Chapter 43: An Opportunity.

"He definitely loves us." said a certain gill that almost caused her previous direct superior to literally die of anger.

"I don't know, he seemed pretty pissed." replied the boy that kept hiding the fact that he enjoyed the situation just as much as his companion.

"Why? Just because he shouted us to leave his office and never come back? It doesn't mean he doesn't like us, it must be his way of showing affection."

"You really like messing with him, huh?"

"Yes, and you're the same."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," but deep inside, he perfectly knew that she was right, "anyway, Moblit didn't even tell us anything, let's ask Hange, she'll probably know."

"Nah, there they are." interrupted the girl while pointing outside the window.

"Oh, so that's who you were talking about."

"You didn't realize already?"

"I didn't bother to think about it, but now that you say it, it was pretty obvious." he thought that given that he'll know about it later anyway, why bother?

And indeed it wasn't a problem, those three were indeed the perfect choice, loyal, capable and with the drive to do what they must.

Liesl opened the window and jumped out, leaving behind her a flabbergasted Klemens, "Lie what the fuck," 'this is the third floor!'

The first part was said out loud, he couldn't contain himself and had to emit the most real and deserved 'Lie what the fuck' in his entire life.

He looked down the window, just to see her perfectly fine landing with a somersault.

"Oh well." he replied, he she could do it, than he couldn't be scared about doing the same!

After all, if there was something in which he was superior to the girl, it was raw physical strength, she could control it better in a one on one unarmed combat situation, but he still won in this, by a lot.

His landing was different, he wanted to overdo it, because why not.

He did a straight landing falling with his right knee on the ground and his left knee bent to fall on that foot, his right fist punching the ground while the other staid up.

This moment is probably the one Klemens regrets the most since the beginning of his life, it hurt, a lot, almost as much as getting his stomach pierced, but the damage here wasn't on his flesh, but on his mind.

He landed perfectly, it hurt a lot, but he could handle it, he even did a midair flip, the ground even cracked a little at his landing point.

But the only one who saw his landing was Liesl, as she took the other threes attention making them look away from his landing by moving in the opposite direction.

He looked at her straight in the eyes and even if there were around twenty meters separating them, he could see the smirk.

He stood up to his feet, he knew she knew, he approached her and neared his lips to her ear, whispering softly, "I'll have my vengeance, and it'll be sweet."

She grinned back, "I'm still waiting for your vengeance from all that time ago during training, did you forget about that one?"

"Absolutely not, vengeance is a dish best served cold." very very cold, and cold it shall be served.

"Soo, why did you guys jump out of a window to stop us?" finally asked one of the three people in front of them, Sasha Blouse, or more aptly named, the potato girl tamed by Liesl through food.

"Well, you guys are going to be part of the best team in the whole scout corps!" replied the girl.

A shiver went through the trio's spines.

Connie Springer looked at one of his closest friends, Jean Kirschtein and said "I have a bad feeling about this."

The trio was brought in front of captain Hange Zoe, without giving them any explanation other than, 'it's funnier if you don't know your fates.'

The trio was trembling, but as soon as the first words left the captain's mouth, they realized that they weren't going to die, for the moment.

"So these are the people you want in your team? Why not choosing some more experienced?" asked the captain.

She refused to believe for even a second that the two monsters would select poorly, as much as they were a pain in the ass, they were responsible and would endanger someone's life just for laughs, even Liesl's kidnapping didn't end in wounds, just mental trauma and visible twitches when the girl was taken in a conversation with the victim.

Therefore, nothing problematic, as soldiers they were used to deal with at least that level of trauma, if anything Liesl was toughening the recruits, or breaking them, same result.

"We don't need experience, that can be built, what we need is talent, teamwork and to trust them, and these three tick all these boxes." was Klemens' answer.

His words didn't contain any hint of deception, not only because he didn't know how to lie, but also because he meant every word.

Instead of just choosing someone that had already finished growing in skill and had already experienced battle, the two would much rather have fresh minds to shape however they wanted.

They didn't need normal veterans, but people that could become better than anybody else and capable of working as a team with each other to create a might that is more than just the sum of the singular parts.

