Honest's corpse was thrown into the plaza to dry in the open air. In everyone's eyes, he was the root of all the chaos.
Although that really was the truth.
Even though he was already dead, the enraged citizens still gave his corpse plenty of "care."
The Imperial Capital had descended into complete chaos. When the rebel army entered the city, the citizens of the Imperial Capital practically wanted to line the streets and welcome them.
But after all the commotion, it somehow ended with a whimper.
Uesugi Ryu led the Jaegers to execute the traitorous minister Honest.
Afterward, he heavily crippled the rebel forces and successfully accepted the surrender of the remaining rebel troops.
The scene when Uesugi Ryu annihilated the rebels that day had been extremely shocking.
Blood and carnage filled the air. Nearly half the people in the Imperial Capital had witnessed the scene back then.
Although his methods were excessively brutal, he had previously made many contributions to maintaining public security in the Imperial Capital while serving as the vice-captain of the Jaegers.
At the very least, he still had a fairly good reputation among the common people.
The former arena was now nothing but ruins.
At the center of the ruins, the exposed earth had turned a horrifying dark red.
Not just the surface. Even the deeper layers had basically been soaked through with massive amounts of blood.
A bizarre crimson blood sun had been deeply branded into this field of ruins.
On a nearby street, a carriage slowly traveled toward the palace.
Chouri's original plan had been to preserve their strength and keep the Imperial Guard intact.
Then, once the Revolutionary Army achieved victory,
with a great army in hand and the massive contributions he personally made,
perhaps he could use that to preserve at least some status for the royal family, or at the very least save the life of the young Emperor himself.
After spending half a year together, Chouri had also realized that the young Emperor was not a tyrant.
He had merely been deceived by Honest.
Through the carriage window, Chouri looked toward the blood-colored ruins while leaning on his cane with a heavy expression.
Although he had not witnessed it personally, merely seeing this leftover battlefield was enough for him to imagine how tragic the battle had been.
The cunning and cruel Honest had died, only for another Uesugi Ryu to appear.
Uesugi Ryu's actions were far too complicated, a mixture of good and evil.
His intentions were impossible to predict. Who knew whether he might become the next evil dragon?
Chouri let out a long sigh toward the heavens and spoke somewhat dejectedly.
"Is this truly the end of one war, or the beginning of another?"
Najenda leaned against the carriage window and took the final drag from her cigarette.
She gave a bitter smile and replied,
"Who knows? At the very least, he should be better than Honest, even if only by a little."
"The fact that we're still alive is probably the best proof of that."
In reality, regardless of time or place, the Empire would always remain the mighty Empire.
No matter how many problems appeared within the nation, its strength was still enough to crush everything.
The Revolutionary Army had only been allowed to continue existing because Honest wanted to gather them all together and wipe them out in one sweep.
A troubled expression appeared on Chouri's face. There was no way to discover the truth behind his daughter's death.
The only possible way would have been to confront Esdeath directly about it, but Esdeath was currently nowhere to be found.
Even if she returned, he probably would not get the chance anymore.
Chouri fell silent for a while before finally struggling to utter a few words.
"I hope so."
.........
Inside the palace, within a massive and empty conference room, a long table sat at the center.
The atmosphere inside the enormous room was somewhat heavy. The Jaegers and Night Raid sat on opposite sides.
Meanwhile, Budo and Chouri simply glared at each other across the table, both of them falling into silence for a time.
Chouri had transferred away the Imperial Guard that belonged under Budo's command.
Budo had long since figured it out. His old friend had been siding with the rebels from beginning to end.
He wanted to get angry, yet at this moment he did not know what to say.
Things had changed too quickly. Budo, as a pure military man, truly was not very good with schemes.
Leaning on his cane, Chouri revealed an apologetic expression.
"General Budo, even if this old man apologizes, it would accomplish nothing."
"But looking at things now, the arguments and disagreements between you and me were actually irrelevant from the very beginning."
