It wasn't exactly empty flattery. Ieyasu truly felt that when Yorii Tsugikuni got serious, he was more terrifying than anything else.
Ieyasu had already experienced that oppressive feeling once that morning. It had been terrifying to the extreme. Even now, when he looked at Yorii Tsugikuni's gentle face, he felt somewhat dazed.
How could such a gentle person become so terrifying when he got serious?
"That's definitely true."
"Next, Master, let's go to an inn and get our things settled first."
Sayo nodded in strong agreement with Ieyasu's opinion, then looked at Yorii Tsugikuni. "Tatsumi has the money. Maybe he's already found a place to stay."
On the way to the Imperial Capital, Tatsumi, Sayo, and Ieyasu had killed quite a few Dangerous Species. Most had been Class 2 Dangerous Species, but they had still exchanged them for a fair amount of money.
"Mm."
Yorii Tsugikuni nodded.
Count Calvin had handled things quite thoroughly. When they parted, he had given Yorii Tsugikuni a gold coin.
If they were a little frugal, it would be enough for Yorii Tsugikuni, Sayo, and Ieyasu to live on for a month.
The Empire was currently in a precarious state, and inflation was severe. Back when the previous king had still been alive, a single gold coin could even cover three months of living expenses for a family of three.
Now, even using one gold coin to cover a month's expenses was somewhat difficult.
In the end, to save money, Yorii Tsugikuni and the others chose an inn on the outermost edge of the Imperial Capital. Yorii Tsugikuni and Ieyasu would sleep on the floor, and a room rented by the month cost only three silver coins.
The Empire's monetary system was decimal: one hundred copper coins equaled ten silver coins, and ten silver coins equaled one gold coin.
Three silver coins for a room for a month left seven silver coins for Yorii Tsugikuni, Sayo, and Ieyasu's food expenses. If they ate meals without meat, they could still scrape by.
Yet fate always had a way of catching people by surprise.
At an ordinary inn on the outskirts of the Imperial Capital, Yorii Tsugikuni, Sayo, and Ieyasu ran straight into Tatsumi, who was drinking with a busty blonde older woman.
"Tatsumi!" x2
Sayo and Ieyasu stood behind Tatsumi with dark expressions, each grabbing one of his ears and tugging hard.
It was simply infuriating.
The guy who had taken all of their savings had come to the Imperial Capital and done nothing, yet he had gone drinking and chatting with a busty blonde older woman first.
Ieyasu's gaze toward Tatsumi was filled with envy, jealousy, and resentment.
It couldn't be helped. That busty blonde older woman was just too well-endowed.
Ieyasu had even partly forgotten what his goddess Aria looked like.
"Tatsumi, how could you do this?"
"Ieyasu's and my money was all with you!"
"Didn't you ever think about the fact that Ieyasu and I had no money on us?"
Looking at Tatsumi, who was obediently kneeling before her, Sayo felt like he had failed to live up to expectations.
The scene of being forced to spend the night on the streets because they had no money was still vivid in her mind.
The moment Sayo saw Tatsumi using the money to pick up girls, she had become especially angry.
If they had not met kind Aria and her family, Ieyasu and she really would have slept on the streets last night.
Having nothing and just sitting on the street to sleep was not comfortable at all.
"That's right, that's right!"
"Tatsumi, you've really gone too far!"
"If you wanted to invite this beautiful older sister to eat, you could have waited until you met up with us first!"
After hearing Sayo rebuke Tatsumi, Ieyasu immediately chimed in righteously from the side.
As he chimed in, Ieyasu's gaze could not stop drifting toward the busty blonde older woman seated across from Tatsumi. Just looking at her alluring curves made Ieyasu feel that his life had been worth it.
Looking at the blonde woman, Ieyasu asked with a grin, "May I ask this older sister's name?"
The moment he finished speaking, Ieyasu felt a sharp pain in his ear.
"Ieyasu!"
"You should restrain yourself a little too!"
Using her free hand, Sayo grabbed Ieyasu's ear and tugged hard. "I haven't even lectured you about acting so rude in someone else's house yesterday, and now you're acting rude again."
"Do you even want your ears anymore?!"
Although Sayo was always gentle and delicate before Yorii Tsugikuni, if a close companion made her unhappy, she would reveal her violent side as well.
Just like now, she grabbed one ear in each hand and scolded the unreliable Tatsumi and Ieyasu.
"Do you want to know my name, little brother?"
"When asking someone's name, you should introduce yourself first."
"But since you're Tatsumi's friend, little brother, it doesn't matter. You can call me Leone."
Leone smiled slightly at the three of them as they made a commotion. "Of course, if you want to call me Busty Blonde Older Sister or something, that's fine too."
"However, Tatsumi and I came here for something important."
"Originally, Tatsumi also wanted to look for his companions first."
Although she had a fairly good impression of Tatsumi and the others, Leone had no intention of giving up her prey because of that.
Leone was still very tempted by Tatsumi's large bag of copper and silver coins.
Yorii Tsugikuni stood nearby without saying much. He was not very good at this kind of lively interaction. What he preferred was staying with the person he loved most and spending a lifetime together.
Thinking this, Yorii Tsugikuni simply stopped paying attention to the interaction between Sayo, Ieyasu, and Tatsumi, then turned and walked toward the inn's front desk.
Yorii Tsugikuni's slightly withdrawn and unusual behavior drew a little of Leone's attention. However, she merely glanced at him before turning her gaze back to the money bag.
