Troops

“Well done, everyone! Good job on suppressing the goblins. I suppose you could say this is the end of the tutorial.”

Charlotte clapped her hands and emerged from behind the wall.

Drained from the fight, the class listened to Charlotte’s words in silence.

“Ahem. Although you’ve managed to protect the church, which is our base, the battle will never end if you simply continue to fight here. The monsters are highly prolific and continue to reproduce rapidly.”

Charlotte smiled before she continued.

“About 300 kilometers north from here, there is a castle hidden in the desert. If you can defeat the demon overlord in that castle, the war will end, and we can return you to your planet. Now then. Better get going!”

The church was quiet; no one so much as complained due to exhaustion.

However, an authoritative voice broke the silence.

“I will now split you into groups of five! When I call your name, step to the front!”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

It was Tsukasa.

I sprang to my feet together with my worn-out classmates, and we raised our arms in salute.

“Section One.

Commanding officer: Sergeant Major Tsukasa Kohinata.

Second-in-command: SSG Daigo Oyama.

Troops: Corporal Yuichi Ando, Sergeant Shinji Makabe, and Corporal Nagisa Otomine.”

The four members called to join Section One stood before Tsukasa.

Each of them possessed offensive, supportive, defensive, and healing skills, respectively.

Tsukasa seemed to be dividing people up so that each unit was balanced.

“Section Two.

Commanding officer: SSG Homura Kisaragi.

Second-in-command: Sergeant Eiko Yazawa.

Troops: Corporal Ai Munechika, Sergeant Hiroshi Honmoto, and Corporal Kanako Hayase.”

Five new members stepped forward.

Tsukasa appeared to be assigning ranks according to the potency of their skills.

Each unit included one SSG to prevent any one team from overpowering the others.

“Section Three.

Commanding officer: SSG Yachiyo Kisaragi.

Second-in-command: Sergeant Azusa Seno.

Troops: Corporal Jumpei Nakano, Sergeant Ayumu Negishi, and Corporal Kaname Hashimoto.”

“Section Four.

Commanding officer: SSG Tsuyoshi Wanibuchi.

Second-in-command: Sergeant Kyoya Suzuki.

Troops: Sergeant Kotaro Kato, Sergeant Jiro Sato, and Corporal Hironobu Kume.”

“Section Five.

Commanding officer: SSG Heisuke Todo.

Second-in-command: Sergeant Masahiko Furuhashi.

Troops: Sergeant Sayaka Kondo, Corporal Fujiko Minegishi, and Corporal Nozomi Watase.”

“Section Six.

Commanding officer: SSG Susumu Midorikawa.

Second-in-command: Sergeant Ikuko Soga.

Troops: Corporal Haruka Tejima, Sergeant Shiori Kujo, and Corporal Mayumi Yamaguchi.”

“Section Seven.

Commanding officer: SSG Yayoi Akatsuki.

Second-in-command: Sergeant Fumika Noda.

Troops: Corporal Itsuko Usa, Sergeant Shoko Sasaki, and Corporal Mirai Tokito.”

Sections One to Seven were formed, and only five of us remained.

My name hadn’t been called yet.

“Section Eight.

Commanding officer: PFC Saburo Tanaka.

Second-in-command: PFC Shizuka Nanami.

Troops: PFC Futoshi Moriyama, PFC Chika Kawai, and Private Ryo Izumi.”

I was the last to be called.

However, our unit was clearly unbalanced.

Not only did we not have an SSG, but our group was comprised solely of private soldiers that the other units lacked.

It was evident without asking Tsukasa what this meant.

Section Eight, the unit I had been assigned to, was for those of us deemed unfit for battle.