Upon returning to the Academy, Soma was welcomed by the dozens of students protesting by the gates of the Academy holding signs with “No!! for the barbarian law enforcer!”, “No!! for sexual harassment under the pretext of upholding the law!!”. There were even students talking passionately about how they were wronged by Soma under the pretext of doing his job, and among them were girls crying as they detailed how were they sexually harassed and raped by him.

Reading from his book as always, Soma kept going past them treating them as if they never existed. Passing through the gate, Soma found more protesting students littered around the Academy’s yard, and at their center was Mira Hoggs looking at Soma with a sneering face. Soma of course ignored all of them and went straight to the Actual Combat Class and as always he arrived with the sound of the second bell.

“Good morning! Good to see that no one of you have dead eyes after what you experienced before the vacation! Tell me how did you spend the one-week vacation, start with Zac!”(Soma)

“Yes! I went along with David, Anolan, and Nad to the Mercenary’s Guild and asked the mercenaries who have experience dealing with bandits to share some stories with us. Some of them became angry and frustrated at first, but that changed once we told them about our trip. Their angry and frustrated looks changed to ones filled with pity and surprise. And then they told us about how some of them came from villages that were attacked by bandits regularly, and they became mercenaries to reduce such cases”(Zac)

“…There were those who talked about how horrible the fate of women captured by bandits for pleasure. They told us about how many of said women asked to be killed upon being saved by mercenaries who took bandit subjection requests. And about how some of those women went and killed themselves right as their confines were removed….”(David)

“This one remembers them talking about how they treated children with faces full of grief. Children are kidnaped from the slums of the royal capital are sold to slave traders all around the kingdom and from there a lot of them are sold to nobles who have ‘particular’ taste as they put it”(Anolan)

“They told us about how bandits would often target guarded carriages while using people they captured some time ago as meat shields to throw those guarding the carriages off”(Nad)

“That’s right! Bandits are just like the stories you heard, but what you heard is but a fraction of what they actually do! Alice and Emma, what did you do?”(Soma)

“We heard about how Zac and the guys were going to the Mercenary’s Guild and so we decided to do the same after inviting Zeek and The Four Brothers to come with us. But instead of the Mercenary’s Guild, we went to the Merchant Guild…”(Alice)

“Once we introduced ourselves they told us everything we wanted to ask about with serious expressions on their faces. They told us about how much merchants lost due to bandits attacking their carriages and convoys. They told us about how many people would ignore such stories since merchants are known to be “wealthy” and getting some goods stolen from them shouldn’t be that big of an issue. Many people are forgetting that those “wealthy” merchants are the ones handling food, medicine, clothes, and many more and that what the bandits stole are the things the people themselves need”(Emma)

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“They talked about how many trading convoys being owned by multiple people, and many of those people are villagers hoping to sell their products to other places. Such villagers would give the products they worked on to convoys and once the convoys sell the products at other towns, they would bring the money back to the villagers after taking some of it as a fee of course. But one bandits’ attack is enough to ruin all of that, and the villagers who lost their product and money would starve or freeze to death during winter”(The Four Brothers)

“And let’s not forget about how many of those bandits are employed by nobles as underlings to do their dirty job for them! We heard from the merchant old men about how often bandits and thieves get employed to spy on, hinder, or outright eliminate whomever they don’t like! And we heard from them that a lot of such people came to this town during the past week! Soma-san, you need to be careful! They must be planning something, and their target is without any doubt you!.... Well, not that they will be able to do anything to a monster like you…”(Zeek)

“…Well, ignoring that last comment. As you have learned from the Mercenaries and Merchants! Bandits are good for nothing other than causing others harm! But despite all of that, there are those who would argue back and say that just killing them is too much, and we shouldn’t waste human lives. This concept might sound good to the ear, but in truth, it’s nothing but nonsense coming from the mouth of someone who had never encountered the danger of bandits in his whole life”(Soma)

“…May I ask why?”(Emma)

“Think about it, just now you heard what Zac’s group have learned from the Mercenaries. Can you go and say that killing bandits is too much and that it’s a waste of human lives to those Mercenaries and whoever was captured by the bandits and then decided to hold on to his/her life after being saved?”(Soma)

“ “ “………” ” ”

“They will without any doubt yell at you saying “What about my parents?! What about all of my friends?! What about all of those poor victims who killed themselves in front of my eyes as I was freeing them?! What the villagers who had to starve to death?! What about the children who were kidnapped and sold to perverted nobles?! Were they not good enough for you to be considered waste since they essentially lost their lives because of your beloved bandits!! Even though they were law-abiding people just doing their jobs to contribute to their society!!” and from me, I’ll add, what about those people who were turned into Undeads and made to attack and kill other victims like themselves endlessly?”(Soma)

“ “ “……….” ” ”

“And from Actual Combat point of view, it will be asking combatants to fight against the bandits while holding back so you don’t end up killing them even though the bandits are out to kill you. And let’s say that you were able to pull it off, you will have to treat their wounds as they laugh watching the people you saved from them kill themselves. And then you’ll have to escort them while keeping them safe from monsters’ attacks and to protect them by risking your own life for them. And once they are sold as criminal slaves, thus giving the nobles the ability to buy soldiers who are used to dirty work from the market”(Soma)

“…I see…. That’s certainly a terrifying thing to happen. Rather than spending money and worrying about the lives of the law-abiding citizens, we do it for bandits who would keep causing everyone harm no matter where they go. But why do such ideas come up? Why do some people think of such things?”(Zac)

“To put it in a single word then its hypocrisy. And to put it in more words, then it’s the pretense of valuing all human lives even though the people claiming these things have never encountered the horrors caused by the bandits. They claim to value all human lives even though they have never been to the front lines to protect the people. They claim that killing those bandits is a waste of human lives even though they have never had to protect themselves from bandits. Nor have they had to think about what to do with their lives after being used as playthings by a whole bandits’ band. It’s the painful truth that too much peace and too much winning can ruin the people from the inside”(Soma)