The Town at the Border (4)

Morning came sooner than he anticipated, and by then he was already within the room his father had once used as the study, a hand pinched over the bridge of his nose as he contemplated.

The issue about last night wasn't solely in the fact that the Assassin, Akame, had invaded his dwelling in search of her target, but the ramifications of what she had conveyed to him as well.

"The residents at the far edge of the town have expressed their need of support," Elaine read to him from the side, brushing back her long bangs behind her ears.

She had always been meticulous and upright due to her upbringing of hording in the impulsiveness of her brothers, and it reflected in her diligence to keep things orderly. She came, just as she always had to his home at the break of dawn ready to assist him, and in this case, it was to inform him of the growing problem that had to be dealt with.

"Money is scarce, and the harvest this year wasn't as adequate as predicted," Elaine continued, reading off from a sheet of dried papyrus before eying him discreetly. "If we don't solve the food problem soon, people will starve when the Winter comes."

He sighed.

This was his exact issue. Initially, he had planned to send townsfolk to the Capital of the Empire to work and secure rations, but with how corrupt Akame vividly described it to be, he was more than hesitant to send good people out for an unfavourable outcome.

Elaine took note of his sigh and couldn't help feeling guilty for pressing him on a decision mere weeks after his father died and a day after his inauguration ceremony. To be frank, she didn't want to as she had grown up alongside him and in turn knew him the best. The struggles of others, were his struggles too, but it was also true that he couldn't remain ignorant either.

The two fell into a calm silence, the only sound in the room coming from Artus and Anna giggling and shouting as they play-fought with the wooden swords given as presents.

They stood in stark contrast to him and Elaine who were grimacing over an oaken desk, Elaine standing respectfully on the side, head lowered in thought before Anna unexpectedly began tugging on her pant leg.

"Play?" Anna asked, pointing at herself and Artus who had both wooden swords in his hands while laughing and grinning dumbly.

Elaine's expression stiffened before she looked at him in distress. If there was one thing that was true about her, it was that she was exceedingly inexperienced with dealing with toddlers. It was just something in her straightforward personality that made it difficult for her to associate with them. Unfortunately, children had a strange attraction towards her.

"I Choose You!" Artus said, pointing a wooden sword at Elaine whose neutral expression broke into one of pleading as she stared at him.

He ignored her, pretending he couldn't see the despair that flashed in her eyes as Anna climbed onto her shoulders and Artus began striking weakly at her legs. It wasn't as if he was heartless, but because he knew that if Elaine wasn't there, it was he who would be in her position.

Currently, he had too much to do already.

Whispering a silent apology, Elaine looked at him bitterly as Anna and Artus insisted she go play in the yard with them, prompting Elaine to leave.

He could almost feel her anguish when he heard Anna asking Elaine a question.

"Town after?"

His mouth slowly curved upward before pausing as he considered the matter of provisions once again while left alone in his father's study.

However, he wasn't actually alone.

After Elaine and the other two left, a figure dropped down gracefully from the ceiling at the corner of the room. Wearing a brown cloak that she refused to remove, Akame silently stared at him.

She had decided to take him up on his offer in the previous night for two reasons. One because she wanted to observe him and his Teigu, and the other because it was likely that her target would eventually return if she waited long enough.

"You know," he called. "You don't have to keep hiding. People here don't know anything about the Capital."

Akame stared at him before shaking her head and pulling the hood of her cloak down further. The first lesson all Assassins learned was that there was never such a phrase as being too cautious. Although the Border Town was in a remote area of the Empire, so long as the chance existed of her being identified, she'd rather play things safe.

"No need," she said coldly. "I won't be showing my face to you again."

He could tell that she didn't mean that she would be leaving, but that she would be secretly tailing him instead. Besides, it wasn't in the nature of an Assassin to be out in the open. In fact, her wearing her cloak would probably look even more inconspicuous in a small town where everyone seemed to know each other.

In that case, why would she even bother revealing herself to him rather than remain hidden?

The answer came blatantly when she stuffed the food, he had prepared prior for an early lunch, into a storage bag she was carrying on her person without even pausing.

His lip twitched, her behaviour somehow reminding him of a glutton he once knew, but all the same. He watched quietly as she took the food and returned to where she had been hiding, leaving the silence as his only companion.

It didn't bother him much.

Instead, he got up and decided that it was best to get through with the day's activities while contemplating the impending food shortage. Slipping by past Elaine and his siblings, he made his way towards a certain part of the town, a lithe shadow trailing behind him while staring in wonder at the food in her hands.

