Looking at the fewer-than-usual missions, Nahash felt a headache coming on. Ever since Akame defected, the number of missions they could receive had decreased significantly.
However, were fewer missions a good thing? One could definitively say no. These few missions were all relatively dangerous ones.
Even Nahash didn't want to receive such missions, as they already carried the risk of death. But he had to pick the relatively less dangerous ones from among them to accept. After all, the Empire was not a charity organization; it wouldn't support freeloaders.
Rubbing his temples, Nahash picked up the latest 'mission' document and began reading, hoping it would be satisfactory.
However, the contents made Nahash's eyes widen.
In short, the content was to have Kaede accept the position of Imperial General, meet the Emperor, and have the Emperor personally confer the title upon her.
"Imperial General..." Even Nahash couldn't help but feel astonished at this moment. One must know that becoming an Imperial General was not easy, especially for people like them without strong backing. Then Nahash recalled Kaede's recent mission: single-handedly eliminating an entire tribe.
Moreover, according to Nahash's investigation, that tribe's strength was not weak. Suddenly, Nahash seemed to understand something. The most fundamental reason Kaede could become an Imperial General was simply because she was strong enough.
Just like Esdeath. She was already the Empire's Strongest. Who would dare not give her the position of Imperial General? Perhaps she might even look down on it~
However, no matter how you put it, this was good news for Kaede. Perhaps starting today, Kaede would leave the Imperial Assassination Unit. Thinking of Kaede's assassination skills, Nahash also felt a bit of regret.
When Nahash told all the members of the Elite Group this news, everyone looked at Kaede in surprise.
Kaede merely raised an eyebrow, then felt nothing more. In her eyes, Imperial General was just a position. She had originally wanted to use her strength to enter the high-level stage, but she hadn't expected to be given the position of Imperial General all at once. This position would definitely secure her a stable place on the stage she aimed for.
However, Kaede had a premonition that she probably wouldn't be able to stay within the Empire's inner city. Although some Imperial Generals remained in the inner city—like Grand General Budo, who never went out—there were also those constantly stationed outside, like Esdeath.
Then, Kaede felt she probably wouldn't be kept in the inner city. After all, the Minister... she had received training from the Grand General, and the reason she could directly become an Imperial General this time was likely also because of Grand General Budo.
Otherwise, for someone like her with no backing, even with her level of strength, wanting to become an Imperial General? Don't even think about it.
Therefore, in the eyes of the Minister's faction, she should be considered part of the Grand General's side. So, the most likely scenario was that she would be assigned to a border region, handling affairs with foreign tribes, just like Esdeath.
However, Esdeath was probably voluntary about it, and she seemed to enjoy it tirelessly.
"Sister..." Akame also felt happy for her sister, but a bad feeling welled up inside her, as if she would be separated from her sister again.
"It's fine." Kaede rubbed Akame's little head. "No matter where I am, you will always be my favorite Akame, and I will always be your sister~"
"Mm!" A smile appeared on Akame's face as she looked at Kaede, finally nodding heavily.
...
Then, before accepting the position, Kaede met with Budo.
"Well done." Budo looked at Kaede, a hint of surprise in his eyes. Originally, he thought Kaede would use assassination methods to eliminate that tribe bit by bit. He hadn't expected it to be done in this manner.
However, if she could accomplish this, then one thing could be confirmed: the person before him could already be called 'the Empire's Strongest'!
"So it really was related to you." A wry smile appeared at the corner of Kaede's mouth. So her current state was entirely thanks to Budo.
"Mm." Budo did not refute it. "Stay in the border region for a while first."
Having said that, Budo turned and walked into the palace.
"As expected..." A flash of understanding passed through Kaede's eyes. The Minister's side really wouldn't stay quiet~ Then, Kaede followed Budo.
For the first time, she saw this Empire's young Emperor! At first glance, Kaede wondered if she was seeing things. It was actually a young boy who understood nothing!
In any case, even with Kaede's observational skills, she found no signs that this Emperor had been tainted by this dark Empire!
"Hmm..." Kaede looked thoughtfully at Budo's figure, and then at the Minister who was continuously tearing into a piece of meat over there, the corner of her mouth lifting.
It seemed Grand General Budo wasn't having it easy either. But actually, Kaede was mistaken. In the Minister's view, this was even better for control. As for brainwashing, he truly didn't dare. If he did that, Budo would definitely come knocking on his door the next moment.
