The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving novel Chapter 55

Chapter 55: Sister-In-Law?

The border gate leading into the Association’s inner sector was as bustling as ever. Biological transport ships docked one after another, offloading a steady stream of passengers onto the plaza.

Ares stood near the primary transit entrance with his hand clasped behind his back, running Zeke’s words through his head for the tenth time.

"A deceptively lethal doll, huh..."

He could easily work with concrete description. "Short, "tall," "wearing a red coat," or "carrying a scar on the left cheek"--those were traits a person could actually use to scan a crowd.

But a doll?

Did the Admiral mean a literal toy? Was he supposed to look for a passenger carrying a porcelain doll in her arms? Or would a real walking doll appear before him?

And what on earth did ’deceptively lethal’ imply?

He was still turning the riddle over in his mind when the newest transport ship finished its docking sequence. The heavy pneumatic doors hissed open, and the passengers began filtering down the ramp.

Then, his gaze locked onto her.

She walked with a kind of unhurried, natural confidence that most people spent their lives trying to fake. Her face was, without a shred of exaggeration, the most striking features Ares had ever beheld in his entire life. Her pale skin and exquisitely beautiful face looked almost too perfect to be real.

Ares blinked in astonishment.

Beneath that deceptively beautiful appearance--the kind that could practically strike a man blind--she possessed a pair of cold, dull eyes that held the deep color of the milky way.

And for some unknown reason, his senses became hyper-alert, as if an extremely dangerous predator were slowly approaching his position.

Wait.Could this tiny girl truly be the person from the Academy whom the Admiral wanted to meet?

She looked so young. She was far too young to hold any real position at the school. A visiting professor’s assistant, maybe? Or--

Could she really be a student?

Before he could finish that train of thought, she was already walking toward him. She had apparently picked him out of the bustling crowd just as easily as he had spotted her.

"Are you the escort the instructor sent?" she asked, stopping a few feet away.

Ares straightened spine fast. Clearing his throat, he plastered on the brightest, most charming smile he could manage on a short notice. "That’s me! The Admiral sent his most loyal subordinate personally to bring you to him."

Hearing this, Aisha’s calm expression finally shifted into a trace of mild surprise.

"Admiral?"

"Oh, right, you probably didn’t know," Ares said, his face practically glowing with pride. "Your new combat instructor happens to be the Association’s youngest Admiral! He is young, handsome, and still completely single. I can guarantee that on my life as his friend!"

He extended a polite hand. "Ares Nico, Lieutenant of the Golden Scale, serving directly under Admiral Zeke Valaerion."

Aisha barely registered the rest of his enthusiastic words.

Their mysterious combat instructor was actually the Admiral of the Association.

That explained a few things.

It explained the absolute ease with which he had stood against Nykos without so much as flinching. If he held the rank of Admiral, that made him the second most powerful figure in the entire Guide and Sentinel Association.

But why on earth a man of that caliber at their academy, acting as a combat instructor?

And then, another chilling thought followed right behind it.

He knew everything. He knew about her hiding her real strength, and he knew about her connection to Nykos--a connection she persistently wanted to deny. The fact that he had told her to come to the Association headquarters today...

What if this whole thing was a trap?

According to what she knew, the Empire had been desperately trying to capture Nykos for a long time. It was true that the Association did not align themselves with the Royal Family or the Emperor, but that didn’t mean they would continue to tolerate him.

Once the upper echelons learned that Nykos was involved with her, a perfect piece of bait would be made to capture him.

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