Chapter 85: The Aloof Warrior
The Royal Dungeon
Syura's head was separated from his body. He lay in a pool of blood, dead in a miserable state.
The surrounding guards were stunned.
They could pretend they hadn't heard what he had said, but they couldn't pretend they hadn't seen his death. After all, the nature of the two was completely different.
"Young... Young Master Syura is dead."
"Quick, get him!"
"Hurry, don't let him escape, or the Minister will kill us!"
Out of fear, the guards in the dungeon raised their weapons and swarmed forward, preparing to arrest Kobayashi on the spot.
However, he let out a great shout.
"—Stand down!"
The voice was deafening, making the guards subconsciously stop in their tracks.
Seeing this, Kobayashi said loudly, "You all heard what he said just now, didn't you! And I am a subordinate of General Esdeath! To be arrested, I need an order from General Esdeath! Not even the Prime Minister will do!"
The current situation was grim. Syura had dared to say he wanted to be Emperor. If one had the mind to, they could completely slander him and force General Budou to act. And if the Minister wanted to save his own skin, he would have to win Esdeath over. Compared to that, a scumbag son was nothing. He would be more than happy to sacrifice Syura in exchange for Esdeath's protection.
Knowing what was at stake was the source of Kobayashi's confidence.
"Th-this..."
The guards didn't know what to do.
Seeing that his intimidation was working, he continued, "It doesn't matter if you report this to the Minister. But if you dare to stand in my way, be careful that your own heads don't fall to the ground!"
His words were full of threat.
Syura's death was right before their eyes. The guards were naturally not brainless enough to rush forward. One of them just quietly slipped away to report the matter to the Minister.
When it comes to brains, even a common soldier is smarter than you, Syura.
Just as he had said, Kobayashi didn't stop them, but instead continued, "You few, take me to see the other prisoner."
"Yes! Please follow us!"
The guards led the way, taking him to a cell.
At this moment, Lubbock was hanging miserably on a cross, his upper body bare and covered in bruises and whip marks, his black pants stained with crimson blood.
"Yo, my aloof warrior."
Kobayashi walked in and greeted him with a smile. It was just that the title wasn't very nice.
Lubbock opened his hazy eyes and weakly retorted, "Who's an aloof warrior!"
"You, of course."
Kobayashi's gaze moved downwards, landing on his blood-stained pants.
He knew. To force Lubbock to reveal Night Raid's intelligence, Syura had resorted to torture, taking one of his testicles.
"Say whatever you want."
The melancholy of the balls lingered in Lubbock's heart. He knew he was at a disadvantage. No matter how much he argued or explained, it couldn't change the fact that an important part of him had been taken. There was no point in continuing to argue.
"Kobayashi, hurry up and get me down."
"You seem quite certain that I'm here to save you."
"Aren't you?"
"What if I said I wasn't?"
"..."
"I'm in control of the whole situation now. There's no need to keep you guys around anymore."
Kobayashi slowly walked up to him, a dangerous look in his eyes, his right hand forming a claw and gradually reaching for his neck.
Lubbock watched him quietly, with no expression on his face.
"—Just kidding."
Kobayashi's right hand changed direction and slapped Lubbock's thin shoulder hard. He said with a wicked smile, "How about it? Were you so scared you wet your pants?... Oh, wait, maybe it was something else?"
"Honestly, don't scare me like that."
Lubbock's poker face instantly vanished, and fearful tears streamed down his face on the spot. Seriously, he had almost been scared enough to wet his pants just now.
"Alright, time is tight. Hurry up and let me down."
"Don't be in such a hurry. Let me check your injuries first."
Kobayashi grabbed the waistband of his pants, wanting to pull them down.
Lubbock was furious and scolded, "Stop playing around at a time like this, will you!"
"I told you not to get angry," Kobayashi said, pulling down his pants. "Your balls are injured. It will definitely be inconvenient to walk. If we don't heal it, it'll be hard to get out of here. Here, let me see!"
"...Tsk."
Because what he said was the truth, he was powerless to argue.
But no matter what... could you please not say such strange things!
After seeing it, Kobayashi was shocked and said seriously, "This is bad!"
"Wh-what's wrong?"
Lubbock's heart leaped into his throat. He thought he was a lost cause.
Who knew that Kobayashi would instead ask him, "For a moment, I didn't know whether to call you the Aloof Warrior or Santa Claus... why don't you pick one?"
"Screw you!"
A rush of blood went to Lubbock's head, and he couldn't even feel the pain from below anymore.
Huh?
Looking down and seeing that everything had been restored to its original state, and that his missing testicle had reappeared, Lubbock's pupils began to quake.
"Don't be so surprised. I just used magic to heal you."
"Magic...?!"
In a plain tone, Kobayashi had said a strange word. Lubbock couldn't understand it at all.
What is this guy talking about? Magic... at the end of the day, what even is magic?
"Magic is something from another world. It's normal that you don't know about it, Lubbock."
"...Eh?"
Lubbock was even more dizzy now. The unknown variable made it completely impossible for his brain to think.
"Alright, alright, let's go."
Kobayashi took out the Teigu [Shambhala].
Seeing the Teigu that had caused him to carelessly fall into the enemy's encirclement, Lubbock pointed at it and stammered, "Th-that's...?!"
"Ah, Syura's Teigu. I took it from him. By the way, I killed Syura."
"Huh... HUH?!!!"
My ears hurt.
Kobayashi rubbed his ringing eardrums. Was Lubbock always this jumpy?
Without saying any more, he placed a hand on his shoulder.
"—Teleport!"
A purple light array flashed, and their figures vanished from the royal palace.
"We have to go save them!"
Mine slammed the table and stood up. She was very worried about Tatsumi's safety, worried every single second. After all, she was in love with him, and the two had only just officially started dating.
"So, no matter how you try to stop me, I'm going to rescue him!"
Mine said with determination.
From the main seat, Najenda waved her hand, signaling for her to be patient.
"We didn't say we were going to stop you, Mine," Akame said from the side. "We're also very worried about Tatsumi and Lubbock's safety, so we've decided to go with you."
"Really?!" Mine's face lit up with joy.
"Really," Najenda said with a smile. "You're worried about Tatsumi, and I'm worried about Lubbock. We feel the same way, so I can understand."
When Mine had confessed to Tatsumi, the influenced Lubbock had finally mustered the courage to confess to Najenda. It was just that, unlike Tatsumi, who had accepted, Najenda, with her heart set on the revolution, had not responded, only stating that she would consider his request after the revolution was over. But even just that had made him overjoyed.
"I didn't expect Najenda to care about you so much. Are you moved?"
"Ah, I'm so... I'm so moved!"
A faint sobbing sound could be heard.
Seriously, don't start crying.
A back-and-forth conversation inserted itself into the Night Raid members' discussion. To their surprised and shocked eyes, two people walked in from outside.
—Lubbock and Kobayashi.
"Yo, I've come to visit."
Kobayashi waved at them.
(End of Chapter)