"Sure, if we will have some spare time, I won't refuse a little spar." I replied with a small smile and while I was speaking with Esdeath, others finally arrived.
"Hm?" Esdeath immediately looked at my shirt with a red tie before looking at Gin wearing a black coat.
"She is naked underneath it, I just lend it to her." I said when I noticed her confused expression.
Why am I even explaining myself when she didn't even ask?
"Oh! I see..." She just nodded her head but it looked like she wanted to say more, however, she was hesitating.
"Akashi Nii-sama, what are we going to do now that mission is completed?" Kurome ran up next to me and asked me while glancing at Esdeath with a curious expression.
Esdeath saw her expression so she formed a smirk for some kind of reason. Kurome immediately narrowed her eyes while wrapping her arms around my own arm.
What is going on here?
"Ehm, now that I think about it, you two don't know each other yet, at least not personally. Kurome, this is Esdeath, general of the Empire and holder of the title the strongest within the Empire. Esdeath, this is Kurome, she is like my sister" I cleared my throat and introduced them.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you, Kurome." Esdeath said with a small competitive smile.
"Hello, likewise. But I disagree with that title." Kurome said with narrowed eyes.
"Oh? Why is that so?" Esdeath exclaimed and her smile only widened when she heard Kurome's words.
"Akashi Nii-sama should be the one holding that title." Kurome said with a confident expression while holding my hand and glaring at Esdeath without any fear. Kurome who was a leader together with Ichika of our organization within the Capital obviously knew very well what kind of person Esdeath is.
"Haha, maybe...who knows?" She wasn't offended at all and just laughed while asking and looking at me with a small smile.
I was slightly surprised how the entire conversation took a turn in a different direction than I intended.
...Kurome, you can sometimes be so childish.
I thought and brought my hand in front of her forehead and flicked her forehead with my finger.
"Ouch! Nii-sama?" She looked at me with a surprised expression while rubbing her forehead.
"No need to argue about who should hold which title. No to mention that I am not officially within the Empire's army so I can't hold such title, that title is only for those involved in the military. I am just a noble who knows nothing about fighting or wars" I said with a humble smile and closed eyes and I noticed that once I have said that, a lot of eyes landed on my back.
---
'How the fuck are you just a noble who knows nothing about fighting?!' Almost everyone shouted within their minds when they heard Akashi's innocent words.
They were also curious about Esdeath but Gozuki already told them not to cause any problems so they kept their distance.
---
"Just a noble, huh? You know nothing about combat, huh? I would really like to meet other nobles who can smile crazily during the fights as you during our last spar." Esdeath said with a teasing tone while looking at both of us with soft eyes.
"Well, either way, I still need to take over my family so the military is a big no for me, at least not in the future. If you truly want, I can try to apply and take away your title." I tilted my head to the side and said with a smirk across my face.
Esdeath responded to my provocation with a provocative smile but she didn't say anything and only released her cold aura around her. Kurome immediately started to shiver due to temperature drop but there was no danger, at most it was uncomfortable.
"Hmm" I released my own warm aura making it clash with the cold aura, slowly pushing it back.
"Oh?!" Esdeath opened her eyes wide when she noticed that her aura was getting suppressed.
"Did anything happen to your Teigu, Akashi? I can feel that it's a bit different than usual." Esdeath immediately asked me with furrowed brows.
"...Something like that. I will need to do some training outside where many Danger Beasts reside. My Teigu is feeling a bit restless as of lately." I said in low voice.
"?! Are you hearing voices in your head or something?" Esdeath asked me with a shocked expression since if I could be influenced by it, it would also mean that the Teigu got stronger out of nowhere or that my mind simply became weaker.
"...You can say it like that. Although I don't know what voices you used to hear or what they were telling you, I heard that usually, it is simply about destruction and slaughter. My Teigu is a bit different in this aspect, it's trying to help me instead of lead me astray, maybe it is due to my a perfect compatibility with it or maybe due to how long I have it.
"*sigh* I see, then that's fine. As for a good place with a strong and a lot of Danger Beasts, I can only recommend you Gappi Marsh. However, that place is really flooded with a strong Danger Beasts and even I wouldn't enter that place unless I have a clear reason to do so." Esdeath sighed in relief and then recommended one place to me.
Everyone heard her words and they immediately widened their eyes when they heard Gappi Marsh.
"Everyone, we should go back to the camp for now...What are you planning to do?" Gozuki said aloud before asking me with a curious expression.
Hmm...I can spend a few more nights with them, I still need to look at everything that was upgraded by my special class. Kurome would also like to spend more time with Akame.
"I will go back with you, what about you?" I replied to him before returning my gaze at Esdeath.
