There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 13

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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 13.
“Ah, the Underground Prison.”
Well, there’s nowhere else a failed assassin would be dragged to.
I caught sight of Jake nodding to himself, exhaling sharply as if thrilled by his own deduction.
The man was well-connected and knew more than you’d expect.
Just then, Jake’s hand—wide as a pot lid—came down on my back again.
“Ow! Why are you hitting me!”
“So what did you see or not!”
“I’m not an animal—use your words!”
“That’s no way to talk to a senior!”
“You’re only ‘senior’ when it suits you!”
The moment I shot back, Jake balled his fist.
‘He’s going for the knuckle-tap.’
I’d taken one once before, not knowing what it was, and it hurt on an entirely different level from a flat-handed smack to the back.
I quickly raised both arms to shield myself. “All right, all right! Yes, an assassin did come in!”
“Really? What kind of lunatic pulls a stunt like that?”
“I don’t know. Whatever he’d taken, he wasn’t in his right mind. Eyes bloodshot, and later he came at us foaming at the mouth.”
“The world’s come to an end, I tell you. The absolute end.”
Jake clucked his tongue like some old man, then suddenly spun to face me.
“But how do you know all this in such detail? Did you see it yourself?!”
“I did. Right up close.”
“Good heavens! You really are a blessing! So the rumor’s true then? Some kid—not even from the Imperial Guard—took down that assassin in a single blow!”
I stepped backward to dodge Jake’s eager face thrust toward mine, nodding as I did.
“Yes, I saw it.”
“Who was it? Tell me! The small hero of the office!”
That painfully contrived nickname—where did that even come from?
I frowned for a moment before answering.
“It was me.”
“What……?”
“Me. I tackled the assassin from behind and knocked him over—not in a single blow or anything, but I did take him down. Though I ended up in the Medical Ward afterward.”
I deliberately left out the parts about the assassin using Barga poison and wearing Wickes’s Assassination Boots.
No good would come from that getting around.
“You? You’re saying it was you, Rookie? The small hero of the office?”
“I don’t know who came up with such a weird nickname.”
And why did they have to add “small” anyway?
Runelk Ains wasn’t particularly well-built, but he wasn’t far from average either.
It was just that everyone in Nox happened to be absurdly large.
Jake especially had a body like a bear, and his thick arms wrapped around my shoulders before hoisting me up like a sack of luggage in one swift motion.
“Let’s go!”
“Why are you doing this! Use your words! Just use words!”
“To the Guard Post—you’re going to tell us the whole thing from start to finish!”
I thrashed my legs, but there was no overpowering Jake in his rhino-like excitement.
“I’m going, I’m going already!”
***
The moon hung in a dreary sky.
The Guard Post, lit up for the night shift, looked even more cramped with the bulky Action Team members packed inside it.
“……So when I opened my eyes, I was in the Medical Ward.”
“Ooh!”
“The Rookie’s amazing!”
The moment I finished speaking, the senior Action Team members drummed the table, slapped their knees, and let out a boisterous cheer.
Despite Nox’s strict military discipline—not a drop of alcohol allowed during duty—their faces were flushed.
“Look, you see these goosebumps on my arm?!”
“I can see them! My whole head of hair’s standing on end!”
Wigen and Hartmann, who had joined Nox several years before Jake, thrust their arms and necks at each other’s faces as they made a theatrical fuss.
Although they seemed free and easy, the other Action Team members—arranged strictly by seniority, some lounging in chairs, others leaning against windowsills—were equally thrilled, listening like children to a heroic tale.
In stark contrast, the actual hero of the story found it impossible to hide my expression of disdain.
‘This is the third time. The third.’
Ever since Jake dragged me to the Guard Post, I’d been repeating the same story three times over, and my mouth was starting to ache.
Whenever I tried to gloss over something out of sheer annoyance, Jake would bark, “Don’t you dare skip the crucial parts!” so I couldn’t take shortcuts.
