Akame Ga Kill - Garou

"You are telling me a single heavily injured man, who seemed barely able to stand with multiple obviously broken bones, did this to you? Even more, he managed to retreat with only a wound on his chest, which is not relatively close to endangering his life. Did I miss something?" Najenda coldly said as she looked at the four injured assassins before her.

The four looked dispirited while the rest of the assassins were tending to their wounds. Najenda took one of her cigarettes and blew a few puffs before saying, "We have to get all the information about this guy. If he is with the empire, then we have another terrifying foe. His threat level is only below General Esdeath and General Budo. If you encounter him again, don't engage with him unless you have an absolute numeric advantage and can neutralize him."

The assassins nodded, hearing their boss's order.

_______________________

Garou was resting at the side of a dirt road. He was quite annoyed at the fact that he had to escape from a group of B-class weaklings, but his body felt like it was going to break at any moment. He couldn't risk a prolonged fight with them and the possibility of reinforcements at their back. Now here he was, leaning on a huge rock at the side of a dirt road in the middle of nowhere like a beggar.

He wanted to follow the road, as a road like this would most probably lead to a village near City Z. He needed to find a place to rest and also to figure out his current location. However, he was currently too tired to continue moving. He closed his eyes and began recovering.

Sometime later, he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. He opened his eyes and looked toward the source.

"Are you okay?" a brown-haired girl asked with a worried face.

Garou noted the girl's costume. It wasn't typical clothing but some kind of mix between a soldier and a knight. He also noticed the presence of a small thing similar to a dog walking next to her. He assumed it to be some kind of robot. His first impression of the girl: another hero.

He didn't feel like talking to her. He would prefer to stay alone and recover. The last thing he needed was to waste his remaining stamina on this girl. He responded coldly, "I'm okay, you can leave."

His tone was rude and seemed like he was giving her an order, but the girl didn't mind it and got closer to him. She batted her chest and said cheerfully, "As a soldier of the empire, I have to fight evil and help those in need, and you are in need."

"Soldier of the empire? What are you blabbering about?" Garou didn't know what she was talking about.

"Oh, you must be from one of the villages at the outskirts, and this is your first time seeing a soldier. That's right, citizen, I'm a soldier, protector of justice, and helper of the weak."

Garou stared at the girl, who was making her declaration proudly, and the little thing beside her, which seemed to nod at its owner's words, as if they were idiots. Garou believed his first impression was wrong—she wasn't a hero but crazy and most probably a delusional idiot.

"Seryu! As a soldier, you can't run like this, leaving your unit behind."

A new voice joined them from behind the girl. A huge man, who looked like a criminal, walked closer along with a carriage and a group of people who wore the same clothes. Did someone develop an idiocy virus? Garou inwardly thought.

"I'm sorry, Captain Ogre, but I saw a citizen who seemed to be in trouble. I had to move and help," Seryu replied cheerfully.

The man looked toward Garou with his single red eye. He seemed to study him. Garou had a hunch that this guy was nothing but scum, and usually, he was right about people. Except for the girl—she was just too crazy.

The man looked back at Seryu and said, "I admire your sense of justice, but you can't help everyone you see. How do you know he is not a thief or maybe a traitor from the Revolutionary Army?"

The girl gasped and looked toward Garou warily as she asked, "Are you evil?"

Garou blinked at them. He was getting more and more confused by the moment. He still replied, "I'm not a thief and have no idea what the hell army you are talking about. But I don't deny that I'm evil, and I'll beat anyone who annoys me."

The girl looked shocked as she pointed her finger at him and said with an angry and hurt look, "You tricked me!"

Garou looked at the girl intently. He now confirmed it—she really was an idiot. He replied, "First of all, you are the one who came to me. I didn't ask you. Second, are you people crazy? I could handle idiots playing heroes, but now playing soldiers? Aren't you all too old for this game?"

Seryu got angry and screamed back at him, "We are not playing! You are indeed evil, making fun of justice!"

"Justice? Then why are you here in the woods? Shouldn't you be in the cities fighting against criminals and monsters?" Garou responded.

"We had a mission in one of the nearby villages, we finished it, and now we are heading back to the capital!" Seryu responded, not wanting to lose to Garou.

"Capital? What capital?" Garou asked. His version of Earth had multiple cities named from A to Z on a single large supercontinent, but they didn't have a specific capital.

"Naturally, the empire's capital! The biggest city in the empire," Seryu answered as if it were obvious.

Garou was silent for a moment before saying, "Never heard of it. Do you mean City Z? It is the biggest city as far as I know."

Seryu's anger vanished and was replaced with shock. "Everyone knows about the capital! How do you not know? And what is City Z?"

On the side, the soldiers began laughing as Ogre finally joined the talk, laughing himself. "I see, you are really not from the Revolutionary Army. Even they would feel too embarrassed to say they don't know the capital. I wonder which cave you crawled out of! Hahaha… Seryu, don't mind him. In the end, he's just an ignorant idiot playing ruffian to protect himself."

Seryu then looked at Garou weirdly. The latter felt uncomfortable with the stares and laughs he was receiving. He didn't like the situation at all. Moreover, the scum-looking guy called him an idiot playing ruffian. For a moment, he wanted to attack this group.

Ogre then asked him, "How did you end up injured like this?"

Garou replied, "I met a group of bastards who injured me before forcing me to escape. Later on, I hunted a boar monster, and when I was eating it, another group of bastards appeared and attacked me."

Ogre blinked at him, then exploded with laughter. "You tried to eat a danger-beast? Their meat is by far one of the most disgusting things to eat. Besides, you got attacked by bandits twice? You are really an unlucky bastard! They even robbed you of your clothes! Hahaha!"

The rest of the soldiers joined him in his laughing hysteria while Seryu looked at Garou with pity. Then she brightened as if she had figured something important. She said sincerely and cheerfully, "I understand why you want to dye yourself evil! You want to scare people because you're afraid of being attacked again. Don't worry, I will protect you!"

Garou's urge to beat the shit out of them was on the rise. These crazy idiots were far worse than any hero he had met.

Seryu then turned to her captain and said, "Captain, can we take him with us to the capital? He might die if we leave him alone here."

Ogre thought a little, then said, "Very well, but if he causes us any trouble, I'll kick him out to fend for himself."

"You are coming with us! … What is your name?" Seryu finally realized she didn't know the man's name.

"You can call me Garou," Garou replied. He didn't care if they had heard his name before. They seemed too crazy to even realize it.

Seryu smiled happily as she approached Garou to help bandage his wounds. Seeing her like this and the rest having no reaction, he knew he was right. He decided to follow them out of necessity. Once he reached the city, he would leave this group of madmen.