A Little Emperor's Fixing 4 - or 'When in doubt, use the Gulag to flush the Trouble' (Akame Ga Kill, Emperor!SI)

Najenda, former General of the Empire and current leader of the mercenary group known as Night Raid, was not looking forward for this meeting.

The emergency summit had been expected, but the one-eyed woman was not truly pleased by the most-predictable heat it would generate between the two main factions in the Revolutionary Army.

While it was indeed foolish to characterize the rebellious formation's factionalism as a bipartisan chore, the truth was that, beyond the numerous loose groups making part of it, there were two striking doctrines that manifested within the Revolutionary Army- the Republicans and the Monarchists.

The idea behind the factions, as the names would suggest, was that the former wanted a radical reform to turn the Imperial Apparatus in a fully democratic one; the latter suggested a constitution to 'limit the Emperor'.

In truth, Najenda knew that the latter group was made of people that knew the Emperor himself was hardly involved in the scumbaggery that dragged the once prestigious empire into the mud.

As much many wished to just pin the blame on the Emperor, those that had been around to see the true organization of the Empire knew the Prime Minister - former Prime Minister now - Honest was behind most of the decrees that had pretty much gutted the freedom and rights of so many citzens within the span of a few years.

Najenda couldn't say she had the 'pleasure' to meet the Emperor, but she knew the boy had been put there as a toddler and that Honest started to 'remember to check on the Emperor' only after he got to eight years-old. From there, speculation had suggested that the Emperor was given lies to pass through horrible laws and Najenda believed that.

So, when the Imperial Proclamation came through after Honest's Execution and the 'trial' set against the rest of his goons, Najenda felt there was indeed truth in the boy's words but, at the same time, there was some clever deception applied to the phrasing.

She was sure the boy knew for a while what was going on, but while many would easily think this would make her despise the child, in truth she saw his 'cautious approach' worthy of interest. Honest was not an idiot- he ruled as a glorified regent for almost a decade and had poisoned all wells tied to the Imperial Bureaucracy.

The former General knew that to sharply remove all the poisonous thorns required precision and subtlety. Something that the Emperor implemented successfully through the 'destruction' of his opponents- those that had been legitimately behind the moral and true decline of the Empire itself.

Not only that, but some of her former contacts had confirmed that the war which sought to expand the Empire had been concluded with a 'successful limited peace'. This meant that a future expansionist war would unfold, but not anytime soon... and that life for any rebel would get rough once the rest of the military got back home.

One of the biggest advantages that the Revolutionary Army had enjoyed was the Imperial War against the New Kingdom. Such an effort had displaced a large portion of the Imperial Army elsewhere and given them some breathing space.

With some of the returning divisions remaining active, anti-insurgent actions could severely increase and screw with any plans for a prolonged fight. And Najenda wasn't up to deal with that. The meeting itself had her restrained from providing her comments. It was clear the two main factions were duking it out as a 'prelude' of sort for something to prolong the rebellion and...

She didn't want that.

In fact, as she got back to base, she decided to call for every single member of Night Raid to be present for a major briefing.

"There is a high chance we will have to detach from the Revolutionary Army."

This was not the kind of words they were expecting considering their neutral-happy looks went neutral-shocked ones. The neutral look came mostly from Akame, the girl having been extremely distracted ever since the news that her little sister had been picked to be the Emperor's bodyguard.

There was no one that could tell what was happening inside her head, but she was clearly shaken by the development even after a week of this being public knowledge.

"W-What? Why!?" Mine was perhaps the one that represented the easiest to push the conversation going, and Najenda wanted this to be a 'quick bandaid explanation'. Painful but swift.

"The Revolutionary Army's leadership managed to get nothing thought about what to do with the Imperial Pardon. And while I would normally agree with them that we should take this slowly, the fact that the War beyond the Sea is now over means that most of the Imperial Army shall soon be back home. Some will be released from active duty, others will be remain to supplant the current military efforts to stabilize the Empire."

There were many uneasy looks at this, Leone looked a bit uncertain too despite her fighty mood for big situations but she had actually been 'pleased' to hear that Honest had been killed.

And yet the one that surprised Najenda the most was-

"I think it's a good idea."

Sheele's genuine and calm voice in support for the situation stunned most.

"And what's with the looks?" Sheele then asked. "You all heard the civilians. The rumors were true, the Emperor has passed laws to assist the poor and needy while also cutting on taxes."

"It could be a cheap trick," Leone argued, trying to be 'unsupportive' of the Empire but-

"He is not."

Akame's resolute tone surprised Najenda too.

"Hm?" The one-eyed former General hummed in shock. "And how can you tell?"

"One thing I remember from the past was the knowledge that the Emperor was more of a puppet than the real monster behind this sort of circumstances. But... he has been speaking and doing good things for the people. Not just with 'gifts' but also by removing those that could be useful for him to do harm once more," Akame argued flatly, then closed her eyes. "Plus... my sister-"

"Yeah, it's clear your sister was mind-controlled or something like tha-"

"She is no longer influenced by the drug she was addicted to."

This detail... Najenda was sure it wasn't available to anyone. In fact, for just a moment, she doubted Akame had heard it from a reliable source. Yet, the girl wasn't done talking.

"The reason why I can tell this much is because of her 'twitches'. You may think those are just stress-induced details, but she would never be like this... unless if she was going through some form of withdrawal. It's not severe, but I think that this is a sign that the Emperor is actually 'paying her' through a process of healing," Akame continued to speak, sounding convinced of this line of thoughts. "I would say that this is... maybe it's a sign and, combined with the rest, it's possible the Emperor may be genuinely trying to help patch things up."

The girl's words swayed some of the stronger minds in the group, but Najenda knew she couldn't get them to fully agree to this potential outcome just yet. Despite how limited their window of opportunity was, Najenda refused to go on with this option unless she was confident her team would be safe and fine with that sort of departure from the rebels.

And even then, the end results may be far from positive.


AN

Next time... Kurome and (her) Emperor go for a (date) walk.

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