191. Akame Ga Kill : Meeting About the War with Empire and Kaito Visit.

After a dozen hours of traveling, Uta, Saitama, Akame, and Bulat finally arrived at the gate of Paradise City, where the queue to enter the city was much quieter than usual. This was due to the declaration of war by the Empire on this city, and because of that, many people and merchants outside the city were afraid to come and be affected by the war that was about to happen.

Upon arriving at the city gate, Misaka and Hisako immediately greeted and welcomed them cheerfully. In response, Saitama and Uta also immediately got out of their caravan, temporarily stopping their horse and greeting them back.

"Saitama-sensei, long time no see!" Misaka greeted him enthusiastically because Misaka is his biggest fan among all the chat group members.

"Long time no see, Misaka." Saitama greeted back with a smile, "It seems like you guys don't have as much work as usual."

"This is because of the war declaration from the Empire that this area has become deserted." Hisako chimed in, "Luckily, Uta has returned to our base because right now the morale in the city is low, and everyone becomes restless, and Crocodile hopes that you can raise everyone's morale with a concert."

"Umm... Leave it to me!" Uta promised, "It's my job to entertain people and make people in the city happier!"

For Uta, whose goal is to entertain people everywhere, she certainly wouldn't mind doing it, even if Crocodile wanted her to sing all day during wartime. After all, since she has become a devil and improved her physique using points, Uta's physical stamina and endurance have skyrocketed to the point that she probably has no problem singing 3 days in a row without sleeping.

"Glad to hear that." Hisako smiled, "Okay, come with me to the government office. I've prepared lunch there."

"Delicious food! Thank you, Hisako-chan!"

"Good!" Saitama, who would never refuse delicious food, nodded and quickly took action, "I'll take this caravan to a safe place first before going there."

"By the way, Akame, Bulat. Please, invite all the Night Raid members to lunch, because Crocodile wants to hold a meeting to discuss war preparations."

""Yes!""

Hearing Hisako's invitation, Akame and Bulat nodded enthusiastically, especially Akame, who is a food lover and admits Hisako's cooking is the most delicious food she has ever eaten. In addition, they were also curious about what Crocodile was planning to do in the upcoming war and were glad that he planned to involve them.

"Oh yeah, on the way, we were attacked by a team under Esdeath directly." Saitama asked, "What do we do with them?"

""Eh...?"" (Hisako/Misaka)

Looking inside the caravan, Hisako and Misaka quickly found 3 unconscious people who were tied up inside the caravan. As someone who has watched the memory, they immediately recognize them: Daidara, Liver, and Nyau.

"Ah, I almost forgot about them!" (Uta)

After that, with Uta's help, Misaka and Hisako quickly secure them as part of a captive from the Empire and a source of information. After all, their status as Esdeath's direct subordinate isn't low and quite precious.

>>>>>

After Uta and Saitama's arrival in Paradise City, they were immediately invited to a meeting by Crocodile, who was waiting for them impatiently. Normally, they should have been given a break, but after hearing important information brought by Uta, Crocodile immediately decided to hold a meeting as soon as possible, directly with all the members in the world. Crocodile also asked Night Raid members to join, since they were part of his plan.

On top of that, this meeting was also broadcast by Crocodile to the chat group and watched directly by Kaito, Aika, and several other members who were not busy in the other world. Right now, the meeting room in Akame Ga Kill also follows the design of the meeting room in the Base world. Naturally, as the leader, Crocodile took the chairman's seat, and the meeting members sat around a long table.

"Some of you may already know this, but we have confirmed that Esdeath has returned to the Imperial Capital with her army, and the Empire soon also declared war on our city."

Crocodile stated with a solemn expression, "With Uta's help to interrogate Three Beasts, we learned that Esdeath has set our forces as her target, and we are going to face the strongest General of the Empire."

...!!

"Esdeath has come back?" (Bulat)

"Can we win this war now?" (Mine)

"Is she strong? Should we really concerned." (Tatsumi)

Mine, who was sitting next to Tatsumi, was annoyed by the naivety and ignorance of this city guard captain and explained, "Esdeath is the strongest general in the Empire and the strongest obstacle if we want to destroy the Empire's power and influence."

"It is said that Esdeath is very strong; if the information is correct, then she was able to conquer the northern tribe in a year!"

...!!!

Hearing Mine's explanation, Tatsumi and his two friends nodded in understanding. "Ah... I see. She sounds really strong."

"So she is going to be a threat," Ieyasu added.

"Thank you for explaining, Mine-san." Sayo followed.

????

Seeing the three of them's normal reactions, Mine became surprised and asked, "Don't you look worried? We are talking about our strongest enemy on that Empire side, you know?"

