Editing Hyouketsu Kyoukai no Eden:Volume 6 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 4===

A rocky area with boulders large enough that one had to look up at them obstructed the way.

It was a high-difficult field that necessitated Running between the rocks on a path that wasn’t a path and occasionally jumping from boulder to boulder.

“─is, ─ltis.”

Sweat trickled down his brow as he jumped from a large boulder to the next.

It had been dark when their early morning training started but now the sunlight coming from overhead was steadily raising the temperature.

“Sheltis, are you listening!?”

“……! Wawaa, wh-what? What is it?”

Sheltis finally came back to his senses after having his name called right next to his ear.

“It looks like you didn’t hear me.”

“……Sorry.”

Sheesh ── Monica had a wry smile on as she ran beside him.

“It was about our next mission. I was asking if there was anything you wanted.”

“……Then,”

While jumping down to the slanted boulder ahead.

“I’ve said it before but I’d like for us to gain experience in policing the Nature District and escorting VIPs. Since there are many missions like that after becoming Regular Guards.”

“That’s what I thought as well so I looked into it but both of those kinds of missions are out of stock.”

“Darn, really?”

“I meant to talk about that earlier but I guess you weren’t listening then either.”

Monica went from having a bitter smile on her face to slightly narrowing her eyes.

“It’s strange for you to be inattentive during training; did something happen?”

“Ah, no……I think I’m fine.”

He couldn’t say that he was helplessly interested in the anonymous message the tower had received.

……I don’t like the feeling of it.

……This might be the first time I’ve been unable to concentrate on training this badly.

“About the missions, if those are the circumstances, then I’m fine with other missions. Those two are the important ones but it would be imbalanced if we didn’t take any other missions at all……the Governmental Sector one was a little stressing so maybe we should take a more comfortable one next.”

“''Ah, then maybe you should go for the night patrol shift?''“

The mission of taking shifts to patrol {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}}’s grounds ── when Cadet Guards were about to take on an important mission, that was one of the types of missions used to warm up. Even if it was night, it was within {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}}’s territory so there was hardly any danger and even if there was, Instructors and Regular Guards could rush over immediately.

“Yeah, it seems like we could start patrolling the tower even starting today.”

“That’s right but I’ve been hearing that there have been a lot of troublesome things even in patrolling the tower lately, you know? Criminals looking for a reaction……there’s a troublesome bunch looking to slip past the security and infiltrate the grounds. Did you see that tasteless message this morning?”

“When you say message……”

“The one about there being a Yuugenshu mixed in amongst the Guards, or did you not see it?”

“Ah, well…………”

Having the question asked so forthrightly, he unintentionally was strained for words.

“……I saw it. Yeah.”

“Right? Jeez, trying to make the Guards waver with that, there’s a limit to how much they can try to make a fool of {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}}.”

While jumping from rock to rock, the indignant Monica raised a brow.

“……Monica, would you find it unpleasant if there really was someone like that?”

“Hm?”

“Um, well, how to say this, it’s a little different from a Yuugenshu but…………if there was someone amongst the Guards carrying mateki.”

“? I don’t really get it but nothing other than the Yuugenshu carry mateki, right? That shouldn’t happen, but wouldn’t it be dangerous if there was one in the tower?”

She had a confused expression.

Only Yuugenshu carried mateki. If the former apprentice Priestess were to say, her definition of a Yuugenshu would probably be “whether it possesses mateki or not”.

In other words, he would also count as a Yuugenshu by her definition because he was endowed with mateki.

……That’s right.

……Monica’s reaction is definitely normal.

“Sheltis, were you perhaps seriously thinking about that message?”

“N-Nothing of the sort? But you know, I kinda wonder where that message was sent from.”

“It seems like an investigation would happen should it pass a certain threshold, but I doubt it will happen for this. It’s obvious to anyone at first glance that it’s a nasty joke, after all. It’s best to ignore those.”

“……Yeah.”

He relaxed his fist that he’d unconsciously clenched and took a deep breath. Renewing the stagnated air within his lungs, Sheltis jumped down from the final boulder.

“Whew, we’re finally done.”

Monica wiped off the large beads of sweat flowing endlessly off her and looked up at the sky.

“It will be noon soon so we’ll end the morning part here. From 3 PM, we have a lecture at the meeting room so we’ll gather there.”

“Hmm? What about Kagura and Vaiel?”

“Over there.”

The direction Monica pointed to ── the two of them were being chased around by the whip-wielding Instructor Yumelda.

“It looks like the Instructor is personally coaching them because they’re normally absent from training. They said they’d be doing it until just before the unit battles so I don’t think it will end for a little while yet.”

“……I see.”

“I was planning on heading to the cafeteria so would you like to join me for lunch?”

“Umm.”

He nodded reflexively but swallowed his words in a hurry.

“Sorry……I have something to do. I apologize but I need to head back to my room once.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, but I’ll make sure to be at the meeting room. ──See you!”

Making a small wave with his hand, Sheltis ran straight along the paved road to {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}}.