With a small duffel bag slung over his shoulder, Ethel stood outside the Central Administration Building.
He hadn't brought much.
Just a few changes of clothes, some toiletries, and a water bottle.
After taking the elevator to the tenth floor, he was immediately greeted as he approached the reception desk.
"Good morning. Are you the new Lost One?"
Ethel nodded.
"Let's see..."
The receptionist pulled up his file on the computer.
"Third Division."
Thank goodness.
Anything but the Second Division.
The thought of working under Sot every day was enough to make him consider turning around and leaving.
"Here's your temporary ID."
The receptionist handed him a card.
"It grants access to the fourteenth and fifteenth floors. Once your permanent ID is ready, you'll also be able to access floors sixteen through nineteen, where the First and Second Divisions are stationed."
"Please report to the Third Division Captain on the fourteenth floor."
"Have a nice day."
Back in the elevator, Ethel noticed that things had changed.
Yesterday, every button above the fourteenth floor had been locked.
Now, the buttons for the fourteenth and fifteenth floors were illuminated.
The elevator doors opened onto what looked more like a lounge than a military facility.
Several groups of people were chatting comfortably on sofas scattered throughout the room.
Stepping out, Ethel glanced around.
He wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to do next.
Should I find the captain first?
Completes were celebrities in every city.
The kind of people everyone could recognize at a glance.
Following the image in his memory, Ethel searched for a tall woman with long aqua-blue hair and gentle, downturned eyes.
Apparently, he lingered for too long.
Several people began looking his way.
One of them, a woman sitting closest to him, stood up and walked over.
"New recruit?"
she asked with a friendly smile.
Her short silver hair was distinctive enough that there was no mistaking her.
"I'm Yinbing."
"Vice-Captain of the Third Division."
"Concept: Extinction."
"Nice to meet you!"
Ethel instinctively snapped to attention.
"I'm Ethel! Reporting for duty today, ma'am! My Concept is—"
"Whoa, hold it!"
Yinbing hurriedly raised both hands.
"Don't tell me your Concept yet."
"It's tradition."
She bit back a laugh.
Only then did Ethel realize he'd unconsciously adopted the posture he'd imagined soldiers should use when greeting their superiors.
Laughter immediately broke out around the room.
"You don't have to be so stiff."
"Everyone in the Third Division is pretty friendly."
She grinned.
"...Maybe a little too friendly."
As if on cue, a crowd immediately surrounded him.
A bald man with a broad jaw enthusiastically thrust out his hand.
"I'm Abby."
"Concept: Lock."
"There's no lock in the world I can't pick."
"...Except the lock on a woman's heart."
A tall, skinny man beside him sighed.
"You really couldn't keep that to yourself?"
"What?"
Abby hooked the black-haired man under one arm and began grinding his knuckles against the top of his head.
"Ow! Hey! Cut it out!"
After finally wriggling free, the man rubbed his head before looking at Ethel.
"I'm Lyler."
He pointed to himself.
"Lost One."
Dark circles hung beneath his eyes, and a lip piercing completed his permanently exhausted appearance.
"All right, that's enough."
A middle-aged man with a graying beard stepped forward.
He carried himself with the calm confidence of an older brother.
"Let's not give the rookie the impression we're all lunatics."
"Orc."
"Force User."
That was his entire introduction.
Then everyone else began introducing themselves.
Name after name washed over Ethel until they blurred together.
Seeing the increasingly overwhelmed look on his face, Orc chuckled.
"Don't worry if you can't remember everyone's names."
He pointed toward Yinbing, Abby, and Lyler.
"Just remember these three."
"They'll be on every mission with you."
"The captain, the three of them, and you will form a permanent five-person squad."
"The rest of us are Force Users."
"We rotate between assignments."
"But it's nice if you get to know everyone!"
"Yeah!"
"Exactly!"
Before anyone could continue, Yinbing clapped loudly.
"All right, everyone!"
"Training starts soon."
"Back to whatever you were doing!"
"Aww..."
"All right!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
After the crowd dispersed, Ethel finally noticed a young man with dark navy-blue hair still standing close behind Yinbing, doing everything he could to make himself invisible.
Yinbing glanced over her shoulder.
"Monet, why are you still hiding behind me?"
It was Monet—the Lost One with Concept: Truth, whom Ethel had met the day before.
Now, however, he looked as if he wanted the floor to swallow him whole.
"I-I'm... really sorry about what happened last time!"
The apology came out in one hurried breath before he immediately retreated behind Yinbing again, his slight frame disappearing completely behind her.
"You two know each other?"
"Yeah."
"Sot was the one who brought me in."
"...I see."
Although Monet had exposed him as a Concept Wielder, Ethel didn't hold it against him.
Even without Monet, Sot would have found another way to uncover the truth.
Yinbing was quiet for a moment before asking without any warning,
"Do you hate him?"
The question was so direct that Ethel couldn't decide whether she was refreshingly honest... or simply lacked a filter.
"No."
"I don't."
Yinbing turned toward Monet.
"He says he doesn't hate you."
"R-Really?"
"Really."
Only after apparently confirming the answer with his Concept did Monet cautiously peek out from behind her.
