'... There are so many good things in this world.'

'Morning is welcome, and the sunshine is warm. The breeze is cool. Black tea is sweet, blankets are cozy, and food delights the tongue.'

'People live together. With bodies weary from labor, they sit across from one another in restaurants, exchanging jokes as they pass another exhausting day. They get to know strangers and become friends, return home, raise their children, and go to sleep. In the quiet of night, only their breathing can be heard. I have experienced all of this.'

'But there is tragedy in this world. Anna was attacked and badly injured. People who threaten even officers roam the streets, organizations tear at one another in the darkness, and one citizen went to sleep like everyone else, but never opened his eyes in the morning. Somewhere beyond my knowledge, still more people must be dying.'

'Some accidents are unavoidable, but many tragedies can be prevented. In particular, evil that spreads chaos must be swiftly dealt with. The Military State's Shadow, and the magician. Outlaws who conceal their identities and disrupt society.'

'To fulfill my duty. For his sake and Anna's, if nothing else.'

'I will eliminate them before my life comes to an end.'

'... That was what I intended to do.'

Back home, the captain weighed down her rising emotions with a stone.

Firmly, insistently. A hard, heavy sense of duty pressed down on her heart. That heart, which had swelled with restless feelings heedless of its owner's wishes, gradually settled. The heat drained from her head, and reason returned.

She looked considerably calmer. Maybe it was time to clear up the misunderstanding.

"Captain, you're not upset over what I said to get us out of that situation, are you?"

"..."

"Maybe it's because Neru was born an animal, but she won't stop yapping unless you stick some meat in her mouth. I didn't have a choice. So please find it in your generous heart to..."

"Negative."

"What? Negative to what?"

Without answering, the captain looked around the room.

The bed and sofa, the lamps and lights. Even the rug covering the floor and the bathroom door.

After letting her gaze rest on each item, she looked at me with firm resolve.

"I request your cooperation."

"Oh, right. You did say that, didn't you? But I keep business and personal matters strictly separate. Go ahead. I'll hear your terms and what you're offering in return, then decide."

I'd even done something like fixer work once. Cooperation? Sure. As long as you paid the appropriate price.

As though she'd expected that response, the captain nodded without hesitation and spoke.

"I wish to locate the criminal organization known as the 'Military State's Shadow' and the outlaw known as the 'magician.'"

"What?"

Oh. That wouldn't do. I was the magician.

Was it a petty criminal's instinct? An officer was standing right in front of me, looking for me, and I froze like a mouse before a cat. Uh, I couldn't help with this. Helping would mean plugging a restraint suit packet into myself.

Anyway, why this all of a sudden?

"Why are you looking for them?"

"I am a soldier. What reason does a soldier need to monitor and arrest criminals?"

"Well, true, but..."

Wasn't she on leave until she returned to headquarters?

If the condition was to return within two weeks, wasn't the proper thing to enjoy two full weeks of civilian life, then stroll back on the last day? Why was she trying to work while on leave?

And on arresting me, of all things!

"I need a local collaborator who is well versed in the geography and current situation. I also require a contact who can relay my information on my behalf should something unavoidable happen to me."

"You want me to do it?"

"Affirmative."

"I don't mind cooperating, but I don't work for free. I collect a suitable fee for whatever I do. My motto is, 'You get what you pay for.'"

In short, I was telling her to pay up. The captain accepted this without objection.

'I know. That is the kind of person you are. Even in the bottomless pit, you would demand payment for the smallest favor.'

Heh. At least she knew.

This was why it was important not to let people take you for a sucker. Build a reputation, and they'd think about payment all on their own.

"However, before that, I have a proposal for you."

Oh? She wanted to negotiate? With me, a mind reader?

Well, then. Let's see. How high was she prepared to go? Hazard pay, labor, the cost of providing a base of operations. Hmm. This would take a fair bit of money.

Maybe I'd take a little peek at her proposal... If the terms were ridiculous, I'd reject them outright.

I was just about to read her thoughts.

"Marry me."

"What? What did you say?"

What? What did you say?

Even the ability to read thoughts was no better than deafness if you couldn't understand what you read.

