Inside the castle...
Merraid studied the items confiscated from the captives with great interest.
She set Kiriichimonji down first.
She had already confirmed the weapon's ability: any wound made by that blade would keep bleeding and refuse to heal.
Next, she picked up Prometheus and fired a shot at the wall.
Merraid understood at once.
"I see. It consumes mental energy to alter the bullet's trajectory. Interesting."
She set Prometheus down, and this time picked up Crusher King.
"The shape of this weapon really isn't ladylike at all. It doesn't suit its owner."
Cornelia had left a good impression on her. She was exactly the type Merraid liked!
After making that little comment, she put Crusher King on. Then she clenched her fist, picked up Kurome's sword, and punched the blade.
Crack!
The blade shattered into pieces and scattered across the floor.
Merraid looked enlightened.
"So it increases the user's strength."
Normally, if she wanted to destroy that sword, she would have needed some technique.
But with the strength granted by Crusher King, she could break it with a casual strike.
Kurome's sword was not some legendary masterpiece, but it was not a crude, poorly made weapon either.
Since Poney's Shingu was a pair of shorts worn on the body, neither Merraid nor the others realized she actually possessed a Shingu as well.
Finally, Merraid picked up the Water Dragon Sword.
This time, she failed to activate the ability dwelling inside the sword, but she could still sense the power of a Danger Beast contained within it.
The strange nature of these weapons was not enough to leave Oarburgh astonished.
After all, the Teigu users they had killed were not exactly few in number.
And because those captured Teigu had compatibility issues, they had not kept them as trophies.
Ever since they had been hired by the Revolutionary Army, they had sold those unusable Teigu to them instead.
After that, the Revolutionary Army would search for compatible members on its own and use them to strengthen its forces.
"Lady Merraid, these weapons seem a little different from Teigu," Cassandra said.
She knew as well that Teigu chose their own users.
But these weapons did not seem to possess that ability.
Merraid confirmed, "They're not Teigu. That white-haired man's sword was definitely a Teigu, but the weapons these children use should be what people call Shingu."
"Shingu?"
"Mm. I only read about them in Oarburgh's inheritance records. Supposedly, several centuries ago, an emperor of the Empire attempted to create a new batch of Teigu, spending an enormous amount of wealth and resources in the process. In the end, he only managed to produce a group of inferior copies. These inferior weapons possessed special effects, but they could not compare to Teigu, so they were given the derisive title of Shingu."
"So there was such a hidden history..."
"It's normal that you wouldn't know. For that emperor, the very existence of these things was a tangible humiliation."
"Then should we sell these weapons to our employer, as we did before?"
"Mm..." Merraid thought for a moment. "There isn't much use in keeping them. I doubt they'll fetch a particularly high price. Even all of these together probably won't match the value of a single Teigu."
Merraid placed the Water Dragon Sword back on the table, then asked Cassandra, "When will the Revolutionary Army's people arrive?"
"By this afternoon at the latest."
"Heh, is that so? Then it's about time we reduced the unnecessary hostages."
Akame, Kurome, Tsukushi, Poney, Cornelia, Gin.
Leaving aside the boy who had been rescued, they still had as many as six hostages in their hands.
Even if Gilberda's injuries were not a concern, controlling six hostages with only three people was still troublesome.
After all, that was twice their number.
Merraid was not the type to let lust cloud her judgment.
Although it would pain her, when someone needed to be killed, she would kill them.
Because she was the head of Oarburgh.
"Those people haven't been interrogated yet. Before killing them, wouldn't it be better to question them first?" Cassandra suggested.
As far as the Imperial Assassination Corps was concerned, capturing them alive was already incredibly difficult.
If the ones fighting them had not been as strong as Merraid and her maids, even defeating them in battle would not have been enough to subdue them in time.
In their impression, the Imperial Assassination Corps consisted of a group of fanatical death soldiers who would immediately take poison and kill themselves the moment a mission became impossible.
"Hmm..."
Merraid hesitated a little.
Because compared to torture, she trusted her ability to seduce any girl into submission.
With her skills in bed, once a girl shared pleasure with her, whether that girl had experience or not, she would fall at once.
That was how powerful Merraid's technique was.
So if she truly needed to learn something, rather than sending her subordinates to interrogate them, it would be best for Merraid to handle it personally.
Of course, she had no interest in men.
It was only because all the captives this time happened to be fresh, beautiful young girls that she even had such thoughts.
That said, there was still one huge concern.
She was afraid she might grow soft-hearted.
Aside from Akame, whom she had decided to recruit, the other children all had their own charms as well, making it difficult for Merraid to discard them.
If she spent a night with those children under these circumstances, would she still be able to bring herself to kill them afterward?
She probably would be very reluctant...
...
Inside one of the castle rooms...
Poney suddenly opened her eyes.
She glanced at Tsukushi, who was sleeping beside her, and found that there was no one else in the room.
It seemed only the two of them were being held here.
Right now, she was very worried about Nahashu.
At the very end, she had seen Nahashu fall after being ambushed by a black-haired woman.
It was all her fault.
She had been poisoned right away and had not been of any use at all.
She had only dragged everyone down!
"Tsukushi, Tsukushi, wake up," Poney called softly.
Tsukushi immediately opened one eye and looked at Poney.
Poney jumped in fright.
"Whoa, you were pretending to be unconscious too?"
Hearing that her voice was a little too loud, Tsukushi quickly stopped her. "Shh, keep your voice down, Poney. If they find out we're awake, we might get tortured."
Seeing her worried look, Poney smiled confidently.
"Hehe, leave it to me."
"Huh?"
Poney twisted her hips, signaling for Tsukushi to look.
At first, Tsukushi was confused by her behavior, but then realization suddenly struck her.
