After everything was prepared, the attendant led Yoshino into the reception room of the city lord's mansion.
Looking at the petite girl in front of him, dressed in a green rabbit-eared coat with a rabbit hand puppet on her left hand, the Grand Commander couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
Although he had already learned many things about Yoshino from Najenda report—including the fact that both her body and mind had stopped developing—it still felt rather magical to witness it with his own eyes.
At the same time, this made Najenda words even more convincing.
In every country of this world, there were legends about the Fountain of Youth or Elixirs of Immortality, but legends were, after all, just legends—no one had ever truly verified the existence of such things.
A more realistic method would be to achieve Similiar effects through alchemy and bodily modification.
However, Yoshino had lived in a small village in the north for eight years, and clearly had no access to such things.
Therefore, she must possess an Imperial Arm.
Even if it wasn't an Imperial Arm, it was certainly a treasure not inferior in rank to one.
The Grand Commander narrowed his eyes, wearing a kind smile on his face, but his eyes swept up and down Yoshino body, trying to find the item that allowed her to control ice and snow and retain her youthful appearance.
However, he didn't make his intentions too obvious. While discreetly observing, he spoke:
"Welcome to the headquarters of the Revolutionary Army. I am the leader of the Revolutionary Army. You can call me Grand Commander."
"Hello, Grand Commander. I'm Yoshinon, and this is Yoshino."
Yoshinon waved her hand while also sizing up the middle-aged man before her, and asked with a hint of surprise:
"But this is really unexpected. The leader of the Revolutionary Army is actually an official of the Empire?"
"Just a purchased title. In today's corruption-ridden Empire, you can get anything if you have money," the Grand Commander chuckled. "Although it cost a considerable sum, this robe has brought me real convenience. Thanks to the status of city lord, I've had the opportunity to unite many other officials. Otherwise, the Revolutionary Army wouldn't have developed so quickly."
"So, in a way, the Revolutionary Army owes its thanks to the Empire's corruption?"
"You could indeed say that."
"Well, well. Then even if the Empire truly falls, it won't be anyone else's fault."
"Haha, I wouldn't say 'fall.' It's more like a simple change of dynasty. The throne belongs to those capable of ruling. The current emperor is foolish and incompetent—he doesn't deserve that seat."
"Isn't that view a little biased? The emperor sincerely wants to be a good ruler. He's just been deceived by Honest," Yoshino corrected. "If he could recognize the current reality, the Empire could definitely change for the better."
"As the ruler of a nation, if one cannot distinguish between loyal and treacherous ministers, then he is already unfit to be emperor."
The Grand Commander's stance remained unchanged. He lifted the teapot and poured a cup of tea for Yoshino, motioning for her to sit and talk:
"However, General Najenda introduced you to me, and I must admit that the proposal you made is quite interesting. Why not discuss it in more detail?"
Seeing that the Grand Commander was willing to talk, Yoshino naturally didn't refuse.
After sitting down with a cheerful tone, she said:
"If the Grand Commander has any questions or uncertainties, feel free to ask. If Yoshino can answer them, of course I'll do my best to give you an answer."
"That's truly a great help."
On the surface, the Grand Commander nodded with a smile.
But inside, he was contemplating how to make Yoshino drink this cup of tea.
Of course, he had absolutely no intention of cooperating with Yoshino.
Just as he had told Najenda before, the Revolutionary Army had no way out now.
Either they succeeded in their revolution and led the new Empire onto the right path, or they failed and became an insignificant splash in the annals of history.
If they gave up the revolution midway, leaving aside whether the Revolutionary Army would split internally, even if he somehow managed to convince everyone and disbanded the army, the young emperor might still have them all executed out of suspicion—for being disloyal subjects.
Though it would be unlikely to slaughter all two hundred thousand Revolutionary Army troops, the leaders of the army, the powerful families who supported them, and the officials in court who secretly aided the revolution—those people would not escape.
Not revolting meant certain death.
