Esdeath led the Jaegers into the garden.
"What happened here?"
Esdeath asked.
Uesugi Ryu waved his hand and replied with a smile,
"A minor issue. Nothing serious."
Looking at the garden, which resembled a battlefield after artillery bombardment, Wave could not help twitching at the corner of his mouth.
"You call damage on this scale a minor issue?"
Drool trickled from the corner of Kurome's mouth as she stared at the deformed test subject with sparkling eyes.
"It kind of looks like steak."
Bols scratched his head and looked at Kurome helplessly.
"Little Kurome, I don't think that's edible."
Esdeath looked at the unidentifiable lump of flesh at Uesugi Ryu's feet and frowned.
"A new type of Danger Beast? Or an experimental creature you created?"
Stylish focused his attention on the alchemical circle in the distance.
He belonged to the scientific school and did not know much about alchemy.
However, just from the scale and complexity of the circle, it was obvious that this was no ordinary alchemical formation.
"I was conducting a little experiment. It got out of control, but everything's fine now."
At that moment, an eerie squelching sound slowly rang out.
Everyone's gaze fell upon the grotesque experimental subject.
"That's the bandit leader we captured before, isn't it?"
Looking at the man's unusual Kakugan, Wave seemed rather curious.
He had personally captured the man, so he remembered him.
A trace of inquisitiveness flashed in Stylish's eyes as he teased,
"Human Transmutation, hmm? I didn't expect the Vice-Captain to understand this field as well."
Uesugi Ryu waved a hand casually.
"Just a little."
Esdeath rubbed her chin, clearly intrigued.
"This specimen seems to have excellent regenerative abilities."
Stylish placed one hand against his cheek while carefully observing the subject's reactions.
"I specialize in human modification myself. It seems the Vice-Captain and I share similar interests."
Stylish found the crimson kagune particularly fascinating. He had never seen anything like it on a Danger Beast.
He already wanted to cooperate with Uesugi Ryu and see whether they could achieve some exciting new research breakthroughs.
Suppressing his excitement, Stylish thought to himself,
"Those eyes... so it really is alchemy. I knew humans couldn't naturally possess eyes like that."
Seryu opened her mouth, revealing the barrel of a gun, while praising him.
"The Doctor is amazing."
"He made all the weapons installed in me. They're incredibly useful for exterminating evil."
Hearing that, Uesugi Ryu's lips curved slightly. There it was, his laboratory partner.
"Doctor, are you interested in this as well? Combining alchemy and technology should produce wonderful results."
Stylish immediately smiled and twisted excitedly.
"Precisely. The perfect fusion of fashion."
Esdeath glanced at Uesugi Ryu and warned him coolly,
"Don't cause a commotion like this again. Keep your experiments under control."
Protecting the Imperial Capital was the Jaegers' duty. Uesugi Ryu making such a huge scene here left Esdeath rather dissatisfied.
Uesugi Ryu nodded, then glanced at the watch on his left wrist.
"Understood. Still, your response time was impressive. Less than four minutes."
Bols carried a large tank on his back and held what resembled a flamethrower.
This was his Teigu, Rubicante.
Hearing Uesugi Ryu's words, Bols answered seriously,
"Seryu-chan was very worried about your safety. Since she led the way, we got here so quickly."
As a member of the Capital Guard, Seryu patrolled regularly and knew the Imperial Capital's layout extremely well.
Seryu shyly turned her head away, twisting her hands together.
"Why would you say that, Mr. Bols..."
Looking at Seryu's bashful expression, Uesugi Ryu thought to himself, "Why are you blushing like a kettle?"
Jokes aside, he understood that Seryu was genuinely concerned for him.
He smiled and gently patted her head.
"Is that so? Sorry for making you worry, Seryu."
The warmth of his palm made Seryu blush all the way down to her neck.
She stammered,
"You... don't need to apologize, Mr. Uesugi..."
Esdeath's expression instantly cooled when she saw this.
This was the first time she had seen such a smile on Uesugi Ryu's face. She was not exactly angry.
Rather, she suddenly wondered whether Uesugi Ryu often smiled like this in front of his wife.
Run observed the three of them, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
He had climbed to his current position by manipulating women's feelings.
Naturally, he was extremely sensitive to such matters.
His pale fingers brushed across the cover of his book as he thought,
"If I remember correctly, Vice-Captain Uesugi has a wife. So what is this, a four-way romance?"
Wave, however, paid no attention to such things.
He lowered his head, lost in thought.
Taking advantage of everyone's distraction, Kurome quietly picked up a piece of meat.
Catching this out of the corner of his eye, Wave rubbed his forehead and loudly complained,
"You're really planning to eat that?"
The moment Wave spoke, everyone's attention returned.
Under the assault of everyone's stares, Kurome reluctantly set the piece of flesh back down.
She shot Wave a resentful glare.
"I thought it was a Night Raid attack. Since it isn't, let's head back and rest."
Esdeath's cool voice echoed through the air.
....
After completing her assassination mission, Chelsea transformed into a hawk and swiftly flew back toward the base.
Her thoughts were complicated.
The Empire's situation had improved significantly.
Chouri continued his struggle against Honest, and coupled with the Jaegers' operations, public order and social conditions in the Imperial Capital had improved considerably.
Over the past few days, Night Raid's targets had primarily been Honest's subordinates, steadily weakening his influence.
At this rate, there were only three possible outcomes.
The first was full-scale civil war.
Honest and Esdeath would directly clash with Chouri and Budo.
The Revolutionary Army could then take advantage of the chaos, march straight into the Imperial Capital, and overthrow the Empire with ease.
Naturally, that would be the ideal outcome.
Unfortunately, Chouri and Budo were unlikely to choose that path.
Although Chouri had been saved by Night Raid, his personal intentions remained uncertain.
A mutually destructive civil war was probably not what they wanted.
The second possibility was the bad ending.
After enough struggle, the two factions might temporarily reconcile and join forces against the Revolutionary Army and the foreign tribes.
At present, however, that seemed unlikely.
The third possibility was one side completely overwhelming the other.
There was no need to consider Honest defeating Chouri.
But if Chouri defeated Honest, what would become of the Revolutionary Army?
Most of the Revolutionary Army's members were officials and generals who had rebelled because they could no longer tolerate Honest's tyranny.
If the Empire were truly reborn, would their revolutionary conviction begin to waver?
Chelsea herself did not care much about such things.
As long as the people could live well, that was enough for her.
She sighed softly and stopped dwelling on it.
"Honestly, why am I even thinking about all this? It has nothing to do with me."