Carlil quietly raised his hand, his fingers crossed, slightly covering his own eyes.

There were two people sitting in front of him, the one on the left and the one on the right.

One of them had a calm expression, and the other was slightly unnatural. Bandages are layered under their uniforms, and immobilization plates rest quietly on their knees or arms, undulating with their breathing.

"This training was a victory for the attackers." Karil said suddenly. "We made it very clear long before the mission began. Just bring the Adamantite out of the mine to win, and your team is doing a good job, Shen, congratulations. ”

The leader of the seventh squad with a retainer on his jaw nodded with difficulty.

"As for you, Sevita," Carlil glanced at him. "If you ignore the rule that you left your post without permission, you actually did a good job."

"Thank you, instructor." Sevita said with her head down.

"But why did you hang Kasati Nuang?" Carlil asked again. "Not only did you hang him, but you also deliberately chose a place where the sound of his blood could be heard throughout the mine, and it was a poetic invitation to a duel."

"I'm not going to duel him."

"Perhaps, but you did." Carlil said. "Nightblade doesn't prohibit duels, fights, or even sneak attacks, in fact, we encourage you to beat each other into the infirmary. It is better to be wounded at the hands of a brother than to die on the battlefield. ”

He glanced at Sevita.

"However, that's not a reason for you to leave behind the squad you need to command and the mission objective you need to protect to duel one of the enemy commanders during a training mission. You win Shen, but what's the point? ”

"No point, instructor." Sevita replied in a low voice. "I just think simply."

"Think what?"

A smirk appeared on Sevita's face: "Perhaps, it's not good to say it in front of him, instructor, it will break his heart." ”

Shen shook his head, opened his mouth, and said slowly and slurredly, "I don't care. ”

The smile on Sevita's face quickly faded.

"Say it." Carlil said. "Give me a reasonable explanation, Yago Sevitalyon."

"I think the captain of the seventh squad needs to be corrected." Sevita said. "He always puts the task first, and he can sacrifice his teammates, or himself, without hesitation in order to complete the mission."

"We don't have a lot of numbers, and his thinking would cause a lot of completely unnecessary attrition in real combat. Therefore, I do not want him to go to the last step in peace, to become an officer with command. ”

After saying that, Sevita took a deep breath and lowered her head. There was silence as if waiting for a verdict.

Shen frowned slightly, raising his head to look at their chief instructor.

He had expected to see anger or disappointment, but Karil Lohals's face did not fluctuate in the slightest, and he remained expressionless, as strange as if Sevita hadn't actually spoken.

Shen was still uneasy about this, not to mention Sevita as a party.

The Nightblades' 'First Reserve' was doing their best to keep their breathing at a constant pace, but their eyeballs were wandering around rather unreasonably, with no intention of stopping. Silence crept in, Carlil never spoke, he even looked like he was thinking.

"Hmm"

After a few minutes, the instructor of the Nightblades nodded slowly, he didn't give a comment, only a vague murmur echoed through the room.

Sevita finally couldn't help it at the moment, he opened his mouth and tried to ask, but he was preempted.

"Do you agree with him?" Shen asked a little nervously.

"What happens if you agree, what happens if you don't?" Carlil raised an eyebrow. "Worried that I'll misunderstand like him why you're always going out of your way to get things done? Rest assured, Shen. I'm not as dull as this kid who grinds himself. ”

He finally smiled, and reached out to poke Sevita on the forehead. The latter sat in his chair in astonishment and helplessness, his expression unusually sluggish.

"Listen up, Sevita. The reason why Shen always sacrifices his teammates or himself is because the enemies he faces are always your squad. ”

Carlil poked Sevita's forehead hard again, staring into his eyes and accentuating his tone.

In other words, if he wants to win you, then he has to make sacrifices. And since his team members are willing to obey his orders to sacrifice, this just proves that Shen's actions do not contain coercion. ”

He shook his head and sighed, "War is like this, Sevita, sacrifice doesn't have to be small. It's a giant flesh millstone. If you don't put in your own flesh, or someone else's, it won't even start turning. ”

"Huh?" Sevita unconsciously let out a monosyllable.

He jerked his head to look at Shen, who didn't even bother to glance at him, just bowed his head respectfully to Carlil.

