My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros' Obsession-Chapter 18Vol 2.

Salvia smirked, lounging in her chair with her legs crossed, exuding an air of arrogant confidence.

Watching her, Ishina couldn't help but think:

Salvia is acting weird.

Everyone knew that she had discovered a dark magician recently—only to lose him.

April had seemed ready to scold her for it, but after observing Salvia’s demeanor, she simply closed her mouth.

Because Salvia... had changed.

"Heh."

‘What the hell is wrong with her?!’

Ishina clutched her head as Salvia let out another strange chuckle.

Salvia had taken to crossing her legs haughtily, tilting her chin up, and looking down at people—as if that were now her default posture.

She also kept saying bizarre lines like, "Oh? Running away? How amusing."

For some reason, she had started complaining about the color of the Dark Magician Search Special Forces uniform, insisting that it should be black instead. Louise had glared at her until she dropped the topic, but still.

She insisted on eating only bloody, dripping steak for dinner and drinking a glass of wine every night. When offered orange juice, she refused, saying she didn’t eat sweets.

Ishina nearly fainted from shock. Salvia not eating sweets?! This was definitely not normal.

But above all, the strangest thing was how she talked about the escaped dark magician.

She kept saying things like:

"How far do you think you can run from me?"

"Hmph. Escape? How amusing."

"You will never be able to leave me."

It was clear she was determined to catch him, which was probably why April had ultimately decided to leave her alone.

But that just meant that everyone around Salvia was suffering instead.

Every time she smirked and went "Heh.", Ishina’s entire body cringed in secondhand embarrassment.

Aquila was suffering too. For some reason, Salvia had ordered that the entire food storage be emptied, leaving only water.

So now Aquila was forced to fast along with her.

‘Salvia, what the hell are you up to this time...?’

It was clear she had once again fallen into her own delusions.

Ishina wiped away her tears, hoping this phase would end quickly.

***

“Ah, Secretary. Any new information?”

“Not yet.”

I asked in a firm, clipped tone, and Aquila responded in the same manner.

Lately, I had fully embraced my role as obsessive Salvia, relentlessly pursuing the dark magician.

Aquila had been playing along surprisingly well.

Even though I called him "Ah, Secretary", he just accepted it.

Ishina had looked at him with pure pity more than once.

Regardless, I was growing into the perfect obsessive Salvia—a woman no one could command—

"Salvia, you don’t seem to be producing any results lately. You need to work, work! Hoho."

"Yes, ma’am! I’ll get to work immediately!"

...What was I doing just now?

My mind snapped back to reality.

Just as I was about to abandon my obsessive act and get back to work, Altair suddenly burst into the building, clutching a newspaper.

“Everyone! Look at this!”

“What? What is it?”

April snatched the newspaper from his hands before I could, allowing me to read the headline right away.

『His Majesty the Emperor Announces Reduction in Military Service for the Border Defense Army』

“...M-Military service reduction?!”

The Emperor doing something beneficial for us?

What kind of nonsense was this?

Then suddenly, a memory flashed through my mind.

The legendary lunatic, Dalin, had once said:

"Hmm... I... I want... my service term... shortened?"

...Right. She actually asked the Emperor directly.

‘Wait. Did he actually take her request seriously?!’

He had only said, "I’ll take it into consideration."

But he actually meant it?!

‘So he wasn’t lying?’

For a moment, I almost reconsidered my negative opinion of the Emperor.

Maybe he wasn’t such a terrible person after a—

‘No, wait. He’s the one who forced us into the Border Defense Army in the first place!’

I snapped back to reality and resumed hating him.

Still, I needed to seriously consider what this meant.

‘Damn it! He should’ve done this way sooner!’

According to the article, the total service time for the Border Defense Army was being shortened by three months.

Three months!

Compared to eight years, that might seem small, but it was still a huge deal.

"Wait... then what about Karon?"

Originally, Karon was supposed to be discharged in two months.

What would happen now?

As soon as I muttered Karon’s name, April, still scanning the article, nodded calmly.

“Yep. According to this, Karon’s unit will be discharged in two weeks.”

“...Oh.”

A grin spread across my face.

“How wonderful.”

April glanced at me and smirked.

“Salvia, once Karon is discharged...”

“Yes. It’s obvious what must be done.”

We exchanged knowing glances.

Of course, Karon would follow me willingly.

...But just in case, I was absolutely dragging him into the Dark Magician Search Special Forces.

There was no way I was suffering alone.

As we grinned at each other, Altair suddenly shuddered.

“...Poor Karon.”

I completely ignored him and waved Aquila over.

Karon already knew where to contact us once he was discharged.

Since Aquila and I were always moving, he had been instructed to reach out to Ishina’s house first.

But honestly, I had a better idea.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

I pointed to the newspaper and looked at Aquila seriously.

“Aquila, we must fulfill our duty.”

“Yeah.”

“We must go pick him up.”

“...Yeah.”

We had invested too much in training him.

