'Honest' was personally escorted to the imperial capital by Lancer and Bulat. As for Liver, he continued to guard the southern provinces.
After a day's journey by carriage to the imperial capital, Lancer demeanor was extremely 'cold', so much so that Bulat found it unbelievable, because Lancer face mostly held 'memories' and no other extra expressions.
After personally escorting 'Honest' to the palace, Bulat did not follow, because he had not been summoned. After handing 'Honest' over to Budo, and Budo in turn handed him over to his subordinates, the two of them walked together towards the study.
Along the way, the two of them did not speak, just like when they first met.
And when the two of them arrived in front of the study, they found that the emperor of the empire was standing at the door of the study.
If it were in the past, Lancer would still have been a little excited. After all, whether the other party was deliberately pretending or not, even if it was, an emperor of the empire personally standing outside the door to greet someone was enough to arouse a person's vanity. But Lancer at this time had no such thoughts.
"Your Majesty! This subject... is late."
"It's alright! It's good that you're back!"
He said similar words to the past, but only Lancer himself knew what was on his mind. And when the emperor helped Lancer, who was kneeling on one knee, to his feet, he touched the other party's empty right arm, and a hint of unbearable pain did flash across his face, but in the end, he hid it all.
Afterward, the three of them entered the study one by one.
"Because of the 'Warden' seeing the 'corpse' of you and that 'demon' in the previous battle, he thought you had 'sacrificed yourself', so..."
When he said this, the emperor was still a bit awkward. After all, he had given Lancer a 'grand funeral' before, and had even built him a cenotaph. It was indeed a bit strange to have the other party appear alive in front of him, but strange as it was, he still had to say what needed to be said.
"Lancer, this time you personally captured the 'rebel leader Honest'. I have decided to restore your name and then bestow upon you..."
"Your Majesty."
This was the first time Lancer had interrupted the other party.
"I imagine Captain Liver has already reported to you that in the last battle, this subject's right arm perished with the opponent, and I am probably no longer able to serve as a 'general'. For me, 'death' is probably not bad news. At least my old enemies won't come looking for trouble with me anymore."
The news of Lancer appearance had been completely sealed off. Besides a few soldiers who had been ordered to keep silent and were being monitored, only Bulat, Liver, Budo, and the emperor knew that Lancer was still alive. For a person who was about to leave this world, it was no different from 'death'. The only difference was that he might 'come back from the dead' one day.
And looking at Lancer empty right sleeve, the emperor didn't know what to say for a moment.
"Lancer, you can actually continue to serve in the Imperial Guard. Your identity will be kept a secret here..."
"Your Majesty, this subject wants to 'go home' to see."
Lancer words made the emperor speechless for a moment. Logically, he was trying to persuade the other party to stay, and the other party's insistence on leaving was a sign of disrespect, but the other party had already sacrificed so much for him, and had even lost his right arm in the last battle. In addition, he had privately 'splashed a lot of dirty water' on Lancer to consolidate his own rule, and even he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.
"If you decide to continue serving the empire one day, the gates of the Imperial Guard will always be open for you."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Looking at Lancer departing back, the emperor couldn't help but sigh.
"Your Majesty? Is something wrong?"
"I was thinking, what would happen if I killed him just now?"
The emperor's words caused the temperature in the entire study to drop sharply, and Budo frowned.
The reason he frowned was not because of what the emperor had said, but because he was actually trying to think through the other party's idea.
As the person the emperor trusted the most, Budo knew too many things, including the fact that the emperor had deliberately guided the hatred towards Lancer. If this was exposed, it would probably cause some trouble, but...
"This subject believes it would be inappropriate."
"Why?"
"It is a fact that Lancer has lost his right arm, but since just now, this subject has been feeling an 'invisible threat' emanating from him. This subject doesn't know how strong Lancer is at this time."
Although Budo didn't know about Lancer 'right arm' yet, he, a seasoned veteran of countless battles, also relied on his intuition to understand that Lancer at this time might not be weak, and for a wounded beast, he was even more terrifying.
The emperor, who heard the other party's explanation, also nodded.
No matter what, Lancer had lost his Imperial Armament and his right arm. He might still be a threat, but it wouldn't be too big.
Although as an 'emperor', he had to weigh his subordinates, he was not a heartless person. He had also seen all the sacrifices Lancer had made for him and for the empire. Since it hadn't reached the point of being 'necessary', he decided to no longer bother Lancer...
On the other side, Lancer, who had walked out of the palace gate, glanced at the 'familiar' palace gate without any nostalgia and then turned to leave.
He was not an idiot. He had long since noticed the emperor's apprehension towards him and some of the things he had done in private. He had chosen to play dumb for the sake of his 'goal', after all, he wouldn't be staying for too long anyway.
