There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 85

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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 85.
Even after my test scores were made public, I had to climb back onto the stool and endure another round of lectures.
It was only after my mind had already frayed to tatters that I was finally allowed back on solid ground.
As I draped myself half-recumbent across a chair, Noah handed me a glass of water and said, “Next time, even if the problems seem too easy, just solve them all. Don’t skip anything.”
“I genuinely didn’t know 100 points was the passing score. How could 100 points be passing when the total is 300…….”
“Well, Padila does have a mischievous streak.”
“Come on, forget it. You went in without any preparation, so there was nothing to be done about it.”
Gisella said something unusually kind.
Then she abruptly threw out a question from nowhere.
“How many days do you have left in your training period?”
“Eighty days—well, since it’s past midnight, I suppose seventy-nine now.”
“I see.”
With that brief exclamation from Gisella Rot, an odd silence settled over us.
It was an uncomfortable quiet, as if there were a conversation happening right in front of me that I wasn’t privy to.
The moment I snapped my drooping eyes open, sure enough, my seniors were exchanging meaningful glances.
“……Why are you all looking like that?”
“Ahem.”
Dimarc Schren, the first to meet my gaze, cleared his throat and quickly looked away.
Why is everyone talking around me?
“Please, tell me too.”
“Hmm.”
Even Noah Benton just smiled vaguely.
In the end, Gisella was my only recourse.
“Rookie, would it hurt less if you knew what was coming?”
“The same blow would hurt the same either way, wouldn’t it?”
“Exactly.”
“I’m not sure I follow.”
“What I mean is, that’s not what matters right now. Here, take this.”
What she handed me was a bundle of several documents.
Unlike the cryptic conversation from moments before, they were neatly organized so their contents were clear at a glance.
“These are trainee applications and…… letter copies?”
“The applications just have basic personal information, so they won’t be much help, but I grabbed them anyway just in case. As for the letters—these are the Trainee Letters that were sent right after the trainees arrived. Go through them carefully.”
I was momentarily at a loss for words.
I was freshly struck by just how extraordinary the Ravens’ information network truly was.
I’d naturally assumed someone would check the letter contents, but to think they’d kept copies of everything…….
A chill ran down my spine.
I was grateful not to have these people as enemies.
And whoever had planted a spy in the Training Facility—they had to be remarkably foolish.
“Thank you, seniors.”
“You’re not gonna cry, are you?”
“I’m not.”
Though I am sweating rather profusely!
“Good thing. There’s still one more crucial thing left. Go ahead and cry after you see this.”
“I said I’m not crying! Why would I—ugh, damn it.”
I’ll admit it.
I nearly shed tears of genuine emotion.
What Gisella Rot playfully placed on top of the stack of documents was a map of the Training Facility.
Shrunk down for portability and sketched out simply, the map bore additional markings and brief notes drawn in by someone else.
“Is this…… a map of the secret passages in the Training Facility?”
“More precisely, it’s a map of the secret passages and secret spaces. There are various hidden devices scattered throughout for monitoring the trainees.”
“This handwriting is yours.”
“Ah, so you recognized it?”
Documents related to the trainees and a map of the Training Facility.
My hands grew heavy with the weight of them, and so did my chest.
But it was not an unpleasant weight.
If anything, it was reassuring.
“Gisella, while you’re helping me, would you mind doing one more thing?”
“Go ahead.”
“Could you look into these trainees in a bit more detail?”
I wrote the names of the suspected spies on a piece of paper and handed it to Gisella Rot.
She glanced at it for a moment, then let out a soft laugh and took the paper.
“I’ll pass it along through Onyx.”
“Onyx?”
“The Raven I sent to you earlier.”
So that’s what the bird’s name was.
Being a raven, it made sense they’d given it the name of a black mineral.
It was like naming a dog “Whitey” or a cat “Cheese”—perfectly fitting for a raven whose head was distinctly round.
“Rookie, you should get going now.”
Noah gestured toward the eastern sky, which was already turning pale blue.
Even as he spoke, his trailing tone suggested he was reluctant to see me return to the Training Facility.
I nodded and bowed to the seniors who had spent the night awake for my sake.
“Thank you, seniors.”
It was also a vow to find the spy without fail.
Perhaps because I’d received help from so many people, I had a strange sense that fortune would smile upon me from here on out.
***
D-70.
I sat at my desk in the dormitory and pulled out a fresh sheet of paper.
“Sigh.”
After composing myself with a deep breath, I picked up my fountain pen.
The first words I wrote were:
[LAST WILL]
That’s right.
Ten days had passed since my first visit to the Nest.
I had been cornered so badly that I was preparing for the end of my life.
How much better it would be if this were a report to Killian Nox confirming the spy’s identity.
But in the end, I’m writing this because of that lizard bastard anyway.
My first assignment from him isn’t progressing at all, and when I become useless, I’ll be disposed of soon enough.
If an unavoidable future awaits, it’s only right to prepare for it like this.
For what it’s worth, I’d designated Clara as the executor of my will.
Clara from the Crollin Kingdom, who’d sent a letter from the Raven Tower before.
I had at least enough faith that she could neatly settle my rather complicated affairs.
“All the money in my account goes to Altenmore Temple as a donation…….”
As I wrote my will with genuine sincerity, my entire life flashed before me like a lantern show.
In twenty-four years—short in some ways, long in others—so much had happened.
A childhood I barely remembered but must have been happy, the death of my family, and then my quest for revenge began.
From that point on, my life was nothing but a precarious tightrope walk.
I’d brushed with death countless times, and these hands had been stained with blood more times than I could count.
I’d established the Wickes information network, climbed to a position where I could reach Benedict Wickes, and finally succeeded in my revenge.
So many trials and tribulations…….
“Argh! What am I doing, writing a will like this!”
Crrrunch!
I crumpled and tore the paper to shreds.
“How far have I come to get here!”
I can’t die just because I can’t root out a single spy!
“I absolutely cannot die!”
My hair disheveled and tangled, my eyes bloodshot from accumulated fatigue.
The person reflected in the window was unmistakably a madman.
Beyond the basic training hours, I was pouring every moment into finding the spy, so it couldn’t be helped.
For the past several days, I’d been cutting my sleep to an absolute minimum.
I slammed the documents I’d brought from the Nest onto the desk.
The fragments of my will scattered and fluttered about, but I’d long since stopped caring about the cleanliness of my room.
“There’s definitely something I’m missing.”
I was unfolding the first page of the trainees’ letter copies again—documents I’d already gone through dozens of times—when:
Tap-tap-tap! Knock!
“Onyx!”
“Caw.”
I hurried over and opened the window, and the Raven Onyx flew in with familiar ease.
My heart pounded as I opened the Message Tube attached to its leg.
“Caw-caw.”
“Here, here, over there.”
“Caw.”
Onyx had been spending more time in my room lately.
One day I’d noticed that its cry sounded oddly like “gaga,” the word young children use for snacks, and I’d prepared some unsalted nuts for it—apparently to great effect.
Tap, tap.
Listening to the soft clink of Onyx’s beak pecking at the plate of peanuts, I carefully unfolded the note.

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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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