Chapter 127: I'm Taking Over the Elite Squad? Seriously?
Afterward, Ogre took Seryu out on patrol.
He also left the security team's duty station with Mine.
On the way, Mine looked at him with eyes full of admiration.
"Master, you're amazing..."
They hadn't been in the Imperial City for long, yet her master had already become the Deputy Chief of the Guard.
Although she didn't understand what that position entailed, she could tell from the expressions of the people at that place earlier that it was clearly a high-ranking official position!
"This is only the beginning."
Mahiro patted Mine's little head.
"I know, because Master is amazing. It wouldn't even be excessive for you to become a high official like a minister. But... Master, do you really like that girl named Seryu?"
Mine looked up, her pale pink pupils fixed on him, reflecting his figure.
The question caught him off guard.
"Uh, I wouldn't say I particularly like her. I just think she has a nice figure."
"Hmph, Master is an idiot, a fool, a big pervert!"
Mine suddenly became agitated, as if embarrassed and angry, and kicked him in the shin.
As a result, he was fine, but Mine ended up hopping in pain, tears nearly welling up in her eyes. She then quickly walked a few steps ahead to put distance between them.
"Mine can do anything for Master... So men really prefer bigger ones, after all? Even though I have potential for the future..."
The girl angrily looked down at her own chest, which was flat enough to see her toes, and recalling Seryu's size at the time, Mine felt even more furious.
It wasn't because of her master, but because of herself.
Even though she paid close attention to her nutrition intake every day, why wouldn't it grow?
If it didn't grow, how could she earn her master's affection?
Did she really have to eat more papayas, like that older sister said?
Just then, a large hand landed on her shoulder, startling Mine.
"What are you muttering about over there?"
"Hmph, nothing, you idiot master!"
Mine immediately turned her head, her twin pink pigtails tracing a graceful arc in the air—a textbook example of tsundere behavior.
And so, Mine bought over ten papayas to take home that day.
...
...
"Seryu, your daily work is simple. You just need to help review the case reports submitted by the captains! If you finish your work early, you can use the remaining time as you wish. If you perform well, besides your duties as a secretary, I can also grant you the authority of a captain."
"Yes, Deputy Chief! Seryu will do her best!"
In the Deputy Chief's office, Seryu's eyes sparkled as she looked at him.
In her mind, captains were people like her master Ogre, whom she greatly admired. This way, she could lead her own subordinates every day to purge evil and uphold justice!
Not to mention, she admired the Deputy Chief even more, who commanded captains like her master!
"Reviewing cases is something only those with a strong sense of justice can handle. Do you have the confidence?"
Hearing his words, Seryu straightened her posture vigorously and said with great spirit, "Yes! Seryu will not let a single evil-doer escape! I will uphold justice even at the cost of my life!"
"Excellent, very spirited!"
Mahiro nodded in satisfaction.
But speaking of which, she really is easy to manipulate. Just mention justice, and Seryu seems to trust unconditionally.
Using the name of justice as a pretext, he could probably even trick Seryu into bearing him an entire soccer team.
Should this girl be called pure or foolish...?
However, although he hired Seryu as his assistant secretary, the current workload hasn't decreased in the slightest.
Since Seryu currently knows nothing, he has to personally guide her for a while, helping her accumulate experience in reviewing cases.
On top of that, her inexplicable sense of justice means that whenever she encounters a difficult case, she'll pester him with endless questions like an overly curious child.
This has unexpectedly increased the workload quite a bit.
He could, of course, just let Seryu rely on her own feelings and experience to handle cases, but the problem is that the results of her judgments are utterly absurd.
Almost exactly like that guy Ogre's methods.
Out of just four case files, she mishandled three. So, there's no choice—he has to teach Seryu step by step how to do it.
"Ugh... I'm sorry, Deputy Minister. Seryu is too stupid. You must be very disappointed in me."
Looking at the serious mistakes she had made, Seryu's face fell with a pitiful expression.
She had done everything exactly as Lord Ogre taught her, so why did it always end up wrong?
Seeing her like this, Mahiro gently patted her head and said softly:
"No need to rush. The reason you made mistakes before is that your position was different, and the perspective you saw was different too."
"So what you need to do now is start from the beginning. I'll teach you step by step how to do it, understand?"
"Yes, Seryu understands."
Overall, Seryu is still a relatively motivated girl. At the very least, under his influence, her sense of justice is gradually being corrected.
She no longer relies solely on her own judgment to act arbitrarily.
However, because of these messy cases, both she and Mahiro's horizons have indeed broadened—especially the lower limits.
It's almost beyond human imagination.
For instance, things like inappropriate relationships between noble fathers and daughters, or slaves being forced to breed with Danger Beasts leading to death—these disgusting incidents happen almost daily in the Imperial City.
In comparison, street robberies, thefts, and deaths have become the most normal occurrences.
