At this moment, Chelsea had already met everyone in Night Raid.

  "This is our new companion starting today. Her name is Chelsea. I hope you all get along with her."

  Najenda introduced Chelsea to the others.

  It was clear that Najenda already knew Chelsea, but the rest of Night Raid didn’t.

  Chelsea smiled warmly, giving off a friendly impression.

  Even when facing Akame, her former enemy, she showed no signs of hostility.

  "Looks like the new girl should be easy to get along with."

  Mine’s first impression of Chelsea was quite positive.

  But that opinion probably wouldn’t st long.

  "Oh, oh! What a beautiful girl!"

  Lubbock excimed as he took in Chelsea’s appearance.

  "Well? Are you already itching to make a move, Lubbock?"

  Leone teased him in a hushed tone.

  "Of course not. I already have someone I like."

  Lubbock muttered back.

  "Huh?! You already have a crush on someone?"

  Hearing this, Leone's curiosity was immediately piqued. "Who is it?"

  "That’s a secret. I can’t tell you."

  Lubbock refused to answer.

  "Come on, just whisper it to me. I won’t tell anyone."

  Leone nudged Lubbock with her elbow. "Akame? Mine? Sheele? The girls in Night Raid are all pretty cute."

  The only one she didn’t mention was the Boss—because, well, Najenda had a more masculine look and demeanor.

  Besides, after being around Lubbock for so long, Leone knew that while he could be a bit of a pervert, he was always serious when it came to Najenda.

  "No comment."

  It was clear Lubbock didn’t trust Leone one bit.

  If she let it slip and the girl he actually had feelings for found out, he’d be mortified.

  "Alright, alright, so it’s a secret crush, huh? Well, good luck with that."

  Leone had already figured out that Lubbock was keeping quiet because he was too embarrassed to admit who he liked.

  The others, however, weren’t paying attention to their whispered conversation.

  Chelsea had already started reporting information about Byn to Najenda.

  Just like she had back at the Revolutionary Army base, Chelsea recounted everything that had happened at the Assassination Unit’s base—except for the things she couldn’t reveal.

  "In that case, Byn is even more suitable than I originally thought," Najenda said, slightly surprised.

  Based on Chelsea's description, Byn was even more of a pacifist than she had imagined.

  "We can see hints of that in how he’s changed the Imperial Assassination Unit. During his time in charge, they haven't cshed with Night Raid or even the entire Revolutionary Army. Even in the two encounters we've had, there was no hostility."

  Najenda specuted, "It must be intentional. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, the Imperial Assassination Unit would be targeting us at any time."

  "That guy’s attitude isn’t great, but he really hasn’t done anything to hurt us," Mine admitted.

  "But when Sheele tried to recruit him today, he turned her down," Najenda added thoughtfully. "I wonder if he’s hesitating over something. We’ll have to wait until our next meeting to find out."

  "Huh? He already refused?" Chelsea was a little surprised.

  From what she knew about Byn, he wouldn’t reject an offer unless he had serious concerns.

  And she could think of at least one thing he might be worried about—the people in the Assassination Unit. Given Byn’s personality, he likely valued them deeply.

  If he abandoned them to join the Revolutionary Army, the Empire would surely punish them harshly.

  "Yeah, but he didn’t give us a reason," Sheele said.

  "I think I know why. He probably can’t bear to leave the Assassination Unit behind," Chelsea guessed.

  "If that’s the case, then we need to figure out how to address that concern and convince him," Najenda said. "Fortunately, thanks to Sheele’s agreement with Byn, we’ll get a proper chance to talk to him in three days."

  "Three days, huh..."

  Chelsea nodded slowly at those words, a sly smile creeping onto her lips, as if she had already thought up a fun little prank.

  "What’s up, Chelsea? You look like you’re enjoying yourself," Najenda asked curiously, noticing her expression.

  Chelsea chuckled. "Oh, it’s nothing. I’m just looking forward to surprising that guy. I can’t wait to see how he reacts~"

  ...

  Meanwhile, Byn and his group were en route to the Seiga Cavern.

  The flying Danger Beasts carrying them had been summoned by a horn-shaped Teigu known as "Sky Horn."

  This Teigu granted its user the ability to raise and tame flying Danger Beasts. It could directly tame any flying Danger Beast below the Super-Css level but had no effect on nd-based ones.

  However, the Teigu had its limits—for example, it could only control up to ten Special-Css Danger Beasts at a time. If the user wanted to tame a new one, they would have to release an existing one to make room.

  Its secret skill, "Sacrifice," allowed the user to permanently bind up to two Flying Super-Css Danger Beasts at the cost of their own lifespan. Every time a bound Super-Css Danger Beast was summoned, the user's life force would gradually be drained.

  The girl best suited for this Teigu had inherited it from its previous owner, an obese woman who had left behind a handful of Danger Beasts. Only one Special-Css and four Css-One Danger Beasts remained—the rest had been killed by Koro.

  At that moment, Byn was browsing the System Shop, exchanging his accumuted points.

  [System Points: 139]

  [Ding! The host has redeemed "Red Cloud Robe ×24," deducting 24 System Points!][Ding! The host has redeemed "Constitution +55," deducting 55 System Points!][Ding! The host has redeemed "Strength +20," deducting 20 System Points!][Ding! The host has redeemed "Agility +20," deducting 20 System Points!][Ding! The host has redeemed "Ocur Power +20," deducting 20 System Points!]

  After redeeming the Red Cloud Robes, Byn distributed his remaining points among his attributes.

  [Strength: 70][Agility: 70][Constitution: 185][Ocur Power: ? (+20)]

  Before long, with the help of the flying Danger Beasts, Byn and his group arrived at Seiga Cavern one after another.

  They chose a moderately deep section of the cave as the initial base location.

  Byn then retrieved all the Red Cloud Robes from his System inventory and handed them out.

  "These will be our Akatsuki uniforms from now on. Try them on and see if they fit."

  PinkSnake