As Byn and Mine rested, Mine suddenly spoke up.

  "I wasn’t exactly nice to you before. Maybe it’s because of your beliefs… or maybe I was just being selfish."

  Byn gnced at her, slightly curious. "How so?"

  "My hometown is on the western border of the Empire. I’m a mixed-race child with Western Region ancestry, so I was constantly discriminated against. Everyone treated me like an outsider… My childhood was miserable."

  Sitting under the tree, Mine stared into the distance, recalling her past. "It wasn’t until the Revolutionary Army allied with the Western Region that I joined them. They told me that once the Empire was overthrown and a new nation was established, the country and the different ethnic groups would form diplomatic ties. If all the peoples united, there would no longer be children who suffered like I did."

  Her tone suddenly grew firm. "I never want anyone else to go through that kind of discrimination. Even if it means going against your beliefs, I have to do this. So, maybe that makes me selfish."

  It was clear how deeply she believed in this.

  After a brief silence, Byn finally spoke.

  "I understand… but you might be looking at it too simply. A new nation doesn’t automatically mean diplomatic retions with other groups. In fact, conflicts could worsen. Ethnic integration isn’t something that just happens overnight."

  Mine had been expecting an argument, yet Byn remained calm and reasonable. That caught her off guard.

  "Then tell me—what do you think is the right way to make it happen?" she asked immediately.

  To be honest, even she had felt the Revolutionary Army made it sound too easy.

  But she hadn’t known of any other path, so overthrowing the Empire had always seemed like the only solution. Besides, she didn’t mind working as an assassin in Night Raid—eliminating corrupt officials was a worthy cause.

  Byn responded, "For real integration to happen, you’d need an emperor and foreign leaders willing to reform, a stable and peaceful environment to encourage cooperation, cultural exchanges that lead to shared traditions… and, most importantly, time. The reality is, the biggest obstacle right now isn’t the existence of the Empire itself—it’s Honest’s regime. What matters is how the country's leadership enacts policies. If the new rulers still discriminate against other ethnic groups, nothing will change."

  Integrating different peoples wasn’t that simple.

  In his past life, even China had undergone thousands of years of cultural blending, conflicts, and wars before reaching a certain level of unity. The Empire wasn’t anywhere close to that level of civilization.

  Byn wasn’t against regime change, but he didn’t want foreign nations exploiting the chaos. Besides, after Honest’s downfall, the situation wouldn’t be much different from an outright change in government.

  The so-called "new nation" in the original story? It had still been run by former Empire officials.

  What truly made Byn wary was the Revolutionary Army’s leadership.

  Did they have their own hidden agenda?

  He couldn’t say for sure, but he had a strong feeling that Mine had been misled.

  And even if the leaders did have personal ambitions, that was just human nature.

  "Of course," Byn added, "I do have my own biases about foreigners. You and I both have our fws—so let’s just call it even."

  Mine was surprised for a moment, then suddenly let out a small ugh.

  "I never thought I’d hear something like that from you. But… you’re right. Integrating different ethnic groups isn’t as easy as I thought. After Honest’s regime falls, I’ll figure out what comes next."

  She found herself warming up to Byn a little. Maybe he wasn’t as annoying as she had thought.

  Still, taking down Honest remained her top priority.

  As for what came after… she’d deal with that when the time came.

  "Anyway, no matter what, I’ll make sure I’m remembered as the hero who overthrew Honest! That way, I can become a noble and live a life of endless luxury!"

  In an instant, her serious expression disappeared, repced by a dreamy, almost silly smile as she envisioned her gmorous future.

  Beyond her wish to protect future mixed-race children from discrimination, she also had a very real, very personal goal—becoming rich and enjoying the good life.

  "Ahaha..."

  Byn let out a slightly awkward chuckle.

  Well, at least it was a practical dream.

  …

  By now, the four intercepted guards had all been eliminated.

  Some were sliced in half by Sheele, some were beaten to death by Leone, some were taken out from behind in a swift kill by Chelsea, and some were completely overpowered by But, whose hand-to-hand combat skills were approaching Esdeath’s level.

  Lubbock was the only one who hadn't nded a single kill.

  "These guys were way too weak. That wasn’t even satisfying," Leone grumbled, rolling her shoulders as if the fight hadn’t even been enough to warm her up.

  She was still in her transformed state after activating her Teigu, The King of Beasts Transformation: Lionelle, which took the form of a belt wrapped around her waist.

  After beastification, she had grown animal ears, and her hands had turned into sharp cws. Other than that, she hadn’t changed much physically.

  More importantly, her strength had skyrocketed, along with an enhanced sense of smell.

  "You guys finished them off too fast. I didn’t even get a single kill! And there were only four of them—what a letdown," Lubbock compined, clearly disappointed.

  "You barely did anything? Then your share of the reward is getting cut in half," Leone said casually.

  "Wait, no! I was working hard to support you guys!" Lubbock panicked at the thought of losing half his reward.

  "Um..."

  Sheele hesitantly raised a hand. "Weren’t there supposed to be five guards? Where’s the st one?"

  "They might’ve slipped past us to track Mine and Byn," But said, his tone serious. "An enemy with that level of awareness might be a problem..."

  "They went after Mine? Byn's with her, so they should be fine," Leone said, though she had never actually seen Byn's full capabilities. She just had a gut feeling that he was reliable.

  "Byn’s strong, no doubt about that. But we should still go check on them, just in case," Sheele added.

  Having witnessed Byn use the Gunbai Uchiwa to hunt Danger Beasts, she was the most qualified to vouch for him.

  ...

  Without wasting any time, the group rushed to the rendezvous point.

  When they arrived, they saw Byn and Mine sitting under a rge tree, chatting and ughing without a care in the world. Neither of them looked injured.

  Everyone immediately rexed.

  "Huh? When did those two start getting along so well?" Leone asked in surprise.

  Mine had always looked irritated whenever Byn was around, but now she was smiling at him.

  "This is a good thing. Wasn’t the boss hoping they’d get along?" Lubbock pointed out.

  "That’s great," Sheele said, genuinely happy about it.

  "Looks like something happened while we weren’t around," Chelsea mused.

  On the surface, she was smiling, but deep down, a strange sense of irritation bubbled up.

  Chelsea wasn’t clueless like Seryu—quite the opposite.

  She understood things very well.

  And right now, she had a bad feeling.

  Crap... Don’t tell me I...?

  PinkSnake