While I stood dumbfounded, the captain held her removed cap to her chest and spoke earnestly.

"I am well aware that this is sudden. However, please take the time to hear me out."

Forget just listening. I intended to read her thoughts and dig through her memories, too. What possible chain of reasoning had led her to say that? Was this really how I was getting the first marriage proposal of my life?

'You discovered my identity as a communications officer. I should have immediately taken my own life or shot you dead, but throughout our journey across half the Military State, I took no action and merely watched. This is negligence on my part, for which I have no excuse.'

Ah. This pattern again.

"I am deeply indebted to you. You saved my life, provided me with lodging, and accommodated me in every way. In contrast, what I have provided you with..."

'Not killing you... would hardly count as payment. According to the rules, I should have taken my own life. In a sense, thanks to your help, I have gained a reprieve of several days to adorn the end of my life...'

"...is nothing."

At least she knew.

But if she understood so well, what was this sudden nonsense?

"It's commendable that you recognize that, but what does it have to do with anything? Are you saying I should be grateful you're willing to marry me and spend my life waiting on you?"

"Negative."

The captain straightened her posture and raised her head. Her eyes were as blue and transparent as the sky, so clear that I scarcely felt any need to read her thoughts.

"At present, a mysterious criminal organization and outlaws are running rampant in the Military State's districts numbered in the teens. For your sake and that of those around you, I intend to restore order and wipe them out."

You, of all people...? I'd have said it, but she'd already demonstrated far too much ability.

She didn't even need anything else. If she went to communications headquarters and passed along the right information, the organization would be annihilated. With golems hidden everywhere tracking them, an ordinary criminal organization could never escape.

But if she went to headquarters with her identity compromised, she'd only be forced to commit suicide. She seemed intent on gathering as much information as possible first.

... Or dying in a fight with a criminal organization.

"You're doing a good thing."

"It is my rightful duty. I will investigate the outlaws who torment the Military State's citizens and use every means available to eliminate them. However, these criminals resort to violence even against officers. My safety may be threatened during the investigation. They acknowledge neither laws nor rules, so it is possible that I may be murdered."

Apparently, she still had no intention of living. The captain spoke calmly even of her own death.

"This is both a request for your cooperation and repayment for all the help you have given me. Should I die, I will need someone to convey my information and report my death to the authorities."

"Oh. So..."

I was starting to understand why marriage had entered the conversation.

"If you die on duty, there's a death benefit. Since the money would go unclaimed otherwise, you're telling me to marry you and collect it?"

"..."

"Am I right?"

"... Affirmative."

'That is all I can give you. I have no immediate family, so the money would otherwise remain unclaimed. I would like you to receive it, at least.'

She was going to die anyway.

With that as her fundamental premise, the captain intended to investigate and bring down the forces behind the attack on Anna and the unrest among the citizens.

Along the way, her desire to repay me had bounced around until it suddenly popped out as a marriage proposal.

"It should not be a bad proposition for you, either. If I report that you actively cooperated with me in Tantalus, some of the charges against you could be cleared."

"The Military State, clearing charges? That's the least believable thing I've ever heard."

"It is an indisputable fact that you helped me return to Amitengrad. If I emphasize that fact, my superiors will not find much fault with you."

"I'm Level 0 trash. They might arrest me before they get around to finding fault."

"That will not be a problem. Upon marrying a Level 3 citizen, the spouse is temporarily granted Level 2 citizenship. You need only clear all suspicion while you retain Level 2 status."

I wasn't particularly dissatisfied with my life as a Level 0 petty criminal, but the exemplary captain wanted me to return to the respectable side of society.

"Clear away all your crimes and begin a new life with sufficient wealth. That is the payment I offer you."

By marrying you, that is.

Uh, I appreciated the sentiment, and honestly, the money too. But wasn't this a bit much?

"Um, do you really have to die? Couldn't you do what you can, then back off when your life seems to be in danger?"

The captain shook her head firmly.

"I must fulfill my duty."

The ironclad rule of communications officers: keep your very existence absolutely secret.

Having just witnessed the power a communications officer possessed, I could understand it to some extent.

