Chapter 32

The next morning, I woke up as usual.

“Ugh…”

I looked out at the Twilight, its light filtering into my room. Getting up, I was about to start getting ready for school when I remembered: today was my first day as a soldier. Sherry, Sophia, Eira, and I had been assigned to the Twilight Mobile Task Force. The Mobile Task Force is a highly specialised, elite unit that primarily fights in the Twilight. Eira and I had been specifically assigned to the 71st Special Squadron.

For the most part, soldiers in the Twilight move in groups no larger than a single squad. Very rarely do soldiers move in large units, like platoons or battalions. Battle in the Twilight is very fast-paced and harsh, so large battles with large numbers of soldiers are difficult to command. That’s why small squads made of elite soldiers are optimal.

These small squads are often headed up by a field officer, who typically serve as commander in battle. In the past, field officers would often be accompanied by much larger units, but that rarely happens nowadays. In fact, there are very rarely any large-scale operations conducted in the Twilight. Also, in the past, non-commissioned officers were usually deployed to fight in the Twilight, but nowadays, they’re unable to survive out there… especially in the more dangerous areas. Instead, they’re typically assigned to the Military Police, to guard cities, or to smaller battles in the safer areas of the Twilight.

Everyone who fights in the dangerous areas of the Twilight nowadays is at least a company officer. In the past, this would’ve seemed preposterous, but nowadays… the higher a soldier’s rank, the more battle they see. The idea that high-ranking officers could give their orders from the relative safety of the rear line had long since become a thing of the past.

Of course, there are other parts of the military – such as Intelligence, Central Command, and Research & Development – who don’t really partake in combat, but the Mobile Task Force is different.

Oh, by the way, Eira and I entered the Army as Majors because we were S-Ranks. The general public tends to misunderstand this, but Exorcist rank just indicates how strong an Exorcist is. Special Rank indicates the strongest Exorcists, but it is not the highest rank in the Army. Long-serving veterans tend to be quite high in rank; Eira and I, on the other hand, had just joined. After all, strength isn’t the only thing you need to fight demons. To really draw out our maximum potential, we had to have lots of people behind us, supporting us in various ways. And… the real battle with the demons had just begun. I had to keep in mind that I was no longer a student.

Suddenly, I remembered I had to talk to Eira about something. I quickly got ready and headed out to see her.

“So, who do you think it might be, Yuria?”

“Hmm. I’m not sure, what do you think?”

Of course, we were talking about the traitors. After all, they were probably plotting something right now, as we spoke. We had to do our regular jobs, of course, but we couldn’t simply ignore the traitors, either.

The First Barriered City had tightened up its defences in the wake of the attack, but we still couldn’t afford to rest easy. While I had faith in all the S-Ranks and Army officials posted in the First Barriered City, I knew there was a traitor somewhere among them.

The rest of the Army had also been informed about the traitors, by the way. They’d been instructed to remain alert. We didn’t want to, of course, but we had to cast doubts on each other if we were going to sniff out the traitors.

“Well, I doubt it’s either of us,” she said.

“Ah… well, that’s true.”

“If the enemy’s goal was to take down the First Barriered City, they would’ve had to deal with the S-Ranks and the other powerful Exorcists in the city. So they used a barrier; that makes sense. But you and I just happened to get out of the meeting early, so we avoided the barrier and were able to deal with the attack, right? Wouldn’t the attackers have wanted to trap all of the S-Ranks in that room, including the two of us?”

“Do you think they let us go on purpose?”

“I don’t know. There are too many unanswered questions, too many variables that we don’t understand. There was no way they knew we would be leaving first. And, on top of that, I have no idea why they chose that timing to launch their attack.”

“Yeah. If they wanted to be certain to trap all of us in that room, they should’ve launched their attack just as our meeting began. Then they would’ve been guaranteed to get all of us.”

“Hmm. Well, we are talking about a barrier intended to trap all of humanity’s strongest Exorcists. It’s possible that it’s quite difficult to activate. Perhaps they activated the barrier late because it took that long to prepare it?”

“Couldn’t they just have accounted for that and activated it earlier?”

“Perhaps they didn’t want to run the risk of us detecting their magic. But still, for them to be able to put up that barrier without anyone else noticing… only an S-Rank or a royal would have been able to pull that off.”

“It couldn’t have been some other, third party?”

“It’s not impossible, but unlikely. Our meeting wasn’t public knowledge, after all. There were very few people who knew that all the S-Ranks would be in that meeting room at that time.”

“…Could the traitor be an S-Rank?”

“It’s… not impossible, I guess.”

I was stunned. If the traitor really was an S-Rank… not only would we lose a valuable ally, that ally would turn into a powerful enemy. It was, without a doubt, the worst case scenario.

