"Exactly. As their managers and commanders, you really shouldn't be this surprised."
"They're newcomers, so they probably just found out about all this."
"A word of advice—these policies were set by the bigwigs above. If you don't enforce them properly, you'll be the ones in trouble."
...
The researchers showed little to no concern for the children.
They only cared about following orders. Anyone with rebellious thoughts had already been dealt with, and those who remained were the obedient ones.
"...You—!"
Seryu was about to lose her temper, but Blayn raised a hand, stopping her.
"I can take these documents with me, right?" he asked the researchers.
"Of course. But if this leads to any trouble, the responsibility falls on you," one of them replied.
As for what Blayn and Seryu intended to do with the documents, the researchers didn't care. It wasn't their concern—Blayn and Seryu outranked them.
"No problem."
With that, Blayn took the most crucial documents and left.
He kept a firm grip on Seryu's arm, preventing her from doing anything reckless.
Once they stepped outside the lab, Blayn finally spoke. "The priority right now is finding a way to wake Kurome and the others up—to make them stop willingly accepting these drugs and the Empire's control. If we had lashed out at those researchers, we'd have lost our positions on the spot."
His current rank at least allowed him to stay close to Kurome and the others.
Forcibly separating them from the Empire's Assassination Unit wasn't an option either. The documents stated that the Enhanced Team had undergone countless brainwashing sessions.
The chances of successfully pulling them away were extremely slim.
Blayn still remembered what Kurome had told him—before Akame defected, she had tried persuading Kurome for a long time, but Kurome never agreed.
Even her own sister, the person she was closest to, couldn't convince her. That alone proved just how deeply the brainwashing ran.
There was no way Blayn could expect to break through it so easily.
"...Yes," Seryu murmured, lowering her head as she listened to her master's words.
"In short, taking direct action is the worst option. As infuriating as those researchers' words were, the real problem isn't them—it's the so-called higher-ups, or rather, the corrupt and decaying Empire itself," Blayn continued.
"The Empire..."
Seryu hesitated.
She had always believed that serving the Empire was absolute justice. Her parents had been Imperial soldiers, and she had inherited that belief from them.
But hearing her master describe the Empire as dark and corrupt... she instinctively wanted to argue.
Yet, she couldn't find a single reason to refute him.
Memories of past events resurfaced—the nobles who slaughtered foreigners for sport, Captain Ogre, and now this horrifying revelation.
Seryu had already come to see Kurome and the others as her comrades. And as someone who valued her comrades deeply, she couldn't accept the Empire's Assassination Unit treating them so cruelly.
"Could it be that... only the higher-ups in the Empire's Assassination Unit are corrupt, while the Empire itself is still... should still be..."
Seryu tried to convince Blayn to change his view of the Empire, but even she was struggling to convince herself. Her belief was shaken, and the conflict on her face was clear.
Blayn didn't rush her to accept the truth. Instead, he said calmly, "Take your time. It's okay. I'll be here to help you see the full picture of this Empire."
After all, even he hadn't fully grasped everything about it yet.
Seryu's heart was stirred. She nodded firmly. "Mm!"
"For now, let's have Kurome and the others go through this information first," Blayn said, his eyes glinting as he spoke.
...
Blayn and Seryu brought the documents they had retrieved from the lab to the Assassination Unit's usual rest area.
"There's something I want you all to see, though I'm sure you already know parts of it," Blayn said, placing the documents on the table.
Kurome was the first to pick them up, while the others gathered around to read.
They quickly went through the contents. Kurome's expression changed slightly, but she didn't have much of a reaction.
Some things were unexpected, while others were just confirmation of what they had already assumed.
For instance, the side effects of the drugs—they had been well aware of them.
They weren't oblivious. They had been brainwashed, not made stupid. They could clearly feel the toll the drugs took on their bodies.
What caught Kurome off guard, however, was the section on "brainwashing."
This was something none of them had ever known.
They had always believed they were simply undergoing routine "enhancements" and were unconscious during the process. They never realized those sessions were actually brainwashing procedures.
The documents were passed around, and soon, everyone had finished reading.
"Brainwashing? What exactly have we been brainwashed to believe?"
"No idea. Maybe just to make us more loyal to the Empire? Honestly, that seems unnecessary."
"Yeah. We would never betray the Empire anyway, so why go to such lengths?"
...
Blayn observed their reactions—it was just as he expected.
They had been brainwashed so thoroughly that they couldn't even recognize the effects of it.
He decided not to bring up the brainwashing for now. Even if he did, they wouldn't believe him—not after going through it countless times.
"What about the drugs? Do you have any thoughts on them?" Blayn asked.
"Not really. There's no other choice," Kelly replied with an indifferent smile. "Since we're not as strong as the elite squad, this is the only way for us to gain power."
"If it weren't for these drugs, we probably would've been 'disciplined' from the start. After all, if we can't serve the Empire properly, we have no value."
The others nodded in agreement. Their thoughts were the same—because they had all been conditioned to think that way.
Blayn wasn't surprised by their response.
He turned to Kurome. "What about you? Do you think the same way?"
"Yeah," Kurome replied without hesitation. "If we want to fight the rebels, we have to be willing to make sacrifices."
Seryu still found it hard to accept. Fighting the rebels was one thing, but the brainwashing, the drugs, the punishments—those were something else entirely.
Even if they were meant to fight the rebels, did they really have to go through all this cruelty?
"I see..."
Blayn let out a quiet sigh.
They had been brainwashed to this extent—there was no way he could change their minds with just words. He would have to take things slowly.
Kurome, however, didn't dwell on the documents for long. Instead, she turned her attention to Blayn, looking concerned.
"Commander, let me go for a walk with you later. It feels like you're worrying too much about us... you seem really burdened."
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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