A Reminder / Kyon's Rapid Progress

And judging by Koizumi and Reimu's expressions, that condition was probably non-negotiable. Otherwise, there was nothing to discuss.

That was what gave Najenda a slight headache. It would have been fine if they explained the reason, but without one, how many people upstairs would agree to share intelligence with an unfamiliar shrine maiden? How was that even possible?

The benefits they would gain were far greater than what they would give up. It might even greatly increase the strength of their forces.

Najenda herself agreed to the deal. The advantages outweighed the disadvantages. The problem was that those higher-ups might not see it that way.

Najenda had not originally been a member of the Revolutionary Army, but a general of the Empire. However, unable to tolerate the Empire's darkness and corruption, she had chosen to betray it and join the Revolutionary Army, hoping to bring hope to this world.

But to overthrow the Empire, they had to bring down three great mountains. First was Esdeath on the Empire's front lines, second was the Minister, the root of the corruption, and last was General Bude, the Empire's guardian deity.

But if they had Hakurei Reimu, who could rival Budou, then they would have a far better chance of moving that mountain.

It would be best to persuade the higher-ups from that angle. Though she did not have much confidence that she could convince them. At that thought, Najenda gave a bitter smile. This really was a difficult matter.

Honestly, as a general, she should have been active on the front lines. She had ultimately chosen to come to the Imperial Capital and become the Boss of Night Raid because her right arm and right eye had been crippled, drastically reducing her combat power and leaving her suited only for a behind-the-scenes role. But the greater reason was actually the problems within the Revolutionary Army. No organization could possibly be completely incorruptible from top to bottom. After all, people's hearts could change at any time. Perhaps they had wanted revolution at first, but once someone had tasted power, how could they possibly remain entirely indifferent to it? Thus, corruption also existed among the Revolutionary Army's upper ranks.

Still, compared to the Empire's corruption, the Revolutionary Army had at least not reached the point of being beyond saving.

That was why Najenda had chosen to join the Revolutionary Army. But unable to stomach the corruption, she had come to the Imperial Capital to serve as Night Raid's Boss. At the very least, this place was much more to her liking.

Since she could not stand the corruption among the Revolutionary Army's upper ranks, she might as well stay out of sight and out of mind. That had been Najenda's thinking. Unfortunately, she still had to deal with the higher-ups constantly. How could she truly keep herself out of it?

Just like this matter. If those people learned there was someone they could not control, all sorts of thoughts would arise.

The most likely would be: if they could not have her, then the Empire absolutely could not have her either. They might as well destroy her.

Najenda was deeply worried that the higher-ups would assign her such a mission. That would be disastrous.

Looking at the glowing compass before her, Najenda quietly listened to the voice coming from it.

From the tone alone, she could sense the calmness in the speaker's heart. It did not sound like the Revolutionary Army's leader... Najenda made that judgment as she listened to the voice from the compass.

The Revolutionary Army had recently undergone some personnel changes, and Najenda herself had only learned of it not long ago.

She had heard that quite a few people in the Revolutionary Army who ate human food but did inhuman things had all been removed. This had startled Najenda, and after asking around, she learned that a group of highly capable people had arrived within the Revolutionary Army.

One of them had become the Revolutionary Army's strategist, holding a position second only to the leader. This massive personnel reshuffle had been that person's handiwork. When Najenda first heard about it, she had let out a long breath.

Well done! She had nearly shouted it aloud... because it truly had been well done.

Since Najenda had surrendered to the Revolutionary Army, her status had not been particularly high. She had long been displeased with those people who ate human food but did inhuman things, but as a surrendered general, she knew she had no standing to say much.

Seeing them suffer now put Najenda in an excellent mood. At the same time, she held great respect for this strategist who had suddenly appeared in the Revolutionary Army. At least this strategist clearly had real ability.

Incidentally, the Revolutionary Army headquarters had sent four helpers to Night Raid. Three of them were not necessarily exceptionally strong, but in terms of professional assassin skills, they were undoubtedly far superior to Akame and the others.

The last one was an Imperial Arm, a biological-type Imperial Arm. It happened to be assigned to Najenda, who did not have much combat strength.