"Ah!"
She quickly covered her mouth and suppressed her voice.
Looking at Poney's intact shorts, delight filled her.
Poney said proudly, "Hehehe. Looks like the enemy has never seen a cloth-type Shingu before, so they didn't take my weapon."
She glanced at the iron chains around her feet and felt the strength in her body, then frowned slightly.
"They did use some kind of drug to weaken us, huh? But if this is all it does, then they've underestimated me."
Poney smiled. She took a runner's starting posture and rubbed the soles of her feet against the ground a few times.
Then she suddenly kicked out.
With a dull crash, the bricks in the wall were directly torn out by the chain attached to her ankle.
At the same time, a layer of skin was scraped from her ankle.
But Poney acted as if that level of pain was nothing. She did not even frown. In fact, she looked happy.
"Hmph, hmph. Leave it to the clever Poney! I'll save all of you!"
Poney patted her flat chest, then came to Tsukushi's side.
She tried to tear open Tsukushi's restraints, but even after using all her strength, she could not budge them.
When she was covered in sweat from exhaustion, she could not help sighing.
"Ah, I knew it wouldn't work. If it were Guy, he could probably crush these chains with his bare hands. He's stronger than a gorilla, after all."
Although Poney had exceptional leg strength, her advantage lay in explosive power and flexibility.
Her physical toughness was not so high that she could destroy iron chains barehanded.
Tearing the bricks out of the wall was already her limit.
Even now, the chains were still securely fastened around her ankles.
If she kicked the chains with all her strength, both sides would probably suffer.
The iron chain might break, but her foot would definitely be ruined by the recoil.
"Sorry, Tsukushi. I can't break your chains. I'll go outside and find the key, then I'll run back and save you right away!" Poney clasped her hands together and apologized to the girl, then said something shocking.
Tsukushi was startled. "Wait, you're going out? This is enemy territory! This is their base!"
Poney smiled confidently.
"Don't worry. I won't get caught."
With that, she kicked the door straight off its hinges, sending it flying out with a huge crash.
'Poney???' Tsukushi stared blankly.
What kind of move was that?
Why did she kick the door away?
With a noise that loud, they would definitely be found, right?
Wasn't this really bad?!
Poney rushed into the castle corridor, dragging the chains on both feet as she started sprinting.
"Akame! Kurome! Gin! Cornelia! Where are you??"
Poney's shouting echoed through the entire floor of the castle.
...
Naturally, Merraid and Cassandra heard it as well.
The two looked at each other, both a little stunned.
What' s going on? Someone escaped? How?
Even if she escaped, why was she shouting so loudly?
Was this girl clever or an idiot?
Cassandra volunteered at once. "I'll go capture her, Master. Please wait here for a moment."
Merraid nodded, granting permission.
...
Meanwhile, as Poney ran and shouted, she kicked open tightly shut doors one after another, searching room by room for her companions.
Suddenly, the twin-tailed maid came charging out.
When Poney saw her, she froze for a moment.
Because she had never met this enemy before.
"Who are you?"
"Behave and let me capture you."
"No way!" Poney rejected Cassandra's proposal without even thinking.
After confirming that the other girl was an enemy, she swung the chains on her legs and attacked Cassandra.
Cassandra flipped backward twice in a row, successfully dodging.
Poney grinned, then immediately used a hanging whirlwind kick.
The two iron chains let out terrifying howls as Poney's legs whipped them into a black cyclone.
When the chains struck the walls, they smashed hole after hole into the stone, making it clear just how terrifying the force carried by those high-speed spinning chains was.
Cold sweat formed on Cassandra's forehead.
Facing that kind of attack, she was forced to focus entirely on evasion.
She was not Gilberda. She could not rely on her body to endure such terrifying strikes.
After Poney kept it up for several seconds, she suddenly stopped and even supported her thighs with both hands while panting.
"Hah... hah... I'm so tired."
Her stamina still had not recovered.
Although the poison resistance she had developed since childhood allowed her to move even after being poisoned, clearly, that resistance had its limits.
Being able to move at all was already impressive.
The moment she exercised violently, the poison in her blood was absorbed more quickly, further draining her stamina.
Seeing her opponent suddenly panting hard and muttering about being tired, Cassandra was also a little speechless.
"So she really is an idiot."
When Cassandra thought about how she had been helplessly pressured by such an idiot, she felt so embarrassed she wanted to disappear.
So she asked coldly, "Are you done making trouble?"
Poney panted as she raised her head and looked at her, blinking her large eyes twice.
Then she suddenly smiled.
"Hey, maid lady, do you know where my companions are being held? And where the key is?"
Cassandra snorted coldly.
"Why would I tell you?"
"Hahaha, fair enough. Too bad! I thought maybe you were a nice person."
"I'm an assassin."
"Huh? What a coincidence. I'm an assassin too!"
Cassandra felt completely unable to understand this girl's thought process.
Was she not just an idiot, but a complete airhead?
It would be better not to waste any more words on her.
"Wait, am I seeing things, or do you actually have four hands?" Poney rubbed her eyes and carefully examined Cassandra's four arms.
In all her life, this was the first time she had ever seen a person with four arms.
Cassandra frowned slightly.
Although being by Lady Merraid's side had stopped her from questioning the meaning and value of her existence, the painful memories brought by those four arms would not simply vanish.
Her gaze turned cold, and a trace of murderous intent rose in her heart toward Poney.
Poney sensed that murderous aura.
When it came to intuition, she was always unusually sharp.
"Huh? Did I say something you don't like?" Poney scratched her head, and the chains around her wrists clinked.
At that moment, when she saw the chains on her wrists, a flash of inspiration suddenly lit up in Poney's mind.
She seemed to have thought of a way to defeat Cassandra!