Chapter 447 - 447 MEETING THE LIEUTENANT
The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era
447 MEETING THE LIEUTENANT
ASTRID observed the man. Even though the other had a polite smile on his face, he could tell that itâs mainly a business smile. Like a businessman that was meeting an important client. Astrid didnât mind though. At least he knew that this guy wanted to talk to him because of âbusinessâ and not because of some personal reason.
And this âbusinessâ just happened to be somehow connected to the only prince of the Empire.
âSince weâre already alone, I very much prefer if you can now tell me what this was all about,â he said straightforwardly with an equally polite smile.
He didnât want to go around the bush before they could even go to the main point. Aside from the fact that heâs really hungry and couldnât wait to eat, heâs also worried that something might have happened to Wulfric, thatâs why this person suddenly came to him.
Whatever the reason, itâs important to establish first why they had to have this conversation. That way, they could discuss things much faster.
âI think I should introduce myself first,â the man said. âMy name is Leland Brewer. I am a Lieutenant in Fenris Squad.â
Astrid was slightly surprised when he heard that introduction. He had many guesses in his mind as to who this man was, but him being a soldier and a part of Fenris Squad was certainly not among the top.
It was public knowledge that the Fenris Squad had three captains and one lieutenant. Even though that was public knowledge, their names werenât spread out and known throughout the whole Empire. That was, of course, in comparison to Wulfric.
Even if the Fenris Squad was very infamous, most of the things that made them so was because of their general. Itâs like the other was the poster child for trouble. Add that to the fact that heâs royalty and all of the publicâs attention was solely focused on him.
â¦..
If the man sitting across from him was Fenris Squadâs lieuenant, that meant that heâs second-in-command.
Wait- Brewer?
âI think Mr. Townsend had already met my younger brother, Assil,â Leland Brewer said in a timely manner, as if he had read whatâs on his mind.
âAh, yes, Iâve met Ash,â Astrid could only say.
From the things Reas had told him, he knew that Ashâs older brother was in Fenris Squad but the other hadnât mentioned that it was actually the lieutenant. But even if he knew beforehand, Astrid would have probably not guessed that the two were brothers. Itâs not just because they didnât look alike, their vibes were the total opposite of each other.
Anyway, thatâs really not whatâs important right now.
âMay I ask why Lieutenant Brewer went to all this trouble just to speak to me privately?â
Because it was indeed a lot of trouble. Imagine, the second-in-command of the most infamous army in the Empire pretended to be the manager of an actor just so he could speak with Astrid. If that didnât qualify as âtroublesomeâ, then heâs not sure what would.
Leland tactfully observed the teenager, no, the young man in front of him. He thought that the other would at least show a surprise expression once he introduced himself. Or that the other would not believe him. After all, which army lieutenant would go around pretending to be a manager? Thatâs why he quickly mentioned that heâs Assilâs brother.
But aside from the slightly raising of his brow, there was nothing else. The other was simply too calm. He didnât even ask how he could be related to Lance. Which was one of the things he expected the other would question him about.
Was Astrid Townsend always this level-headed?
What Leland didnât know was the fact that the one who informed Wulfric about Lance Reid was the young man in front of him. So, of course, he had prior knowledge of their connection.
Although if Leland was observant as observant as Hildred in things like that, namely romantic relationships, he would have probably long realized that the whole Lance fiasco was related to Astrid.
âAs Iâve said earlier, itâs related to his highness, the prince,â he said as a respond to the otherâs question.
In which Astrid only gave him an âIâm listeningâ expression, as if silently telling him to continue.
âHis highness suddenly had this⦠idea to make the details of our current mission public after we successfully completed the mission,â he started explaining what he came here for. âThat idea is, well, to say it in a frank way, very bad. It could affect our armyâs future and might put all of us in danger. So, although this is a bit shameless of me to ask of Mr. Townsend, can you persuade his highness to change his mind?â
Now, this was surprising. Out of all the reasons why the other approached him, this was definitely not something Astrid could have had imagined. He was actually already starting to get worried that Wulfric might be in danger or something. And then, it ended up like this. Although heâs glad that itâs not because Wulfric was hurt, this was still unprecedented.
âBut why come to me?â he couldnât help but ask.
He could kind of understand why the lieutenant might think that going public with their current mission could be potentially dangerous for their army. Just by those words, what theyâre doing was definitely some kind of secret mission. If everyone found out about it, thereâs a high chance that the publicâs perception of their army would change.
Thatâs probably what Leland Brewer was trying to prevent.
What he couldnât understand was how the two things were related. Before he could think further on that, he heard Leland say;
âWell, the reason his highness wanted to be more public about our mission, I believe itâs because of Mr. Townsend. If you convince him not to, his highness would definitely agree and change his mind.â
That reasoning made Astrid tilt his head, not sure if he actually heard the other correctly.