Just Because I Took One More Look at You in the Crowd (5K)

As a fierce gust of wind swept in, the captain, who had just uttered that one word, hadn't even had time to turn around when he felt a sharp pain in his neck, and then his consciousness was swallowed up by endless darkness.

After the captain, who was leading the group, fell, Nahashu stood up from the deck.

He casually flicked the blood from his sword, his long trench coat billowing in the river breeze. He slowly turned to look at the six-lived girl on the boat and said coldly:

"Keep up with them, take them down."

Chapter 145 Just Because I Gave You One More Glance in the Crowd (5K)

Swish--

The cold, longsword flashed, and one after another fell, like the Grim Reaper's scythe reaping the Tengu Party on the deck.

"Shoot..."

The two Tengu Party members behind their leader had just reacted and were about to raise their guns to fire, but before they could even utter a word, a loud shout suddenly came from above.

"Haaah!"

The sturdy boots moved swiftly like the wind, heading straight for their faces!

That was Pony; his long, powerful legs whipped through the air like whips, and he kicked their heads off instantly.

The whole thing happened in an instant. By the time the Tengu Party members on the nearby ships had reacted, the people on the leader's ship were all dead.

"Attack! Attack! There are only a few of them, kill them!"

The Tengu Party scattered on the surrounding boats raised their guns and opened fire. In an instant, gunfire erupted, and a dense barrage of bullets formed a volley, attempting to tear the small boat apart.

"Don't even think about it!"

Cornelia, dressed as the Crusher King, leaped high from her ship and swung her fist at the enemy vessel.

Like a cannonball, it pierced through the enemy's deck with a single punch, smashing the keel of the wooden ship and breaking it in two.

The Tengu Party members who fell into the water encountered two women, Akame and Kurome, underwater.

Several flashes of sword light appeared underwater in the stillness, and in a moment, the floating limbs stained the river red.

However, when facing this kind of group combat, the strongest is still Tsukushi, who provides rear support. Prometheus is already capable of zigzagging shots, so even if he hides behind cover, it won't help.

After the modifications made to Mahiro, not only did multiple shots not affect the shooting accuracy, but multiple bullets could also be fired in one go.

This kind of operation would normally place a great burden on the user's mind, but for Tsukushi, who had undergone physical enhancement, it was something she could do with ease.

"I really miss those days..."

Mahiro at Tsukushi's posture, Mahiro couldn't help but recall Mayumi's nickname "Fairy Archer" from the Nine Schools Competition.

She's petite, just a bit busty, and has a bob haircut, quite different from Mayumi's loli-like figure and flowing long hair.

But it still manages to overlap with that magnificent figure.

Is it because I've been away from home for too long that I'm hallucinating...?

"No, we have absolutely no chance of winning on our own, but why didn't Barbara and those two women come to our aid!"

The mercenaries, their faces filled with terror, frantically jumped from the boat into the water in an attempt to escape.

The assassins in front of us may look like children, but their strength is terrifying!

Even the strongest commander died at their hands!

"Where do you think you're going, you piece of trash!"

Nahashu, wielding the Water Dragon Sword, was like a cold grim reaper, reaping lives. Just as the Tengu Party was about to jump into the river, he suddenly swung his longsword, creating a streak of sword light.

Before they even fell into the water, they were torn to pieces.

"It seems the Tengu Party is no match for them at all." Taeko frowned slightly as she looked at the firelight ahead.

"Heh, of course. Our target is the empire's high command, and they're our competitors, so it won't be that easy."

Barbara chuckled, completely unconcerned about the lives of the Tengu Party.

Rather, the deaths of these Tengu Party allowed her to glean many things, at least realizing that the other party was not simple.

"What do we do now? Should we go help?"

Taeko stood on the bow of the small boat, instinctively wanting to rush into the battle.

"Wait a minute!"

Snap!

A crisp sound.

Taeko Zi's actions earned her a hard slap on the buttocks from her master.

"?!"

Taeko rubbed her bottom and looked at her master with a puzzled expression, only to see Barbara already standing on the edge of the boat.

"There's no need for that... The Tengu Party is beyond saving. We're actually lucky to be at the back."

"Well...?"

Taeko turned around awkwardly, then fell silent upon seeing the corpse floating in the river and the water that had been stained deep red.

"Let's retreat before the enemy gets close! Abandon ship!"

Barbara said this and jumped straight into the water, seemingly unconcerned about the deaths of the Tengu Party.

"I understand..." Taeko replied softly.

Although unwilling, now is indeed not the time for battle, after all, the enemy and ourselves are not clear, and we lack a lot of intelligence.

The rest is up to you, Chelsea. This is your job.

Barbara surfaced, thinking this, then glanced back at the raging river surface before turning back and diving into the dark waters with Taeko.

The screams on the river gradually subsided, leaving only the wrecked boats, torn apart by gunfire and burning fiercely.

"Captain, everything should be cleaned up. There's not a single survivor," Pony said, glancing at the severed head in Nahashu's hand.

Nahashu glanced at the corpses floating on the river and nodded calmly.

"No, actually we spotted a small boat following the big ship a few hundred meters behind. But I saw it was empty, so I think they probably jumped overboard and escaped beforehand," Cornelia said, shaking her head.

"Huh? Could there be some that slipped through the net?" Tsukushi asked in surprise.