Najenda and it had clicked almost instantly, with exceptionally high compatibility, so headquarters had given it to her.

In truth, having Akame and the others serve as assassins was such a waste. Combatants that powerful should have been placed on the battlefield.

Unfortunately, the Revolutionary Army's leader did not know how to make use of them, which was why Akame and the others had been assigned to Night Raid.

Getting back to the matter at hand, after hearing the arrangements from the Revolutionary Army headquarters, Najenda felt relieved.

Though this plan might provoke resentment from Koizumi's group, at least it was effective.

As for any ill feelings, they could slowly smooth those over while getting along in the future.

Slowly, Najenda emerged from her room. Leone and Akame were waiting outside.

Leone could be said to have crossed paths with Koizumi in the worst possible way. Of course, that was only from one side, since Leone had stolen Koizumi's money. In that regard, it was Leone's fault, not Koizumi's.

As for Akame, the name Koizumi had caught her attention, so she was unusually worried about someone's safety.

She was truly afraid that if these negotiations fell apart, Koizumi would become an enemy of the Revolutionary Army.

She still wanted to understand why she had such a strong reaction to that name.

And deep down, she seemed extremely resistant to the idea of Koizumi becoming her enemy.

It was a subconscious feeling, which only made Akame even more confused. Did I know him before?

Najenda smiled in reply, putting both of them at ease. Since Boss did not look worried, things had not reached such an exaggerated point. At least there was still room to negotiate with Koizumi's side.

The next moment, Najenda revealed a look of surprise, and Akame and Leone could not help turning to look behind themselves.

What sent a chill through them was the appearance of two figures wearing skull masks behind Akame and Leone.

What horrified them was that they had not noticed the other side approaching at all.

Even Najenda had only noticed them after the two had appeared behind her.

Speed and stealth... If this had been an assassination attempt, the two of them would probably already be dead...

A Warning

At this moment, Koizumi, Reimu, and Hata no Kokoro were sitting in their base, seemingly discussing something.

"Why have you been silent this whole time?" That was the first thing Koizumi asked Reimu, and it nearly made her want to kick him to death.

Why have I been silent this whole time? Don't you have any idea? Isn't it because of that damned Command Seal of yours?!

Reimu glared fiercely at Koizumi's right hand. Her meaning could not have been clearer. If Koizumi still did not understand, he might as well get remade from scratch. But there was nothing to be done about it. Reimu's Magic Resistance rank was truly low, and she had little resistance to Koizumi's Command Seal.

That made Koizumi give an awkward laugh. Alright, he had genuinely forgotten about it. He was truly sorry.

But who told her to have no integrity at all? He had been afraid she might do something shameless, and that would have caused a huge problem.

Look at how obedient Hata no Kokoro was. She stood there quietly without saying a word. Unless someone asked her something, she would hardly answer at all.

That was what a model good child looked like. Look at Reimu. The moment money came up, she forgot everything else. Her intelligence was seriously worrying.

"Sorry, sorry... I was in the wrong here. I'm really sorry for wasting a Command Seal, but it'll recover tomorrow, won't it?"

Koizumi raised his hands helplessly in a gesture of surrender. In truth, he had used the Command Seal at first only out of a sense of mischief. Yes, that had been the main reason. After all, Koizumi knew that although Reimu had no integrity, she was reliable much of the time. Otherwise, as the manager of Gensokyo, Gensokyo would probably have fallen apart under her watch long ago.

Reimu snorted coldly, indicating that she did not want to say anything. She was not petty enough to make a big deal out of it.

She was simply annoyed by Koizumi's inexplicable behavior, nothing more.

Slowly, Reimu suddenly spoke. "By the way, are you sure it's alright to tell them our purpose directly? Won't that make the Revolutionary Army wary of us? What if it causes some kind of problem?"

The Command Seal's effect was linked to the Master's will. Since Koizumi could use it to make Reimu shut up, he could naturally cancel its effect whenever he wanted. Thus, Reimu could speak now.