Previously, cases were often resolved by coercing confessions through torture and then sentencing the accused to death, but Mahiro didn't want to do that.
Since his executions made no distinction between nobles and commoners, his reputation among the common people skyrocketed, making him a complete thorn in the side of the nobility.
They even once jointly attempted to impeach him.
Unfortunately, it was useless.
Grand General Budo doesn't involve himself in politics, and within the entire ministry, only the Minister has the authority to dismiss him.
As for the Minister, he's even less willing to fire him.
Who would casually let go of a cash cow?
After all, it's precisely because Mahiro sent many nobles and merchants to prison that he managed to make a lot of money from it.
In fact, the Minister now somewhat regrets not discovering this brand-new approach earlier.
Clearly, compared to the paltry sums those people offered, this method earns so much more!
However, what ultimately helped him break free from this job wasn't Seryu, but Dr. Stylish.
"Well, our dear Vice Minister, still busy at work?"
"I remember it's not yet time for those children to receive their injections, is it? Could it be that your drug formulation has run into problems again?"
Mahiro set down the documents in his hand and looked up at the woman leaning against the doorway—the one who had been transformed from a man.
These days, Dr. Stylish's visits had become quite frequent.
But they were usually either about drug-related issues or because it was time for the children's injections, so he instinctively thought of these possibilities.
However, there was something quite strange—no matter how Dr. Stylish adjusted the drug formulations, those children's abilities simply wouldn't improve any further.
It was as if they had developed resistance to the Gastrea Virus, while the Enhancement Drug portion simply didn't take effect at all.
It seemed that unless they were injected with the original formula, nothing would work anymore.
"Oh no, it's nothing like that! My new drug formula is complete! And since the elite squad is coming today, I specifically came to ask if you'd like to come admire our results, Vice Minister?"
"Oh? Really? Then I must see this."
The moment he heard about the elite squad, he immediately became interested. He tossed aside the documents in his hand and instructed:
"Seryu, I'm going out with Dr. Stylish. You stay here and review these documents. Leave anything you can't handle for me, but you must be thorough—no carelessness, understand?!"
"Yes! Seryu will uphold the name of justice! The Vice Minister's justice is Seryu's justice!"
The girl sprang to her feet and saluted with full energy.
This child, despite having been by his side for so long, still maintained this earnest and energetic demeanor.
...
...
"Well, long time no see, Minister Bill."
"Indeed, it has been quite some time, Vice Minister Yotsuba."
Arriving at the research institute, he successfully met with Bill, the head of the assassination department.
Walking beside Bill were six children, each looking quite familiar—they were exactly the ones he had encountered when he first came to this world and brought Mine through the forest.
However, while he was observing the children, they were equally scrutinizing him.
Clear surprise could be seen in their eyes, especially Poney with her ponytail—when she saw him, there was some resentment but even more disbelief.
"So these are the elite squad under your command?" Mahiro asked teasingly, though he already knew the answer.
"Correct, these seven are the elites selected from over a hundred children bought from across the country. They were supposed to be trained by that fool Gozuki, but he ended up dead. So now we have to recall them, and if necessary, merge them into the Enhancement Unit."
Or rather, this was precisely Bill's purpose for coming today.
Originally responsible for the Enhancement Unit, he already had enough headaches, and he wasn't as powerful as Gozuki had been, making it somewhat difficult for him to train these children.
Most crucially, if he messed this up, the plan entrusted to him by the higher-ups would collapse.
As for the current Four Rakshasa Demons under the minister's command, none of the four had any interest in training children, so the assassination department had to handle everything themselves!
"Minister, you've miscalculated! There are clearly only six of them!" Dr. Stylish said contemptuously.
"Oh, I nearly forgot! One of the boys named Guy lost his talent as an assassin due to injuries, so I had him disposed of."
Hmm, he's definitely talking about Guy.
"Wait! Minister, I have something to say! What is this guy doing here!"
At that moment, a childish voice interrupted their conversation.
Turning to look, it was none other than Poney with her single ponytail. Perhaps because this girl was so single-minded, she dared to interrupt at such a moment, and even her teammates pulling at her couldn't stop her.
"You insolent brat, who gave you the right to speak here?! And you should address him as Vice Minister! That's the Vice Minister of the Guard Team! How dare you shout like this here?!"
"Sorry Minister, Poney acted impulsively and didn't mean it. Please forgive her."
Cornelia, acting as the big sister, stepped forward to explain for the girl.
But Poney continued shouting uncontrollably:
"Please listen to me, Minister! This is the guy who killed our father in the forest at the northwestern border!"
It's confirmed.
This girl is a complete idiot with no brains.
But Bill couldn't care less about that, instead looking at Mahiro with astonishment.
"What? Vice Minister Yotsuba, you killed Gozuki?!"
Bill's expression was utterly shocked. The outcome of this matter was completely unexpected—the source of his troubles had been right beside him all along!