As the main enemy of Night Raid, Esdeath's impression of them was strong, like a monster, especially for people who used to hold a high military rank within the Empire, like Najenda, Lubbock, and Bulat. Mine have seen personally how strong and brutal Esdeath is, and always know none of the Night Raid members have a chance to defeat her head-on.

However, Tatsumi just shook his head and said confidently, "Although General Esdeath sounds scary, I believe Crocodile-sama and the other Team 2 members can handle it."

"Yeah. Don't worry, she won't be a threat, and never be one." Crocodile confirmed.

"..."

Looking at all the chat group members that doesn't seem to be troubled, the Night Raid members admitted that Tatsumi was... right. Although the situation sounded dire, the Night Raid is a group of assassins who were good at reading faces, and they admitted that the chat group members (Crocodile, etc.) looked relaxed, and some of them even looked bored.

Najenda, the Night Raid's leader, became curious about their attitude and asked Crocodile, "Are you so confident? I am sorry, but I don't think you realize how scary Esdeath was."

"You are wrong, we already know her and what she is capable of. But she's still not a threat for most of us~"

Crocodile smiled at Najenda, as if he also expecting something from her, "In fact, in this meeting, what we want to discuss is to find the best way to respond to an attack from the Empire without too much bloodshed on each side... since a lot of our team members against of killing people."

"Agree. I refuse to kill people, my main profession is a chef, after all." (Hisako)

"Good point, I don't want to kill many people if I could..." (Misaka)

"I won't kill any people. I only kill monsters." (Saitama)

"Same. I would cheer people, but I don't want to kill people unless I have no choice" (Uta)

????

Hearing Crocodile's and a few other chat group members' words, Najenda and the other Night Raid members were very surprised... and it felt ridiculous for them. They already knew that Team 2 was very strong, but they still doubted that Team 2 was so powerful that they would not consider General Esdeath a threat at all!

And they thought of finding a method to win the war without so many people dying in it? In Najenda's opinion, that's very arrogant. Even Esdeath's army, which is the strongest army in the world, still suffers many losses during its conquest.

'Overconfidence, or are they really that strong? Still... even with their strength, some of the people here, though, are quite naive... preventing death in a war is impossible. Especially, we were fighting the Esdeath army here...' Najenda thought.

"I am sorry, but I think the idea of ending a war without any sacrifice is truly ignorant. Being kind toward the enemy is stupid, especially in a war." Najenda commented harshly, "It could also be seen as a weakness that could be exploited by a future enemy."

...!!??!!

Hearing Najenda's opinion, many members of the meeting, including those watching on the broadcast, were shocked. However, some of the chat group members expected her to say this, for example, Crocodile, who liked what Najenda said. He, as a criminal, definitely won't shy away from killing, and his opinion is very similar to Najenda's.

"That's quite an opinion, Najenda. Could you elaborate?"

Looking at Crocodile's eyes, which were full of expectation, Najenda seemed to understand something and answered, "Yes."

...

Najenda then explains her ideas about the purpose of war and why it's important for the future of the world to everyone in the meeting. In Najenda's opinion, A war without casualties is impossible and a very dumb idea. As a former general who led many wars, this is quite impossible because some enemies wouldn't give up until they got killed and never agree to surrender-- as they said, 'If you want to kill, be prepared to be killed back.'

In addition, the effect of casualties in war also serves as a deterrent for many opponents and themselves. It also prevents enemies from underestimating you in the future, in case a war happens again. Whenever there are large numbers of victims in a war, the majority of people will be afraid to repeat the same kind of war, which serves as a deterrent, compared to a war without casualties that does not have such a substantial effect.

This could be seen as a weakness that could be identified, and at some point, the enemy may use innocent people as hostages, which may create unrest among civilians and make people think your army is incompetent.

There is also the fact that soldiers who participate in war are not innocent people whom they wanted to protect, and some of them are even straight evil people. Many of those soldiers have taken many lives and have mental disorders, such as enjoying killing and torture. This is very apparent in the Esdeath army because after winning the war, Esdeath and her soldiers always brutally torture their war opponents and enjoy it, to the point they are known as the most sadistic army in the Empire.

In Najenda's opinion, if an army deserves to be forgiven the least in this world, the Empire armies led by Esdeath are clearly in the first place due to their brutality.

*Clap* *Clap*

"Well said, Najenda-san." Crocodile applauded while clapping his hands, "As expected of Ex-General, you know what's going on inside a war."

"Thank you."

"..."

After hearing Najenda's explanation about their idea of ​​a war without sacrifice, many chat group members who were previously clamoring to end the war without killing became quiet... because Najenda made them realize they really can't be naive in a way.

