There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 84

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

Episode 84.
To be honest, the Training Facility I’d been through so far wasn’t nearly as brutal as this.
Sure, waking up at dawn to do roadwork was annoying, the instructors’ methods were eccentric, and my cohort was packed with strange, angular types.
I sidled up to Noah Benton and asked quietly.
“When the seniors enrolled, was the Training Facility director a different person?”
“No. Padilla was running it then too.”
Then they should be operating it the same way now.
How could my experience be so different from the seniors’ accounts?
I tilted my head in confusion when I heard footsteps near the Nest entrance.
“Been a while, Rookie.”
“You look great since joining the Training Facility!”
It was Konrad Aichner, who’d taught me Hand-to-Hand Combat in the Underground Training Ground, and Dimark Schren, who belonged to the Torture Division and had overseen my final Raven test in the Underground Prison.
“But don’t you two usually only come to the Nest during the day?”
“Gisella said she was pulling the youngest out of the Training Facility for a bit, so I came to offer some encouragement as a senior.”
“I threatened to kill her if she didn’t show up.”
Slap!
Konrad took a blow to the back from Gisella Rot.
But even hearing that terrifying impact, my sense of bewilderment didn’t fade.
“All four of you gathered because of me? To help me out?”
How long had it been since that happened?
When was the last time someone volunteered to support me in my work?
My face grew hot, and I could only keep my mouth shut and scratch my cheek.
***
“…So that concludes my progress report so far.”
I finished my briefing to the four senior Ravens while standing on a hastily erected platform in the Nest’s office space.
For reference, the platform was usually Konrad’s preferred footstool.
Clap, clap, clap!
“Well done, Rookie!”
Only Noah ever responded to me like that.
Since no instruction to step down had come yet, I remained on the footstool with my hands clasped behind my back while Dimark Schren—the oldest and highest-ranking among the seniors—offered praise.
“That’s right, Noah’s got it. Securing a single room was excellent work.”
“Exactly! If I’d stayed in the four-person dormitory, it would’ve been hard to come to the Nest even for a brief visit!”
“Writing to Deacon Gold, someone you’ve had a prior relationship with, to make a donation—well, heh. Your reasoning about how using a single room helps avoid unnecessary attention was sound, but from now on, try not to involve administrators as much as possible, youngest.”
Truth was I’d done it to charge the Necklace, but I simply agreed to be more careful with Dimark Schren’s words.
Unlike the two seniors consoling me, Gisella remained unusually quiet.
She sat with her legs crossed, staring blankly for a moment before turning to Konrad beside her.
“Hey, Konrad. Pinch my cheek for me—Ow! Ow! That hurts!”
“You asked me to.”
“That was just a figure of speech…. Never mind, never mind.”
Gisella rubbed her cheek, which had turned red and swollen where his handprint was.
“Deacon Gold really donated that much?”
“I thought it was entered incorrectly at first too.”
“I knew he was a wealthy man, but still.”
Gisella Rot seemed dumbfounded by the scale of the donation.
‘Can I step down now?’
The briefing was basically over, and I wanted to sit.
I tried sneaking down from the footstool after quietly gauging the seniors’ moods.
“Rookie, tsk. Not yet.”
Konrad caught me.
…Something felt off.
I tilted my head in confusion, straightened up on the platform again, and Konrad added one more comment.
“Well done.”
…What?
Especially the way Konrad smiled with satisfaction annoyed me most.
Gisella, finally emerging from the shock, opened her mouth.
“So we’ll wrap up the praise here.”
“But you haven’t given me any praise, have you?”
“You’re standing on two feet just fine, aren’t you? That I didn’t make you crash head-first into the ground is the praise. What else would it be?”
That argument had a certain persuasive weight to it.
“Then let Deacon speak first.”
“Me first? To be honest, advice like this would come better from Venessa than from me.”
At Gisella Rot’s suggestion, Dimark Schren laughed awkwardly, as if embarrassed, and paused to gather his words.
“Well, youngest.
“Yes, sir.”
“All this talk amounts to saying you’ve made zero progress so far, yeah?”
He still wore a faint smile with creases around his eyes, but the gaze beneath was sharp as a blade.
And the temperature in the Nest seemed to drop about a degree.
“You used an administrator’s personal funds—not Nest resources—and if you’ve made this little headway, what exactly are we supposed to do about it?”
“I…apologize.”
“Don’t apologize—think of a solution. If your head gets as mushy as those trainees’ just because you’re in the Training Facility, that’ll be a problem.”
As I listened to that voice settle low like smoke across the floor, I remembered that the Training Facility’s original purpose was to assign trainees to departments suited to their aptitudes.
Dimark Schren’s cover posting was the Torture Division, by the way.
Specifically, a long-serving member stationed in the Underground Prison.
“Narrowing down Spy Candidates without prior intelligence—that much qualifies as passing.”
Konrad neutralized the increasingly frigid atmosphere with an indifferent tone.
“Rookie was doing it alone, after all.”
“Well, you’re right. I don’t think I could have done even half what Rookie managed.”
Noah Benton added his own comment quietly.
But I knew better than to let this moment slide.
“I do have one thing to point out.”
And her amber eyes flashed at me in a way that didn’t bode well.
What was she about to say?
“You failed the Entrance Examination, didn’t you?”
“Rookie failed the exam? Then how did you become a trainee?”
Noah Benton asked, confused, and Gisella got up and retrieved something.
She’d clearly been waiting just for that question.
She even thrust it straight at Dimark Schren.
“Take a look at Rookie’s scores, Deacon.”
“Huh? The scores are…?”
Damn it.
Dimark Schren’s eyes widened in shock, and Gisella Rot burst out laughing.
“Kha-ha! That idiot! On a test where the passing score is 100, he got 225 points!”
“What was the top score for this cohort?”
“180 points! It was the Rosen Family’s firstborn! But that’s not even all of it!”
She shook her shoulders and flipped through the written exam answers, then unfolded a one-page document I’d never seen before.
“He placed second in the martial arts exam! Pfu-ha-ha!”
“Rookie, what were you thinking…?”
Even Noah shook his head this time.
But I was just as shocked.
“Second place? Me?”
I’d heard from Bertolt Kraus that I’d accidentally scored higher on the written exam than the top scorer in that section.
But second in the martial arts exam too?!
Unable to hold back, I stepped down from the footstool and took the answer sheet from Dimark Schren, at which point Gisella Rot nearly rolled out of her chair laughing.
But Konrad’s thoughts had taken a completely different turn.
“Rookie, why did you place second?”
“Well, I was trying to keep it moderate, but—”
“Who placed first?”
“That…would be Maximilian Degrave.”
“Ah, Degrave.”
He nodded with an unreadable expression, then closed his eyes for a long moment before opening them and pointing at me with his index finger.
“Extra training scheduled.”
“What?! Why?!”
“You should have placed first.”
So one moment you tease me for scoring too well!
The next you assign extra training because I didn’t place first!
What exactly are you trying to make me do?!

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