There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 62

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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 62.
“Keep reading.”
At Kessler’s urging, Padilla Bondayz reluctantly continued through the answer.
(3) Discuss whether some responsibility for the violation in this case may be attributed to the commanding officer. [6 points]
: The Chain of Command in Nox is not merely an administrative convenience, but a Security Protocol.
By issuing a direct order without going through the trainee squad leader’s direct superior, it undermines the security procedures and creates that consequence.
Therefore, even if the order was justified, responsibility arises from the very fact of circumventing the reporting structure.
Exceptionally, if the order’s immediacy or confidentiality is required, it may be justified retroactively, but the burden of proving that justification rests with the commanding officer.
Furthermore, a superior’s procedural deviation must be reported to the Duke of Nox or the Disciplinary Office.
“…No need to read any further.”
Padilla Bondayz slumped back into her chair, deflated.
Then she turned to Kessler, standing before the desk.
“Did you really expect an examinee to write an answer like this to question one, Kessler?”
“No, ma’am. Out of 1,367 examinees in this cohort, only Runelk Ains.”
The training director and theory instructor exchanged wry smiles.
Question one was something the two of them had prepared especially.
It was designed to probe beyond simple knowledge of Nox’s regulations—to reveal the examinee’s pattern of thinking.
“Type A: justifying the trainee’s actions on the grounds that the superior is absolutely senior, Type B: insisting that the squad leader’s orders take priority under any circumstances, and finally Type C: pointing out that the officer should have reported to their direct supervisor and handed over duties before abandoning position.”
Type A shows understanding of the basic hierarchy but lacks detailed knowledge, so they’re suited for the security forces.
Type B’s case is withheld pending suitability judgment due to only half-considering the rules.
Type C approaches the model answer, so we continue to evaluate suitability for future assignment to the Information Bureau, Finance Bureau, Administrative Bureau, and similar departments.
“All examinees capable of writing a reasonable answer fell within one of these three types.”
“Exactly. And that was our intention.”
Despite the common misconception, the training facility isn’t a place that simply grinds recruits into submission.
Of course, it employs extremely rigorous educational methods to improve overall capability, but that alone isn’t the primary purpose.
What Padilla Bondayz, the training director, concentrated on more was identifying each trainee’s specialty and aptitude so they could be assigned to the right place within Nox.
“We should now classify Runelk Ains as Type D response.”
“That’s the only one who tried to verify the legitimacy of the order itself.”
“And the part about reporting the superior to the Disciplinary Office or His Grace the Duke…”
“Bold, isn’t it?”
Padilla Bondayz smiled with a slight grin.
Kessler, observing that smile for a moment, spoke carefully.
“It seems recruit Ains has caught your interest.”
“Well, not bad.”
She nodded readily.
She could play rough but didn’t indulge in needless stubbornness—that was her nature.
And she had a particular fondness for spotting raw talent and nurturing it well.
Why else would she have requested the previous Duke of Nox to appoint her training director?
Padilla Bondayz was genuinely committed to cultivating talent.
“Would you read through more of recruit Ains’s answer?”
“Kessler, I’m not doubting your grading.”
“I know. There’s simply a part where I’d like to hear your opinion, director.”
“Which question is troubling you?”
“It’s difficult to articulate precisely.”
Padilla Bondayz raised an eyebrow at words unlike Kessler, who detested ambiguity in all matters.
A short while later, having read through Runelk Ains’s test paper to the end, she nodded.
“It really is strange. It seems like he answered conscientiously, so why does it feel like he left the answer incomplete?”
“The reason recruit Ains’s score stopped at 225 is precisely that.”
Kessler answered with an uneasy expression.
“It’s ridiculous to even say, but it feels like an answer written deliberately to earn exactly this score.”
“…What?”
Padilla Bondayz, momentarily blank, then burst into loud laughter.
“Ha! That doesn’t make sense. I know Ains isn’t ordinary, but not to that degree!”
“Right, yes. In my ten years as an instructor, I’ve never seen an examinee like this, so I think I was overthinking it.”
“Getting 225 points on purpose—it’s easy to say, but it means knowing all the right answers and even grasping your intention as the examiner, then avoiding exactly that. It’s nonsensical.”
Padilla Bondayz laughed a moment longer, then asked Kessler.
“Who’s going in for the practical exam tomorrow?”
“The vice director volunteered.”
“Stalen? What’s gotten into him?”
Gerhardt Stalen, the vice director of the training facility.
A strict principlist, he maintained an iron rule: once trainees arrived, he taught and managed them, and involved himself in no other duties whatsoever.
So he was to oversee the practical exam for Runelk Ains?
“Perhaps because recruit Ains is a junior from the Action Squad?”
“Ah, right. Stalen was Action Squad too.”
Padilla Bondayz nodded as understanding dawned.
“Stalen’s reliable. He’ll be as meticulous as you are. But…”
She rested her chin in her hand, humming softly, and added.
“Tell him to come report immediately after the practical exam is finished.”
“Yes, I’ll convey that.”
There was no deeper reason.
It was simply that a satisfying trainee had been rare, and she felt like exercising her director’s prerogative.
Gerhardt Stalen, the vice director, was a man without a shred of flexibility.
Even Padilla Bondayz, who was known to be understanding enough with her subordinate instructors that she occasionally drew criticism for it, sometimes wondered, ‘How did he survive twenty years in the Action Squad with that personality?’
‘It’d be wasteful to overlook this keen talent just because his practical score is low.’
If body can’t keep pace with mind, assign him to a department where the mind can be put to vigorous use.
So Padilla Bondayz planned to intervene before Stalen summarily failed Runelk Ains.
But then.
“Recruit Ains must be assigned to the Knight Order.”
The moment the practical exam ended, Vice Director Stalen came rushing into the office with exactly those words.
Learning from the embarrassment of choking on her surprise at Runelk Ains’s written score, Padilla Bondayz sat upright at her desk beforehand, and now her mouth fell open.
“The Knight Order? Him?”
“Yes, absolutely.”
The Knight Order was the highest-ranking unit a combat-track trainee could be assigned to.
Based on entrance exam performance and first-week grades, only a handful of trainees were even being considered for Knight Order assignment.
Even those few were exclusively from noble families who’d had private tutors since childhood—ones like Maximilian Degrave and Constance Walden.
“Don’t misunderstand me, Stalen. But you are taking into account that Ains was from the Action Squad, right?”
“Yes, I’m aware. Given his past with the Action Squad, adaptation to the Knight Order may be somewhat difficult.”
Vice Director Stalen nodded at once.
“Innate talent, disposition, reflexes, and perseverance—yet there is nowhere but the Knight Order that can properly bring out recruit Ains’s abilities.”
“Well, I see.”
“If Knight Order assignment proves difficult…”
“Proves difficult?”
“Then perhaps consider recruiting him as a new instructor for the training facility?”

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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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