The Sisters' Request / Help Someone All the Way ...

These guards were weak as hell. All that remained was the vicious man who had declared that he would butcher him!

The vicious man took an involuntary step back and swallowed hard. He had never expected Koizumi to take out so many guards in the blink of an eye, and he had not even seen the other man's movements just now.

Reias had completely disappeared from this place, but Koizumi had long sensed his presence. As long as he had not escaped his range of perception, that man would never get away.

There was still some distance to the Imperial Capital's gates. With his speed, he only needed an instant to catch him.

Besides, Chelsea had already vanished. She had probably gone after Reias.

"Trying to run!? You're courting death!!!!!"

A fierce excitement filled Koizumi's eyes. Gungnir in his hand instantly became a flash of aurora, as though it would pierce even space itself, and directly blasted a huge hole through the man's chest.

Blood gushed from the bloody hole, soaking the vicious man from head to toe. His eyes were wide open, wearing the unmistakable expression of someone who had died with unresolved grievances. It was utterly hideous.

The crimson spear that had pierced through him did not stop in the slightest, instead shooting forward. The surrounding trees turned charred black the instant they touched the spear, like lumps of charcoal.

Sisters' Request

Koizumi glanced at the vicious man's corpse, curled his lip, and did not take him seriously at all.

That made sense. If he had fought in his ordinary state, he probably would have run into trouble long ago.

Right now, he was in a vampire state. Vampires were inherently the kind of beings who did not value human life.

It could be said that vampires treated humans as food, so naturally they would never care about human lives.

Influenced by the vampire's will, Koizumi had more or less picked up some of a vampire's attitude toward humans.

He seemed to feel no negative emotions when facing the dead. On the contrary, it made him excited, making him want to feast on their blood.

Fortunately, Koizumi's own will was strong enough. Otherwise, he probably would have been controlled by that vampire will. He had no desire to drink human blood; it was disgusting. After all, he was not truly a nonhuman being.

"Looks like I worried too much about you. At first, I thought killing someone for the first time might leave you with some aftereffects. But now, it seems you're perfectly normal. Maybe you really are talented in this regard."

Akame could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. Seeing that Koizumi was fine, she relaxed slightly as well.

It was good that he was all right. What she had feared was that Koizumi would not be able to bear the pressure of killing for the first time, but he looked perfectly normal now.

Maybe Koizumi really was gifted when it came to killing. Still, having talent was a good thing.

Koizumi also let out a slight sigh of relief. Honestly, even he had been taken aback by his current state.

Before the battle, he had wondered what he would become after killing someone for the first time. Now, it seemed he was even more normal than he had initially expected. Was there something wrong with the way I was doing this?

Koizumi scratched his head slightly, faint glints flashing in his eyes.

That really was strange. But then again, now was not the time to think about that. He should find Reias first.

No matter what, he could not let that noble Reias slip away. Otherwise, there would be trouble.

According to the original plan, once Reias was dead, he would immediately head into the Imperial Capital. At the same time, Shizune had investigated matters related to Seryu and Ouka, and Koizumi would use that information to plan his actions within the Imperial Capital.

Koizumi also knew that he could not be too reckless. If that general caught him by accident, things would be bad.

That general, according to Akame and the others, seemed to be called General Budou, right? He was definitely very strong.

If he was an opponent who could make Reimu take him seriously, then he could not be weak. Reimu in the Archer class was very powerful. At the very least, if she got serious, Hata no Kokoro would absolutely be no match for her. She could easily take on Night Raid alone. Therefore, Koizumi had to be extremely cautious around Budou.

The next moment, before Koizumi could locate Reias, Chelsea suddenly appeared beside him while dragging someone along. Seeing the person's bruised and swollen face, Koizumi roughly understood what had happened.

"You took care of Reias?" Koizumi asked casually.

Chelsea nodded. She carried quite a few poisonous needles with her and could carry out assassinations at any time.

Transformation Free: Gaia Foundation allowed her to disguise herself as many people who could get close enough to Reias.

For example, Esdeath, General Bude, or some Imperial general. In any case, she could get close whenever she wanted.

And when Reias was facing a life-or-death crisis, how could he possibly think that much? He would only know that his lifeline had arrived.

That was why Chelsea had so easily gotten close to him. Then, one poisoned needle had killed him.

By the way, that bruised and swollen appearance was not caused by Chelsea beating him up. It was what happened after he was poisoned.

A swollen face did not necessarily mean someone had beaten the victim into that state. Some poisons could make people look like that too.

Still, Chelsea carried so many poisoned needles around. Was she really not afraid of poisoning herself someday...?

Poisoned needles were extremely dangerous, especially when even she did not know what poison they contained.