Small as the town was with a population barely reaching a hundred, the distance between his home and his destination was relatively short. It was a simple cottage made of thatch held together by gathered resin and bound thread overtop a wooden foundation. The musk of its scent was particularly strong, but it was a smell attributed with the locals as medicinal due to the importance they placed on the simple building.

It was his accommodation as the town's only healer which in comparison to other such facilities elsewhere appeared lacking. To him however, it was fine so long as it could serve its purpose.

In that regard, there was already someone waiting for him by the front door. A bearded man wearing a bandana over his tussled hair and a fur tunic over his body and bound leather pants.

"My child," the bearded man spoke, cradling his son in his arms in concern. "I don't know what's wrong with him."

He nodded silently before passing the man to open the front door and beckoning them inside.

Akame who was trailing behind stared at his actions in peculiarity before slipping in through an open window and observing. She had already heard that Shirou was known as a local healer, but from the bareness of the cottage's interior, she couldn't see anything close to resembling medicinal tools or salves. Therefore, she couldn't determine what he was intending on doing.

Of course, she theorized that his 'healing' had something to do with his Teigu, but such notions left her mind after assuming that Shirou possessed a combat orientated Imperial Arm.

Remaining motionless, her eyes were keen on not missing a single detail as Shirou instructed the man to lay his son over a padded quilt. The result of her scrutiny would shock her more than she'd like to admit.

Moments after the man had placed his son down, Shirou bent over the boy and placed a hand over the boy's chest.

She blinked, then blinked again.

Her mouth hanging open as the boy's sickly complexions visibly faded.

Impossible.

She couldn't describe what she was seeing, nor explain her astonishment. She didn't see him use a Teigu. And this fact alone astounded her.

Due to Shirou's discreet action of Tracing the tip of healing type mystic code within his palm to make contact with the child, to Akame and the father, it really did look as if all it had taken was a touch to cure sickness.

The gratitude and veneration in the father's expression were impossible to hide as the father took his son into his arms and bowed his head low.

"Long live the town head," the father said sincerely. "If anyone makes trouble for you, my friends and brothers in arms will never let them go!"

Shirou shook his head at the mans earnest declaration before standing up and grabbing a bundle of preserved food from another room in the cottage and offering it to the father.

"Rather than place your efforts in repaying me, take this food and care for your son," he placed the sack of food in the father's free arm. "He still needs to recover his strength, and the winter this year may hit the town harder than it did before."

The father's lips quivered as he stared at the food in his hands and then to Shirou, the sheer emotion kept bottled behind his stern face palpable.

The father didn't say another word, hugging his son closely before leaving.

It was only Akame who saw the expression of the father's face as he departed, suddenly recognizing it from a wanted poster she had seen circulating within the Empire's merchant caravans.

Raiga, the leader of the Mounted Bandits. A group spanning several hundred men strong.

She froze, realizing for the first time, that there was something about the Border Town that was different from what it seemed.

Brows furrowing, she put aside her observations to continue her monitoring, trying to comprehend what Shirou had done. Had he simply utilized a medicinal practice outside of her means? Or did he actually possess a healing power bordering on a miracle? In any case, when she considered his value in the eyes of the Revolutionary Army, she was startled to realize that they would go crazy over him.

Each day, the number of injured accumulated in the Revolutionary Army grew ceaselessly. If Shirou could heal them all with a single touch, then there was no telling of the lengths the Revolutionary Army would go to secure Shirou's cooperation. More so, the repercussions should the Empire recruit him instead.

For once on her mission, she was conflicted about whether she should report her findings or not, and it wasn't because of her ties to the Revolutionary Army. It was because of Shirou.

To say that she wasn't moved by how selfless Shirou was would be a lie. Seeing him stress over finding a way to feed everyone yet at the same time giving away his own rations, it was enough to see his character.

A character different from anyone she had ever seen before in a position of power.

Her lips pursed, but her professionalism forced her to remain where she was.

Shirou on the other hand continued to act as if Akame wasn't around despite sensing her due to the distinct magical scent he could detect exuding from her Tiegu, Murasame.

Making sure that no other patients were coming to ask for treatments, he moved to an isolated room in the cottage.

In the time he had been treating Raiga's son, he had come up with a potential method to solve the food crisis the Border Town was bound to experience.

He pulled out a box in the corner of the room and opened it to reveal the remains of some type of large animal. However, it was far from just an average animal.

It was the remains of a Danger Beast.