Afterwards, Kaede was conferred the position of Imperial General by the young Emperor. Then, the order she received was to go to the border to suppress some rebelling foreign tribes.
Regarding this, Kaede had long been prepared. She also wasn't worried about being stuck at the border forever, because Budo surely wouldn't seek help from someone stationed at the border, right?
So, she just needed to wait patiently there at the border.
But was that actually possible? A strange smile appeared at the corner of Kaede's mouth. Since she was assigned this mission to suppress foreign tribes, she would have to accomplish something to make them take notice.
However, Kaede wasn't good at thinking up plans or methods. The only thing Kaede was good at was killing people. Well, beating people up was also acceptable.
Thus, the first thing Kaede did upon arriving at the border was to kill the original highest-ranking commander there. Originally, she just wanted to beat him up, but seeing that he seemed unwilling to relinquish military authority, she had no choice but to kill him.
Afterwards, even though everyone over there absolutely knew she was the one who did it, who would dare say it openly? Didn't they see that even their strongest person had died under mysterious circumstances?
Then Kaede implemented her 'beat them up' policy. Within a few days, all those Soldiers could be said to have been beaten up by her.
Every day, one could see over a hundred Soldiers' bodies fallen around Kaede, with the remaining standing Soldiers constantly retreating, not daring to step forward again. Their eyes held fear, as if looking at a demon.
Yes, a demon. Completely disregarding their numbers, doing as she pleased.
Could humans really oppose a demon? Confusion appeared in the Soldiers' eyes. Finally, one person knelt down, submitting. Then, more and more Soldiers knelt down. The strong were respected.
AI Model: gemini-3.1-flash-lite
A smile appeared on Kaede's lips. This was her current strength. After the second blood sacrifice, she could almost say she feared no one. Even against Esdeath, Kaede felt that she could now compete for supremacy.
However, thinking of Esdeath's personality, Kaede guessed that if she knew about this, she would probably be too excited to sleep... With a twitch of her lips, she gave up on the decision to compete with Esdeath.
Not to mention whether she could win or not, even if she could, it seemed pointless. Hmm, to pique Esdeath's interest? To have her come looking for a fight every day? Given Esdeath's personality, she might actually finish all her work and come over alone to fight her. So... it was better to let it go.
Meanwhile, the minor generals standing nearby wore bitter smiles. They dared not speak out of anger; even the strongest among them had been slaughtered, so what could they possibly do?
They had originally thought she was just a brute, and the facts proved it, but they never expected that even a brute had a brute's methods. They exchanged glances, feeling that their positions might not last much longer, but as long as they were alive, that was fine.
Furthermore, they had a premonition that the current stalemate with the foreign tribes was about to end.
Looking at her personality, they couldn't imagine her coexisting peacefully with the foreign tribes.
The facts proved this to be true. The very next day, without them knowing, Kaede had drawn the geographical information and layout of a foreign tribe onto a map. What surprised them most was that she had even marked the number of people!!
How on earth did she do it? Suddenly, they felt a sense of admiration for the young Imperial General before them. This strength.
The Empire's Strongest. They suddenly understood.
Could The Empire's Strongest be played to death by their petty tricks? It was probably impossible.
The few of them exchanged glances. Since they realized it was impossible, they might as well focus on offering their strategies...
As for Kaede, was she afraid they would sabotage her? In fact, she could solve the problem alone, so what was there to be afraid of?
Then, under the planning of these generals who were already inclined to submit, and with such clear information, if they couldn't easily resolve the battle, they would be nothing but trash.
Moreover, they wanted to impress this young The Empire's Strongest, so they were more proactive than the last. Perhaps they would be favored~
And then, although they had already guessed Kaede's strength, this battle made them directly realize the combat power of The Empire's Strongest.
She was an existence capable of slaughtering an entire army alone. Although they had strategies, in the end, the number of enemies killed by Kaede's blade alone was definitely over half.
"General!!"
"General!"
Looking at the cheering Soldiers around her, with those eyes that seemed to revere her like a god, the transformation from demon to god was simply a result of enemies becoming allies! The generals exchanged glances, their lips twisted in bitterness. Meeting such a General—they didn't know if it was their fortune or their misfortune.
And Kaede, knowing that they didn't seem to have sabotaged her, did not remove them from their positions.
Just like that, report after report of victory was sent to the Empire as time passed.
Looking at these victory reports, a smile appeared on Budo's rigid face. "That little girl!"
Then, he looked at the sky. "It seems... it's time for her to come back."
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