I Thought Your Friend's Sibling Wasn't a Girl? - Chapter 59

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

Chapter 59
* * *
Why is he like that, honestly.
Olivia, her heart pounding chaotically as always, deliberately let herself scowl to mask it.
The spot where Aiden’s hand had brushed her burned hot—a sensation that only finally subsided after she’d taken several more deep breaths.
Panya and Bennett’s eyes, noses, and mouths had all gone perfectly round. Their reactions were so raw that Olivia felt even more flustered.
“Um, that is—wouldn’t it be possible to have them let go? I think we need to talk about this together.”
“Tsk. Let go and come here.”
“Thank you!”
“Make one more ridiculous mistake like that. Next time, I’ll bury you upside down in the Training Ground floor for real.”
Bennett, oblivious, added a comment—”He’s saying the same things Olivia says”—only to earn another bump on his forehead for it.
In any case, she felt good. Through this mission, she’d grown somewhat closer to Aiden.
If things continued like this, maybe all those talk of a broken engagement could be resolved much better than expected. Hope bloomed in Olivia’s chest.
“So. What else do you think we should investigate?”
“Ah… the thing is, Zeta’s account itself seems a bit strange. Even if it was raining that day, how could there be absolutely no witnesses?”
“Right? We’ve been suspicious about that the whole time!”
Bennett and Panya expressed vigorous agreement. They borrowed a pen from Olivia and added notes beneath.
“And this part is the strangest. The man is supposedly Leon’s brother!”
“Leon’s brother should be Raven.”
“Exactly! The real brother disappeared, and a fake brother took his place—that’s what people are saying. Honestly, it’s absurd. At this point, we should probably doubt Zeta’s memory itself.”
They were right. That day, the retired mercenary called Zeta who’d caught up with Bennett and Panya had seized them and spun an incredible tale.
Of course, it wasn’t something to dismiss. But neither could they simply accept it. The story was far too strange for that.
“One person swapped out so perfectly that no one felt anything wrong—that’s what you’re saying. Could such a power even exist in the world?”
According to his account, the villagers lost all memory of the man from the day he disappeared onward.
While the three of them chattered on about various theories, Aiden remained silent, lost in thought.
His blue eyes quietly felt their way through empty air. The gaze seemed oddly distant, as though it stretched not into the present but into some far, forgotten past.
“Senior.”
“Ah, right. What did you say?”
“…Could something make that kind of thing possible? A Magic Device, perhaps?”
Aiden now acted as if he’d returned to reality. His focus was perfectly sharp again. His mouth twisted into a dry laugh, corner pulling up.
“Well, it might be possible.”
“Really?”
“Though I’d prefer the conclusion to be that Zeta’s lost his mind and was spouting nonsense, if I’m being honest.”
Additionally, the villagers testified that they venture deep into the forest during the day to gather an Offering. This aligned with the account given by Raven, the client’s brother.
Missing livestock, disappeared Dorothy, and a “missing person.” As for the last one, its truth remained unknown, but Olivia felt deeply unsettled.
Raven’s sharp, fresh face surfaced in her mind. The more she tried to recall it, the more her features seemed to blur ever so slightly.
‘Who is lying.’
She’d only meant to find one puppy, but the matter kept growing. Surely some serious incident was entangled in this.
When Olivia swallowed nervously, her mouth dry,
Aiden clapped his hands and shifted the atmosphere.
“All right, looks like we’ve covered the basics. Anyone else have something to add?”
“No.”
“Then out you go. You need to train, don’t you?”
“…I’m sorry?”
Aiden had now completely recovered his usual expression—face full of displeasure toward the world, eyes roving like a hyena’s, hunting for flaws in all three before him. He was their “senior” in every sense.
“The Operation Briefing will begin in three hours. There are other members rotating into the operational zone right now, so don’t worry.”
“Ah, then should we first report to the commander—”
“What are you saying?”
“Yes?”
“Absolutely not. Go train, I said.”
The instant Olivia mentioned “commander,” Aiden sprang up, eyes blazing.
“Fledglings spouting off about reports. Don’t you ever dream of finding the commander’s office alone again.”
“But we investigated together too. And if I can’t go alone to the commander’s office…are you saying I should bring a guardian?”
“That’s actually an excellent idea. No, wait. From now on, if you get summoned, just ignore it. You must come with me. Especially you! Olivia, especially you.”
More nonsense. Olivia let Aiden’s words go in one ear and out the other.
“Stop thinking strange thoughts and go train!”
“Yes.”
“Are you actually listening to me?”
“Of course. I’m all ears.”
Aiden was her fiancé and a person she was very, very fond of, but did that really mean she had to heed his every word?
Olivia brushed off his words and ushered her two classmates out of the Conference Room.
“Remember this. You absolutely cannot visit alone!”
Bang. Aiden’s cry was swallowed behind the thick door.
At any rate, he was certainly a strange person.
The corner of Olivia’s mouth rose in a pout, then fell back into place in an instant.
* * *
Aiden stubbornly held off on the Operation Briefing until after the three finished their training. It was an obsessive thing to do.
Once training and briefing were done, evening was already approaching.
It meant there wasn’t much time left before the operation began.
Preparations for the stakeout were completed swiftly. As Olivia and Aiden had already confirmed, the impatient mercenaries chose to act immediately the moment they heard the plan.
The mercenaries’ operation was today. So even if they’d learned a few new facts, there was no time to dwell on them or investigate deeper.
“Has heaven itself torn open?”
“My thoughts exactly…”
Whoooosh.
Just as someone had said, after a day of cloudy weather, thick sheets of rain began pouring down heavily by the time they arrived near the Inn where the mercenaries were staying, obscuring their vision.
-Damn it, rain again? Who brought such cursed weather!”
-It’s you, Sena. Every time we go on a mission together, the weather’s like this.
-Don’t be ridiculous, Luca. The weather’s been like this every time I’ve gone out with you!
-Both of you, stop gossiping over comms.
When it rains, hiding traces becomes difficult. A wet, muddy ground greedily clung to every trace a person left behind.
Especially to be tailing someone for the first time in weather this poor.
The three students’ faces had gone grim.
“Why are you so worried? That’s why you call them trainees.”
Aiden breathed out reproach toward them. But the three heard none of it.
“Senior. Is Raven really not Leon’s brother? Then where is Leon’s real—”
“How should I know. Just be satisfied that we have someone tailing them. If anything suspicious comes up, they’ll contact us right away.”
“What if…what if there really is a missing person? And they’ve already suffered something terrible—”
“Panya. Try to calm down, will you?”
“To be a Knight, I have to learn to be cold-blooded… Senior, I think I still have a long way to go. My hands won’t stop shaking.”
“Commander. Is it really right for me to take these fledglings on an operation? Really?”
Scratch.
-Aiden. Seems you’re forgetting something—on your first operation, you were even worse than this, not better.
“You seem to have confused me with Sena.”
-What? Aiden Oblivion. What did you just say?
“In any case, understood. Raising these fledglings into proper fighters is also a senior’s true duty.”
-Now, wait a minute, let me finish—
Click.
Aiden deftly snatched the Magic Device from the three students’ ears.
“…There’s no need to listen to that kind of nonsense.”
“That was about to be the most worthwhile thing I’d heard all day.”
“Want me to add training on discerning what’s actually worthwhile? You want that?”
“I misspoke.”
Aiden had ruthlessly silenced the students using his authority. A shame, truly.
But Olivia laughed, a small snort escaping her.
‘As if that would stop me from hearing.’
Olivia had her ways.

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