There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 44

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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 44.
“Why are you asking that, senior?”
“Aren’t you frightened?”
“I’m a coward, sure, but… is there something behind me right now?!”
“No, that’s not what I mean.”
Benessa’s expression was complicated—somewhere between a frown and bewilderment.
She pressed the quill pen down more heavily and asked her question.
“What kind of situation would require crossing the Aurelia Sea without even being able to retrieve a key?”
“Well, that would be… being chased by someone, wouldn’t it?”
“Exactly. Which means Raven does the kind of work that requires preparing for situations like that. And you’re not even worried?”
Ah.
That was the problem—I’d only thought of it as excellent benefits.
I was used to living as someone constantly hunted, but normally that would be terrifying.
“Come to think of it, you’re right…?”
I blinked a few times as if I’d only just realized, then laughed.
“Come on, why would a day like that ever come? Besides, Dimart told me something back in the Underground Prison.”
“What did Dimart say?”
“That Raven never abandons one of their own. If I’m ever in danger, the other seniors will help me!”
My carefree answer left Benessa momentarily speechless.
But a moment later, laughter flickered across her calm eyes beyond her glasses.
“That’s true.”
The tension in her grip on the quill pen dissolved.
I twirled the feather to smooth the slightly split tip, then signed my name one last time on the documents for opening a vault at the Lombardi Bank.
“All done, senior!”
“You can go now.”
“Thank you!”
I bowed and left the document storage room, committing to memory what was written on the papers.
‘Lombardi Bank, Luman Territory Branch, Safe 6221.’
***
Ding, ding.
A clear, delicate bell chimed on the gentle breeze.
I was lying on soft grass.
A massive tree cast its shadow across my face.
The sunlight filtering through the bright green leaves was so beautiful.
Ding, ding.
“Helena.”
Between the bell chimes, a young boy called my name.
His voice came from somewhere up in the tree.
When I tilted my head back slightly, I saw bare feet dangling from a high branch.
“Mm?”
“What do you want to do when you grow up?”
“Grow up? How do you become a grown-up?”
To my foolish question, the boy didn’t mock or embarrass me.
He simply answered in a flat, toneless voice that didn’t match a child’s.
“You have enough birthdays.”
“I see. Then I want to just lie here all day and never study.”
Not having to do boring, difficult schoolwork!
The thought alone made me happy, and giggles spilled out.
“But it might get a little boring, so I’ll play in that lake too!”
“You can’t play in the water.”
“Why not!”
“You might die if you’re not careful. I’ll float a boat for you instead.”
“Okay, I like that!”
“And I’ll hang a swing from the tree.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
The boy answered readily.
“I’ll give you everything you want. So promise me, Helena.”
“My mother said you shouldn’t make promises carelessly.”
“Promise me.”
“Okay, but what am I promising?”
Instead of answering, the boy dropped down to my pillow.
But I wasn’t startled at all.
It happened every day.
His voice, now much closer, reached my ears.
“Promise that when you grow up, even if I give you a boat and a swing and everything else, you’ll stay by my side here.”
“That’s all it takes?”
“Yes. Just being by my side here.”
I laughed, holding my belly.
“Silly! Of course I’ll be here!”
Every time I rolled across the grass, the bell chime followed along with me.
Ding, ding.
Between the bell’s ringing, the wind’s whisper, and my own giggling, the boy’s cool voice wove through.
“You have to keep that promise, Helena.”
***
Ding! Ding!
“Oh, you startled me.”
I’d been lost in thought about last night’s dream when I suddenly heard a similar sound and spun around.
The culprit was a crude brass bell hanging above the wooden door.
Every time a customer opened and closed the door to the restaurant, it would shake and ring.
Ding! Ding!
“Was there always a bell on that door?”
It must be useful for the staff working here, but the sharp sound was starting to grate on my nerves.
The bell in my dream had been so clear and luminous.
I glanced at the rusty bell above the door once, then gulped down the drink in front of me.
“When are they even coming?”
Today I was supposed to treat the Action Squad seniors to dinner.
They’d been pestering me endlessly about when I’d finally spend my stipend, even though I’d received it so long ago.
Exhausted by the whining of those large, rowdy men, I surrendered and agreed to buy them dinner before tonight’s shift started.
“They said to come to Yanik’s place by six.”
I pulled out my pocket watch to check—we were already fifteen minutes past the agreed time.
“I’m so tired I could die, honestly.”
I should’ve slept another thirty minutes before coming out.
“Sigh.”
Never mind, never mind.
My lack of sleep wasn’t the Action Squad’s fault.
Lately, childhood memories kept surfacing in the form of dreams, leaving me restless at night.
Though I wasn’t even sure about that.
Like all dreams, it could just be a product of my imagination.
But for some reason, I had a hunch it was a fragment of a forgotten memory, so I let myself believe it.
“Is it because I’ve been living too comfortably?”
Is that really it?
For thirteen years at Wickets, I lived a precarious life every day for revenge.
Aside from missions that left blood on my hands, I couldn’t even remember when I’d last done training intense enough to leave me gasping for breath.
It was fine when I was the youngest in the Action Squad.
After all, the plan was always to lie low for a few years anyway.
But things were different now.
‘The way they keep having me open vaults, life in Raven doesn’t seem like it’s going to be easy.’
Maybe I needed to start training again so I wouldn’t be killed by a blind blade.
I was still pondering what to start with when it happened.
Thud.
“Ack!”
“Jake?”
Startled by someone grabbing my shoulders from behind, I subdued them on instinct—and the person now sprawled across the restaurant table with his arm bent was none other than Jake.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!”
“Ow ow ow, my shoulder. What made you jump like that?”
“I was lost in thought for a moment… Does your shoulder hurt badly?”
“No! It’s fine!”
Jake answered loudly, his pride wounded, and sat down beside me.
He didn’t look fine.
“Wow, rookie! You’ve got some moves!”
“Looks like someone learned Self-Defense back in the day?”
Hubert and short-haired Bono, who’d just arrived with the smell of stale tobacco, teased and laughed.
“A little hero who even takes down seniors!”
“Hey Jake, isn’t your shoulder dislocated?”
“I said it’s fine! Look!”
Jake waved his arm dramatically to prove it.
He shouldn’t move it like that.
I bowed my head apologetically once more.
“I’m really very sorry.”
“That so? Then I’ll order something expensive?”
“Of course, order whatever you’d like.”
Once I nodded, the seniors grew excited about “Jake’s sacrifice being repaid by treating his stomach well.”
“Ugh.”
Where was my head at?
I didn’t even notice someone approaching.
As I rubbed my dry face and bleary eyes, Bono, who’d already finished ordering, asked me a question.
“You look more tired than usual. What’s up?”
“I didn’t sleep well last night.”
“No matter how much you like to play, you need to get proper sleep. Or you won’t grow tall.”
Hubert chimed in as well.
Though there was one thing I needed to correct.
“It’s not because I was out playing.”
“Come on, the rumors are already all over the place—what else are you hiding?”

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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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