Najenda did not dare to be careless and quickly replied:
"Please don't get me wrong; we have no ill intentions. We are here just out of concern and want to ask the City Lord what he thinks of our world."
Although she did not know the specific strength of the Dimension City, from the perspective of the elf girls in the Guards, the Dimension City was definitely capable of crushing the world they lived in.
And this was just Takumi's Guards!
It was not the full strength of the Dimension City!
This did not even include high-level officials like Takumi!
Who knew if there were even more powerful people above them!
In addition, because she did not know Takumi's character and intentions, Najenda could not hide it. She stated her purpose directly to avoid misunderstanding if she spoke too late.
Takumi was not surprised by her answer. After all, Najenda was once a general. It was normal for her to discover potential threats to the city. If she could not find them, there would be something wrong with her crisis awareness.
Obviously, in the original work, her IQ was high throughout the whole process, allowing her to lead the Night Raid organization to carry out sabotage work behind enemy lines. Najenda would naturally not be such an incompetent person.
But...
"My point of view?" Takumi's smile remained the same, but his tone became less polite: "Are you teaching me how to do things?"
He had been around for a long time. If he still did not know what to say and what not to say, then everything would be in vain.
If Najenda had said she wanted to know about the Dimension City, then there would be no problem showing them around. Anyway, the protection mechanism of the Dimension Gate made the Dimension City special. As long as it did not involve confidential matters, Takumi did not mind letting outsiders visit, if only to show off his strength.
But to test what his thoughts were?
She was overthinking it!
Not to mention that he did not have any strong opinions on the Akame ga Kill! world now. Even if he did, it would be confidential content. Was that something he would just tell her because she asked?
And... could one even ask a question like that?!
Logically speaking, Takumi should not have responded so unceremoniously; at least he could have been ambiguous. But Takumi did not bother to be polite with Najenda. People with a politician's mindset often talked nonsense. For people like that, words were often useless.
They only believed in their own judgment, not what you told them. Often, you might not have a certain intention, but they would use their own imagination to misunderstand things the way they wanted.
In this case, it was better not to say anything at all to avoid being misunderstood and causing unnecessary trouble. Therefore, Takumi's direct response served as a refusal to answer.
Najenda also did not expect that Takumi would suddenly act so unconventionally, and she was sweating profusely for a while. Akame and the others were so tense they did not dare to breathe, thinking that Takumi might change his attitude in an instant.
Well, everyone except Sheele. This girl was still in a daze and had no idea what was going on.
"No, please don't get me wrong," Najenda waved her hands anxiously and explained:
"We are just worried about our own safety, so we want to know what policy the Dimension City has adopted in the past toward the worlds it has connected with."
"We want to be mentally prepared, and there is no other meaning."
These words were more calculated. Although they were still tentative, they were not as straightforward as before. Instead, she took a different approach, saying she wanted to know the situation in other worlds as a reference.
This avoided sensitive questions and fell within the scope of normal inquiry. After all, you cannot deny guests a chance to understand the situation, right? This should be considered a normal introduction.
Since you are from another Dimension City, shouldn't the situation in other worlds be the most important introduction? Even if you hid some things, you would usually talk about the good things, right? Although in this case, it could not be used as a perfect reference.
But by comparing their own world with these friendly worlds, they could roughly guess what the Dimension City's attitude toward their own world would be in the future. Even if it was not accurate, if the comparison result was good, it could at least provide some psychological comfort.
"If you wanted to ask this, you should have said it earlier. Why did you say it in such a misleading way?"
Takumi laughed at this, pretending not to know that the previous question was her real intention.
"Sorry, it was my mistake. I said the wrong thing, and I'm deeply sorry for that."
Najenda could not help but feel relieved when she saw this. She quickly cooperated and took the blame on herself. At the same time, she skipped over the previous unpleasantness.
"If you want to know this, I have nothing to hide. After all, it's not a secret."
Takumi did not pursue it, dismissing it as a misunderstanding and letting it pass. Immediately, he began to introduce the various worlds currently connected to the Dimension City to Najenda and the other girls, as well as the role of the Dimension City's activities in those worlds.
For example, the Hestia Familia established a subsidiary organization in the world of Earth. Another example was the Apocalypse World salvation operation that ended not long ago. As for the earlier search operation, it was framed as a reward given by the people in the Apocalypse World.
As for other worlds, it was said that their development value was not high, and there was no action taken for the time being. This information was not a secret in the Dimension City. Any visitor could find this out, so it did not matter to say it now.
Najenda and the others could not help but feel stunned after listening. Although after Najenda's threat theory and the pressure from the elf girls, they knew that the Dimension City was not simple, they never expected it to be this powerful.
In a different world, Takumi directly attracted a goddess. In a world where gods were everywhere, he established a subordinate force, stirring up events in that world.
And the world of Apocalypse was even more outrageous! In the rescue operation, billions of zombies were cleaned up within a few days! You must know that it was unknown whether their own world's population even reached hundreds of millions. The maximum scale of their wars was only a few hundred thousand on each side.
There was no comparison between their world and the Dimension City. The two were not on the same level at all. This huge gap made their scalps numb.
Now that she thought about it, Najenda's original threat theory was simply necessary! If the Dimension City had even the slightest bad intention toward their world, how could they possibly block it? If it got to that point, there would be no way to resist! They would just have to wait for death!
