For the rest of the evening, Kiana, after finishing dinner, started grumbling as she read through the instruction manuals.
To be honest, for Kiana, who was actually very smart, using these tools was quite simple.
But she just felt that she'd come to a new place, hadn't even had any fun, got hunted, and after being hunted, she still had to memorize texts like she was in school...
Although it couldn't compare to her past life on the run, Kiana, flipping through the manuals, could only sigh—what kind of bitter life is this?
As for Aaron, on the other hand, after a full day of fighting, he finally had a chance to stop and organize the information.
Although they were in the suburbs, in a sense, it was temporarily safer than the Imperial Capital.
In an era where most of the powerful Danger Beasts had been killed off to make Teigu, the probability of a powerful Danger Beast appearing in the wild was as low as...
No, forget it. Considering I was suddenly hit by a dump truck and sent to another world, I better not raise that kind of flag.
Since his goal was to seize Teigu, and he still needed to get eight more, he had to plan his actions carefully.
Over on Night Raid's side, including Chelsea and Susanoo who will join later, they have 7 Teigu.
But Night Raid's movements are unpredictable. With Zank dead, their current objective will, for the time being, remain focused on killing scumbags in the Imperial Capital.
Esdeath and the Three Beasts' faction... setting aside Esdeath, an opponent Aaron would have trouble dealing with at this stage, the three Teigu in the hands of the Three Beasts were worth considering how to get.
In a little while, Esdeath will return to the Imperial Capital with her army. That's when the assassination of the former minister Chouri will happen.
And considering Honest will ask Esdeath's subordinates to assassinate Chouri, it's clear Chouri's influence in the Imperial Capital is still quite high.
So, the next phase of the plan is to use Chouri to lure out the Three Beasts, then seize the Teigu from those three.
Wild Hunt and the Jaegers are the Teigu teams that appear after the Three Beasts die, so killing these three can be seen as a prerequisite for opening up subsequent missions.
Besides these two teams, which have a combined 11 Teigu (not counting Demon's Extract), other scattered Teigu could also be considered.
The scythe Teigu from the Path of Peace, whose use is unknown, is one. Others... there probably aren't any.
He couldn't possibly sneak into the Imperial Palace to... wait, why not?
Looking at the Teigu key in his hand, Aaron suddenly had a dangerous, but not entirely unfeasible, idea.
Incursio can turn invisible.
And the duration of the invisibility depends on physical fitness.
Right now, through Perfect Attunement, he was using the Kaslana constitution from Kiana's second-stage awakening.
Doesn't that mean...
"Oho, interesting. I suddenly feel like I can't calm down."
The Imperial Palace has Honest's treasury, and Honest's treasury clearly has more than one Teigu.
In other words, as long as he finds Honest's treasury, it's equivalent to completing a large part of the mission.
"A-Aaron, what's wrong with you right now?"
Seeing the corners of Aaron's mouth curl up wildly, Kiana couldn't help but shiver.
"Your expression right now is so weird."
"How weird?"
"Like you're about to pull off a big heist—you're not planning to be reckless again, are you????"
"Right. Need to calm down a bit."
I'll suppress this idea for now. After all, Bulat is much more skilled at using Incursio than I am.
If the Imperial Palace were really that easy to sneak into, Bulat would have charged in long ago to take Honest's head—after all, Night Raid had no idea what that gemstone Teigu's effect was.
If I want to infiltrate the Imperial Palace, I need to create a diversion in the Imperial Capital.
But creating a diversion in the Imperial Capital means innocent people will be dragged in...
Forget it. I'll put this aside for now.
If I throw away my morals just to complete a mission, how am I any different from Otto, who screwed over countless people to revive Kallen?
First, I'll search for information on Chouri. After all, he's such a threat to Honest that Honest will definitely try to kill him.
Information...
Ugh, without enough information, I'm like a headless chicken, not even knowing which direction to go next.
For the time being, I'll wander around the villages near the Imperial Capital and see if I can run into Chouri.
If that plan doesn't work, then I'll just wait for news.
Esdeath's return should be soon. After Esdeath gets back, I'll be able to find the Three Beasts even without Chouri.
And because those three are so skilled, their guard won't be as high.
As long as I wait for them to be a certain distance away from Esdeath...
——That will be my time to strike.
.............