As for killing Mahiro to avenge Gozuki? Such a foolish thought had never even crossed his mind.
Not only was Mahiro currently the Vice Minister of the Imperial City Guard Team directly under the Great General's command, but his strength alone was enough to overwhelm Esdeath, which Bill greatly admired.
He had been looking for a reason to have Mahiro, as a member of the Imperial City Guard Team, take over this mess in a reasonable way, and now the reason had come!
Dr. Stylish immediately covered his mouth and laughed effeminately: "Why didn't Gozuki reveal his identity earlier? It seems he died quite unjustly!"
"No, he showed his credentials, but I still killed him."
Mahiro frankly admitted what he had done, as there was nothing to hide.
"Never mind that I wasn't the Vice Captain of the Guard Team at the time. That guy tried to forcibly take my little maid and wanted to kill me. Should I have kept such trash around for the new year?"
Both Dr. Stylish and Bill couldn't help but gasp after hearing this.
Was Gozuki's brain rotting, or had he eaten hallucinogenic mushrooms?!
With Mahiro's level of strength, you actually dared to try snatching his people and even planned to kill him?
They didn't even bother verifying the truth of the matter, because given Gozuki's character, he was absolutely capable of pulling such despicable stunts.
Though the situation was utterly shocking, Bill still managed to calm down and spoke in a low voice:
"You make it sound easy, but do you realize the consequences of killing him?"
"What consequences? Is the assassination department's minister going to arrest me, the deputy chief of the Imperial City guard, for questioning?" Mahiro replied with a slightly mocking laugh.
"Gozuki's death was his own fault—arresting you would be pointless. But since you killed him, you must bear the corresponding responsibilities that follow!"
".....?"
This development wasn't quite following the script he had in mind.
Shouldn't the minister, in a fit of rage, have ordered those kids under his command to subdue him at this point?
Then he'd decisively counterattack and logically take those lolis under his wing, right?
Why are you talking in such a negotiating tone?
Even though your expression is still as ferocious and terrifying as ever.
"Gozuki was responsible for training elite assassination units for our empire, intended to eliminate threats that plague the nation! Since you killed him, you must shoulder this responsibility!"
Bill declared solemnly.
In terms of ability, Mahiro was more than capable of training these children.
Meanwhile, Poney and the others wore expressions of confusion and shock, never expecting things to end this way.
The man who killed their father figure was now going to become their future "Daddy"!
"Minister, with Mahiro currently holding the position of deputy chief in the guard, it would be difficult for him to take on additional duties," Dr. Stylish pointed out.
"See, I'd love to help, but it's impossible."
Mahiro innocently spread his hands, adopting a tone that seemed to say "I'd like to assist, but it's out of the question" as he languidly added:
"I worked hard to get the deputy chief position in the guard. If you want me to give that up, it's not happening. Plus, I can't leave the Imperial City."
"No, it is possible."
Bill grinned sinisterly, his face twisting into a menacing expression. "You can take on the role without giving up your deputy chief position."
Hearing this, Mahiro was taken aback and looked at Dr. Stylish in confusion, but unfortunately, Dr. Stylish didn't understand Bill's meaning either.
"Heh, our assassination unit is a shadow department within the empire—we don't appear in public. So there's no issue with Deputy Chief Yotsuba holding both positions. It would be even better if you could conduct training around the Imperial City."
Bill chuckled darkly.
However, this was only part of the reason.
The other part was that although their assassination unit bore the empire's name, it was essentially an organization jointly established by Prime Minister Honest and Nishimiya, the head of the imperial intelligence agency, without official recognition from the old emperor.
Simply put, they were the minister's private army.
Therefore, when Mahiro stated he wouldn't leave the Imperial City, Bill was actually quite pleased!
After all, Mahiro wasn't his subordinate. While he hoped the elite squad could be trained by him, it was best to keep everything under his own watchful eye.
To prevent any unexpected situations from arising.
He could tell that although Mahiro was inexplicably fixated on obtaining an imperial official position, this person fundamentally held no fear toward authority—just like that woman Esdeath.
"Since Minister Bill has said so, I think you should accept the deputy minister position, Vice Minister. After all, with little Seryu assisting in the security team, you'll have more free time, right?" Dr. Stylish also chimed in to persuade him.
Though his tone carried clear resentment.
Many tasks could be handled by Seryu to free up time, yet he chose not to do so, nor did he come help with research projects.
"Alright, alright, I surrender to your pestering."
Mahiro appeared to raise his hands in surrender under their relentless persuasion.
But secretly, he was overjoyed.
This was like receiving a pillow when drowsy—he had been wondering how to trick Bill into giving him the elite squad, and now Bill had delivered it to his doorstep.
However, getting him to agree wasn't that simple.
"Before I agree, there's one condition."
"What condition?"
"Transfer the four girls I previously supervised to me as well, and integrate them into the elite squad for joint training!"