Chapter 1296: Delicate Eyes

The heavy tread of military boots echoed softly down the corridor before coming to an abrupt halt.

A moment later, a fine layer of spiritual energy coated the soles of those same boots, rendering each subsequent step virtually undetectable against the cold floor.

The wearer continued forward in complete silence, sharp eyes already locked onto the suspicious mound tucked away in one corner.

He stopped directly in front of it.

The fabric shifted ever so slightly.

Then, in one swift motion, he reached down, grabbed the blanket, and yanked it away!

"!"

A thoroughly surprised Eden was caught red-handed, sitting on the floor with her terminal glowing brightly in her lap while happily munching on snacks.

"What the he—!"

Already prepared to blow a fuse at whoever had interrupted her, Eden abruptly stopped when she looked up and found the one person she definitely didn’t want to see right now.

Deputy Officer Curtis stood over her with his arms folded tightly across his chest, one brow raised in a wordless demand for an explanation.

"..."

Eden, who normally would’ve fired back without hesitation, merely released a long sigh.

"Right now... is this the boyfriend or the boss?" she asked cautiously, apparently trying to determine exactly how much trouble she was in and whether there was any chance of weaseling her way out of it.

Curtis gave her a long, unyielding look that clearly said, What do you think?

Then he reached down and gently hauled his sighing but otherwise perfectly compliant girlfriend over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Eden didn’t protest, simply settling against him with the ease of someone who was clearly used to being carried around like this.

Curtis adjusted his hold before turning toward the deck, carrying her along with him.

"You realize I didn’t get access to this on my own, right?" Eden grumbled, practically waving her terminal. "Might be hard to believe, but the Marshal was actually in on this."

Curtis scoffed.

"Yeah, right. And you’re watching because you just happened to have access anyway?"

"Yep!" Eden replied shamelessly. "You can triple-check this time. I didn’t go hacking around by myself! Besides, D-29 definitely knows, and so far, we haven’t been kicked out."

"..."

Curtis suddenly felt an intense urge to rub his face.

So much for working as part of the formal Imperial Military when he somehow kept finding himself surrounded by all sorts of crazed crooks!

Unfortunately, what could he really say when Eden was probably telling the truth this time?

The Marshal very likely had asked her to grant him access to the cadets’ exercise feed, and Eden had simply decided that if she already had access, there was no harm in watching too.

Besides, the two of them had already left for their own mission, so who exactly was Curtis supposed to tattle to?

More importantly...

Would he even want to?

Because underneath all the snacks, blankets, and blatant abuse of her questionable viewing privileges, Curtis knew exactly why Eden was sitting here watching the stream in the first place.

They’d finally reached this point in their search for Enzo.

And if watching a bunch of cadets doing increasingly ridiculous things could keep Eden’s anxiety under control for even a little while longer, Curtis couldn’t quite bring himself to take that away from her.

That’s right.

While they weren’t exactly heading straight for the pirates’ den, they were getting close enough by essentially gambling their way toward it.

Because nothing screamed spy louder than deliberately walking into a pirate stronghold and asking suspicious questions!

And with those pirates apparently behaving strangely lately, waiting around and hoping to get kidnapped or hijacked wasn’t exactly a reliable plan either.

So instead, Curtis and Eden were going to give them a reason to take an interest.

Winning—or rather, spending well enough—would hopefully earn them a ticket to whoever was selling those burners.

And in the worst-case scenario?

Well, losing more money than should morally be possible would probably earn them a first-class ticket to being sold into piracy or forced labor.

Either way, there was a decent chance they’d get close to the right people.

Especially considering the quality of their disguises and just how thoroughly the identities they’d created had been established.

Once they’d settled on a plan, Curtis’ biggest concern had been making sure his girlfriend didn’t drive herself crazy enough to bounce her leg straight through the floor of their hovercraft!

He’d been worried about Eden ever since she started having trouble sleeping.

And that was despite how utterly exhausted she should’ve been after training with those insane Elders and everyone else inside the dungeon space!

So even if Curtis really wanted to chastise her for whatever rules she was almost certainly bending to watch the Royal Military Academy’s feed, he ultimately swallowed the lecture.

At least this was taking her mind off Enzo for a while.

Although...

The Deputy Officer, who was beginning to feel considerably less sympathetic toward the woman currently draped over his shoulder like a slinky, narrowed his eyes.

Eden’s legs dangled in front of his chest, her waist rested over his shoulder, and her head hung somewhere behind his back.

And somehow, even in that position, she was still watching the damned stream.

Wasn’t she having a little too much fun?

"Oh, holy hell! Seriously?!" Eden practically screeched in disbelief. "How come they get to do all the good stuff?! If someone told me we’d get to do things like this in school, I might’ve actually considered doing my time there!"

Curtis glanced sideways at the terminal she was still shamelessly holding.

"You realize I already caught you, right? Don’t think I’ll let you off again."

There was a strange mixture of amusement, exasperation, and complete resignation in his voice as he literally watched the crime continue right in front of him.

"Darling, I believe you’ve got this all wrong."

Eden paused dramatically before delivering her conclusion with complete seriousness.

"I’m not stuck with you. You’re out here stuck with me."

"..."

"To think I went all the way over there specifically so I wouldn’t implicate your delicate eyes!" she continued. "But alas, you came looking for me. Now you’re complicit."

Then, with an impressive amount of coordination for someone currently hanging upside down, Eden shifted her weight and hooked her legs around Curtis’ waist.

A moment later, their faces were level.

Curtis automatically adjusted his hold to support her.

"You only remember how to use your legs properly at times like this, no?"

Eden smirked directly into his face.

"Say whatever you want about my legs, but between the two of us, you’re the one who prefers them this way."

"..."

Curtis rolled his eyes at the blatant innuendo.

But before he could come up with a suitably witty response, Eden’s attention abruptly snapped back toward her terminal.

Her expression changed.

"Hey..."

Curtis noticed the shift immediately.

"I’ve never done this kind of exercise, so I wouldn’t know," Eden murmured, staring strangely at the screen. "But is it normal for cadets to go around stripping energy from the actual outpost?"

"Stripping energy?" Curtis repeated.

He thought about it.

"Well, yes. Even the nicest battalions aren’t going to leave energy canisters lying around for the next group if they have the chance to take them. Usually, there’s some sort of lottery or allocation system at the beginning, so—"

"No."

Eden shook her head.

"Not that kind of stripping."

"Huh?"

"Not the energy canisters."

Curtis’ brows knitted together.

He actually stopped walking.

"What do you mean, not the energy canisters?"

"Yeah, not those."

Eden finally turned the projection directly toward his face, apparently no longer caring whether she dragged him into whatever she was doing.

"I mean this."

Curtis reluctantly looked.

"Has anyone ever gone after the energy supply of the actual outpost?"

"?!"