Lancer had actually been hoping that a young noble scion would appear while he and Leone were out shopping. That way, he could make a show of it, but unfortunately, he didn't encounter such a situation until they returned home after lunch. This made him feel a bit disappointed, but in hindsight, it would have been more problematic if he had.
During this time, the beheadings of nobles had caused the commoners of the Imperial Capital to go from initial horror to disbelief, and now to a simple sigh before carrying on with their lives. The nobles who had survived were all behaving themselves, treading carefully.
Everyone knew that the reason for this 'cleansing' was that someone had tried to assassinate the emperor, but in fact, many of the beheaded nobles were those who were not very obedient to the royal family. This inevitably led people to wonder: were they really involved in the assassination, or was the emperor taking the opportunity to eliminate dissenters?
Furthermore, Lancer increasingly sinister reputation caused the noble offspring who had once run amok in the Imperial Capital to be confined to their homes. After all, it's better to be safe than sorry. If Lancer were to really catch them with something and then have their entire family implicated, they would have nowhere to cry.
This resulted in Lancer reputation getting worse, but the emperor's and the empire's prestige grew higher as the environment in the Imperial Capital was purified.
Lancer had no objections to this, or rather, he dared not have any objections. After all, this empire belonged to the emperor. Whether it was him, Budo, or anyone else, they were theoretically just employees of the other party. In this situation, what could he do but silently accept it?
But there was no doubt that the emperor was no fool. He was well aware of the principle of 'giving a carrot after hitting with a stick'. Although he had made Lancer take the blame, he didn't hold back on the power he gave him.
Firstly, the authority to manage the 'Imperial Capital's Security Team' was never taken back. Although it was only a temporary position, after the former captain voluntarily resigned, the emperor did not appoint a new successor, and Lancer continued to serve as the 'acting captain'. In addition, Lancer military rank was also raised by one level. Now, he was also an 'Imperial General'.
And Lancer felt that since his Imperial Arms was destroyed, Budo became more of a recluse. Although he had obtained a new Imperial Arms after his injuries healed, he seemed to be deliberately reducing his influence...
Lancer continued the 'high-pressure policy' that the emperor had requested, and he himself became the embodiment of slaughter.
Then one day, Lancer, who was in his office looking at documents, saw one of his Imperial Guard colleagues rush into his office.
"General Lancer! Great General Budo requests your presence for a discussion!"
"Okay!"
Lancer didn't say a word and followed the other person out of the office. He was very clear that if it wasn't for something important, they wouldn't have come to find him in such a hurry.
And sure enough, when he arrived at Budo office, several of the Imperial Guard leaders were already there.
"Lancer, you're here. Perfect. Take a look at this document."
Besides Budo, the Imperial Guards originally had three generals, each responsible for one battalion. Lancer was the fourth, but unlike the others, he didn't have any direct subordinates and mostly served as a firefighter.
After hearing Budo words, Lancer didn't stand on ceremony and took the document. But the more he read, the worse his expression became.
"Is the situation already this bad?"
"Yes, and there's worse... The reports in everyone else's hands are not the same as the one in yours."
That's really bad!
Lancer didn't shout it out, because there was no need to. Judging from everyone's expressions, they all had similar thoughts.
"As expected, the northern foreign tribes have become a problem. Although General Najenda and General Riva are jointly guarding the north, they have recently intensified their offensive. The defenses of the northern forts have been shrunk several times, and the residents of the ordinary villages outside the forts have all been evacuated. And the foreign tribes in the west also seem to be making some moves, but there's nothing concrete yet. It's not surprising that your 'slaughter' still had some effect, and it seems that there's also a split within the western foreign tribes. At the same time, a so-called 'Justice Army' has appeared in the south of the empire!"
Justice Army? What the hell?
Seeing Lancer bewildered expression, Budo took a document from another person and handed it to Lancer, and at the same time, he briefly explained.
"The so-called 'Justice Army' is actually a 'rebel army'. Their leader is Honest and some southern nobles. There is even news that several small nations in the south that are close to the empire seem to be involved."
As the saying goes, 'you can search for something high and low and not find it, but then it comes to you without any effort at all'. Lancer was originally struggling with where to find that old fox, Honest, but he didn't expect the other party to show himself!
"I'll take people and go kill him now!"
Lancer hadn't even finished reading the report when he immediately spoke up, but Budo waved his hand.
"Wait! That guy won't get away! But for now, the so-called 'Justice Army' isn't a big problem. You can see the details for yourself. What you need to deal with now are those guys in the north."
This time, Lancer didn't agree right away. Instead, he read the document quickly, and then his expression became extremely complex. There was disbelief, but also relief.
According to this document, the so-called 'Justice Army' has the slogan of 'clearing the emperor's side'. As for who they are 'clearing'? Do I even need to say it? Naturally, it's Lancer himself and Budo.
Perhaps to support this grand 'slogan', the 'Justice Army' led by Honest actually acted in a 'perfect' manner. Even the spies sent by Budo said that they were impeccable. The nobles with stained records and Honest seemed to have been possessed by saints.
'In other words, at least before they fulfill their desires, Honest and his people won't harm ordinary people. Their real danger is the subtle influence they have on the people of their territories, which is the key to the problem. But to subtly change people's minds is not something that can be done in two or three days. No wonder Budo said there's no rush for now...'
After finally figuring out the cause and effect, Lancer gave his answer.
"Yes!"
And after hearing Lancer answer, Budo also nodded and said no more. At the same time, Budo also began to assign tasks to the others. Although the problems that had appeared for now were only on the empire's borders, the Imperial Guards still needed to raise their alert level just in case.
Although Lancer could leave at any time, mobilizing an army was not that simple. Logistics and supplies would take time to arrange, so it was tentatively set for him to leave the next day.
After handing over some of the security team's affairs, Lancer couldn't help but take a deep breath.
It's about to begin! After he deals with the situation in the north and then deals with Honest, it can finally come to an end...