After receiving back the document, the clerk typed something on his computer and asked some basic questions. Well, there was one thing that wasn’t really basic.

“Why did you join the army?”

I couldn’t say that I was looking for the Martial manual that countries would mobilize their entire armies for, could I?

“Is that really something I’m required to answer?”

“No,” he sighed. “I’m just…curious. Why would someone like you enlist?”

“Then, I’m not telling you.”

“Fine. Ray, come here!”

At his shout, a rugged-looking man with graying hair and a face filled with scars stood up from his seat. As he approached the clerk, he bluntly asked,

“What?”

“You’re in Powerless squad 44, right?”

Ray clearly wasn’t content with his squad’s name. Regardless, he affirmed with a huff.

“Great, then from now on, this girl will be under your care.”

“This scrawny little lass?” He looked genuinely shocked. “You’re not fucking with me, are you?”

“I’m not. Maybe this girl is, but I don’t know. She refuses to tell me why she wants to go to the Northwestern frontlines of all places.”

Ray pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. Then, he knelt down to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Kid, this is no place to play.”

‘Why does everyone think that I’m not serious?’

A kid wanting to be in a battlefield wasn’t that strange of an occurrence, right? Like, even the General from before approved of me.

Well, Ray didn’t approve of me, judging by the fact that he was squeezing my shoulder in an attempt to scare me off.

“Everyone changes in the battlefield,” he said grimly. As if sensing the seriousness of his words, the entire room fell silent. “Some gets stronger, some gets faster, some gets…madder. Whatever the case is, they have one thing in common. Do you know what that is?”

I didn’t know. Even if I did, he was squeezing me so hard that I was in too much pain to answer.

“I’ll answer it for you.” He finally released me. “They want to live. The battlefield is a merciless place, lass. So what if you’re young and frail? No one cares.”

He then stood up.

“If you don’t have a gun, use a sword. No sword? Use a knife. No weapon? Use your fists. Limbs broken? Tear them apart with your teeth. It’s that kind of place.” He turned his back on me and walked away. “So, leave. The battlefield is no place for a child like you.”

My eyes turned blank as I heard his footsteps echoing away. So what if it was that kind of place? The reward waiting for me at the end of it was worth any amount of suffering.

So, I stomped my foot loudly on the ground and shouted,

“I have to join!”

Ray abruptly turned around, evidently surprised that I wasn’t scared off. 

“Why?” He asked. “Why go into a place that even grown men are scared of?”

I didn’t know why, but emotion took over me. With my trembling hands curled into fists, I shouted,

“I have to find Mom!”

Silence.

Well, joining the battlefield was kinda disconnected from my goal of finding Mom, but I just shouted what was no my mind in the heat of the moment.

As I was looking at Ray with anxiety, he turned to the clerk and sighed.

“I’ll show her the armory. And you, lass, follow me.”

I watched as Ray walked away, still confused by his words.

“Hey, does that mean I’m in?”

He simply continued walking without even so much as another words coming out of his mouth.

“Hey!”

“...”

“HEY!”

.

.

.

.

Okay, so I guessed that it meant he was willing to take me in.

Currently, I was standing inside the armory, putting on white military clothes for blending in with the snow. It was surprising that they made child-sized clothes considering Ray’s reaction to me enlisting. 

After that, I went looking for an appropriate weapon. 

“Ignore the big swords,” Ray said as he noticed me gazing over the Greatswords. “You can’t even lift them.”

I pursed my lips in annoyance. “I know.”

I simply looked at them because I remembered that the Protagonist of the novel used Greatswords.

“Better yet, don’t focus too much on melee weapons. We’re one of the Powerless squads, and we only fight on Monarchdays, so we won’t be going against any Hunters.”

“But what if we do?”

“That’s why you get to choose two cold weapons along with a gun. Now, hurry up.”

I scowled and continued looking through the armory. Eventually, I decided on my two pieces of melee weapon: a knife and a light sabre.

Although I’d have liked to use a standard sword, it was simply too heavy for the current me.

I wielded the sabre with my right hand, and the knife with the other. Bringing the handle of the sabre closer to my chin, I tried out the “fencing” technique that Marcela saw on TV that one time.

A thrust.

My imaginary opponent dodged it and counterattacked with a wide swing.

My knife, which was in a reverse grip, parried the blow. Then, my sabre killed the opponent in one swift poke through the throat.

“Are you done playing with your weapons now?” Ray said, obviously unaware of my very amazing accomplishment.

So, I did the thing any reasonable human being would do and ignored his remark. 

“Where are the guns?”

“Deeper in the armory. And by Goddess Lumaria’s tits, don’t play with guns like you did with the sabre and a knife. We don’t need another hole in our armory.”

I sighed. I wasn’t really interested in guns, so I picked one that fit my hand neatly. With my weapon selection now done, I was probably going to go to an orientation and meet my squad memb—

“Alright then, no time to waste. We received orders to clear out the route for the supply line.”

‘Huh, I guess I’ll get to know them on the way.’

We left the armory and arrived at a patch of land where there were many military trucks lined up. Instead of the big trucks, Ray led me to one of the smaller trucks. It was green in color, and seemed to only be able to hold eight people or so with supplies.

Well, even with that, the truck was under-occupied since there was only three people hanging around it.

One was a woman with shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes. She wore military attire, but judging the badge containing a red cross on her left sleeve, it was obvious that she was a Medic.

Right beside the woman was a man with short blue hair and black eyes. He hugged his spear close to him as if it was the most precious thing ever. The badge design of two plain swords crossing on his left sleeves meant that he was just a Soldier.

