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紅緒に歩みよってきた少尉は、かがんで手をさしのべた。

I don't understand what kind of ～てくる it is. Does it mean that he got closer to her more and more? Or does it mean that he got closer to me, here, like the author wants me to be her to make me feel more involved in the story?

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This sentence means he physically got closer to her, but the event is described from the viewpoint of her. If the viewpoint is him, 紅緒に歩みよっていった少尉は is equally possible.

Basically it's just a matter of the location of an imaginary "camera". It may look slightly more dramatic or subjective than 紅緒に歩みよった少尉は (described from a plain third-person viewpoint), but くる/いく is a very common Japanese subsidiary verb, anyway. Usually you don't have to expect a deep message from the author is contained in it.

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  • If I wanted to say that he got closer and closer to her gradually, wouldn't it be the same? I'm talking about that ～てくる that indicates change.
    – Haragurodanshi
    Jul 1, 2022 at 2:46
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    @Haragurodanshi This てくる just indicates a direction of a short movement (the action of 歩み寄る is probably not longer than a few seconds). If you need to add a sense of "gradually", you need to add ゆっくり, だんだんと or something. てくる sometimes has a nuance of "(for a season, etc., to change) gradually over time", but in this sentence, it doesn't.
    – naruto
    Jul 1, 2022 at 2:49

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