"Of course that's exactly how it is! Why wouldn't it be? Little Flandre, do you mean to tell me you don't believe your own sister's words?"
Remilia immediately summoned every single ounce of her majestic dignity as the older sister, staring down at Flandre Scarlet while speaking with a face full of absolute, righteous conviction.
Seeing her sister's completely unyielding, noble display, Flandre didn't doubt the explanation for even a fraction of a second. Instead, a bright smile broke across her face, and she happily remarked that her elder sister was simply so smart, especially since she hadn't managed to think of that brilliant point herself. Looking at the situation from this perspective, it seemed the noble knights of Kazimierz weren't nearly as corrupt or bad as she had initially imagined them to be.
Having successfully fooled the curious little vampire, everyone else sitting in the lounge quietly breathed a massive, collective sigh of relief. They smoothly shifted the topic of conversation one after another, casually chatting about the specific logistics of tomorrow's travel plans.
To ensure the coast remained completely clear, Remilia cast a subtle, meaningful signal toward Hong Meiling, nonverbally commanding her to take Flandre Scarlet aside to play in the other room so she wouldn't stick around to ask any more dangerous questions.
Upon receiving the clear tactical signal, Hong Meiling smoothly grabbed Flandre's hand and pulled her into the adjoining room to watch television, leaving the rest of the inner circle alone in the lounge to continue discussing their sensitive matters in peace. Since Hong Meiling was usually her primary playtime companion anyway, Flandre didn't suspect a single thing, following along into the room with absolute happiness.
When the crisp morning of the next day arrived, the group efficiently packed their luxurious luggage and stepped out of the hotel gates, steadily heading toward the sweeping outskirts of the nomadic capital.
Meanwhile, deep within the shadows of the city, the powerful corporate executives of the Commercial Federation—who had been keeping a constant, obsessive eye on the Mansion crew's movements—sent an urgent, demanding message to their clandestine execution branch, the Armorless Union. The corporate board fiercely felt that allowing Flandre's group to peacefully cross the border and leave the country without any form of corporate retaliation would inflict a devastating, permanent blow to their pristine public reputation.
Upon receiving this ridiculous demand, the supreme leader of the Armorless Union, The Great Position of Darksteel, could only roll his eyes in absolute, unspoken exhaustion. Without a moment's hesitation, he casually passed the hot-potato assignment straight down the chain of command, dumping the file directly onto the lap of the Lazurite Seat.
After reading through the terrifying data contained within the folder, the Lazurite immediately activated his own professional slacking instincts. He flatly refused to touch the mission, instantly handing the paperwork over to the current Platinum.
As fate would have it, Platinum had actually been physically present at the alleyway scene a few nights prior, having witnessed the entire horrifying event play out with her very own eyes. Looking down at the execution order, she bluntly stated to her superiors that sending her to assassinate that specific group of monsters was fundamentally no different than ordering her to commit immediate suicide.
But since a corporate order still required some form of visible action, Platinum smoothly devised her own clever scheme. She gathered a select, ambitious team of low-ranking union assassins, framing the excursion as a top-secret, highly exclusive mission coming directly from the Great Position of Darksteel himself. She confidently claimed to the wide-eyed recruits that if they successfully completed this elite operation, there was a very strong chance they would be personally taken in as his direct disciples—a legendary promotion that would naturally allow them to easily usurp the coveted positions of Adamantite or Platinum in the near future.
As for her? She casually waved her hands, reassuring them that since she was already securely holding the title of Platinum, she wouldn't dream of being greedy and competing with them for such a glorious career milestone.
Upon hearing this incredibly inspiring, manipulative speech, the naive team of assassins immediately began to tremble with pure excitement. They proudly declared that they would perfectly execute the mission to honor the Union, turning on their heels and leaving the headquarters in a frenzied, ambitious flurry.
Shortly after the doomed squad scrambled out of the chamber, a quiet, white-haired girl stepped out from the shadows, appearing directly before Platinum.
"Since there was such an incredibly rare opportunity for promotion on the table, why didn't you let me go take the assignment?" the girl asked, her voice tinged with a hint of confusion.
Hearing her companion's naive question, Platinum rolled her eyes with an amused sigh. "Do you genuinely think that suicide run is a good thing?"