Their actions were swift enough, and with Akame and Kurome guarding the water, no one should have been able to escape, right?

"Hehe, it's normal for some to slip through the net. Don't you think this is just a probing attack?"

At that moment, Mahiro stepped out of the large ship and stared at the corpses on the river without changing his expression.

However, his statement surprised the women.

Does someone really exist who would use so many lives for a feint attack or a test?

"It exists."

Mahiro smiled slightly, then looked up at the night sky, or rather, gazed at a strange eagle circling above it.

Nahashu seemed to sense something as well, raising his head and looking in the same direction as Mahiro.

I saw that strangely behaving eagle.

Seemingly noticing that they were watching, the soaring eagle flapped its wings and flew away as if startled.

"What's wrong, Yotsuba Clan- sama?" Little Silver noticed that Mahiro and Nahashu seemed to be gazing at something on the horizon, but when she looked up, she couldn't see anything.

"Nothing much, I just saw a delicious-looking big bird. If we plucked all its feathers and roasted it, it would taste really good, right?"

"Eh, really?! Since Lady Yotsuba Clan wants to eat it, then let me do it!"

Tsukushi pulled out Prometheus and aimed it at the fleeing eagle in the sky.

As a sniper, although her long-range shooting skills are far inferior to those of Mine and her mentor Tina, she can still easily shoot birds.

However, Mahiro stopped her.

"Forget it, I'm in a good mood today. I'll spare her life and deal with it next time."

"All right..."

Although Tsukushi didn't understand what he meant, since he had already said it, she chose to put away her pistol.

However, the eagle that Yotsuba Mahiro spared his life landed in a secluded house a few kilometers outside the town.

Inside the house were two women, one old and one young, their clothes dripping wet.

Especially the young girl, because she was wearing a kimono, the wet fabric of which clung thinly to her flesh-colored skin, almost completely highlighting her graceful figure, making her a combination of beauty and sexiness.

"Luckily, we hid behind the Tengu Party and managed to jump ship and dive away in time. But it feels like we really let the Tengu Party down; they weren't entirely useless, were they?"

Old woman Barbara softly uttered her thoughts.

"Who exactly is this person...?"

As Taeko wrung out the moisture from her clothes, she was also deep in thought.

Their target was indeed the Minister of the Imperial Assassination Corps, but the commotion just now was clearly not something one person could have caused; it seemed that many powerful individuals were hiding, but due to the cover of night, they couldn't see them clearly at all.

"If someone can easily wipe out the Tengu Party, they're very likely at the level of the Four Rakshasa Demons..."

After muttering a few words to herself, Barbara turned her gaze to the eagle and asked, "How's it going, Chelsea? Did you see what the enemy looked like? If you dare say you didn't, I'll turn you into roast chicken!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the eagle burst out of a cloud of smoke and transformed into an adorable girl with headphones.

"Huff... It's really tiring to turn into a little bird, but thankfully I... I saw it!" Chelsea immediately collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.

"Hmm, as expected of my disciple Barbara, you did very well. Get some rest, I'll draw their likenesses later," Barbara said approvingly.

It must be said that Chelsea's memory and eyesight are truly remarkable; she only glanced at two of them from the sky a few times before memorizing their appearances.

Then, he transformed into the appearance of those two people in front of Barbara.

"It turns out one of them is younger than me, and the other one looks quite young too..."

Taeko looked at the recorded portrait and said in surprise.

The portraits of the two are of Nahashu, the team leader, and Yotsuba Mahiro, who leads the team.

But what surprised Taeko the most was Yotsuba Mahiro's appearance. He was young and handsome, like a nobleman, and had nothing to do with an assassin. From the portrait, he looked just like Chelsea, harmless!

"Yes, that's right. These two men are putting a lot of pressure on me, especially this seemingly harmless guy! He's making me afraid to linger any longer! Even if I keep using Gaia Foundation, I don't have the confidence to continue the investigation."

Chelsea pointed to the portrait of Yotsuba Mahiro and said with some annoyance.

Recalling that moment, even though the other person had a charming, smiling face, the gaze in that smile seemed to strip her bare.

It was as if no secret could be hidden from the other person.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she even thought for a moment that she had been exposed!

Who on earth is this guy?!

"Good luck. It seems this young man is our target, the minister of the Imperial Assassination Corps."

Barbara looked at the portrait Chelsea was pointing to and made a startling remark.

Both the somewhat boisterous Chelsea and the most composed Taeko were shocked by Barbara's words.

"Huh?! Are you blind and mistaken? This young man is the head of the Assassination Department?!"

Although Chelsea's question was quite impolite, Taeko agreed with it this time.

"Instructor, are you sure you're not mistaken?"

"Hehe, of course I'm not mistaken. The Revolutionary Army didn't send us an accurate portrait, only that our target is a young man around eighteen or nineteen years old. Besides this person, is there a second person on that ship who matches the target?"

"You know, ever since I was young and beautiful, my intuition has never been wrong..."

Ugh, here we go again...

However, there is some truth to what she said.

The problem is, how could the Assassination Department be so young?

In Chelsea's mind, shouldn't the Assassination Department be a menacing-looking guy who looked like he was not to be trifled with?

Or perhaps it's those disgusting, bloated aristocrats.