"About lunch, how about Mapo Beef Rice?" Suddenly, Akame walked out wearing an apron and inquired.
"No, I think Mapo should be Mapo, and beef rice should be beef rice..." Hearing Akame's words, Lubbock wanted to express his opinion.
"Sounds good!" However, before Lubbock could finish speaking, Leone and Najenda directly spoke up.
"For the side dish, I think fried Karaage, how about that!" Akame spoke again.
"That's too meaty, there's no need to pair it with more meat..."
"Sounds good!" Before Lubbock could finish speaking, Leone and Najenda once again spoke up.
In contrast, most of the beauties in Night Raid really liked eating meat. Except for Mine, basically every meal included meat, even breakfast. Regarding this, Takeru didn't find it strange, since he was also a meat lover.
Compared to everyone chatting leisurely at the Night Raid's headquarters, over here, following Sheele's guidance, Takeru was swimming in a river wearing heavy armor.
This training method was something Takeru hadn't experienced before. Although the weight of the armor was basically negligible to Takeru, when combined with being in the water, the weight increased considerably.
Moreover, due to the water current, Takeru's movements were noticeably slowed down.
After a session of training, Takeru also found that his swimming ability had improved quite a bit.
After swimming continuously for over an hour, Takeru finally climbed to the riverbank. Swimming for over an hour straight in heavy armor at high intensity, and even with Takeru's current physique, he felt a hint of fatigue.
The airheaded Sheele, however, didn't notice these details. After Takeru came ashore, she softly said, "Swimming in armor, you've worked hard. But this is one of the training methods in the Assassin Development Course 783."
"Since I'm not assigned work at the secret base, I can focus entirely on training!"
"I see. So, why did you join Night Raid, Sheele?" Takeru looked at Sheele and directly asked.
"I used to live in the slums below the Imperial Capital. Since I was little, no matter what I did, I was clumsy and had no particular talents at all..." Hearing Takeru's words, Sheele quickly recounted her story.
It was mostly similar to what Takeru remembered. Because of her clumsiness, Sheele was often laughed at, but she still had a good friend. However, after she killed her friend's ex-boyfriend to save her friend, that friend left her out of fear.
And thus, Sheele discovered her own talent, which was killing. When killing, she was exceptionally calm and composed, and afterwards, she wouldn't feel the slightest bit of fear.
"Is that so. Even so, I can feel that Sheele is very gentle!" Hearing her words, Takeru also softly comforted her.
"Mhm!" Hearing Takeru's words, Sheele also took a deep look at Takeru and nodded.
In the blink of an eye, two more days passed. During these two days, Takeru continued to follow Sheele to various special places for training, and his relationship with Sheele grew more and more harmonious...
Now, it was Takeru's turn to be Leone's subordinate, and Leone took Takeru to the slums to play.
Compared to the bustling streets of the Imperial Capital, there were quite a few people in the slums too. Moreover, compared to people over there, Takeru could even see that many people here had more genuine smiles. Though poor, they seemed to live quite fulfilling lives.
Of course, there were also many people worried because of their poverty.
"Hello, Leone!" Walking along the road with Leone, some people smiled and greeted her.
"Next time, help me massage my shoulders again!" An old woman looked at Leone and said with a smile.
"Tonight, let's go drink our fill again!"
"Leone, play with me!"
Walking all the way, regardless of men, women, old or young, it was clear that Leone was very famous here and also very popular.
"Eh, Leone, is this your boyfriend?"
"He looks really good, Leone, you have great taste!"
"Hehe, right?" Hearing everyone say this, Leone also naturally hugged Takeru's arm, smiling and nodding.
Takeru rolled his eyes but didn't say anything to embarrass Leone. Takeru could very genuinely sense that these people were full of great goodwill.
"Over here, Leone!"
"Hurry up and pay your previous debt!"
"Give back all the money you swindled from my big brother!" The originally peaceful scene suddenly turned chaotic as a group of burly men rushed out angrily.
Clearly, these people, like Tatsumi back then, had suffered losses at Leone's hands.
And Leone didn't care either, directly grabbing Takeru and quickly running away. Although Leone's strength could easily crush them, Leone also had deep feelings for this place and naturally wouldn't casually lose her temper.
"How is it, this place is interesting, right?" While running from the angry crowd, Leone smiled and said to Takeru.
"It certainly is!" Hearing her words, and noticing the angry expressions of the crowd, Takeru calmly replied.
Meanwhile, in the palace, an official reported to the Emperor, stating that the rebel army's forces were growing larger and larger, and the Empire was in great danger...
Hearing their words, the young Emperor was not flustered at all. Brainwashed by the Prime Minister, he directly stated that the more concentrated the rebel army was, the more efficient it would be to exterminate them.
Then, he even planned to recall Esdeath, who had successfully quelled the Northern Tribes, back to the Imperial Capital to clean up the rebel army...
The next night, Takeru and Leone appeared in the red-light district of the Imperial Capital. Looking at the bustling crowds and the gorgeously dressed women, Takeru's expression remained calm.
"Alright, it's about time to work seriously and repay the debt. Transform, Lionel!" On the roof of a building in the red-light district, looking down at the crowd below, Leone directly chose to transform.
After transforming, claw-like gauntlets appeared on Leone's hands, and her short hair grew into medium-length hair. What Takeru felt most intuitively was Leone's life energy, which had intensified several times compared to before transformation.
"Every time I turn into this form, I get so excited!" After finishing the transformation and feeling the surging power, Leone said excitedly.
"Now then, let's infiltrate and take care of the target!" Suddenly, Leone directly picked Takeru up in a princess carry.
"..."
Then, holding Takeru tight, she quickly ran towards the destination. With a few leaps, she quickly disappeared into the night.
Not long after, Leone reached the top of a mansion at an extremely fast speed. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Leone also revealed a happy smile.
"Leone, I can keep up with this speed!" Looking at Leone's appearance, Takeru softly said.
"Even so, you should save more stamina just in case, you know!" Hearing Takeru's words, Leone said seriously.
If not for the flicker in her eyes, Takeru might have almost believed it.
Slightly lifting a piece of the roof decoration, Takeru and Leone saw a scene inside filled with purple smoke.
Inside, numerous young women lay about, appearing very debauched, and among them, many seemed to be inhaling some kind of drug...
"Good, good. As long as you work hard to earn money, I'll give you more of the medicine!" At this moment, two men with clearly malicious smiles, obviously not good people, appeared there, speaking temptingly to the many women inside.
"Yes!" Hearing the man's words, the women inside, as if having lost themselves, answered with obsessed smiles.
"Mm, boss, please take a look at her."
"Looks like she's done for. Reeks of stench and has gone crazy. Dispose of her as trash and bring in a new one." Looking at the woman's convulsing appearance, the man called boss said with disgust.
"Give me more medicine!" The woman at this time even struggled to get up, wanting more drugs.
But what greeted her was a fierce punch from the man. After being hit, the woman immediately fell unconscious. The other women around witnessed this scene but turned a blind eye...
Only Takeru and Leone, who saw this from above, were overflowing with killing intent.
"Go call some more foolish women from the slums."
"Those trash over there will do anything for money!" The two men said mockingly.
"These scums, living even one more second is a mercy to them!" Seeing this scene, Takeru's anger also surged.
"I've seen that woman in the slums before. This is so infuriating. Let's just quickly deal with the target!" Leone said with an extremely gloomy expression.
Soon, as these people gathered to discuss expansion, Takeru and the others no longer hid. They directly jumped down from the roof.