*Clack, clack, clack.*
The incredibly heavy and rapid clacking of tengu geta echoed across the white stone steps of Tenshukaku.
The newcomer was none other than the general of the Tenryou Commission, Kujou Sara.
Her face was currently as cold as frost.
Although she was normally unsmiling, her tightly knit brows and the faint, crackling Electro energy around her declared her towering rage.
Whenever she closed her eyes, she recalled Kujou Takayuki’s anguished tone in the Kujou estate’s main hall yesterday.
“Sara, you have returned at the perfect moment. A treacherous rogue has entered Tenshukaku, and he is deceiving the Almighty Ogosho!”
“What?! Clan Head, why do you say that?!” Sara’s first reaction was that it was absurd.
In Inazuma, who would dare deceive Her Eternal Excellency, the Almighty Ogosho?!
But the speaker was the current leader of the Tenryou Commission, her adoptive father!
She trusted him because his loyalty to the Shogun was plain for all to see!
Immediately after, Kujou Takayuki, his eyes red, dropped one bombshell after another.
“Sara, did you know that Tenshukaku now has a new Sobayonin?”
“His name is Lu Heng. He was originally a slacker clerk under our Tenryou Commission. Who could have known he was so morally depraved? Not only is he corrupt and arrogant, but he even embezzled fifty thousand catties of relief grain! Ah! Countless citizens have starved because of him…” Kujou Takayuki let out a long sigh, tears welling in his eyes.
“I do not know what kind of cheap tricks he used, but yesterday, he actually bypassed the Tenryou Commission to secure a private audience with the Shogun. With sweet words, he deceived Her Excellency, not only escaping punishment but also gaining immense authority!”
“Is there… proof of this? Her Excellency is of profound wisdom; she would not be easily deceived…” A sliver of rationality remained in Sara’s mind as she spoke hesitantly.
Commissioner Kujou waved his hand, cutting her off, and spoke with earnest gravity.
“Sara, do you think I am merely angry that he stripped the Tenryou Commission of its authority? No, I am worried for the Almighty Shogun. I am worried for the ‘Eternity’ of Inazuma.”
Kujou Takayuki slid open the paper door, pointing to Kujou Otake, who lay bruised and battered in the backyard.
“You want proof? Do you know that the moment he gained power, his very first act was to command the Okuzumeshu to raid the Tenryou Commission and confiscate all of his past files? Even I cannot access them now…”
“Sara, you spend your years fighting on the front lines; you do not understand the insidious nature of human hearts. Think about it: if he had nothing to hide, if he wasn’t trying to destroy evidence of his embezzlement, why would a clean clerk ever go to such lengths?!”
Kujou Takayuki turned around, a sharp glint flickering in his cloudy old eyes as he spoke in a pained tone.
At this moment, a fire of furious indignation ignited within Kujou Sara’s golden pupils, and Electro energy began to crackle uncontrollably in the air.
“To think he could be so ruthless! So eager to persecute his own colleagues!” As a soldier, she hated nothing more than those of vile character who abused their power to strike at their peers.
“Her Excellency dwells high in the clouds, possessing a pure and singular focus. How could she possibly see through the worldly schemes of such a low-life? Ah, if a rascal like him gains power, Inazuma will surely fall into chaos!”
Takayuki walked up to Sara and placed a heavy hand on her shoulder.
“Sara, you are Her Excellency’s sharpest blade. Right now, a treacherous villain is abusing her benevolence, leeching off the throne. As her subject, can you stand by and watch her divine majesty be defiled by such a sycophant?”
These words were the final straw that broke her sanity!
Who was Her Eternal Excellency, the Almighty Ogosho?
She was the supreme Shogun of all Inazuma! New chapters come out on g.com first.
The most radiant light in the land!
The almighty deity!
She was also Kujou Sara’s sole faith!
For Her Excellency’s sake, Sara would gladly rush headlong into death!
An image involuntarily surfaced in Sara’s mind, driving her nearly mad.
A hideous, bootlicking scoundrel was shamelessly kneeling beside the throne.