Danger Beasts were a class of creature in the world that possessed astounding capabilities of destruction and special abilities that made them difficult to handle. What the inhabitants of the world didn't know and that only he could see though, was that their abilities and powers didn't come naturally.

It was a by-product of the magic all Danger Beasts subconsciously absorbed, and a concept that generally alluded most common people who didn't believe in magic. He however, was different.

From the moment he had first used his magic in the new world, the differences were apparent to him. For one, the ambience of the magic in the air was flat, almost containing nothing for his or anyone else's use. In that regard, Danger Beasts absorbing it all explained everything. Even the new world's designation of the Danger Beasts bore a direct correlation to the input of magical energy consumed. In which case, Super Class Danger Beasts were the most efficient.

Why did this matter to him though? Well, it was obvious as he began drawing from the magical energy stored within the remains of the Danger Beast to recover the magical reserves he had used in the previous night and while healing the child.

He didn't put much attention in the fact that someone else was staring at him.

Even if Akame was watching, it wasn't as if she could understand what he was doing anyway.

As he partially refilled his reserves to save what was left of the magical power in the Danger Beast remains, he took a breath and resolved himself.

It was time to go hunting.

The one thing different about Danger Beasts was the amount of nourishment they gave to those that ate them due to their accumulated magical energy. For example, a common man may be able to last a full week on just a portion of a Danger Beast's meat.

In his case, it would solve the Border Town's current food shortage while at the same time, increasing the amount of Danger Beast remains he could draw magic from. The current sets his father had acquired numerous years ago were already waning in magical properties. They wouldn't be able to supply him with magic much longer, and by then he would have to consider forging his own swords unless he obtained more.

As such, hunting for Danger Beasts had always occupied his mind. It was just that he had never acted on it due to how protective his father was and a promise he had made.

Now however, it was different.

If he didn't go hunt, then the people he knew would eventual go hungry, and that was unacceptable.

The only thing he had left to do as he put away the remains of the Danger Beast, was to hope that Artus and Anna could distract Elaine long enough for her not to realize that he had left the town to hunt Danger Beasts in the woods: A goal he had accidently made known to Elaine in their childhood, making it certain that it may be the first thing she would think of to explain his absence.

His father was gone after all, and there was no longer anyone to stop him.

He only feared that she would call her brothers to form a party and help search for him in the woods regardless of the danger.

Something he would rather not have her do.

Sneaking past Elaine was easier than he had anticipated with Artus and Anna distracting her, making it effortless for him to leave the Border Town's vicinity and deep into the forests surrounding it.

He paused after making enough headway through the underbrush and crouched down to stare at the trail he had found.

Tracking Danger Beasts was different from tracking regular animals. For example, most people would consider tracking Danger Beasts as difficult whereas tracking regular animals was easy.

He was an exception.

His nose subtly twitched alerting him of the general direction of a magic signature.

It was a unique ability of his that stemmed from his capability of detecting magic through scent. And in a world where the only source of acute congregations of magic were Danger Beasts, he was a natural radar.

He stood up, looking in the direction of where the scent was originating from and followed relentlessly like a blood-hound on a wind trail.

His steps were without pause and the closer he got to his target, the more certain he was of the Danger Beast's location.

By now, he had proceeded farther away from the Border Town then he had ever intended on venturing, but he couldn't give up now with the target being so close. It smelled of dirt and gravel with something mixed in resembling gooseberry.

Close was an understatement, the Danger Beast shouldn't have been more than sixty meters away from his current location, but an event forced him to shift his priorities.

His current location was over an elevated foothill overlooking a steep cliff that led to a deep valley where the scent of blood was permeating. Near the valley, he could see two groups of people, one surrounding the other in a tight encirclement.

Those forming the encirclement were dressed in thick padded armour with metal straps to protect their chest, arms, and legs. In their hands were swords and spears pointed threateningly at the other group.

In comparison, those caught within the encirclement were far from equipped for battle. They wore thin layers of brown fur that only covered certain private areas of their body and nothing else.

What infuriated him however, was the fact that those encircled were primarily comprised of women and children. The few men he could see were glaring while they kept the women and children behind them.

He didn't know anything about the two groups, making him a total stranger to what was going on, but Akame hiding in the trees was able to recognize their distinct characteristics immediately.

They were people of Wakoku.

Bitter memories flashed through her mind, but for the most part she could infer what was going on. The Nations of Wakoku were currently warring with each other to unify the lands, and it wasn't uncommon to see rival nations killing entire populations off.