Without moving from her seat, she could monitor an entire district, take in all sorts of information at once, and organize it instantly.

Synchronization magic, which conveyed state secrets and operations to other communications officers or military units, was unimpressive on an individual level, but tremendously powerful when used as a component of the state. Sending headquarters' orders over vast distances without delay or expenditure meant that the entire Military State could move as nimbly as a single beast.

Long-range communications, information control, surveillance, and management.

Communications officers were the Military State's neural network. They must never be exposed.

Damage to any other part would remain localized, but a problem with the communications officers would shake the enormous nation that was the Military State. Because of the nature of Synchronization magic, a problem affecting one officer would spread throughout the country. The Military State had no choice but to handle them with care.

Accordingly, the Military State hammered their importance and duties into its communications officers, practically brainwashing them.

Just like the captain before me.

"So you're saying you're almost certain to die."

'Negative. Even if survival is possible, I do not intend to survive. Even if I have a spouse, the secrecy surrounding communications officers must be maintained.'

The captain said something different from what was in her heart.

"Affirmative. It is that dangerous."

I understood what she meant.

In the end, though I'd shown her plenty of life's pleasures during our days together, that alone hadn't been enough to keep her alive.

In that case...

"... Captain. Wouldn't they consider that a sham marriage aimed at collecting the death benefit?"

"Your concern is unfounded. It is an unwritten rule not to criticize a marriage hastily arranged just before an unmarried soldier is sent into mortal danger."

The reason was simple. To boost morale.

Death meant a death benefit. In the Military State, where you couldn't even leave an inheritance, the death benefit paid to surviving family members was an excellent means of making soldiers willing to face death.

Soldiers unprepared to die were a rabble. Thus, the Military State actively encouraged marriage.

To increase the population and military strength, and to raise soldiers' morale at the same time.

"I am merely exercising that right."

I understood her intentions. Her resolve, too.

There was almost nothing for me to lose. All I had to do was stamp the marriage papers. No children, and soon no wife, either—just a death benefit. Wasn't this pleasure without responsibility?

This was the Military State. There was no Holy See, so no one would point fingers at me for getting divorced, either.

"Your death benefit, and a chance to clear all the charges against me. It's not a bad proposition for me, but... there's something I want to know."

"Please ask."

Enter a sham marriage and collect the benefit as payment.

On the surface, it seemed a rational proposal. But there was one question.

Had Captain AB, that diligent and exemplary Military State communications officer, really made this request purely for financial compensation?

Had the interview with Neru influenced her somehow? Or had meeting people throughout the streets changed something in her?

If I dug very, very deep, I thought I might find out.

But not yet. The captain had yet to gain a life for herself.

I'd leave it alone a little longer.

"This agreement is strictly business, right? It means nothing beyond the death benefit I'll receive?"

"Affirmative."

The captain responded immediately. There wasn't a trace of hesitation, as though she'd prepared her answer beforehand.

"Well, I do accept payment in kind or promissory notes, too."

Somehow, agreeing to this felt like it would make me the lowest scumbag alive, but what did I care?

She'd offered first. My only crime was accepting.

I held out my hand for a handshake.

"All right. I'll cooperate, Captain."

"I look forward to working with you."

The captain clasped my hand with a clear, innocent smile.

'... It should be all right. To be just a little greedier, one last time.'

'As a communications officer, I possess all manner of information. From secrets no one should ever know to recipes for canned beans. I know most of the knowledge and information accessible within the Military State.'

'But there is still so much I do not know.'

'The pounding I feel when held in his arms, or the embarrassment that makes my face burn scarlet. The regret I feel whenever I think of my death. And the longing for those I will never see again. I still do not know what these things are.'

'... Might I understand if I get married? If it changes people so dramatically, if it gives soldiers the courage to march into mortal danger... will it change me, too?'

'I have heard that you should marry someone you wish to spend the rest of your life with. In that case, I am making quite a good marriage.'

'He will not know how I feel. That is fortunate.'

'There is no time left, so I cannot have children. But still, I have... gotten married before I die.'

'I must be the happiest communications officer of all.'