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"Report, Your Majesty! Prime Minister Honest! Great General Esdeath has suppressed the northern tribes and is currently leading her army back to the Imperial Capital!"
An Imperial Guard rushed into the main hall of the palace, dropped to one knee, and loudly delivered his report.
"Hahaha! As expected of Esdeath. She dealt with those barbarians effortlessly."
Standing beside the young Emperor, the obese and rough-looking Honest tore into a chicken leg as he laughed loudly.
"Your Majesty, when the Great General returns, you must reward her generously!"
The young Emperor nodded seriously after listening to Honest.
"Since the Prime Minister says so, then let's do that."
"How about I grant Great General Esdeath to you in marriage?"
The moment those words came out, Honest nearly choked on the chicken leg in his mouth.
"Hahaha... that absolutely won't do, Your Majesty."
"The age gap between Great General Esdeath and me is far too large. It wouldn't be appropriate at all."
"How about letting the Great General decide her own reward instead? What do you think, Your Majesty?"
After speaking, Honest quietly wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead.
Marry Esdeath?
It was honestly impressive that this little Emperor could even come up with something so terrifying.
Honest had no doubt that if Esdeath heard about this marriage proposal today, she'd march into the palace tomorrow and kill him herself.
That woman didn't care whether someone was Emperor or Prime Minister.
Although they maintained a cooperative relationship, even Honest didn't dare provoke her casually.
After all, she was recognized as the Empire's strongest.
Even those gutter rats from the Revolutionary Army estimated that defeating Esdeath would require at least five Teigu users and fifty thousand soldiers.
"Is that so? I thought the two of you matched quite well. After all, both of you are pillars of the Empire."
The young Emperor sounded slightly disappointed.
"But since the Prime Minister says so, then we'll go with your suggestion."
"Haha, I'm sure Great General Esdeath will understand Your Majesty's good intentions."
At that moment, Budo, who stood at the very front among the military officials, silently watched Honest's performance with cold eyes.
"Great General, are we really going to keep allowing Prime Minister Honest to mislead His Majesty like this?"
One of the officers behind Budo leaned closer and quietly asked.
"Military men must not interfere in politics."
"When His Majesty matures, he will naturally understand who is loyal and who is treacherous."
Kaito: Who called me?!
"But..."
"No buts!"
"Yes, sir!"
Seeing Budo's stern expression, the officer could only retreat unwillingly.
In truth, Budo understood perfectly well that Honest was corrupt.
However, the teachings passed down through his family for generations strictly forbade military officials from interfering in politics.
All he could do was use his own influence to protect the remaining honest officials and hope that by the time His Majesty matured, there would still be capable people left within the Empire.
Night Raid Base · Outside the Imperial Capital
Najenda stared solemnly at the urgent report sent over by the Revolutionary Army.
"Boss, what's wrong? Did something happen?"
Leone tossed a money pouch in her hand while looking at Najenda curiously.
The others also turned toward her.
"Esdeath has suppressed the northern tribes and is returning to the Imperial Capital."
"What?!"
Before anyone else could react, Bulat was the first to shout in shock.
Unlike the others, Bulat had once served in the Imperial Army himself.
He understood far better than anyone just how terrifying Esdeath really was.
"Is Esdeath really that scary? Isn't she just another Teigu user?"
Mine looked completely unconcerned.
As a genius herself, she couldn't imagine another Teigu user being overwhelmingly stronger than everyone else.
If one person couldn't beat her, then they could simply send more.
After all, Night Raid was made entirely of Teigu users.
"Mine! You're underestimating her way too much."
"The Revolutionary Army conducted a full assessment. To defeat Esdeath, they'd need at least five Teigu users and fifty thousand soldiers fighting together simultaneously."
"And even then, victory would only be possible."
Mine's face instantly filled with shock after hearing that.
Was that woman even human?
Was the Empire's strongest really that unreasonable?
In reality, even that estimate heavily underestimated Esdeath's true strength.
During the final battle in the original manga, Esdeath nearly wiped out the Revolutionary Army by herself despite them having hundreds of thousands of soldiers and over ten Teigu users.
Her actual strength was far beyond what the anime showed.
If she hadn't deliberately chosen death herself at the end, the Revolutionary Army would've never even reached the Imperial Capital.
"Mine, Boss is telling the truth. She really is that strong."
Bulat also spoke with an unusually serious expression.
"Then what are we supposed to do? Once someone like her comes back, our assassination missions are going to become way more dangerous."
Leone bit her thumbnail grimly.
After thinking quietly for a moment, Najenda finally spoke.
"Then before she returns, we'll eliminate as many of those parasites as possible."
"Tonight's operation will continue."
"That family can't be left alone any longer. Otherwise, even more innocent people will suffer."
"Yes! *n"
"Akame, stay behind for a moment."
Just as everyone was preparing to leave for tonight's mission, Najenda suddenly called out to the slightly distracted Akame.
"Boss?"
Akame tilted her innocent little face in confusion.
"Akame, if things really reach the worst possible outcome... we'll risk our lives to create an opening for you."
"An opening?"
"An opportunity to wound Esdeath and use Murasame's curse to kill her."
Seeing the seriousness on Najenda's face, Akame quietly nodded before turning and walking out.
Watching her departing figure, Najenda muttered worriedly:
"I hope it never comes to that... otherwise..."
...
"Oh? An instant-kill ability? Interesting. But if you want to kill me, you'll need to hit me first."
Esdeath sat in the passenger seat of the Humvee with a disdainful smile.
"It's not weakness or ignorance that prevents survival. It's arrogance."
"You're far too arrogant. You've already lost your reverence for the unknown."
Kaito spoke helplessly while keeping the accelerator pressed to the floor.
A faint smile appeared in Esdeath's eyes.
"From the way you're talking... does Master also fear something?"
"Of course."
Kaito nodded seriously.
"There's a terrifying existence in this world called the Moderators. Even I wouldn't dare provoke them."
Hearing that such a terrifying existence existed, Esdeath's pupils instantly shrank.
"Master... have you seen this beings yourself?"
"Nope. Everyone who's seen it got dragged into the little black room. I'm still out here messing around, so how could I have seen it?"
[Host, I suggest you shut up immediately. If you don't want to live, I still want to survive a few more chapters.]
'Hehe, I'm just joking around. Nothing's going to happen.'
[Hmph. If you really got dragged into the little black room, you'd immediately behave yourself.]
'...'
"But I really didn't expect these cars to move this fast."
Esdeath looked out the window with interest.
"At this rate, we'll reach the Imperial Capital very soon."
"Do you want me to kill everyone there, Master? Then you can directly ascend the throne and become Emperor."
Before Kaito could answer, Rimuru immediately leaned forward from the back seat.
"Kai-chan, do you want to become Emperor? I can give you my position if you want!"
"Hmph, absolutely not!!!"