"Well, I am not in a hurry to return to the Capital, since you are here, we might as well catch up and tell each other what had happened." Esdeath said with a small smile before glancing at Kurome with a provocative smile.
"..." Kurome just narrowed her eyes when she was that smile.
"...Akashi?" Poney suddenly approached us, still with wet eyes due to Cornelia's disappearance.
"Poney!" Akame and others shouted at her with worried faces.
"Hm? What is it?" I stopped talking with Esdeath and turned at her. Esdeath herself frowned but she didn't say anything.
"*I just want to apologize for dragging you down. If it wasn't for me being with you...maybe everything would have ended differently*" Poney said in a low voice and with a guilty expression while looking downward.
"...There is no way for you to know that. Regretting something won't move you forward, look at your mistakes with raised head and face them head-on." I shook my head with closed eyes before replying to her.
"...Thank you!" Poney shouted and bowed to me while a few tears dropped on the ground.
Everyone except for her teammates looked at her with a confused expression.
"Let's just return to the camp..." I muttered and helped Poney to stand straight before looking at Kurome and Esdeath.
---
"What kind of relationship those two have?" Uncle Bill asked Gozuki with narrowed eyes when they finally returned to the camp, right now they were talking inside the commander tent.
"...Who knows? But watching their interactions, I doubt they have any intimate relationship, probably just friends. Considering their natures and their Teigus, one would assume that they would be rivals but it's still understandable." Gozuki shrugged his shoulders with an uninterested expression.
"Anyway, what do you plan on doing with that missing kid of yours? Cornelia was her name, am I right?" Uncle Bill asked with a composed expression.
"Cornelia...huh? I don't know, we can remain here for a few days to see if she is truly alive but I highly doubt it. We need to move on and this applies especially to those kids. I guess I will be able to at least see their true natures since they will be in their most vulnerable state." Gozuki muttered Cornelia's name while looking at the ceiling of the tent with dull eyes before replying without any change in his expression.
'...Cornelia might have been a useless child but it's still bitter not to be able to even see her corpse. At least she has been always obedient and did anything I asked her. I guess I will miss her presence a bit.' Gozuki thought behind his calm expression, one could only see a bit of sadness in his dull eyes.
"Well, it looks like I have caused you some damage by calling you out for this mission. The only unit that survived and has returned to the camp was a unit full of girls. They told me what had happened and apparently Akashi saved them but he still killed a few of them but I don't blame him, I would have done it in his stead after hearing the reason why he killed them." Uncle Bill said with a slightly guilty expression.
"?" Gozuki gestured him to continue.
"They were used as breeding cattle, heh" Bill actually chuckled after saying this.
"?! Won't this influence their performance as assassins?" Gozuki was slightly surprised by this but he immediately asked with narrowed eyes.
"Nah, they told me that Akashi took care of that problem already. Although I don't understand how he was able to do that without any drugs, after hearing their explanation, I simply threw it behind my head. Apparently he stuck his finger into them and they felt some kind of warmth inside them, most likely it was his Teigu but to have such control over it that he can dictate it who to injure and not..." Bill said with a thoughtful expression while holding his chin.
"Terrifying isn't it? A weird type of treatment but if it was able to take care of the problem, why not. Anyway, I will probably have one member down right now, not to mention that Gai has yet to fully recover..." Gozuki also said with the same thoughtful expression.
"Since I was the one who called you here, I will also compensate you. You can take 2 people from my strongest unit. Natala and Gin are the strongest ones in it." Bill said while handing Gozuki papers with information about those two.
"...They are fine, however, we have a different problem." Gozuki said while quickly looking over the papers.
"? What is it?" Bill asked with a confused and alerted expression.
"Akame told me that her enemy told her that we are the ones invading them without any provocation before he died. Which wouldn't be such a problem if Poney also didn't join in the discussion. She herself said that the boss said the same thing and Akashi replied with words: 'In this world, winning is everything. Winners are validated and losers are denied'. I managed to change their minds but it was only a temporary solution." Gozuki said with narrowed eyes.
"I see...Well, at least his mind is working the same way as us. The strong feast on weak, that's how it has always been. My members won't get any of those ideas since I brainwashed them and taught them that "Betraying the Empire is bad"." Bill muttered while looking down at his table before he raised his head and said with a small smile.
"This isn't about his beliefs but him saying it aloud only made it apparent that he wasn't denying that boss's words. Although Poney might not be clever enough to notice that detail but Tsukushi was also with her." Gozuki said with an irritated expression.
"Well, it's your problem so you need to keep a close eye on those 3 girls. You were the one who decided not to flood their bodies with drugs, solve it yourself." Bill just shook his head.
"I know that even without you reminding me." Gozuki replied before he turned around and left the tent.