The Raven Dark Hero 24

Chapter 24 : Special Mission

TL:SummerPeanut

"Old man, is it fixed yet?"

"Ou, it's done!"

It was almost two hours since he had received the email asking him to go on a joint mission. Since he’ll be exposed if he goes there without his equipment, he went to Cid’s place first.

"The cloak...seems tougher, isn't it?"

"Hmm? Because of the overall severe damage to the suit, I increased the durability of the cloak. If you use this cloak to protect yourself, you will be able to nullify most attacks. I've also made it more flexible and sturdy so that it can fly with less effort."

"......so how much does the repairs cost?"

"Oh! The cloak was a masterpiece! So only seventy million yen in total!"

Kouki’s original debt was 100 million, the reward for the last mission was 50 million. The repair bill was originally estimated at 60 million, but with the improvements to the cloak, it's now 70 million.

"Your purposely increasing my debt ain’t you, old bastard! Give my previous cloak back!"

"What did you say?! Even though I made it just for you with good intentions!!"

After that, he managed to somehow bargain it for 65 million. Fortunately, the ridiculous interest talk previously was just Cid’s dark joke.

After a bit of a tussle, Kouki came to the lobby in his jet-black birdman gear. And then...

"Uhm...are you the newcomer?"

When he turned around following where the voice came from, he saw a glamorous woman with blonde semi-long hair standing behind him.

"Indeed, I am. Are you Teaser?"

Kouki replied with a haughty voice for some reason. Actually, he thought about how to present Bright’s character previously and decided to go with the cool character so he is just acting it now. That is the trait of being a patient of the middle school disease.

“Really! Nice to meet you! Um... is it okay if I call you Bright-kun?"

Teaser asked with flushed cheeks and upward looking eyes.

"...sure."

(Ugh...what’s with this person, she’s so cute! No, no! I have Fuuka, but I’m acting as Bright now.)

"Alright! Let's go~!"

"A three-gift holder...I'm looking forward to working with you."

Before he noticed it, there were two other men next to Teaser.

One was a young man in a red waistcoat. The other is a young man in a blue waistcoat.

".......what?"

Towards Kouki who was dumbfounded at the situation, Teaser said as she smiled.

"Ah, today’s mission is a high difficulty task(special mission)! So the four of us are going together!"

And he just noticed that Teaser was wearing a yellow waistcoat.

(I-I was tricked?!)

He declined the invitation of the two men and accepted one from a woman instead. He felt very embarrassed and uncomfortable to the other two guys.

"Luckily I still asked you even though I thought it’s probably impossible!"

“Yeah. To be honest, I didn't think you'd come either."

(Hmm? The situation doesn’t seem right? ......Ah, that's right! I came to this lobby and was approached by Teaser! If that's all, they wouldn’t know that I was going to turn down the two guys' offer!)

"Well, in the end I guess he took Teaser's invitation though!"

(...they knew. No, I can still make up for it!)

"...Don't get me wrong. Rather, I was going to accept all three invitations.“

Kouki desperately boasted as he pretended to be calm. Though he himself felt it’s a bit forced...

"Oh! I knew you are no ordinary guy!"

"As expected of a three-gift holder. The scale is different compared to the usual newbies."

"Fufu! I'm really looking forward to seeing you fight, Bright-kun!"

(Are they being serious?)

Thanks to his effective bluff, he raised others expectations on him unnecessarily. He felt like he had fallen into some kind of trap...

"Anyway! The application for a special mission has been submitted! The mission is to [raid the NDF’s Nerima branch!]"

The four of them went to the lobby for the mission briefing.

(One of NDF’s branches...I knew that Kuroyume is a criminal organisation and that it is hostile to NDF, but they’ll directly make a mission like this?)

"There are two lieutenants and three second lieutenants accompanying the new recruits training at the Nerima branch. The mission is to eliminate as many soldiers as possible, including these five.

