#117 Exchanging prisoners

"Kurome...?" Najenda exclaimed with a surprised tone and wanted to look behind her by turning her head but she was stopped when she felt the blade of the katana pressing to her neck.

'To think that we would have dropped our guard when we saw the victory in front of us...This girl is extremely dangerous, she chose the ideal time to ambush Najenda otherwise she wouldn't have been able to get near her so quietly.' The armored guy thought while gritting his teeth under his helmet but he didn't put the spear away from Akame's neck and neither did he dropped his guard around her. Just because she hit her back against the trees doesn't make her defenseless and completely useless.

'...Now that Kurome is here, I mustn't let them do what they did to Natala and Gin!' Akame thought and it was as if she gained a new life when she saw her sister in front of her. She quickly grabbed the spear's tip with her left palm and then quickly grabbed her katana lying next to her with her right hand while thrusting it towards the man's crotch.

"?!" The armored man despite being on guard against her was still surprised to see that her speed became even faster than before but he was still fast enough to grab the blade of her katana and stopping it with his hand covered in armor. Out of instinct, he was about to drive his spear through her hand into her neck. He wasn't thinking straight since the girl in front of him was too dangerous and this time her attack was even dangerous.

"STOP!" Kurome shouted in a completely different tone.

The shout finally woke him up and he quickly stopped himself unless he wanted his leader to die. However when he turned back at the small girl who seemed even younger than those he fought with, he was a bit taken back seeing her expression.

Kurome's black eyes gained a slightly gray hue as she coldly stared at the armored man while pressing her blade even closer to Najenda's neck, making a little nick on it. A few drops of blood started pouring down her neck.

"What do you want?!" The cloaked guy was the first one to burst out when he saw the blood on Najenda's neck.

'Ack!' Kurome's eyes moved towards him and when he saw her eyes his head moved a bit to back.

"I want you to release both of them and in exchange, I will release your leader..." Kurome said with a tone completely devoid of any emotions.

"..." There was more than 10 seconds of complete silence just staring at each other, waiting what others will do but no one was brave enough to make the first move in this situation.

"H-Hey Kurome, long time no see..." Najenda finally broke the silence with a greeting but her voice was too awkward.

"Yes...Truly a long time, General Najenda." Kurome replied without dropping her guard at all.

---Some distance away from the Capital, on the plains---

Red-headed guy, dressed in full black uniform was walking towards the Capital with his hands in his pockets. He was walking leisurely despite the fact that he could be attacked by any Danger Beast any time soon.

It was Akashi who was returning to the Capital but there was one big change on him. And that was a black blindfold covering his eyes. Despite being blindfolded, he was able to avoid any boulders and other obstacles on the road.

He suddenly stopped walking and turned his head towards the specific location.

'Kurome is out of the Capital and now it looks like she even met some enemies...' Akashi thought while contemplating whether he should go towards her location or not but he was sure that the Wriggler he left with Kurome wouldn't inform him if they were just some weaklings.

'I guess, I should go and take a look just in case. I won't interfere unless necessary, I wouldn't want her to think that she was being under my protection all the time. Even if she would have won and discovered it, she wouldn't have a good feeling from that victory. It's really a pity that my Wrigglers aren't smart enough to inform me of everything but at least they can inform me if someone is in danger so I shouldn't complain too much.' Akashi thought and summoned Kiyomi from his shadow, a Griffin like Danger Beast.

"I need you to take me somewhere..." Akashi said and jumped on Kiyomi's back without even waiting for her acknowledgment.

*Chirrup!* *Chirp!* (Can't you at least ask nicely?!)

As expected, she immediately complained about it with watery eyes but Akashi gently smacked her head which made her shut her beak.

"Sorry, it is something important but I will prepare good food for you later as a reward if you will get me there fast enough." Akashi replied while patting her head a few times.

Hearing 'good food' Kiyomi instantly took off and started flying towards the direction at her fastest speed without complaining at all.

'I can feel my senses getting stronger every second with this blindfold. It is really a good way how to enhance one's senses but it's definitely not the easiest way. At least it's harmless most of the time except for the time when you need to fight against Danger Beasts without your sight.' Akashi thought with a small smile while he was remembering his small training after he killed that Death Tagool Danger Beast. He was numerous times injured by even Danger Beasts that would have never dreamed of touching him, however, those injuries caused his senses to only enhance even further.

If one wants to improve quickly, one needs to be ruthless however not only on those around him but also on himself. It has been already a day or two since Akashi took on the blindfold for the first time and he had yet to take it off, he kept blindfold on even during sleeping.