They also agreed with Najenda's words about the Esdeath army being notoriously brutal (because they had watched the memory) and indeed should not be allowed to continue living because they would only harm innocent people in the future. 

However, just like Saitama, many good chat group members were uncomfortable with killing in war or murdering people in any context. Unlike in the SAO, their enemies this time could reach tens of thousands of people, and some members, like Misaka, Saitama, and Uta, were very uncomfortable with the idea of ​​slaughtering that many people.

...

Fortunately, Kaito, who was watching the meeting, already understood the dilemma of some members here. Feeling he should attend the meeting directly, Kaito decided to travel directly to the Akame Ga Kill world when everyone was still in doubt and confusion about the direction of the war.

*Blink*

...!!

"Yo, good afternoon. I am here, everyone."

Almost immediately, Kaito appeared in the silent meeting room, appeared next to Crocodile's seat, and greeted everyone.

""Owner/Kaito/Kaito-kun!"" (Everyone)

"Master" (Kaguya)

Seeing Kaito, who appeared in front of them with his usual appearance of wearing a white shirt and blonde hair, all members of the chat group immediately greeted him with enthusiasm. Even Otsutsuki Kaguya, who had been silent throughout the meeting, also greeted her king kindly.... and directly stood behind Kaito to guard him.

Only the Night Raid members looked at Kaito in surprise and confusion because they had never seen him before. However, they had also heard stories about Kaito, the leader of the monster group, from the members of Team 2 and civilians. There are a lot of people who have lived in this City from the beginning and have seen Kaito (clone) and Miya (clone) building the whole city in 2 days, which is ridiculous since this whole city is half the size of Imperial Capital.

*Blink*

Recognizing the confusion in most of Night Raid's eyes, Kaito quickly introduced himself, and teleporting directly beside Crocodile, "Hello everyone from Night Raid, my name is Kaito. Technically, the real leader of this group of people."

"My name is Najenda, and I am the leader of the assassination group, Night Raid." Najenda also introduced herself and then curiously asked, "Are you the rumored leader who built the city?"

"That's mainly Sakuya's work." Kaito shook his head and corrected her. "But I am the one who provides the material for the whole city since one of my abilities is creation."

"And I can create anything as long as I have enough energy and understand how it works... including Teigu whatsoever. Although the more complex the equipment is, the more time and energy I need to spend."

After saying that, Kaito then demonstrated in front of Najenda how he easily made a one-kilogram block of pure gold in his right hand in just one second, using creation magic.

*ZAP*

...??!!??

Seeing what Kaito did, of course, the Night Raid members were shocked and astonished because what Kaito did is truly something that humans can't do. With spatial ability and how easily it seems for Kaito to create something out of air, Night Raid members are even more convinced that Crocodile never took the Empire seriously from the very beginning.

Seeing everyone's astonished reaction, Kaito smiled in satisfaction and then turned around to greet Crocodile as the leader of the meeting here. "Hello, Crocodile. Sorry, just barging in suddenly on your meeting. I just feel like the topic is quite interesting."

"It's okay, Kaito." Crocodile greeted him back warmly and confidently inquired, "Since you came to this world too early with your real body, you must have some purpose, right?"

"Yes. I am here to suggest how to solve our current predicament about the incoming war. "

"Oh?" Crocodile raised his eyebrow, "Go tell us."

Kaito nodded at him and then turned around to look at everyone, "Here's how we solve the problem simply; For people who are okay to participate and kill many people in a war, please do your best. I wholeheartedly agree that a war without casualties is too idealistic and a very bad idea. I would rather not let the war from happening, but we all know that's impossible at this point." 

"As for people who are against it, just don't participate in the war, and just play a support role. Our motto is never forcing people to do something they don't like, especially for our friends."

...!!

Hearing Kaito's suggestion, many of the members agreed because this solution was the most appropriate for everyone involved. Although the chat group was filled with people who loved peace, many of them, such as Uta and Saitama, understood that people had their own views regarding punishment and killing, and they did not want to force them to change for them because they were close friends and family.

Ultimately, the meeting ended with everyone agreeing with Kaito's idea and splitting the team into two groups: people who were okay with massacring people in a war and people who refused to do so. Crocodile, Itachi, Kazehana, Saber, Kaguya, and Misaka (weirdly enough) were in the first group, continuing to discuss the preparation of the army, city defense, and how to end it with minimum casualties on their side.

As for the second group who are against it, Saitama, Hisako, and Uta go out of the meeting room as they aren't comfortable with this topic at all. However, they were willing to help in terms of support, such as Uta singing a song to boost morale, Saitama promising to take care of Esdeath matters, and Hisako, with Erina being responsible for food consumption in the war.