“Sigh.”
I’d rather endure hellish training.
Here I was, performing like a trained animal for all these people.
I’d never done this even when I came back unscathed after taking down ten assassins from a rival organization in an ambush at Wickes.
‘Being the Rookie is absolute garbage.’
Things weren’t like this in my day.
When a fresh-faced new recruit came aboard, we’d treasure them, look after them properly.
‘Even if they got caught doing spy work, we’d see them home safe and sound.’
I dug up a young face from memory, but it had grown hazy.
All I could recall clearly were the slight frame and lips drained pale with tension.
‘What was that kid’s name again?’
Then Jake crept up beside me and whispered.
“Rookie, let’s get out of here.”
Coming to my senses, I saw the others were still busy talking among themselves.
I’d endured three rounds, but a fourth? That wouldn’t happen.
If they asked me to recount everything from first seeing Green to waking in the Medical Ward one more time, I might actually lose it and rip off a senior’s beard, orders or no orders.
“Hey! Where are you two going!”
Hartmann, ever sharp-eyed, spotted us reaching for the Guard Post door and called out.
“Graf’s supposed to stop by soon to see the small hero!”
That bastard!
Fortunately, I didn’t commit insubordination.
Jake stepped in and smoothed things over with his usual good-natured charm.
“Well, we should at least look like we’re working, shouldn’t we? The Rookie and I will be right out front, so just call us when Graf arrives!”
Then he tugged at my sleeve. “Come on, let’s move.”
“……Yes, sirs.”
I bowed hurriedly and bolted from the Guard Post.
Outside, the other Action Team members sitting around a small fire grinned at me.
“Tough luck, Rookie.”
“The Imperial Guard couldn’t do it, but you did—they’re excited, so just bear with it.”
“……Understood.”
The fresh night air lifted my spirits a little, and I answered with less irritation.
I picked up a stick and poked at the fire idly before asking.
“Are we really going to be all right, though?”
“What? Us?”
“Well, we did let Green through. So I was wondering if we might catch some blowback.”
“Ah, that’s what you meant. We’re fine. If there were going to be consequences, we’d have gotten a formal rebuke by now. No word so far means they’re letting it slide. Bottom line: we weren’t about to stop a guest that Deckan Gold himself had summoned.”
Jake waved his hand dismissively, and the others around the fire smiled at me as if I were endearingly naive.
“The seniors know we’re fine, that’s why they’re teasing you.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“Rookie, you’re more nervous than you let on, aren’t you?”
The seniors’ eyes lit up in unison.
They’d found a weakness worth teasing.
But I looked them straight in the eye, my expression serious.
“Have any of you seniors ever been close to the Duke?”
“How could we?”
“What about Dupont Clansher?”
“Well, I did brush past him once in a hallway when I was running an errand to the Main Building.”
The senior with the short-cropped hair answered sheepishly.
“The atmosphere……man, it was no joke.”
“Exactly. They could have hauled us in for questioning over this whole mess.”
Gulp.
Someone audibly swallowed hard.
“D-don’t say things like that.”
“Just thinking about it…….”
“It’s only because I stopped that assassin that we’re safe at all. If something had gone wrong, none of us would’ve come out unscathed.”
In other words, you owe me your courtesy.
The cheerful chatter from inside the Guard Post grew distant as the space before it fell silent as a grave.
I watched their faces carefully, then poked at the fire like I was just playing with the embers as I spoke.
“So. A place like Nox must have tons of secrets that can’t get out, right?”
“Secrets?”
“Yes. Like this whole thing. Nobody knows what happened to Green.”
“He’s in the Underground Prison, obviously.”
One of the seniors smoking in the corner smiled as he spoke.
“If he’s still alive, that is.”
Everyone laughed as if they’d heard a funny joke.
I laughed along with them, nodding, then pressed further.
“Have any of you heard any interesting rumors going around before I arrived? You seniors have been here a long time, so you’d know plenty.”

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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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