There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 68

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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 68.
What do kids these days like?
I have no idea.
So how do you get friendly with the trainees?
Still no idea.
I tried to recall my first time entering the pickpocket den in Wickes, but nothing useful came to mind.
Back then, you could make friends with a stale chunk of bread or a bent coin.
But that wouldn’t work on kids whom Nox provided with food, clothing, and shelter in comfort.
I was stuck, but thought that surely things would work out once the moment came.
This was a place where people lived like anywhere else, and besides, I was skilled at coaxing others to my side!
Yet here I was, ostracized at the Training Ground simply by the weight of some young master’s authority.
It was Hanno Becker who rescued me from drowning my sorrows and eating alone.
“Hey, you…….”
Surprised that someone was approaching me first, I reacted a beat too late, and Hanno Becker laughed awkwardly.
“My name is Hanno Becker.”
“I know. Son of the Becker bakery, twenty years old this year, Hanno Becker.”
“You, you remembered!”
How could I forget—it was because of you that Killian Nox slashed my ear with a Letter Opener.
As I touched the healed cartilage of my ear, Hanno Becker visibly relaxed.
“I want to thank you again for what happened that day.”
“I was just doing my job at the Guard Post anyway.”
“Still! Without you, I’d be dead for sure.”
That might well have been true.
Though I wasn’t certain whether Killian Nox would have gone that far for Hanno Becker’s sake.
Since I couldn’t speak plainly to some twenty-year-old who was all brawn, I merely shrugged—and Hanno Becker laughed heartily in return.
Watching him, a twinge of worry began to rise in me.
This one seemed to think of me as a savior, coming over to chat like this.
I glanced cautiously at those around us before speaking to Hanno Becker.
“If you talk to me, things could get difficult for you too. I understand you’re grateful, so you should go.”
Even as I said it, the absurdity wasn’t lost on me.
I was letting out a self-deprecating laugh when Hanno Becker suddenly clapped his hands together with an “Oh, that’s right!”
It was a powerful clap—had there been a fly between those palms, it would’ve been flattened like paper in an instant.
“That’s actually why I came over. Would you like to eat with me and my friends?”
“……What?”
I doubted my ears.
In this vicious ecosystem, there was someone willing to share a table with me?
I felt a moment of suspicion, but I controlled myself like an adult.
No matter how much I needed to shed this ostracized status, I couldn’t put Hanno Becker in a bind.
He’d come over first and acknowledged me out of kindness—I couldn’t repay that by dragging him down with me.
“Nah, it’s okay. You don’t want to get dragged into this too.”
“If you’re worried about Max and those kids around him, don’t be. My friends are in a different group than them, and while I’m in the same group as him… I’m already out of favor anyway.”
The way he laughed it off and changed the subject suggested there was more to that story.
“……Really?”
“Yeah, so let’s go to our table!”
Without another word, I picked up my tray and rose to follow Hanno Becker.
Standing up to Killian Nox to save Hanno Becker had been me sticking my nose where it didn’t belong.
But to have that meddling come back to me like this—maybe it was worth it sometimes after all.
***
Hanno Becker’s kindness didn’t end with sharing a meal.
He accompanied me as I went to Schutalen to collect the forms with basic information I’d need for life here, and he even volunteered to help me gather my belongings from the temporary quarters and move to my new rooms.
Though he was admittedly a bit taken aback by how meager my luggage was.
During the move to my new quarters, I learned something unexpected.
“Your luggage was all of that?”
Hanno Becker nodded at my comment.
“The rest I sent ahead through the Nox Merchant Company after I passed the Entrance Examination. It’s basically the same as moving your house to Nox.”
“Do all the other trainees do that?”
“Yeah. The Training Ground provides the essentials, but there are necessities it doesn’t cover.”
Even if only two boxes per trainee were sent, that would come to nearly ninety boxes total.
But would the Intelligence Department really inspect every single one of those carefully?
There was a loophole here too.
I clicked my tongue inwardly and changed the subject.
“Since we’re talking about luggage, you kept that doll okay? It looked pretty dirty that day.”
“Oh, that.”
Hanno Becker laughed shyly at my question.
“I washed and dried it properly, and it looks brand new now. That’s thanks to you too.”
Then he spoke softly.
“It wasn’t in great shape to begin with anyway.”
My younger sister had been playing with it since she was a baby, he added with a guileless smile, and it occurred to me idly: ‘There’s no way this guy is a spy, right?’
Though my principle was that there wasn’t a trustworthy soul in the world, if Hanno Becker turned out to be a spy, even I’d be quite shocked.
But I would still have been shocked.
“But the Acting Duke, he seemed really scary. I had nightmares about him that night.”
“A bad one, then.”
After that, we walked side by side cursing Killian Nox.
There was nothing quite like gossiping about others to build friendship.
By the time we reached the fourth floor—the top floor of the Dormitory Building—Hanno Becker and I had fallen naturally into the rhythm of trading jokes.
“Oh, right. What was I thinking!”
Hanno Becker clapped his hands again, this time with a sound like a pot lid.
“I never even asked what room number you’re in, Runelk!”
“You’re on the fourth floor?”
“Yeah. Room 402!”
I waved him off as he apologized for dragging me all the way to the top without asking.
The fellow apologized and thanked people for the strangest things.
I pulled out the form Schutalen had given me and unfolded it to show him.
The moment Hanno Becker’s eyes found what was written there, he let out a yelp of surprise.
“Training Group 5! You’re in my group, Runelk!”
“Oh, really?”
That was a relief to hear.
Since we’d be taking classes together with the same group until training ended, I’d been worried that they might avoid me too.
Then something Hanno Becker had mentioned offhandedly at the Dining Hall earlier came back to me.
“Wait, didn’t you say you were in the same group as Maximilian?”
“And even better—we share the same room!”
I felt like I’d just heard something strange.
I tried to calm down the excited Hanno Becker and asked carefully.
“You and I share the same room?”
“Yeah! Look, it says it right here. Room 402!”
[Runelk
Division:
– Training Group 5
– Quarters Room 402]
“For real?”
“I’m telling you!”
“Hanno, I need to understand something. When you say one room, do you mean like a shared common area with separate rooms for each person?”
“What?”
Hanno Becker burst into laughter and started smacking me on the back.
“I don’t know what the nice rooms on the lower floors are like, but there’s no such thing in ours! Of course you share two Bunk Beds!”
“Bunk Beds……?”
I heard the sound of blood draining from my face.
Grinning with delight, Hanno Becker dragged me toward the door marked “Room 402”.
And the moment he opened it.
“Really…… Bunk Beds?”
Two Bunk Beds that clashed with the otherwise spacious room greeted me.
“Matias! Zander! Runelk got assigned to our room!”
At Hanno Becker’s loud announcement, two men in their twenties rose from where they’d been doing bare-handed exercises on the wide wooden floor.
Shirtless.
Faced with the sudden display of bare flesh, I shut my eyes tight.
‘So it wasn’t a private room……!’

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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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