Esdeath's Expectations

Nacita, once the Empire's youngest general.

She wielded the gun-type Teigu Roman Artillery: Pumpkin, and had two Teigu users under her command.

After Esdeath arrived, the title of the Empire's youngest general naturally passed to her.

Nacita herself did not care who held that title.

However, Esdeath herself had caught her attention.

To become a general at such a young age, her strength was clearly extraordinary. Moreover, Nacita had heard that for the campaign to suppress the Foreigners along the northwestern border, the Minister had sent Esdeath to join her.

This left her deeply confused.

No matter how dire the war in the northwest was, with three Teigu users including herself and her army, could they really not deal with those Foreigners?

"No, no, no. I did not call you here this time merely to slaughter some Foreigners."

Esdeath brought the Three Beasts under her command to meet Ozneth.

Ozneth was still the same as ever. There was never any shortage of meat at his side.

Esdeath raised her question to Ozneth.

While she was more than willing to take part when there was war, she still needed to know the reason.

"Oh? From the sound of it, there is another reason?"

"Heh heh." Ozneth chuckled, but his expression was incomparably gloomy. "My spies have learned that our dear General Nacita seems to be harboring other intentions."

"...Is the information accurate?"

"It is only a suspicion, but it is far from baseless."

Now that was interesting.

A dignified Imperial general actually wanted to betray her own country?

Or was Nacita also the kind of person who pitied the suffering of the world?

"So when do we make our move?"

A Teigu user.

Since obtaining Demon's Extract, aside from the Three Beasts under her command, the only Teigu user Esdeath had fought was Lilith.

Sparring with the Three Beasts could not make her go all out.

Only Lilith could truly trade blows with her.

Without their Teigu, Lilith's physical abilities even surpassed Esdeath's by a notch. Esdeath could suppress Lilith only because of her greater combat experience and superior battle instincts.

And if they used their Teigu, Water Dragon Possession: Black Marlin would be restrained by Demon's Extract.

In the end, she still could not test where her limits lay.

This might be an opportunity to witness the strength of the Empire's other generals.

"No, no, no. Nacita is still an Imperial general. She also enjoys considerable prestige among the Empire's people. We cannot simply kill her without cause."

"So?"

"If nothing unexpected happens, Nacita will lead her subordinates in betraying the Empire after this expedition. When that time comes, General Esdeath, I will have to trouble you to act."

"Heh heh, that is precisely what I have been looking forward to."

Her subordinate Warin was a former Imperial general. Even before obtaining a Teigu, he had been exceptionally strong; after gaining one, he became the strongest of the Three Beasts.

"Nacita, do not disappoint me."

The date of the expedition was set very soon.

On the day they set out, Nacita met Esdeath.

When she saw the army behind her, she could not help asking, "With so many troops pulled away, will there not be problems with the northern garrison?"

"No. Lilith is guarding the border. Nothing will go wrong with her there."

Hearing this, Nacita asked no further questions.

She had heard Lilith's name before.

She was a genius at training troops, though her ability to lead armies into battle seemed rather ordinary. After becoming a Teigu user, no one knew exactly how strong she was, though she was surely not weak.

Still, Nacita had heard that Lilith's Teigu was Water Dragon Possession: Black Marlin, which controlled water. In the bitterly cold far north, Black Marlin's power would likely be weakened, would it not?

But seeing that Esdeath was not worried in the slightest, Nacita felt that she was meddling in affairs that were not hers.

Esdeath herself was not worried about her subordinate's safety, so why was Nacita fretting over it here?

Perhaps Nacita understood deep down.

What she worried about might not have been Lilith alone, but the possibility of something happening in the north—and that the people living there would be the ones to suffer again.

With that thought, the turmoil in Nacita's heart rose once more.

Was the Empire... truly beyond saving?

She understood that as long as the Minister lived, the Empire would continue to decay until it was destroyed.

Yet... even now, quite a few people still coveted the Minister's head and had taken action.

The result was obvious: the Minister was still alive and well.

Assassinating the Minister was easier said than done.

It was not as though no Teigu user had ever tried to kill the Minister, but they had still failed. Their corpses were hung before the city gates for crows to peck apart.

Perhaps because Esdeath possessed an ice-type Teigu, Nacita felt as though her entire body radiated an icy aura, leaving her unsure how to speak to Esdeath.

Nor could she find a topic to bring up.

Until...

A great river blocked their path ahead.

"The current in this river is extremely swift, and we do not know its depth. The soldiers will probably be unable to wade across." Nacita looked at the river, anxiety rising in her heart.

No one knew how the battle at the border was going. Every moment of delay could mean another life lost.

"Make camp where you are! We must hurry and build a bridge!"

The river was clearly vast. There was no way they could go around it in time; they could only build a bridge and cross.

"Build a bridge? No need."

Esdeath dismounted, placed one hand on her hip, and smiled at the great river before her.

"Conquering a river? This is my first time."

"What do you mean..."

Nacita clearly could not keep up with Esdeath's train of thought, but what happened the next second left her unable to speak for a long while.

The raging river turned into a frozen river in the blink of an eye!

Nacita remained stunned for a long time.

Could... a human truly do something like this?

The gentle breeze that had been blowing against Nacita's face became a chilling wind as the temperature suddenly plummeted.

Yet thanks to that cold wind, she came back to her senses.

"What kind of power is this? This..."

Monster!

Those final two words echoed in Nacita's heart.

Seeing Nacita's shock, Esdeath knew that she had achieved her goal.

She had deliberately displayed her strength in order to intimidate Nacita and make her afraid.

She wondered: when they met again and Nacita discovered that they had become enemies, would she flee in blind panic, or would she gather her courage and attack? And if she chose to fight back, how much of her strength would she be able to retain?

Esdeath was looking forward to it.