Chapter 158
Chapter 158
◇◆◇(Abigail’s point of view)
Abigail sat at the counter of the cafeteria watching the bustling crowd.
The cafeteria was located near the city walls, and was a popular and lively place for the low class in Fort 88, and was often filled with soldiers. The name of the place was
Inside, a group of burly soldiers were enjoying their meal in a loud voice, and a female waitress in revealing clothes was busily moving around between the noisy seats.
Abigail caught one of the waitresses and gave her order.
“Yes. Yes. One chicken, large fries, and a beer, please!”
The woman recited the order cheerfully and winked at her.
Her features were not particularly bad or good. but she has a unique look to her with a pair of pigtails, her name is Mashu. for those who know her, she is the idol of this Valhalla establishment.
The key to her success is her tight-fitting shirt that shows a glimpse of her belly button and her ultra-tight miniskirt. This is the uniform of Valhalla, and all the female waitresses wear similar clothes that arouse men’s desire. However, touching is strictly forbidden.
“Mashu, give me that one too.”
Eugene, a reporter, was looking and squinting at her. He was sitting next to Abigail.
–According to Eugene, Mashu was not just an ordinary girl.
Although there is still a question as to how much we can trust this fella’s judgment, Mashu is certainly a capable one.
She worked in the cafeteria where all the teams gathered. Because of her occupation, she seemed to have a lot of information, and she was in a position similar to that of an informant. Abigail had been introduced to her by Eugene.
She was the one who put her in touch with Barry, who had died of a drug overdose the other day.
” Sorry to keep you waiting!”
Mashu put the beer and food on the table. Abigail, however, did not look happy. The reason was Eugene, who had started eating the chicken next to her.
Although Abigail was giving him a disapproving look, he was unconcerned and began to chitchat with her.
” Hey, Big sis. Have you read my latest story?”
“No?”
Eugene showed Abigail the screen of the terminal next to her as she grabs the fries.
“Here, this one.”
“What’s this? Big foot?”
The article he showed her was an image of the so-called Bigfoot, in a Santa costume, with the headline, “Bigfoot appeared on the Holy Night in 88!?.
Abigail sighed as she looked at him.
“Hah..what a classic title.”
“By the way, the public is pretty excited about this. The end of the year is all about the occult. I want to make this Bigfoot craze even more exciting by running a series on UMAs from all over the world, just to get some quick PV page views.”
“this is not a hoax?”historical
She said boringly, and Eugene shook his head.
No, I don’t make things up. This too, you see this picture? that footprints? that’s proof. I’ve really seen it. I saw that Bigfoot dressed as Santa Claus with a big white sack on his back. Here, look at me, look at these honest eyes.”
Eugene pushed his narrow eyes apart with his fingers.
Eugene was young for a reporter. He was probably in his late twenties. He’s short, with a soft face and a friendly demeanor, but I wonder if it’s his unique accent that makes him somewhat suspicious.
“Bigfoot, Santa, ....”
Abigail gulped down her beer, then held up her empty mug and asked Mashu for a refill.
“—- Pu~~ha~! Mashu, another one!”
“Big sis.... are you ....by any chance, a drinker?”
Abigail nibbled on her fries, ignoring Eugene’s question.
“And how long are you going to sit there? I didn’t even allow you to be there, remember?”
“Don’t be so strict. We’re on good terms right? Big sis”
It happened a few minutes ago. When Abigail, who had business at the Valhalla restaurant, got off at the station, she happened to meet this man.
It was just a friendly greeting at first, but Eugene followed her, and now they are sitting at the same table. Abigail didn’t have a chance to say no due to his smooth and easy conversation. She was quite impressed by Eugene’s interviewing skills.
(Is he a capable man after all?)
Sighing once more, Abigail put the fries in her mouth and sipped the second beer that had been brought to her. She glanced at her watch, then at the entrance to the diner. It was snowing outside.
Seeing her, Eugene folded his hands behind his head.
“Big sis, do you have any more interesting stories for me? The last article made me a lot of money. Wasn’t that illustration a masterpiece?”
It has been a while since Abigail had this man do an exclusive interview on her.
Although it was her idea, she still had a few complaints about the illustrations.
“Yes. Thanks to that, people don’t recognize me anywhere I go, and when I tell them my name, they always look surprised.”
Eugene chuckled.
” Well, Valhalla is a place where all kinds of soldiers come. We often do interviews here too. .... By the way, Big sis.”
Eugene looked at Abigail and continued.
“What do you want from Fox? Fox is always full of writing material. can you give me some?”