He was massaging the Shogun’s legs with one hand while whispering slanderous whispers in a cunning voice.
“Your Excellency~ General Kujou may be loyal, but she is far too foolish. Why not send her to guard the remote borders, never to return to Tenshukaku again~”
And the pure-minded Shogun, deceived by the treacherous Lu Heng, nodded slightly: “Indeed. Let her never gaze upon my majesty again.”
“Yamero!!!”
*Crack!* Kujou Sara crushed a wooden ornament at her waist into splinters, grinding her teeth so hard they clicked.
“Lu Heng, you treacherous, rebellious scoundrel! I swear I will kill you!” she vowed.
Back to the present.
Storming into the side hall of Tenshukaku, Kujou Sara kept her hand pressed firmly against her sword hilt, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.
From the corner of her eye, she noticed the two Okuzumeshu samurai on guard duty suddenly snapping to attention.
“General Kujou! Saluting you!”
The two Okuzumeshu samurai straightened their backs.
With fanaticism burning in their eyes, they pounded their right fists heavily against the armor over their left breasts, letting out a deafening shout in unison:
“For the Shogun! Loy! Al! Ty!”
This sudden, bizarre salute choked back Kujou Sara’s boiling rage right in her throat.
She froze for a second.
Looking at these two comrades, whose neck veins were bulging and whose morale was high to the point of fanaticism, her soldier instincts were instantly sparked.
Such high resolve!
Such magnificent spirit!
Well done!
This is exactly how the guards of a deity should carry themselves!
Her expression turned solemn, and she subconsciously pounded her own left breast, shouting back in return, “At ease! For the Shogun! Loy! Al! Ty!”
Amid the hot-blooded chants of loyalty, Kujou Sara finally arrived before the exquisite wooden door.
For a moment, her mind was a bit dazed, and she almost forgot why she was here.
(Lu Heng: In this sort of situation, it’s probably oxygen deprivation.)
But the next second, she recalled her purpose.
Her gaze sharpened, and she inhaled deeply as her golden eyes turned as cold and razor-sharp as blades.
“The door isn’t locked. Come in.”
From inside came a young man’s voice, slightly exhausted yet incredibly gentle.
Kujou Sara gritted her teeth, her hand already resting on her hilt.
*If this man truly is a treacherous rebel, even if I am punished by Her Excellency afterward, I will cut him down to protect her!*
*Slid—* The sliding door was yanked open.
At the desk, Lu Heng, who was being tortured to the point of near-death by official documents, raised his head.
Upon seeing that the newcomer was Kujou Sara, his dim eyes instantly flashed with an incredibly bright light.
That gaze was highly aggressive, sweeping up and down over her.
However, when this look fell upon Kujou Sara, it became the most unforgivable evidence of his guilt.
Almost at the same instant, both of them had a thought.
*To think this scoundrel is so brazenly insolent!*
*To think I completely forgot about this workhorse!*
Her rage instantly incinerated her rationality.
Kujou Sara completely snapped.
Lu Heng had just managed to squeeze out a professional smile, planning to properly swindle this loyal tengu.
*Clang—!*
A bone-chilling bolt of lightning suddenly illuminated the entire room!
The icy killing intent made Lu Heng feel as if he had been plunged into an ice cavern.
Feeling a faint sting at his neck, he looked down slightly.
A tachi crackling with purple Electro arcs, reflecting his cold sweat, was pressed firmly against his throat.
If it moved forward by even half an inch, his head would roll.
*Gulp.*
The smile on Lu Heng’s face froze completely, and he swallowed hard with difficulty.
“G-General Kujou? What is the meaning of this? If you’ve come to inspect my work… there’s really no need to hold a blade to my throat, is there?”
Veins bulged on the back of the hand Kujou Sara used to grip her sword.
Her cold, beautiful face was currently filled with undisguised disgust and a chilling intent to kill.
“You treacherous rogue who deceives the sovereign! What despicable methods did you use to mislead the Almighty Ogosho?!”
She glared at Lu Heng, gritting her teeth.
“Today, I shall carry out Heaven’s will and execute you, you greedy, lustful sycophant!”