"What a useless fool, this Reias. He actually let you get close and poison him to death..."

Koizumi rolled his eyes at Chelsea, looking utterly disdainful. Chelsea, however, was very displeased by that.

What do you mean by that? Are you indirectly saying I'm useless? You're so blunt when you talk. No girl will ever like you... Chelsea glared fiercely at Koizumi, making it clear that she was in a very bad mood!

Koizumi froze slightly. Why is Chelsea glaring at me...? Did I say something wrong? He died so stupidly, and he was killed after letting his own assassin get right next to him. Isn't that useless enough? At least, that's what I think.

But does she think I was indirectly saying she was useless? But... that seems to be true too...

Koizumi could not help grumbling internally. To a certain extent, Chelsea really was quite useless. Other than disguising herself, what else could she do? Was that not the truth? If she fought someone head-on, would she not be finished?

Slowly, Koizumi walked over to Lia and Lie, then crouched down beside them.

"What about you two? What are you planning to do next? Do you have anywhere to stay or anything like that?"

Since he had rescued these two girls, Koizumi felt that he had a responsibility to settle them properly.

And honestly, Koizumi believed that if one was going to help, one should help all the way through. He was not some saint, but since he had already lent them a hand, he might as well see it through. It was no big deal.

Lia and Lie exchanged glances, confusion appearing in their eyes.

Honestly, after coming to the Imperial Capital, they had already spent all their money. Otherwise, they would not have needed to stay at Reias's home. So, in truth, they had nowhere else to go now.

If possible, they wanted to find somewhere they could live in peace, but they could not find such a place.

Originally, they had hoped to marry a refined gentleman like Reias. Well, what refined gentleman? The two of them had truly been blind. How was he a refined gentleman? He was clearly a demon!

After thinking for a moment, Lia and Lie hurriedly looked at Koizumi, Akame, and Chelsea, then slowly voiced their request.

"Can we follow you?"

Help Them to the End

It had to be admitted that sometimes, even when one wanted to help someone to the end, it was a difficult thing.

Just like these two girls. If they were brought to Night Raid, it would be extremely troublesome. Not for any other reason, but because it was an assassin organization, not a shelter.

Besides, bringing them to Night Raid gave Koizumi a very strange feeling.

After all, Night Raid's base belonged to Najenda. If he did not ask for their opinions first, it would feel rather odd. At the very least, Koizumi could not make the decision by himself.

Koizumi turned his eyes toward Akame and Chelsea, confusion flashing in them.

These two were key members of Night Raid. It would be better to mention it to them in advance.

"Akame, Chelsea, what do you think about this? Does Night Raid need people to help with work?"

With these two girls helping out, perhaps Night Raid could save itself quite a bit of trouble.

Besides, the opinions of Akame and Chelsea could basically represent Najenda's own opinion.

Akame and Chelsea hesitated slightly, their gazes falling on Lia and Lie.

Their eyes happened to meet the slightly hopeful gazes of Lia and Lie.

Now, neither of them knew whether they should help the two girls. After all, they might cause trouble.

Besides, Night Raid had been in the assassination business for so long, yet they had hardly ever brought people back.

Even when they did bring people back, it was generally to expand Night Raid's numbers.

And those who could join Night Raid were not ordinary people. Usually, either they had some ability, or they had suffered persecution in the Imperial Capital and bore unimaginable hatred toward evil. Even then, they still needed some level of ability.

But Lia and Lie had no combat ability at all. Other than cooking and doing laundry, what could they do?

If the two girls had been encountered before Susanoo joined Night Raid, Akame might have considered taking them in. But all the housework was now handled by Susanoo, so the two girls were almost unnecessary for such work. After all, Susanoo's abilities were far more reliable.

Thus, Akame and Chelsea began to get a headache. Should they let the girls join or not?

Helplessly, Akame and Chelsea could only look at Koizumi. They did not know whether they should do this.

"How about we let them come along first? Leave the rest to Najenda. No matter how capable Susanoo is at housework, she can't do several people's worth all at once, right? One more or one fewer person in Night Raid doesn't make much difference. Besides, with Night Raid's resources, are they really afraid they can't afford to raise two little girls...?"

Seeing the looks in Lia and Lie's eyes, Koizumi felt that he had no choice but to say something. Those looks were heart-wrenching.

This also proved that Koizumi had not been completely affected by the vampire's power. Otherwise, with a vampire's arrogance and attitude toward humans, how could he possibly plead for what they considered food?

Akame and Chelsea were slightly stunned, but they nodded. That was true. Night Raid could afford to support them. Besides, Night Raid's members often needed to train. Now that there were people like Reimu, Hata no Kokoro, and Koizumi who could fly, if they accidentally smashed through the ceiling or something, someone had to repair it, right?