Of course, she wasn't sure of the specifics of the groups in front of her, but she understood what was about to happen and it made her blood run cold.

She had seen such situations before, the ruthlessness of humans.

Subconsciously, she turned to stare at Shirou, to see what someone like him who believed in the good of others would do. And it stunned her.

"Trace, on."

Something in the air seemed to change, a burst of wind traveling outwards in miniature zephyrs that blew across her face.

A low whistle, the sound of Murasame thrumming from within its sheath.

And then a blue streak ripped across the sky like a show of divine might.

Heaven's punishment to the blasphemers.

Retribution.

The silver thread of the black bow in Shirou's hands reverberated once, then twice, then thrice, continuing on in a cacophony of plucked strings, unable to understand the impact it was having on Akame.

His eyes were narrowed, trained.

It didn't matter if he didn't know who was right or who was wrong with the groups ahead. All that mattered was that he couldn't agree with killing those who couldn't even fight back. Not when the children cried and the mothers wept.

Right or wrong, he had made his decision.

He pelted the encirclement with an unending rain of twisted steel. The altered sword arrows gouging the earth with melon sized craters and splattered innards that disintegrated from the heat of impact.

The intervention was both sudden and instantaneous, dozens of men in armour reduced to nothing as the encircled group looked on in a daze. By then, everything was already over.

He lowered his bow as he took a breath, moving forward in the next instant to confront those ahead of him in a burst of reinforced speed.

Naturally, his appearance allowed the smarter people of the encircled group to comprehend what had happened when he stood a short distance in front of them.

"Who are you?" He asked calmly, bow at his side.

Even if he saved these people, he had enough experience to understand that sometimes appearances could be deceiving. The group in front of him was mainly composed of women and children, but their characters weren't guaranteed.

The men in the group were glaring at him wearily, but they moved aside when a young woman wearing feathered ankle bands and leather grips approached. Her skin was tan, and because her garments only consisted of brown fur covering her chest and hips, he could see how physically fit she was.

Over the young woman's shoulder was an unconscious middle-aged man who seemed to have suffered from an extensive injury.

"We are people of the Nation of Heiwa of Wakoku," she said, the tone of her voice soft and subdued. "Those bastards from Hageshi pillaged our homes and pursued us to completely eradicate our people. We've had to run all the way here near the very border of the Empire."

Saying that, the woman fell silent, watching him cautiously as he nodded.

It seemed that he had made the right choice. The people in front of him didn't appear to be bad with the sole fact that he could see that they had not abandoned their injured even in the midst of a pursuit.

The only factor that was confusing him at the moment was expressions that they were giving him for saving them.

"Why, why did you help us?" The woman eventually asked in the stretching quiet.

He stared at them as if they were dumb; the thinking of the inhabitant of the new world, starkly different when compared to his own. They were all cautious by nature, calculative and weary of inadvertently falling into any hidden ploys and traps, unable to see that within people wasn't just cruelty, but kindness as well.

To understand the plight of others and sympathize without ulterior motives. To help without regard to benefit.

A trait that the people of Heiwa needed to see to understand his actions. But was it truly their fault?

People are shaped by the places they live in. It's how they learn to adapt and cope, and unfortunately, the world beyond the reaches of the Border Town appeared harsher than he expected.

But did that mean that he had to adapt to such a world?

Obviously not. Just because he saved them did not mean that he had done so for any other reason.

"Is it wrong to help others?" He said without hesitation, stunning the crowd as they could detect no ill intentions from him. "Go south of here and follow a worn-out trail. You'll come across a Border Town and although its currently suffering from food shortage, the people there will be sure to help anyway."

The woman stared at him in wonder.

Because something became increasingly clear as time passed on by the minutes.

That he didn't ask for anything in return for saving them.

The young woman's cold expression finally broke in the face of his compassion, her brows knitting together as if she didn't know what to make of him.

"You would shelter us? The people of Hageshi will not give up so easily and will come to attack," the young woman explained peculiarly.

He shrugged, looking at them with a kindness that was slowly melting away their suspicions.

"Then the people of Hageshi will have to realize that they'd no longer be fighting within the borders of Wakoku," he said.

There was a layer of mystery surrounding him at that moment that made it so the young woman felt a measure of assurance in his words, finally convincing herself on a decision.

"You are different," she said, engraving his appearance in her mind. "The people of Heiwa will not forget this."

Saying that, the young women led everyone in her group to follow the instruction he had given her to reach the Broder Town, leaving him behind.

