I Was Sent to an All-Female Frontline Unit to Get Rid of Some of the Trouble, but the Most Beautiful Girls Who Are Rumored to Hate Men Love Me So Much That I Have a Hard Time at Night

Chapter 28: The Assassin’s First Time (3)

“!?”

(…C-Cute…? What am I even thinking…?)

She let her presence slip out for a brief moment in surprise, but she quickly realized it and erased her presence completely again.

She had never once felt that way while looking at a target.

A target was just that—a target. Someone whose life she was about to take, nothing more.

(Maybe I was just surprised because he’s so different from the arrogant image I had of him. Otherwise, there’s no way I’d think a target is cute.)

She turned her eyes away from Finn for a moment and decided that thought wasn’t like her, before returning her gaze to him again.

“That’s exactly right. As expected of you, Finn. I’m amazed that just from hearing about the characteristics of the Chevalier-style swordsmanship once, you’ve already grasped its core principles.”

Just after Sephia said that—

The white-haired woman looked at Finn.

And at that moment, Finn said with a bright expression,

“That’s because your explanation was really easy to understand, Sephia! But… thank you!!”

Those pure eyes.

That charming expression.

His cheeks slightly red, as if he were a little shy.

All of it—

(So…so…so cute…)

Having those thoughts a second time, she couldn’t just blame it on being shaken by the gap between her expectations and reality.

The white-haired woman’s eyes wavered as she looked at Finn, her mind thrown into confusion in a way that had never happened during an assignment.

(Is he really that boy from the reports…? Despite all those achievements, there’s no sign of arrogance at all.)

More than that—

(He’s cute…)

She found herself staring at Finn for a little while.

(So, even within this country—within the Luvankrum Empire’s military—there’s a boy so obviously pure and innocent… It seems I still don’t know the world well enough.)

But because of that—

(It’s a shame… that I have to take your life now.)

She whispered in her heart, and the light that had been wavering in her eyes vanished as she stared at Finn, her gaze now emotionless and steady.

(To me, life is all equal… I accepted the job to kill you as an assassin. So, I must carry it out. Your personality, your abilities—none of that matters.)

No matter how unique Finn was, his life was still just one life.

And if that didn’t change, neither did the fact that he had to be assassinated.

“Now, I’d like to show you my stance, and after that, I’d like you to try it too, Finn.”

The white-haired woman drew a decorated musket from her waist.

“Understood!”

She pointed it at Finn with both hands, aiming carefully.

In this world where magic exists, guns are inefficient, and magic is more powerful with no need to reload. So, guns are never used in combat against people.

Their role is more like a noble’s plaything.

However, the white-haired woman believed that by combining it with magic, a gun could have great potential—at least in the specific context of assassination—and had a musket remade using materials that channeled magic well.

Guns like this had many advantages: they made it easier to aim than shooting directly from the hands, and even a small amount of magic could generate high speed. But of course, not just anyone could use them.

Each shot required delicate magical control. If even a little too much magic was used, the gun would explode.

So, to use this gun as an effective tool for assassination, one needed precise control of magic and a calm mind that wouldn’t panic under any circumstances.

Other assassins had tried to imitate her and use similar guns, but none of them had ever been able to make it work.

────Except for this white-haired woman.

“First, when drawing the sword from its sheath—”

She didn’t fire yet.

“I see…! So depending on the stance, the way you draw the sword changes too!”

Until she saw a clear opening to kill the target without fail, she would never fire—no matter what.

“Yes. You could say the very root of a stance lies in how the sword is drawn.”

She simply waited for that moment.

That was the core task of an assassin.

She understood that better than anyone, and that understanding—not just her ability to use a gun—was what made her the most skilled assassin in the Luvankrum Empire.

Remaining still and waiting, she watched.

“Your back foot should act as support, and your posture should be such that you can quickly draw your sword—”

As Sephia entered her stance, she looked down, and Finn followed her gaze.

For both of them, the surroundings were now completely out of sight.

(This is it.)

With that thought, the white-haired woman fired a bullet made of magic.

As with all her magic bullets, this one was a stealth bullet.

Its magical energy was suppressed to the absolute minimum, so for these two—relaxed within their own territory and not expecting danger—there was no way they could notice it.

(…Goodbye, boy. Your talent and your purity… maybe you could’ve been someone who brought change to this country────)

“This is what reality is.”

She couldn’t keep it only in her heart and muttered it in a small voice.

And then, she watched as the magic bullet was about to pierce through Finn—

“Chevalier-style swordsmanship… Goujin (Combined Blade).”

