"Then there should be a pattern, right? Or perhaps the targets chosen are political enemies of the Prime Minister, or something similar?" Hearing her words, Takeru continued.
"Exactly. The targets so far have all been capable individuals who dare to oppose the Prime Minister, patriots concerned about the nation's fate. When building a new nation, such officials are indispensable. We cannot continue to lose the valuable talent of the new country. So, even though we know it's a trap, I still hope everyone can resolve it. Now, let's hear everyone's opinions!"
Najenda took a deep breath and spoke.
"What more is there to say? Whether it's stealing Night Raid's name or indiscriminately killing innocents, their crimes are already unforgivable!" Takeru said calmly.
"Yeah, Takeru, you're right!" Hearing Takeru's words, Bulat quickly expressed his agreement!
"Good, then it's decided. For those who dare to use our name without permission, let's teach them the rules of us assassins!" Hearing Takeru and Bulat's words, Najenda also stood up, revealing a wicked smile.
"There are two officials likely to be targeted next. Takeru, Bulat, and Mine as one group, and Akame, Lubbock, and Sheele as another group. Split into two groups to carry out protection missions for the two officials." Having confirmed the objective, Najenda quickly issued orders to everyone.
"I understand. Where does our group need to go?" Hearing her words, Takeru asked curiously.
"The enormous luxury cruise ship [Dragon Ship] at the capital's port, sailing on the Great Canal." Hearing Takeru's question, Najenda quickly replied.
Then everyone quickly sprang into action. Takeru directly found Leone and gave her some warnings. Seeing Takeru's serious demeanor, Leone also assured Takeru that she absolutely would not take action.
Afterwards, everyone bid each other farewell and headed towards their respective destinations.
When Takeru and the others arrived at the huge Dragon Ship, Bulat, because he was wanted, directly chose to turn invisible. Takeru and Mine disguised themselves as an ordinary couple, while Pumpkin was simply disassembled and tightly wrapped in materials.
The location for Akame and the others was a village. There, a conscientious official was distributing rice, mainly to prevent the impoverished villagers from starving to death.
Here, Lubbock's Teigu could be put to very good use. However, after waiting for a while, the threads set up for warning didn't seem to be triggered.
On the other side, Leone successfully found Esdeath, who was idly strolling the streets.
Leone, in her beastified form, broke out in a cold sweat upon seeing Esdeath, because she could clearly sense the terrifying aura emanating from Esdeath.
'Acting alone is just a trap to lure assassins. The evidence is the scent of such ominous killing intent seeping from her. Thinking about killing her if given the chance is too naive. Though it's frustrating, I can only heed Takeru's words and follow my instincts to retreat!'
Lying on the rooftop, just peeking at Esdeath made Leone break out in a cold sweat. After some thought, she quickly chose to leave.
"Hmm, left? Not planning to fight? What a pity. I was hoping to try out some new interrogation methods." After Leone left, Esdeath, who seemed leisurely, said lightly.
Back to Takeru's side, Takeru and Mine leisurely enjoyed food on the cruise ship, just like ordinary tourists.
After all, both Takeru and Mine were very refined in demeanor, looking no different from these nobles, even more so than them...
Takeru had already used Observation Haki to locate the Three Beasts inside the ship's cabin. However, with the crowd bustling now, Takeru and the others naturally wouldn't act rashly.
The Three Beasts had a similar thought, thinking there are too many people. Starting a fight casually might let some fish slip through the net. Moreover, they had more convenient abilities to make these people lose their ability to resist.
As the ship moved away from the shore, Takeru noticed the Three Beasts were getting a bit restless. When a certain point was reached, a beautiful flute melody began to play.
Through Observation Haki, Takeru clearly sensed it was the flute played by one of the Three Beasts, a petite, effeminate-looking boy. The flute melody seemed to contain a special magic, gradually causing people to lose control of their bodies.
"Takeru!" After listening for a while, Mine also leaned weakly against Takeru. The flute's magic made her feel very unwell.
As for Takeru, although not completely unaffected, the impact wasn't significant. Perhaps due to his high basic attributes, he had strong resistance to this flute sound.
Since most people around had fallen, seeing Mine's discomfort, Takeru quickly held her, took out his staff, and used a purification ability on her.
Under the effect of the purification power, Mine's strength quickly recovered.
Afterwards, she also noticed their current intimate posture, making her blush intensely. But after recovering, she didn't leave Takeru's embrace, instead lingering in his arms...
Takeru noticed Mine's action.
With a faint smile, Takeru didn't say much, just waited in place for the Three Beasts to appear.
As for Bulat over there, although Takeru sensed he was also affected, he used pain to keep himself from being influenced by the flute.
"Still such an elegant sound as always. The ship has left the city area, so there are no land witnesses anymore. The timing is just right." Noticing the distance the ship had traveled from shore, one of the Three Beasts, Liver, said with a light laugh.
"I've been playing for a long time, so even if I pause, everyone will remain immobile for a while." Nyau said with a light laugh.
"There might be some country bumpkins who don't appreciate flute music. Don't get careless." Hearing Nyau's words, Liver lightly reminded.
"Alright, Mine, let's head outside first." Sensing the Three Beasts were preparing to act, Takeru said to Mine.
"Okay." Hearing Takeru's words, Mine quickly nodded.
Not long after Takeru and Mine reached the outside, a figure also appeared on the deck.
"Huh, there are still people who haven't collapsed? If you'd just fallen asleep, I might have spared your life." One of the Three Beasts, Daidara, walked out of the darkness with a cold smile.
"Oh, so you're the fake Night Raid?" Hearing his words, Mine reacted and said lightly.
"Oh, you're the real deal? That's great. Here, catch!" Hearing Mine's words, Daidara also noticed Takeru had no weapon in hand, so he casually tossed a weapon to Takeru.
"I want to fight to gain experience points! To become the strongest, bring it on!" Daidara took out the axe-type Teigu from his back: Double-Bladed Axe: Belvaac!
"Is that so? Facing a weakling like you, there's no need to use a weapon." Hearing his words, Takeru faintly smiled and directly threw away the sword he was tossed.
"Is that so? Then I'll send you to hell with your arrogance!" Hearing Takeru's words, Daidara seemed furious. He directly split the giant axe in his hands into two axes, then threw them towards Takeru and Mine with tremendous force.
Takeru quickly held Mine and moved away from the spot. However, the rapidly spinning axes seemed to have a tracking ability, quickly turning and flying towards Takeru's direction again.
"Mine, his target is me. Wait here for a moment." Seeing the giant axes still tracking, Takeru put Mine down and jumped to a distance again. Sure enough, the axes didn't fly towards Mine but swiftly chased Takeru.
"A tracking ability? But in your hands, it's just a waste of such an ability." Watching the axes getting closer, Takeru said calmly.
Then, when they were less than thirty centimeters away, Takeru suddenly moved. With formidable strength, he precisely grabbed the rapidly spinning axes, forcibly stopping them.
"What?!" Seeing Takeru stop his thrown axes with such power, Daidara was incredulous.
Mine and Bulat, not far away, also breathed a sigh of relief seeing Takeru was okay.
"Well then, now I'll return it to you." Looking at Daidara, Takeru revealed a cold smile, then imitated his motion, putting immense force into throwing the axe back at Daidara.
Far greater strength than his own made the axe's rotation and speed increase by a level.
Seeing this, Daidara was shocked, then could only use the remaining axe in his hand to block.
Clang!
With the sound of steel clashing, he found his arm holding the axe going numb from the impact. Finally, the tremendous force knocked the arm holding the axe away. The axe Takeru threw mercilessly tore him in half, then flew back into Takeru's hand.