Chapter 33

The atmosphere that had been heated turned cold in an instant.

Indeed, their mission was to monitor that woman named Elkana and the little one named Ambasha to ensure they didn’t escape this place.

Given the circumstances, they had even received orders for forced suppression, making it clear that Achroiel regarded the two as potential threats.

However,

No matter what, they were, on the surface, still ‘guests of Admiral Achroiel.’

It wasn’t as if they had committed any overt offenses, and one of them was merely an immature young girl.

It was only natural to allow such a child to excuse herself for a bathroom visit, but…

Of all times, it happened to be Abuchi she chose to talk to, who had always had a poor disposition and had become even more irritable lately.

As a result of the ensuing quarrel, unable to resist his foul temper, Abuchi raised his voice and struck Elkana.

Of course, Elkana had spoken a bit harshly, but for someone to punch her hard enough to send her sprawling was clearly beyond the limits of rudeness, and the ‘order’ given moments later by Achroiel was essentially a recipe for a volatile explosion.

Then came the following seconds of Ambasha’s crying.

Ultimately, witnessing the situation where the child couldn’t hold it any longer, the navy personnel in the room began to feel profound self-loathing.

“Hey, kid! It’s already chaotic enough, be quiet… Guhk!!!”

In the midst of this, another navy soldier struck Abuchi from behind.

His name was Aquila; after clearing away that annoying comrade, he desperately sought to resolve the situation, bowing his head as politely as possible towards the grimacing Elkana and the still-sobbed Ambasha.

“I’m sorry. My comrade has acted rudely without any sense. Please forgive us just this once.”

“F… Forgive? You think a single ‘sorry’ is enough to wrap this all up? What kind of ridiculous situation is this? Ambasha and I came this far trusting Achroiel; why are we being treated like criminals all of a sudden?”

“That too, I sincerely apologize… Admiral Achroiel has been quite sensitive lately…”

“Sensitive? You treat friends like this? Bring Achroiel here! We need to clarify this matter for sure!”

“W… Well… The Admiral is a bit busy right now…”

“A busy person can suspect us, huh? Did we attack anyone here? Did we steal something? Tell me, what exactly did we do wrong for you to treat us like this? You might as well just say we can’t participate in the auction instead of sneaking a knife in our backs like this! Is this what a navy admiral does?”

“…”

Elkana’s outburst was laced with genuine anger and injustice.

The navy officers in the room could only lower their heads in silence, unable to say a word.

This issue had originated solely from Achroiel’s ‘intuition.’

There was not a single concrete piece of evidence that the two before them had come here with ill intent.

Also, given the chaos happening outside, it was clear that even if they called Achroiel, she wouldn’t be able to come.

It was then that Aquila and the navy personnel felt utterly baffled.

“Sniff… Um… Sister… I… need the bathroom…”

“!… Guh…”

Ambasha, her face tear-streaked, tugged at Elkana’s arm.

Elkana, suppressing her anger with great effort, turned to the soldiers in front of her with a cool voice.

“I’ll be back. Bathroom. You, at least take off your uniform top. I need to rush there for now.”

“Y… Yes.”

“U… Um, could we go together…?”

Aquila tried to stop Elkana from leaving alone.

However…

“Why? Are you trying to peek as well as beat up a girl? Do you think all Benessa navy personnel are violent men and lolicon perverts?”

“N… No… I… it’s not like that…”

“Good! If you want to, go ahead! I’ll be sure to complain about you to Achroiel along with that Abuchi guy!”

“Ugh…”

Elkana’s words left Aquila with no choice but to shut his mouth.

The atmosphere and justification had completely flipped because of Abuchi’s foolish blunder.

In this tense situation, a wrong move could lead to a devastating retaliatory bite.

The momentary suppression of the atmosphere was palpable.

As she picked up her clothes, Elkana, alongside Ambasha, shot a cold glare before leaving the room, leaving the navy personnel to stand dazed for some time.

*

With a good justification in hand, the two successfully shook off the annoying watchers.

Perhaps due to the commotion outside, they hurriedly made their way down the now-empty corridor toward the auction house.

“That was cool, Elkana.”

“What can I say, it’s thanks to you organizing the plan well. It was lucky that that foul-tempered guy blew up just as expected.”

In a way, Abuchi could be seen as their greatest accomplice in this situation.

His persona had been filthy since beforehand, and he was wandering around with a frown that screamed he’d explode at any moment.

Of course, Elkana contributing to igniting that flame significantly helped.

