SDMA 18

Chapter 18

Chloe was drawn toward the bulletin board as if bewitched.

Task List – Merit Points
Dining Hall Duty — 1
Food Waste Disposal — 1
Trash Collection in Assigned Area — 1
Public Restroom Cleaning — 1
Public Shower Cleaning — 1
Dorm Room Cleaning — 1
Mold Removal on Old Building Walls — 1
Laundry & Drying — 2
Parade Ground Maintenance — 2
Instructor Break Room Cleaning — 2
Storage Room Organization — 2
Document Delivery — 2
( … )
Food Supply Inspection — 3
Armory Supply Sorting — 4
Ammo Box Transport — 4
Night Guard Assistance — 4
Outer Perimeter Patrol Support — 5

[Mission Notice]
Mission Name: Minefield Inspection & Mine Re-installation in the Wasteland
Reward: 10 Merit Points
Recruitment: 15 cadets
Application Period: 09.01–09.07
Mission Date: 09.10
※ Interested cadets must apply to Instructor Crawford.

[Mission Notice]
Mission Name: Outer Trench Construction
Reward: 20 Merit Points
Recruitment: 30 cadets
Application Period: 08.31–09.10
Mission Date: 09.15–09.16
※ Apply to Instructor Crawford.

The moment she saw the endless list of tasks and mission postings, Chloe instantly understood why the upperclassmen never left campus even after training hours.

Earning merit points was ridiculously simple.
Do chores or take missions. That was it. In other words—slave labor.

For a moment, Chloe wondered if she’d mistaken this place for a military academy when it was actually a prison.

She thought she had already grasped how insane this place was over the past few days. There was no semblance of an academy here—just a den for delinquents. They ignored imperial law and even created their own currency, these so-called “merit points.”

But to discover that they were using that currency to squeeze every drop of labor out of cadets—that made the back of her head go numb.

They were nobles’ children, sure—spoiled brats cast out by their families—but they were still nobles. And here they were, having their labor ripped from them dirt cheap.

When she finally recovered from the shock and looked again at the task list, something odd caught her eye.

“Why are the 2-point tasks easier than the 1-point ones?”

There was no doubt—1st-years were barred from certain tasks. There had to be hidden rules and absurd restrictions. She could bet every merit point she owned on it.

After the incident during Tactical Warfare class, where she nearly wagered imperial commendation rights, Chloe vowed never again to casually stake something she couldn’t afford to lose.

If she slaved away for four years here only to graduate without even receiving a commendation, she would die of frustration before she ever reached the battlefield.

“So the only way to find out which tasks we’re not allowed to do… is to get beaten up by upperclassmen?”

The 86th Class, who treated the 87th like defective livestock, were not likely to give helpful hints out of kindness.

As Chloe walked past the mission postings, something on the edge of a shabby open field caught her attention. The wooden boards of a fence lay scattered everywhere, completely shattered—except for a few decent-looking planks mixed among the wreckage.

Judging by the destruction, this was no work of human force. No matter how strong someone was, there was no way a person could pulverize wood like that. It had to be wild animals.

After three grueling days of scrounging for rope, the sight of those intact boards looked almost heavenly.

She dashed toward them, grabbing the end of one plank—only to stop when she felt someone pulling hard from the other side.

A familiar pair of golden eyes stared straight at her.

Their gazes clashed midair.

“I grabbed it at least 0.1 seconds earlier. And in the Drakenian Empire, there’s a saying—‘the first to seize owns.’”
Altair smirked smugly, shrugging.

Chloe wasn’t about to give in.

“What nonsense, Targen? Are you dreaming? I claimed this plank first.”

Their polite smiles clashed like drawn blades.

“Don’t forget I took care of your partner during basic shooting drills. Consider this paying off the debt, Winslet. Let’s call it even if you hand that over.”

Altair stroked his chin as if polishing a gun barrel, casually playing that card.

Chloe let out a stunned laugh. So he helped her back then just so he could claim repayment later?

Even loan sharks had more shame.

“Who told you to slap a debt on me? I don’t turn favors into business transactions. I never thought you owed me anything in the first place.”

Altair’s grip tightened slightly. His golden eyes fixed on the plank, unreadable.

“If we split this plank in two, wouldn’t that prove who its rightful owner is?”

“…This isn’t a baby, Targen. And even if I gave it up, there’s no impartial judge here who’ll recognize my noble sacrifice and award it back to me.”

A half-sized plank was useless. She needed a whole one.

Chloe sighed, then brought out her trump card.

“Fine. Let’s make a deal. Give me the plank, and I’ll teach you how to earn merit points.”

“If it’s that damned labor exploitation system, I already know it.”

Altair looked unimpressed. Chloe clicked her tongue internally.

She tried again.

“We can’t build a shelter with just a few planks anyway. Why don’t we leave these materials as shared property until we gather more? That way, we don’t end up fighting over them later.”

As long as they shared a temporary shelter, ultimately one of them would get to use the planks—but there was no need for him to realize that now.

More importantly, she needed to prevent Altair from snapping the board in half right this second.

Altair paused. Something flickered in his eyes.

“Shared materials, huh… Not bad.”

Agreement reached, the tension evaporated.

“Let’s hope we both honor it,” he said, lifting the plank onto his shoulder and walking off first.

Chloe scooped up some broken pieces too—who knew when they might come in handy.

When they returned to the campsite, Altair deviated from his usual sleeping spot and laid the plank next to Chloe’s. Then he casually lay down beside it, lacing his fingers behind his head.

The campsite was spacious enough that Chloe’s squad didn’t even notice the extra intruder.

Surprisingly, despite insisting the materials were shared, Altair didn’t interfere when Chloe drove her plank deep into the ground to form her shelter’s structure. His intentions were a complete mystery.

A moment later, Chloe shouted to the 87th Class:

“I know how to earn merit points! Go check the bulletin board behind the main building!”

If she’d spoon-fed them the method, maybe they’d stop eyeing her belongings. She wanted one peaceful night of sleep.

If—after all this—someone still tried to steal her merit points tonight…

‘I’ll fix that rotten brain myself.’

Her lavender eyes gleamed dangerously as the cadets rushed off toward the bulletin board.

If she kept losing sleep guarding her points, fatigue would kill her long before any battlefield did. In Northport, not having stamina was the same as going into war without a gun.

Tonight—she would set an example.

After evening roll call, silence fell over the campsite.

Chloe lay with her uniform jacket draped over her, eyes closed, breathing steady—sleeping, or so it appeared.

Rustle—

Soft, cautious footsteps approached.

A hand slowly slid across her uniform, lifting it carefully. The pockets were empty. The hand moved to the inner pocket—nothing there either.

The thief tried to put the jacket back—only to find the ground where Chloe had lain completely empty.

Confused, the thief froze.

Sssk—

An arm snaked around his neck from behind—Chloe’s arm. It tightened like a serpent.

The thief went limp within seconds.

Dragging the unconscious body away, Chloe’s expression hardened with grim resolve.

Let them understand the warning this time.

A vigorous morning should have begun with the blaring wake-up bell.

Should have.

“H-Huh?! What is THAT?!”

Instead, the 87th Class woke to someone screaming in terror—far earlier than the bell.