Chapter 38: Honest: Feeling Like the Family Fortune Was Emptied

The next morning.

In the inner city, regardless of social circle or class, from the smallest to the most powerful nobles, wealthy merchants, and landowners, all were unusually talking about the same thing.

Those nobles who attended the welcome banquet last night at Minister Honest mansion—held in celebration of his son, Syura—were all well-known and prestigious figures. The incident that occurred during the event was too major to keep under wraps. Word spread quickly, and by morning, nearly everyone in the upper circles of the Imperial Capital was aware that the Minister's mansion had been infiltrated.

It was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, stirring up endless ripples—this explosive news became the hot topic among the high society of the capital.

The news even began to spread to the outer city.

Some people simply enjoyed the spectacle. Others felt gleeful seeing Honest suffer a setback. Still others were curious about who the assassin was behind the attack...

In short, the otherwise stagnant and uneventful upper class of the Empire now had new gossip thanks to the break-in at the Minister's residence.

And this incident would surely remain a topic of conversation for months to come.

It was precisely because of this that Honest face looked so grim when he attended court that morning.

"Minister, quickly tell Us—what on earth happened last night?"

As soon as Honest arrived, Emperor Makoto asked with genuine concern, "We heard there were many casualties at your mansion. Is it true?"

"A significant number of Imperial Arm users were indeed killed. There were minor losses among the ordinary guards, but it won't affect future security assignments."

Honest sighed deeply, his entire demeanor looking as if he'd aged ten years overnight. "All members of Wild Hound, including my poor son, were slain by that cold-blooded assassin."

"How truly unfortunate. Please accept Our condolences," Makoto said with some sorrow in his expression. "Syura was praised even by General Budo as a martial artist. He could also control Champbhala. With proper cultivation, he could have become a pillar of the Empire, like Esdeath and General Budo. Who would have thought his life would end so soon?"

"Ever since I learned of my son's death, I haven't been able to eat or sleep," Honest said, wiping away two forced tears. "That damned assassin was far too rampant—mercilessly killing all members of Wild Hound, and not even sparing their Imperial Arms."

At this point, he suddenly remembered something and sighed again.

This time, the heartache was genuine.

Not because of Syura's death. Not even because of the deaths of Wild Hound's members.

A son? He could always make another. Though Honest looked like a bloated, prematurely aging man, his health was actually excellent. A night with ten women was nothing to him—he could easily raise another successor.

As for Imperial Arm users? They were even less valuable. With so many people in the Empire, it wouldn't be hard to find replacements.

What truly pained him was the failure to recover Wild Hound's Imperial Arms.

Countless nobles from the ministerial faction had attended the banquet last night. If the real target had been assassination, those nobles and high-ranking officials should have been the assassin's main targets.

But the assassin didn't lay a finger on any of them—instead, they set their sights on Wild Hound.

Once Honest realized the target was the Imperial Arms held by Wild Hound, he immediately rushed to check his underground vault.

All the traps and alarms along the way remained untouched. Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he opened the vault door—and what he saw inside almost gave him high blood pressure.

Not only had Wild Hound's Imperial Arms vanished, but even the ones he had privately collected were all gone.

The once-packed vault was now empty—aside from useless gold, silver, antiques, and murals, not a single Imperial Arm remained.

To avoid suspicion, Honest had deliberately mixed the Imperial Arms in with the ordinary treasures so that nothing would stand out.

In addition, he had some ordinary weapons crafted to look like flashy, exotic Imperial Arms and displayed them in glass cases.

Ironically, all of those fake weapons were still there, untouched.

But the real Imperial Arms—carefully disguised among the ordinary wealth—were all missing.

Just how the hell did that damn assassin find his secret vault?

And how did they manage to accurately identify and steal the actual Imperial Arms from among thousands of treasures?!

Last night, Honest had been absolutely furious—and this was what had made him explode with rage.

But what made it even more frustrating was that he couldn't tell anyone about it.

Because privately hoarding Imperial Arms was against Imperial law. No official, regardless of how or where they obtained them, was allowed to keep any Imperial Arm—they must all be handed over to the Emperor.

If caught hoarding them, it would be considered treason—a capital offense.

This time, he had truly lost both people and treasure, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it but swallow the pain.

"And the assassin? Was the assassin captured?" Makoto asked expectantly.

"Unfortunately, Your Majesty, we were not able to apprehend the assassin," Honest shook his head. "However, General Budo, who is in charge of inner city and palace security, arrived in time and battled the despicable assassin for over ten minutes. In the end, he managed to kill her—but he was also seriously injured and is currently undergoing treatment."

He then let out another long sigh. "However, we still don't know where the assassin hid the stolen Imperial Arms. She didn't drop any when she died. The Imperial Guard is still investigating."

Last night, once the guards at the mansion discovered the assassin's whereabouts, they launched an aerial skirmish.

While they didn't have effective anti-air weaponry, they used arrows, crossbows, and alchemical tools to keep the enemy occupied.

They successfully stalled long enough for General Budo—commander of palace and royal guards—to arrive.

As a top-tier Imperial Arm user, Budo's strength was among the highest in the Empire. With the power of Raijin's Wrath: Adelmila, which could control thunder, his attacks forced the assassin into retreat.

Finally, under the fierce bombardment of Budo's ultimate move—Call of the Thunder Emperor—the assassin's body was utterly annihilated.

There wasn't even a strand of hair left behind.

Upon hearing that the assassin had been killed, Makoto's previously tense expression relaxed significantly.

Although it was regrettable that they couldn't capture the assassin to find out where the Imperial Arms were hidden, this outcome was still far preferable to the potential disaster of letting her escape.

Six Imperial Arms were indeed a huge loss—even Makoto felt the sting.

However, what were Imperial Arms compared to life itself?

The assassin had successfully killed six Imperial Arm users in one night. Didn't that mean she could also infiltrate the royal palace and kill him, the Emperor?

If she had truly escaped, Makoto would've ordered both Budo and Esdeath into the palace for his personal protection.

"Well, well... Even though she wasn't captured, killing her is far better than letting her escape," Makoto exhaled deeply.

"A thief who could assassinate six Imperial Arm users in one night—if she had gotten away, We truly wouldn't have been able to sleep at night."