---Back to Kurome---

Najenda and Kurome talked for a bit but it was apparent that Kurome had no intention of releasing her. Despite this fact, others were surprised when they discovered that those two know each other.

"Concerning your offer, don't you think that it's a bit unrealistic? Exchanging 2 prisoners for 1?" The armored guy said while trying to gain higher ground in this situation.

"Bu-?!" The cloaked guy was surprised to hear his comrade's words and when he was about to call his name, he quickly covered his mouth and kept quiet when his friend gestured to leave it to him.

"Hoo? It seems that there is a misunderstanding between us." Kurome replied with a cold smile but her eyes never changed a bit, they kept their gray hue.

"? What do you mean?" The armored guy sensed something bad but he still asked with a confused tone.

"You see, my offer has never been an offer to begin with. It was an order!" Kurome replied with the same cold smile while pressing her blade harder against Najenda's neck.

"This black haired girl must be your sister, no? I have seen how you two look at each other, you also look similar. Do you really think that you are in advantage here? Or are you telling me that you don't care about your sister?" The armored guy asked with a confident tone. He was sure that Kurome cares about Akame so using her, he might be able to trade her for Najenda.

"Someone dear to me once taught me that the dearest people to you are your biggest weakness. At that time, I was still a little girl so I asked if I should just not make any people near me dear to me..." Kurome said with a completely emotionless voice and expression.

Two guys just listened to her without saying anything but they have been getting a bad feeling about this and while Kurome was speaking, they felt chill down their spine. Nevertheless, they agreed with the fact that the dearest people are the biggest weakness for anyone who truly cares about them.

"He shook his head at that time and told me: 'It's not a sin to have such people around you, you will be only happier with them around so never abandon them if you can save them-" Kurome continued her story.

"Then-!" The armored guy finally saw the hope and even though he didn't feel good about doing such a thing as exploiting small girl's feelings by using her sister as a hostage, he was still determined to save Najenda. He was even determined to let those two go but before he could say anything, he was interrupted by Kurome once again.

"However, never let your enemies exploit your weakness!" Kurome shouted and her eyes finally became dull and completely gray. Her blade created a slightly deeper nick on Najenda's neck.

"?!" Both guys were taken back by the change in her eyes and aura.

"This woman for both of them! If you don't want to, tell me so I can already kill her without wasting any more time." Kurome said.

"Grr, are you aware that your own sister and her friend will die if you will kill our leader?!!" The cloaked guy shouted back at her while gritting his teeth.

"I am already prepared for that and once that happens, I will slaughter both of you like pigs!" Kurome took dagger into her left hand and placed it on Najenda's neck while she pointed her katana at the armored guy with an emotionless expression.

'!!! She is completely serious about this!' He thought when he looked deep into her eyes. He couldn't see any hesitation, for him it looked like she was looking at everyone here as dead people, including her own sister.

'....Is this what Akashi taught you, Kurome...?' Akame thought with a shocked expression but she was also feeling a bit sad. She didn't want her to abandon Green but to hear her own sister say that she is already prepared for her death was still a little blow.

"Alright, alright! Don't kill her! No one has to die." The armored guy finally gave in and jumped away from Akame, towards Green.

"Now, both of us will let go of our prisoner, alright?" He said. He let go of Akame first to gain some of Kurome's trust.

"Wait" However, contrary to his expectations, Kurome said.

"! Are you planning to back on our deal?!" The armored guy said with an angered tone and his aura also got more ferocious like a Danger Beast.

"No, but I am sure that you won't just let us go so I want to offer you another deal before letting Najenda go, so you can at least listen to me." Kurome said.

"...Talk" He replied shortly since he truly doesn't want to let them go and reunite with the rest of their group.

"A fight, one on one. You against me. You know that you are stronger than me so don't even think about refusing, I imagine that you still have some kind of pride as a man." Kurome said which completely shocked Akame.

"You can't, Kurome! He is too strong for you to take on alone!" She tried to talk her out of it but Kurome ignored her.

"Fine, what are your winning conditions and mine?" He decided to take this into his own hands and act without the leader's instructions but Najenda also didn't make any objections.

"As long as I can injure you in that armor, it's my win and you will leave us alone. You will win once I am unable to fight or once you kill me." Kurome replied with a small smile, seeing that everything goes according to her plan.

"I accept, now let's release the prisoner" He accepted with a surprisingly excited tone. Under his helmet, it was visible that he was astonished by Kurome's determination. Although he couldn't say that he likes her side where she can ignore the death of her own sister, at least enemies can't use her dearest to exploit her which can be sometimes a good thing. Hesitation is sometimes what truly kills your dearest.