Power, is it?
Najenda's expression remained impassive, but the turmoil within was hers alone to know.
This meal hadn't been exactly pleasant. Less a dinner, more an interrogation and a sermon rolled into one.
Don't get the wrong idea. Eblana—or Amber, if you prefer—didn't consider herself qualified to interrogate Najenda.
Limited by perspective and worldview, who knows what she herself would have done in Najenda's shoes?
The real torture was coming from within Najenda herself.
In the late-night hotel room, Najenda lit a cigarette, her gaze profound as she looked down upon the streets and alleys below, a complex light in her eyes.
"Boss."
The black-haired, red-eyed girl pushed the door open. Looking at Najenda's back, she called out with a touch of that same complexity in her voice.
It was both a call to bring her back to the present and a signal that there were no prying eyes outside.
The call pulled Najenda from her thoughts.
Truth be told, she wasn't overly concerned about spies. Before coming here, even just as the conversation began, she had believed Eblana was likely a cold, calculating, ruthless, and cruel schemer.
The type who couldn't tolerate dissent and would brook no overstepping.
But after a full day of talking, she realized Eblana wasn't that person on the surface.
Though she was indeed ruthless, cruel, and cold, she also possessed a magnanimity that seemed completely at odds with all those traits.
Just as she had said, her pursuit of power wasn't for exploitation or personal luxury. It was simply that she possessed this strength, and she wouldn't allow it to lie idle.
Her goal wasn't conquest for its own sake, but the realization of her own self-worth—the self-worth of one who wielded such power.
Conquest, and everything after, were merely accessories born from that self-value.
In other words, her words were unadorned. Power itself was her reason to claim the throne.
Najenda had to admit, even she felt a flicker of awe before the sheer force of Eblana's self.
Eblana sought power but wasn't enamored by it. Her treatment of the people in her territory showed she wasn't needlessly harsh. She'd even spoken of the people's importance herself.
Following her… perhaps one could see a different world.
Once again, Najenda sank into deep thought.
"Boss…"
Seeing her like this, Akame, in a rare turn, took on the role of counselor. "Thinking about this morning?"
"Mhm."
Najenda nodded, then asked, "What do you think of Eblana?"
"Very dangerous."
The answer came without hesitation.
From the moment Eblana entered, she had been utterly focused, her gaze locked onto her. It wasn't intentional; every danger-sensitive cell in her body was screaming.
That overwhelming presence… she'd never met a second person in her life who commanded it like that.
"I'd be dead before Murasame even grazed her."
"I thought as much…"
Najenda wasn't surprised by the answer. Not because Akame was weak, but because the opponent was no ordinary foe.
"But… hearing her words, I felt something like I did back then."
Akame continued.
Back then?
Najenda was taken aback for a moment, but then immediately understood.
It was when they first met, when Akame, under the Empire's orders, had come to assassinate her. And her words now forced Najenda to confront the hesitation that had kept her from bowing to Eblana.
"Akame…"
Though her hand was crafted of machinery, Najenda felt the cigarette tremble slightly within her grasp. "Do you think… the new world Eblana speaks of… is it possible?"
"If it seems impossible, does that mean we shouldn't try?"
Akame's words made Najenda's eyes snap up. Seeing the girl's unchanged expression, Najenda couldn't help but let out a short laugh.
"To think the day would come when I'd be lectured by you."
Right. If it seems impossible, do we just not try?
"Everyone in Night Raid…"
"Everyone in Night Raid doesn't fight alongside the Revolutionary Army because they believe in it."
Akame's words held no twists or turns, simple and direct, yet they struck right at Najenda's core. "We fight because we believe in the path you believe in, Boss."
"…!"
Najenda's daze didn't last long. Soon, she placed the cigarette back between her lips, taking a deep, final drag as if bidding it farewell.
Then, her resolve firmed. "Tomorrow morning, let's go see that Lady Eblana again."
"Okay."
--+--
In a mansion adorned with gold, glittering with rare treasures, a man nearing seventy sat before a dining table, eating with a voracious appetite.
His body was corpulent, but a closer look revealed veins faintly visible beneath the skin, hinting that this bulk wasn't just fat.
"Esdeath, I didn't expect you to come see me so soon." Honest stuffed a large piece of meat into his mouth as he spoke. "Has Night Raid lost your interest already?"
Not long ago, Esdeath had annihilated the largest tribe among the northern foreigners.
Understanding the principle that 'wildfire cannot burn all, it rises again with the spring wind,' she hadn't pursued them to root and stem. Instead, she withdrew to the capital, waiting for their next resurgence.
After all, if she killed them all, there'd be no one left to kill. You don't harvest chives that way.
While waiting for all sides to muster their strength, Esdeath, to pass the time, had turned her attention to the assassination organization lurking over the heads of the capital's nobility: Night Raid.
An organization comprised entirely of Teigu users had reignited Esdeath's recently cooled blood.
She certainly enjoyed the feeling of mowing down enemies like grass on the battlefield, but she also relished the cat-and-mouse game of fully exercising—playing with—her prey before the kill.
Moreover, these prey were much stronger than your average mice, which only stoked her intense interest.
But…
That was before.
Now, she had a far more intriguing target.
"That dragon girl who inherited the Dragon Duke's Teigu and raised her banner in the east… I'm sure you've heard of her, Minister." Esdeath said with a smile.
"Ah, of course. The adopted daughter of that Chouri. The Three Beasts were dealt with by her as well." The Minister naturally remembered Eblana.
He'd even met her personally when she was a child, though that was irrelevant.
Though he knew Esdeath had already set her sights on the dragon girl, the Minister still used the Three Beasts to stir a little extra animosity.
Esdeath was undoubtedly a battle maniac, but matching that high fighting spirit was her indifference to everything outside of combat and cruelty. She cared not for gold, jewels, or power.
Yet, even she had things she valued: her subordinates.
If others' treasures were gold and jewels, then Esdeath's treasures were her followers. The deaths of the Three Beasts brought her no sorrow.
In Esdeath's eyes, where strength was everything, death merely proved weakness, and the weak being plundered by the strong was only natural.
But she wouldn't simply overlook it. This debt of blood would be repaid in kind, because she was the stronger one. Her property had been taken by another; naturally, she would go to collect.
"Since we are to go to war with her, why not let me lead the charge myself?" Esdeath volunteered.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.