There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 25

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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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Episode 25.
Chapter. 4
The Annex Building stood directly beside the Main Building, which housed Killian Knox’s office and conference rooms.
While the Main Building concentrated the major departments and administrative offices of key personnel, the Annex served as the workspace for those who supported them.
With its large kitchen, it was primarily used by employed staff—cooks, butlers, maids, and stable hands—so there was always a steady stream of people moving through.
9:00 a.m.
I arrived at the front of the Annex Building exactly as the note had instructed.
Dong—dong—
At that precise moment, the clock tower in the compound chimed the ninth hour.
“But where exactly is this zelkova tree?”
No matter how thoroughly I searched the area around the Annex, I couldn’t spot a zelkova anywhere.
I approached some maids who were just leaving the building and asked them.
“Excuse me, is there a zelkova tree somewhere near the Annex?”
“A zelkova?”
The maids tilted their heads in confusion.
“I don’t think there are any zelkovas in the compound. Do you know of any?”
“No, I don’t really…”
“I see.”
Could the note be a fake?
Now that I thought about it, the handwriting didn’t match Killian Knox’s either.
His script was refined and flowing, whereas this message had a certain forceful quality to it.
I decided to go along with it and asked the maids one last question.
“What about a clearing? I heard there was one near the Annex.”
“Oh, there’s a clearing, yes. We store so much equipment there.”
“Could you tell me which direction it’s in?”
“Well, there are actually about three of them…”
Just as the maid I was talking to trailed off, the woman on her right nudged her arm gently.
“That zelkova—could it be the one by the back gate?”
“The back gate? Oh, the copper plate!”
“The copper plate?”
When I repeated her words, the maids nodded eagerly.
“There’s a large copper plate hanging on the wall of the warehouse building near the back gate.”
“You know how they engrave woodblock prints? Well, the image carved into that plate is a zelkova tree.”
That must be it.
I bowed slightly to the maids in thanks and asked for one final confirmation.
“So it’s the warehouse next to the back gate?”
***
Despite hurrying, the Annex Building was so large that it took considerable time to reach the back gate.
“If that’s all they had to say, why not just tell me to come to the warehouse?”
As I grumbled my way to the clearing, I began to understand why this place had been chosen as the meeting point.
The Annex was constantly bustling with people, but this area was notably sparse.
“Is that her?”
Standing in front of the warehouse with the large zelkova copper plate was a woman.
Dressed in the plain maid’s uniform common throughout Knox, her face was entirely unfamiliar to me.
She appeared nowhere in the intelligence on Knox’s key personnel that I’d accessed through the Wickes Information Unit, and I’d never encountered her since arriving at Knox as Lunelk Aines.
A complete stranger, and likely the one who’d left the note in the money pouch.
‘She could be the intruder herself.’
With both caution and an unavoidable spark of curiosity, I approached the woman with quick steps.
Simultaneously, I conducted a discreet assessment.
‘Woman, thirties, short-cut hair dyed soft pink, bright brown eyes. A small mole near the corner of her mouth. Taller than average height, but lean build; surprisingly small feet. No visible scars.’
Memorizing the distinctive features—large and small—of someone I was seeing for the first time was an old habit of mine.
My necklace was the only artifact in this world capable of perfectly altering one’s appearance through Transformation.
It was my father’s invention—a genius in Mana Engineering.
But Disguise was as common in this field as a casual stroll after dinner.
Remembering the exact features of everyone I encountered was my way of preparing for that threat.
Because disguise could never be truly perfect.
And the moment my eyes met those of the woman by the copper plate.
‘Well, well, look at that.’
I could tell she was ‘reading’ me just as carefully.
She seemed quite intrigued by the situation.
As I closed the final few steps between us, the maid-clad woman spoke first.
“The note?”
“Yes.”
I kept my response brief—an intentional choice.
I had no reason to offer unnecessary information to a stranger.
As expected, she seemed pleased by my guarded demeanor, raising the corners of her mouth as she introduced herself.
“Gisela Roth.”
Her voice was rather low and husky for a woman.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Gisela Roth. I’m Lunelk Aines.”
