Who's the Prey, and Who's the Hunter? (5.1K)

But if he doesn't want to play anymore, he still has the right to activate Wind Spirit Moon Shadow at any time.

Just like now.

"Ah--!!!"

The city was in complete chaos.

Piercing screams echoed throughout the castle.

The patrolling soldiers and valiant guards all mysteriously vanished, turning into white ash.

The servants in the city were fleeing, and the few women who had been hiding among them gathered together, staring in astonishment at the scene before them.

It felt like divine retribution.

"... Could it be Yotsuba Clan?!" Cornelia couldn't help but guess.

She remembered using this power before when dealing with the Sabatini Troupe.

At this moment, Tsukushi also arrived and joined them.

When asked about the current situation, Tsukushi gave a hesitant explanation.

After listening, Cornelia and the Akame girls exchanged glances, and then, seeing the redness in Tsukushi's eyes, they immediately understood that Yotsuba Clan- sama was angry.

Venting anger for Tsukushi...

At the same time.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! Where did this assassin come from, turning my territory into such a mess!"

At that moment, Rakiri was packing his bags, preparing to flee.

He had originally planned to hunt Lelang Deer the next day, but unexpectedly, assassins brazenly broke into his castle and wantonly slaughtered them!

Where did this audacious assassin come from?

Aren't you afraid of the revenge of Prince Numa Seka, the hero of the North?!

"Oh, so you didn't forget to take your treasure with you when you ran away? You actually value these things more than your own life?"

"Who goes there?!"

Rakiri suddenly turned around and saw a young man sitting calmly on the sofa opposite him, completely ignoring his question. The young man leisurely picked up a glass of red wine on the table and took a small sip.

"It tastes a bit sour and astringent; is this what they call the taste of the elite?"

The rich flavor of the wine spread in his mouth. Mahiro smacked his lips and put down the wine glass with a hint of disdain.

"As expected, I still can't enjoy the red wine here."

"Who exactly are you?!"

Rakiri pulled out his flintlock pistol and aimed it at him.

It's quite strange, really. This world has automatic firepower, yet these nobles have a strong preference for these flashy but impractical flintlock muskets that fire steel balls.

Not to mention pointing this toy at Yotsuba Mahiro, which made him burst out laughing.

"Fine, since you've asked so sincerely, I'll mercifully tell you."

Mahiro slowly stood up from the sofa, smiled at Rakiri, and said, "My name is Yotsuba Mahiro. You might not recognize the name, but you should be familiar with my position—the head of the Imperial Assassination Corps, right?"

"The Imperial Assassination Corps?! Damn it, they've been exposed!"

Rakiri was a ruthless man; without hesitation, he pulled the trigger, and a steel ball shot out as sparks flew.

But with a snap, it was caught by Mahiro's two fingers.

It was even crushed into a piece of metal on the spot.

Why are you so agitated? Here, take it back.

Whoosh--

Before Rakiri could react, the metal shard had already pierced through his skull, a thin line of blood appearing in the center of his forehead, while the metal shard emerged from his skull and was buried in the ornately decorated wall.

"You shouldn't have died so young; you should have lived another day. Blame it on your subordinates for being too ruthless."

He looked at the limp corpse lying on the ground, its eyes wide open in death, and said coldly.

He probably never imagined that his death would not be due to treason, alliance with foreign tribes, or secret collusion with the Revolutionary Army.

It was because one of his soldiers had harassed Yotsuba Mahiro's men.

News of the assassination of Rakiri, the governor of Lelang City, spread like wildfire, plunging the Lelang City into unprecedented panic and even shaking the northern tribes.

However, these things have little to do with Mahiro.

After completing their mission, they gathered in the hotel that had been converted into a safe house.

"You did a good job on this mission, especially Akame and Little Silver. You obtained the schedule information for Operation Rakiri very smoothly."

"Huh? But the rest of us were taken care of by you Yotsuba Clan- sama, before we even made contact with the mission target..."

Pony straddled the chair, leaning over it and complaining:

"Furthermore, if Akame hadn't eaten all the food in the kitchen, I would have been able to gather this information as well."

"Who said it was all of it, Pony! It was clearly just meat. Blame the chef for making the meat too delicious," Akame solemnly corrected.

"Furthermore, I've gathered quite a bit of information while I was assigned to the stables. Tomorrow, the governor of Lelang City, Rakiri, will only be taking about ten guards with him when he goes hunting Lelang Deer in the forest. This is when the defenses are at their weakest, making it the perfect time for us to make our move."

"Alright, alright, Akame and Pony, stop arguing."

Cornelia smoothed things over and calmed the two down.

To be honest, she was quite resentful about having her mission objective stolen. She had originally planned to complete the mission perfectly and receive praise from the Yotsuba Clan.

But after learning the reason why Lady Yotsuba Clan intervened, she felt a warm feeling in her heart.

Yotsuba Clan- sama is indeed different from the others; she cares about them a lot.

Otherwise, isn't it perfectly normal for assassins to sell their bodies to obtain information?

However, Nahashu, as the captain, also agreed with this point.

So he didn't say anything today, he just sat there in silence.

Although he considered these girls to be insignificant and sometimes they would mess things up, asking them to sacrifice themselves for assassinations would make him even less than an insignificant person, wouldn't it?

