Chapter 37: The Royal Treatment; A Captive Living Like a King
Early the next morning.
"Young man, are you up yet?!"
While Kobayashi was sound asleep, Leone burst through the door and shouted at him, "Get up! I'm the one giving you a tour of the base today! This task was originally given to Akame, but to get a little closer to you, I took the initiative to take it over!"
Her boisterous personality might be some people's cup of tea, but it was definitely not within Kobayashi's strike zone.
He groggily sat up from his tender embrace.
Seeing this, Leone said with some disappointment, "What's this? I see you're already enjoying yourself."
"Enjoying what?" Kobayashi asked, confused.
"This!" Leone grabbed his head and pulled it into her chest. "How does it feel?"
"Mmphh mmmphh mmphh!"
It was hard to hear what he was saying, but the thumbs-up he gave clearly indicated that it was great.
"Want to join Night Raid? I'll give you fan service like this every day, you know?"
"I refuse! If I'm bought over this easily, I'd be cheapening myself too much!"
Faced with temptation, he decisively refused.
Leone clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Tch, so you won't agree so easily, huh?"
"Of course not!"
RyuZU's eyes held a dangerous glint as she looked at Leone. Just a moment ago, she had been the one getting close to Kobayashi, and in the blink of an eye, he had been snatched away. It was impossible for her not to be angry.
The perceptive Leone blinked and said, "Young man, she seems to have a lot of hostility towards me."
"Well, about that..."
Kobayashi was at a loss for what to do.
RyuZU, however, did not hold back her sharp tongue. "Miss, what are you trying to do by deliberately getting so close? Are you not aware that you are already causing trouble for Master Kobayashi? Or is it that you wish to lighten your burden? If you require it, I can use a painless technique to help you remove them, and I will guarantee that they will not grow back. How does that sound?"
Woah—
"Is this her personality?"
Leone had never met such a sharp-tongued person... no, a Teigu. Why did the Emperor a thousand years ago create such a venomous Teigu? Could it be that the old man, who was long since buried, had some kind of special hobby?
Leone couldn't help but question the founding Emperor's taste.
Seeing the situation was getting bad, Kobayashi quickly said, "Weren't you going to show me around the base? Let's go."
The three of them walked out of the room.
"This is the main hall. We were here yesterday."
Leone led Kobayashi back to yesterday's hall and saw Sheele sitting at the round table.
"Good morning, Sheele."
"Good morning, Leone."
Sheele put down the subtly-themed book in her hand, "100 Ways to Cure Being an Airhead," and looked up to greet Leone.
"I say, Sheele, the young man still won't budge. Can you help me persuade him?"
Leone began to phone a friend.
Sheele was a little surprised. "Huh? He still doesn't want to join?"
"Yeah, and to think Tatsumi was captured right away."
"Hmm..."
Sheele thought for a moment and said, "If you don't become our companion, you'll be killed sooner or later, you know."
"Alright, that just makes me want to resist even more."
Kobayashi immediately ruled her out.
But Sheele was right. If they saw no hope of successfully recruiting him, the worst-case scenario was that he would be killed.
At this moment, another girl appeared.
"Leone, what are you doing here?"
"Ah, it's Mine. Good morning."
Leone also said to her, "Mine, you come and help me persuade him too."
"Persuade him of what? If he's not willing, then forget it. Let's just kill him."
Mine was full of malice towards Kobayashi, seemingly still holding a grudge about being tricked yesterday.
Kobayashi also said sarcastically, "Working with people of low intelligence will also lower one's own intelligence, so I'd rather not."
He wasn't just talking nonsense; he had personally tested this. After spending a long time with Aqua and the others, his IQ really did get lowered!
Mine was instantly furious, gnashing her teeth. "What did you say?! Are you asking to be blasted?!"
"Don't be rash, Mine! Don't be rash!"
Leone held back Mine, who wanted to start a fight, and turned to Kobayashi. "Young man, let's go check out some other places!"
Having prevented a bloodbath, Leone took him to the training grounds.
In the field, two people were in the middle of a fierce battle.
"This is the training ground. The sweaty man in there is named Bulat, and the one training with him is Tatsumi. He's a rookie, just like you."
Leone shouted to the people in the training ground, "Hey, Bulat, Tatsumi, come meet the new guy!"
The two of them had just finished their morning training.
Bulat walked over, extended his hand to Kobayashi, and introduced himself. "Hello, young man. I was the one in armor last night. My name is Bulat. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Kobayashi hesitated for a moment before extending his own right hand, but he still couldn't resist a sharp-tongued remark. "Although I don't mind shaking hands with a man, could you please wipe that strange smile off your face?"
"Ahaha, don't say that."
Bulat grasped his hand tightly, and with a smile identical to a certain infamous manga character, said, "Let's get along well, shall we?"
"No, we will absolutely not get along."
Kobayashi refused flatly.
"Don't say such scary things!" Leone couldn't help but retort. "Young man, you're really not right in the head sometimes."
The other person also chimed in, saying to Kobayashi, "Hello, my name is Tatsumi."
"Hello."
Kobayashi shook his hand. For some reason, both of them had the illusion that they might be the only two normal people in the base!
Next, they came to an open-air bath.
"This is the bathing area," Leone said, pointing at a green-haired young man hiding in a tree with a pair of binoculars. "And the one peeping over there is named Lubbock."
"What? A peeper?! Someone is peeping here? I'm the security guarantee of this base! No one can peep on my watch!" Lubbock feigned vigilance from the tree.
"You've already been exposed, Lubbock."
With that, Leone mercilessly twisted his arm, causing him pain without injuring him.
"Awoooooo—!!!"
Lubbock's miserable scream echoed through the sky.
Finally, the two of them came to a riverside.
"This is the main source of food for the base, and the one roasting meat over there is Akame."
"Leone?"
Hearing the voice, Akame turned her head and simultaneously tossed two pieces of meat over.
Kobayashi asked curiously, "What's this?"
"Food. Since you've joined Night Raid, you have the right to a share of the food," Akame explained coolly.
"No, no, no, I haven't agreed to join yet."
"A cleaner is also a companion."
It seemed Akame had her own set of standards.
"I won't be polite then!" Leone said, taking a large bite of meat.
Kobayashi thought for a moment and also took a large bite.
...Wait a minute!
What is this strong sense of déjà vu? I feel like I've seen this exact introduction process somewhere before!
"How about it, young man?"
"What?"
"After meeting all these reliable companions, don't you have a strong desire to join Night Raid?"
"Not at all!"
After meeting all the members of Night Raid, Kobayashi's refusal became even more resolute.
When Najenda found out that Leone had acted on her own, snatched the task from Akame, and messed it up, her miserable screams could be heard throughout the base all night.
After that, Kobayashi began his life as a cleaner.
Although he was a cleaner, he and RyuZU could actually finish cleaning all the rooms, including the main hall, very quickly. The afternoons were his personal time. Even though he couldn't go outside, he could walk around the base as he pleased, living a leisurely life of working when there was work and roaming around when there was none.
On top of that, to win him over, the members of Night Raid would give him small perks from time to time, which made him secretly quite pleased.
Who said that being a captive in a gilded cage was a bad thing?
People checked on his well-being, sent him clothes, fed him, and even gave him benefits from time to time.
Was this the royal treatment?
This was too awesome!
(End of chapter)