There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 61

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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 61.
“Digrave?”
I was already familiar with the Digrave name.
One of the vassal families of Nox, unlike the other aristocratic estates located outside the inner walls, the Digrave clan had a residence within the inner citadel alongside the Clansher family.
That meant they stood close to the Duke, the center of power itself.
They were the family of Cain Digrave, captain of the Royal Guard and known as “Killian Nox’s hound.”
Recently, it seemed he’d been absent from his post, though he remained one of the Seven Executives.
“That’s right. Digrave.”
Maximilian Digrave lifted his chin slightly as he spoke.
He seemed immensely proud of his family name.
But even if the boy’s surname had been Nox instead of Digrave, my response was already decided.
“I see.”
So your name is Digrave—and?
Recalling the family tree that Gisela Roth had made me memorize, Maximilian was Cain’s cousin.
If it had been Cain Digrave himself, the captain of the Royal Guard, that might’ve surprised me.
But the man didn’t look like that at all.
It’d been years since I last saw him; he could’ve grown considerably in that time.
Regardless, my impression upon hearing Maximilian’s name was simply: ‘Ah, so he’s from a wealthy family and never learned the value of things.’
“So you’re all from vassal families then?”
When I asked Maximilian’s friends, they nodded with expressions of sudden realization.
“How you handle your own belongings is none of my concern, but this is public property. From now on, use it and put it back where it belongs.”
“How dare you—!”
Maximilian erupted in another outburst, but I had no time to engage him.
Kessler, an instructor emerging from the Administrative Building, was looking this way.
It seemed time for the written examination had arrived.
“Well, I’m busy. See you.”
As I sprinted toward Instructor Kessler, my mind was consumed by the concern I’d set aside yesterday.
What score would I need to pass?
***
The moment I took the thick examination booklet in hand, I cursed my own complacency.
“……I have no idea.”
Instructor Kessler, who was supervising the written test, lifted his eyes from the book he was reading and glanced at me.
I bowed my head to signal that I understood and would be careful.
But the moment I faced the test again, a sigh swelled in my throat.
‘From the difficulty of these problems, I should be able to figure out roughly what the passing score is.’
I really had no clue.
I calmed myself and scanned through the entire examination from beginning to end, but all I gained was confirmation that the difficulty was extraordinarily high.
There were almost no questions that simply tested whether you knew certain information.
These were the kind that required you to present your own opinion and judgment based on information, along with reasoning to support it.
That was true even for the first problem.
1. Read the following scenario and answer the questions. [30 points]
Trainee B received a Deployment Order from his squad leader: “Wait at the East Guard Post tonight.”
That same evening, one of the Seven Stars passing through the Main Building Corridor called out to B and ordered him: “Come to the Main Building Front Gate immediately.”
B followed the Star’s order and proceeded to the Main Building Front Gate, resulting in the East Guard Post remaining unmanned for approximately two hours.
(1) List all regulations B violated. [12 points]
(2) Present at least two alternative actions B could have taken, and describe the regulations supporting each action. [12 points]
(3) Discuss whether part of the responsibility for this violation could be attributed to the Star. [6 points]
※ Answers citing only one regulation will receive partial credit only.
‘Is this real?’
Were trainees really entering this facility with scores that satisfied the instructors on an examination like this?
I’d have to take back what I’d thought about the trainees I’d met earlier as “greenhorns.”
I still thought their boasting about their family names was pathetic.
But it meant those boys had solved problems this difficult to become trainees in the first place.
“Ahem.”
At that moment, a soft cough sounded.
I looked up, and Instructor Kessler adjusted his glasses and spoke.
“Three hours remain.”
He must’ve thought I’d lost my wits—I’d been holding the test papers all this while without picking up the quill.
I’d noticed yesterday too that he was surprisingly tender-hearted for a stern man.
“……Thank you for telling me.”
I bowed once more and gripped the quill firmly in my hand.
Reading the test papers until they wore thin wouldn’t change the questions now.
To write passable answers to every problem, time was quite tight.
‘My goal is to pass.’
Even if I had known the passing score beforehand, that wouldn’t solve everything.
Considering the attitude Padilla Bondez displayed yesterday, there was a strong possibility that a barely passing grade would be treated as a failure.
So in the end, I needed to score higher than average.
Scratch, scratch.
I began writing answers beneath the first problem, organizing my thoughts as I went.
Trainees who could solve every problem at this difficulty level would be rare.
‘So let me just get seven out of ten correct.’
That much should keep Padilla Bondez from nitpicking.
The training commandant’s reputation had to count for something, after all.
***
Padilla Bondez, one of Nox’s Seven Stars and the commandant of the training facility, had a terrible fit of choking.
“Cough! Hack, cough-cough!”
She’d been lounging with her legs crossed on top of the Office desk, sipping cold tea, when she inhaled wrong—the liquid scattered everywhere in quite an undignified display.
“Commandant, please, a little dignity.”
“Dignity is the issue right now?!”
Padilla Bondez jumped to her feet, brandishing the examination papers she’d just received in Kessler’s face.
“Does this make any sense, Kessler?!”
“I’ve rechecked the scoring multiple times myself, ma’am.”
“No, come on, seriously!”
225 points.
That was the score Runelk Ains had received on the written examination.
“225 out of 300.”
The test paper, with “Runelk Ains” written in neat script, landed on the desk with a heavy thud.
It was Padilla Bondez who broke the silence that followed.
“What was the written examination score for this session’s top arts student?”
“Amalia Rosen scored 180 points, ma’am.”
“Right, so Dupon’s action officer scored 225 points?”
Padilla Bondez rubbed at her throbbing temple.
Then she fixed a piercing stare on Instructor Kessler.
“Did Dupon slip you some cash, or something?”
“Are you suggesting… that I’m corrupt?”
“Unless there’s a leak somewhere else, there’s no way a score like this makes sense.”
“Then why don’t you grade it yourself, ma’am?”
Kessler, uncharacteristically flustered, set his jaw even more firmly and extended the test papers toward Padilla Bondez.
“Well, I’m sure you handled it properly enough.”
She didn’t genuinely believe Kessler had graded in favor of Runelk Ains.
But a score of 225 on an examination she’d designed hoping for nothing more than a hundred-point minimum was absurdly high.
Padilla Bondez began reading from the answer to the first problem, her brow furrowed.
(1) List all regulations B violated. [12 points]
: In this scenario, Trainee B’s actions simultaneously violate the following regulations.
① Unauthorized departure from assigned position — Trainees cannot arbitrarily abandon their assigned post.
② Violation of Direct Command Hierarchy — All orders in Nox are transmitted through one’s direct superior.
The only orders a trainee may directly receive are from their direct squad leader; any other orders, regardless of the rank of the person issuing them, must be retransmitted through the proper chain of command to be valid.
③ Failure to execute Command Verification Procedure — Orders that bypass the Direct Command Hierarchy obligate the recipient to verify both the identity of the person issuing the order and the legitimacy of the command.
B did not confirm the identity of the executive who issued the order, nor did he verify whether the matter fell within his own department’s purview.
④ Failure to fulfill Reporting Obligation — In any case of abandoning one’s post, one must notify one’s direct superior immediately whenever possible. B failed to do so.
“……What in the world is this kid? Did he actually spend only a year in the action division? Not ten?”

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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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