However, we knew our enemy made a mistake: they failed to trap Eira and me in the barrier, and the two of us managed to repel their attack together. I couldn’t help but have my doubts, though. If they really had been planning that attack for some time, they should definitely have succeeded with their barrier plan. So why were the two of us outside the barrier? Was it a coincidence? Or was it intentional?

I couldn’t come up with an answer, no matter how hard I thought. We were constantly one step behind them. It was highly unlikely that this would be their only attack, too. Despite knowing they existed, we were still dancing to the enemy’s tune.

“Yuria, we should get going.”

“We were assigned to the 71st Special Squadron, right?”

“Yeah. Well, things won’t be that different for us. Work’s just gonna be heading into the Twilight and killing demons, as usual. Plus, we’re S-Ranks. We’d be setting a bad example by being late.”

◇

A little while later, we arrived at our meeting room. We were officially going to be joining the 71st Special Squadron, Twilight Mobile Task Force. The “Special” in our unit’s name was supposedly because we were capable of taking on any role necessary while out there. We did everything from thinning out the monsters to keep the cities safe to deep reconnaissance missions. Enemy location reconnaissance, terrain reconnaissance, enemy strength reconnaissance – we did all of those things. A squad that constantly fought in the most dangerous battles, in the most dangerous areas – that was the 71st Special Squadron.

Because of that, all of the squadron’s members had to be incredibly skilled. It was made up of Rank 1 Exorcists, but not just any Rank 1’s – they chose the cream of the crop, those closest in strength to the S-Ranks.

The meeting room the two of us had come to was where we would be briefed on our mission before heading out. When we entered, we saw four people: one woman and three men. As soon as we entered, they turned to stare at us.

“They really are kids.”

“Well yeah, that’s what we were told.”

“Yeah, but still…”

“These two were definitely the ones responsible for protecting the First Barriered City during that attack. Our information was spot-on.”

“Shut up, y’all. Anyway, shall we have a chat, newbies?” the leader of the group, an elderly man, said. He was about 180 cm tall with a well-built physique. Despite his graying hair and beard, his formidable presence showed no signs of aging. “I’m Robert Abel. I am, more or less, the leader of this squad. I’m a Colonel.”

“My name is Yuria Curtis. I look forward to working with you.”

“Eira Reese.”

“I’ll get this out of the way: I have no intentions of discriminating against the two of you because of your age. You’re both excellent assets and have even become Special Rank Exorcists at your age, so I welcome you to the front lines. I’m honoured to fight with you.”

He’s welcoming us? Strange… I can sense they’re doubting us; I can see it in the way they’re looking at us…

“I don’t believe you. Your real thoughts are written all over your face: ‘Are these little kids really that strong?’” Eira said.

“Oh dear, were you offended, my lady?”

“Yes, I was. But… I suppose you’re all fairly strong, as well. Your auras give it away. You may be Rank 1’s, but I can tell just from your presence that your actual strength is far closer to ours.”

“I see. I suppose I’ve been rather rude. You see, I still haven’t been able to confirm your strength for myself. We were planning to head into a dangerous part of the Twilight today, as soon as possible, you see. It’s a far cry from what you’ve experienced at school, partying up with your friends and hunting in the safe areas. I want you to prepare yourselves.”

“I’m young, so I don’t have much combat experience, sure. Compared to you all, I haven’t spent much time out in the dangerous parts of the Twilight. However, I will not hold you back. My Exorcist rank isn’t just for show, you know. The same goes for Yuria.”

Huh? Am I supposed to say something here? I thought. Well, we’ve been assigned to the most elite unit, the 71st Special Squadron, after all. I’ve got to carry myself properly, as a member of this squad.

“…I spent two years in the Twilight. I think I know a lot about it, including the more dangerous areas,” I said.

The others’ mouths fell open.

“This is the dude who spent two years out there? He doesn’t look like much, though. Plus he’s a major? He outranks me? Damn, I guess those great, powerful S-Ranks really are on another level, huh?”

“Oh, come on, Scott. Stop trying to pick a fight. You’re embarrassing us.”

“Not really tryin’ to pick a fight, Luna.”

“Stop, both of you. The kids are watching; you’re embarrassing us.”

“…Strait-laced as usual, huh, Karl?”

After that, we got to know the rest of the members with some quick introductions.

The one with the foul mouth was Scott Bates. He was about as tall as me, with an average build, short, blond hair and sharp eyes.

The woman’s name was Luna Gray. She had short, black hair and was a little shorter than me – maybe about 170 cm tall. She was slender, with a very thin body.

The last man was Karl Hunt. He had glasses and gave off an educated air. He had brown hair that was somewhat long for a man that he wore parted to the side. At nearly 180 cm tall, he was incredibly tall.

And so, Eira and I officially became members of the 71st Special Squadron.