“By the way… was that really pee?”

“No, it was tea I was drinking earlier. Still, it feels a bit uncomfortable, so I’d like to change afterward.”

“Got it. Let’s handle this first.”

Before entering the auction house, they used the navy uniform to cover the wet spot.

After hastily covering the wet clothing, they successfully approached near the auction house with caution.

Since they had mapped the route on the way here, moving was smooth.

But…

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“!!”

As they turned around the corner, a sharp voice suddenly rang out.

The two could only halt in their tracks.

“Damn…”

“What a fierce woman… that old lady…”

What caught their eyes was Achroiel, firmly guarding the entrance to the auction house with a dozen soldiers.

“I told you to wait quietly, didn’t I? Given that you’re here, it seems something urgent must have come up.”

Even with the chaos outside, she was maintaining a tight defense, surely realizing they were pulling the bait in an ambush operation.

There was no solid evidence, merely a hunch.

Watching this, Elkana muttered in a small voice, her tongue clicking in annoyance.

“I’ve felt this for a while, but… that intuition is just horrifyingly accurate…”

“And her acting skills are nothing to scoff at either… there’s no way she’d go this far…”

The fact that she had shown a friendly smile yesterday while internally plotting to doubt and bury them sent shivers down Ambasha’s spine.

“Still, she didn’t used to set such nasty traps… I feel like people became incredibly sinister after becoming navy.”

“Truly, everything Franklin said was right…”

In the midst of this impasse, the memory of that person surfaced in their minds once again.

As they thought about how adults’ words should be heeded, they began brainstorming ways to get past this crisis.

*

Just as her intuition indicated, Elkana and Ambasha appeared.

Achroiel looked at them with a cold smile.

‘Sure enough… my expectations were right. I might not know how to shake my subordinates, but where you’d come is pretty obvious.’

Thanks to the duo being more cautious than anticipated, it took some time, but ultimately, it was her victory.

With that in mind, Achroiel prepared to issue orders to the soldiers to ensure the instigators of the commotion couldn’t escape.

However…

“Good to see you! Here I thought you were too busy to be hanging around in a place like this!”

“Eh?”

For some reason, Elkana approached confidently with anger instead of fear or confusion.

Without drawing her weapon, she strode toward Achroiel, leaving both her and the soldiers momentarily bewildered.

And then—

-Slap!!

“!!!”

“Wait!”

In the next instant, Elkana delivered a furious slap to Achroiel’s cheek.

It wasn’t precisely an attack, but rather a strange strike that left Achroiel momentarily stunned.

“You, this punk!”

“What’s the meaning of this?!”

Her unanticipated behavior triggered Abuchi’s subordinates to seize and restrain Elkana.

However, Achroiel found herself perplexed by Elkana’s attitude, so different from what she had expected, as she was forced onto her knees.

“What… what the hell is this?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? Don’t you know? You! Thought we were criminals and were keeping tabs on us, right? That subordinate of yours named Abuchi slapped me and told me so!”

Elkana gestured toward her bruised face as she unleashed a voice filled with fury.

Following Elkan’s enraged explanation, Ambasha, with tear-swollen eyes, also appeared behind her.

The unexpected outcome of Abuchi’s foolish actions left Achroiel at a momentary loss for words.

“Achroiel, how could you do this to me? I’ve always thought of you as a friend… was our friendship only worth this much? Or was there even friendship to begin with?”

“Th… that’s…”

“Ugh… Sniff…”

Elkana’s protest continued with tears, and Ambasha began to sob again.

In that moment, Achroiel could only gaze blankly at them, unable to utter a word.

Instinct was simply instinct.

Acting without concrete proof was a gamble of sorts.

And now, Achroiel felt a painful realization that her gamble had resulted in a wrecked loss.

The stakes were her friendship with Elkana.

And the relationship with the girl she truly admired.

All of that had vanished into thin air due to her mistaken judgment, and she felt a deep ache within her.

In this situation, there was only one thing Achroiel could do.

First, she must clearly admit her fault,

And offer an apology.

“… So, um… I’m… sorry…”

At that moment—

-Kaboom!!!

“!!”

“Ugh!”

A sudden explosion echoed, accompanied by a violent tremor.

The impactful shock swept through the entire Central Hall, causing everyone present to stumble and fall.

As they toppled to the ground, Elkana, who had been deeply engrossed in her acting, finally realized the fact she had forgotten.

‘Oh no… time is already…’