I Thought Your Friend's Sibling Wasn't a Girl? - Chapter 57

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 57
“The children’s task should be resolved within the day if we’re lucky, or by the end of the week at the latest.”
“Are you trying to exclude them entirely?”
“Commander. This is real fieldwork now. These students haven’t coordinated with the other unit members yet. Intelligence gathering is enough for them at this stage. The original mission was finding a dog anyway, so confirming the hideout’s location and cleaning up the scene should suffice.”
This wasn’t greed on Aiden’s part. He meant every word of it.
Concealment and Surveillance—and quite likely combat as well. The mission would probably escalate to that level.
Real combat against adversaries was too advanced for the students to handle right now, and from the perspective of the other unit members they hadn’t trained with yet, the students would only get in the way.
Yugin seemed to understand as much; his head nodded slowly.
“We’ll assign people to them. Sena and Nick, Kunta—would that work?”
“Please also attach Gerard and Luca. But have Sena and Kunta assigned to the other group instead of ours.”
“Very well. I’ll also have some soldiers stand by nearby to ensure we don’t let them slip away. I’ll join the operation myself.”
Fortunately, Yugin’s cooperation came without hesitation.
Aiden exhaled, his shoulders sagging with relief. He’d been bracing for a refusal, even to this request alone.
Yugin let out a short laugh at that and gestured toward the window.
“I may be many things, but I don’t throw unit members recklessly into danger.”
“Yet you threw us directly into tasks like this to experience what we actually do.”
“That’s precisely so you’d get a sense of what our work entails. Didn’t you and the other students see that ‘stone’ together?”
“… I’ve confirmed it with Olivia. I’ll brief the other students later.”
“Exactly.”
Yugin nodded as if to say, see?
“So then—what’s your impression of working alongside the students? Not quite as clumsy as you imagined, are they?”
“…”
“I thought as much.”
Something warm had seeped into his voice. Aiden’s head snapped up. Yugin’s gaze remained fixed on the world outside, just as before.
At the students rolling about in the Training Grounds…
‘Or not?’
Was he fixed not on students plural, but on a single person? A warning light flared red in Aiden’s mind.
“Who are you looking at right now?”
“The future of our Lux Knight Brigade?”
“Don’t lie to me.”
Just then, Olivia broke away from her training partners and headed toward where the water flasks were kept. Yugin’s gaze naturally followed her.
“Aiden. I find myself thinking about this from time to time.”
“What would that be?”
“How far someone can go when they make no excuses.”
“…”
“I’ve lived a life full of them.”
Yugin nodded and gestured toward where Olivia was, with his chin.
“Doesn’t it intrigue you how far Olivia might grow?”
“Commander.”
“A commander’s words, those are.”
With that, Yugin closed the window. His tone was perfectly level—merely a pure curiosity a commander might feel, a hopeful expectation regarding a talented junior. Nothing more.
But Aiden hadn’t missed the flicker of emotion Yugin had shown.
It fell short of affection, perhaps, yet it was certainly close to fascination. And such feelings are almost always dangerous. Aiden’s fists tightened.
“Commander. I trust you understand where the boundaries are.”
“Your warning is appreciated. I’m very aware of them myself.”
“… I’ll take your word for it. Then, please provide the support you promised.”
So you shall, came Yugin’s light reply.
Aiden turned on his heel and left the Commander’s Office.
Before the door fully closed, Yugin remained pressed against the window, gazing out at the world beyond. A faint smile played at his lips—gentle as morning sunlight.
Squeak. Thud.
The sound of the door closing was louder than usual. Today, it grated on his nerves.
* * *
Aiden, returning from the Commander’s Office, radiated the sort of ominous atmosphere one might catch from a vengeful spirit.
“Assemble. Now.”
Not only did he cut training short, but an air of displeasure rolled off him in waves the entire walk to the Conference Room.
The three students following in his wake bore the brunt of it, shrinking back without understanding why.
“Did something bad happen to you, senior?”
“No… Everything was fine until a moment ago.”
“Then… did the commander scold you?”
That’s when Aiden’s footsteps halted abruptly.
