Once the heavy wooden doors clicked shut behind them, a profound silence settled over the meeting room.
The remaining assassins slowly turned their gaze toward Akame, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife.
Mine finally broke the oppressive quiet, crossing her arms as she narrowed her eyes. "Akame... what on earth did you trade away to Haruto in exchange for saving my life?"
Akame remained completely silent, her expression an unreadable mask as she stared down at the floor.
Najenda furrowed her brow sharply, a dark, unsettling suspicion instantly taking root in her mind.
"Budo is dead, and the capital will be thrown into absolute chaos. Lubbock, Tatsumi—disguise yourselves and head out immediately to monitor the Empire's movements."
"Understood!" the two men replied in unison, swiftly turning and bolting out of the room to execute their orders.
Once they were gone, Najenda turned her piercing eye back toward the silent assassin.
"Can you tell us the truth now, Akame? What exact price did you pay?"
"Yes..." Akame whispered, her voice dropping to a somber hum as she finally looked up.
"For the initial trade—the one that secured Mine's rescue—I traded away Murasame."
"'Murasame?'"
Mine's eyes widened to the size of saucers, her breath catching in her throat.
Every single member of Night Raid knew the legendary reputation and vital importance of Akame's Imperial Arm.
Leone instantly threw her hands up, unable to contain her outrage and disbelief. "Are you out of your mind?! Isn't that way too steep of a price to pay?!"
Teigus were the absolute bedrock of their resistance against the corrupt Empire.
If Akame lost her cursed, one-hit-kill blade, Night Raid's overall combat power would plummet catastrophically.
"I'm... I'm so sorry..." Mine lowered her head in deep remorse, her hands clutching her chest as a wave of heavy guilt crashed over her.
She never could have imagined that Akame would sacrifice something so irreplaceable just to pull her out of the fire.
Yet, Najenda, ever analytical and sharp-eyed, narrowed her gaze as a crucial detail clicked in her mind.
"Wait. Your Murasame is still resting safely at your side right now. He didn't actually confiscate it."
Akame gave a small, steady nod. "He won't take it away. The nature of the trade is... a bit more complicated than a simple item exchange."
Hearing those reassuring words, both Leone and Mine visibly deflated, letting out heavy sighs of relief.
"Phew... You're going to give me heart palpitations, Akame," Leone muttered, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow.
However, Sheele—soft-spoken yet quietly perceptive—sensed that the underlying shoe had yet to drop.
She gently tilted her head, asking in her characteristic, placid tone, "If Murasame wasn't permanently taken, what about the second trade? The one for covering our retreat?"
Akame didn't flinch or hesitate.
Meeting their gazes with absolute candor, she replied plainly, "The payment for covering our retreat was... my body's usage rights for a duration of three hours."
"Body usage rights...?"
The phrase hung heavily in the air, instantly throwing the remaining members into utter bewilderment as their minds raced to interpret the ambiguous terms.
Leone's face twisted into an expression of profound confusion and disgust, her beastly instincts flaring up.
"Usage rights? What does that even mean? Is he treating you like some kind of living tool or puppet?!"
Sheele, however, blinked behind her glasses, a delicate blush creeping up her cheeks as a far more mature realization began to dawn on her.
"I... I don't think that's what he meant at all..."
Mine's face instantly went beet red, steam practically venting from her ears as she stammered defensively, pointing an accusing finger.
"A-Akame! Are you talking about that kind of body usage rights?!"
Akame simply tilted her head to the side, her expression remaining entirely serious and unaffected as she delivered the coup de grâce.
"Everyone else seems to think it's that kind of usage."
"Uh..."
The entire meeting room plunged into an awkward, suffocating silence.
Mine's brain felt like it was short-circuiting, her face burning hotter by the second, while even Leone—usually the boldest and most unfiltered of the group—squirmed uncomfortably in her seat.
She nervously scratched her cheek, forcing an awkward, dry laugh.
"Well... I honestly didn't expect a guy that overwhelmingly powerful to be into that sort of thing."
"Right?! A total, unashamed pervert!" Mine vehemently agreed, bobbing her head up and down as a turbulent mix of emotions warred inside her chest.
When Haruto had swooped in to rescue her, a foolish part of her had almost romanticized him as some kind of dashing, noble hero.
Now, the harsh reality set in—he was just a massive pervert demanding flesh as currency!
Yet Najenda, true to her pragmatic nature as a seasoned commander, slowly shook her head and offered a brutally logical perspective.
"If that's the only price, then frankly, it was a remarkably fair trade."
The rest of the assassins stared at her in stunned disbelief, but as the gravity of her words sank in, they realized she wasn't wrong.
Trading a few hours of intimacy for the absolute annihilation of General Budo—the Empire's greatest living pillar of strength—was an absolute steal that saved all of their lives.
Truthfully, given her position, if Najenda hadn't been physically worn down by the cybernetic toll of her prosthetics, she wouldn't have hesitated to strike the exact same bargain.
A few intense, breathless hours in a man's bed in exchange for the collapse of the entire corrupt Empire? It was a bargain of a lifetime.
However, Sheele, who knew Akame's famously sheltered and socially dense tendencies better than anyone, frowned with quiet concern.
She tilted her head, asking softly, "Akame... do you even actually know what goes on in a situation like that? Or what you're supposed to do?"
Akame blinked, her expression remaining entirely unbothered as she nodded with utter, deadpan confidence.
"I've read about it in survival manuals and seen it before. You basically just strip and lie down."
Though, she vaguely recalled that human coupling looked considerably more complicated, involving a lot more friction, sweating, and breathless groans.
Still, she figured Haruto was experienced enough to guide her through the process without too much trouble.
"Ah..."
The remaining members exchanged helpless, bewildered glances, instantly realizing that Akame was completely, agonizingly innocent regarding the raw mechanics of intimacy.
Sheele let out a long sigh, standing up and clapping her hands together with a firm resolve.
"Alright, that settles it. Akame, you're coming with me to the baths right now. I'm going to give you a very thorough, very explicit crash course before that monster comes back to collect."
Najenda offered no objections, silently watching them go.
This was one battlefield she certainly couldn't command; sheele was indisputably the best woman to break down the raw, sweaty realities of sex to the clueless assassin.
******
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