My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

New Chapter: “Yamato Country Arc” begins.

In the Great Hall of a castle built at the heart of the nation called “Yamato Country,” where the pinnacle of technology had been gathered, the heads of the Three Great Houses sat facing one another.

Below them, attendants and retainers watched anxiously as their respective lords.

“Then do you, the gentle Kaminari family, expect us to keep tolerating Reytis treating our country like a fool?! How many times do you think they’ve violated our borders now?!”

Her usually flawless, doll-like beauty creased into lines for the first time at that moment. The words spat out carried unmistakable fury. Her hand slowly reached for her partner at her left. It was unlikely that someone of her standing would commit the folly of drawing a weapon in public, but her eyes kept darting that way nonetheless.

“I never said that. What I’m saying is that this is no longer something the Three Great Houses can decide by themselves. If war breaks out, the first victims will be innocent commoners.”

Calmly replying to the raging beauty was a woman in a priestess’s robe, hiding the lower half of her face with a fan. The golden hair ornament at her head made a light tinkling sound.

“As the Tsukimi family, we’d like to remain neutral, you know~. Sakuya-chan’s points are valid, and in the first place it’s people from Sakuya-chan’s house who’d be sent to the front first, but since this is an invasion, Miki-chan’s complaints aren’t wrong either, right? Even if the Konohana family commands the nation’s militia, the Three Great Houses alone can’t take on a great power like Reytis. So the Tsukimi house will take both families’ opinions. I propose we disclose information to the public quickly and ask for their consent while gathering troops… Even if there’s been no formal declaration of war, conflict is unavoidable now. Let’s do everything we can, okay?”

Between the two glaring houses, the remaining head fluttered her glittered eyelids and spoke with a light tone. Her usually gentle, narrow eyes were sharp now, revealing maple-colored irises.

At Tsukimi house head Yayoi Tsukimi’s incongruous final words and casual tone, the bickering Kaminari family head Miki Kaminari and the Konohana family head Kohana Sakuya exchanged looks.

“…Yes. I suppose I got a little too heated. My apologies, Lady Yayoi, Lady Sakuya.”

“My apologies as well. But I have told you many times to stop calling her ‘Sakuya-chan.’ As the head, you setting that example gives the lower ranks a bad impression.”

Thanks to the lightened atmosphere from the Tsukimi head, each retainer breathed a sigh of relief.

It had become almost customary since these leaders had taken their positions that the standoff between the ill-suited Kaminari and Konohana houses would be mediated by the Tsukimi house. The Tsukimi family, as the peacemakers, regularly received boxes of sweets from the other two houses’ retainers as thanks.

Still, there had never been a knife fight, and the country ran smoothly precisely because of these three families.

“Eeeh, Sakuya-chan’s cuter, though~. So no~. Anyway, decide how much to tell the people, okay? Time is money~. Also, Sakuya-chan has a cousin and her daughter over in Reytis territory — we need to decide what to do about them too~?”

“Hmph. That’s true, though.”

Sakuya, strict about manners, was always sidestepped by Yayoi’s playfulness. This time was no different.

Each time Sakuya moved her head, her jet-black hair cascaded over a luxurious haori of white silk embroidered with gold. The haori might overwhelm an ordinary beauty, but she, as the nation’s foremost beauty, wore it perfectly.

“Miki-chan, the national treasure we lent out still hasn’t been returned, right? The return date’s passed — any news?”

“No, nothing.”

The national treasures owned by Yamato Country were the three relics left by the kingdom’s fourth-generation hero. They were also divine implements required for divine possession, but after the country lost its divine child, the treasures were lent with a deadline to Reytis, an allied nation at the time, for research. Yet the scheduled return date had long passed with no notice.