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Despite being a little squeamish herself, Dixie obviously didn't want her princess to dirty her hands when she had a choice. "You can leave it all to me, Emily. Just let me know what you want him to spill, and then make sure you don't look this way."
"… Huh?"
The dark-haired girl coughed awkwardly. "Trust me, you wouldn't want to see it. Michelle's 'hobby' might be useful sometimes, but it's definitely not a pretty sight."
"Is that so…?" Emilia hummed thoughtfully, but when she sensed a small group of three heading their way, she quickly made up her mind. "Alright. I'll trust you with this one, then. Just make sure he doesn't make too much noise, and you can dig up at least the basics of his identity. You should get what I'm trying to do, right?"
The dark-haired girl nodded confidently. 'Even if I don't as much practice as Michelle, how hard can it be? Plus, with Emily's ability, just his name alone would be enough for most people to not suspect much. After all, she's already observed his behavior from a distance before, and should easily be able to roughly imitate it.'
Being so close to her princess for so long, there was no way Dixie wouldn't have any idea what she wanted.
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Three more dead soldiers and one fatally mutilated Rudolph later, the two of them quickly rushed to the outpost that the man had been commanding. Of course, Emilia had already changed into the 'salt and pepper' guy they'd taken care of before.
"Stay at a distance while I move in, and only assist me if I have to escape, alright?"
The crimson-haired girl's stern look didn't allow for Dixie to protest too much, and she could only nod her head obediently. "Make sure you stay safe, then, princess."
"Mhm!"
Being in a less than desirable form, Emilia didn't bother kissing her girlfriend despite feeling the urge to do so, and only gave her a smile and a thumbs up before she started moving towards the target outpost.
Naturally, since she hadn't bothered hiding 'herself' at all, it didn't take long before the soldiers on the lookout spotted 'their superior' and stood up straighter in an effort to look more diligent.
Unfortunately, with how 'his' expression had morphed into one of fury, and even the way 'he' walked radiating rage, everyone could tell that the 'man' was in a terrible mood, though no one dared to ask why.
It was only when 'he' had already marched inside the outpost that 'Rudolph' could seemingly no longer control his rage. With a slam of his fist against the wooden beam of the watch tower, the nearby soldiers felt their hearts beating like drums from nervousness.
"Fucking traitors! Trash!" He fumed as he spat on the ground.
Having never seen their commander so full of rage, the subordinates didn't even dare to squeak.
"Santiago! Go and fucking drag the bodies of those traitors back. To think they managed to kill three of us while trying to escape… fucking trash!"
A tall yellow-eyed man with his head completely shaved hurriedly saluted before arranging for a few soldiers to follow him. Obviously, his superior was in no mood to go into the details, and since they had to bring in their fallen anyway, he might as well just drag all the dead bodies together.
As for where exactly they were or why his superior had survived with only a few bloodstains on his clothes… well, he wasn't stupid enough to ask such questions.
If the 'traitors' were caught trying to get away, they could only have been stupid and unlucky enough to derail from their patrol route near the commander's usual path whenever he wanted to go for a walk.
'Rudolph' didn't even look back to check if 'his' orders had been followed, and instead seemed to be still lost in thought. "Fine, then… Fine! Since they want to play dirty, it seems like I will have to—!"
Suddenly, 'he' frowned. "Their blood got on my clothes, huh?"
'His' eagle-like gaze turned to one of the nearby soldiers, who almost peed himself in fright. "I-I'll bring—"
'Rudolph' interrupted him with a snort and simply took off his 'dirty' jacket. "No need. Although they're dead, they died fighting traitors. I will let this stain remind me of their honor and loyalty. Take this back and put it with the rest."
Everyone around couldn't help but feel a little emotional all of a sudden. 'The commander rarely speaks, and when he does he's very rough, but he's a good man inside, after all.'
Naturally, Emilia didn't care much for their thoughts, and only pretended to be in deep thought for a more minutes as she stealthily observed the direction in which the discarded jacket was taken. 'Well, obvious enough that he'd live in the best one, but doesn't hurt to make sure.'
After Emilia was sure that enough time had passed for her act to appear natural, 'Rudolph' nodded to himself. "Alright, everyone, get back to what you were doing before... and tell Santiago to report to me as soon as he returns!"
Finished with his orders, their superior swiftly left.
Fortunately, no one noticed that instead of soaking into the ground like normal, their superior's saliva had seemingly evaporated, which was definitely unnatural given the temperature and time.
Of course, Emilia knew that people would realize something was wrong sooner or later. After all, no matter how perfectly she integrated into the identity of 'salt and pepper' Rudolph, how long would everyone believe that only one person survived a fight that ended up killing six?
No matter how they'd been shot as a cover-up after they were already dead, a simple investigation would be enough reveal that they'd all really perished to knife wounds, and everything that Rudolph said was a lie.
But… that was fine.
She didn't need to wait so long, after all. As the Empress of Blue Dawn, Emilia naturally didn't wish to be 'missing' from her people's sight for extended periods now that they were going through such tough times.
Twisting the neck of her frankly uncomfortable form, Emilia frowned as she spread her senses to find the place she was looking for. "Let's get this over with quickly, then."
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