Chapter Seven- Kill the Reception

The Capital- Imperial Palace Balcony

It was now practically nightfall, and the team was ascending the outer balconies overlooking the palace grounds and the Capital, about to enter the ballroom where their reception was taking place.

"It will be a short reception, then we shall return and we can have some of that seafood Wave has brought us." Esdeath said with authority, letting everyone know these formal events will be taken care of with the utmost efficiency so they can return to their actual work.

Wave was still thinking about the meeting they had with the emperor. They all kneeled before him and his counselors, the Prime Minister chief among them by his side, who spoke for the emperor mostly. It was awe-inspiring but also terrifying. The minister carried with him a certain presence that just emanated power and fear.

Esdeath did not seem to notice even, being very casual in her demeanor towards the Minister. 'She really is fearless,' he had thought, admiring her constitution during the whole ordeal, she strutted out of the room with confidence afterwards, even remarking what a boring task it was compared to her usual fare.

However, at the moment Wave was nervous, though he dare not show it. He was more nervous about the next evening than he was with any of the high lords that would attend the party.

The Minister had informed them their first mission would take place the following night, that their spies among the rebels had found a bandit camp on the outskirts of the city that has been stealing goods from local vendors as of late, and they will eradicate them come nightfall. Wave knew they as a team would have no issue, but he wanted to be able to stand out and really make up for his poor first impression with the commander.

The Imperial Palace- Grand Banquet Hall/Ballroom

Wave stood in the corner, sipping on some cocktail he had picked up from a servant girl-disgusted when some buzzed high lord with a slur in his speech groped her shortly after and she was forced to pretend it was alright to save his face and her skin (literally)- while Kurome grabbed some hors d'oeuvres.

"Don't fill up on those, we're having a late meal after this. Maybe I can impress the commander with my cooking abilities. The fish were picked up at sea so they're probably not what she's used to." Wave spoke to her.

"Huh?" Kurome turned "You really seem bent on impressing her, why, you think she'll go for you?"

"Wha-? No!" Wave whisper-shouted, turning around so no one had heard Kurome, after he realized what she meant.

"Oh, so you think the commander is unattractive?"

"No. Now you're just mincing my words!" Wave said, frustrated.

"I'm just playing. But seriously, what's up?"

"Well of course I want to impress her. She's our boss now and I want to make up for that terrible show I made earlier. She kicked me across the room. She probably thinks she got the wrong guy."

"Maybe she did."

"WHA-?" Wave shouted in disbelief at how rude she was, attracting some eyes from the servants around them.

Kurome just smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "Geez, pipe down, Wave. You're high-strung. It's a party."

Wave sighed heavily, taking a final sip of his drink and wiping his mouth, before going to talk with Run and Bols about how bored he was with the whole thing.

"I think the general's had enough, too." Bols said, pointing out her dissatisfied expression as the Minister introduced her to his other advisors.

"She had enough before we even got here." Run corrected. "Don't worry, give it a few minutes, Wave. She'll call us out of here."

Imperial Palace- Dining Hall, East Wing

"So how have you been spending your time in the Capital, General?" Seryu asked with genuine interest, while Kurome messed with Coro, teasing him with a bit of plant leaf that she'd pull away before he could grab it. Dr. Stylish stood aside, probably in deep thought about how he'd much rather be experimenting or doing something chic.

"Hunting and torturing, mostly. And some researching." Esdeath smiled and tilted her head down, shielding her eyes and she fiddled with her wine glass. "But at the moment.." she said, resting it. She clasped her hands together, as if planning something, and stared ahead with a stare so serious one could swear she had switched gears into a hunting mode: "I'm interested in falling in love."

"Love?!" both the girls at the table shouted, both in total disarmament over what she had just said. Kurome even turned away from playing with Coro. Esdeath smiled at this, pleased she had totally caught them off guard. Even domination in that aspect made her feel great.

"On another note, there is an Imperial Arms that is still in need of a user?"

Seryu began to explain how she had come into possession of the scissor-shaped Teigu, which had yet to find a suitable match.

Esdeath glared at her, with a knowing smile "If it stays that way the minister will merely add it to his collection. That would be a waste, wouldn't it?"

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Bols and Wave were hard at work.

Wave was pleased that they used his seafood for the main course, but was in shock that Bols was the better chef of the two. Bols stood beside him, splaying a fish open delicately, with a bright pink apron with a nice bear face on it—ironically, him being more a bear than a man on Wave's first impression. "Oh, Wave." He said.

Wave immediately looked up, still a bit skittish around him. "Huh?"

"Don't put in the spinach yet or it will become too tender. It goes last." He said kindly, not scolding Wave but merely informing him.