At times like that, there was no need to waste Susanoo's strength. The two girls could do it instead.

The two girls should still be able to do some work properly. Honestly, Akame and Chelsea were both worried about letting them leave just like that. What if they had nowhere to stay and could only sleep in the wilderness? What if they encountered Danger Beasts again? What if they went hungry? They were not like Koizumi, Reimu, and Hata no Kokoro, who were so capable.

Of course, Chelsea had not thought that much. Akame was the one who had overthought it.

Akame herself was an older sister, and like these two girls, she and Kurome were twin sisters.

So when Akame saw this pair of sisters, her heart could not help but tremble slightly.

Thus, Akame became especially concerned about the two sisters. If possible, she wanted to take care of them.

Of course, she was part of Night Raid, so she had to ask her Boss about everything.

Koizumi slowly stepped forward and walked over to Lia and Lie. Under their expectant gazes, he spoke.

"We can take you two in, but life with us isn't easy. It's harsh, and you may get tired. You may also be hunted down, and you won't be able to leave whenever you want. Even so, do you still want to come with us?"

Koizumi's words might have made many boys and girls back down.

Life was harsh, they might be hunted, and they would not have much freedom... But in the eyes of the two girls before him, that was already good enough, because they understood that if they left now, they might still die.

Danger Beasts could appear outside the Imperial Capital at any time. Even if they were lucky enough to reach another city, without family or friends, they would most likely starve to death in the end, because they had no food and no money.

So now, they could only choose to stay beside Koizumi and the others, because following them gave them a chance to survive.

As for harsh living conditions, being hunted, and having little freedom... none of that was a problem to them.

Because death could come from any direction, but by staying with them, the chance of dying was much lower.

Everything was for the sake of surviving.

Seeing their desire to live, Koizumi nodded inwardly. That was right. Everything had to be based on surviving. Since these two girls still had the desire to live, there was no harm in lending them a hand.

In any case, Night Raid would not mind taking care of two more girls.

Najenda probably would not object either. Based on Koizumi's understanding of her, that should be the case.

Besides, after seeing Night Raid's base, they would not be allowed to leave anyway. This was precisely the result Koizumi wanted. Since they would not abandon Lia and Lie, they would definitely keep the two girls.

Akame's Expectations

"Oh? So you rescued these two girls, but because you were worried about their safety, you plan to settle them in Night Raid?" Najenda looked at Akame and the other two with interest.

Especially Akame. It was rare for Akame to agree so strongly with such a suggestion, and Najenda found it quite interesting.

Of course, she only found it interesting because Akame rarely revealed thoughts like this.

She understood Akame's thoughts very well. Because of what had happened with her younger sister, Akame had always felt guilty toward Kurome. She had abandoned her sister in the rotten Empire when she defected. Later, she had intended to take her sister away, but Kurome had already been deeply brainwashed by the Empire and would not listen to her at all.

By now, the hatred between Akame and Kurome had grown very deep. In the end, only one of them could survive.

Seeing a pair of sisters, especially twin sisters like herself and Kurome, had probably made Akame think of Kurome.

Moreover, Najenda had her own ideas regarding how to handle the sisters. She would keep them here and have them work. After all, they had already seen Night Raid's base, so how could she let them leave so easily?

Kill them? She was overthinking it. Night Raid was not some terrorist organization, so of course they would not kill them.

Besides, she had to properly protect the sisters for Akame's sake.

After all, she had been the one to persuade Akame to defect. So fundamentally, the hatred between Akame and Kurome had much to do with her.

Najenda also felt a certain amount of guilt over this matter. If she had not persuaded Akame, Akame would not have defected from the Empire, and she would not have fallen out with Kurome. Even if Akame had already noticed that something was wrong with the Empire, and even if she would have defected in the end, perhaps her relationship with Kurome would not have become like this.

After all, if it were Akame, she would certainly have chosen to remain by her sister's side and first work on changing her way of thinking.

Once she had gotten through to her sister, perhaps Akame could have defected from the Empire together with Kurome.

Therefore, Najenda still felt deeply guilty toward Akame over what had happened back then.

Because of that guilt, Najenda did not say much about Akame's actions and simply agreed to them.

The reason she emphasized the question was simply out of a little personal curiosity. It was rare to see Akame like this, and not taking a good look at her awkward state would truly have been a waste.

Well, Najenda had a tiny bit of a mischievous side too. It was truly speechless.

Koizumi glanced at Najenda, then shook his head slightly. He had inherited part of Hata no Kokoro's power and could sense the emotions inside everyone present, so how could he not know what Najenda was thinking?