Could he be Yorii Tsugikuni?
She passed by the young man.
The markings on his face reminded Esdeath of Yorii Tsugikuni, whom she had heard about before.
However, since she still had to report to the palace, she did not linger.
Seeing the streets return to normal, Yorii Tsugikuni began heading back.
He did not pay much attention to Esdeath.
"Yorii, over here."
Sayo ran over from afar, carrying Adai, who looked like an eggshell.
The smile on her face showed just how happy she was.
Yorii Tsugikuni, who had been preparing to go home, stopped in the street.
"Look at this. What do you think it is?"
Walking up to Yorii Tsugikuni, Sayo took out something shaped like a disk.
This palm-sized disk had an extremely smooth circular piece in its center, with many straight lines across it like a chessboard.
Yorii Tsugikuni looked at it for quite a while, but had no clue what it was.
"This was made by Dr. Stylish. The materials you got from Adai were used in it too."
"As long as you hold this down, it can detect the location of rabbit fur across a very large area."
Seeing Yorii Tsugikuni's confused expression,
Sayo stopped keeping him in suspense.
Instead, she demonstrated it for him directly.
As she pressed down on a small raised point on the disk in her hand,
several dots immediately appeared on its surface.
"With this, we can track multiple targets more intuitively and even know their movement patterns."
Holding the disk in her hand, Sayo looked at the dots on it with considerable excitement.
For the Security Force, this thing was practically a divine tool.
"It really is impressive."
Seeing something so miraculous for the first time, Yorii Tsugikuni was somewhat surprised.
They did not have anything like this in his homeland.
"You can have this, Yorii. Dr. Stylish gave it a name—the Tracker."
Sayo placed the Tracker in Yorii Tsugikuni's hand.
Only by combining it with Yorii Tsugikuni's Teigu could it undoubtedly have a greater effect.
"Dr. Stylish also made an Urban Evil Detector for me, but it has not been fully completed yet."
"So although I like this, there's something more suitable for me."
Seeing Yorii Tsugikuni hesitate, Sayo smiled and explained.
Cooperating Revolutionary Army and Foreign Tribes
After hearing Sayo's explanation, Yorii Tsugikuni accepted the Tracker.
When Sayo introduced the Tracker's function, the first person Yorii Tsugikuni thought of was Muzan Kibutsuji.
At the same time, he became interested in the person called Dr. Stylish.
Perhaps in the future, he could ask him to make a more powerful Tracker. Then he might be able to find that man.
"Hm?"
"That Foreign Tribes guy we let go earlier seems to be making a move."
Sayo's gaze was drawn to a dot on the Tracker. Since she had previously arranged for someone to follow that Foreign Tribes spy,
after the spy escaped, she had successfully found one of the Foreign Tribes' bases in the Imperial Capital.
Originally, Sayo thought the spy might remain at the base for some time, but she had not expected him to leave so soon.
"Let's take a look."
Holding the Tracker and having Adai lead the way, Yorii Tsugikuni and Sayo tracked the direction the dot was heading.
On the Tracker, the dot gradually approached several Revolutionary Army locations Yorii Tsugikuni had previously marked.
Yorii Tsugikuni felt some doubt. Could the Foreign Tribes be in contact with the Revolutionary Army?
With that question in mind, Yorii Tsugikuni and Sayo watched as their own dots drew close to the clustered green dots.
He and Sayo slowed down.
They began approaching more carefully.
"Weren't you captured?"
"You showed up here, you bastard. Aren't you worried someone followed you?"
Inside a dilapidated attic, the Foreign Tribes man Sayo had released caused several raggedly dressed people in the room to panic as soon as he appeared.
"Don't worry. I escaped."
"I only came to finish discussing some matters regarding our last handover."
The burly Foreign Tribes man waved his hand, signaling for them not to worry.
Their first cooperation with the Revolutionary Army had been completely ruined before it even began by the Imperial Guard's sudden arrival.
"Those above have said this operation is canceled."
"But we hope our next cooperation goes smoothly."