"Oh, sorry." Wave said. "By the way, I'm glad you turned out to be a kind person." Wave smiled at him.

At that, Bols turned from him in shame, tensing up as he cut down hard on the fish head. "Wave—I'm—not a good person…"

Wave could sense genuine uneasiness about the topic so he said "Well, uh, this does seem like a good dish, but I'm unfamiliar with it."

Bols then lit up again, snapped back to the moment, and explained to him his family's recipe history. Wave was just glad to see Bols back to his normal, cheery state so he could ignore how unsettling he still was to behold.

When the dinner was finally serve, they all sat down together, Esdeath at the head of course, with Seryu, Wave, and Run on her righ side, and Kurome, Dr. Stylish, and Bols to her left—though he didn't seem to actually have any of his food until after—Esdeath took note. Wave was upset he was sat directly across from Stylish, who winked at him as they met eyes across the table.

Run had just returned from his room studying, when Seryu excitedly informed him that the general was planning a tournament the next day so they could select an Imperial Arms user.

"Is that so?" Run inquired, raising a brow.

"Yes it is. I'll have some flyers scribed first thing in the morning." She said, looking down 'Who knows? Maybe my love will be among the participants?'

As the dinner went on, Wave was increasingly intrigued by Esdeath's odd manner of addressing her subordinates. She at once seemed invested in their well-being and comfort, but carried with her this aloofness and constant state of boredom that befit her public persona.

'She's a true enigma.' He thought.

"You know Wave, this is some very nice fish you've caught for us. You have experience with fishing I presume?" she asked, after tasting some.

"Uh—yes. I'm from the coast, so I have a lot of experience catching and prepping them."

"Ah, so you grew up near the ocean, and then joined the Navy? Not much of a change in venue."

Stylish and Seryu chuckled at her joke.

Wave smiled at her politely and said "I suppose not, commander."

'Outside the Capital, for certain. His clothes could've told me that.' Esdeath smiled, sipping some more wine.

Run immediately deduced that Esdeath was still fielding them all, testing their backgrounds and personalities to see which would be the best way to work with them, 'Or-' he thought, 'manipulate them.' Run was written off as a small-town teacher but knew much more than he let on about people.

Wave, in his naïveté, assumed she was merely trying to get to know them better as she effortlessly made her way round the table, bouncing from person to person naturally so as not to feel like she was just going in a circle ticking off points.

"I never asked, Wave," she said, coming back to him, "how old were you when you joined?" she persisted in getting to know a little more about him.

"Oh, I was 16, but about to turn 17."

"And you served for a three-year tour?"

"That's correct, ma'am."

Esdeath smirked, "You don't need to call me ma'am. It makes me feel like I'm old. Commander or general will be fine." She paused. "So you showed initiative from a young age? That's promising."

'Yes!' he thought, trying not to let on his excitement on possibly recouping his reputation with the general, letting out a nice smile but nothing too joyous.

'He has a decent smile, I guess. But that start date means he's about 19 or 20 now. So he's still a few years my junior. We'll see how this plays out.'

Esdeath continued on around the table, finding out about Seryu's reason for joining the Imperial police forces, Dr. Stylish's latest human experiments, Kurome's goal of finding her sister- the famed ex-Imperial assassin Akame- just to kill her (Wave went pale at that mention), Bols' talent for cooking (she appointed him the unofficial chef of the team, which he was all too happy to oblige), and Run's intellectual pursuits akin to her own. "You may be a useful secretary." She smiled, though Run seemed only complimented on the surface. 'Secretary?' he thought, 'That's a laugh.'

Wave, despite being pretty impressed by his new boss, could not help but be a little sickened by how much she enjoyed hearing about Stylish's inhumane experiments on vagrants and traitors in his lab, and Esdeath even suggested to him using no anesthetic, or even a drug to ensure his 'subjects' would stay awake, would improve results, which he genuinely seemed to consider.

'God, she's kind of batshit.' Wave thought, his eyes widening, which Stylish seemed to notice, winking at him so Wave turned to converse with the bubbly Seryu instead.

"So, Seryu, your dad was a policeman, too? I guess it runs in the family?" he said, smiling wide at her.

She blushed and responded as enthusiastically as always "Yeah! I've always wanted to be one since seeing him take down some thieves while we were on an outing when I was a girl. He inspired my passion for seeking justice." She hung her head. "But he was taken by some traitors in the night; cowardly people. Like those we are sworn to stop. They took my arms and my mentor- my second father- Ogre, as well."

Wave soured his expression, hoping to cheer her up. "That's repulsive. Don't worry, Seryu. We'll find the ones that did this to you and make them pay for how they've hurt you."