“I can hear everything.”
“Eep!”
So why was he suddenly acting like this?
Olivia’s mind filled with questions.
Had his request been denied? If not, there was no reason for his mood to darken so suddenly, was there?
Questions abounded, but Aiden wasn’t the type to answer them, so she chose instead to follow quietly in his wake.
She’d find out soon enough anyway.
The Conference Room lay deep within Headquarters. Maps hung on the walls, not a single window in sight—the space felt distinctly enclosed—and books scattered throughout added to the weight of the atmosphere.
Olivia felt somewhat overwhelmed by that heaviness.
“Well then. Shall we hear the fledglings’ intelligence gathering report first?”
Aiden settled into the highest seat, legs crossed.
“Our side’s findings, to start: last night we made contact with what we believe to be a mercenary group and confirmed both the location where the missing livestock is likely being held and our operational plans.”
“You’ve accomplished quite a bit.”
“The Brigade has been requested for support. You two will be accompanied by Sena and Kunta.”
“The two seniors? For what reason?”
“We’ll be conducting Surveillance.”
“Pardon?”
Bennett and Panya’s eyes widened. They hadn’t expected to be assigned such a task so suddenly.
But they hardly disliked it. Joy and excitement had already begun to bloom across their faces.
“Stay focused. Don’t get ahead of yourselves like that.”
“We’ll stay sharp!”
“Good. Of course, we’ll have backup in place, so don’t get too carried away.”
“Even that is enough! We’ll work hard to learn from this!”
Both responded with spirited eagerness.
“The criminals will be captured by the other knights. We’ll focus on the livestock instead—identifying the location where they’ve been keeping them.”
“You’ll extract immediately after confirming that?”
“That’s right. Depending on how things develop, we might push for internal infiltration and scene cleanup, but we’ll assess once we’re there.”
It seemed possible they might wrap up the entire mission by this afternoon or sometime late tonight.
It was disappointing not to participate in apprehending the criminals, but Olivia knew well enough that their skills weren’t yet at the level needed to coordinate with the other knights. So she harbored no resentment.
If it bothered her, she could simply grow stronger. Though they’d be stepping back midway through this mission, she resolved that next time she’d see it through to the end. Her fists clenched with determination.
Aiden surveyed his students, alight with purpose, then reclined lazily in his chair. The students fixed him with bright, eager gazes.
His eyes met each of theirs in turn. Then he smiled and spoke.
“Now then—”
“Yes, senior!”
“Before the briefing, if any of you have something to confess, do it now.”
“…”
“Don’t even think about hiding. It all comes out in the end. You know that, right?”
His smile was razor-sharp. The temperature in the room seemed to have dropped. Olivia rubbed her arms cautiously.
But it was nothing compared to the reactions of the other two students. They’d gone deathly pale.
Olivia thought carefully. What had senior told them not to do?
“He said we’d die if we got hurt—but I don’t see any injured students yet.”
Bennett and Panya’s bodies were indeed unmarked. There didn’t appear to be any visible wounds.
“He said we’d die if we went somewhere dangerous without reporting—but given how well you two showed up this morning, that doesn’t seem to be it either…”
Rochen Village didn’t have anything particularly dangerous-looking about it.
Though such places did tend to crop up unexpectedly, so one couldn’t be certain. Still, both of them seemed perfectly fine. They didn’t look like people who’d entered somewhere dangerous.
So why were they trembling like leaves?
Olivia tilted her head. The smile at the corner of Aiden’s mouth had deepened considerably.
“So then.”
“Gulp!”
“Did your cover get blown?”
“W-well, that is… yes.”
Oh, no.
“So, I trust you’ve made peace with dying by my hand?”
“W-we’re s-sorry!”
“Does an apology fix this? I gave you exactly three orders! Just three! You couldn’t follow three simple rules? Now get over here!”
Bang-crash-bang-boom.
The Conference Room descended into chaos. Olivia methodically retrieved the earplugs that Professor Seton had once gifted her, and fitted them in place.
She didn’t remove them until some time later, after Aiden had finished venting his full fury on the two offenders.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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