Chapter 200: The recruit

Mika was taking a stroll around the close perimeter of the base.

With how the things turned out - after figuring out that the southerners don't actually need to fight to progress and complete their annoying special quest - the higher-ups of the Sloth soldiers have demanded that no one from the Wraths' group would leave the area of the secure third line of defense.

It was early morning, the day when the 5th wave of monster would appear, but there was still quite some time before the usual system announcement about its start.

The ashen-haired girl was walking slowly, running her fingers by the sturdy fence made out of various titan-class monsters' parts that had an amazing property of keeping the beasts of lower-tier away.

"..."

Mika breathed out while looking in the direction of the second and first lines.

She just couldn't accept that someone else is fighting her battle while she sits tight and in a somewhat cozy space and gets feed for doing nothing.

Something like that went against her sense of justice.

And, with a role of Justice's Wrath, how could she just accept that?

It wasn't like the daughter of the avatar of wrath was just thinking about doing something in silence while loafing around!

But all her propositions were systematically rejected - every single one from the most daring one all the way to the most reasonable, in her opinion at least.

Still!

Not to mention moving to the first defense line, or even the second one - Mika was refused even when she asked to train together with the recruits!

Although, the last one didn't cause as much push-back as all the previous options...

...and that is exactly why Mika was strolling around...

...to find the training ground where the recruits were doing their morning drills.

If Mika just so happened to be in the right spot at the right time, could she really be blamed for getting accidentally mixed up in their group and train a bit?

Even though the recruits were all children younger than her, when it comes to height, Mika could blend right in.

It was probably the only time Mika wasn't annoyed by her delayed growth spur.

She was already wearing a recruit's armor that she received from the quartermaster!

The plan was almost perfect.

Almost.

The problem was, she could never figure out when and where the recruits were training.

Mika did try to ask Ti for help in figuring that out, but unfortunately, the copper-eyed bodyguard was sharing the same opinion about the ashen-haired girl risking her health in any way, as the higher-ups of the Sloth soldiers.

"...this makes no sense, there wasn't any training facility on the inside, they have to train outside..."

The ashen-haired girl hissed in annoyance.

Then, once she entered the recreational forest - the only area inside the protective fence that had trees...

"...uuuugh...!"

"...!"

Mika heard someone's voice, and she instantly put on a helmet that was a part of the armor set.

With having her face and hair out of the way, she was fully camouflaged.

"...?"

Yet she still ended carefully tiptoeing towards the source of the sound.

"...uuu... uuugh... uuu...!"

"???"

The closer Mika got the clearer it was to her that the owner of the voice was crying.

"...uuuuu...! uuuu.... ughugh...! uuughuu...!"

And not just crying, but literally bawling their eyes out!

Mika managed to somehow localize the crying person, she pressed her back against the trunk of a large tree that stood between her and them and slowly leaned to the side, peeking while feeling a mixture of anxiety and curiosity.

"...uuuu..."

It was a small Sloth soldier.

Must have been a recruit.

From Mika's position, she could only see the left profile of them, but it was enough to figure out that it was a girl, since she took off her helmet and put it down beside her, so that she could be able to wipe her tears

But her tears wouldn't stop flowing.

The recruit looked around nine or ten years old and had long light hair that she braided in a not very practical but cute way.

"...uuugh...! uuu..."

The girl sobbed, sniffled, and wiped her eyes with her left hand.

"..."

Mika made a sour expression, even though she has found one of the recruits that she sought, it wasn't in a situation where she could just ask about the training grounds.

*crack*

"WHO'S THERE?!"

"...!"

At the slightest sound, the crying recruit has flinched and tensed up defensively, with her eyes still red and puffy.

That reaction made Mika flinch, even though she definitely wasn't the one who has made the sound that alarmed the other girl.

So she decided to stay put.

"Recruit 93-F, there you are! Your squadmates have asked me to come to look for you since you've missed the morning meal."

...which turned out to be the right decision, since the person who actually made the noise showed up with a soft expression.

It was...

"Bruiser 97-F, sir?!"

The recruit 93-F flinched and turned away, doing her best to hide the tears.

"Yes, yes. It's me. A fellow -F. Why are you here alone and crying? This place is meant for group recreation activities."

The boy tried to crack a joke but it didn't really land properly.

"Your squadmates are worried."

He added.

"Sir, it's alright, you don't have to lie about the reason..."

Recruit 93-F sobbed lowering her head.

"I messed up during the morning drills, again, and got punished... because of my poor performance my squad will miss out on sweets for a sixth week in a row... my squadmates must really hate me by now. They wouldn't ask you to look for me.

She sniffled and explained.

"Don't say that, the squadmates are like a family."

Bruiser 97-F tried to either cheer her up or at least comfort the child, but it didn't looked like his words have the effect he was aiming for.

"Then this family hates me. It's not like it's a new thing for me anyway... uuugh..!"

Recruit 93-F wiped her tears and shrugged her shoulders.

"What exactly happened...?"

Bruiser 97-F asked.

"Uugh..."