Yorii Tsugikuni's control over his strength had reached an extremely perfect level.
Not to mention that Leone had not yet activated her Imperial Arm, Lion King: Beast Transformation.
Even if Leone activated her Imperial Arm now, enhancing her physical abilities in every aspect and greatly strengthening her five senses, she still would not be able to sense Yorii Tsugikuni's true capabilities if he did not wish it.
"Leone is right. I originally planned to look for Sayo and Ieyasu directly too."
"But Leone told me that if I spent just a little money, I could skip the rank of ordinary soldier when joining the army and start directly as a captain."
"That's why I came here with Leone to discuss it."
Tatsumi quickly explained himself at this point.
Much like in the original story, after arriving in the Imperial Capital, Tatsumi had first gone to the recruitment office to ask about enlistment requirements. Then, because he had been too full of himself, he was thrown out.
Naturally, he then encountered Leone, who had been watching Tatsumi for a long time.
Leone had easily talked Tatsumi into it with just a few words. He temporarily gave up on reuniting with Sayo and Ieyasu as quickly as possible and instead came to listen to Leone's pitch.
However, Yorii Tsugikuni's unexpected interference had caused major changes to the story.
Originally, Sayo and Ieyasu might already have been imprisoned by now. But because Yorii Tsugikuni was there, Aria's family had not laid a hand on them and had even genuinely introduced them to work.
In the end, while looking for somewhere to stay, they encountered Tatsumi and Leone at this small inn.
"Joining the army?"
"Hahaha, Tatsumi, just be jealous."
"You definitely can't imagine how lucky we were yesterday."
After hearing Tatsumi's words, Ieyasu burst into smug laughter.
Tatsumi's face filled with confusion.
"Now, Ieyasu, Master, and I are members of the Imperial Capital Security Force."
"With the Security Force's salary, we can already ease a large portion of the pressure on our hometown."
Sayo smiled at the confused Tatsumi. "It's really such a pity. If Tatsumi had found us earlier, maybe you could have joined the Imperial Capital Security Force with us."
"Still, it's no big deal."
"Master probably wouldn't mind taking you as his disciple."
Sayo's words made Leone, who had originally been somewhat inattentive, glance sideways.
As one of Night Raid's core members, Leone had not expected that her casual little scam would lead her to the companions of Imperial Capital Security Force members.
After all, their identities were fundamentally opposed. Sayo and Ieyasu could be considered government personnel.
However, as a seasoned veteran who had spent years getting by in the Imperial Capital, Leone still understood some of the rules here very well.
Leone was curious how Sayo and Ieyasu, two outsiders who clearly seemed similar to Tatsumi, had managed to join the Imperial Capital Security Force.
Without connections, an outsider getting into the Imperial Capital Security Force was simply impossible.
"Imperial Capital Security Force?"
"I remember that its members undergo strict screening."
"If you aren't a local resident of the Imperial Capital with a clean, well-known family background, you shouldn't be able to get in at all."
Leone looked at Sayo and Ieyasu with curiosity. "You should be outsiders from beyond the Imperial Capital, right? Normally, it should be impossible for you to join the Imperial Capital Security Force successfully."
Although the Imperial Capital Security Force in the original story was practically cannon fodder.
Its captain, Ogre Ouka, was trash who could be cut down in a few strikes by a rookie protagonist. But in reality, the Imperial Capital Security Force carried considerable weight.
Whether in terms of benefits or anything else, that was true.
"Under normal circumstances, Sayo and I really wouldn't have had any chance of joining the Imperial Capital Security Force."
"But yesterday wasn't exactly a normal day for Sayo and me."
Hearing Leone's curious question, Ieyasu hurriedly stepped forward to boast.
He was ready to properly enjoy the admiring gaze of this busty blonde older woman.
Next, Ieyasu briefly recounted what had happened yesterday. Leone's eyes flickered as she listened; the traits displayed by Aria's family were somewhat similar to what Night Raid had been investigating recently.
The only thing Leone could not be sure of was that, so far, Aria's family had indeed helped Sayo, Ieyasu, and the others. Although from Ieyasu's account, she could tell that Yorii Tsugikuni had played no small role in it.
"So that's how it is. Your luck really is incredible."
"In that case, it seems Tatsumi doesn't need to join the army after all."
Leone smiled at Sayo and the others. "It's getting late. Tatsumi has reunited with his companions, so I'll be leaving first."
"If fate allows it, we'll meet again, Tatsumi."
With that, Leone left directly.
Compared to continuing to exchange pleasantries with Tatsumi and the others, Leone needed to report the matter concerning Aria's family to Night Raid headquarters and have someone thoroughly investigate them.
In fact, Night Raid had already identified a rough range of noble suspects in the cases of missing outsiders, and Aria's family happened to be among those under suspicion.
Originally, it would have been another few days before it was Aria's family's turn to be investigated.
Now that she had obtained some information about Aria's family from Sayo and the others, Leone was prepared to move them up the list tonight to prevent more innocent outsiders from being harmed.
She would first conduct a thorough investigation into Aria's family.
The Imperial Capital is becoming more and more disgusting.
On the way to Night Raid headquarters, Leone thought with mixed feelings.
To be honest, Leone's first impression of Tatsumi, Sayo, and Ieyasu had been quite good. Their unworldly purity and innocence were something Leone, who had grown up in the Imperial Capital's slums, deeply longed for.
Yet Leone did not know how long Tatsumi and the others could maintain that purity after entering the great dye vat that was the Imperial Capital.
Before you continue