She leaned back, her voice dropping into a hushed register. "I have personally seen two of the individuals from that traveling group with my own eyes. Just those two, while being completely surrounded in the middle of a street, decisively dealt with over sixty elite Mounted Police officers in under a single minute. They emerged from the dust completely unharmed, while every single officer was left perfectly unconscious without a single fatality. What do you think of that specific level of combat prowess?"
Hearing Platinum's vivid description, the white-haired girl paused, falling into deep thought for a moment before admitting, "That... is vastly stronger than me. If I were given the perfect tactical opportunity, a massive layout of time, and plenty of physical space to maneuver, I could eventually manage to deal with sixty targets on my own. But I could absolutely never do it that quickly, nor could I ever possess the terrifying physical precision required to only injure them without killing a single one."
"Then let me ask you another thing," Platinum continued, her voice dripping with an eerie calm. "Do you possess a physical method where, while a heavily armored knight standing directly behind you is launching a fatal sneak attack with a massive battleaxe aimed at someone else, you can cross nearly three meters of physical distance in a instant, catch the descending steel blade with one bare hand, and then proceed to punch that knight with enough physical force that his body literally shrinks by a third?"
The young girl shook her head rapidly, her face turning pale as she indicated that what Platinum was describing sounded far more like a ridiculous children's fantasy than reality. Catching a fully swung battleaxe blade with one's bare hands was an exceptionally difficult, near-impossible feat even if the person attacking was just an ordinary, un-vanned citizen—let alone a registered Kazimierz knight who had undergone decades of intense, life-or-death martial training.
As for punching a grown man until his physical mass shrivels up by a third... what kind of absurd, exaggerated description was that supposed to be?
Platinum merely smiled a cold, knowing smile, stating that it wasn't a colorful piece of literary description at all, but a terrifying physical reality. She then gestured for the girl to follow her, taking her into a secure back room to review a highly classified video file she had secretly copied from the surveillance grids.
After watching the brief, brutal playback of Hong Meiling's single punch, the white-haired girl stood completely, utterly stunned into silence. If the target was truly that astronomically powerful, why on earth did Platinum still deliberately send their fellow union members out to face them?
"I have absolutely no choice in the matter; this is a direct, legally binding execution order coming down from the Commercial Federation," Platinum explained, her tone turning deeply cold-blooded. "The Armorless Union is fundamentally a group of shadow assassins dependent on the financial backing of the Commercial Federation. From the very beginning to the end of our lives, we are merely tools who work for their profit."
She adjusted her glove, her eyes narrowing. "Since the high-ranking Federation has issued a direct command, what do you think would happen to our entire organization if we simply sat on our hands and refused to execute it? Would a ruthless board of directors keep a massive group of assassins around who just eat their premium food and do absolutely nothing?"
Platinum had intentionally orchestrated this entire charade to use the certain deaths of those ambitious rookies to buy precious time. By the exact moment the inevitable news of their 'total annihilation' finally made its way back to the central corporate computers, the dangerous targets would have already traveled far past the outer borders of Kazimierz.
At that point, she could easily feign a passionate, high-speed pursuit, wandering around the wilderness for a few lazy days before returning to claim that she simply couldn't catch up to their trail. This way, the corporate mission wasn't actively ignored or boycotted—it simply failed due to environmental circumstances. Although she would still face a minor administrative punishment for the failure, it was infinitely better than dying an agonizing death at the hands of those foreign monsters.
This brilliant, calculating series of clever maneuvers left the young girl's eyes filled with profound, overwhelming shock. She had never once imagined that a high-stakes assassination mission could ever be manipulated in such a bureaucratic, self-preserving way.
"Why else do you think this played out the way it did?" Platinum sneered, her voice laced with deep cynicism. "Since this entire matter deeply concerns the public face of the Commercial Federation, why didn't Darksteels and the Lazurites step out to take action themselves, but instead insisted that I should lead the charge? It is precisely because those old foxes already know the opponent is completely unbeatable, and they are playing the exact same survival game as me."
She could absolutely guarantee that even if the other high seats eventually found out about her little trick, not a single one of them would ever dare to voice it out loud, as every single veteran within the Armorless Union was well aware of the hidden, self-serving schemes ticking away inside each other's hearts. Knowing now that this assignment wasn't a glorious reward but a certain-death trap, the white-haired girl quietly left the chamber, a trace of deep regret for the doomed squad lingering in her heart.
