Chapter 1581: The Team

Derria seemed worried the moment she heard Redaime's words. "A special j-job?" she asked. "Wh-what kind?"

"Don't worry," Redaime said with a sigh. "It's nothing serious. You aren't going outside, just in another city."

"Oh!" Derria nodded slowly, feeling relieved.

Ning looked at her and then at Redaime. "I... never said it wasn't serious," he said. "If you aren't fine with it, you should leave now, Lieutenant Derria."

Derria looked at Ning, giving a small smile but then shook her head. "I need to do my job. Fear comes second, I'm afraid. Responsibility comes first," she said.

"Go easy on her. She... got scared a few months back during one of the outside missions and finds it hard to do many missions anymore," Redaime explained.

Ning thought for a moment and nodded. 'So she is traumatized from a past experience?' he thought. He wondered what that experience was.

"Well, since we won't be leaving for the outside, lieutenant Derria should be able to handle it," Ning said.

"I will do my best to aid you in this special mission, Lieutenant Ning," the young woman said quickly. "Although, If you don't mind me asking, just what is this mission that we are going to be doing? I got no information at all."

"It's... special enough that I don't want to tell you right now," Ning said. "You'll find out soon enough. We should be leaving anytime soon. As soon as..."

His words lingered as he looked to the side as the sound of footsteps that came toward them stopped at the door. Redaime turned to look and gestured for the person to walk in.

Parima walked in with a solemn look on her face and saluted the captain. "Captain Redaime, I'm here for duty," she said.

"Good. You recognize them, do you not?" she asked.

Parima turned around and saw both Derria and Ning. She seemed to have been acquainted with Derria during her work, so she gave a small nod toward the woman.

Then, her eyes fell on Ning.

Ning felt the most awkward he had ever felt in a very long time. The girl that stood before him was none other than the daughter of the General he had found evidence against to send to prison.

How did she feel about him? Did she hate him? Did she despise the fact that he did such a thing? They were acquainted before during their training, but that should have all disappeared now that Ning had done what he had.

"Lieutenant Ning," the girl said, quickly saluting Ning. Her eyes showed a dull expression that he couldn't read through at all. What was she thinking?

"Parima, you are to go on a mission with Lieutenant Ning and Lieutenant Derria. The purpose of this mission is significant enough that the order came from the Major General himself. Do not mess this up."

Derria showed a look of surprise. She hadn't been told that the mission had anything to do with the highest authority in the Military.

"What mission is this, Captain?" she asked.

"Lieutenant Ning will explain it to you when it is time," Redaime said. "For now, the two of you go and prepare. You will be staying in City 3 for the night."

Parima nodded and saluted Redaime before leaving. Derria did the same as well, but less enthusiastically. She left, and Ning remained alone with Redaime.

Ning made sure the two were gone far away before looking toward Redaime. "You put me together with her?" he asked. "After I just put her father away in prison?"

"So what?" Redaime asked. "Does it matter that she is the daughter of the criminal?"

"That's not what I'm saying," Ning said. "Isn't it kind of rude to make her work with the person who sent her father and her brother to prison?"

"She is a soldier like any other, don't forget that. She knows what her father and brother did was wrong and is doing her best to overcome the stigma that they left behind in their family."

"Their family has also suddenly had their major pillars taken away, so she is trying to desperately replace them. Give her a chance. She'll surprise you."

Redaime's words sent a flurry of questions running through his head, but he asked nothing. He simply smiled. "Alright, I'll give her a chance. Hopefully, the awkwardness between us does not hamper our work at all."

"I don't think it will. Report it to me if it does," she said.

Ning nodded. "And what about Derria?" he asked. "What's up with her? What's her trauma?"

"She... she is a talented explorer among the soldiers who have gone to the surface and other missions hundreds of times now. However, during her last mission, something went wrong and she had to quickly find out something."

"She consumed a lot of Spark to quickly find the answer she was looking for. She ended up getting the answer, but she consumed so much Spark that she nearly went Sparkless."

"She was lucky enough to not become Sparkless, but the incident left her scared to consume more than just a bit of Spark. She tried to go to the surface a lot since then, but because she can't eat a lot of Spark without her heart leaping out of her chest, she is a useless Thinker in terms of expedition."

"She used to be a Captain before, actually. But after the incident and her successive episodes where she refused to consume too much Spark, she was demoted."

"I even only got her because all other Captains passed her away in fact, I'm thinking of doing the same in a few more weeks. Maybe this mission of yours will make the decision faster," she

said.

Ning stared at Redaime, saying nothing but simply processing the story. "Wait... she can't consume a lot of Spark?" he asked.

"Not really," Redaime said. "Just enough to keep her Thinker capabilities."

Ning grimaced. "But... I actually needed someone who was ready to consume a lot of Spark as I ask them to," he said. "If she refuses to do it when the time comes, I will have gone for no

reason."