Military encounter!

Simon took a few minutes sitting down to catch his breath, looking at the dancing flames in front of his eyes, "Dragons?" He murmured.

VROOOOOOM!VROOOOOOOOM! The loud rumbles of engines can be heard from the outside, Who would come to this remote place at this time? It's more than one truck.

Only one group of people will respond to this kind of situation, The army, they must have gotten news of what happened and came to investigate! Simon walked to the window to check, his suspicion was right, those jeeps and armored trucks belonged to them!

As he peeked through the window light flashed in his eyes, "Stop right there!!" A soldier screamed as he saw him. Reacting to this in the only way he could, Simon lifted his hand and shouted, "I'm a victim here, I won't resist!" Simon surrendered immediately. He guessed it's better than trying to run away or fight, they are loaded after all...

"Sorry, kid!" The voice of a woman came from behind him, the next thing he knew was the feeling of the ground smashing into his face. The woman tied his arms behind his back. Taking a sneak peek at her, she wore full bulletproof armor with a helmet, what looked like a small machine gun is strapped to her back, a slight blue glow in her eyes.

How did she get here? I'm sure I had the doors locked so monsters can't enter the house at night? I didn't hear anything as well, this woman is dangerous!

BANG! His room door burst open, as the SWAT team busted in, more than six armed soldiers raided his room encircling him.

"Sergeant Dina, We checked the other rooms, nothing stood up, there also no signs of the dead in this house!" Dina just nodded at his report as she signaled to the other to come to take care of Simon.

"My backpack has proof, I just arrived here yesterday evening, the village was already in this state!" Simon assumed they came to investigate what happened, he is trying to prove his innocence or at least make them bring the proof with him.

Dina pressed on him even harder, "Where?" She asked about the location of his proof.

Feeling the pain in his back, Simon had the desire to say something to Dina but he swallowed it. It's gonna be bad of him if he insulted a sergeant of all people.

"Between the desk and the bed, It's the black backpack!" As he said that a solder inspected the backpack before nodding to Dina, seeing that she switched place with another soldier, letting him handle restraining.

"You're definitely better than that gorilla!" It slipped Simon's mouth, Dina gave a him sharp look for a second before ignoring what he said.

"You better watch your mouth, unless you want to be kicked in the face by her! Believe me, I speak from experience!" The soldier restraining his whispered in simons ear.

"Make him stand up! He can't be involved in this!" Dina said after she read a few lings in his magic test paper. He failed and was sent home, this happened yesterday morning and it take almost 7 hours to get here from Esper University!

The soldier helped Simon stand up, his chest was filled with dust, clear scratches on his face from when he was slammed onto the ground, his stat screen showed HP 21/22. I definitely took some damage there! His hands were still tightly tied behind his back.

Dinapproched him, "Free his hands!" Dina ordered the soldier that was behind Simon, with that he pulled a tactical knife and cut the zip tie on Simon's hands.

Finally a bit free, Simon stretched his hands in front of him, he noticed Dina taking off her helmet. She had short black hair, with a painful scar running from her left temple to her hair.

BANG! The next moment Simont felt intense pain in his forehead, the hit came so suddenly he didn't even have time to react. Dina had headbutted him in the forehead dropping him to the ground! HP 18/22

"Tie his hands in front of him! bring him to the truck!" Dina said as she left the room, The soldiers rushed to Simon, not instantly tieing him but they checked his forehead.

"Thank god, she seems to have held back!" one said.

"Sergeant Dina? Holding back? This kid is just lucky!" Another one replied in disbelief.

The soldier who was holding Simon down approached to talk to him. "How do you feel? Can you count how many fingers I'm showing you?"

"Non, Don't make fun of me! What the hell is with that woman?" Simon said in anger.

The soldiers looked at him in surprise, this is the first time someone talked directly after being hit by Sergeant Dina. She can be violent, impulsive, but she cares about her squad.

Simon mistakenly insulted a sergeant, even if she kept quiet about it, if anyone of her soldiers reported what happen Simon could have ended with more than a year in prison! Now with her attacking him, that case would have shifted to her getting just a week of suspended activity if it leaked out!

For Simon, this was for the better, her angry nature also played a hand in her hitting him! so it wasn't completely out of good intent!

In the hallway, Dina scratched her forehead, "That kid has a hard skull!" This was the first in a long time she felt pain when headbutting something.

Dina looked out the window, she took a glimpse of ten fresh graves, It took her some time to link the dots... Her face turned pale, memoirs of her companion that died in wars flashed through her head.

"I guess I should have expected him to be angry! Going through this can be taxing!" She said with a sad face, as someone who lost a lot of loved ones, she can relate to how hard it is to move on!

Simon was then sat in the truck, guarded with two soldiers so he won't run away. In the meantime, Dina and the other scouted the Village looking for any survivors, clues, or hints to the one behind this disaster!

The two soldiers stared at Simon in silence for a while before speaking up. "Your name is Simon, right?" One of them asked.

"Simon Rotgar, and you?" Simon replied as he was getting bored.

"William Bigner, he is Jason Willnuster. Nice to meet you!" The soldier replied, looking at his friend. Jason followed, "You failed the magic Exam? Don't worry about it too much it's not the only way in life!" Jason was speaking from a wide point of view, Even if you weren't Esper you could still get a job albeit it being harder.

"I also did fail that exam, didn't even to get past 4 MP! And here I am, A soldier on duty!" Jason seemed to relate to him, William smiled, "Did you think about joining the military?" He asked, just put the option in front of Simon.

"Now that you mention it since I failed the exam I have to serve the obligatory two years in the military anyway!" With countries fighting over resources, a new policy came into existence, any citizen who failed to become an esper has to serve two years of military training. This was to give them a fighting chance in case a war broke out!

Simon was now seriously considering it, not the two years of training but directly joining the military. On the other hand, he wanted to track whoever caused the disaster in his village, now that he thinks about it! The wound didn't look like that caused by monsters.

Crack! The truck back doors opened and soldiers started to enter. They seem to have finished the investigation. As expected of Dina she sat in the front seat beside the driver while the others were stacked like sardines with Simon.

"We're moving out! Have anything left you to want to take with you?" Dina asked Simon, trying to be a bit more considerate. To her surprise, Simon shook his head, "I have nothing left, let's move on!" He replied looking in the direction of his family graves.

"Move!" VROOM! As Dina gave the order the truck started to move. They are returning to the military base.

Now looking At Dina, Simon started to wonder how did she get behind him in the first place! A single scene came back to his mind, Dina's eyes showed a faint blue glow as she restrained him. An Esper? Blue mana user!

"Sergeant Dina, Are by any chance... an esper?" Simon asked, totally expecting his question to be ignored.

"What's make you think of that?" A surprising answer came from Dina.

Hearing that Simon explained his reasoning, trying to get some answers from Dina, soldiers pretended to not hear them talk, this has made Simon feel uneasy.

"I probably should wear contact lenses then! If that's what gave it out, it will cause us problems in the future!" Keeping one ability hidden is a crucial point in Esper fighting! Indeed, an esper could theoretically learn any magic as long as he has the capacity for it and the corresponding mana color, but the efficiency would be low! Each Esper has a type of magic he is accustomed to and would strive to perfect!

It's like university, you could theoretically learn every subject but it will take countless years so it is best to focus only on one!

"Sadly I failed the exam, do you think a person like me who magic-less can get into the army?" Simon asked.

Hearing this, Dina smiled.

"Magic-less you say? We have to check that out later!" Simon didn't like that smile, it scared him, Dina seemed to suspect something in him!

"Will see, Will see!" She repeated...