...Frankly speaking, it is not a mission we can take on but for some reason our application was accepted. So maybe the lieutenants in question are not combat veterans."

(Eliminate......in other words kill?)

Kouki had already killed 5 people. But Kurosaki was killed because if he didn't kill him, he would have been killed instead, and even that time with the corpse disposal team, he wondered why he thought it was a necessary thing to do.

...To kill an innocent soldier. The weight of it felt heavy to Kouki.

(...is this something that I can do?)

Soldier of the National Defense Force. They were the existence that Kouki admired until just recently. He will be going to kill those existences right now.

"Mmn? Bright-kun, what's wrong? Don’t tell me..."

(Oh...did they notice that I’m scared?)

"...you are looking forward to it so much you are shaking in your boots!"

(It’s interpreted that way?!)

"That's incredible, Bright!"

“Indeed. I have to admit I'm a bit nervous about this mission…”

For some reason, his reputation is going up in a way he never intended.

(...whatever. Not like I have other choice but to do it now. I’ll think about whether I can kill them or not later.)

-NDF Nerima Branch.

A man sighed as he watched the new recruits train.

"It's so fucking boring."

The man, wearing a military coat, leans on a table and a chair he brought with him and sipped a cup of coffee full of sugar.

A woman wearing the same military coat approached that man.

"Lieutenant Saejima, please refrain from groaning in front of the new recruits. You are technically the new recruits’ provisional instructor, remember?"

"But you see~. There are so many new recruits yet no one who is willing to take me on."

"There are less than ten people in the whole NDF who can actually hold their own weight against you!"

"I know right~. I’m dying from boredom here~. I'd rather go hunting for phenoms."

"Your mission now is to educate the new recruits!"

Originally, Saejima was not scheduled to be here, but he was forced to because the actual instructor was on medical leave as he’s not feeling well....and mainly because there is no other lieutenant who is free other than him.

"I'll leave that to you, [Iori]."

"For god’s sake, you're a lieutenant, are you not?!"

"But you're a lieutenant too, Iori. I'm going to my room for a quick nap. Call me when you're done~."

"Hey! Are you really bouncing out?! .........seriously, what a pain in the ass."

Iori brushed her long black hair as she let out a heavy sigh.

"Even though he’s always so sluggish, the moment he enters a combat he’ll change as if different person...Luckily NDF considers more than just individual combat strength or he would have been long promoted to a general. What a troublesome person."

"Hah hah haaah, Lieutenant Iori! We've finished the training for the day! ...hm? Where is Lieutenant Saejima?"

In front of Iori is a young man known as the representative of the new recruits. Sanada Hiro came to report the completion of training for the day.

"Private Sanada.... Lieutenant Saejima is away on business."

"I see. He's probably slacking off again, isn't he?"

"Private Sanada..."

Iori glared at Hiiro.

"Ah! Excuse me, sir! Lieutenant Iori! ...Heh."

Iori is not good at handling Hiro. Rather than not good, perhaps it’s more appropriate to say that she doesn’t like him.

Hierarchical position is absolute in the NDF. However, despite being just a new recruit, Sanada Hiro is being overly familiar with those of higher ranks.

(...I mean I know this guy’s gift, Area Master, is ranked A+ and all. But even though his mastery of his gift and his individual combat ability are still not that great, a number of people tolerated his cocky attitude since his future seems promising. And because of that, he acts as if he deserves special treatment...)

"Sanada...you’d better fix how you talk or..."

"Sir! Roger that, Sir Lieutenant Iori! Teehee."

Iori let out another sigh today.

And at that very moment.

The gate suddenly opened with a roaring sound.

"I’m gonna be the soldier killer!!"[1]

The man in the red waistcoat with both his hands raised and a big smile on his face made his appearance.

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So Saejima is a lieutenant with the strength of general-class, and can you even put soldier and innocent word together?

TL’s note:

1. “I’m gonna be the pirate king” reference.