Aftermath 1

As Zero was ascending the mountain path while carrying Cornelia, he started feeling pain in his chest which made him close one eye.

'Did one of my ribs break during that fight? Maybe it's not completely broken but I should get some rest after entrusting Cornelia to the others. At least I wasn't forced to use that drug, it also seemed like Gozuki is not completely indifferent to those kids. Maybe helping Cornelia was truly the right decision.'

Zero thought and as he was walking, his vision was getting slightly hazy, however, he managed to get to the others and immediately noticed Guy, Najasho, and Green must have fought a tough fight of their own.

'If that granny managed to corner 3 of them and even in the end had to be killed by Gozuki himself, I made the right decision to not follow her.'

"C-Cornelia?!" Guy instantly darted towards Zero as he noticed him and the other 2 followed right behind him, though in a much calmer way.

"Calm down and don't touch her carelessly." Zero slapped Guy's hand away from Cornelia's face and he instantly felt a sharp pain in his chest which forced him down on his one knee.

"Oi, are you alright?" Green put his hand on Guy's shoulder before asking Zero.

"Yeah, I just need a bit of rest, just like her. She was poisoned but she most likely passed out from exhaustion." Zero explained and entrusted her to Najasho who seemed the calmest of all.

"Do you need me to check on your wounds?" Green asked but Zero waved his hand while pressing the other to his ribs. He went to sit down with the tree he could lean against right behind him.

In a short while, the rest of the group arrived.

"Cora!" Poney and Tsukushi shouted when they saw injured Cornelia, immediately rushing to the group that was treating her. While they were checking Cornelia's injuries...

"Hm?" While Zero was sitting some distance away with his hand pressed against his ribs, he noticed someone's legs approaching him in his slightly hazy vision.

"...Are you alright?"

When he raised his head, he discovered it was Akame who came to check on him.

"Yes" Zero replied before looking down on the ground.

"Don't lie, you are sweating a lot. Do you need water? I don't know what exactly happened but I would still like to thank you." Akame frankly said which prompted Zero to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"For all you know, she could have gotten into such a sorry state namely because she had to protect me. Still, I won't refuse a bit of water..."

Akame quickly handed him a canteen with water before she continued with a faint smile on her face. "From Taeko's words, it doesn't seem like Cornelia was protecting you however even if she did, thank you for being there with her."

"Alright, the rebels hired an assassination group named Oarburgh. We have to go deeper into the mountains and only then we can take some rest, it's too dangerous so close to the town. On my way back here I discovered a few of the rebel spies and took care of them. Guy, Green, you two will carry Cornelia, make sure she moves as little as possible." Gozuki finally arrived and informed the group before clicking his tongue in irritation. He also glanced at Zero but didn't say anything for now.

"Ugh..." Zero slowly got up to his feet with Akame's help, however, when she wanted to put his arm around her shoulder, he stopped her from getting too close with his hand, indicating that he can walk on his own.

'Did I get poisoned without realizing it? My head hurts like hell and it feels like my body is burning, maybe I have internal bleeding...I don't even want to imagine fighting Taeko in her peak condition. If we were fighting in the clearing, I wouldn't even be able to make use of our surroundings. I was overconfident due to meeting only second-class mercenaries, people like Taeko were trained from the first moment they could hold a weapon. I never even had proper training...' Zero thought as he was walking behind the group with only Akame being by his side, most likely waiting for him to fall down.

The others finally noticed that Zero's situation looked much more serious than they first thought, Poney and Tsukushi offered to help him but he refused them with a faint smile.

Zero was well aware of Akame's stares which made him only sweat more.

"...What are you looking at? Are you waiting for me to fall down so you can catch me? Don't be deceived, the moment I fall down will also be the moment my heart stops beating." Zero said to Akame with a crazy smile while gritting his teeth.

'If I want to become even stronger, I can no longer keep taking the safest paths. Taeko definitely wasn't even the strongest of that assassination group. I also need to have a stronger body if I want to have assurance I will be able to make use of that drug or whatever it is.' Zero thought and increased his pace to catch up with the group.

At this point, his vision was completely blurred but he still could somehow make out the others' figures so he almost mindlessly followed them deeper into the mountains.

.

.

"This should be far enough." Gozuki said once the group stopped near the river surrounded by the sparse forest

The moment Zero heard these words, he closed his eyes and his legs turned to jelly, however before he could fall down, Akame caught him and gently laid on the ground before checking on his injuries.

"What was that?" Zero asked in a tired voice.

"You said it yourself...the moment you fall will be the moment your heart stops beating. If I were to let you fall, you would break your words." Akame said with a straight face.

"...Pff, haha. I just said those words so you would stop staring but I guess 'thank you' is in order, isn't it? Thank you for protecting my fragile pride"

Akame just smiled at his words without responding.