Reimu's concern was perfectly reasonable. Those in power could certainly think, if they could not have something, then neither could anyone else. It was a dangerous way of thinking, because it would put them in direct opposition to Night Raid, completely contrary to Koizumi's group's original intentions.

That was why Reimu felt it necessary to ask Koizumi what he was thinking, so she could prepare for what came next.

Koizumi merely chuckled softly. He did not take Reimu's worries to heart.

He had considered not telling Najenda the truth, but upon thinking it through, that would mean their efforts to gather intelligence would have to be carried out in secret. Getting caught red-handed would not be a good thing.

Since such a possibility existed, they might as well tell Najenda their purpose directly.

That was better than acting with ulterior motives from the beginning. If they really came to blows later, they would have reservations.

After all, if they had spent time together as companions, they might be reluctant to truly strike each other.

Koizumi did not want what had happened with Seryu to happen a second time, so it was better to make his intentions clear from the start.

Of course, being clear had one disadvantage: it would make the Revolutionary Army wary of them, and they might end up becoming enemies.

But that was still much better than getting familiar with them, only for them to discover afterward that Koizumi's group had approached with ulterior motives and then find themselves unable to strike.

Koizumi had also noticed that when facing Seryu, Reimu had held back somewhat. Clearly, she had been worried about hurting Seryu.

But after realizing that Koro could regenerate endlessly, Reimu had begun hitting much harder.

Reimu had some guesses about Koizumi's thoughts, but she did not voice them directly and instead asked him outright.

After all, rather than sitting there and guessing, it was better to ask directly. Trying to guess what someone else was thinking was troublesome as hell.

When she saw that Koizumi merely smiled without answering directly, Reimu became even more annoyed.

"Hey, hey, hey! Answer me already! You're making it feel like I'm some kind of idiot!"

That was right. Koizumi's smiling silence only made Reimu seem like she was somehow a level below him. It was incredibly irritating. If she could, Reimu really wanted to kick that smiling face of his.

However, after taking several deep breaths, Reimu still held herself back. Losing her temper like that would make her seem too immature, so she let it go.

"Don't worry. We should have an answer tonight or tomorrow night. Of course, that's assuming they have a special way to contact the Revolutionary Army headquarters. If not, we might have to wait a few more days. Either way, it won't waste much time."

A sharp glint flashed in Koizumi's eyes. He hoped things would turn out as he expected.

If it worked, everything would become much simpler.

Reimu curled her lips. Why did she suddenly feel that Koizumi was becoming very similar to that bastard Yukari?

They both liked to play at being mysterious. But that old hag Yukari was even worse, because she liked screwing people over while acting mysterious.

Especially when it came to screwing Reimu over. Yukari's style was to screw her over as hard as possible as long as it did not kill her, and it made Reimu want to beat her senseless. If fighting her had not been such a hassle, Reimu would have made her move long ago.

"Still, for the next while, I'll have to trouble Reimu and Hata no Kokoro to protect me properly. I don't want to get assassinated. Otherwise, if Yukari at Chaldea finds out, I'll be horribly embarrassed."

Koizumi had more or less guessed what Night Raid would do next, so he needed to prepare himself. If Reimu and Hata no Kokoro let their guard down even a little, he would probably be in serious trouble.

Night Raid's strength could also be tested over the coming days.

After all, Night Raid was an assassin organization that would likely cooperate with them for quite some time. If its strength was truly lacking and it dragged their side down, would that not be an enormous loss? No matter what, he needed to understand the strength of his partners, or something serious could happen.

Likewise, it was necessary for Night Raid to test their strength. Especially for the Revolutionary Army. They had heard that Reimu was strong, but they did not know exactly how strong. They would definitely come to test them. Assassins were best at assassination, so they would certainly make a move.

That was why Koizumi wanted Reimu and Hata no Kokoro to remain especially vigilant. If he fell into their hands, it would be utterly humiliating.

Koizumi's Rapid Progress

Although Reimu and Hata no Kokoro did not know why Koizumi wanted them to be more vigilant, since he had said so, neither of them would take it lightly. There was no need to mention Hata no Kokoro, and Reimu was not someone who would drop the ball at a critical moment.

