There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 79

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 79.
Bertolt Krause was a Liberal Arts Track trainee and had been a close peer since the blockhead entered the academy.
Unlike Julia Zimmel, a childhood playmate, he was the one who had maintained contact with the blockhead most recently.
After digging into various other suspicious circumstances, the evaluations of Bertolt Krause proved remarkably consistent.
Though he had a light side to him, he was well-connected and gregarious—the heir to a major merchant house who easily won favor with anyone.
Unlike the baseless rumor about being the heir to the Runelk Ains Merchant Company, this one was genuine.
So I’d wanted to approach him, but there was no real common ground between us.
Since he seemed to know Mathias, another Liberal Arts student, I’d been wondering how to create a natural opportunity to meet—
And then that bastard spoke to me first.
What kind of lucky break is this!
Inwardly I was bouncing with elation, but outwardly I only shrugged indifferently and replied.
“There are only so many trainees. By now I know all the faces and names.”
“See? Just like someone who scored higher than the Liberal Arts track’s top student! You really are sharp, aren’t you?”
“I’m fairly sharp, sure, but who said I was the top of the Liberal Arts track?”
“Well, you scored higher than Amalia Rozen, who got the best marks on the written exam in the Liberal Arts track!”
“I… did?”
What kind of absurd nonsense was this?
I’d deliberately aimed for a decent score, nothing more.
“That can’t be right. I couldn’t have scored higher than the top student. That doesn’t make sense.”
“Well, it could happen. But I’m right about this, trust me?”
Bertolt Krause grinned knowingly and rose from the grass, walking toward me by the window.
Then, confirming the corridor was empty, he whispered softly.
“My sources are rock-solid, you know. It’s you—you really are the top of the Liberal Arts track.”
“…Damn it.”
So that’s why they never told me my final score!
It felt like I’d been blindsided by Kessler himself.
Not that anyone had said my score was “slightly above average,” mind you…
But still!
Even in my daze, I made a note to probe Bertolt Krause further.
Narrowing my eyes skeptically, I asked, “You’re really sure? Your source?”
“Of course! That’s exactly what they said—you scored higher than the top student!”
“Then your source got it wrong.”
“No way! They even told me your exact test score!”
As I intended, Bertolt Krause bristled.
“You’re telling me they know my test score too?”
“Yeah. Convinced now?”
“I guess… I must’ve just gotten lucky guessing on those questions.”
In truth, the exam had been entirely essay questions—guessing wasn’t even possible—but Bertolt Krause was too busy beaming at having his connections recognized to notice.
I poked the fire deliberately. “Anyway, thanks for telling me. Your network is pretty impressive.”
“It’s decent. If you’re going to inherit a merchant house, it has to be, right?”
Bertolt Krause puffed up with pride at the compliment.
I struck while he was basking. “So why’d you come to Nox if you’re supposed to take over the company eventually?”
“Huh?”
“You’ll inherit it anyway, won’t you?”
“W-well, of course!”
He raised his voice in answer, but his eyes flickered away.
There was something hidden there.
With luck, I could keep pressing and uncover whatever secret was buried.
But I decided to give Bertolt Krause an escape route instead.
Not yet.
“So this is… what, some kind of life education for the heir? Building character?”
“Y-yeah, that’s it! Our parents are self-made, so they value that sort of thing!”
“No kidding. So there really is a future merchant lord doing the common person experience.”
“What? Hahahaha!”
Whether he’d already heard rumors about me, Bertolt Krause laughed so hard he clutched his belly.
Then, wiping tears from his eyes, he turned to me and said, “You’re really funny, you know that? I like you. I want us to be better friends.”
“The more friends the better.”
“Yeah? So you free right now?”
He tossed out what sounded like an invite to go have fun, but beneath his easygoing grin, I caught the tension in his eyes.
“Right now…”
I was headed to the Library to check if Julia Zimmel was there.
If she wasn’t, I’d planned to find out where she’d disappeared to without telling anyone.
But.
“I was heading to the Library anyway.”
“Oh, so you’re free then?”
“Yeah.”
When I nodded, Bertolt Krause burst into another laugh and beckoned me with a curling finger.
“Come on. I’ll introduce you to some great friends.”
***
Led by Bertolt Krause, I arrived at the basement of the building housing the Laundry and Dining Hall.
The way he navigated through the narrow, cluttered corridor with various odds and ends piled on both sides suggested he’d been here more than once or twice.
“Runelk, you can’t tell anyone about this, okay? Don’t betray my trust.”
We’d just met, and he was already talking about trust.
Bertolt Krause’s trust seemed very cheap indeed.
“Where exactly are you taking me?”
“Almost there. Here it is.”
“The Warehouse?”
A placard reading “Warehouse” hung on the door tucked away in the remotest part of the basement corridor.
When I eyed it dubiously, Bertolt Krause pulled a key from his pocket with a meaningful smile.
“Never judge a book by its cover, my friend.”
Click!
The moment the lock turned and the door swung open, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I had no idea a place like this existed in the academy.”
“Pretty cool, right? Come in!”
Bertolt Krause strode in without hesitation and gestured me inside.
This was a risky invitation.
I swallowed a short sigh and stepped forward.
‘I’d better have my wits about me.’
The interior was surprisingly well done.
The problem wasn’t that it was “clean for a warehouse”—it looked like a high-end lounge.
Plush sofas upholstered in expensive silk, thick curtains hung like false windows where none existed, and even a luxurious, heavy carpet.
In the center of it all lay cards and coins scattered about as if from a gambling table.
‘These young fools don’t know the first thing about Nox’s discipline.’
The hundred days at the academy were when trainees were reborn as people of Nox.
The instructors turned a blind eye to hierarchy based on entrance exam scores rather than noble birth precisely for this reason.
To force adaptation to a new society called Nox.
So of course, indulgences like gambling were strictly forbidden here.
No letters home written freely, everyone given identical sleepwear—they spared nothing to enforce it.
“Welcome to my headquarters! This is where my friends and I spend our Self-Training Time in holy communion!”
Like a theatrical master of ceremonies throwing open a curtain, Bertolt Krause gestured grandly and opened a large box in one corner.
“What is that?”
I took a few steps closer, curious.
The box was packed with straw, and inside sat several long bottles.
They looked unmistakably like alcohol, which made me tilt my head.
What was in them exactly?
Bertolt Krause let out a giggling laugh and pulled one bottle free, giving me a conspiratorial wink.
“How about it? Want a drink?”
…He really brought actual liquor?

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————