You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

"Isn't this a bit risky?"

"Don't worry, under my tutelage she has developed strength no less than Esdeath's back then, and she is fully capable of shouldering this responsibility."

Iori's confident expression put Najenda at ease. After all, in her mind, Iori was an invincible powerhouse in this world. He would never misjudge in the field of combat. If he said Akame could do it, then he really could!

"Yes, then there's nothing to fear. Your subject will do his utmost to provide logistical support for General Akame."

"General Red Eyes... let's call him that for now."

Iori smiled and said, "By the way, do you have any clue about what exactly disturbed these dangerous species?"

"This... I don't have a definite answer yet."

Najenda frowned. "However, according to the intelligence gathered from various places, there are no special circumstances compared to previous years..."

Of course, there won't be any visible changes in the short term. The Dangerous Species are just more perceptive, so they're a bit confused—Iori sighed almost imperceptibly.

"You don't need to investigate further. This should be a butterfly effect caused by changes in the weather."

"Butterfly?"

"It's a chain reaction."

Iori laughed and said, "Just like the ebb and flow of tides and the coming and going of spring, which also affect the routines of dangerous species... it must be that the climate and the direction of the earth's veins have changed, which indirectly affected them and led to this incident."

"Climate and ley lines?"

Najenda opened her mouth and murmured... unable to respond for a moment.

“I understand that climate affects dangerous species, but ley lines… do you mean terrain?”

"Heh, don't worry about that. Just know that this is an isolated incident. Once this period is over, similar things won't happen again."

Iori offered Najeta a few more words of encouragement, and then the female general bowed and respectfully left the office.

"A dangerous species... that wasn't well thought out."

The man shook his head, let out a long sigh, and stared blankly for a few seconds before regaining his composure and returning to rationality.

Although there is no physical evidence yet for this abnormal activity of the dangerous species, Iori can already make a general judgment, and the reason is simple:

This is the chain reaction brought about by the "earth vein network".

In the world of Akame ga Kill!, there were originally no such things as ley lines. There was only a thin flow of vital energy in the earth's crust. It was not as conspicuous as sunlight and rain, but it nourished many living beings invisibly.

Iori brought about a change, condensing the scattered earth energy into a complete dragon vein. This change would naturally affect some things, but last time there were no obvious phenomena, which made Iori feel that this was a process that needed time to ferment...

But this operation was too big, almost affecting the very essence of the entire nation. Even if the initial impact was slight, with such a massive scale, even the slightest reaction would be very noticeable, as evidenced by the fact that dangerous species have entered their active period!

Admittedly, Iori was short-sighted this time, but it's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep are lost, and there's no need to worry about the new empire's image being damaged.

After all, according to Najenda, the people's lives are much better now than during the Empire era; these are just sporadic beast plagues, which only appear high in national statistics. But for the locals, it's probably not as destructive as when officials came down to collect taxes and grain requisitions in the past…

Rather, it's more accurate to say that the Empire didn't even deploy its elite forces during this emergency. It easily suppressed the various dangerous disturbances in the emergency situation, demonstrating its organizational capabilities and skill, which made the people feel very safe!

"Thirteen super dangerous species... I'll give you a month."

After Najenda left, the Akame and Kurome sisters entered.

Having been baptized a few days ago, Kurohime has now adapted to her materialized soul body. Originally somewhat introverted and gloomy after breaking free from the drug's control, she now exudes confidence and arrogance, though she only transforms into a cute girl when facing Akame.

And those dark eyes naturally harbor hostility towards the only man close to her sister—she just doesn't dare show it on her face.

Iori occasionally felt her gaze...

But he wasn't offended; on the contrary, he found it quite amusing.

He enjoys the feeling of being disliked by others but being unable to do anything about it!

At the same time, he was increasingly looking forward to the day when he completely won over Akame, wondering what kind of expression this sister-obsessed yandere would make.

Let's just restrain her and throw her under the bed to watch the live broadcast—cough!

It went a little too far. As everyone knows, Iori is a conservative man and has no interest in those perverted tricks.

"give it to me!"

Unlike Najenda, Akame is much more casual when facing Iori, even though they are nominally still in a lord-vassal relationship.

"Let me show you the results of my cultivation over this period of time."

"Could it be that he has achieved Shikai?"

Iori was very curious, but Akame smiled slightly and did not answer.

"That really interests me... I'll go with you this time to hunt down the super dangerous species, and let me broaden my horizons too."

"Well!"

Black Eyes' eyebrows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

Iori noticed this, and his smile widened. To his sister's astonishment, he took Akame's right hand.

"Your Majesty...no! Iori?"

"Haven't we joined forces against an enemy in a long time?"

Iori brought her hand to her lips, not kissing the back of her hand lightly, but naturally cupping her hands together to cover it. Her gentle smile made it seem as if she was measuring the temperature and softness of the hand.

"I have to go on a business trip after this is over... Speaking of which, we've both grown a lot, but your hands are still as soft as they used to be."

Even though it's a knife-wielding hand, it doesn't look rough like most people's.

"Because we're carrying out an infiltration mission... we can't leave any openings in places like this, so we're applying ointment to remove the calluses... Hmm, how long are you going to keep catching me?"

"Wait a moment."

"What are you doing..."

"Oh, don't mind it."

Iori pinched Akame's fingers to compare their thickness, and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Kurome's expression, so she deliberately gave a gentle yet provocative smile.

"It's just taking the measurements beforehand—make sure it stays in good condition,"

"Well……"

"!!!"

Akame blushed, Kurome's face darkened, but Iori laughed heartily and brightly.

A yandere younger sister?

