There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 53

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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 53
My patrol zone changed?
Just like that?
“This is the first I’m hearing of it.”
“Damn, the Guard Brigade really knows how to handle things.”
The seniors seemed displeased with the newly assigned sector, their mood darkening noticeably.
They’d said that once you were assigned to a zone, it never changed until your patrol shift ended?
Confronted with a situation completely at odds with what Jake had told me, I ventured carefully, “Um, seniors. Is something wrong? Why the sudden change?”
“How am I supposed to know, damn it!”
“Your squad’s going to Sector 4 over there, so head on out.”
At least one reasonably kind senior pointed to the eastern forest and answered.
“Yes, understood! Thank you for your hard work!”
I bowed with a smile plastered on my face and shut the Guard Post door.
The moment I turned around, I began muttering.
“Of all people, I’m the easiest mark.”
I couldn’t even protest to the Guard Brigade when they arbitrarily reshuffled patrol zones.
Fortunately, Sector 4 wasn’t far from the Guard Post I’d originally been assigned to.
Taking no chances, I opened the door cautiously this time, and finally saw familiar faces.
“You’re going to leave just me behind?!”
“We’re practically on top of each other—what do you mean leave you behind?”
Bono scratched his ear and answered without a care.
At least Hubert gestured for me to come in quickly.
Of course, his reasoning was that the cold air was getting in.
“But why did it change all of a sudden?”
“Oh, you know how it is. Some guy friendly with the Guard Brigade probably bought them a drink and pulled some strings.”
The other two seniors nodded at Bono’s words.
Their matter-of-fact attitude actually left me bewildered.
“You’re saying they’d reshuffle patrol zones just for that?”
The Guard Brigade was responsible for maintaining order throughout Nox Castle and ranked above the Action Squad.
So they had every ability to shuffle patrol zones, but “a friend’s request over drinks” was absolutely not a valid reason.
“What’s this about that blasted alcohol….”
“Well, we’re not doing too badly. Our patrol area got wider, but it’s manageable.”
“I heard Wigen got pushed all the way into the residential district?”
“Ha! That senior deserves some real hardship!”
The seniors snickered, saying the area was prone to so many incidents he wouldn’t get a moment’s rest.
“On the way here, I noticed there’s nothing but forest around this area?”
“Exactly. It’s manageable. Though when it snows, this zone gets more cursing than anywhere else.”
Jake struggled with one hand to retie his boot laces while answering.
It looked like the arm I’d injured still hadn’t healed.
“Here, let me help you.”
“Ah, this is why I love being a senior!”
…Maybe I should tie both his laces together.
Anyway, night patrol in a snow-covered forest?
Just thinking about it made my feet feel like they’d freeze solid.
“Come on, let’s get moving.”
“Rookie and Jake, you two head north and back.”
The fact that they were sending us north suggested the southern sector was the easier route.
But as Jake had said, the newly assigned zone wasn’t so bad.
It was still autumn, so we could even afford to stroll leisurely under the moonlight.
Then, bright light flickered through the otherwise dark forest path.
As we drew closer, I realized it was light spilling from the windows of a large building.
“Looks like there’s a trainee who hasn’t gone to sleep yet.”
“A trainee? So that building is the Training Facility?”
“Yeah, pretty intimidating-looking, isn’t it?”
The Training Facility, built in isolation deep within the dark forest, was unsettling for more reasons than one.
Perhaps because I’d heard so many unsettling stories about it, or perhaps because of its genuinely sinister appearance as Jake said.
“It looks like a fortress.”
The squat, towering walls and deep moat made passage impossible without someone lowering a bridge for you.
This design was effective at keeping unauthorized outsiders out, but it was equally suited to keeping people locked in.
‘So the inside really is that hellish?’
The sound of Gisela Rot grinding her teeth was still vivid in my ears.
“Anyway, there’s nothing to check around the Training Facility. Let’s move. We’ve still got a long way to go.”
“Right, let’s go.”
I took one last look at the Training Facility before following Jake without hesitation.
But we hadn’t gone far when my pace began to slow.
“What’s wrong?”
“Um, this area feels a little familiar.”
“The whole Outer Castle Forest looks like this, so that’s probably it.”
“I don’t think that’s it….”
Even as I followed the designated patrol route deeper into the forest, I couldn’t stop glancing around.
The sense of familiarity wasn’t fading—it was growing sharper.
“Didn’t you say you went to Crow Tower before? You probably saw it then.”
“Ah, yeah, that was around here.”
Hidden by the thick trees, Crow Tower wasn’t visible now, but if we walked a bit further, we’d reach the hill where it stood.
I nodded in agreement at Jake’s words.
But my gaze kept drifting toward the approaching fork in the road.
Not to the right that Jake had mentioned, but to the opposite path.
“Senior, what’s down the opposite path?”
“Beats me. I’ve never been down that way either.”
I stopped at the fork, staring down the left path.
The narrow trail was shrouded in darkness, but everything was clear to me.
“Doesn’t it feel like there’s a huge tree down there?”
“Suddenly saying something like that? It’s a forest—of course there are trees.”
No, not just any tree.
An umbrella of a tree that shelters the whole sky.
A massive, ancient tree so large that several grown men couldn’t encircle it with their arms.
And on the thickest, sturdiest branch stretching toward the sunlit side, there’d be a small swing….
I can’t.
“I’ll be right back. Wait here.”
“What? Hey, Rookie! It’s dark—where are you going alone, damn it!”
“Just a moment! I think I heard something!”
A sound. Right.
I’d just spilled out an excuse on the fly.
It was only natural to check if you heard something strange during patrol.
My earlier hesitation, which had weighed heavily when I left the fork, vanished with each step forward.
Tap-tap! Tap-tap-tap!
Like ink on a quill fading away, it wasn’t long before I was running through the dark forest path.
I didn’t have time to ask myself why I was doing this.
It just felt necessary.
Around this corner, where the endless path abruptly bent, surely….
“Ah.”
There was nothing.
I’d expected a massive tree waiting for me, sunlight filtering through its leaves.
Instead, there was only a round clearing.
“…Well, of course.”
I had no idea what I’d been expecting.
Despite having run such a short distance, exhaustion flooded through me.
Or was it disappointment?
I smiled bitterly and brushed aside the strands of hair tickling my forehead.
“Suddenly a clearing out here?”
I resumed walking, feeling sheepish about my brief stop.
Grass had grown up to my knees, withered and unsightly as autumn set in.
Wading through spiky weeds that pricked my shins, I stepped into the clearing—and felt immediately ill at ease.
Which made sense.
I’d never been here before.
“Why is there only forest here?”
It was a clearing that didn’t belong in the dense woods.
As I looked around, things I hadn’t noticed before caught my eye.
“The Outer Castle Wall is incredibly close…?”
Not far away, I could see the outer boundary of Nox Castle—the Outer Castle Wall itself.
In other words, crossing that wall meant stepping into the Outside.
Difficult without equipment, surely, scaling such a high barrier….
“Psst!”
What was that artificial sound?

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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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