Shocked Twice

The next day of Esdeath's team gathering day, Seryu was walking alongside her weapon/companion Koro in the imperial capital's streets with a rare sharp face. She proceeded toward the orphanage where Garou had been staying. Seryu's eyes were shining with determination as if she was going to a life and death battle.

Moments later, Seryu reached the orphanage and stood silently in front of it. Her eyes showed hesitation at first then determination and then back again. She stood in front of the orphanage apprehensively for some time until she heard a voice coming from her behind.

"Why are you here?"

Seryu jumped in surprise as she recognized the owner, his voice never left her mind since she encountered him last, not to mention she came here to look for him. Seryu turned around slowly to meet the terrifying gaze. Beside her Koro, her Teigu showed slight fear toward the man. This man was probably the only human out there able to scare the little beast.

"Hello Garou, its been a while." Seryu said stiffly.

"Yeah, yeah… What do you want?" Garou asked again disregarding Seryu civilized words.

"Can't I visit a friend?" Seryu asked awkwardly.

"Last time I checked, you wanted to kill me for your so-called 'justice' while I was thinking about eating your pet. As far as I know, this sounds more like enemies than friends, right?" Garou spoke coldly.

Seryu lowered her head a little and said "I'm sorry for what I did last time!! I really am, it just I thought you attacked and harmed innocent people, I didn't know what they had done."

"Whatever, what are you here for? You wouldn't have come here just to apologize since you could have done it ages ago." Garou inquired.

"Well…. I heard from the general you were also invited to join her elite team, but you didn't come, so I'm here to find out why you didn't attend the meeting?" Seryu asked with hesitation.

"Why the hell should I? I don't want to be part of the army or the police" Garou retorted casually.

Seryu blinked in surprise and said "you wouldn't be a soldier or a policeman. You would join a special team to fight for justice against the forces of evil. You would be more like a hero !!!"

Garou's golden eyes narrowed dangerously at her causing her to flinch, he said coldly "That's even worse !! I'm not interested, and I'm not joining. This is final, you can leave now."

Seryu looked at Garou silently with sorrow, which caused the latter to feel slightly confused at the girl's reaction. He expected her to leave or maybe get angry but to be sad over this? He now didn't understand what was going on.

"Why? Why you don't want to join us?!?! You are strong!! Very strong. With you on the side of justice, good people won't have to die anymore" Seryu begged.

Garou kept his cold stare as replied "I simply don't care…. And why do you want me to join in the first place?"

Seryu's eyes started tearing as she spoke with a choked face "Because that is what my teacher, Ogre wanted. He wanted you to join us and help us protect justice !!"

Garou frowned at her and said with sarcasm "That evil-looking man wanted me to fight for justice ??!!"

Seryu exploded with anger as she pointed her guns at Garou "MY TEACHER WAS NOT EVIL !!! HE LIVED AND DIED FOR JUSTICE !! HE IS THE GREATEST MAN I HAVE EVER KNOWN ….. He wished you to join us before his death, I just want to fulfil his wish"

Garou was surprised by her outburst, he kept staring at her without silently. On the other hand, Seryu started crying before running away with Koro following behind her.

Garou's eyes followed Seryu as his face showed bewilderment, once she disappeared from his sight, he spoke to himself, "That old bastard was definitely scum, rotten to his very core. But somehow, in her eyes, he turned out to be an angel! What the fuck was wrong with her? The fucker had single black and red eye staring sinisterly at everything, if not for this world not having monsters, I would have thought he was about to turn into a one!!!"

Garou's continued to contemplate with himself as part of him felt slight pity for Seryu. In his eyes, her she transcended beyond the realm stupidity. At the end, he threw his thoughts to the back of his mind as he walked inside.

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Later the same day, it was lunchtime. It was the only time when all the residents of the orphanage would gather. It was Garou's favourite time as he enjoyed eating, to him eating a delicious meal was as good as having a decent spar.

"Hey, Garou!!! Look at this"

Garou looked toward Eren who was carrying a poster, next to him his sister Ari. The two of them were looking very excited as their eyes danced between Garou and the poster.

"What is it ?" Garou asked

"This is the announcement of a tournament. The best fighters of the empire will join to fight for the prize" Eren said excitedly.

Garou gleamed with interest, he didn't care much about the tournament prize. Still, the thought of him fighting against other martial artists and strong warriors excited him a little. His life had become too dull since his arrival.

"What is the main prize ?" Himiko asked Eren.

"It says 50,000 gold coin. In addition to that, the winner will have the chance to join the army as a high ranking officer as long as he proves himself to be a great warrior !!!" Eren said excitedly as he stared at Garou. In his eyes, Garou was the strongest person out there, no one could ever match Garou's might.

"50,000!!! SO MUCH!!! You have to win this tournament. Otherwise, I won't cook for you again" Himiko said seriously as her eyes shone with a golden light.

Garou was shocked for the second time today. The shy woman he had known for weeks turned into this so suddenly at the mention of money!! Did greed destroy her enough of her brain's cells to threaten him?!!!

Regardless of his thoughts, Garou still nodded as he wondered if the people of this world were all just slightly retarded.

"The tournament going to be tomorrow !!!" Ari on side added but Garou didn't hear her.

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The next day, three members of night raid were walking toward the stadium. They were Tatsumi, Lubbock and Leone.

"I'm not sure about this. Aiming to receive a prize from our enemy is really weird to me" Tatsumi said in a low voice.

"What is weird about it? Their money ending in our hand is better than leaving it for them" Lubbock commented.

"Besides you are sending the money home to your village. Think only about that and forget about anything else" Leone added

Tatsumi nodded to them as he walked toward the stadium. He was going to fight without his Teigu today. Still, he wasn't worried as he knew the past 3 months of hard training under his friends made him far stronger than any run of the mill warrior in the empire.

However, his confidence was shattered minutes later as he stared at the distance with a pale face, his two friends beside him wore similar expressions. They saw someone they truly wished to not see ever again. Garou was their standing in front of the register window. He was going to participate today!

What terrified them even more, as if Garou sensed their gazes, he turned around and looked directly toward them. Once he saw them, he gave them a maniacal smile that promised them pain and misery. It was only for a moment before Garou walked in, ignoring the three assassins.

"I changed my mind, I'm not joining. With that monster inside, isn't it just plain suicide to go in ??!!!" Tatsumi stammered with a shaking voice, he was terrified of the possibility of facing Garou one on one, even a team of assassins with their Taigues could do anything to Garou, what could he do? It was plain suicide. The other two killers didn't mind their friend's fear, even the two of them wouldn't dare to go against that monster head-on, much less without their weapons.

"Forget about joining the tournament, the winner is already set. Let's go to the seats and watch. We might find something useful about him" Lubbock suggested. The other two nodded and headed toward the seats.

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Inside, Garou was standing with the other participants. He was thinking about the three he saw earlier.

"So that's why that girl attacked me that night. It was not for the pathetic trash of a police force but for these bandits!!" Garou mumbled to himself.

He knew why he was attacked last time. But in truth, he still didn't care about it.

Edited by B33RUS