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"Report! General Nagakid and General Hermi have rebelled and appear to have joined the revolutionary army!"
Inside the magnificent audience hall of the Imperial Palace, a soldier knelt on one knee as he reported the situation to the young emperor seated upon the throne.
The high-ranking military officials standing below immediately began whispering among themselves.
"Even the brave and battle-hardened General Nagakid actually defected..."
"The revolutionary army's strength is becoming terrifying."
"If we don't take action soon, the Empire will..."
Hearing the growing panic among the generals, the young emperor suddenly stood up, waved his hand, and shouted loudly:
"There's no need to panic! They're just a force from the south. We can eliminate them whenever we want!"
"The more rebels gather together, the easier it'll be to wipe them all out at once!"
After saying that, the young emperor turned toward Honest, who stood beside him gnawing on roasted meat.
"This should be enough, Minister, right?"
Hearing the emperor's question, Honest revealed a satisfied grin.
"Hehehehe, as expected of Your Majesty. So calm and wise."
"The real problem right now isn't the distant rebel army."
"It's those thieves operating right beneath our noses."
At that moment, a vicious glint flashed through Honest's eyes.
"They assassinated Ogre, captain of the Imperial Police Force, along with my relative Iokal!"
"Night Raid killed the Head-Slicer Demon, stole the Teigu, and continues doing whatever they please!"
"My sorrow has become even heavier because of them!"
After roaring angrily, Honest stuffed another large bite of roasted meat into his mouth.
The rich aroma seemed to soothe his mood as the twisted expression on his face gradually calmed.
"Send an order immediately and command General Esdeath to accelerate her return!"
The moment the officials below heard that name, fear flashed across many of their faces.
"B-But isn't Great General Budo still in the Imperial Capital?"
"Exactly..."
Seeing people daring to object to him, murderous intent briefly flickered across Honest's eyes before vanishing again.
"Sending the Great General to suppress mere thieves would insult his dignity, wouldn't it?"
"Once Esdeath returns, she'll definitely exterminate every last one of those pests!"
Honest roared madly at the gathered generals.
The young emperor beside him nodded repeatedly in agreement.
Seeing that, the officials could only reluctantly accept the decision, though several secretly planned to inform Great General Budo after the meeting ended.
"Boss, it's about time we expanded the drug distribution routes..."
A subordinate in a white suit respectfully poured wine while speaking to his superior.
The one-eyed gang leader wearing an eyepatch fondled the woman in his arms and grinned lecherously.
"Yeah, I'll discuss it with Zibul-sama later."
Bang!
Suddenly, a massive hole exploded open in the ceiling as three figures descended from above.
"The only place you bastards should be going is hell!"
"Tatsumi, you're wrong! The place they should go is my Conqueror's Banner!"
Dressed in a snow-white suit while wearing his Do-Nothing cloak, Kaito looked down at the scene with disdain and loudly declared:
"Huh? Conqueror's Banner?"
"Kaito-sama, is that some kind of inquisitor organization from the Jura Tempest Federation?"
Tatsumi looked utterly confused as he asked.
"Uh... close enough."
Well, suffering was suffering either way.
Falling into Ultima's hands and getting dragged into the Conqueror's Banner were basically the same thing.
"Speaking of which, Leone, do you always dress like that?"
"Do you seriously not have money to buy clothes?"
Kaito looked at Leone, whose outfit barely covered the important parts. It was definitely eye-catching, but he still couldn't help asking.
Hearing that, Leone curled her lips into a sly smile.
With a pitiful expression, she hugged Kaito's arm and softly whispered:
"Oh my, is Kaito-sama planning to buy me some clothes?"
"I haven't gotten anything new in ages, and Boss never gives me spending money."
Kaito nodded in understanding.
"I see."
"Here, don't say your boss doesn't care about you anymore. Take this and spend it."
"If it's not enough, go ask Souei for more."
Kaito pulled a one-lime coin bill out of his pocket and generously handed it to Leone.
Leone stared blankly at the childish-looking lime bill in her hand.
"Boss... are you sure this can actually be spent?"
"You can't spend it yet, but once I destroy the Empire, you'll be able to!"
"Then you'll understand just how massive this fortune really is!"
Kaito proudly declared with an expression that practically screamed You hit the jackpot.
Leone looked completely speechless.
She couldn't help muttering inwardly:
'Could this thing really be worth that much...?'
Just as she was about to ask more questions, the gang members who had been completely ignored finally reacted.
"Intruders! Kill them!"
"Aaaahhh!"
"Get them!"
A group of men in black suits rushed forward with ferocious expressions, machetes raised high in their hands.
Facing the sudden assault, the three remained perfectly calm.
Kaito slowly curled his lips into a mocking smile.
"Oh, now this really is a proper 'Noisy High-Class' situation."
In the next instant, a pair of classic telescopic batons appeared in his hands.
"But sorry."
"Our Do Nothing is the strongest!"
Before his sentence even ended, Kaito charged straight into the crowd.
"A-da!"
The batons in his hands swung violently as he smashed into the charging enemies.
Every strike was accompanied by crisp impact sounds and agonized screams.
"Take this! A strike from me!"
Kaito's attacks rained down like a violent storm, leaving no room to evade.
His movements were so fast that even Tatsumi could see afterimages appearing around him.
In an instant, the entire room descended into chaos.
The gang members were beaten senseless by Kaito's relentless assault and collapsed one after another while screaming miserably.
The white-suited subordinate from earlier stared at Kaito in horror as he leisurely walked through the crowd.
In panic, he hurriedly pulled a pistol from his waist and aimed it at him.
Kaito noticed immediately and curled his lips in disdain.
"Oh? You're actually the first one to pull out a firearm."
The next moment, he instantly withdrew from the crowd and casually returned to Tatsumi and Leone's side.
"Kaito-sama, should I handle the rest?"
Seeing him come back, Leone assumed he had grown bored and immediately volunteered.
"No need. Watch this."
"Come forth, my little darling!!!"
Boom!!!
The moment Kaito finished speaking, a gigantic laser cannon several meters tall and over a meter wide suddenly materialized out of thin air before violently slamming onto the ground.
PS: A personalized portable version of the smallest laser cannon mounted on a frigate, personally developed by Vegapunk.
The gang members who had been preparing to charge again all froze stiffly.
Every one of them silently swallowed hard as they stared blankly at the massive cannon barrel now aimed directly at them...