"Thank you for being willing to explain it to me, I've said it myself a few times, but this stupid guy doesn't want to listen. He declared that I was a cold-blooded rational person, and that I would only send my teammates to their deaths. Also always smeared the Ultramarines who helped us build the Nostramo. ”

"Where did I discredit them?!" Sevita continued to be poked, glaring at Shen as hard as she could.

"You think they've built too many big bathhouses, and you don't think they're big enough that you can see people lining up every time you patrol." Shen replied emotionlessly.

"That's enough." Carlil shook his head, lowered his hand and rubbed his brow, sparing Sevita's forehead for the time being.

"Don't go on about the big bath, and your differences. I hope you'll have it all sorted out by next week. ”

"Why next week, instructor?" Shen immediately asked.

"Because we're leaving Nostramo next week to go on a new mission." Carlil replied.

"New mission?" Saivita immediately asked, grabbing ahead of Shen. "What task, instructor? Counterinsurgency, Reconquest or Hunt for Killing? ”

"Neither." Carlil glanced at him, his right index finger tapping slowly and heavily on the tabletop. "Neither, Sevita. The scale of this mission is actually not huge, but it will involve many forces. So we need to be as careful as possible. ”

"Can you tell us a little bit about that?" Shen asked very quickly. "Since you've brought this up to us, it means we're on the list of missions we're on the list - can you tell us a little bit ahead of time?"

"Yes." Carlil nodded. "This mission is divided into three steps. First, let's go. Second, we arrive in Terra, and third, we complete the mission. ”

“.”

Sevita blinked and blinked, but finally did not speak as her index finger tapped on the table. The lightning lines flickered and dimmed, illuminating the expression on his face very absurd.

Shen was silent for a moment, and finally captured the main message of Carlil's words: "Terra? Holy Terra? ”

"Unless there's a second Terra." Carlil said. "And there is obviously no second Terra in the galaxy, so, yes. We're going to Holy Terra. ”

"That means dealing with the War Department, the Ministry of Administration, the local defense forces in Terra, and the Fist of the Empire. In addition, since the operation was spearheaded by the Legion Commander, it inevitably took on a political significance. ”

"Lord Roger Dorn, the original body of the Imperial Fists, is returning from the other side of the solar system, and he hopes to meet with our Legion Commander then-"

He paused for a moment, then suddenly smiled meaningfully: "-When the time comes, you will inevitably communicate with the Imperial Fists." I don't want it to be too ugly. ”

"What does this mean?" Shen cautiously asked.

"If someone challenges it, hit it back." Carlil said expressionlessly. "You can't help but fight, as long as you don't cause lifelong disability or death, you can fight as much as you want on Nostramo."

"But I'm going to put it at the forefront, we're not going to be in Terra for long, a week at most. We are investigating and collecting evidence in the past, not traveling. Therefore, it is better for you to restrain your teammates. ”

Sevita suppressed her excitement and nodded. Shen Ke keenly thought of another thing: "Instructor, are there only two of us hunting teams in this operation?" ”

"There are three more Dalians." Carlil looked at him. "We didn't just get one mission, the other hunting squads had something to do as well. Don't worry about them, let's worry about yourself first, Shen. Will you be able to get a name for your team this time? ”

Shen nodded silently.

The conversation ended, and the two wounded men slowly stood up, intending to leave, but were stopped by Carlil as they were about to reach the door. Facing their puzzled gaze, the Chief Instructor of the Nightblades curled the corners of his mouth and nodded at them casually.

"By the way, the Legion Commander wants to see you too." He said. "And he seems to be in a bad mood."

As the words fell, he watched with satisfaction as the two of them left his office with extremely stiff steps. However, after only a few seconds, the emotion faded.

Carlil shook his head calmly, stood up, and came to the window. His desk on the Nightfall already had a brother in the lair, also made of adamantite gold, with lightning patterns that shone on and on.

The décor here was no different from there, but he was thinking about another problem at the moment.

He stared at the stillness of the night in Nostramo, and couldn't help but imagine what Terra looked like.

Or, to put it in another, more ancient word.

Earth.

A planet without water. What will it look like?

Updated.

(End of chapter)