The two sides spoke only briefly. After the Revolutionary Army announced the operation's cancellation, they quickly dispersed after meeting up.
"Why aren't we arresting them?"
Sayo and Yorii Tsugikuni had been lying in wait on the rooftop above where the group met.
However, after the meeting ended, Sayo wanted to pursue the Revolutionary Army members and Foreign Tribes men who had just left.
Seeing Yorii Tsugikuni remain where he was, she was confused.
"Capturing them does not seem like it would accomplish anything."
Yorii Tsugikuni had not expected the Revolutionary Army to get involved with the Foreign Tribes.
But upon thinking about it, it was not impossible.
The Foreign Tribes had just suffered a defeat at Esdeath's hands, while the Revolutionary Army, though strong, was still weaker than the Empire.
Moreover, both sides shared the same enemy: the Empire.
Under those circumstances, it was only natural for them to join forces.
But in Yorii Tsugikuni's view, what the Revolutionary Army was doing was like inviting wolves into the house.
In his homeland, there had been no shortage throughout history of nations destroyed and peoples exterminated after seeking the aid of foreign clans.
"That does seem to be the case."
"Those people may not be strong, but getting anything out of them through interrogation would be very difficult."
Sayo stopped.
After giving it some thought and looking at the dots scattering apart on the Tracker, she gave up on making arrests this time.
Risking the exposure of some of their methods and making the Foreign Tribes and Revolutionary Army wary was not worth it.
"Still, the Foreign Tribes and Revolutionary Army have joined forces."
"We need to report this."
As she walked back with Yorii Tsugikuni, Sayo recalled some of the conversation between the two sides.
Though there had been nothing substantial, the fact that they had joined forces was something that had to be treated with caution.
"Mm."
Yorii Tsugikuni had thought of the same thing.
Although he was only an outsider, Yorii Tsugikuni did not want to see the Imperial Capital engulfed in war.
If that happened, countless people would undoubtedly die.
The entire Empire would become a living hell.
After reporting what they had discovered through a civil official,
Yorii Tsugikuni returned to his residence.
Because he had returned rather late, Tatsumi and the others had already fallen asleep at the dining table in front of the fireplace in the living room.
Sayo was also yawning with a book in her hands.
Were they all waiting for me?
Looking at the untouched dishes on the table, Yorii Tsugikuni smiled.
He had not expected the three of them to still be waiting for him.
"Master is back."
Hearing Yorii Tsugikuni's footsteps, Sayo smiled and put down the book in her hands.
She also woke Tatsumi and Ieyasu.
"Is it time to eat?"
After Sayo patted his shoulder, Ieyasu's first thought was that they could finally start eating.
He subconsciously picked up his utensils, then saw Yorii Tsugikuni's smile and scratched his head awkwardly.
"Tatsumi, help me carry the dishes. Ieyasu, come help too."
"The food has gotten a little cold. Let's heat it up. Master, please wait a moment."
Under Sayo's direction, the three of them became busy again.
Watching the three of them bustle around, Yorii Tsugikuni suddenly felt as though he were home.
He had once enjoyed ten happy years as well.
Back then, his wife cooked at home while he worked in the fields and gathered wild fruit in the mountains.
No matter how late he returned, his wife would wait for him so they could eat together.
As time slowly passed, the three of them gradually came to hold an important place in his heart.
After they finished their simple dinner,
Yorii Tsugikuni returned to his room.
"These books are ones we found. We still haven't found anything about Mr. Yorii Tsugikuni's homeland, but we'll keep looking for you..."
The window in the room was half open.
Beneath an old-looking book was a sheet of paper, covered in neat, elegant handwriting addressed to Yorii Tsugikuni.
At the end, where the signature should have been, was a black cat paw print.
Without needing to think about it, Yorii Tsugikuni knew
that Chelsea had left it for him.
Only she could have made that paw print, and it was also a special memory from when they had first met.
Yorii Tsugikuni sat down in a chair and slowly opened the books sent by Night Raid.
After experiencing too many disappointments,
Yorii Tsugikuni was already able to calmly face most unsatisfactory outcomes.
Before you continue