The three had just now started to realize the current situation, after all this talk about team it seemed like Klemens and Liesl needed to form a team and that the three of them had been chosen.

It was an honor honestly, especially Klemens' previous words, the two had refused people much more experienced that the three of them, just because they trusted them and their abilities.

"Oh, and I've chosen our team name!" cut in Liesl.

"You did? When?" asked her companion, it was the first time he heard about it.

"Just now obviously, we'll be the Stars of Freedom!"

"Pretentious..." replied the boy, "But I like it." with a thumb up and a grin.

Hange's previous genuine smile, one that she made after the though appeared in her head that the two of them weren't that bad, just turned weird.

'I'll never get used to these two, mature one second and they turn into children the next...'

"Yeah, whatever, now we need a team leader."

"Both of us will be leader." replied the girl.

"You sure? Having multiple leaders in the battlefield could bring to opposing orders, which could cause the deaths of a few of you."

Her words were valid, she was one of the captains in the scout corps for a reason, she was talented and experienced, something the two hoped to transform their three teammates into.

That was exactly what would happen in a normal team if there were multiple team leaders, but that wasn't the case for them.

It was already a tradition for Liesl to orchestrate the flow of battles while Klemens concentrated on fighting and nothing else, as for the plans they made each and every plan together, predicting every possibility and how to counter them.

She gave the instructions while he followed them and added his own thing, covering for her whenever it was needed, he wasn't going to give urgent commands during battle as her instincts could top whatever he could order in a time of emergency.

"It's better like this for us actually, rather, if one of us was above the other we'd have bigger problems."

"If you're so sure, then let's go with that." replied the captain, she didn't want to argue with the two monsters over something so small, if they said there would be no problem like this she was going to believe in them.

They had demonstrated enough critical thinking ability to let them have this.

Their reason was pretty simple, they were equals, none of the two was above the other in their relationship, each of them had something they were the best at, his weak points were covered by her strong ones and vice versa.

They always stood there for the other since forever, and if everything went well, it would continue like this until the end.

If one of them stood above the other and order the other to do something the very premise of their relationship might crack.

Obviously, they were far too close for something small like that to break their relationship, but after all, to prevent was better than to cure.

"Wait, don't we get a say in this?" asked Connie, cutting in the conversation.

"No." replied Liesl, while her companion decided a different approach, "You don't want to?"

"Well, I'd accept after all you've said, but..."

"Then there is no but, how long do you think we've known you guys, three, four years, no? We know how you are and what we're giving you is exactly what you guys wanted, a chance to make a difference, to progress on your road and to better yourself.

Jean, didn't you always want to make a career?

Connie, didn't you want to make your family proud of you?

Sasha, don't you want delicious food?

We're giving you the means to take what you want with your own hands."

Liesl looked at her friend weirdly and felt something weird deep inside of her, but now was not the time to explore new feelings.

"Shit man, you needed way less to convince me." replied Connie as the other two nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, the captain who was currently being ignored had a pleasantly surprised smile on her face, 'I didn't know he had this in him, but I'm glad I discovered it.'

Up until this point she thought of Klemens as a fighter, not a leader, but it seems like she thought like that only because he didn't show it and left things to the girl who seemed born to lead others.

He was calm and collected while she was warm and passionate, opposites, but the same in so many different areas, if they got rid of some of their flaws, like their childishness, they might become great leaders for the scout corps and for humanity as a whole.

At least, those where the captain's thoughts.

"There you have it, the Stars of Freedom are now officially formed, now, if you'll excuse us, me and Klemens have some very urgent matters to attend to, see you three tomorrow morning in front of this building." were the red haired girl's words as she left the room dragging a confused Klemens with her.

"Do we?" he asked.

"Yes, we do, now shut up."

After they left the room, Klemens stood on his own and started following the girl who was showing the way, "Soo, what is this about?"

"You were really cool with your little speech earlier, you know?" she asked with a small grin on her face while looking at him with the corner of her eye.

"Obviously, but what does that have to do with this?"

"Well, seeing you like that made me think of doing something very special, how about it?"

"What? Oh..." he realized, "Yes, let's go." he replied with firmness in his eyes, but a grin on his face.

With those two words the two made their way to go on a merry adventure, just the two of them.