Najenda spoke in agreement.
"Exactly. Since we are now all seated together here."
"What Chouri-san did can also be considered preserving the Empire's strength."
Budo had no intention of arguing with a traitor like Najenda. He coldly snorted, turned his head away, and selectively went deaf.
Mine sat in her chair with a deeply depressed expression.
"What kind of development is this?!"
She still had not forgotten the beating Uesugi Ryu gave her.
And now she was about to become his subordinate?
Leone moved the arm that had only been reattached for two days and carelessly said,
"Who cares? That bastard Minister is dead anyway. Though it's a little annoying that I wasn't the one who killed him personally."
She jerked her chin toward the end of the table and complained,
"Seriously though, what is this?"
"I know you sisters love each other, but this is way too much, isn't it?!"
Kurome sat in her sister's lap while the two hugged intimately together.
Hearing Leone's words, Kurome turned her head.
Blinking her dark eyes at Leone with an adorably vacant expression.
Leone's cheeks twitched slightly as she helplessly shut her mouth.
Everyone present had different thoughts. At that moment, a shadow suddenly appeared.
"Uesugi-san."
"Lord Uesugi."
Uesugi Ryu plopped himself into the main seat, his golden eyes sweeping across the room.
"Everyone's here, so I'll keep this short."
"No matter what grudges you had before, you are all the Empire's hope and valuable fighting strength now. From this point onward, internal conflict is forbidden."
His calm and emotionless voice echoed throughout the conference hall as Uesugi Ryu slightly narrowed his eyes.
"If anyone has objections, then feel free to tell me."
Although the aura around him remained calm, only a few days had passed since that horrific massacre.
Uesugi Ryu paused briefly. Seeing that no one objected, he continued speaking.
"I know all of you have your own thoughts. That doesn't matter."
Hearing words that could only be described as outrageously arrogant, Budo's thick golden brows unconsciously furrowed.
His arms tightened slightly as he felt uncomfortable.
The beliefs branded deep into his bones made it difficult for him to accept such statements. Beyond that was a deep sense of helplessness.
Budo had possessed Adramelech for decades. The Teigu had practically become one with him.
Suddenly losing his Teigu had not only greatly reduced his strength, it also left him feeling extremely unaccustomed.
Najenda rested her mechanical arm on the table while calmly looking at Uesugi Ryu.
At this point, the entire meeting was really just a formality. This was not a discussion, merely a notification.
As long as Uesugi Ryu did not go too far, no one would oppose him.
"Next, I'll explain the solution I've come up with."
Uesugi Ryu glanced toward Budo.
"The Emperor will remain in place, but he will no longer hold real power."
"The true operation of the nation will be handled by a parliament. The upper parliament will consist of six seats."
"Major matters will be discussed by the upper parliament before final policies are decided."
"As for the lower parliament, the exact number of seats and its functions can be discussed later."
Uesugi Ryu did not really understand politics or anything like that, nor did he have any intention of wasting effort on it.
Once the framework was established, naturally someone else would figure out the detailed specifics afterward.
Chouri froze slightly upon hearing this. He had not expected Uesugi Ryu's ideas to be so similar to his own previous thoughts.
Budo let out a long breath. No matter how unwilling he felt inside, he could only accept the result.
He knew perfectly well that if he no longer possessed any value,
Uesugi Ryu probably would not have compromised even slightly.
A parliamentary system suited Najenda's tastes fairly well.
But with Uesugi Ryu around, this so-called collective discussion was basically meaningless, wasn't it?
She discreetly glanced at Uesugi Ryu and ultimately chose not to speak.
Resting both hands on the conference table, Uesugi Ryu looked around at everyone.
"I will serve as Chairman of Parliament. Najenda and Budo, the two of you will serve as upper parliament members."
His brows lowered slightly as a smile stretched across his lips.
"Satisfied now, you two?"