—

A few kilometers away from the apartment complex where Cedric and his squad temporarily live, a round-bellied man with fox-like eyes stood in the air, several hundred feet above the ground, peering at the activities of the group.

His eyes were too narrow, giving the impression that they were closed, but make no mistake, his eyes saw everything that was happening around him with perfect clarity. This means that, even at this distance, he could observe Cedric and his team’s performance as if he were right next to them.

A faint smile formed on his lips as he watched them.

‘It seems that giving him the position was indeed the right choice.’ He mused inwardly as he stroked his non-existent beard.

He could see Cedric barking out orders like he was some seasoned commander. Even more impressive is that he got the full obedience of his team.

This wasn’t the first time that the army received sheltered brats like them and opened their eyes to reality. This also isn’t his first time to have a bunch of brats assigned to him.

He had seen how they crumbled under the pressure. He had seen groups refusing to cooperate with each other due to petty reasons. He had seen groups barely working together.

But a team that performs at this level within mere days after its formation? He’d admit that this was indeed the first time he had seen it. And that makes this all the more impressive.

Sheltered is sheltered, nothing can change that. And despite these kids being that nobody could deny that they’re geniuses. Each one was impressive. They are the cream of the crop. The best amongst all others who came from the same city they were raised. It’s very rare for a city to have two representatives, even then, there will be differences.

Upon their arrival here, the illusion will be lifted. They will face the real truth which will make them think as if their entire life was a lie. What comes after that varies.

Some break down completely, either dying during their mission or returning to civilization after dropping out from the academy, never to be heard from again.

Others take it to the extreme. Suddenly thinking as if they’re burdened with a glorious purpose. Running themselves rugged for the sake of having a purpose – a reason to live.

It’s the latter that creates more trouble for the army. And usually, they’re the ones at the top of the batch rankings. Because of their pride and the sudden change in their goals, they usually tend to force their ideas and visions onto others, putting them on the same pedestal when that’s clearly not how it works.

‘As a result of that, disagreement occurs. What follows is usually a fight that completely removes all possibilities of the team ever working together in harmony.’

‘It’s usually those groups that don’t survive.’

Silverwing’s expression turned a bit solemn as his thoughts arrived at this point.

He had personally seen it happen before and it has never been pretty. Every time a batch of freshmen was sent here, it was usually followed by a lot of complaints and lawsuits from bereaved families, blaming them for their children dying.

Even when they present undeniable proof that none of this was the army’s fault, they are never satisfied. There’s just no winning against a grieving family. It sucks but that’s how life works. Humanity and its army are not exactly in a position to be empathetic when every day, they are forced to face the reality of their current status.

‘But it looks like I won’t have the same problems with these brats.’

The solemn expression on his face disappeared and was replaced with a small smirk.

Cedric’s squad works like a well-oiled machine. It’s astonishing to see how he was able to gain their loyalty and obedience in just a day.

Silverwing had read Cedric’s profile before. He knew that the kid was anti-social. Aside from his two girlfriends, he doesn’t even pay attention to the rest.

It’s not because he’s arrogant or something, (though even if he was, could anybody blame him? It’s already a miracle that he’s still this civil to others with that overwhelming talent of his), it’s largely because of his past.

Yes, Silverwing knows that Cedric spent a huge chunk of his life trapped in the Risk Management Center. He had been there before and he knows how toxic the environment there was.

Silverwing also learned that the only friend Cedric had in that place turned out to be a traitor and that Cedric himself was the one who put him down.

Cedric already lost his parents to the demons. He suffered a lot because he was unlucky – something that’s not his fault, he had been given an impossible mission by Acala and was convinced that the world was trying to kill him at the mere age of 15. Then, his only friend, the one person who’s willing to waste time on him, talk to him, understand him, and treat him like family – betrayed him.

In the end, Cedric himself had to put him down to save the people who didn’t and never cared about him.

Yes, the fact that Cedric still hasn’t lost his mind yet was a miracle if there’s ever been one. So could anyone really blame him for not easily trusting people?

Silverwing could name at least 50 people in the army who would not survive even a fraction of what Cedric has gone through.

The fact that he bounced back from that and even experienced heaven-defying changes was astonishing. While it’s true that there’s more to his story, it’s not necessary to scrutinize even deeper. Everybody’s entitled to their secrets.

Humanity should already be thankful that Cedric hadn’t allied himself to the Demon Race yet, because if he ever did, one could only imagine the amount of damage he could cause to let out all the grievances he experienced.

‘There’s still a few days before their first patrol.’ Silverwing mused to himself. ‘Enough time for Cedric to polish their formations to an acceptable degree.’

‘Not bad. Amongst all of the groups I’ve seen so far, this group has the highest chance of surviving this mission.’

Smiling to himself, Silverwing turned around and returned to his office. He had seen enough and was impressed. He had a fair grasp of Cedric’s character and believed that he and his team didn’t need intervention.

‘I can’t believe that I found myself believing that a mere Freshman brat will be reliable, but here I am.’ Silverwing chuckled to himself as he made his way back to the mountains of paperwork on his desk.

**

“…well, good work there, Squad Leader. I think this is the first time that I saw Sir Silverwing satisfied with a freshman like you. Don’t get it into your head though. The moment you slip up is when you will face his wrath, and trust me, it’s not gonna be pretty.”

A soldier from Captain Silverwing’s group fiercely reminded Cedric, only to feel a bit awkward since the kid didn’t even look remotely scared of his words.

Cedric just stared at him blankly and nodded at his words. It was unnerving and awkward for the soldier so instead of saying more, he just gave him a card that contained the merit points.

“Anyways, here. Continue with your good work. That’s all for me. Bye!”

Cedric blinked as he saw how fast the soldier left after handing him the card. Shrugging to himself, he inspected the card and discovered that his team received 5000 merit points.

After a brief pause, he walked back to his team. Each one was lying on the ground, exhausted and in pain. Some saw him talking to the soldier earlier so he decided to come clean.

“Sit down, all of you.” He ordered. The team followed and tried their best to hear what he had to say.

“Captain Silverwing was observing us earlier.”

His words shocked the team awake. They looked panicked at the idea that they might’ve screwed up.

“Relax. Everything’s fine. I knew he was going to do that since he told me that when he called me to his office. I decided to not tell you because it wouldn’t have made any difference. Our performance couldn’t be faked. We won’t fool him considering his experience so it’s useless to tell you.”

His words made sense so everybody accepted his reason.

“Sufficed to say, we gave a satisfactory performance. Because of that, he decided to reward our team with 5000 Merit Points. The soldier earlier gave me this.” Cedric showed them the card.

“That’s 250 Merit Points each. Shut up, we are dividing this equally and that’s final.” He glared at them to emphasize his point.

“I’m keeping it for now, though. Mostly because we have everything that we need for now. And it wouldn’t be too late to distribute them once we’re done with our first patrol.”

“Just so you know, Merit Points holds a lot of value. So in case of…emergencies, we should save some. Just to be safe. So I’m keeping this for now. Does anybody disagree?”

The squad shook their heads in reply.

“Alright. We’re done for the morning. Clean yourselves and gather at the table. I’ll cook, we eat, and rest. We’ll do this all over again in the afternoon.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep