Inside a magnificent palace, a fat man was sitting on the steps before the throne, listening to a subordinate's report.
"I see, so such things have happened in the North..."
Taking a bite of the greasy meat in his right hand without hesitation, the man fell into a rare silence for several seconds, but his gaze seemed to pierce through numerous obstacles to see everything happening on the northern battlefield.
"I understand the situation. You may leave now."
The messenger soldier nodded and left the man's presence as quickly as possible, leaving him sitting alone on the steps.
Generally speaking, the only person who should be able to sit in such a luxurious palace, disregard everyone's attitude, and act solely on their own whims is the Emperor.
But the man before them was not the Emperor, merely someone close to him. Yet he was the greatest mastermind in the entire akame ga kill world, and the resistance's greatest opponent—Minister Honest!
However, just as Honest was pondering the matters of the North, the sound of a voice suddenly caught his attention, causing him to immediately stand up from the steps and perform basic etiquette.
"Your Majesty!"
A young boy who looked to be about five years old emerged from a side passage surrounded by maids, quickly coming into Honest's view.
Perhaps because he saw his most "loyal" subordinate, the boy's face showed a look of genuine joy, and ignoring the nervousness of the maids, he ran over to Honest's side.
"Minister, We have come to find you again. We hope We are not disturbing you?"
"Of course not. Your Majesty is the most important matter of the Empire. How could you possibly disturb me?"
Facing the young Emperor's question, Honest's face broke into a bright smile, looking almost as if he were coaxing a child.
The truth was exactly that; the boy before him was the Emperor of the Empire, and a genuine child at that.
Because the previous Emperor and Empress had died young, the little boy, who had no siblings, had to ascend the throne at a young age to become the ruler of a nation.
"It is somewhat shameful. Today's Empire relies entirely on the Minister to function. Because We are too young, We truly lack the energy to handle these matters... It is a real burden on the Minister."
"How could it be a burden?" Honest's attitude never wavered. "Being loyal to the Empire is my duty as Minister. Naturally, I cannot let Your Majesty be disappointed!"
"Furthermore, the Former Emperor entrusted everything to this old official. Naturally, I shall give my all!"
Recalling the scene of the Former Emperor and Empress's tragic deaths, Minister Honest's expression didn't change in the slightest, though he felt a hint of mockery in his heart... He had poisoned the Former Emperor and Empress himself; the Empire had long since existed in name only!
And most importantly, the Little Emperor is already in my hands. Everything in the Empire's future is mine!
I can do whatever I want!
"To have a subject like the Minister, We are truly gratified!"
The Little Emperor smiled and nodded, but soon the smile vanished from his face. When he had arrived just now, he had seen that thoughtful expression on the Minister's face from a distance.
"But Minister, has something troublesome happened recently? Your expression just now was quite bad. Is there anything We can help with?"
"Your Majesty has a keen eye; this old official truly cannot hide anything!"
After flattering the Little Emperor slightly, the Minister recalled the previous report and relayed the situation to him.
Although the Emperor was still young, in order to become a wise ruler, he listened to the Minister's reports every day to see if anything major had happened within the Empire or its surroundings.
According to the Little Emperor's own words, this was supposed to be the cultivation of a king?
So even if the Little Emperor lacked energy, he wanted to personally understand the internal situation of the Empire and not always let the Minister work alone.
"The situation is like this..."
Just a few months ago, the Empire sent an army of 300,000, dealing a fatal blow to the Northern Tribes. This directly caused chaos within the Northern Country, and the Northern Emperor's imperial power was weakened as never before, to the point where he couldn't even command the nobles under him.
This was all planned by Honest. Once the entire North began to fall into chaos, Honest would not hesitate to send troops again, aiming to take the entire North directly.
Of course, the resistance would certainly interfere during this time, and the Empire would have to find a way to deal with that situation when it arose.
But before that, something was bound to happen in the North first!
Honest had received news that the old King of the North seemed to have been assassinated by someone unknowingly... directly making the already chaotic northern situation worse, even putting the entire Northern Country at risk of disintegration!
The cause lay in the actions of a few nights ago. Judging by the information from Imperial spies, several nobles had united to form a powerful army, preparing to directly take down the Northern Kingdoms Prince Numa Seika.
It looked like they wanted to follow his example and hold the Son of Heaven to command the lords?
Honest originally intended to think highly of them due to their shared experience, believing their actions should succeed.
But the result was a failure...
"As expected of the Northern Tribes!"
Compared to himself, who was born in the Empire, those people were simply pathetic. They couldn't even handle a single prince?
This series of events caused Honest's judgment of the North to change once again. Were these Northern Tribes really this weak?
However, among all this, a name appeared that interested Honest... someone who led the Prince's army to crush the rebellious subjects who tried to attack, and using that as an achievement, became a favorite at Numa Seika's side.
Supposedly a woman?
The name seemed to be Cerydra?
"Hahaha! Your Majesty, isn't this matter interesting?"
"Hmm, indeed. We didn't expect that Northern Prince to have such a subordinate... Should we do something?"
The Little Emperor was thoughtful, but how could a five-year-old child have a solution? So he ultimately looked to the Minister before him, seeking help with his gaze.
"We indeed should do something... It would be best to test them out!"
Judging from the reports of the northern spies, that coalition of northern nobles was clearly annihilated.
And annihilation meant that no news leaked out. Cerydra's side was fully capable of changing the 'history' of that war, because history is written by the victors!
Even someone as shrewd as Minister Honest couldn't know all the details of that war. Therefore, to prevent the Northern Country from expanding again and returning to its previous state of prosperity, the Minister needed to send scouts to test the opponent's strength.
If the other party had only defeated that army of sixty thousand by luck, the Minister naturally wouldn't do anything extra. But if the other party was hiding some key information and wanted to rise again...
Then Honest would not stand idly by!
"Your Majesty, let's first send a small unit to test them. If the opponent truly possesses great strength..."
"Then we shall send a powerful general to completely eliminate them! I think that newly appointed General Najenda would be very suitable!"
"Mhm!" The Minister's words once again brought a smile to the Little Emperor's face, and also made his trust in the Minister even deeper.
"Then We shall leave it to the Minister!"