And not just the Revolutionary Army would die—under Honest rule, even more people would perish with no dignity or value.
If they did revolt, not only would they have a chance to survive, but after the change of dynasty, they might even lead the new Empire.
To have built a two-hundred-thousand-strong army from scratch—though perhaps not equal to the founding emperor—the Grand Commander believed himself to be far superior to the current emperor who couldn't tell loyal ministers from traitors.
Under his leadership, the Empire was sure to return to the right path.
It was a simple choice—anyone who could see the situation clearly knew what to choose.
The Revolutionary Army could never disband. The revolution could never stop.
So the Grand Commander would never agree to Yoshino request.
Now, he was only pretending to negotiate in order to buy time.
The cup of tea he poured for Yoshino had been laced with a colorless, tasteless sedative.
It was an alchemical drug strong enough to knock out even Level One Danger Beasts. Even Esdeath, standing at the pinnacle of humanity, would only end up unconscious if she drank it.
As long as he could render Yoshino unconscious, he could obtain a powerful Imperial Arm and also use her to threaten Esdeath—the Revolutionary Army's greatest threat. It was killing two birds with one stone.
In fact, the Revolutionary Army could have taken action long ago.
But Esdeath threat was simply too great. Her single battle annihilating 400,000 northern barbarians proved she had the strength to destroy all 200,000 Revolutionary Army troops by herself.
Unless she was eliminated, the Revolutionary Army's only fate would be defeat.
Although the Grand Commander had already prepared elite troops and Imperial Arm users to try and kill Esdeath by force, now that Esdeath sister had walked right into their hands—how could he possibly let such a chance slip by?
He knew that, based on his calculations, killing Esdeath would require at least fifty thousand elite soldiers and ten combat-type Imperial Arms users.
But if Yoshino could be used properly, it would be equivalent to saving the battle power of those fifty thousand soldiers and ten Imperial Arms users.
Even if using an innocent girl was a despicable act worthy of a villain, for the sake of more lives, such morality was simply not worth mentioning.
He was different from goody-two-shoes like Najenda, who defected just because they couldn't bear the slaughter.
Esdeath massacre of the Northern tribes, in his eyes, carried a righteous cause of revenge. While it couldn't be called "right," it certainly wasn't something worth condemning.
After all, her own tribe had been massacred by those very Northern tribes.
And as for Esdeath slaughter of the Southern mountain people — even though they had no enmity with her, and the two sides had absolutely nothing to do with each other — it was obvious to any clear-headed person that she was killing purely for the sake of killing. Even within the court, there was much criticism of this behavior. But the Grand Commander didn't care — in fact, he secretly admired it.
If they weren't enemies, the Grand Commander believed he would get along quite well with Esdeath.
He wasn't bloodthirsty, nor did he enjoy killing, but he understood all too well the principle: if you don't cut the weeds by the roots, they grow back in the spring.
So, if the revolution succeeded and he truly marched into the capital, he would not spare the young Emperor.
Even though, in some ways, the Emperor was a victim too.
After Yoshino took her seat, the Grand Commander began discussing the specifics of the proposal with Yoshinon.
And the more they talked, the more he realized that drugging Yoshino might not be such an easy task after all.
Because Yoshino herself had no intention of speaking — not a single word since the beginning of the meeting.
All the speaking was done by the rabbit puppet on her left hand, the persona named Yoshinon.
If she didn't talk, she wouldn't feel thirsty.
If she didn't feel thirsty, she wouldn't drink tea.
If she didn't drink tea, he couldn't drug her.
During the entire conversation, the Grand Commander had already taken several sips of tea himself, due to all the talking, but Yoshino hadn't touched her cup at all.
He had been dragging out the conversation for as long as possible, discussing every single point in Yoshinon's plan that was worth mentioning.
"I now have a very thorough understanding of your proposal."
He had delayed to the end; there was simply nothing left to stall with.
Switching the subject would make it far too obvious.
