Nojiko squinted her eyes, scrutinizing Drake.
Drake's face remained unchanged as he calmly met her gaze.
"Enough!" Nojiko snapped coldly, "Both of you, come with me."
She turned and strode towards the depths of the castle, with Drake following without hesitation.
Seeing this, Barto hurriedly ran after them, not forgetting to straighten his crooked collar while on the move.
The three of them arrived in a spacious, empty meeting room.
Nojiko sat at the head of the table and gestured for the two to sit as well.
"Drake, tell me again in detail why you defected," Nojiko asked bluntly.
"Yes, ma'am."
Drake sat up straight on the sofa and solemnly replied, "I joined the Navy at a very young age to uphold the justice in my heart. However, during my service, I witnessed too much of the dark side of the World Government and Navy Headquarters..."
"Especially after the Shampodi incident, I began to realize that Lord Xiano is the one truly fighting for justice and worthy of my following."
"The dark side... be specific."
Nojiko seemed to have anticipated this and was unmoved.
"Three months ago, I was ordered to escort a batch of 'goods' to Mary Geoise."
Drake sighed deeply, "I later found out that these were not goods at all, but slaves presented by some allied nation's nobility to please the Heavenly Celestial Dragon, all young and beautiful girls, not even counting as girls for many..."
He gritted his teeth, his fists unconsciously clenched, "I protested to my superiors but was warned not to meddle. From then on, I began to question my allegiance and the thought of leaving the Navy arose."
"Quite reasonable, and definitely something the Heavenly Celestial Dragon would do."
Nojiko nodded thoughtfully, "I've also reviewed the registration materials you submitted before. There are no issues. After defecting from the Navy, you haven't committed any wrongdoing. Go report to the Combat Corps with your subordinates."
"The position of the third team captain has been vacant. It's yours now. Oh, by the way, another Super Rookie, Trafalgar Law, who recently joined, is now the second team's captain. That guy seems to be from the same hometown as you, so you two can exchange ideas more often."
Upon hearing this, a hint of surprise flashed in Drake's eyes, and he immediately stood up to salute:
"Yes! Thank you, senior, for your trust!"
He pushed the door and left.
He held back his internal joy, walking silently to the stairway, glancing back at the tightly closed meeting room door before pausing momentarily to take a deep breath.
Previously, he'd heard that Endgame was setting up its own intelligence department and was very strict about the scrutiny of high-level newcomers, which made him somewhat apprehensive.
He feared that he would be found out as soon as he went in.
He wasn't afraid of sacrifice, but it had to be worthwhile—losing one's life without providing any useful intelligence was something a Marine could never accept.
However, as it turns out...
All it took was filling out a form and answering a few questions, and he gained their trust and directly obtained a vacant cadre position.
Hmph.
Failing to even conduct basic background checks, it seems like nothing but a ragtag group.
Drake scoffed internally; his previous words were half-true. He was indeed dissatisfied with the World Government, but as for Endgame...
What could be accomplished with a group of such vermin?
————
In the meeting room.
"That guy's arranged. Now, as for you, another Super Rookie..."
Nojiko turned to look at Bartolomeo, who immediately straightened his back, full of anticipation.
"We must follow protocol and conduct a strict review," Nojiko said blandly.
"Eh?" Barto felt aggrieved, "Why, Nojiko-senpai? That's not fair. Drake seems more suspicious, so why can he just..."
"That guy, he's a special case that my brother specifically wanted to recruit. No review is needed, including his position decisions, which were all personally arranged by my brother. I'm merely acting out the procedure," Nojiko lifted her gaze, "Do you have any objections?"
"None!" Barto shook his head decisively.
"It seems like invoking my brother's name works best on you."
Nojiko chuckled silently as she took out a vial and gently placed it in front of Barto.
"What's this?"
"Truth Serum,"
Nojiko smiled faintly, "It's a tool that makes you speak the truth and is used as an auxiliary tool for assessment. It's really useful—it leaves those with ulterior motives nowhere to hide. Unfortunately, it's too rare to mass-produce. Even after being diluted there's not much, so it can only be used on newcomers like you, whose strength is sufficient to take on a cadre position."
This kind of miraculous thing!
Barto looked at the Truth Serum in front of him and suddenly grinned, grabbing it without hesitation and gulping it down.
"Eh?"
Nojiko was taken aback by such decisiveness; normally, people would at least hesitate for a moment.
"So, Drake is trusted more by Lord Xiano than me! That's why he was exempted from this step!"
Barto wiped his mouth and laughed happily, "Senior, that guy makes people envious, but it's also because of that I can take this opportunity to prove with honest words that I'm the world's most loyal follower!"
"..."
Nojiko was momentarily speechless; it actually seemed to be true.
The effect soon began to take hold. Following procedure, Nojiko waited for a while before opening the record book to start the review, "First question, why do you want to join Endgame? And when did you start having this thought?"
"Because Lord Xiano is too handsome!"