While Hiro chatted with Winston and Stanley behind the baths, Yurei sat inside Beatrice's office.
Strangely enough, it looked like a proper office for a unit captain. A large window overlooked the entire base—a vantage point meant for observation, for command. A solid oak table dominated the center of the room, its surface scarred but sturdy. A file cabinet stood against the wall, its drawers slightly ajar.
But the dust on the windowsill told a different story. The cobwebs in the corner. The way the files looked untouched, unopened, unloved.
This place was not used often.
That was a bad sign.
Yurei sat in the head seat, positioned at an angle—not to assert authority, but to take pressure off her ribs. They were hurting like hell. Only her cultivated tolerance for pain, honed through years of combat, allowed her to keep a straight face.
Beatrice and Sally sat on the opposite side of the table. Both had their heads hung low. Fear rolled off them in waves, tinged with a small hint of shame.
A complete inversion of the standard power dynamic.
"So." Yurei's voice was calm. "Why did you set up such an elaborate scheme?"
"Please excuse everyone else, Your Highness." Beatrice's voice was rough, but respectful—addressing Yurei with a formality she had never used before. "This was entirely my idea."
Not just her future was at stake. The future of her entire squad hung in the balance.
"You didn't answer my question."
The two women exchanged a glance. Silent communication. Deliberation.
Then Beatrice spoke.
"We wanted to prove that we aren't just criminals." Her jaw tightened. "That one of us can become a princess."
She could still remember the first time,she went on a mission after her capture and assignment to this base.The eyes, the eyes of everyone just waiting for her to make a single mistake so that she could be sent back to prison.
"Why? Isn't Marian good enough?"
"Big Sis Mari doesn't count." Beatrice's voice rose, just slightly. "She was already a princess candidate way before she joined this unit."
She leaned forward, her hands flat on the table.
"And for your question of why—haven't you seen how this unit and others like it are treated?"
Her eyes burned.
"The public doesn't trust us. The army is always looking for a reason to send us back to prison. Every inspection, every review, every report—they're just waiting for us to fail."
"So you wanted recognition." Yurei's voice was quiet. "To improve people's opinion of you."
The two women went silent again.
"...Yes."
"So you thought that by underperforming—deliberately sabotaging your own record—to get me here, you could eventually gain recognition when Beatrice beat me in a wage battle."
She let the words hang in the air.
"That is an incredibly stupid plan."
Beatrice flinched.
"Do you know what the nobles are saying about you in the Capital?"
Sally's voice was barely a whisper. "That we are useless."
"No." Yurei's eyes were cold. "They are saying that you are expendable. That you should be sent to No Woman's Land to be killed off."
The color drained from both their faces.
They sat there, pale as corpses, staring at her.
No woman's land an empty desolate field that was at the edge of United Regions of Gaia, where dreams died and hope fades quietly under the screams of dieing soldiers. A place where class 5 Abyssals were as common as an ant in an ant farm. Truly a place of dread and despair.
"And they have a valid reason to say so." Yurei's voice didn't waver. "You have no notable achievements. You have no feasible connections. And the highest-ranked soldier here is two and a half stars."
She paused.
"That is genuinely pathetic."
"We know." Beatrice's voice was rough. "You don't have to rub it in our faces."
"But I have to." Yurei leaned forward, wincing slightly as her ribs protested. "I have left this base to run itself into the ground for far too long. And now… it's time for a change."
The room was silent.
"So what's going to happen now?" Sally asked.
Yurei stood, slowly, carefully.
"You shall see tomorrow."