So as long as Koizumi said it, Reimu and Hata no Kokoro would do as he asked.

Still, Reimu vaguely guessed some of the reason. Although she sometimes lacked so much integrity that it affected her intelligence, the truth was that Reimu was not stupid. Otherwise, how could she properly serve as the Hakurei Shrine Maiden?

Thus, she could roughly guess what Koizumi was thinking. Unfortunately, it was only a guess.

She figured that even if she asked him directly, he would not answer... Reimu had already guessed Koizumi's next move.

So Reimu would not go out of her way to ask. Rather than asking, she might as well follow Koizumi's suggestion. In the end, she would find out anyway. Even if something went wrong in the end, their overwhelming strength would be there as insurance.

It could not be helped. Strong people were just that confident. Even though Reimu preferred a leisurely life and was not particularly passionate about training, she still had great confidence in her own strength. She believed that in this Singularity, there were very few who could force her to use her full power. Moreover, she had her sealed ultimate Noble Phantasm as a safeguard, so there was absolutely nothing to worry about.

If Hata no Kokoro had been alone, there might have been cause for concern. But with Reimu there, what was there to be afraid of?

After that, Koizumi continued throwing himself into training, having Hata no Kokoro work with him.

This time, Reimu also unexpectedly followed along to watch. After all, she had fought Remilia before. Since Koizumi was using Remilia's power, Reimu should be able to offer plenty of useful advice.

Although Reimu had initially been very resistant, after thinking about it, she realized she had nothing else to do anyway. As for eating... Well, she was currently in a Servant state, so she did not feel hunger at all. Koizumi should be the one worried about starving to death.

But since Koizumi had not said he was hungry, there was no need for her to mention anything.

And faintly, Reimu sensed the urgency in Koizumi's heart. He seemed to want to become stronger as quickly as possible.

Reimu could not really say anything about that, since she had basically lived life with cheat codes. She could become stronger without much training at all.

The Hakurei Shrine Maiden was simply a cheat-like existence. In the past, within the Great Barrier, she had the protection of the Hakurei Barrier. Because of that, no yokai could ever defeat the shrine maiden within the barrier. It was as though the meaning of yokai existence had been erased by half. That was why the Spell Card Rules had been established. Under those rules, even humans with certain abilities could defeat yokai.

Therefore, all Reimu could do for Koizumi's current anxiety was offer comfort and encouragement.

While comforting and encouraging him, she could also give some guidance during his training. That was what Reimu could do.

At that thought, Reimu felt she had no right to remain idle. She should help out.

But what surprised Reimu was that Koizumi's control over Remilia's power already seemed quite good.

Had he really achieved this in less than half a day? He seemed even more cheat-like than Reimu!

The corner of Reimu's mouth twitched violently as she looked speechlessly at Hata no Kokoro. "Hey, hey, hey! Hata no Kokoro, are you sure this is the result of just a few hours of training yesterday? Why does it feel like several days' worth of training to me?"

Hata no Kokoro's face quickly changed into the Great Fling Out mask, used to express surprise.

Honestly, Hata no Kokoro was also extremely surprised. When Koizumi had finished training last night, he had not possessed strength anywhere near this exaggerated. How had one night passed, only for Koizumi's combat power to seemingly double?

Even Hata no Kokoro herself felt a trace of pressure when facing Koizumi's strength.

It was not pressure from his power itself, but from the bloody aura around him. After transforming into a vampire, Koizumi always radiated a thick bloody aura. In that state, he looked extremely similar to a true vampire.

Hata no Kokoro could not help feeling somewhat worried, afraid that Koizumi would be eroded by the vampire's influence and become a real vampire.

After all, compared with a vampire's will, a human's will was relatively weak.

Vampires were long-lived species. The will of a long-lived species was naturally stronger than that of humans.

However, it seemed Hata no Kokoro had been overthinking it. The bloody aura around Koizumi was heavy because he had already gained control over a great deal of vampire power. The source of a vampire's power had much to do with blood.

Holding Gungnir in his hand, Koizumi's lips curled up slightly as powerful magical energy burst from his body.