Fortunately, they came with a friendly attitude. If someone else had been responsible, it might have led to destructive consequences.
Just when they were secretly rejoicing, Takumi finished the introduction and said with a smile:
"Okay, I've answered your questions. Now it's my turn to ask, right?"
Najenda came back to her senses in an instant and quickly said with a smile: "Okay, please ask, Your Excellency, City Lord."
Although she had some doubts about the absolute authenticity of what Takumi said, this did not prevent Najenda from changing her attitude. After all, as far as she could see now, the strength of the Dimension City far exceeded any force in their world.
Facing a Dimension City with such strength, Najenda naturally knew that she could only make friends, not enemies. All I can say is that the external practices of various forces in the world actually lead to the same goal. The more allies, the better; the fewer enemies, the better.
After that, Takumi asked Najenda some questions. Most of them were formal background checks. For example, the origins of these people, which organizations they belonged to, which forces they were part of in their world, and the current situation.
Najenda did not choose to hide anything and answered them truthfully. The reason for this was mainly to show goodwill and sincerity. She wanted to express to Takumi that they hoped to establish peaceful exchanges.
Furthermore, they were afraid that Takumi would investigate later and find out they were talking nonsense, thus affecting future exchanges. Rather than doing that, it was better to try to make a good impression on Takumi now. Anyway, it was relatively unimportant information, basically things you could learn just by asking around in their world.
"So, are you representing yourselves now? Or is it the forces behind you?"
Here it comes!
Upon hearing Takumi's question, Najenda immediately cheered up and answered quickly:
"We only represent ourselves. We have nothing to do with the Night Raid or the Revolutionary Army, nor do we represent any other force in the world to which we belong."
Takumi was slightly surprised by this answer that tried so hard to distance them from their affiliations. But he soon understood that Najenda was afraid that if they caused diplomatic problems, it would escalate to a level of hostility.
I have to say, this was a smart approach. However, it was still a bit naive. If one force really wanted to take action against another, why would it need a specific reason? We are not living in the era of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms; do we need to write a formal letter to declare war?
As long as a force is mobilized for war, they can always find an excuse. In this regard, the nation of Lumine has taught the whole world a lesson. Strength explains everything; as long as I am shameless enough, I can bully whoever I want.
As for Najenda's logic, if it were Lumine, it would be like this: You say you don't represent the forces behind you, so it won't escalate? Have you forgotten your origin? If I want to, I can directly accuse you of a crime, make it more serious, and say it was ordered by the forces behind you, claiming they are protecting a criminal! Then, doesn't this naturally lead to hostility between powers?
In short, there are many excuses; it just depends on the thoughts of those in power and public opinion. It is a good thing that Takumi is not from Lumine; otherwise, Najenda's plan would be doomed to fail.
"I see, I understand. Then, on behalf of the Dimension City, I welcome you again."
After asking this last question, Takumi officially shifted the direction of the communication to the friendly side. For the world of Akame ga Kill!, in addition to obtaining materials for making Teigu and properly training troops, Takumi truly had no other ideas.
There was really no other benefit to be gained in that world. Given the current situation in that world, if you wanted to gain benefits, you would probably need to intervene in the war between the Empire and the Revolutionary Army. The effort would outweigh the gain.
After all, if you had that kind of time, wouldn't it be better to develop the Dimension City? It is not just the Akame ga Kill! world that has benefits. Why would he focus only on this world? The current Dimension City is still too small in scale.
Even if you have the strength to win a world, you don't have enough energy to manage it. Intervening would only slow down the development of the Dimension City itself by getting the manpower stuck in the quagmire of a massive conflict. It would also waste the progress Takumi made with the immigrants from the Apocalypse World.
Even if the scale of the Dimension City increases and the population expands so much that the Forest of Death cannot hold everyone, new territories must be developed. There is no need to go to the trouble of conquering that world. There are so many unclaimed lands in the Apocalypse World! At that time, one could just pick a good place in that world. Why fight so hard?
Therefore, Najenda's worries were completely unnecessary in Takumi's opinion. After all, have you ever seen someone who owns a mine be greedy for a half-cent in someone else's pocket? Takumi, who guards the Dimension Gate, is essentially the man whose family owns a mine.
Najenda, on the other hand, had not yet understood the wealth gap between herself and Takumi and was actually afraid that Takumi would want the meager resources of her home. This made Takumi want to say something to her directly, but there was no need.
It can only be said that the two sides were on different levels, and the scenery they saw was naturally different. The two were not thinking on the same wavelength at all.
"It is our honor to be welcomed by you."
Najenda saw that things were moving in a positive direction. She could not help but breathe a sigh of relief and responded politely. She did not know what Takumi was thinking; otherwise, she would have been so embarrassed she might have vomited blood.
She could not grasp the full situation, but could you blame her? At her world's level, being able to consider the dangers and have a strategic vision was already very good. It was inevitable that she was unable to break out of her existing patterns immediately.
After all, not everyone can think from the other side's point of view and make accurate predictions at any time. Otherwise, there would not be so many wars, and people would have reached reconciliation long ago.
After that, Takumi received them for a while longer before arranging for the elf girls of his personal guard to take them on a visit. He would rarely come in person for such trivial matters in the future. In addition to being time-consuming, he had to maintain his image as the City Lord. If he always received people in person and gave tours himself, wouldn't he be like a tour guide? That would be far too undignified.