The Legendary F Rank

Haru looked up at Captain Liegan with a look of confusion as he tried to understand what she had meant, calling him the sneakiest person she had ever met. He couldn't recall any moment that she had caught him sneaking around. So that only meant one thing.

'She knows.' Haru thought as his mind went wild as he tried to think of solutions in his head. 

'How many people has she told? Should I kill her to make sure that no one else finds out? No. What am I thinking? We have been friends for the past few months. I can't kill her. Especially for something like this. I will just have to hope that she doesn't tell anyone else.' Haru thought as he looked back at Captain Liegan, who was smiling. 

"What? Are you really going to leave such an important task to a private? Are you sure that's a smart idea?" Second Lieutenant Mishi said as he stared at Haru with a look of doubt as he didn't think that there was any chance that Haru would be able to make it to the Chinese camp without getting caught.

'I guess I might as well comply. She would be less likely to tell anyone if I do what she asks of me.' Haru thought as he knew that Captain Liegan had a plan for him.

"Now you're starting to sound like that guy outside. Who says your ability determines your rank? Shouldn't you know this already?" Haru's voice emerged from behind Second Lieutenant Mishi as Haru amped up his mana a little more than he was used to doing and vanished before everyone's eyes before appearing behind Mishi and tapping him on the shoulder.

"How did you just!?" Second Lieutenant Mishi exclaimed as he turned to see Haru had seemingly teleported behind him. 

"See what I mean. Very sneaky indeed." Captain Liegan said with an even bigger grin as this was also the first time she had seen Haru move so fast. But as for Jake, he remained still with worry in his eyes as he questioned whether or not Haru should have shown off his abilities like that.

But by the way, Captain Liegan was acting. It seemed as though she already knew that Haru was stronger than he claimed to be, and the game was already over. There was no point in playing pretend anymore. And if he put the rest of the soldiers at risk by hiding his strength, he knew that Captain Liegan would be furious and might tell other people about his real strength.

"Okay, I stand corrected. He certainly has the ability to do it." Second Lieutenant Mishi said with a nervous laugh as he knew that if they were on opposite sides, he wouldn't have stood a chance against Haru and would have been killed before he could even react.

"Then that settles it. Private Kitagawa will take care of communicating with the Chinese soldiers. We just need to make a distraction to make it easier for him to slip by undetected. Do you have any ideas?" Captain Liegan said as she asked Second Lieutenant Mishi what he thought, but it came as a surprise to her as Jake was the one to speak up instead.

"Well, that's easy enough to do. We could have someone use earth magic to create a tunnel to an enemy base and dig a huge hole beneath it. Their whole camp would be destroyed in one move." Jake said as he stepped forwards to make sure he was heard.

"Hmm, that just might work. But where do we find an earth magic user strong enough to pull something like that off?" Captain Liegan asked as Jake took a moment to think. He had seen the wall outside that was created using earth magic, so he knew that there was most likely one within the camp, but he didn't know who. But as he was thinking about it, Haru seemed to realise who created the wall outside. 

"We can just have Second Lieutenant Mishi do it. You're the one who created the wall outside, aren't you?" Haru asked as he was certain that he wasn't wrong with his assumption. 

"I don't believe we have met before. How would you know something like that?" Second Lieutenant Mishi asked as he became a little scared as to how Haru knew what type of magic he used without revealing it to anyone.

"Well, it was pretty easy to figure out. Take a look at your fingernails and hands. There is dirt on them. For someone who keeps his uniform spotless even after a battle, it seems pretty strange that you would have dirt on your hands unless you touch dirt often enough to not realise that it's on your hands." Haru explained as he deduced that he was the one they needed for Jake's plan from a small detail that no one else had noticed.

"Really? Did you come to that conclusion from that alone? What if I had just fallen over and put my hands on the ground to stop myself from hitting my head? There are other reasons for me to have dirt on my hands." The second Lieutenant said as he tried to ask hypothetical questions to Haru while trying to discredit Haru's deduction, but he didn't care about such things and shrugged his shoulders instead of defending himself.

"Then I would have been wrong. It's not that big of a deal. But you just admitted that it was you, so I don't care about that. All I care about is whether or not you will help us out with this plan?" Haru stated as he walked back around the table to stand beside Captain Liegan and Jake without saying another word. 

"Of course. I will help, and I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend you. I just thought that it was a little unbelievable to guess something like that from such a small detail. I just feel a little bit confused." Second Lieutenant Mishi said as he sighed with disbelief and then sat down on one of the seats behind the table. 

"I will do what I can to help you. Don't worry about that. I'm just hungry and tired. Do you mind if we start the plan after nightfall? I have been fighting since morning. I need to take a nap." Second Lieutenant Mishi said slowly as he rested his head on his hands. 

'He seemed to be paranoid that I was here to cause him harm. I think it's probably for the best that he gets some rest, or else his head might not be in the right place to enact Jake's plan. This is a real war, after all. There are no second chances here. I know that all too well, but the others seem a little bit naive to the dangers.' Haru thought as he once again became a little bit annoyed at how even the officers didn't understand just how much danger they were in.

"Of course. Take as much time as you need. Do you mind if our soldiers take a rest here too? We just came from defending Shenzhen, and everyone is already exhausted." Captain Liegan asked as she felt a little uneasy about going to another unit's camp and asking for a place to stay, but It didn't seem to matter to Second Lieutenant Mishi.

"Of course. We're all brothers and sisters here. Take whatever you need. Just try not to take anyone else's bed. There are a lot of injured here from the battle earlier. I think all of them have earned the right to rest for a while until they heal up." Mishi said as he nearly drifted off to sleep while sitting in his chair.

"Okay then. Thank you. I will order some of our healers to help out in any way that they can. Just let me know when you want to head out tonight. But for now, I have some more business to take care of with these two young men here. I hope you rest well and feel better by tonight." Captain Liegan said with a threatening tone as she looked at Jake and Haru for a moment before wishing Mishi well and leaving the tent to find a secluded place.

"You two follow me. We need to have a chat." She said as she led them to one of the far corners of the camp and turned to face both Haru and Jake.

"Do you think you can fool me!? Just how long were you two planning to keep it a secret, huh?" Captain Liegan asked as she switched her gaze between both Jake and Haru as she awaited a response from them.

"What do you mean? We're not keeping anything a secret." Jake said nervously as he thought he knew what was about to come next. It was now obvious to him that she knew that Haru wasn't actually what he said he was.

"Don't. Just give up already. I already know that you're both hiding your strength." Captain Liegan said as Jake's worst fear came out as he looked up at Haru with a look of horror on his face, but as he waited for Haru's reaction, he realised that he didn't seem surprised that she knew.

It seemed like he already knew that she had discovered their secret and what was even more surprising to Jake was the lack of care that Haru had towards the situation. For someone that wanted to keep his strength hidden for so long, he wasn't concerned in the slightest that Captain Liegan knew.