He could only end the talk with a smile and say:
"But this is a major issue. I need to inform the other high-ranking members of the Revolutionary Army. I'm afraid it will take a week or two before I can give you a final answer. Why don't you stay the night? I'll prepare a lavish dinner."
The first attempt hadn't succeeded — but that didn't matter.
As long as he could keep Yoshino around, there would be plenty more chances.
For example, at dinner tonight — all he had to do was drug her food.
She might not drink tea, but surely she wouldn't refuse to eat?
"Thank you for your kindness, Grand Commander," Yoshinon said. "But I'm not sure if Miss Najenda plans to return. I need to discuss it with her first."
"No need to worry about that," the Grand Commander lied with a calm expression. "I just sent her on an errand. She won't be back anytime soon."
"I see." Yoshinon nodded. "Then we'll gladly accept your hospitality."
"It's no trouble at all."
But just as the Grand Commander stood to escort Yoshino to her guest room, she unexpectedly reached for the tea cup and took a sip.
She finally drank it!
The Grand Commander's eyes lit up — though he quickly masked his excitement.
As they walked toward the guest room, he observed her footsteps slowly becoming unsteady, her eyelids starting to droop.
Moments later, she collapsed to the floor.
The Grand Commander approached, turned her over, and focused his gaze on the rabbit puppet on her left hand.
Removing the puppet, he slipped it onto his own hand, fiddling with it for a while.
But... nothing happened.
"Could this not be an Imperial Arm?"
He muttered under his breath, looking down at the puppet in puzzlement.
Most people in the Empire knew about the existence of the forty-eight Imperial Arms.
But only a select few knew their true names and abilities.
Some of them were even locked away in the Imperial Treasury, never having seen the light of day.
After all, the founding emperor had created the Imperial Arms to ensure the longevity of the Empire — the fewer who knew their powers, the better.
So even someone like the Grand Commander only knew the names and abilities of the most famous or frequently used ones.
To him, this rabbit puppet seemed the most likely candidate to be an Imperial Arm.
It seemed almost alive.
During their earlier conversation, it had truly felt like he was speaking to a real, independent person.
Moreover, Najenda earlier report specifically mentioned that Yoshino's Imperial Arm could summon a giant mechanical white rabbit — further suggesting that this rabbit-like puppet was the real thing.
But despite playing with it for a while, nothing happened.
"Strange..." the Grand Commander muttered. "All Imperial Arms should allow temporary use. Even if it doesn't accept me, it should at least let me try it for a while."
There was no such thing as an "owner" of an Imperial Arm, nor did the previous user have to die for a new one to take over.
Take Najenda for example — although she currently wielded the humanoid-type Imperial Arm [Lightning God Manifestation: Susanoo], before joining the Revolutionary Army, she had used [Romantic Fort: Pumpkin].
That same [Pumpkin] had since been passed on to a Night Raid member named Mine.
So if this puppet was indeed an Imperial Arm, it should allow another user to try it out.
"Unless... this Imperial Arm has a strong consciousness, like Susanoo?" the Grand Commander furrowed his brow. "If that so-called Yoshinon isn't just a second personality, but the Imperial Arm's own personality, then it makes sense why I can't use it."
After all, if the Imperial Arm's consciousness was strong enough, from its perspective, he was the villain who had attacked its previous user.
Naturally, it wouldn't even allow a trial use.
"What a pity..." the Grand Commander sighed and slipped the rabbit puppet into his pocket.
He might not be able to use it — but someone else might.
Later on, they could find a Revolutionary Army member who met the compatibility requirements.
Even if the puppet refused to let anyone use it, he'd simply toss it into storage to collect dust.
In any case, he had no intention of returning her to Yoshino.
"Shadow Guard, lock her in the basement. Oh, and make sure to clean it first. Don't let her catch any diseases in there."
At his call, the same guard who had taken Najenda away reappeared from the shadows.
"She's an important hostage — a bargaining chip for our negotiations with Esdeath. Make sure she's well taken care of."