However, to consider the feelings of the other girls, Mahiro still praised each of them for their actions.

Even Pony gave a slight compliment to the outstanding knife skills.

Even though it had nothing to do with the mission, Pony, that idiot, still happily scratched her head, her long orange ponytail swaying behind her.

"Alright, since you're all dissatisfied, that's fine. There are other tasks ahead."

It's like a main quest chain, with each link connected to the next, making it seem endless.

Mahiro couldn't help but silently complain to himself.

The other girls all looked up at him.

"We recently received intelligence that the northern barbarians and the Revolutionary Army have taken action. Because we have recently removed several spies, causing them significant damage, the enemy you will face next will be an unprecedented challenge for you."

"Oh... we've become someone else's target too?" Nahashu said slowly.

"Good comprehension, Nahashu."

Mahiro casually offered a word of praise, then continued, "Remember, we are the shadow of the Empire, and only the shadow can fight against the shadow. Therefore, the enemy we are facing this time is most likely a fellow enemy hired by the northern alien race."

On this continent, the Empire is not the only one with formal Assassination Department; there are also many mercenary assassination societies.

The most famous of these was the Oarburgh Assassination Group.

In the original story, Cornelia died at the hands of this society, so he would never repeat that mistake this time!

Chapter 144 Who is the Prey, and Who is the Hunter? (5.1K)

"Ugh... The next target is the Minister of the Imperial Assassination Corps? That's a fish big enough to choke us."

On the rugged mountain road, the speaker was a vibrant young girl with long orange hair, wearing a plaid skirt and a black blouse.

She was wearing headphones and chewing on a lollipop, looking rather nonchalant, and muttered to herself like this.

"Is the information reliable? Could it be a trap? Why would such an important figure be staying in the Imperial Capital, instead of running off to the distant border?"

"Stop nagging, Chelsea. This is a secret message from within the Revolutionary Army, absolutely reliable. Let's get going."

Under the moonlight, an elderly woman spoke in a frail voice, while standing beside her was a young girl whose appearance chilled one to the bone at first glance.

The girl wore a long robe and held a long sword in her hand. Her face was expressionless, showing neither joy nor sorrow, but Chelsea knew how terrifying this girl was.

A genius nurtured from childhood by his master, a bigwig in the assassin society, he is known as the strongest assassin among his peers!

"Okay, instructor."

Taking the lollipop out of her mouth, Chelsea lazily responded, ignoring the alluring silver thread still clinging to it, and no longer looking at her aloof senior sister, she followed the two of them.

What Chelsea didn't expect was that the journey along the mountain road would take several days!

The sky gradually turned a pale white, and the three of them walked from night into day, and then from day into night, repeating this cycle endlessly.

Chelsea, who had been full of energy, was now so exhausted that she couldn't even speak. She hung on the two of them like a puppy, panting with her tongue lolling out.

"I'm really... sorry, I can barely walk anymore, instructor."

"Is that so? Just bear with it."

The old woman, hunched over and looking like she might fall over, didn't even turn her head, coldly uttering those few words.

"Have you forgotten how far you walked today?" Chelsea complained grumbled.

"Don't treat me like an idiot. I remember you saying at dinner a week ago, 'It's because the drill instructor only eats hamburgers.'"

What a vengeful old woman...

Chelsea wore a disappointed expression, inwardly complaining.

"... Let me carry you on my back."

Following behind the old woman, the tall, aloof beauty, comparable to Cornelia, leaned over and carried Chelsea on her back.

Unlike Neria's blonde hair, her waist-length black hair was tied back in a ponytail, and her attire and clothes were somewhat similar to those of a Japan female ninja.

"Wow! Taeko, you're so great!" Chelsea cheered excitedly.

"Don't spoil her too much, Taeko."

Looking at her two disciples, the old woman couldn't help but scold them, "Back in the day, when I was a beautiful young woman..."

Chelsea, perched on Taeko's back, was speechless and muttered under her breath, "Well, the lecturing really did turn into bragging!"

If we don't change the subject quickly, who knows how long we'll keep talking like this!

Chelsea's eyes darted around, and she immediately spoke:

"I said! This mission is an assassination operation against the Imperial secret forces, right? Are you trying to lure them out?"

"As the rebels' source of funding, they've been engaging in cooperative trade with foreign tribes. By now, they should have received that fabricated intelligence."

The old woman, whose memories had been interrupted, was not angry. She simply smiled faintly and turned to look at her two disciples.

"I understand. Then we'll disguise ourselves as the merchants transporting goods during the transaction and intercept them..."

Chelsea said this, and then she saw something that caught her attention.

"Hmm... Instructor, look, it seems we've reached our destination."

Chelsea said, pointing to the ribbons hanging on the branches of a tree not far away.

If it were just the three of them, they naturally wouldn't be so arrogant as to confront the Empire's Assassination Department. The Revolutionary Army also didn't trust them, so they had already contacted a mercenary group. The mark they just saw was their contact information.

Following the direction indicated by the sign, they entered the jungle, where a group of strangely dressed mercenaries were already waiting for them.

"Hey... wanna team up with these little girls? Are they the elites of the assassin society?"

The scarred man at the head of the group looked at Taeko and Chelsea and smiled disdainfully.

"Or are they two girls who are elites in bed, skilled in special techniques? I'd really like to give them a try."