Swords Drawn, Bows Taut

After Esdeath returned to the Imperial Capital, she was received by the Emperor.

After several years apart, the Empire's Emperor had grown considerably, but his dependence on Honest had only become more severe.

It had to be said that Honest was quite skilled when it came to "education."

As a reward for Esdeath's suppression of the north, she was granted ten thousand taels of gold.

Esdeath was utterly unmoved by such a huge sum and distributed it all among her subordinates.

Neither Honest nor the young Emperor found Esdeath's actions surprising, because she had always shared her rewards with her subordinates.

So this time, they asked whether Esdeath wanted some other reward.

Of course she did.

"I want to fall in love."

That was what Esdeath said.

What she did not know was that her words startled nearly everyone present, aside from Lilith, who had already prepared herself mentally.

Did this count as an iconic scene?

It could be said that Esdeath's criteria for choosing a partner happened to align perfectly with the protagonist Tatsumi, and then the two of them just happened to meet. Esdeath fell in love with Tatsumi right away.

Fortunately, Esdeath was not the sort of person who would be swayed by her feelings.

Lilith simply decided not to interfere.

Besides, to be honest, Lilith was quite curious about what Esdeath would be like when she was in love.

But...

Thinking about how she would very likely encounter Night Raid next, she could not guarantee that Tatsumi would survive if he crossed her path.

After all, with her knowledge of the plot, she could simply lie in wait aboard the ships carrying those civil officials.

And on a great river, she would undoubtedly be able to wield even greater power.

Then, just as Lilith knew would happen, in order to lure out Night Raid—

Honest came up with an idea: assassinate those so-called "Conscience Faction" members within the Empire, then pin the blame on Night Raid!

Although Night Raid had never accepted any commissions to assassinate members of the "Conscience Faction," what other assassination organization besides Night Raid could possess such strength?

Besides, even if it was not to prove their innocence, Night Raid would not stand by and let them freely slaughter the "Conscience Faction" members who might be recruited to their side.

It was an open scheme. They had no choice but to jump into the trap.

When Minister Honest laid out this open scheme, the murderous intent beneath the smile wrinkling his face like a chrysanthemum was impossible to hide, crashing toward them head-on.

Did they really think he was an idiot?

A group of killers with Imperial Arms users had appeared in the Imperial Capital, and they exclusively took commissions related to him. No matter how one looked at it, that was abnormal.

As long as one's brain was not full of water, a little thought would make it clear that this so-called Night Raid could not be unrelated to the Rebel Army.

As long as Night Raid remained, he would not have a single peaceful day!

"Then I'll have to trouble General Esdeath," Minister Honest said to Esdeath as he bit into the meat on his plate.

Esdeath said, "No problem. I'd like to see just how capable this so-called Night Raid truly is."

Esdeath moved with remarkable speed.

The very next day, news spread that an Imperial official had been murdered.

Papers bearing Night Raid's insignia were scattered all around the corpse.

It was an extremely obvious frame-up!

Almost everyone thought so.

After all, what assassination organization would leave its own symbol at the scene after killing its target?

Furthermore, Night Raid had operated in the Imperial Capital for some time, yet no one had ever heard of them attacking and killing "Conscience Faction" officials.

But on the second day, and then the third day...

As more and more civil officials died, Night Raid's insignia was left at every scene without exception.

Now, even those people were beginning to wonder: was it really not Night Raid's doing?

Around the Imperial Capital, Night Raid was the only organization capable of doing something like this.

By this point, even General Budou could no longer sit still.

Because of ancestral rules, General Budou could not interfere in politics and could at most protect some members of the "Conscience Faction."

But at this moment, the actions of Honest and Esdeath had undoubtedly struck a nerve with General Budou.

The deaths of so many civil officials would undoubtedly plunge the Empire into turmoil.

And Budou did not even need to think about what would come next. Honest would surely place his own confidants into those positions, have them amass wealth for him, and drag the Empire into an even darker abyss.

Then Budou went to find Honest, intending to warn him and make him behave himself.

There, he not only saw Honest, but also encountered Esdeath.

For the past few days, Esdeath had stayed by Ozneth's side.

It couldn't be helped. Even Ozneth was somewhat uncertain about assassinating so many civil officials.

The reason was General Budou.

Though he was an old stubborn fool who refused to adapt, the Conscience Faction had always been under his protection. This time, Ozneth would undoubtedly provoke Budou's wrath.

So without Esdeath at his side, he did not even dare leave the house.

"Well, well~ Isn't this General Budou? It's been a long time."

Inside the palace, Ozneth greeted General Budou with a beaming smile, looking nothing like someone who had just encountered his mortal enemy.

"Cut the nonsense! Ozneth, stop what you are doing at once, or you will bear my wrath!"

General Budou's face was filled with rage.

Faced with General Budou's fury, Ozneth still wore a smile.

"General Budou, what are you talking about? Why can't I understand a word?"

"You!!!"

A suffocating killing intent radiated from Budou, shrouding Ozneth.

The smile on Ozneth's face froze. Even he was deeply alarmed by the killing intent emanating from Budou.

Though he had his own trump cards, facing a battle-hardened warrior like Budou, victory would still be difficult.

Just then, an even more terrifying killing intent erupted from beside Ozneth, causing both men present to turn toward Esdeath, who was releasing it.

"You are..."

Though he had noticed Esdeath from the start, he had not paid her any attention.

In Budou's eyes, Esdeath was merely a young general who had only recently acquired an Imperial Arm.

But now, it was clear that Esdeath was no ordinary Imperial Arm user.

Esdeath was thrilled. She had never felt so exhilarated before.

Judging by the killing intent emanating from Budou, aside from that freak Lilith, he was clearly the strongest Imperial Arm user she had encountered so far. It made Esdeath unable to resist wanting to...

Kill him!

Just as the tension reached its peak and Esdeath was ready to make her move at any moment, a colossal wall of water dozens of meters high rose from the great river outside the Imperial Capital, visible even from within the palace.