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 46: Seizing Military Funds (2)

Chapter 46: Seizing Military Funds (2)

“Huh…? …Ehh!?”

Even though I understood that what I was asking was embarrassing—

I couldn’t help but wonder how Elena would feel if I did what she’s been doing for me these past few days.

So, I asked, and Elena’s face turned even redder as she responded in a flustered voice.

“Y-you mean what I did to you, Finn… was a k-kiss on the cheek, right…!?”

“Y-yes.”

Hearing it said out loud made it even more embarrassing.

Still, with my face getting hot, I gave a small nod to show I agreed.

Then, Elena turned her face away and began to mumble in a low voice.

“A kiss from Finn…!? That means Finn would lean in with that handsome and cute face of his and then just… right!? I mean! Just imagining it is already a lot, but if he actually did that, I don’t think I could handle it…!? The bed is right there, and if things just kept going from there… Wait! What am I thinking about this early in the morning!? Finn is definitely just asking if it would make me happy, not anything more, so I need to answer properly…”

After seemingly coming to some understanding with herself, Elena turned to face me.

“U-um… Even if it’s just a kiss on the cheek, I think it’s something you only do to someone you really care about. So, if Finn wants to do that to me… I’d be happy, okay?”

“I-I see…”

Of course, that includes everyone else, too—

But I also have this strong desire to repay Elena for everything she’s done and to simply make her happy.

And now, she’s told me that if I kissed her on the cheek, it would make her happy.

If that’s the case, I wouldn’t hate doing something like that for her. I’m still not used to it, so I get nervous and embarrassed, but I think… it gives me a warm feeling inside.

If I’m being honest, I’d like to do it right now… but—

“Ugh…!”

The moment I looked at Elena, thinking I was about to kiss her—

She looked so beautiful and graceful that I got too embarrassed and instinctively looked away.

“Wha…! What was that face just now…! Blushing and looking away like that—so cute…!”

Elena mumbled something again—

But I was too overwhelmed with embarrassment to really hear what she said.

Trying to cover it up, I opened my mouth and said,

“S-sorry, Elena. I think we should be heading to breakfast soon, so let’s continue this conversation another time. For now, let’s go to the living room.”

“Eh…? Ah, ah~! Yeah! You’re right!”

Elena agreed with me, and together we stepped out of the room.

Then, the two of us walked toward the living room.

“There’ve been plenty of times living with Finn when I felt like I was being left hanging, but this time it’s way too much, especially in the morning…!? I mean, seeing Finn get embarrassed, look away after looking at me—that cuteness made up for everything, but it also made it harder to take… And seriously, why is Finn so cute…!? I never had any interest in boys until now, but now I just keep feeling this way—”

As Elena mumbled to herself while walking beside me—

I took a moment to calm myself for the day ahead.

By the time we reached the living room, I’d managed to return to my usual self.

After exchanging greetings with everyone as always, Sephia also came over to us.

“Good morning, Sephia-chan!”

“Sephia-san! Good morning!”

“Good morning, Elena-san, Finn-san.”

After returning our greetings, Sephia turned to me and said,

“Today, as requested by Finn-san, we’ll be doing coordination training. Please look forward to it.”

“Ah…! Yes! I’m looking forward to it! Thank you very much!”

Hearing that, my mood instantly lifted.

Just as Sephia said, I spent the morning with everyone, looking forward to the training.

After breakfast and a short break—

We headed out from our base toward the forest, which served as our training grounds.

“Teraward-kun! It’s finally time for our coordination training!”

“I’m so excited~!”

“It’s okay if we’re not good at it at first. Let’s take our time and get used to it.”

“Yes! Thank you! I’ll do my best so I can fight side by side with everyone!”

“For us…!”

“Together…!”

“To fight…!”

“For that…!”

“With all our strength…!”

“Let’s do our best…!!”

Everyone began saying something to themselves, looking kind of excited.

As I walked with them, I thought again—

I really love this cheerful atmosphere.

Just as we left the base together—

“Oh…! Once again, it seems we’ve arrived at just the right time!”

With the sound of a man’s voice and galloping horses—

Several men wearing the uniforms of the Luvankrum Empire’s military appeared in front of us and came to a stop.

Just like last time, though this time, there was a large covered wagon behind them.

“Ugh, the worst…”

“And we were just about to start our first coordination training with Teraward-kun too…”

Everyone mumbled something quietly—

But the arrival of soldiers from another army made me shift from the cheerful mood I had while talking with everyone to the proper mindset I should have during military duty.

Then, the same man from before, still on horseback, spoke.

“We were dispatched by the upper command—”

“Didn’t I already tell you I don’t want to deal with army guys, especially not ones talking down from a horse~?”

Norn-san interrupted the man and continued speaking.

“Well, since you’re just a beast in human skin, I guess it’s no surprise you’ve got no memory—but honestly, I don’t want to talk to someone like you anyway~”

“You…!”

The man was about to shout.

But he suddenly stopped, as if he remembered something.

He cleared his throat once and spoke again, trying to reset the mood.

“I understand well enough that you all don’t think kindly of us… however, the higher-ups are starting to get fed up with how selfish you people are.”

“Selfish? We’ve been doing our job, guarding the frontlines as a frontline unit.”

“Gh…! D-Damn it! Can you still keep flapping your mouth after seeing this!?”

At Elena-san’s calm words, spoken from beside me, the man shouted with anger.

Then, the others who had come with the man removed the cloth covering the cart behind them.

There, a mountain of money was piled up—so much that it couldn’t possibly be counted by estimation.

“Haha, no matter how many times I see it, I never get used to it! How about it? Crazy amount, right?”

“It really is a lot, but so what?”

“Hmph, finally ready to listen, are you…? Then let’s get to it. We’ll hand this over to you all as an advance payment… in exchange—”

“Don’t go deciding things on your own. No one said we were accepting it.”

“W-What!?”

The man said in surprise, and Elena-san replied in a fed-up tone.

“I thought there might be more to it, but were you seriously trying to move us just with money?”

“That’s way too shallow.”

“There’s no way we’d act just for something like that.”

“Completely ridiculous.”

As everyone voiced their agreement with Elena-san, she summed up their thoughts and said,

“So that’s how it is. You can go back now, okay?”

“D-Don’t mess with me! Do you know how long it took to bring this all the way here!?”

“It’s not like we asked you to. Complaining just because we didn’t take it when you brought it without permission is way off base, don’t you think?”

“Grr…!”

The man looked like he was about to burst out in anger, but the words got stuck in his throat.

Then, as if looking for somewhere to direct his anger, he glanced around.

Eventually, his eyes met mine, and he said,

“Finn Teraward, you’ve been silent all this time—something the matter?”

“Huh…? Not really, it’s just that right now—”

I tried to explain that it wasn’t really a situation where I should be butting into the conversation between Elena-san and the others.

But the man cut me off, raising his voice in an exaggerated way.

“Ah, right, right! You were born a commoner, weren’t you! Then I guess it’s only natural you’d be speechless in front of a mountain of money like this!”

“No, that’s not—”

“No need to be ashamed! Even we nobles rarely see this much money in one place. It’s only natural that a mere commoner like you would be struck dumb—”

Just as he was about to finish,

“Ice Spear: Frost Lance.”

“Wha—!?”

A spear-shaped spell wrapped in cold air, cast by Elena-san, shot past right next to the man—and a crashing sound followed as a tree fell in the distance.

The man turned pale in shock.

When I turned to face Elena-san, who had cast the spell,

She wore a colder expression than I had ever seen before, her eyes hollow as she said,

“Disappear from in front of me. Right now. Or else—next time, I won’t miss.”