I Reincarnated to Another World as a Woman-Chapter 204: The Other Shoe

"CHIEF!"

Chief Lutherford snaps out of her reverie.

Disoriented, she blinks several times, forcing her thoughts to realign. It takes her a moment to remember where she is. She looks up toward the voice.

Lt. Cole is standing in front of her.

Chief Lutherford clears her throat.

"Yes, Lieutenant?" 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Chief, are you okay?" Lt. Cole asks, her voice thick with concern.

"Yes," Chief Lutherford nods. "I’m okay. Why do you think I’m not okay?"

"Well... first of all..." Lt. Cole hesitates, then points at the table in front of her. "That."

Chief Lutherford follows her finger.

She freezes.

In both of her hands, she is holding knives.

In front of her sits a bowl of soup.

It looks very much like she was about to eat soup with two knives.

A flicker of embarrassment crosses Chief Lutherford’s face. She immediately sets the knives down, replaces them with a soup spoon, then straightens her posture as if nothing happened.

She looks back at Lt. Cole.

"What else do you need?"

Lt. Cole blinks. "Erm... nothing, Chief. I just saw you holding two knives while having soup, so I thought I’d check on you."

Chief Lutherford nods once. "Thank you, Lieutenant. That was very kind of you."

Lt. Cole smiles awkwardly, unsure whether her chief is being sincere... or mocking her.

"Chief!"

The door bursts open.

Lt. Kerr rushes in, holding a red phone.

The moment they see it, both Chief Lutherford and Lt. Cole freeze.

Chief Lutherford places the spoon down, pushes her chair back, and stands.

"Where?" she asks, eyes locked on Lt. Kerr’s pale face.

"St. Lucas."

Chief Lutherford wipes her mouth with a napkin and moves briskly to her desk, grabbing her keys and jacket.

"That’s two hours from here by helicopter," Lt. Cole says.

"I’m going," Chief Lutherford replies without hesitation. "Which team?"

"Captain Thierry. Alfa, Bravo, and Charlie Teams are already deployed."

"Three teams?" Chief Lutherford asks as she exits her office, already heading for the gear room. "Level eight?"

"Yes, Chief."

"Then get Team Omega and Sigma ready," she orders. "And Lt. Cole, you’re coming with me."

Lt. Cole blinks in surprise. Then her face lights up.

"Really, Chief?"

"Yes. You’ve been wanting field experience, haven’t you?" Chief Lutherford says without slowing. "Gear up. Kerr, you stay here and keep trying to contact Captain Thierry."

"Yes, Chief."

------------------------------

A few hours later, at Rhaenas HQ.

"Wow," Julian says, staring at his Resya interface. "Is this really the new schedule? Two dungeons a week? Am I seeing this right, or am I hallucinating?"

Liam glances at the calendar, then slowly looks up at Claudia.

"Who are you," he asks seriously, "and what have you done to our manager?"

Claudia looks smug.

"Your old manager is no more." She points at herself proudly.

"This new one is far more competent and actually knows how to deal with difficult potential clients."

Arthur walks in, wearing a faint, tired smile.

"Courtesy of Mr. Arthur Montrose," Claudia adds smoothly, clearly enjoying herself.

"I take it the trick worked well?" Arthur asks as he sits down on the sofa, loosening his collar slightly.

"It worked really well," Claudia says, plopping down across from him. "And not only that, I managed to get all of them to agree that we’ll clear their dungeons on our schedule. We decide which dungeon is more urgent. Not them."

Arthur nods slowly, approval clear in his eyes. "Good. Then you’ll need to ask for more detailed information about each dungeon. The more information we have, the more efficient and faster we can clear it."

"Yes, I agree. But then I’ll need your help to determine which ones are actually urgent," Claudia replies honestly. "I don’t understand dungeon risks well enough yet."

"I’ll do it."

Both Julian and Liam speak at the same time.

Arthur raises a brow. "Then both of you can do it. Whoever has the time, do it."

"Let’s do it now," Liam says quickly. He sounds eager. Useful. Lately, that feeling has been rare for him.

He opens his Resya interface and pulls up the calendar.

Julian does the same.

The two of them start organizing, cross-checking, flagging entries, and reminding Claudia which dungeons need more information, which ones need scouting, and which ones should be postponed.

Their voices overlap. Efficient. Focused.

Arthur exhales quietly and opens his laptop, letting the hum of work fill the room.

The tiredness returns almost immediately. Not the physical kind. Something deeper. He can’t put a name to it.

And beneath it, something worse.

Restlessness.

As if the other shoe hasn’t dropped yet.

He dreads it.

And he’s not the only one.

Every single member of Rhaenas has been feeling it. A quiet, creeping tension beneath the surface. Like waiting for a storm they can’t see yet.

Some feel it more than others.

Especially Maeve and Theo.

Theo has started having nightmares. Sleep doesn’t come easily anymore.

Maeve is distracted more often than not, and she keeps blaming it on Jonathan’s disappearance, even though Arthur knows that’s not the whole truth.

Julian and Liam feel it too, though less sharply. A constant edge they can’t explain.

The only one who doesn’t seem affected is Claudia.

Arthur suddenly looks up, scanning the apartment.

"Where’s Thea?"

"Oh, she’s at the gym with Maeve," Julian answers without looking up.

"Maeve’s been feeling stiff," Liam adds. "She wants to go back to entering dungeons. Thea said she needs to loosen up her muscles, so they went to exercise."

Arthur checks his watch. "Still? How long have they been there?"

"Eh," Julian shrugs. "Let them blow off some steam, Art. Especially Maeve. You know she’s been frustrated. I’m sure Thea is just accompanying her."

He looks at Arthur and grins.

"We have two dungeons scheduled for this week. I suggest we go the day after tomorrow."

He gestures at all of them. "Tomorrow, Rhaenas trains together. Let’s use HB. We haven’t done that as a full team in a while."

Liam nods without looking up.

"I agree. I wanna flex my magic muscle."