Coming to see the other party one last time was to settle the 'kindness of recognition' he had received before. From now on, unless something similar happened again, he would no longer meddle in the affairs of the empire.
"I have a little over a month left... I'll go find those 'scum'."
Leone 'death' had made him completely hysterical for a period of time. Although he still hadn't come to terms with it, he had also realized one thing — his resolve was not enough!
Since he wanted to protect Leone! Then why didn't he make more preparations? Why didn't he simply ask Budo to let Leone temporarily stay in his own tent in the Imperial Guard barracks? Why didn't he arrange for more backups?
Perhaps because countless victories had made him complacent without realizing it, he had forgotten too many things.
The end of excessive pride is destruction.
He had learned this lesson, but the price of this lesson was something he was powerless to bear.
So he decided to improve himself. In the past year, besides his basic attributes and points increasing, the speed of his strength growth was actually far inferior to when he was an investigator before. He had to seize this last month!
He thought that killing a few Imperial Armament users should increase his strength quite a bit, right? And their Imperial Armaments were not officially recorded, so he could take them with him. They would be a good choice for either gifting or trading in the future.
At this moment, the cape, with no wind, moved on its own, revealing the scarlet cloth wrapped around his right arm...
Summary
First of all, I apologize. To be honest, although some of the storylines have been explained, I have indeed found that the plot has gone a bit wild. Even if it all comes back together in the end, it still feels a bit strange, which is probably due to my personal control. The well-designed script was not handled well... ORZ
I think everyone should not have too many questions about Lancer and the 'emperor', 'Budo', and 'Honest'.
The emperor was relatively good to Lancer at first, but with the massacre in the west, he began to treat Lancer as an 'executioner' and a 'weapon'. Even Lancer reputation later had a part of his 'credit'. Perhaps it was unfair to Lancer, but I think this is what a qualified emperor should do.
Next is 'Budo'. He was a bit better to Lancer than the emperor, but it was also more 'for the royal family'. To put it simply, he wouldn't trick Lancer in normal times, but he would not hesitate to act if he was given an order.
Finally, there is 'Honest'. In the original work, to be honest, besides seeing his cruelty, I really didn't see how he had the ability to 'kill the emperor and the other princes under the protection of the empire's strongest general and then control the empire'. I have also completed his character in my book, whether it's 'obtaining the lost Imperial Armament and having ambition', 'designing the assassination of the emperor', 'escaping from the banquet', 'finally designing Lancer and Esdeath', or even 'tricking Lancer one more time even after dying'.
Personally, I am quite satisfied, but as a certain reader said, I have put too much energy into the villains. Maybe it's because in the first volume, people kept bringing up the 'Fueguchi mother and daughter' which caused my mentality to have some problems. Also, when it went on sale, I was afraid that choosing the world of 'Akame ga Kill' would cause subscriptions to drop, so I started rushing the plot and desperately followed the main storyline... At this point, this volume probably started to become a bit distorted... Plus my deliberate 'fragmented treatment' of Leone, it caused her to not have much presence... Alas~ I can only say that my idea might have been good, but my ability was lacking.
Finally, the most discussed 'Leone' and 'Esdeath'.
To be honest, whether Leone would have a physical relationship with the protagonist in the end was not in the outline. The key attribute I designed for her was that phrase 'welcome back'.
The protagonist is a transmigrator, and the loneliness of a transmigrator is something a normal person cannot understand. I wanted to create a 'family' image, but it seems I failed... ORZ
But I will explain two things. Leone character prototype in the early stage can be classified as 'Leone the slave girl', and her existence was to heal the protagonist. As for whether they would eventually have a physical relationship, it was like a game, it depended on the 'choice'. Undoubtedly, in this volume, I chose NO.
The key to the second problem is 'Esdeath'. Many people hate this character, but in reality, her problem is her 'survival of the fittest' mentality. In this book, she also appeared as a 'side character', not the female lead. And in reality, the only wrong thing she did was to 'abduct Leone', and there was nothing else that was hateful. To be honest, I don't know if I should be happy or troubled by such a huge resentment from readers... Alas
I said before that 'if you do something wrong, you have to pay the price, but it needs to be limited to a certain extent'.
Death is Esdeath's ending. This is determined by her character. To change it, unless I do something like the first book and have a 'transmigration' to a time before Esdeath's father's death, at least in this book, I am powerless.
In short, volume 2 has ended. In this volume, Lancer goal was achieved: 'saving the empire', and my goal was also achieved: 'the darkness of the empire', 'the people's misunderstanding', 'bloody memories'. The downfall is enough. Now it's time to rise and awaken. Please look forward to volume 3. The main theme has been decided. It is — Light