There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 74

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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 74.
Chapter. 7
D-85.
According to the original plan, I should have started work the moment my admission was confirmed.
The housing issue had delayed things somewhat.
But it wasn’t as if I’d been sitting idle all this time either.
“Hmm.”
I sipped my water while tilting my chair back slightly, surveying the bustling interior of the Dining Hall.
During the day, trainees dispersed by training group for separate classes and drills, but mealtimes were when all of them gathered in one place.
Over these past few days, seeing everyone three times daily had made the scene quite familiar to me.
Because of that familiarity, I began noticing things I hadn’t before.
The table closest to the serving counter, bathed in sunlight by the window.
The table right in front of the Dining Hall entrance.
And finally, the table where I was sitting now.
My gaze moved from one table to the next.
They were the tables occupied by suspects I’d winnowed down through sleep deprivation and mental strain.
‘Nothing’s certain yet.’
My investigation was still only at the rough sketch stage.
But as they say, even crossing a continent begins with a single step.
I’d merely picked out a few rocks from a pile, but sometimes actually starting something, however crudely, proves faster than sitting around wracking your brain.
“But hey, Rookie.”
Just then, Hanno Becker, who was sitting across from me, spoke up cautiously.
“Did something happen between you and Maximilian again?”
“No, nothing really. Why?”
“Because he’s absolutely glaring at you right now…….”
When I turned to look, the young lord was indeed staring daggers at me, just as Hanno Becker had said.
This time it wasn’t feigned indignation—it was genuine anger on display.
“What are you sulking about?” I muttered with a smile.
I waved at him, and even from a distance, he flinched visibly before turning his head away.
He was genuinely upset.
I couldn’t help it.
‘Time is precious—I can’t afford to waste it.’
Maximilian Digrave and his circle were the first trainees I’d eliminated from my list of suspects.
I had no choice, really—they all came from prominent families of retainers.
In other words, they had absolutely no reason to betray Nox.
They’d been living well for generations under the roof of the Nox Ducal Family. Why would they conspire with outside forces?
If anything, they’d probably regret not having caught the spy themselves.
Besides, the blockhead who’d gotten me admitted in the first place had been trying to smuggle out information about the Training Camp.
If those privileged trainees had needed to pass such information to someone outside, they wouldn’t have required a trainee under heavy surveillance to do it.
Retired trainees who’d moved on from Nox would fill their families’ ranks—people who could sketch the Training Camp’s layout with their eyes closed.
‘The faction that reached out needed to borrow a trainee’s hands precisely because they had no connections to Nox.’
So the suspects I’d narrowed down had three things in common.
First, someone who was frequently spotted spending time with or had personal ties to the blockhead.
Second, someone who led a life unconnected to Nox before being admitted.
Third, someone who spent considerable amounts of time alone, for whatever reason.
And among the candidates meeting all three criteria was Julia Zimmel, who’d just brought me water earlier.
“Julia, about that blockhead—I mean, the spy trainee I caught. What was his name?”
At my abrupt question, the knife she was holding clattered to the floor.
It was an excessive reaction for mere surprise.
“Why are you bringing him up!”
Julia snapped with irritation, snatching up the knife she’d dropped and setting it roughly on a napkin.
“Sorry. But I’m curious, aren’t I? I ended up sending him to the Underground Prison with my own hands, but I don’t actually know anything about him.”
“How strange of you to worry.”
She brushed back the hair that had fallen across her face as she bent over, shooting me a side-eyed glance.
“What’s so curious about it?”
“Just his name and what kind of person he was, things like that.”
“His name is……. His name is Felix Melcher. I used to call him Pixie.”
This was the first reason I’d put Julia Zimmel on my list.
They were close enough that she still used the childhood nickname.
“You must have been very close then.”
“We were when we were younger. Did you know we’re from the same territory?”
“No, I didn’t. So you came from Hinterau, then?”
Julia nodded sadly at my words.
Her homesickness was written plainly on her face.
“Even if he was a bit scatterbrained, I never expected him to play spy like that.”
“I feel kind of sorry about it.”
As I sighed softly, Julia Zimmel’s eyes widened.
“Sorry for what! It’s his fault for doing something so strange in the first place!”
“But he was your friend. I ended up sending your childhood companion to prison. You must already be missing home enough as it is.”
“That’s true, but it doesn’t matter. I came to Nox to succeed!”
This was the second reason.
Julia Zimmel had an unusual obsession with success.
Whatever the cause, an ambitious trainee made the perfect target for recruitment as a spy.
“You’ll do well, I’m sure of it.”
Indeed, Julia Zimmel was an exceptionally sharp liberal arts student.
“Thanks, Rookie. I’m going to make it into the Intelligence Department no matter what.”
“The Intelligence Department?”
Suddenly she seemed even more suspicious.
Why would she want to join that bunch of idiots?
“Yes! Because they pay well and you get to know all kinds of important information! Information is power!”
Exactly.
Power that could be sold elsewhere for money.
I nodded along while Julia Zimmel glanced around nervously.
The bread in one hand suggested she was looking for a replacement for the knife she’d dropped earlier.
“Use this, Julia. I brought it with me and haven’t used it yet—it’s brand new.”
“How is it you can be so thoughtful? I wish all men in the world were like you.”
“That’s too much praise. It’s easy to notice if you just pay a little attention to what’s going on around you.”
Julia smiled at me warmly, taking the knife, and continued to heap compliments on what a good peer I was.
I chatted pleasantly with her for quite a while after that.
Enjoying the easy conversation.
***
After breakfast, a three-hour theory lecture ran all morning.
All trainees gathered in the largest classroom in the Lecture Building for a class with the heaviest weight on the graduation exam: the Nox Internal Inspector.
The instructor was Wilfred Kessler, who’d come to meet me when I first arrived at the Training Camp.
Still sharp and stern in appearance, Instructor Kessler droned on through the lengthy lecture, occasionally adjusting his glasses.
“Hrmm.”
Behind me, Hanno Becker barely stifled a yawn.
Though that didn’t make him particularly undisciplined as a student.
Even as Hanno Becker yawned, he was still scratching away with his quill, taking notes, while the rest of the classroom was a complete disaster.
Most trainees were nodding off, and some had even laid their heads down to sleep outright.
It was unavoidable.
Everyone had eaten a hearty breakfast, the sunlight was warm, and Instructor Kessler’s voice was mind-numbingly monotonous.
The fact that it was a tedious history lesson probably didn’t help matters.
The apparently fearsome instructor had an unexpected tendency not to criticize trainees’ poor classroom behavior.
‘No, actually. That type is the scariest.’
A teacher who rebukes and pressures and drags students along at least shows affection for them.
That’s them trying to teach, even if harshly.
The most frightening teacher is one who stands back and observes like Instructor Kessler does.
The kind who thinks, ‘Those who fall behind will fall behind—I have taught.’
Teachers like that always make their exams unnecessarily difficult too.
In any case, I was one of the few trainees actually paying attention in this lullaby of a class.
Inspection—watching internal members for corruption and misconduct—aligned with the core mission of Nox’s ravens.
Today’s lecture topic was particularly compelling.
“To achieve the goal of rooting out spies, the most crucial thing is discovering why they became spies in the first place.”
Instructor Kessler finished writing densely on the large blackboard and began his explanation.

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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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