My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros' Obsession-Chapter 148

‘She’s the same as ever.’

Watching Salvia, bright and cheerful as always, comforting her subordinates, Aquila let the corners of his lips curl into a smile. It was such an endearing, wonderful sight.

Then, suddenly, a sharp pain throbbed in his head, causing him to momentarily frown.

He had played it off in front of Salvia as just an excuse to stay by her side, but when he had complained about a headache to the medic earlier, it had been real. Not that he had received any useful treatment from them, of course.

Still, just looking at Salvia made the pain fade on its own, so Aquila kept his gaze fixed on her.

These days, every day felt like happiness. He had always been on edge, wary of everything, but now, his tension had eased considerably. So much so that if Patty and Matty had carelessly dropped a banana peel on the ground, he might not even have the reflexes to dodge it and would slip right on it.

The year that Salvia had been promoted and stationed in the Snowy Mountain Battalion had nearly driven Aquila insane.

"Ha..."

Every morning, waking up to the realization that he had to spend the day without Salvia left him looking visibly dejected.

"Haa..."

Whenever Patty, Matty, or Dalin caused trouble, he instinctively wanted to run over and tear his hair out with Salvia, but she wasn’t there, and that ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) absence tormented him.

When the weather was cold, there was no Salvia for him to warm up.

When pudding was served, there was no Salvia to whom he could give his portion.

When tying his bootlaces, there was no Salvia to help him knot them properly.

When a rainbow appeared, there was no Salvia to watch it with.

When it rained, there was no Salvia to dry his wet hair.

He had truly been on the verge of madness.

So when he finally saw her again—

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That day, Salvia looked so overwhelmingly beautiful that it drove him crazy.

"Right... She was always this beautiful."

"...Huh?"

"Thinking about how I lost a whole year without you... It’s such a waste."

Aquila nearly lost his mind at the thought of all the moments of Salvia he hadn’t been able to witness.

Springtime Salvia, blending perfectly with blooming flowers, radiating brightness and freshness.

Summertime Salvia, standing out like a brilliant beacon of life amidst the lush greenery.

Autumn Salvia, glowing with the warm, fiery hues of fallen leaves—vivid and striking.

Wintertime Salvia, exuding life even among barren, skeletal trees—unique and captivating.

To think he had missed seeing all of that for an entire year. It was truly a tragedy.

A thought crossed his mind.

"I can’t afford to miss anything more."

He wanted Salvia to spend the rest of her days by his side.

"Salvia, don’t you think it’d be strange... if you married someone other than me?"

In the end, he couldn’t hold it in any longer and finally spoke the words he had been keeping inside.

And in response, he received what could only be described as a masterpiece of a letter—one that should be preserved for future generations.

To Aquila,

I think I love you.

Let’s get married.

Sent by Salvia.

When Aquila first read it, he was genuinely amazed.

The contrast between the adorably childish handwriting and the bold, provocative content was perfect. It was a letter that deserved to go down in history.

And when she had said, "Aquila, as long as you’re by my side, that place is my world."

It had been the strangest feeling.

The emotions he had been holding onto all this time—Salvia felt the exact same way.

It was almost unbelievable.

"I feel the same. You are my world, Salvia."

And at that moment, Aquila finally understood why he had felt like he was losing his mind every time Salvia wasn’t there.

His world had only ever contained Salvia.

So if Salvia were to disappear, he would become a lost man, completely adrift, unable to find his way.

But now, it didn’t matter anymore.

Because he and Salvia... would always be together.

***

“Tsk, kids these days have no discipline. Back in my day, this would’ve been unthinkable.”

As I was giving Luna a whole speech about the attitude of the younger recruits while waiting for departure, a familiar voice suddenly called my name.

“Salvia!”

“Ishina?”

It was Ishina—who never, ever broke formation—standing right in front of me. Behind him, I spotted Karon, his hair a mess from running over, smiling brightly.

While I blinked in confusion, Ishina looked at me with serious eyes and said,

“Salvia, I have a feeling this will be the last time I see you before I’m discharged.”

“There might be another joint training exercise.”

“That’s probably not going to happen.”

“And how would you know that, Ishina?”

“...Let’s talk about something else. I came here because I felt I had to say my final goodbye before leaving.”

He gently took my hand and met my eyes.

“Salvia, don’t let your guard down until the very end. The Border Defense Army is always full of dangers.”

