Alchemists do not need self-cultivation

“Your initiator is quite lively,” Akima said with a smile.

"Yes."

Akima sat opposite Isaac and asked, "I heard you defeated Scorpio. That's amazing. You've already surpassed me without me even realizing it."

“It’s nothing to brag about,” Isaac said. “Oh, right, I forgot to tell you I had amnesia before.”

"Huh!?" Akira looked at Isaac in disbelief. "When did this happen?"

About two months ago.

"And your fighting skills..."

"I've forgotten everything."

“This is really…” Akima covered his head and gave a wry smile.

"But it's alright, I've practiced another set myself, so it's not a big problem."

"If your master heard you say that, he might be furious."

The two chatted for a while, and at one point, Akima asked Isaac about his thoughts on the support unit, but Isaac simply brushed it off, saying he was "still watching".

Akira looked at Isaac suspiciously: "You don't want to participate in this battle?"

“You saw it yourself in this battle; the Self-Defense Forces have deployed all the police officers to the front lines,” Isaac said, looking at the surrounding camps. “They want us to be cannon fodder; you should have realized that.”

Akima remained silent.

Of course he could see it, but since the Self-Defense Forces were in charge of this battle, they had no choice but to follow their orders.

“I’m not a soldier in this country, so I’ll exterminate Gastrea in my own way.” Isaac took a sip of the beer that Akima handed him.

"We won't gain anything from this battlefield."

"Then why did you come here?" Akima asked Isaac with a puzzled look.

He had a strange feeling that the Rentaro Satomi in front of him was a different person from the Rentaro Satomi he had met at the dojo.

“I’m here to win over some police officers who are also dissatisfied with the status quo, after all, you’ve seen the situation in Tokyo Ward.”

"So what do you want to do?"

Isaac's eyes narrowed slightly: "I want half of the police officers here to abandon this area."

"Are you crazy?" Akima looked around to make sure no one was looking at him, then lowered his voice and said, "If we can't hold this area, Tokyo is finished."

Isaac pointed to the Self-Defense Forces' encampment in the distance.

"With a large number of regular troops equipped with heavy weaponry, the Tokyo area won't be so easily destroyed."

"but……"

“Senior, those parasites are waiting for us. Once our police officers and Gastrea have been almost wiped out in the battle, they can steal the credit.” Isaac’s eyes turned fierce. “I don’t want my efforts to become someone else’s achievement; I’ll lose face.”

Isaac's words made Akima sigh.

"It's been years since we last met. You've changed a lot, Satoshi."

“You’ll get used to it,” Isaac laughed.

Akima temporarily left, taking with him the shy girl wearing a magic hat who was beside him.

"Midori, what kind of person do you think Satomi is?" Akima asked the girl next to him.

While Akima and Isaac were talking, the girl named Midori was also observing Isaac and blocking Enju's harassment.

“Darkness,” Cui said. “Unfathomable darkness.”

"Really……"

Isaac remained seated in his original spot, idly looking around.

Although some of the police officers were from regular military backgrounds, most of them were thugs or criminals.

Therefore, this area, which is home to a large number of police officers, can be described as a mixed bag.

"Rentaro, was that your former senior brother?" Enju asked Isaac.

"I think so, but I can't remember." Isaac said, slumping onto the table. "Sigh, couldn't my senior have given me a few more bottles of wine before he left?"

Isaac sighed as he looked at the empty beer bottle.

He's now planning to use alchemy to move his birth date back a few years.

"Hey kid, what's so great about beer? Try this instead."

There was a 'thud' on Isaac's table. A bottle of white vodka had been placed on the table.

He looked up and saw a man with a barrel-sized physique and a punk-style hairstyle standing in front of him.

Isaac glanced at the vodka on the table, picked it up, opened the bottle, and chugged it down.

"Great job! What's your name, kid?" the giant asked with a loud laugh. "My name is Brick Nigel. I've committed twenty robberies and murders and have been sentenced to death or wanted by three countries."

He said this with great pride.

In his view, the crimes he committed were his medals.