Seryu smiled, "Thank you, comrade. But me and Koro already got the one who did this. Koro made a nice meal out of her." Wave's eyes widened again, 'Okay, maybe she's not exactly the type I thought she was. But still, they took her arms so I suppose I'd be pretty happy if that were my enemy Koro ate.'

"Well, we still have some work to do." Wave patted her on the metal arm.

Seryu noticed, and spoke up "I can feel touch on these, thank to my patron, Dr. Stylish," she smiled up at him, to see him deep in discussion with Esdeath, "But they're still cold to others. I can never touch someone with a warm hand again." She again sombered, but turned to Wave as he spoke.

"I haven't noticed," he smiled warmly at her.

She blushed a bit and Koro nuzzled up to his leg and he began petting it.

"You're very good with words for someone so young," Seryu complimented him.

"Young? You look about the same age as me. Maybe younger?" Wave smiled, patting Koro.

Seryu giggled again, "No need for compliments. You're about 20 right? You were 17 three years ago?"

"Yeah."

"I'm 25. I joined the police about 5 years ago." she giggled.

Wave was stunned. How could she be older than him AND the commander (by all reports he'd heard Esdeath was not much older than himself) and seem so full of life and innocent?

"Wow. No compliment, you're just a lot more jubilant than most women I know."

Wave decided, 'I don't have much of a problem with older women. As long as they're not my mom's age or anything.'

Wave's mind was taken back to the village. So much had happened in his first day he'd almost forgotten. 'I hope Genji is okay. I will return, uncle. I will avenge you here in the capital.'

"What's wrong? You seem lost in thought all the sudden." Seryu asked, and Wave noticed that Kurome had been actively listening to their conversation.

"Nothing, just thinking about my uncle at home, I hope he's okay. He was injured by some bandits shortly before I came here."

'So he understand the pain of a family member being harmed by evil.' Seryu's eyes widened a bit, and she reassuring put her hand on Wave's and he smiled at her, thanking her for her care.

Morning

The Jaegers sat down to a nice brunch Bols had prepared, and Esdeath had pressured him to come out with his mask off, exposing himself to the group, who seemed overjoyed he had joined them, barely noticing his face.

Esdeath was wearing a much more casual outfit than normal, a nice grayish black blouse with diamond patterned openings in the sleeves and normal black lounging pants.

Wave, conversing with Kurome about her growing up in the Capital, had taken note of this and was amazed she would show herself in a fairly vulnerable state. 'She can sit among her subordinates almost as an equal. It's as though she's at a dinner with colleagues but seems for more attentive here than she would be doing this with any high-ranking Imperial politicians. She even convinced Bols to come out without his mask. She must really care-" Wave paused, thinking, 'Wait. What did she do or say to Bols to get him to come out?' He recanted, realizing he may have gotten ahead of himself with his optimism again.

As they passed around some fruits and pastries that Bols had slaved away since the early hours making, Stylish poured some more sweet juices and sparkling wine for himself and Seryu, handing it to Wave, grazing his finger as he handed it off. 'Jeez, does this guy ever let up?' Wave thought, becoming less embarrassed and just more aggravated at the constant eye-fluttering from the doctor.

Esdeath carried on conversation about the tournament later that afternoon and such, but kept an eye on Wave throughout, undetected as she had been trained to do from years of verbal sparring with Imperial top dogs. She had reviewed all the Jaeger files that evening and that morning in her office, looking for any discrepancies. She had found none really, but did focus in on Wave's file for slightly longer than the others, so she may have missed something— 'No,' she thought, 'I must never doubt myself. That is for the weak. I am the strongest in the Empire, nothing escapes me.'

She notes his Imperial Arms requires immense strength and durability due to the strain it puts on the user, and was impressed with his desire to take a military post at such a young age, showing a desire to fight and travel, and notes he has a few Danger Beast hotspots in the area of his village, meaning he probably has no fear of them, maybe a cautious knowledge at worst.

He also probably is very skilled and disciplined from the military, meaning he will be easy to break in and already has a career making his path to a general rank like hers that much easier to carve.

He's also younger than her and is good looking for some nobody from the country, a stranger to the cosmetics and expensive clothing of the Capital that some use to enhance themselves.

But his smile left a little to be desired. He smiled fine, sure, but she wanted to give this time. He seemed just a little too eager to please her, probably out of fear and some admiration—which she was no stranger to, she in fact welcomed it—but he may still be putting up a slight façade. She thought he'd really have to prove himself, as he did get swiftly put out of commission by her in their first encounter.

'We'll see,' she thought, 'anyways, the tournament should yield some promise as well.'