"All right."
"You should get back to work."
"We'll talk another time."
"Okay!"
"See you later, Yinbing!"
Monet skipped away with noticeably lighter steps.
Yinbing smiled.
"Come on."
"I'll show you around."
They headed down the hallway on the right.
Through the glass walls, Ethel could see a spacious room filled with exercise equipment. Orc was inside supervising Lyler, who was struggling through a set of dumbbell curls. His skinny arms trembled so violently that they looked ready to give out.
"This is the physical training room."
"We've got pretty much every piece of equipment you could ask for."
"So this is for ordinary strength training?"
"Or training while reinforcing your body with Force?"
"Both."
"But only when you're using the equipment."
She looked at him curiously.
"You know the difference?"
Ethel nodded.
"You've trained before?"
He nodded again.
"You can reinforce your entire body?"
"I can."
Yinbing let out a low whistle.
"Well, that certainly makes things easier."
"Were you planning to join the Corps all along?"
Ethel pointed farther down the corridor.
"Is that the Concept training room?"
"No."
"That's the Force training room."
"It's where we practice techniques that rely on Force reinforcement."
"The walls have all been specially reinforced."
Ethel unconsciously picked up his pace.
Yinbing had to jog a few steps to catch up.
Ahead of them stood several heavy white doors of different sizes.
One of them displayed an IN USE sign.
"Looks like Abby's training."
"In combat, physical conditioning and Force reinforcement are equally important."
"You have to strike a balance."
"If your body can't withstand the amount of Force you're using, you'll injure yourself."
"But if you only have physical strength without Force..."
"...you're just an empty shell."
Yinbing led him past several more doors, each one a different size, suggesting the rooms beyond varied just as much.
"The hallway beyond here leads to our living quarters."
"Most Concept Wielders stay here."
"Would you be okay living here?"
"That's fine."
"Good."
After passing the last row of rooms, they eventually returned to the main lounge.
"That about covers everything."
"Any questions?"
"Where's the captain?"
"Upstairs."
"She has her own room."
"The Concept training room is up there too."
"So she's training right now?"
Yinbing shook her head.
"No."
"She's probably still asleep."
"She usually doesn't wake up until noon."
"...Ah."
"Looks like she's up."
Almost on cue, the elevator doors slid open.
A tall woman with long aqua-blue hair stepped out, yawning as she stretched.
"Morning, Yinbing."
She rubbed one sleepy eye.
"And who's thiiis?"
"The new recruit."
Yinbing replied.
Ethel stepped forward.
"Captain."
"My name is Ethel."
"I'm the new Lost One assigned to the Third Division."
At those words, the drowsiness instantly vanished from the woman's eyes.
Oenone studied him carefully.
"A new Lost One?"
"Yes."
Yinbing frowned.
"I'm certain a transfer notice was sent to you."
"Oh, that?"
Oenone waved a hand dismissively.
"I threw it away without reading it."
"Captain!"
Ignoring the protest, Oenone raised a single finger, silencing Yinbing before looking back at Ethel.
"That's because..."
"That notice was wrong."
"...Wrong?"
"You're Ethel, aren't you?"
"Yes."
A trace of unease crept into Ethel's expression.
He had no idea where this conversation was going.
"Wait."
"How could the transfer notice be wrong?"
"Oh, it was."
"The mistake was pretty obvious."
"...What mistake?"
Oenone smiled as casually as if she were deciding what to have for dinner.
"Ethel wasn't supposed to report to the Third Division."
"He was supposed to report to the First."
Silence settled over the room.
No one spoke.
Ethel tilted his head, wondering if he had somehow misheard.
Beside him, Yinbing stared at her captain with an expression that clearly said,
What kind of joke is this supposed to be?
Oenone simply smiled back at Ethel, as though she had said nothing more significant than what she planned to eat that evening.
Oenone smiled brightly.
"Our little Ethel should be reporting to the First Division, not the Third."
Silence filled the room.
No one spoke.
Ethel tilted his head, wondering if he'd somehow misheard what she'd just said.
Yinbing stared at her captain, her expression practically screaming, What kind of joke is this?
Oenone simply smiled back at Ethel, as though she'd just commented on what they were having for dinner.
Yinbing was the first to break the silence, her voice full of exasperation.
"Please don't joke about something like that."
Oenone's smile never wavered.
"Bing, I'm not joking."
"But... the First Division doesn't recruit anyone..."
There were simply too many things that didn't add up. Even so, Oenone's expression remained unchanged, and that only made Yinbing's frustration grow.
"Then explain."
"I will. But first..."
The smile faded from Oenone's face, replaced by an unusually serious expression.
"Yinbing."
"This is Level Two classified information."
"You don't have the necessary clearance."
"I'm going to have to ask you to step outside."
"...Huh?"
The sudden order caught Yinbing completely off guard. It took her several seconds to realize she was actually being dismissed.
"...All right."
"Then you'd better tell me what's going on afterward."
With a flick of her silver hair, Yinbing turned and walked away without another glance.
"Come in."
Oenone opened the door to an empty training room and gestured for Ethel to enter.
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