AKAME ASSASINATION (21)
"Did you hear the Nichiro case yet?"
A few days later things had calmed down a bit although everybody was still in shock at what had happened previously.
"Yes I did, but did all those people have to die?"
"I've heard more cases have come up all across the country, it all started in Kobe."
"I heard that too." The gossip continued, "Down in the south."
"But they say it's a kid with a big sword, have doubts that rumor is true."
"Yeah, but when they mention that this kid is a Saikyo, then things begin to get interesting."
"Oh, Akame Saikyo (The strongest Demon). I hear he's also known as the Vagabond of death."
"He brings nothing but misfortune and death where even he goes."
In classic fashion the tales of the demon child had spread far and wide. For all those who had no belief in this rumor now they do, seeing is believing and what they saw at the entrance of the Nichiro sword style school is what they believed.
"Excuse me." After three days, the town square was filled with people who had traveled far and wide to come and witness this demonic child. Posters by sketch artist hanged on wooden signs of what some of the surviving members of the Nichiro school saw that day. The survivors where mostly women and children.
One of the many traveler was a short woman, she was extremely short but not a dwarf she seemed to have the body of a child. Her hair was long and red and her iris's were bright pink. She wasn't wearing any traditional clothing making her look like a foreigner. But she spoke none the less.
"Where was the boy last seen?" She was asking around, but it would appear as though most people tried ignoring her out care for their own sake.
"Hey, why are you ignoring me?" In true fashion the townsfolk tried their hardest to avoid her.
She gave a sigh as most people left the town square opting to go to other places to read the new upcoming news. But there was a man who stood tall and continued reading the posters on the wall. He seemed like a traveler.
'Wearing a travelers Kimono with a leather bag on his back and no weapon strapped along his waste. He must be here for site seeing, meaning he might not be as educated as the people around here probably an up and coming merchant.'
Her observations were spot on, the man wore what at the time was considered the staple of travelling clothes, not to mention the quality of leather of his bag indicated either he was the son of a noble man or the son of a merchant. He had a full head of hair so probably a noble man was too generous.
'There might be other possibilities but I will make an assumption that it is the later and not the former for the simple reason of him not leaving the square even though everyone else has. I suppose I'll put on my cute face.' She smiled to herself as she came up with her ingenious plan.
She slowly walked up to the man, "Um… excuse me."
The man slightly turned.
"I'm down here."
His brown eyes followed the sound of a now high pitched woman who stood at barely the height of his hip.
"Yes?"
"Kind sir, I happen to be very new around here, please could you tell me what all the commotion was about earlier."
The woman had a simple trick with this question. 'If he truly was a merchant he most likely arrived a day or two before me otherwise he wouldn't be at the town square if not then he has gathered news from other people regardless of whether it was propaganda or not.'
You might be asking yourself why dear reader. Well its simple, a merchant should always have one thing.
Connections.
Without any he would become nothing more than another wanna be broker with no amazon reviews (For all my new gen readers).
'Meaning he must have some sort of information regarding the incident simply off principal of not wanting to lose anyone who might come in handy later.'
"Oh that." He stroked his chin, "Well the Nichiro-sword style school burned down recently. Most are attributing it to a fire that started within the school."
"Really?" The woman acted shocked, "Was it really?"
The man looked around, "I don't think so." He then leaned in closer to the woman's face, "I'll tell you something that only I know. It must have been that good for nothing Vagabond."
"Which Vagabond?"
"The one that is said to have originated from Kobe, he goes around challenging schools and burning them to the ground. People who see him say he's nothing but a goddamn demon. And I couldn't agree more."
"Oh…" The woman's voice cracked a little, her chest felt heavy and her throat felt itchy, "A demon, why would you say that?"
"Seriously?" The man scoffed, "He goes around killing people for fun, that damn vagabond deserves to be hanged for his transgressions. I say we find that kid and…"
The man stopped for a moment, he suddenly felt scared. Looking down at the woman he saw that her eyes were wide open, one of her hands gripped tightly onto his wrist threatening to break it. There was a certain aura that emanated from her.
"You best choose the words that come out of your mouth more carefully."
"Gyaa!"
She slowly started applying more pressure to his wrist forcing him down on his knees. "Stop wait… did I say… what!"
CRACK!
His radius and ulnar began breaking the more pressure she applied.
"Please I'm sorry… sorry please."
GRAB!
An external source pulled the woman away from the man's wrist. The man quickly retracted his hand and squirmed around in pain as he gritted his teeth.
"You damn brat!" He had his hand close to his chest and his eyes closed, "I might as well ask for your execution."
"That won't be necessary." The voice that spoke to him was a gentle one.
He opened his eyes and he was immediately hooked by what he saw. It was as though an angle had come down from heaven to speak to him. Her hair was long and as white as snow, her eyes shone an emerald green and her skin was an amazing shade of peach. She smelled like jasmines and wore trousers that covered up her tall and supple legs.
"We were just asking about anything you might know about the vagabond child." The girl spoke, "Like maybe his last known where abouts."
"Um…" The man was so astounded by the girl's beauty that making sounds with his mouth was all he could do. "Um… he still around."
"?"
"He couldn't have left because the samurai have blocked off every single exit and are actively searching for him."
"Thank you."
"But make sure to get your daughter under control." The man pointed at the woman the girl held close to her chest as though she was a baby.
"Daughter!" It was clear the woman was enraged, "I'll have you know I am older than you deep . I'll grind your bones next time…"
"Thank you for your time." The girl quickly made her get away before things escalated too much. After they had gotten far enough, the girl began scolding her mother.
"You can't just run off like that, where ever you go you always cause a ruckus mom."
"Its not my fault, how dare he talk about your brother like that." She wiped herself off after her daughter had put her down.
"He technically earned all of that by himself."
"Kora, he's just a child. He thinks everything is a game, even taking lives. He doesn't understand things that me and you understand." The woman spoke, "We need to find him before he does something he'll regret."
Kora sighed, "Fine, but no more running off. We'll do this together, let's start by looking at the school perhaps there is where we'll find clues of his where abouts."
Her mother gave a small nod. "But can you believe he though you were a child and I was the mother. How mature I must look." Kora praised herself for acting like the bigger person.
"Shut up, that man wouldn't know a mature woman if she slapped him in the face."
The two women continue on their journey to find a boy who had strayed too far from the light. But even if they managed to find him, would he have agreed to go back home with them or has the path he has chosen already corrupted his mind?
YAY! NOW LET'S HEAD BACK TO THE MAIN STORY!