“My name is Rentaro Satomi,” Isaac said. “Thank you for the drink.”

“Satomi…Rentaro!?” Brick stared at Isaac in shock. “Rentaro Satomi from [Calamity], ranked fifteenth by IP address!?”

He was a police officer in the Tokyo area, so naturally he had heard of this person.

Defeating Scorpio with his bare hands without the help of the Initiator, and saving Tokyo.

His identity was later hidden by the government, and apart from those who saw Isaac make his move on the big screen, most people did not know what he really looked like.

I never expected that this person would be right in front of me.

“Um… Mr. Satomi.”

His voice suddenly became respectful.

This is quite normal; there's a saying among police officers that "those ranked within the top 100 are people who have sold their souls to the devil."

Those whose rankings begin with ten are basically defined as 'non-human' by them.

"Don't be nervous. A lot of people here haven't recognized me yet. You're the first one," Isaac laughed.

"Oh, oh!"

"You're here looking for the auxiliary forces?" Isaac asked casually.

“Yes, I originally came looking for members of the auxiliary forces, and I wanted you to join me,” Brick said apologetically.

"So, do you think it's necessary to participate in this campaign?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" He didn't understand what Isaac was trying to say.

“The Tokyo ward has been involved in the ‘Anti-Cursed Child’ campaign and the [Family Registration Deprivation Law] case. I think you should know better than anyone how the police are faring right now,” Isaac said.

"Yes! Those bastards, I wonder who's protecting them all this time!" he roared.

Isaac's words resonated with him deeply. As a police officer, he could also feel the gradual rejection he was receiving from these citizens, until he couldn't even get any cases.

Seeing the expression on the person's face, Isaac's lips curled up slightly.

Chapter 297: Isaac's Temptation

Isaac told Yanzhu to go and check on things. He then started chatting with Brick, the punk-haired man with a beer belly.

Isaac laughed and said, "Business is tough for everyone these days. Because of the current situation in Tokyo, or rather in Japan, we don't know how long we can keep our jobs as police officers."

These words struck a chord with Brick, who quickly replied, "Yes, because of those bastards, we haven't gotten any business for a long time."

Isaac's smile widened.

"Then why did you come to participate in this battle?"

“Of course it’s for the money,” Brick said. “I can’t get any work in the city. I heard there’s a campaign here, so I came here. I heard the commissions are pretty good, and you can even get ranked higher.”

His idea is very common, or rather, most of the police officers who come here have this idea.

Police officers in Tokyo are having a very tough time. Some officers from large companies are doing alright, but those who are not well-known are facing the risk of going out of business.

Some simply went bankrupt.

The Battle of Kwantung was a great battle between humans and Gastrea, perhaps the kind that would be recorded in history books.

If you perform well in the battle, you'll not only receive generous commissions, but you might also improve your IP ranking and become a hero.

Isaac heard the expected answer and smiled, "Do you really think it's that easy?"

“Hmm?” Brick wasn’t sure what Isaac was trying to say.

Do you know who's in command of this operation?

"Of course I know, it's the Self-Defense Forces."

"What did the Self-Defense Forces officials tell you?"

Brick recalled for a moment and said, "It seems that, at the invitation of the Self-Defense Forces, who were to act as the vanguard, the police would fight as a reserve force to crush the Gastrea."

"Then I'll ask you now, where is the Self-Defense Forces?"

"This……"

He looked into the distance, near the No. 39 megalith, where the Self-Defense Forces were encamped.

They are now far removed from the front lines of the battlefield.

"Do they look like they want to come over and be 'forwards'?"

"What Mr. Satomi means is..."

“They want us to rush in so they can reap the benefits later,” Isaac laughed.

"asshole!!"

Brick slammed his fist on the table in anger, and the other police officers around looked over. However, fights were common in this area, so they glanced at the scene and then ignored it.

Isaac continued, "Furthermore, there are two thousand Gastrea. What do you think your chances of survival are if you charge in?"

"..."

Brick's face was very grim; he now understood what Isaac meant.