I have to say, the scene at this moment was a bit 'comical'.
A cat wearing only the upper half of its armor and a chef's hat was holding a strange 'flute' in its hands and hopping around, while next to it was a poisoned emperor. It gave people a sense of postmodern absurdity.
If it were in normal times, if someone dared to do such a thing next to his respected emperor, Budo would definitely smash the other party's head with a punch. But at this time, he was looking at the physician half-squatting next to the emperor with slightly trembling lips. At this time, the gray-haired physician was looking at the hopping Tiger with a surprised expression.
"Can it be cured?!"
"This... I'm not sure..."
Budo eyes widened when he heard the physician's words, and the physician also seemed to know that Budo situation was not right at this time. Under the threat of death, he didn't stutter anymore.
"Although The Emperor's symptoms have not improved, they have at least not worsened, so it should be useful."
Budo was also relieved to hear that the symptoms had been relieved.
The man, who was like an iron tower, shook as if his bones had been removed, but then he held on to the car door and stood up straight again.
Although The Emperor's situation had been relieved, he was not cured yet, so it was too early to be happy.
When the emperor opened his eyes, his expression was a bit confused. For a moment, he didn't even react to what had happened, but at this moment, he saw an orange cat sitting on the chair of his carriage, wearing a chef's hat and panting?
"Your Majesty!!"
At this moment, Budo familiar voice came from outside the carriage. The emperor, who stood up with the help of the physician, looked at the majority of the Imperial Guard members kneeling outside the carriage and the somewhat pitted ground. He finally remembered something, especially Lancer, who was wearing a cloak and being pointed at by a group of people with spears.
"Have that assassin arrested!"
Although his voice was still weak when he spoke, at least from his angry expression, it could be seen that the other party was now conscious.
"Your Majesty! The situation regarding Lancer... is a bit special..."
"?!!"
The emperor's eyes widened and he looked at Budo incredulously, as if he was surprised that he would object to his opinion, and Lancer was the one who had 'assassinated' him earlier!
But Budo simply explained his guess and the role that Lancer and his 'companion' played in the treatment just now.
Suddenly, the emperor, who was previously fuming with anger, calmed down again.
"First, have him escorted away."
Although his words were similar to before, compared to the angry tone, he seemed more listless at this time. As he waved his right hand, Lancer and his team were also escorted away by the others.
There was no doubt that the emperor at this time had realized that the Lancer in front of him was not the 'assassin', but as the emperor of the empire and the highest leader of the country, it was impossible for him to 'admit his mistake', so he simply chose to handle it coldly. No matter what, they would talk about it after they reached the next territory.
The main force, which had stayed in the same place for nearly six hours, set off again, and another team was dispatched from the Imperial Guards to scout ahead. As for the original team members, including Lancer, they were under surveillance, but judging from the reactions of the others around them, there was at least no problem for the time being.
Lancer, who was being held in a separate carriage, was actually not worried. After all, although he was being held, even his Imperial Arms was not taken away, which clearly meant it was just a show, and he should be released after the matter was cleared up.
But Lancer, leaning against the carriage, was thinking about one thing——————————Who did it?
His first target of suspicion was naturally Honest.
Although there was no evidence, Lancer intuition told him it was the other party!
But the problem was, how could he prove it?
The bandit groups were all hired, and they didn't even know who they were working for. As for the Imperial Arms users and Imperial Arms users, they were all fanatics who had already committed suicide before being captured, so now there were living people who knew nothing, and those who knew had all turned into corpses.
During this time, Budo also came to him to ask about the characteristics of the 'assassin', but Lancer couldn't say anything. Instead, he learned from the other party's words that the Imperial Arms used by the enemy. One of them should be 'Dimensional Square [Shangri-La]', the other should be some kind of 'biological Imperial Arms', and there was also a 'summoning-type Imperial Arms'.
"We've arrived."
And just as Lancer was leaning against the carriage with a blade of grass in his mouth and staring blankly outside the curtain, the carriage suddenly stopped. Then, a 'colleague' from the Imperial Guards knocked on the iron bars to remind Lancer that they had arrived at their destination.
The destination was actually a governor's mansion. Although the poison had been cured before, and thanks to Tiger's help, there were no after-effects, the physical weakness was unavoidable, so they simply sped up and went directly to the nearest governor's house.
But when the iron gate was opened, he saw the main force escorting the emperor into the lord's mansion in an orderly manner. At the same time, Budo also gestured for Lancer to come over.
Lancer, who was summoned by the other party, had a bewildered expression. He had been given the cold shoulder for almost a day. Had they finally decided on a solution for him?
What was the solution?
It was very simple. Summon 'Tiger' every day to accompany the emperor for a while.
That's right, that's it!
When Lancer heard Budo say he wanted 'Tiger', he was stunned. But maybe he felt a bit embarrassed about doing so, Budo explained further.
It turned out that the emperor didn't want to 'take' Tiger. After all, according to the physician, Tiger's role was not as big as he had imagined. The emperor wanted to 'reward' Tiger more.
The final result was that The Emperor had a subtle tendency to become a 'cat lover', and when Tiger came back to act cute towards him after dinner, he found that Tiger had gained at least several pounds.
As for his own problem, which he was most concerned about...
"You have rendered meritorious service in protecting The Emperor, so what kind of solution is there for you? It was just to confirm your identity before."
He didn't know if it was because of the struggle he had with Lancer to get the cat before, but his tone was much heavier when he said those words.
Of course, these words were just to brush off Lancer. The real reason was that the Imperial Guards had found the body of 'Lancer' outside their station, and with the body was a destroyed Imperial Arm. Although he didn't know what the function of that Imperial Arm was, he could be sure that it was with this thing that Budo first attack was resisted. But why did he die later?
Was it due to a flaw in the Imperial Arm or was it to protect the Imperial Arms user who could teleport?
He didn't know, and the next step was the key to the investigation!