"Hey, you! Get me a yakisoba bun!"
"Y-Yes, ma'am!"
Two months had passed since they enrolled.
The friction surrounding Lydia had eventually smoothed over, but...
"Hey, Lydia. What was that just now?"
Abby approached the table where Lydia was sitting in the cafeteria. There, she witnessed something truly bizarre.
"Oh, I just told him to go buy me a yakisoba bun."
"...Why are you using an upperclassman as a gofer?" Abby asked, staring at her with narrowed eyes.
"A bunch of them claimed they 'fell for my skills!' or something like that after our last scrap. While I was busy putting them through their paces during training, they just started running errands for me on their own."
It was no exaggeration; it was the simple truth.
They certainly had their grievances with Lydia, a newcomer who acted like she owned the place despite her age. However, she had crushed them head-on and then turned around and gave them combat advice. Once things reached that point, they had no choice but to acknowledge her.
Now, a group of followers—centered around Nick—had formed around her.
"Big Sis, I bought it."
"Good. Here's the cash. Keep the change."
"Yes! Thank you very much!"
Watching the exchange, Abby stood there in a daze.
"...Lydia, where exactly are you heading with all this?"
"That much is obvious. I'm going to reach the Truth of the World."
It was her catchphrase and her ultimate goal. She had always aimed for the heights. She understood that she was a genius, and she knew that because she was a genius, a certain responsibility came with her talent.
What Lydia aimed for was the Pursuit of Truth—a goal sorcerers had upheld since the distant past. However, that objective had long since become a mere formality; no one sought it seriously anymore.
Amidst that stagnation, the genius Lydia Ainsworth had appeared.
People held expectations for her. They believed that if anyone could do it, she would be the one to unravel the truth of magic.
"If your goal is the Pursuit of Truth, then you should have pursued the path of a researcher."
"Do you think that would suit me?"
"That's..."
Abby tried to imagine Lydia wearing a white lab coat, cooped up in a room doing research. It didn't suit her at all. In fact, she looked like she would just start muscle training in the middle of her lab.
"No, it wouldn't suit you."
"Right? I'll sharpen my magic while serving in the military. I believe there's a place I can reach at the end of that path. Besides, I'm a genius. Using my power for national defense is only natural."
"...I suppose so."
Occasionally, Lydia would wear an expression as if she were looking at something far away. She usually seemed arrogant and overbearing, but that wasn't the whole story. In her own way, she had thought things through to reach her current conviction.
"By the way, what happened to that Idiot Pink?"
"She said the upperclassmen would probably pester her, so she told us to go on ahead."
"Ah. In her case, she's more likely to be hated by women than men."
"That's true. But Carol should be fine."
"No doubt. Even I don't want to face her seriously. Dealing with Carol is just tedious."
Lydia made a face like she had chewed on a bitter bug. It wasn't that she disliked Carol herself, but the magic she possessed was... troublesome.
While the two were having lunch, Carol was—
"Hey, you... aren't you getting a little too full of yourself?"
Carol was slammed against a wall. It was a corner of a corridor with little foot traffic. In that dimly lit space, she was surrounded by several women.
"Not really~? Caro-caro is just living life normally☆"
Her tone was the same as always. However, that only served to irritate her captors further.
"Huh? Then what's with those twin-tails? And you always have your nails polished. You're wearing makeup, too, aren't you? There's no way you aren't just showing off."
"Isn't that just personal freedom~? It's not like it's forbidden or anything."
While neatly filing her nails, Carol brushed off the woman's words. In truth, the root cause was that Carol was popular with the men.
At the Officers' Academy, it was standard for both men and women to keep their hair short. In that environment, only Lydia and Carol kept theirs as they pleased. However, there were no actual rules stating they had to follow the trend.
It was simply a tradition.
Carol ignored it, and on top of that, she was popular with the boys. To put it simply, they were jealous of Carol. Of course, Carol was well aware of that.
"Hey. If you keep acting like that, we're gonna beat you up."
A woman with a formidable physique stepped forward, speaking in a low voice. Her muscles were comparable to a man's; she was a veteran who always ranked high in hand-to-hand combat training.
Carol cast a brief glance toward her, murmuring as if she had no interest.
"Hmm. You know, if someone stands out, wouldn't that be Lydia-chan rather than me? Why come after me?"
"Guh... t-that's..."
The reason they didn't confront Lydia was clear.
They knew Lydia's skill was far beyond their reach. That was exactly why they were cornering Carol, who looked weak.
The target of their ire, however, didn't care in the slightest.
"Sigh... Honestly. I thought a day like this might come eventually. A woman's jealousy is truly a hideous thing, isn't it...?"
There was no trace of her usual playfulness; she spoke with pure exasperation.
"Wha... y-you...!"
Having finally snapped, the woman tried to grab Carol by the collar, but...
"O-Ow, ow, ow, ow!!"
Carol seized the woman's arm and twisted it back, letting out a weary sigh.
"I knew it would end up like this. But you're all mistaken."
It was hard to describe the atmosphere that suddenly filled the hall. It was an overwhelming pressure—a flickering, malevolent aura.
Everyone present was swallowed by that bizarre, suffocating presence.
"I'm strong, you know? If you come at me any further, I'll crush you."
She stuck her tongue out playfully, then stared them down with a sharp, piercing glint in her eyes. When she suddenly released her hand, the women immediately scrambled away, terrified.
After the afternoon training concluded, the three returned to their dormitory room. Lydia brought up the subject to Carol.
"Hey, Carol. How was your lunch?"
"It was fine~☆ Once we had a little 'talk'~ everyone understood me perfectly~?"
She flashed a beaming smile. Of course, the others didn't take those words literally.
"Hahaha! What fools, picking a fight with Carol. This girl is terrifying when she snaps. And she's ridiculously strong, too."
"Geez! Caro-caro is a delicate maiden, you know? Don't say things like that! I'm super grumpy now!"
She made a show of being annoyed, but neither Lydia nor Abby thought of Carol as a delicate maiden. If anything, they considered Carol the most troublesome of the three.
Perhaps it was the contrast with her usual persona, but her cold, detached expression was enough to give even those two the chills.
"At any rate, it looks like we've conquered this Officers' Academy in just two months. Hehehe..."
Lydia wore a wicked smile, prompting Abby to voice a complaint.
"Conquered...? What exactly did you come here for?"
"To finish the training course, obviously. But shouldn't the hierarchy be made clear?"
"Sigh. You're the only one who thinks that way."
"Fufufu. It'll be the same when we join the Special Forces next year. Just you wait and see!"
"Sigh..."
Watching Lydia laugh as usual, Abby let out a long sigh, while Carol continued to smile brightly.