There’s Something Special About Her – Chapter 28

Author: Asternkm

Senior Graff was currently a member of the Intelligence Department.

Apparently, he had worked in the Action Squad for a long time before an opportunity came up and he transferred to the Intelligence Department.

That was why Senior Hartmann was so happy to see him and why he had even made everyone clean up the watch post.

“Senior, how’s life in the Intelligence Department?”

“Busy every day, I guess. Sorry about last time. Something urgent suddenly came up.”

“Oh, no! We’re all inside Nox Castle, anyway! It’s not like you went somewhere far away!”

He was talking about the time Senior Graff had planned to visit the watch post to hear my heroic story but suddenly canceled.

I was actually glad because I didn’t have to tell the same story all over again, but several seniors who had been excited about seeing Graff after such a long time were quite disappointed.

The most disappointed of all was Senior Hartmann.

“Have a seat, Senior! And tell us about the Intelligence Department!”

“Well, there isn’t much I can talk about outside.”

“Wow! Classified information!”

Senior Hartmann was rather ambitious.

He wanted to join one of the major departments instead of staying in the Action Squad forever, and Senior Graff was someone who had already achieved exactly that.

So of course he was desperate to make a good impression, even making everyone clean when he normally wouldn’t.

“I heard you got promoted recently, too!”

“You have no idea how reassuring it is to have a senior from the Action Squad in the Intelligence Department!”

Hartmann wasn’t the only one hovering around Senior Graff.

All the veteran Action Squad members had gathered around him.

“I got lucky with this promotion. But I’m still pretty much at the bottom.”

Seeing the seniors begin their conversation in earnest, I quietly asked Senior Bono,

“Looks like we’re done cleaning. Can I go outside?”

“Why don’t you stay and listen? You can join in and ask anything you’re curious about.”

“I don’t really have anything to ask.”

When it came to Nox’s Intelligence Department, I already knew enough.

Besides, Gizella Lott had warned me not to do anything that might attract unnecessary attention.

I figured it was best to avoid noisy gatherings whenever possible.

“Yeah, go ahead.”

I bowed my head and stepped outside the watch post.

Once I settled down in front of the campfire, I finally felt like I could breathe.

“Maybe I should close my eyes for a bit.”

Just as Gizella Lott had told me to enjoy my last bit of free time, I had already used up all the energy I’d saved by resting before work while cleaning the watch post.

I rested my head against a tree while sitting, and sleep immediately came rushing in as if it had been waiting for me.

Even then, the lively voices from inside the watch post never stopped.

Maybe everyone was excited about Senior Graff’s arrival, because their voices seemed even louder than usual today.

‘A bunch of chatty old men.’

That was my last thought before I briefly fell asleep.

I wish I could have slept soundly for a long time.

But as soon as I woke from my light sleep, I instinctively knew that not much time had passed.

And I also knew that someone was approaching me.

I deliberately kept my eyes closed and tried to judge the person’s movements.

‘Not someone from the Action Squad.’

If it had been one of the seniors, they would have started shouting from far away.

“Rookie, you little punk! Get up already!”

They wouldn’t be sneaking up like this.

But their skills at hiding their footsteps and controlling their breathing were both rather clumsy.

I decided they weren’t enough of a threat to require an immediate response and naturally pretended that I had just woken up.

“Mm, ouch, my back. ……Senior Graff?”

I had sensed an unfamiliar presence, and the person approaching me was Graff Müller, who should have been inside receiving praise from his juniors.

“Oh? Haha, did I wake you?”

A low-ranking member like Runelk Eins getting caught sleeping during his shift by a senior of Graff’s standing would have been enough to make his heart drop.

“N-no, sir! I was really just closing my eyes for a moment!”

As I hurriedly tried to explain and stand up, Graff Müller sat down on a nearby log and smiled kindly.

“It’s all right, it’s all right. Don’t get up. Stay seated. That’s what night duty is like. Besides, I’m not even in the Action Squad anymore, so what does it matter?”

He even winked at me, looking like the perfect example of a generous senior who would overlook a junior’s mistake.

“Th-thank you, Senior Graff.”

“Right. You’re Runelk Eins, aren’t you? The one they call the Little Hero.”

“It’s a rather excessive nickname…… I ended up with it somehow. But really, all I did was lend a hand in catching the assassin, so it’s a little embarrassing.”

“It’s impressive that a young Action Squad member lent a hand at all. And from what I hear, your role was bigger than you think.”

Then he glanced toward the watch post and whispered playfully,

“It’s a secret from those guys in there, but I was actually the one in charge of gathering information on that incident.”

“I-I see.”

“Haha, I was lucky. I even got promoted because of it.”

As he said that, he lightly tapped his chest with his fingertip. Beneath the silver eyes symbolizing the Intelligence Department were two bars indicating a regular member.

In the Action Squad, that was the same rank as Senior Jake.

In other words, until recently, he had been a low-ranking member just like me.

‘Does the Intelligence Department not count experience in the Action Squad?’

Being a low-ranking member at an age that looked to be around forty……

I had a feeling Graff Müller’s life in the Intelligence Department must be pretty difficult.

“I heard the kids call you ‘Rookie.’ Can I call you that too?”

“Of course, Senior.”

“All right, Rookie. I heard you were summoned by someone higher up again recently?”

“……What?”

What was he talking about now?

When I tilted my head, Graff Müller repeated himself.

“I mean the day you missed your shift. The others said you were summoned by someone higher up that day?”

“Oh, that day.”

He meant the day I had confronted Killian Nox, been dragged away by Dupon Clansher, and become a crow.

I had wondered why none of the seniors had complained even though I hadn’t shown up at the watch post, but apparently they had simply made up some vague excuse about me being summoned by someone important.

It was a rather careless excuse.

Then again, Killian Nox had probably intended to kill me at the time, so he likely hadn’t bothered putting much effort into creating a convincing cover story.

“That’s right. I went to the main building.”

“Good grief, you’ve had a rough time. Who summoned you?”

“Dupon Clansher.”

There were several reasons I gave Dupon Clansher’s name.

First of all, Killian Nox was far too important for me to casually say that I had met him.

Besides, there might have been witnesses who saw me walking with Dupon Clansher that night after leaving the Duke’s office and before entering the secret passage.

And most importantly, he was the captain of the crows.

Even if Graff Müller tried to dig deeper after hearing my answer, I trusted that Dupon Clansher would somehow be able to deal with it.

‘He’s part of the Intelligence Department, after all. There’s no harm in being careful.’

Even as I thought that, I felt a bitter smile forming inside.

The reputation of Graff Müller that I had heard from the seniors was practically perfect.

He was diligent, good-natured, and kind to his juniors, and apparently no one even envied him for being selected to join the Intelligence Department and transferring out.

Instead, everyone had genuinely congratulated him.

I didn’t particularly like how wary I was being of someone like that, especially someone I had met for the first time today.

“Dupon?”

Graff Müller’s wrinkled eyes widened.

“Rookie, are you acquainted with Dupon?”

“Acquainted? Of course not. I was simply summoned by him.”

I quickly waved both hands.

‘If I’d known this would happen, I should have given him a different name!’

It was only this morning that my mentor had warned me to lie low until the rumors about the Little Hero died down.

When she had threatened me with death if I broke the rules, I hadn’t been particularly bothered.

But now that I had made an unintentional mistake, just thinking about Gizella Lott’s face sent a chill down my spine.

“More than me, it sounds like you’re the one who knows him.”