...Wait, hold on.

“Why are you setting up a death flag on me?!”

“...What? A death flag? Whatever. Just promise me you’ll be careful until the very end. And after I’m discharged, send me a letter at the address I wrote down for you.”

“Yes, sir!”

“I’m serious. Even if you’re too busy swooning over Aquila to think about anything else, your first priority on the day of your discharge should be sending me a letter. That’s my last request.”

...Why was Ishina speaking like a dying man giving his final words?

Feeling uneasy, I gave him a wary look. He just let out a long, familiar sigh.

“At least you haven’t changed. That’s a relief... I like you just the way you are.”

“...What?”

I asked, not understanding his words, but he simply gave me an enigmatic smile.

“Even after I’m discharged, I’ll always be the same, Salvia.”

Even his farewell felt like some shadowy mastermind’s final words.

After concluding our villainous farewell, Karon, who had been hovering in the background, finally poked his head forward.

“Karon, what about you?”

“I just saw Lady Salvia, so I came over!”

“...Go back already. Sigh...”

I was starting to understand why Ishina always sighed at me for not listening.

But just before I sent Karon away, I remembered something I needed to tell him.

“Karon, even when I get discharged, I won’t just abandon you. So don’t worry.”

Hearing that, Karon beamed at me, looking completely reassured.

“Yes! I’m not worried anymore!”

“Really? You seemed worried before. Glad to hear you’re over it now.”

“Well, originally, Luka told me that once Lord Aquila and Lady Salvia got married, you’d stop looking out for me and start treating me as a threat. But I knew you wouldn’t abandon me.”

At those words, I recalled how Aquila had reacted to Karon earlier.

Sure, he was wary of Karon. But when the conversation turned to black magic, he immediately started looking out for him again.

Just because Karon was male didn’t mean he could trigger the obsessive male lead’s jealousy—Karon was practically our kid at this point.

“Yeah, like Aquila said earlier, just because we’re getting married doesn’t mean we’re suddenly going to start treating you differently.”

“I knew I could trust you two!”

With that, Karon happily said his goodbyes and returned to his unit.

To think we had managed to raise a perfectly normal boy into... this. Really, this rotten world was the problem—

...Wait a second.

‘Something’s off. Why do I feel like my life has stopped being about desertion and has started becoming all about revolution?’

Before, my ultimate goal was always desertion. But lately, everything kept leading back to revolution. Even when things started feeling like a romance novel, the ending always circled back to revolution.

‘No, goddammit, this is all this world’s fault.’

It had only been ten minutes since I’d thought maybe I could love this world, and now I was cursing it again.

No, but seriously—this world was the one tormenting me!

***

After returning to our unit, the battalion commander kept his promise and gave us plenty of rest.

For the time being, we were exempt from both sentry duty and monster subjugation missions.

Even the senior soldiers were too exhausted to care about the absolute mess that was our barracks, which meant that the younger recruits could finally relax and take proper naps.

“Phew...”

Lying down in my private quarters, I finally felt at ease.

Home, sweet—wait.

‘Why did I just call this place home?’

A deep wave of self-loathing hit me.

If I had to list the top moments of existential crisis I’d experienced in the Border Defense Army, this would be right at the top—those moments when I accidentally called my quarters "home."

The sheer humiliation of subconsciously accepting this place as my home... it was unbearable.

Shaking off the feeling, I ran through today’s events in my mind.

Training, pursuing the Second Prince’s forces, escaping the Black Magic subspace but ultimately letting the prince’s army slip away, confirming my love for Aquila, gathering intel from Karon...

‘Damn. That was a long-ass day.’

Not only had we caught the Black Mage, but we had deliberately let the Second Prince’s army go, just as planned. That alone left me feeling incredibly satisfied.

Lately, it felt like everything was going exactly the way I wanted.

Was this the romance fantasy novel buff?

Maybe I really was the protagonist of a romance fantasy novel. And since the heroine of such novels was always destined for a smooth-sailing future, my happy ending was basically guaranteed.

“Wow, I really think I can live well in this world!”

“...What’s wrong with her? Didn’t she just spend all morning cursing this world?”

“I dunno. She always flip-flops like this.”

I could hear my subordinates gossiping through the crack in the door.

But today, I decided to let it slide.

I had a feeling that from now on, my life would be overflowing with love.