Although it may sound a bit hypocritical to say this, the reason why Roxanne trained Issei was not for this battle. She trained him to fight Cao Cao, but not as part of the alliance but as a friend of the yokai princess.
This is the only way Roxanne managed to come up with. The Shinto faction would definitely not agree to the alliance to meddle in their affairs, but they would definitely not say no when Issei and others save Yasaka when Cao Cao comes to fight them.
In simple words, Issei and others should just go fight the elites of the hero faction, while the rest of the cannon fodder should be left to the Shinto faction. This way, the Shinto faction could get a legitimate reason to enter the alliance.
After all, it was the hero faction who began to fight them first. They can't be wrong for teaming up with some friends and coming seeking revenge, right?
Although there didn't seem to be much difference between this and Issei and other joining forces with the Shinto faction, there is a much greater difference politically.
Firstly, Issei and others were just acting like bodyguards for the yokai princess and would not participate in this war. So their fights can only be called private fights. But if Issei and others were to get entangled with other fights, it could be seen as them being too noisy, and those gods in the Shinto faction would even take this as an insult. After all, to them, this hero faction isn't really that much of a problem.
Yes, politics is that dark. Especially when dealing with a faction they absolutely hate. These harliners would make all sorts of reasons to scold them.
So this is why Roxanne told them to go protect the yokai princess. With fate's arrangements, Cao Cao and Issei would definitely clash with each other, and at that time, she only needed to make sure Cao Cao was defeated by Issei's hands, and the Shinto faction could join the Alliance under the guise of thanking the brave warrior.
But Roxanne isn't going to tell Issei and others this, so these young devils could only do what they were told with an unwilling expression. But no matter how dissatisfied they were, they could only keep their dissatisfaction to themselves.
After all, disobeying Shaltier's orders would be a serious crime, especially at a delicate time like this. What if their reckless actions completely ruin any plans they have made and come at the cost of a lot of casualties? If that happened, then they would truly be branded as traitors.
And no matter what faction it is, such a crime is never taken lightly. Not only would they be held accountable, but their masters may also be implicated because of this.
So everyone didn't dare to be careless and act as usual. Both Kiba and Xenovia made sure Issei was fully cooperating with this. After all, amongst everyone, only Issei has the highest chance to act alone and disregard orders.
And Issei, seeing their actions, twitched his lips. He really wanted to complain about this injustice. Sure, he may have done several rebellious things, but even he understood that this time wasn't like usual. If he really tried to act like usual, then before anyone, he would get punched by his own childhood friend.
Look, Roxanne, she's not even bothering to hide that malice in her eyes. I'm sure she has already imagined all the things she would do if he really disobeyed orders.
…
Watching Issei being carried away by his friends, Roxanne tried her best not to show her smile. Although she was in a bad mood due to the hero faction's matter, seeing such a comedic scene lifted her bad mood very much.
But after Issei and others left the area, Roxanne's face once again turned serious. She turned to look at the shadow garden girls and spoke coldly.
"Everyone, the prey has already taken the bait. I command everyone to fight to your hearts' content, but make sure to kill every one of these prey."
"Yes, Lady Shalltear," they replied in unison before vanishing into the shadows. Moments later, the air filled with the sound of echoing explosions.
"Mistress, is it okay to let these girls go all out like this?" Luciana, who appeared at some time, asked in a worried tone.
There is a good reason why she is worried. And of course, it isn't because she felt a bit of pity for the Hero faction. The reason for her worry stems from the fact that Shadow Garden's darkness.
Don't look at how well-behaved these girls are; each one of them is a battle-hungry freak who wanted nothing but blood and carnage. In fact, one could even say that most of the people from the Shadow Garden are like those evil gods.
They were the type of people who would even make the company hesitate to hire becuse of their poor behavior during work despite their excellent skills. Well, this is expected after all; you can't expect anyone to fight normally after being trained thoroughly by that demon teacher Scáthach.
In fact, if these girls were let loose, Luciana didn't doubt whether Shadow Garden would be labelled as a dark organization in just a week by the whole world.
And Roxanne, for this reason, had forbidden anyone from actually fighting like this. Although the Shadow Garden has grown largely and can be seen everywhere, don't forget that at the beginning, the Shadow Garden was just a mercenary team. And for a mercenary,It's having a good reputation is very important.
" It's fine; our reputation is already fixed, and this would not have much impact on it. And even if it really does, it doesn't matter. " Roxanne said with a shrug. With her years of effort, she had already carved a big foundation for the Shadow Garden. And so she no longer needed to care about their reputation to bring customers anymore.
After all, if she really cared about the Shadow Garden's reputation, she wouldn't have arrested Indra in his own palace. That incident made her terror well-known, and many people began to finally realize how dangerous Roxanne is.
This also led to a drop in sales in the mercenary business. But Roxanne, being a rich woman, said she didn't care for the losses and began to raid many Khoas Brigade strongholds.
"As you wish, mistress." Seeing her mistress's attitude, Luciana could just shrug her shoulders helplessly. Well, this isn't her problem anyway, so who cares? As long as she gets her 9-digit salary, she doesn't care much about this reputation.
This isn't her line work. She only needs to remind her mistress and relay any orders she gives.
"Well then, Mistress, do you wish to join in on the hunt?" Luciana then asked as she looked at her mistress with an expectant look. Although she may not care about Shadow Garden's reputation and income, she was really interested in watching her mistress fight.
Seeing her maid's eager expression, mischievous. Roxanne decided to be a bit mischievous. She suddenly lunged and hugged Luciana's body from behind and asked in a seductive voice.
"Why, my dear Luciana, do you also want to join in on the fun?"
Hearing these suggestive words and the hot breath on her ears made Luciana's breathing become very rapid. Her eyes began to take on heart shapes. Her ears turned completely red.
****
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