It's just part of advanced play!

~~~~~

Chapter 330 Does Ainz Ooal Gown like cyberpunk?

Drip!

The piercing sound of the horn made Iori frown.

When he first arrived in this world, he was in a dark alley. But when he came out, he didn't see the medieval town that one would expect in this other world. Instead, he saw a wide, busy highway. Small cars that looked like beetles, which had no wheels, could float on the road surface at a distance of twenty or thirty centimeters, speeding along the silver marking lines that looked like tracks.

Turning, stopping, changing lanes... the vehicles are densely packed yet extremely orderly, and the operation of each vehicle is surprisingly consistent, almost like an assembly line.

Modern, no, futuristic city?

—Iori frowned, her expression of disgust unconsciously showing.

The air quality is terrible... It doesn't smell bad or anything, it actually has a fresh floral scent.

But the problem is that there's hardly any greenery to be seen!

Iori's senses are extremely sharp. Although she has never actually measured the specific composition of the atmosphere, she intuitively feels that it contains a lot of harmful substances, but they affect the body in a subtle way. Even if someone gets sick, it cannot be attributed to this.

Of course, Iori wouldn't be affected; he simply didn't like having something spiked in his body.

"Is this Lord of the Undead?"

Iori stood on the bustling roadside, next to a virtual image of various advertisements flashing continuously. The hazy and ever-changing light and shadow shone on his upper body, highlighting his handsome face as mysterious and indifferent, attracting the attention of passersby, both men and women.

But perhaps because he was in a bad mood, he gave off a feeling of being unapproachable, and no one dared to come up and talk to him.

He looked up and calmly surveyed the avant-garde buildings, then glanced at the clothing of pedestrians and the design of passing vehicles... increasingly doubting whether he had come to the wrong place.

It looks like a technological world no matter how you look at it!

But when I calmed down and carefully checked the system prompt, it did indeed say "King of the Undead"?

"Never mind, let's gather some intelligence first."

Iori took a step toward the intersection, and this small action made many girls who were secretly observing him feel a jolt.

The next moment, in the instant they brushed past each other—

The man disappeared.

"Ugh?!"

"Where did you go?"

"Did you see it?"

"Damn it! I should have gone and struck up a conversation earlier!"

Iori's departure caused a small commotion among the crowd.

……

The mid-to-late 21st century is an era where technology is all-powerful but has not brought happiness to humankind.

Journeying into space, unlocking the secrets of the human genome, limitless nuclear fusion energy, global unity... these dream-filled topics have been forgotten for some time now.

Let alone Plato's ideal state, even the two world wars and the superpower rivalry of the 20th century seem too distant.

This world, controlled by various capitalist groups, is just like the science fiction works of the early 20th century, where 90 percent of humanity has been alienated into cogs on an assembly line, with no other possibility than being used as expendable resources.

People today don't have the energy to think about philosophy and history; in other words, they are powerless to look to the future or look back on the past. For the vast majority of them, who have only received professional training and whose literacy rates have even dropped significantly, simply living a good life in the present requires their utmost effort.

Humans are thinking reeds, but if even thinking is not allowed, then what difference is there between them and real reeds?

Then, naturally, some people became numb and some fell into depravity.

Society is like a cake covered in bacteria, with rotten fruit soaking in sweet cream.

Clean water and air, healthy food, compliant medical care, and a safe social environment—once upon a time, people even thought science was omnipotent, but now they have to work hard for the most basic survival needs.

No one knows, or rather, no one has told them, why the world has developed into what it is today, and even thinking about this question has become taboo.

Thus, cheap and convenient entertainment has become the best anesthetic. In this cyberpunk-like era, the highly developed entertainment industry is the only mercy.

"This place feels like a giant version of South Korea."

Iori sat in his luxuriously decorated high-rise office, looking down at the entire city through a transparent glass window that didn't obstruct his view. The neon lights, which could be described as light pollution, made him frown.

With a snap of my fingers, the glass window automatically switched to night mode, and the room was illuminated with soft light, so that my eyes would not feel any discomfort from the sudden change.

The chair spun around, and Iori returned to the fan-shaped desk. He tapped his finger lightly in front of him, and a clear light screen automatically appeared. The AI ​​assistant retrieved the information he needed one by one, and he nodded as he browsed through it.

Then he suddenly remembered something and said, "This is none of your business, you may leave."

"Yes, my Lord."

The tall, blond middle-aged man bowed respectfully and retreated with a bent back, as if serving an emperor with utmost care.

If outsiders saw this scene, they would probably be terrified.

Because this person is the major shareholder of "Kyokuto Heavy Industries" and also holds shares in two other slightly smaller large groups, in this world where power is distributed based on the amount of capital, his status in Japan can definitely be described as that of a prince!

A single sentence can cause thousands to lose their jobs, any decision can trigger stock market turmoil, and having that idea can easily destroy the order of an industry...

You won't find anyone in the whole world who can make such a tycoon act so humbly!

—But obviously, Iori, being an outsider, isn't included in that calculation.

For Iori, both human and machine defense systems were useless; entering a big shot's bedroom was as easy as going to the supermarket... and he didn't even have to pay.

Iori clearly has no shortage of means to mentally control a human being, implying that magic and brainwashing devices can easily achieve this.

Let alone the fact that the technology in this world hasn't developed to the point of "cyberpunk," even if it were possible to completely cybernetically transform one's body, and even replace one's brain with the electronic brain from "Ghost in the Shell," Iori could still get the virus program from Chaldea!

Ultimately, because of capital's control over knowledge, the number of people engaged in basic scientific research is limited, resulting in the world's technological development remaining relatively stagnant. While various products may appear flashy and sophisticated, in reality... they are far from reaching the level of mechanical advancement.