On the other side of the regional border, Remilia's small group drove their comfortable carriage steadily southward, officially arriving at a massive, picturesque reed marsh later that afternoon.
Everyone looked out the windows at the exceptionally beautiful surroundings, the clear running water, and the relatively open, peaceful view of the landscape. Sensing the serene atmosphere, the leadership unanimously decided that they would set up camp and rest here for the duration of the night.
Once the automated tents were securely pitched against the tall reeds, Hong Meiling stretched her limbs, casually mentioning that quiet river fishing was an exceptionally interesting, deeply engaging outdoor activity. She then turned to Flandre, asking the younger girl if she would like to join her by the water.
Flandre's eyes lit up with pure excitement upon hearing the offer. She watched with immense curiosity as Hong Meiling smoothly pulled two long, collapsible fishing rods out of her traveling bag, expertly dug up a handful of plump earthworms from the rich soil nearby, and happily led her down to the edge of the rushing riverbank.
Sitting down on the soft grass, Flandre carefully followed Hong Meiling's patient instructions, casting her line into the water and beginning her very first attempt at fishing.
Perhaps it was the legendary, unexplainable phenomenon of beginner's luck. Not long after their lines had settled into the current, Flandre suddenly saw the colorful float on her fishing rod violently plunge straight beneath the surface of the water.
"Ah! It bit!"
Flandre squealed with delight. She quickly grabbed the wooden handle and yanked the rod backward with an immense, sudden burst of raw physical force.
With a loud sploosh, a hefty, thirty-centimeter-long fish was violently launched clean out of the river by her brute strength, flying through the air like a missile before crashing onto the grass behind them.
Seeing this incredibly chaotic display, Hong Meiling quickly held up her hands to offer some urgent, gentle advice. She explained that true, traditional fishing wasn't supposed to be executed like a test of raw demolition strength; rather, a proper fisherman had to engage in a delicate, intellectual battle of wits with the creature below—pulling the line tight when it swam away, gently yielding when it fought back, and playing a strategic game of hard-to-get until the fish was finally exhausted before calmly bringing it ashore.
She stressed that it should never be done with such overwhelming, brute force; this violent, high-speed fishing method was entirely unacceptable because it simply caused far too much unnecessary physical harm to the fish's body.
Flandre tilted her head to the side, looking somewhat puzzled by the lecture. If the fish was ultimately being caught for the sole purpose of being cooked and eaten for dinner anyway, what did it truly matter if its mouth got a little hurt during the capture?
"That's not the right way to look at the world, Little Flandre," Hong Meiling taught her gently, putting on a patient, wise expression. "If we only catch one or two, of course we can easily finish them at the dinner table. But what happens if our luck is too good and we catch dozens of them all at once?"
She pointed toward the wide river. "We aren't taking these creatures to a market plaza to sell them for coin. Heaven values all living things; in the end, won't we have to release the extra ones safely back into the water? But if the fish's mouth is completely torn apart by brute force when we release it, won't it be entirely unable to eat its food out in the wild because of that injury?"
As Hong Meiling gently laid out the moral philosophy, Flandre carefully processed the words, feeling that her companion's logic actually made quite a bit of sense. She immediately promised to stop using such a reckless, demolition-style method, instead focusing all her attention on trying to master the delicate, precise giving-and-taking technique Hong Meiling had just demonstrated.
Believe it or not, once she actually got the hang of the rhythm, this traditional method turned out to be incredibly, immensely fun.
Watching the clever fish desperately try to plunge deep into the currents to escape but find itself entirely unable to break free, being pulled back and forth in a tense aquatic dance until its strength was completely spent and its white belly finally turned over on the surface, possessed its very own unique, deeply satisfying charm.
Every single time Flandre successfully managed to guide a tired fish to the shallow shore using the proper technique, she was so thoroughly overcome with pure happiness that she would jump up and down on the riverbank, proudly waving her fishing rod high in the air while letting out bursts of ringing laughter.
(Fumina: I don't think Platinum here is the same Platinum we know from the game, the white hair girl seems to be the Platinum we know.)