When they were all gone, it was only then that he put on a long face realizing that by helping the people of Heiwa he had incurred the possibility of an attack on the Border Town. Then, should he have had just stood by and watched a massacre? It was impossible for someone like him to do such a thing.

Therefore, he didn't regret his actions. The only thing that mattered now, was moving forward to a conclusion he could accept.

When the people of Hageshi attacked, then there was a definite problem he would first have to address.

The Border Town had nothing close to a defensive line. The enemy could go unimpeded before reaching the area where the townspeople lived and start a massacre. He had no qualms in confrontation, but the issue was that it was impossible for him to defend the entire town all at once.

He needed to make something to funnel all the enemies in one location. Some type of defensive wall with only a single opening to allow exit and entry. However, the Border Town didn't have the time or the required labour to construct such a wall.

Therefore, he'd just have to improvise.

A rudimentary plan began forming in his mind as he began moving, stopping just shy of the Border Town. It was a plan that only someone like him could ever come up with, but perhaps it may just work.

He closed his eyes, extending an arm over his head as a turbulent wave of magical energy coalesced around him and a pressure descended upon the area that couldn't be described.

A trail of words that reflected the very crux of his inner world made real.

"I am the bone of my sword."

Power thrummed from within him, ebbing unceasingly like the water on an ocean shore, and from his hands, looming shadows began to grow and blot out the sun.

Colossal monuments, pillars of stainless-steel emerged and hovered within the sky one by one, forming a circle that covered the Border Town's entire perimeter.

Massive constructs that no one could not recognize.

Swords.

Massive pillar-like swords descended, piercing through the ground and sending violent tremors into the earth.

A wall of not stone or wood.

But of Steel.

He was panting hard from the exertion, having used all of the magical reserves he had at his disposal and more, greatly fatiguing him as he staggered. What he needed now more than anything else was to return to the healing cottage and take what magical energy he had left from the remains of the Danger Beasts to recover.

In fact, that was all he was thinking about, and not about how Akame was currently feeling having watched him the entire day.

She shivered, Murasame trembling in agitation as she stared at the massive swords now surrounding the Border Town. What had been just a simple town at one point, had instantly become a fortress that even she was having second thoughts of the army's artillery having any effect.

More than that, was what she felt about Shirou himself.

His Teigu, its monstrous.

Her lips thinned into a line as she dropped from the trees and directly into Shirou's line of sight.

"I thought you said you weren't going to show your face anymore," he said wryly upon seeing her.

"And I didn't expect you to be such a fool," she replied back frowning, hands balling into fists.

Even now, the image of him saving the people of Heiwa surfaced in her mind. He had saved them utterly, giving them a place to stay without even flinching.

And for what reason did he give?

That it's never wrong to help another.

His family and the people of the Border Town aside, he had no obligation to help anyone else, yet he did so without hesitation.

Unknowingly, the way she had viewed him prior began changing, the preconceptions and observations she had made of him going up in smoke. What kind of integrity, no; better yet, what kind of mentality did one have to possess to be so different from normal?

The people she knew, the evils she had seen, none of her experiences could ever prepare her to meet such an anomaly.

He smiled weakly, not saying anything else because he had already been called a 'fool' far too many times to count.

Presently, his exhausted state was evident for Akame to see.

"What's to stop me from incapacitating you right now, and just completing my assignment?" She said.

Part of the reason she had agreed to Shirou's proposition of temporarily staying in the Border Town was because she saw that he possessed the power to stop her. The situation now was entirely different. It was she who had the upper hand.

"Nothing," he responded honestly. "So why aren't you doing it?"

"…"

She fell silent, unable to admit that a part of her had been moved at his sheer tenacity and belief.

"You are a fool," she said again, uncharacteristically draping his arm over her shoulder to support him.

She didn't even know what she was doing anymore. She was tasked with killing Edwin for the numerous deaths he was responsible for against the Revolutionary Army, and now here she was aiding the man who was preventing her from doing so.

Silently, the two trudged on, Shirou doing his best to stagger on, and she helping him limp back to the Border Town.

It was hard for her to understand how things led up to this point let alone explain it. Even the emotions welling up from within her made it difficult for her to think.

Because deep within her, she had understood something as she stared at the naivety and optimism of those bronze coloured orbs regarding her, a murderer, without any weariness.

A thought that would never again leave her mind the longer she stayed near him.

That perhaps.

Just maybe.

The world needed someone like him.

An ember whose flame would only continue to grow brighter, eventually becoming an unstoppable fire.

A fire of change.