Sephia, who had taken a stance with her head lowered, said that and then cut through the magic bullet fired by the white-haired woman.

“……”

When the white-haired woman saw for the first time that her magic bullet had been blocked, color returned to her eyes as she widened them and muttered in her heart:

(I let my presence slip just for a moment back then, but she had been on guard ever since… I’ve been done in.)

It was her first failure, yet strangely, she didn’t feel bad about it.

Rather, she felt that fate had protected Finn, a pure being, from her hands that had carried out every request up until now.

Thinking that way, it even started to feel quite romantic.

“That strike just now was truly splendid… but the fact that you remained hidden until now means you believed defeating me head-on was impossible. …Won’t you come out?”

Facing the direction of the white-haired woman, Sephia called out.

(It’s true that I can’t win in direct combat. And even if I try to escape, if she were to call in the entire front-line unit, getting away would be extremely difficult… Besides, more importantly—)

Life is equal for all.

(Even if running here might feel human… after saying all life is equal and taking so many lives, treating my own life as more important would be ridiculous.)

Having realized that.

The white-haired woman, just as Sephia requested, showed herself and walked toward the two of them.

◆◇◆

Sephia-san had been teaching me a sword stance.

But then, she blocked an attack that had come out of nowhere, and before I knew it, a very beautiful white-haired woman walked up to us.

“Um… what is going on…?”

Still unable to grasp the situation, confused, the white-haired woman opened her mouth and said:

“Simply put, I was trying to assassinate you, but Sephia Chevalier stopped me, and with this unexpected outcome, I had no choice but to come here.”

“Eh!? Y-you were trying to assassinate me!?”

“Yeah, I’m an assassin, after all.”

“An assassin…!?”

I already had no idea what was happening, and now I was even more lost.

“So, as an assassin, you weren’t acting out of personal motives, but rather were hired by someone to kill Finn-san… is that correct?”

“That’s correct.”

“In that case—”

“I won’t talk about the client. That’s one of the few rules in the job of an assassin.”

“…I see.”

Then, continuing.

“Let me ask something else—why did you let your presence slip for a moment? If you had kept hidden, things would have played out much more in your favor.”

“…That’s…”

The white-haired woman stared at me for a moment.

Her eyes were slightly wavering, like she was unsure about something.

But eventually, she looked away and spoke in a calm tone:

“Even if you ask that, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to die now anyway.”

“…Yes, you are.”

“!?”

D-die!?

“W-wait! Sephia-san, are you going to let this person die?”

“This person tried to assassinate you, Finn-san. And with that level of skill… it turned out okay this time, but there’s no telling what might happen next time.”

I completely understood what Sephia-san was saying. Normally, I probably would’ve suppressed my emotions and agreed as a soldier.

But… those eyes from earlier—

“Boy. You’re really strange… I tried to take your life, you know? Don’t you resent me for that?”

“Of course not!”

“…Eh?”

As the white-haired woman looked confused, I continued:

“I’m still a trainee, but I’m a soldier. I understand that my job and my personal feelings are separate. So even if you tried to take my life as part of your job, I won’t resent you for it.”

“…!”

As the white-haired woman widened her eyes, Sephia-san, who had quietly watched us, spoke:

“Regarding the moment you let your presence slip earlier… Could it be that when you saw Finn-san, you honestly felt you didn’t want to take his life?”

…Eh?

“…You noticed that well. That’s right.”

“Eh!?”

“But even so, I still pulled the trigger to take the boy’s life… so talking about that now is—”

“If you didn’t really want to take my life, then that means you wanted to be friends with me, right!?”

When I leaned forward eagerly and asked, the white-haired woman looked surprised.

“Be friends… I don’t know about that, but I did want to talk to you, yes—”

“Then there’s no need for us to fight anymore! Let’s talk together!”

“!? But I tried to take your life—”

“That was your job. If the real you isn’t like that, then I want to talk with the real you!”

“The real me…! B-boy, you’re a little too close—”

“You mentioned a gun earlier. Is that the one at your waist? I’ve never seen a real one before, just ones on display!”

“W-wait… boy… we can be friends, we can be friends, just give me some space… being this close to a boy like you, it’s a little embarrassing—”

As I curiously observed the gun with strange decorations, the white-haired woman blushed and quietly muttered something.

“My first failure, and the first time I’ve ever felt something like this… Maybe this feeling I have toward you right now is the real me, not as an assassin… If that’s the case, then I…”