Chapter 1373: What Did I Miss?!

"Eeep—!"

A muffled squeal echoed through the room as one cadet hastily clamped a palm over her friend’s mouth.

"You...!" the cadet hissed in warning before turning toward one of the beds and bowing apologetically, clearly flustered. "Sorry! S-she just hit her toe! We’ll grab the items they asked for and be on our merry way!"

With another series of hurried, embarrassed bows, the two fled the room as though escaping a fire, leaving the person they’d been bowing to with nothing but a bewildered smile and a nod.

"...?"

That was the fourth time something like that had happened since Jax woke up to find his face covered by something soft.

No, not something.

Someone.

And it wasn’t a pillow smothering his face, either, but his actual kid, Izzie!

Jax had been so thoroughly surprised to see her earlier that he’d honestly thought he was experiencing some sort of vivid hallucination, or worse, that he’d actually died!

But when he finally realized he was wide awake, the little queen bee nuzzled his face so enthusiastically that he was certain he couldn’t possibly have crossed over to the other side.

Izzie’s big eyes looked as though they were welling up with tears as Jax gently pried her off his face. He smiled softly at her, but the moment she was free, she immediately smothered him again in sheer excitement!

It was almost as though she’d missed him terribly and had been extremely worried about him, letting out excited little yips and soft buzzes while Jax responded with a reassuring chuckle.

"There, there. I missed you too! But how are you here, Izzie?" Jax asked, laughing again when the little bee planted both clawed paws firmly against his cheeks and squeezed them together.

His face was practically squashed into that of a fish, but he happily allowed Izzie to do whatever she wanted.

Though, speaking of which...

Where exactly was he?

Jax glanced around the room, surprised to find Noah sitting patiently beside his bed.

"You’re finally awake," Noah remarked calmly. "I’ve informed the others, so they’ll probably be here any moment now. How’s your condition?"

"Huh?" Jax blinked in confusion. "Condition?"

He was just about to tell Noah that he felt perfectly fine as always, still wondering why anyone would even ask about his health, when sharp flashes of what had happened earlier suddenly resurfaced in his mind.

He glanced at Izzie’s deeply worried little face before pointing a finger at himself.

"Hey man... by any chance, did I pass out?" he asked rather casually.

"...!"

Apparently, that casual tone wasn’t appreciated by the little bee, who understood exactly what he’d just asked!

She immediately planted her little paws against her waist, looking downright furious!

Meanwhile, Noah merely stared at Jax with narrowed eyes before letting out a dry and suspiciously worried breath.

"Pass out? Yeah, pretty much. Though if certain people heard you talking about it like it’s no big deal, they’d probably bury you six feet under themselves, so I’d suggest—"

"Kyaaaaaaa~!"

"...?"

That was the first squeal that made Jax suspect something strange was happening.

When he looked toward the entrance, however, he merely saw a few cadets entering what he now realized was probably a converted office space.

Right. This was definitely inside B10’s battleship, and these people had to be schoolmates.

Although surprised, Jax figured that seeing other people was a good sign. However, just as he raised a hand to greet them, the cadets unexpectedly turned bright red, screeching apologies as they promised to grab what they needed and leave as quickly as possible!

They grabbed a few holographic tablets before making themselves scarce faster than anyone could say hello.

"...?"

Jax was left completely dumbfounded, his hand still frozen in midair.

Then, realizing that Izzie was sitting right there on his chest, his eyes suddenly widened in panic!

Noticing his reaction, Noah spoke up evenly.

"They can’t see her. So don’t worry."

"What...?"

The redhead had a mountain of questions, but the revelation that other people couldn’t see his baby bee immediately pushed every other concern out of his head!

"Yeah. I’m not sure what or how the Elders did it, but they definitely did something," Noah explained. "So now, we’re the only ones who can see her unless she deliberately decides she wants to be seen."

"Woah!" Jax gasped.

There were several massive things to unpack right there!

For starters, Izzie was apparently invisible to everyone else?!

And then there were the Elders!

If it really was the Elders, then that last blurry figure he’d seen right before losing consciousness...

Could it actually be possible that—

Just then, the automatic doors hissed open once more.

Jax immediately straightened in bed, hoping against hope that his guess was correct.

However, with the surprisingly strong spiritual barrier surrounding the room preventing him from sensing anyone’s presence outside, he had absolutely no idea who was about to enter.

And before he could even recognize the figure that abruptly popped through the doorway, a loud voice boomed.

"What the! I saw that, you know?! How could your face look all dejected when we ran all the way here to check on you, huh?! At least smile a little, you brat!"

"...!"

It was Princess Kira, who’d come strutting into the room with a wide grin, only to loudly protest when Jax’s excited expression instantly faltered!

It was almost as though she wasn’t the visitor he’d been desperately waiting for!

"I’m happy. Ha. Ha," Jax offered, his attempt at sounding pleased so blatantly forced that even a blind person would’ve noticed the cloud of gloom practically crowding above his head.

"...!"

The aghast Orcish Princess immediately spun around, dramatically addressing the group behind her.

"Bah! Look at him! Just because it’s me, he’s acting like that! What is this so-called friendship?!"

She looked so deeply hurt that Noah, Jax, and even Izzie couldn’t help but stare at her in confusion.

However, the same couldn’t be said for the several young ladies the Princess had brought along.

Standing behind the sturdy and dependable Princess, who served as their protective shield, the women stared at Jax with eyes sparkling with an entirely different kind of feverish intensity!

And for some inexplicable reason, those gazes sent a sharp shiver down his spine!

"Ho ho ho! Right, right! What can we do? It’s just us!" Kira declared, pointing at her own chest with exaggerated regret, though the expression on her face suggested anything but.

Still crowding behind her, four other women were wheezing softly, desperately trying not to make their excitement obvious but failing miserably.

One of them even developed a sudden, rather violent nosebleed!

"...!"

Naturally, Jax immediately grew concerned and asked whether she needed first aid, but before he could do anything, the other women hurriedly carried their nosebleeding, oddly satisfied friend back out the door.

And just like that, another group had fled the infirmary!

"..."

Jax genuinely couldn’t understand what the hell was happening.

But by the fourth time a group ran off like that, he’d finally had enough.

Rubbing his forehead, he resolved to ask what was really going on, because even though his instincts hadn’t warned him about anything unusual just yet, even someone like him could tell that something was gravely wrong!

Only, he had absolutely no idea what to expect.

And it certainly wasn’t Princess Kira leaning toward him with a sly smirk before proudly announcing:

"So, how does it feel to wake up as the Chief of Staff’s official lover? Ho ho ho ho!"

HUH?!