Chapter 85
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When Samuel arrived early in the morning at Linton’s office, he was greeted by Lieutenant Kate Olen, who promptly handed him a broom and a mop.
“Start by cleaning the floor. Sweep and mop until not a speck of dust is left.”
Samuel suppressed a smirk as he looked at Kate’s stony face. Floor cleaning wasn’t the sort of work assigned to an ensign—especially not one in a guiding support role.
If he’d been raised with the same privilege as Linton, he might have found it humiliating. But Samuel wasn’t bothered.
In fact, he was disappointed. He’d assumed Linton had called him in for some ulterior motive, but he didn’t expect to be ordered to do something so trivial as cleaning.
“I’ll do my best.”
Samuel bowed as he accepted the cleaning tools. Kate watched his impassive face for a moment before returning to her desk.
For a while, the only sounds in the office were papers rustling and the broom sweeping. When Samuel finished cleaning the floor, he wiped the windows and dusted every corner.
He even emptied the trash bins. It fell to him to change the sheets and launder the bedding in the adjoining room as well.
He found it odd how worn the bed sheets were; he’d assumed they’d be new. He couldn’t imagine Adrien and Linton had used the bed for imprinting—so who had?
“Make sure you finish all this before the captain returns.”
“…Understood.”
Samuel glanced at the clock. It was nearly lunchtime. But if he wanted to finish everything before Linton got back, he’d have to skip lunch.
He didn’t mind. Samuel methodically completed every task. After he hung up the freshly laundered sheets and returned, a stack of documents needing basic sorting was waiting for him.
“Now sort all these.”
Kate said, having just returned from lunch. At least it was finally work more suited to an ensign.
Samuel wondered: was this harassment, or was it a reward for hard work?
“Oh, before you get to those, check this first.”
Kate handed him a schedule.
“These are the group guiding sessions you’ll be handling from now on in Captain Linton’s stead. Make sure you follow it to the letter.”
“Understood.”
Any guide without a dedicated esper had to participate in group guiding for other esper members who lacked their own guides.
Until now, Samuel had always been left off the schedule. It wasn’t by Adrien’s direct order, but rather a courtesy extended by others who’d guessed the Commander’s feelings.
Samuel had been grateful for it—it’s the only way he’d managed to keep going, despite the huge difference in their guiding levels.
If he’d been required to guide other espers as well, he probably would’ve burned out long ago.
But now, that consideration has vanished. It was only fair—this was part of a guide’s duty, and stepping in for Linton shouldn’t be an issue.
But as Samuel scanned the list of espers on the schedule, his expression gradually hardened.
“Lieutenant Kate.”
He asked, eyes still fixed on the names.
“Were these espers also Captain Linton’s responsibility before?”
“Who do you mean?”
“The ones at the bottom of the list.”
“Oh, you mean the three silvers and the one bronze?”
“Yes, those.”
“No, those four were added just yesterday, on Captain Linton’s orders.”
“…Nathan White, Kevin Depp, Martin Clodid, Joseph Walsky. You mean all four?”
“That’s right. Is there a problem?”
“…No, not at all.”
Samuel let out a hollow laugh.
‘Of course.’
Those four names belonged to the espers who’d been so aggressive with him just the day before.
‘Doing his job—and getting in a jab at me on the side.’
He’d forgotten how sly Linton Vionne could be, how expertly he could push someone over the edge without getting his hands dirty. Linton had saved him yesterday because it was required by protocol, but now he’d saddled Samuel with those men as his guiding assignments.
Now Samuel would have to face each of them, one-on-one, every week.
And if any of them turned up wearing the red guiding collars, Samuel would have no choice but to take them into a private room and perform high-level contact guiding.
“Captain Linton is certainly clever.”
Kate looked up sharply at the unexpected comment, her eyes cold behind her glasses.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just… I’m always impressed, is all. He comes up with strategies I’d never even consider.”
“…”
“If Captain Linton has a favorite book of military strategy, maybe you could recommend it to me, Lieutenant?”
Kate set her pen down with a loud clack.
“Ensign Samuel, what exactly are you trying to say?”
“I’m going to get lunch. If I keep working like this, I’ll collapse and end up in the infirmary.”
“Hey, wait—!”
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