“I know. The little hero Rookie from the Action Division.”
“…That’s true about the Action Division.”
That worn-out “little hero” business again.
The nickname had already faded from use within the Action Division itself—no one called me that anymore—yet here she was, deliberately bringing it up.
Gisela Roth seemed amused by my obvious displeasure.
She didn’t strike me as someone with a particularly good temperament.
“Let’s see.”
Gisela Roth, nearly my height, began circling me slowly.
Hands clasped behind her back, moving in smooth spirals, at ease.
Unlike before, this time she wasn’t bothering to hide her scrutiny.
Sight is something intangible, neither visible nor touchable, and yet.
I could feel exactly where her gaze was passing.
‘But she won’t figure it out.’
Lunelk Aines was just a young man barely past his majority.
While his basic aptitude was decent enough, he hardly possessed exceptional talent without proper training to make him stand out.
From the moment I’d changed my appearance to Lunelk Aines in that shabby roadside inn at the Border, I’d conducted myself accordingly.
And no one—not a single soul—had ever seen through to the true self beneath: Helena Morton.
Not even Killian Knox.
Yet the woman now standing before me opened her mouth and spoke.
“The captain brought you in directly, I hear. You’re quite unusual, aren’t you?”
“Am I?”
“Yeah. It’s entertaining, for once.”
Unusual and entertaining?
…She didn’t seem to have figured anything out.
After thoroughly unsettling me with her scrutiny, Gisela Roth threw out a few words and then abruptly turned away.
“Follow me quietly.”
***
Following Gisela Roth, I arrived at a small, dilapidated building beside the large warehouse with the copper plate.
Broken flowerpots, rusted garden tools, and wooden crates of unknown contents.
The space was packed with all manner of broken and damaged things, though the buried furniture beneath—beds, dressers, and the like—suggested it had once served as someone’s living quarters.
“Close the door.”
Following her order, I shut the barn door, which looked ready to fall apart at any moment yet made no creaking sound whatsoever—an oddity I noted.
I did a quick check to ensure nothing inside was visible from outside, and when I returned, Gisela Roth spoke.
“That’s good attention to detail. Securing your surroundings is the bare minimum, understand?”
Finally, someone who understood the importance of securing a perimeter!
I was pleased enough to want to shake her hand, yet simultaneously irritated.
‘Isn’t that a rich thing for an intruder to say?!’
This morning, I’d left my room well before the scheduled time.
Under the guise of taking a walk, I’d circled the area around the Action Division Dormitory, examining the ground.
After three full circuits, I finally spotted it: a single footprint obscured by fallen leaves.
That footprint, left outside rather than on any building, was positioned exactly where it would land if someone had jumped from my dormitory window.
It had been dark at night, and with so many fallen leaves, it was a trace the intruder had failed to erase.
And as we’d made our way here, the footprints Gisela Roth left as she walked ahead matched that very impression.
“I won’t teach you twice, so watch carefully.”
With that threat, Gisela Roth walked toward the fireplace, which was thick with soot and dust.
She then pressed several flat stones—laid there to prevent any embers from falling onto the wooden floor—one after another in sequence.
When the fifth and final stone sank slightly, the large fireplace suddenly swiveled, revealing a narrow passage beyond.
‘Who was it that obtained the Knox mansion’s blueprints for me, anyway?’
This was already the second time I’d encountered a secret passage not shown on any map—the first being the one behind the portrait of the First Duke.
One of my former subordinates at the Wickes Information Unit must have cut corners on their work.
‘And I didn’t even let them slack off.’
Before joining my information unit, those fools had lived without discipline or respect for authority, drunk on their own cleverness.
I’d whipped them into shape, molding those beasts into something resembling human beings.
‘So which one is it?’
As I ran through the faces of my former subordinates, trying to guess who needed retraining, Gisela Roth turned back to me and spoke.
“It’s dark, so be careful.”
What?
So she did know how to say sensible things.
“And if you trip and push me, I’ll send you tumbling down after.”
…Of course she would.
“I’ll be careful, thank you.”
Regardless of what came before, my current position was that of a mere subordinate who had to endure even threats like these.
Nothing more than a new recruit.

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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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