anything that happened…

Looking around the room, it seems that in some way or another, I was taken to the General’s quarters before I passed out. The room was empty, not a single person present. Odd, I thought, but nothing to get too pressed about. For now, let’s just get out of the sheets…

“Ack!” Vivia’s voice rung out, “Cold! Don’t just suddenly throw the sheets off of me when getting out of bed!”

“Vivia?!” I fell out of the bed, “What the…!? What are you…?! Huh!?”

“Morning, dearie~!” She smiled back at me, “Surprised to see me? Don’t tell me you don’t remember our special night together?”

“Nope!” I ran out of the room, “I’m onto you! This is just another one of your vile pranks!”

Running through the hallways, I had found myself in the main quarters of the building, where Edward and the other two Generals were staying. With what I can only describe as abject horror, they stared at me without even looking away for a second. Well, I say abject horror, but Aaron’s gaze was more so of checking me out, which immediately lead to my realization of what prompted such reactions from them.

“M-Meil?” Edward looked away in a hurry, “That’s… quite the thing to show to your new colleagues first thing in the morning.”

“Are you perhaps the type to sleep in the nude?” Pierre covered his eyes, “Well I am sorry for not noticing earlier. It must’ve been hard for you to sleep with the others…”

“Is this really happening?!” Aaron couldn’t help but stare, “I dreamt of something like this happening, but to think it’s actually going on in front of my very eyes!”

With a tilted head, I gave them all a confused stare before glancing down at what they were all alluding to. My legs almost gave out from the terrifying situation I had just found myself in. That’s right, the worst possible situation – I’m not wearing a single article of clothing on me right now.

“Yikes!” I ran to get a blanket to cover up the important bits, “No! No, this can’t be happening! Just what the hell happened last night?! Argh, my head hurts!”

“Heh, looks like you partied a bit too hard there, kid.” Aaron laughed.

“But wait, if you ran in from that direction…” Pierre slowly pieced together the situation, “Then isn’t that Vivia’s room?”

“Ugh, can you guys get any noisier in the morning?” She walked out of the room, her hair rather messy and her clothes just as revealing, “I was up all night, so the least you could do is let me get some beauty sleep right now.”

“Ah.” All three of their mouths dropped to the floor, “No freakin’ way!!!”

I know, right?! I had the exact same reaction! Seriously, according to my calculations, I still had about 0.258 units left until I should have lost my virginity! Putting that into perspective, we’re talking years down the line here! There’s no way that I could have done such a heinous thing with her, the fair Princess of the enemy country! Well, fair might be a bit of an overstatement… I-In any case, this can’t be real!

“V-Vivia, do you know what happened last night?” I hesitated to even ask, “This whole situation, it’s just too crazy…”

“Hm?” She giggled, “What do you think happened? Didn’t you pride yourself on being smart?”

“AAAAAAHHHHH!” I screamed out, “No, this can’t be! Guys, say something!”

“Well, what’s there to say?” Edward stifled his laughter, “Congrats, I guess?”

“Congrats?!” Pierre couldn’t believe Edward’s words, “This guy just banged your wife and that’s what you have to say to him?! I didn’t take you for a cuck, Edward!”

“Cuck?” Aaron turned to Edward, “No wait, wife?! Vivia?! Edward, what would Anna say to this?!”

“H-Hey now! This is all a misunderstanding!” Edward tried to defend himself desperately, “Come on guys! I’m not Lune to cheat on my wife!”

“Don’t bring him into this!” All three of us screamed at Edward in unison.

Geez, what’s even going on anymore? This whole situation is super bad. First Vivia and I did… A-Anyways, then Pierre just found out that Edward and Vivia aren’t a thing, then Lune somehow got mixed into the conversation? Ugh, I think I’m going to pass out…

“Hahahahahahahha!” Vivia couldn’t hold in her laughter anymore as she rolled on the ground from side to side, “Oh Heavens! The looks on your faces! They’re just priceless! Phahaha!”

“Vivia…!” Edward shouted, “Don’t tell me…”

“Yep!” She smiled from ear to ear, “I saw Meil here passed out on the couch, so I took him to my bed and got everything set up to look just right! My pranks never fail!”

“Wait, so you two didn’t…?” Aaron pointed to the two of us.

“Wha~t? Of course not!” She outright denied the possibility, “The Goddess of Song to lay a simple common mutt? Never in a million years!”

“Mutt?” I rolled my eyes, “Oh right, I kind of forgot you’re Carmen Royalty…”

“And what’s that supposed to mean, dearie?” She teased some more.

“Won’t work anymore, I’m afraid!” I went to grab my clothes, “Now that I know we’re a million years from that stage, I can rest easy knowing I wasn’t that drunk after all.”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean!? Meil…!”