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 30: The Wrath of the Upper Ranks (2)

Chapter 30: The Wrath of the Upper Ranks (2)

“Step down from the high command right now… you say!?”

“Yeah. Because having people like you in the Luvankrum Empire’s military leadership, the ones who protect this country, only makes me feel sorry for the people living here.”

When Deandre spoke with the white-haired woman before—

He had held back, even when she said things he didn’t like, because he was asking her to take an assassination job.

But this time, she had rejected the request, and on top of that, her words were far more insulting than before.

Unable to hold it in any longer, he shouted in anger.

“D-Don’t be ridiculous!! We’ve protected the peace of this country all this time!! The assassination of Finn Teraward this time was also for that reason!!”

“What you really want to protect isn’t the country, but this nation where nobles are absolute, right? Just because he’s a commoner, you try to assassinate someone that talented? I’ve seen all kinds of human ugliness until now, but when it comes to the shallow purpose and the size of what you’ll lose, you three are the worst.”

When the white-haired woman said that—

A man in fine clothes with a bit of beard on his chin looked completely stunned, like he had seen something unbelievable.

“Y-You’re calling our noble purpose… s-shallow? D-Do you even know who you’re talking to?”

It wasn’t just a surprise—it was shocking.

He couldn’t believe someone in this world would actually say something like that to him.

“Y-Yes, indeed!”

The fat man chimed in as well, and the white-haired woman turned to the two of them and answered.

“Of course I know. You’re human.”

“…!”

“Grr…”

The two, shaken by her emotionless gaze, stood frozen. But the bearded man somehow forced himself to speak out of pride.

“N-Not just human. I am a Duke of the Luvankrum Empire—”

“You’re just human. More specifically, just a single life… Whether or not that life should be respected is something we could argue about, but the fact that every human is just one life—no more, no less—doesn’t change… Equal…?”

Muttering a small question, the white-haired woman looked around at the three men from the upper ranks who had just spoken, then put her hand to her chin as if thinking.

“I’ve lived as an assassin, believing that all life is equal… But these men and that boy—are they equal…? That can’t be. Still, my core belief is that personality or ability doesn’t matter when it comes to life. That hasn’t changed… But trying to say that boy and these men are equal—something in my mind violently rejects the thought. This feeling that strays from logic… Boy. After meeting you, I—”

“W-What are you mumbling about!!”

When Deandre shouted, the white-haired woman lifted her face.

“Ah, sorry about that. I was thinking about something more worthwhile than talking to you.”

“Wh-What…!!”

“And besides, no matter what else I say, you won’t understand, so I’ll end it here—but I’ll give you one last warning.”

“A warning…?”

“If you want to preserve the current state of this country, you’d better not lay a hand on that boy. If you keep going after him… because of your own actions, you’ll end up destroying this noble society yourselves.”

The men in the upper ranks were trying to get rid of Finn, a commoner who had the strength to surpass the nobles, in order to keep noble society from collapsing.

But the white-haired woman told them that doing so would only cause its collapse.

“W-What are you talking about!!”

Maybe he didn’t understand what she meant, but Deandre raised his voice again. The white-haired woman didn’t seem to care at all.

She simply turned her back on the upper echelons and walked toward the conference room door.

“W-Wait!!”

As she tried to leave without answering, Deandre called out.

The white-haired woman sighed and said,

“I could easily kill all of you right now, but I’m holding back as a final courtesy to the one who hired me. That’s already a huge concession.”

Then she added,

“Or would it be better if I didn’t hold back and stayed here instead?”

“…”

No one nodded in response to that question.

After a short silence, the white-haired woman once again turned her back to them, walked off, and left the room.

“That damn woman…!!”

“L-Lord Deandre… W-What should we do now…?”

“It’s decided!! Now that it’s come to this, we’ll never borrow outside help—no matter what, we’ll kill Finn Teraward with our own hands!! After being talked down to like that, I, a noble, would be disgraced if I backed off from some mere commoner!!”

In response to Deandre’s words, the man with a bit of beard on his chin nodded.

“Y-Yes. I too, of course, am willing to provide funding… but, is it really okay to just leave that assassin alone?”

“…Indeed, I’d also like to make that assassin, who dared to enrage us, regret insulting us, but the one we should truly direct our fury at… more than anyone else, is the root of it all—Finn Teraward—”

Just as Deandre was about to finish his sentence,

A woman with purple hair stood up from her seat and began walking out of the meeting room, just like the white-haired woman had done earlier.

“H-Hey! Where are you going too?!”

“Exactly as you just said. I’m going to punish that female assassin for all the insulting remarks she made against us.”

“O-Oh! I-I see! If it’s you, then with your strength, you should be able to punish that assassin!”

“W-We’re counting on you!”

Taking in Deandre and the others’ words behind her, the purple-haired woman left the meeting room.

“T-This settles things with the assassin, then.”

“Yeah. Now it’s Finn Teraward… that filthy commoner dared to insult us this much… From here on, we’ll stop caring about appearances—we’ll kill Finn Teraward no matter what!!”

After that, Deandre and the others continued talking, sharing their resentment toward Finn and the white-haired woman, and discussing how they would kill Finn.

◆◇◆

The white-haired woman who left the meeting room was walking down the hallway, leaving the military headquarters.

(I was put in an unpleasant mood, but at least I’ve shown the minimum amount of respect. Now, I can go to the boys without regrets.)

As she walked on, thinking that—

“Wait.”

Suddenly, she was called from behind.

She stopped and turned around. Standing there was the purple-haired woman.

“You’re the one… who was in the meeting room earlier, but you didn’t say a single word while I was there. Did you come to punish me for insulting your people?”

Saying that, the white-haired woman observed the woman in front of her.

(I felt it even back in the meeting room… this woman’s strong. Unlike those men, she’s on a different level. Probably even as strong as Sephia Chevalier… Hm, what’s that on her chest? It’s the same thing Sephia Chevalier wore—the Luvankrum Medal… That means, even more reason not to fight her head-on.)

Even in a short moment, she calmly analyzed things in her mind.

The purple-haired woman shook her head.

“No.”

“…No?”

“That’s right. In fact, I admire your courage to clearly voice your opinions in that setting, your unmatched ability as an assassin within the Luvankrum Empire… and above all, even though you have those traits, you weren’t misled by the foolish prejudice that Finn being a commoner somehow makes him unworthy. You looked at him for who he really is. I respect you for that.”

“…That’s strange. You’re one of the upper officers who tried to assassinate the boy. And yet you sound like someone who cares about him.”

“Of course. I do care about Finn.”

“…What?”

The white-haired woman was shocked because she had assumed that someone in the upper ranks would naturally look down on a commoner like Finn.

Before she could even process the meaning of those words, the purple-haired woman spoke again.

“The only reason I’ve stayed among those disgusting men in the upper ranks… every last reason… is for Finn.”