On the way, I accidentally mentioned that I was going to meet Fox, which turned out to be the end of my good luck. This guy is going to be following me around like a goldfish the entire day.
Abigail tipped back her beer, her voice muffled in her mug.
“I’ve been warned by the military not to talk to reporters too much from now on.”
“Whoa.”
She looked sideways at Eugene, who had somehow taken out a notepad, and sighed for the umpteenth time.
“I don’t like it when people stare at me.”
“But you know, Sis. Intelligence division is hated by soldiers. The Foxes don’t like words like “central”, “spy” and “elite”, so even a “former” agent won’t be well received.”
After a few gulps of beer, Abigail glared at Eugene.
“How did you know that I’m a secret agent?”
Although Eugene was right, I hadn’t told him about it.
“There’s a rumor going around among ‘some people’. So if you want to ask Fox about something complicated, They’ll probably just turn you off.”
Eugene then put his hand on his chest in an exaggerated manner.
“So here’s the deal. I’ll be the mediator for you-“
“No need”
Eugene, who had been rejected outright, arched his eyebrows in the shape of a crow and tried to persisted.
“I can help you if-!”
“It’s for your own good. If you stick your neck out too far, the guillotine will fall on you.”
Eugene winced and shrugged.
“Oh, well, I guess so......”
He grinned, his narrow eyes squinting even more.
“I look forward to working with you as a close friend, Big sis.”
Abigail stared into his eyes.
“What do you think of me really?”
Eugene leans closer to her.
“The chicken that lays golden eggs..”
He whispered.
Abigail put down her empty glass, sighing
At that moment, the entrance of the store buzzed.
The automatic door opened. A violent air entered the store along with the snow.
“Speak of the devil, the Fox is here.”
“Mashu! One hot tapioca, please!
The first to speak up from the group that wearing mountain camouflage was a woman that but her disheveled into one messy bun. She had a distinctive, almost enigmatic set of gray sanpaku eyes.
She brushed the snow off her shoulders, kicked the floor with her boots to remove the snow, took a seat at a comfortable table, and called o the female waiter with a lively smile.
“Alright! Are you done with your Expedition, InoRyder?” (Ino – Ryder)
Mashu stood next to the woman called InoRyder and started chatting with her in a friendly manner.
” Over and out! I hate training in the winter so much.... Even though it’s Christmas, our captain is still extremely passionate about training.”
“Oh.... you’ve been training in Christmas?”
“Listen, captain! As an apology, You need to buy everyone a delicious, Christmas cake today.”
It was the man with the eye patch who got called out. He did not answer but joined the table next to her.
InoRyder, standing over his chair and leaning against it, began to talk to him with exaggerated gestures.
“Our Fox captain, Whisley, has a crazy belief that training can only be done on freezing weather. The mountains that we are heading for are so steep and dangerous. When our captain who was leading the team about to start climbing a mountain. As I was thinking in despair ‘Was it going to be a repeat of the Mount Hakkoda tragedy?’ –And then! the snow starts falling! the heavens smiled upon us!”
InoRyder raised both hands cheerfully and continued. In the meantime, the rest of the Fox team took their seats one after another.
The rest of the Foxes took their seats. “When Mayday and I were giving thanks to the gods somewhere in these mountains that our training was over, Vani and Rudra were so excited about the snow. kids love these things”
InoRyder shook her head in annoyance, pointing her finger at the two kids in the group.
The two youngsters mentioned were a boy and a girl, their faces obscured by the large hats they wore, but they were a fair-skinned girl and a dark-skinned boy. The girl was giving a middle finger to InoRyder’s back.
“We didn’t have the equipment to go out in the snow, so we hurriedly grabbed our things and dragged them back.
“It’s really been snowing like crazy the last few days.”
“It’s quite rare. If we hadn’t turned back then, we might have all been frozen and unearthed by someone 100,000 years from now.....”
About twenty other soldiers took their seats in a group and began to talk to each other cheerfully.
They were not wild people, but rather people with a somewhat unworldly air about them.
When all these people gathered together, a kind of strange atmosphere bloomed and swept up to Abigail.
A man with snake-like eyes. A man with strabismus and slightly protruding eyeballs. A slender, quiet-looking man. A rather large, well-built, balding man. A tall man with an eye patch. Then there was that gray eyes woman who had been talking loudly for a while now, and she really stood out.
The strange thing was the fact that no one had ordered alcohol. all of the Foxes ordered sweets while the other guests ordered strong alcohol and stews because of the cold.