There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 35

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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 35.
“I’m Elza. Elza Baidens.”
“I’m Mina Koller!”
“I’m R-Rene Berk.”
Elza, Mina, Rene.
I rolled their names around in my mouth for a moment before bowing my head slightly.
“Thank you every time. I’m eating well.”
I’d only meant to express my gratitude with a simple greeting, but they burst into bright laughter as if it were the funniest thing they’d heard.
The cheerful sound was pleasant to hear, and a smile spread naturally across my face in response.
“But I feel terrible just receiving every time. I’m really not talented at cooking, and…”
As I scratched my cheek while speaking, all three waved their hands dismissively.
“Oh, it’s more than enough for us if you just enjoy eating what we make, Rookie!”
“That’s right. Especially Rene—she thinks about the Rookie all day. A few days ago she even went looking for you without telling us! How sneaky, going alone like that!”
“You came looking for me?”
I had no recollection of it whatsoever.
I tilted my head in confusion, and Rene seemed a bit flustered before explaining.
“I had a spare moment in the morning, and… it wasn’t anything important! I just got some delicious chocolate and thought maybe you’d like some, so I stopped by your quarters. But nobody seemed to be in the room, so I came back.”
“I see.”
“The Action Squad must be keeping you pretty busy these days, Rookie.”
“Not really, though…”
When I stared at her, Rene hurriedly averted her gaze.
Elza, watching our exchange, asked with a suspicious look.
“Rookie, don’t tell me you’ve got a girlfriend?”
At Elza’s words, Mina and Rene’s faces fell.
“A girlfriend?! No! Well, it’s not that it’s impossible, but still…”
“We should… we should wish for the Rookie’s happiness…”
Though I hadn’t even answered yet, all three were looking troubled and already wishing for my happiness.
At this rate, rumors might start spreading that “the little hero’s fallen in love.”
There’s no more interesting gossip than someone else’s romance, after all.
“No, it’s nothing like that. I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Then where were you?”
It was a sharp question from Rene.
She’d only said “a few days ago,” so I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when she’d come looking.
Besides, if it was the morning, that would’ve been when I was holed up in the Nest Storage after finishing Action Squad night duty.
I answered with what felt like a wronged expression.
“I was probably in my room.”
“But there was no answer even when I knocked…”
“I sleep very deeply. Once I’m out, I’m really hard to wake up. That’s why my seniors often scold me for it.”
At my excuse, Elza and Mina got visibly excited and started whispering to each other.
“…sleeping a lot is such a cute quality…”
“…we have to mention it at the meeting…”
My hearing was sharp enough that I caught every word of their murmur, awake or asleep, but I pretended not to notice.
It was their business anyway, and besides, I had no idea what they were even talking about.
“Then, Rookie.”
Rene, who had been standing apart from the conversation, spoke to me.
“Next time you visit my room… could I see you then?”
“Oh my, oh my.”
“She’s lost it.”
Elza and Mina widened their eyes and looked at Rene, but they didn’t stop her.
Rather, they seemed to be cheering on their friend for her courage.
“Hmm.”
I paused for a moment before shaking my head.
“That would be difficult.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to come often! You need your rest too.”
Even as Rene’s face showed clear hurt, she didn’t back down.
Her desperate attitude was enough to make the other two feel sorry for her.
“But if you’d just open the door for a moment…”
“I’d prefer that you didn’t enter the Action Squad quarters.”
“…So the Rookie finds me bothersome.”
Rene slumped, her voice subdued.
Her appearance was enough to make me want to just tell her to come by anyway.
Especially considering all the cookies I’d received from her over time.
But I spoke in a calm, sincere tone.
“The Action Squad quarters aren’t safe for someone like you to be coming and going from. It’s awkward to speak negatively about the organization I belong to, but…”
I trailed off, then cleared my throat and continued.
“Right now there are no female members in the Action Squad. So the quarters are full of nothing but men, and… anyway, I don’t want the people who’ve been kind to me to have a hard time because of me.”
“Rookie…”
“That’s so touching…”
Elza and Mina covered their mouths in amazement.
It was the reaction I’d been aiming for.
I felt embarrassed and ruffled my hair, then locked eyes with Rene’s brown pupils and asked.
“You understand, don’t you, Rene?”
“…Yes.”
“And the same goes for you two. Let’s meet in open, bright places like this, at the end of shifts, from now on.”
Finally, Rene was nodding.
Only then could I smile with satisfaction.
***
After parting ways with the three women, I headed straight to my second shift.
“I’m back.”
The phrase that other ravens always said upon entering the Nest had already become second nature on my lips.
“Is anyone here?”
The Nest was unusually quiet today.
Wondering if someone might be lying around like before, I walked through the office space and checked every corner.
“Really no one at all.”
I hadn’t encountered the man named Konrad since the first day.
He’d disappeared after I came out from studying in the storage, so I still didn’t know what he even looked like.
But Noah Benton was usually always at his post—almost like he was a permanent fixture haunting this place.
Today his desk sat empty.
“So I’m alone.”
I confirmed that the door connecting to the reception room was still closed, then moved quickly toward Gisela Roth’s desk.
Unlike Noah Benton’s messy workspace littered with used teacups and scattered writing implements, her desk was kept in neat order.
A stack of documents carefully filed caught my eye on the polished surface.
I thought it was a stroke of luck.
I’d been bored studying nothing but basic knowledge every day, so this was welcome.
But before my hand even touched the file, I lost interest again.
“…Well, I should have known.”
I couldn’t read the title at all.
The documents were written in code, not the imperial tongue.
I’d thought it was odd that such documents were left out so openly.
With a spark of hope, I examined them more closely, but it wasn’t a code I recognized.
It wasn’t even the cipher used by the Nox Intelligence Bureau.
It appeared to be something the ravens had developed on their own.
With enough time and effort, I could have deciphered some of it, but unfortunately I had neither.
Disappointed, I quietly withdrew.
Then I moved toward a nearby window and looked outside.
“This is a perfect vantage point.”
I could see the plaza in front of the main building at a glance.
I’d been hoping to catch sight of Gisela Roth, but instead Deccan Gold and Dupon Clansher happened to come into view.
Appearing in the plaza around this hour seemed to be part of their routine.
“Are they receiving a report?”
Beside the two men, aside from their aides, a man was standing and saying something, but even from a distance the atmosphere didn’t look good at all.
The expressions on Dupon Clansher and Deccan Gold’s faces were icy.
Deccan Gold, who had lowered his head for a moment, turned his back without a word.
Then, when Dupon Clansher made a gesture, men wearing the distinctive crimson-trimmed uniforms of the Enforcement Division appeared and dragged the man away without mercy.
“P-please, spare me—!”
The man’s cry echoed for a moment, then was swallowed by a gag that had been shoved into his mouth.
‘How foolish.’
He should have tried to escape while he had the chance.
Once gagged, fleeing becomes much harder.
I clicked my tongue and was just pulling back from the window when—
“What are you doing there?”
Gisela Roth, who had just entered the Nest, spotted me and asked.
Her expression hardened as she approached with quick steps.
Snap—!
Her first action was to sweep the documents off the desk and shove them into a drawer.
Even though she’d written them in a code I couldn’t read anyway.
“Something interesting happened in the plaza, so I was watching.”
“Is that so?”
After closing the drawer, she recovered some of her composure and let out a hollow laugh.
“So you have that much free time to watch people being dragged off to the Underground Prison?”
“That’s not it. I was waiting for you, Roth.”
“For what.”
What else would it be.
I met her brown eyes, which still held a hint of wariness, and answered.
“I want to take a test.”

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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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