And, lastly, was a woman with blonde hair and golden eyes. She sat on a part protruding out of the truck, whistling her boredom away. The Magic staff design on her badge showed that she was a Mage.

Despite looking all scary like that, they were actually all G-ranked and F-ranked. Meaning, they were as strong as a normal adult human.

‘I guess that’s why people call them the powerless squad.’

The Medic was the first to notice us. She shouted,

“Captain, who’s that girl?”

Ray sighed. “I’ve already told you, call me Lieutenant.”

By this point, the other two noticed us and began to swarm me.

“You’re so cute!” Said the Mage.

The Soldier barely spared me a glance before huffing.

“What, we bringing children here now?”

Meanwhile, the Medic lowered her body to meet my eyes and extended her hand out to pat my head.

“Are you Captain Ray’s daughter?”

“I—”

“No, she’s not,” Ray quickly interrupted. “She’s here to join as as a soldier.”

Absolutely silence. Well, there were still people from other trucks chatting happily, unaware of the fact that these three people—yes, even the rude blue-haired soldier—were frozen in shock.

Ray looked like he fully expected it. He knocked everyone’s head to wake them up from their trance before saying,

“Go inside. I’ll explain the situation there.” Then, he turned to me. “And you, go to the back. Don’t play with the supply.”

“What do you take me for?” I pouted.

“A kid who knows nothing. Now, hurry up.”

.

.

.

.

After just a few minutes, the squad emerged from the front of the truck and got on the back with me. Ray stayed behind since he had to drive.

They just sat there, staring at me in silence until the truck started moving. 

“S-So, I guess uhh… Welcome to Squad 44.” The Medic extended her hand out to me, which I shook. “I’m Petra Knovski. And you are…”

“Astrape Gray. But you can call me Ast.”

“Such a cute name,” I could hear her mutter.

Then, she pointed at the Mage and said, 

“She’s Rin Kageno.” 

“What?” I raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Is she—”

“Yes, her mother is someone from the Kingdom. But don’t worry, she’s completely loyal to the Empire.”

‘Good to know.’

Although Mom’s name also sounded like a typical name from the Kingdom, she wasn’t actually from there at all. Marcela just really wanted to give her kid a Japanese name for some reason.

As I was thinking about Marcela’s obsession with “anime,” Petra tried to introduce the remaining member. However, she was beaten to the punch by that very same member.

“I’m Scott. I’ve thrown away the last name of my family.”

Wow, one sentence was all it took for me to realize that I wouldn’t get along with this guy. Setting aside the huge age difference, he seemed like a douche. You know, throwing away his family name and acting all cold and aloof and all that.

With the introductions now done, Petra pulled out a folded map from her pocket and unfolded it.

“Since Ast wasn’t here yesterday, I’ll start briefing the mission again. Are you guys okay with that?”

“Sure!” Rin cheerfully replied.

In contrast, Scott leaned back against his seat and closed his eyes shut. “Just leave me out of it.”

Then, Petra pointed to a road on the map.

“I’ll keep it short. We’re tasked to clear this supply route of any Monsters or Void beasts. Any question?”

I looked into the map and frowned. What were the higherups thinking, pushing a Squadron of G-ranked and F-ranked individuals into a place like this?

‘It’s right beside a forest. And not just that…’

“It’s Fireday today,” I stated the simple fact. “Why don’t they let people with Fire affinity do it?”

Petra smiled. “I have a feeling you might ask that. Rin, would you mind?”

Rin nodded and conjured a small ball of flames above her hand. “What do you think?”

This…was the first time I’d seen Magic. And although I technically saw Magic before in Marcela’s memories, seeing it first-hand was just…surreal.

“It’s cool!”

“No, it’s not.” Scott rudely intruded on our conversation with a yawn. “It’s fucking hot. Rin, turn it off.”

Rin turned toward Scott with a scary smile on her face. “I know that you’re stupid, but I never knew you were this stupid. Why are you swearing in front of a child?”

But Scott wasn’t going to back down that easily.

“She willingly enlisted herself. I’m sure she can take a little bit of swearing.”

“Still, she’s a kid!”

“She’ll hear swearing all the time on the battlefield.”

“She won’t be j—”

“Rin!” Petra suddenly exclaimed and covered Rin’s mouth with her hand. “Not here!”

‘That sucks.’

Rin and Scott looked like they were going to lunge at each other any moment now. Disappointingly, Petra diffused the situation and made them go back to their seats obediently.

However, there was still a question. Just what was Rin going to say?

‘Well, I’m sure it’s not important.’

After that incident, everyone, even Petra, went quiet. 

I used this time to sort out the information about the mission in my mind.

‘Today is Fireday. That means people with Fire affinity will be in their most ideal condition.’

A week was comprised of seven days. Those days were named: Fireday, Waterday, Earthday, Windday, Lightday, Darkday, and Monarchday. 

Their order mirrored the days of the week on “Earth,” with Fireday being the start of the week, and Monarchday being the last day.

Unlike their “Earth” counterparts, the days of the week actually meant something here. For example, if a person had Wind affinity, their power would be the strongest on Windday.

Special Affinities, like Lightning or Void, were consistent on any day of the week. It meant that although the people possessing said affinities wouldn’t get stronger depending on the day, they wouldn’t get weaker either.

The only outlier was Monarchday. No recorded Affinities were stronger or weaker on Monarchday. So, it was basically a free day for people of all Affinities.

As I was, for the first time, theorizing about the obviously weird day system of the novel’s world, the truck suddenly stopped. Soon, Ray climbed onto the back of the truck and said,

“We’ve reached the route. Now, I need one of you to scout ahead for Monsters…”