Obviously, we had to personally escort him upon discharge.

Ishina, who had been watching all of this unfold, gave us a bewildered look.

“You two... you really are raising Karon, huh?”

“But Karon is our senior. It’s only natural that we go pick him up, isn’t it? Speaking of which, Ishina, why didn’t you come for us when we were discharged?”

“I had a feeling you two would be making out over there.”

“Oh... as expected of Lady Ishina...”

“...Was I right?”

For a moment, I was in awe of Ishina’s insight. As expected of a scheming mastermind, she was built different.

“Would you like to come with us to pick up Karon, Lady Ishina?”

“No. I have a feeling you two will be making out on the way °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° there too.”

“...As expected of Lady Ishina.”

***

The Day of Karon’s Discharge

The military square was buzzing with excitement, filled with soldiers from other units who had come to pick up their comrades.

We were somewhere in the middle of the chaos, searching for Karon.

“Do you see him yet?”

“He’s a head taller than most people. He should stand out.”

“No, more than that, he might spot us first and come running.”

And right on cue, our prediction was proven correct.

The moment Karon stepped into the square, we spotted him immediately—and at the same time, he locked eyes on us and sprinted toward us at full speed.

“Lady Salvia!”

He didn’t even glance at Aquila—just charged straight at me.

His sheer momentum almost knocked me flat, but Aquila caught me just in time and sighed.

“Karon, I told you not to knock her over.”

“Ah! My apologies!”

Karon beamed—his smile practically blinding.

It was obvious he was overjoyed by his early discharge.

Hah. Why wasn’t the service time shortened when I was in the army?!

The more I thought about it, the more pissed off I got.

“So, did anything happen while you were in the army? No one messed with you, right?”

“Hmm, well, the officers ramped up the training toward the end, but I got through it just fine!”

Classic Karon. Only he could talk about increased training while smiling like that.

“What about you, Lady Salvia? Have you been doing well?”

“Yeah, Aquila and I even got a house. It’s in a great location.”

(Super close to work, too. Unfortunately.)

Of course, I left that part out and instead forced a bittersweet smile.

“What about you, Karon? Do you have a place to stay?”

At my question, Karon grinned even wider and answered without a shred of concern—

“Nope!”

His response was so confident it reminded me of a soldier shouting, "Any problems?" "No, sir!"

Except, in this case, there was definitely a problem.

“Aquila, I think we both know where this is going.”

“Damn it. Isn’t he old enough to be independent?”

“Of course, he’ll get his own place eventually, but it’ll take time to find one, right?”

Realizing what we were discussing, Karon’s eyes lit up.

“Oh! I’d be fine with that!”

...And so, Karon moved in with us.

Which meant that Aquila would have to tolerate his presence a little longer.

And, more importantly—

I now had plenty of time to lure him into the Dark Magician Search Special Forces.

***

“Karon, just wait a little! We’ll cook you something delicious!”

Since Karon was finally back, I decided to prepare a nice meal for him.

Just as I was about to head to the pantry, Aquila called out from behind me.

“Salvia, there’s only water in there. We need to buy groceries.”

“...Ah, right.”

I had emptied the pantry while playing obsessive Salvia, hadn’t I?

I turned back toward Karon, lost in thought.

I still hadn’t given up on tracking down the dark magician.

Which meant...

“Karon, my secretary!”

“Yes? Yes!”

He snapped to attention immediately upon hearing his name.

“...Oh, never mind. I was just calling you for fun. I must be seeing things because there are no dark magicians around. Heh.”

“...Lady Salvia, are you alright?!”

Watching Karon earnestly play along made me a little happy.

And looking at his cheerful, clueless expression, I could tell—he had no idea what was happening but was enjoying himself anyway.

For the first time in a while, I felt like I had truly regained my normal routine.

I placed a hand over my chest and sighed.

"Yes. This is it...."

Something had felt off about my daily life lately.

And now, I finally realized why.

It was because Karon wasn’t there.

Sure, Aquila played along, but when it came to this kind of nonsense, Karon was the ideal partner.

Ignoring Aquila’s weird stare, I fully enjoyed my roleplay session with Karon before finally cooking him a meal.

And during dinner, I began my mission.

I casually nudged the conversation in a specific direction—

“Karon, don’t you have any complaints about society?”

“...Huh? No, not really!”

Damn it.

He’s too positive for his own good.

“Really? Because I do have complaints about society.”

“Ah! I do too, then!”

...Oh.

I should’ve just done this from the start.

At that moment, I realized—recruiting Karon was going to be ridiculously easy.

He listened to everything I said.

For example, if I were to say—

“Karon, would you like to re-enlist with me?”

“Cough!!”

Aquila, who had been casually eating, immediately choked and started coughing violently.

Meanwhile, I smiled smugly, already expecting Karon’s usual enthusiastic response.

But then—

Karon’s expression suddenly turned serious.

And he responded—

“...Re-enlistment is a bit much, don’t you think?”

...Wait.

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Karon actually has a brain?!