Danmachi : Strongest Supporter

When Noah swaggered out of the Great Prison, he saw a group of people hurrying over from a distance.

"Only arriving now? Too late."

With their speed, catching up to Akame and the others was impossible.

And with their strength, stopping them would be extremely difficult as well.

Unless Esdeath or Grand General Budo personally made a move.

Or unless Gozuki brought those children with him. Only then would they be able to deal with the other side.

Grand General Budo had the duty of guarding the palace and would not leave easily.

As for Esdeath, she was not within the borders of the Empire. She was on the battlefield fighting the foreign tribes, enjoying the pleasure brought by slaughter.

By contrast, the other side...

That man named Bulat was no simple character.

A blazing soul, a body tempered through countless trials, martial skill trained to an extremely high level, and he was also a Teigu user.

With his strength alone, even if every member of the selection group attacked together, they probably would not win.

Not to mention Akame and that little girl who used Roman Artillery: Pumpkin, plus Leone, the woman Noah had once seen in the lower town.

She was also a Teigu user.

Right, there was also that green-haired one.

Although Noah had shocked him unconscious, that level of injury would not keep him down for long. In other words, there were four Teigu users in total, plus Akame, an elite assassin, and Najenda, a former general.

This was a force that could not be ignored.

If the Assassination Unit came out in full force, that would be one thing.

But if it was only Gozuki and a few people from the selection group, they would absolutely not be the other side's match.

Besides, the selection group generally would not operate in the Imperial Capital.

Because the Assassination Unit was, in reality, a tool used by the Minister to remove dissidents.

If they operated inside the Imperial Capital, the people in the selection group might very well see the dark side of the Empire, which could lead to undesirable thoughts.

To prevent that from happening, Gozuki had always deliberately avoided the Imperial Capital.

In any case, the Minister naturally had other forces and methods for dealing with eyesores inside the capital.

...

After escaping the Imperial Capital, Najenda ordered everyone to rest on the spot in order to care for Bulat, whose injuries had not yet healed.

Mine found a high position and took charge of keeping watch.

She was a sniper and had better eyesight than ordinary people.

Even in the night, she would not miss the enemy's movements, making her very suitable for guard duty.

Akame quickly gathered firewood and piled it into a campfire.

Najenda took out a lighter, lit the dry wood after a few tries, and even lit a cigarette to relax.

"Phew."

Because she had not expected to encounter Noah, she had only now finally calmed down.

At the same time, she was glad that they had not fought him to the end this time.

Last time, if she had thought a little more carefully, perhaps those four people would not have died...

Bulat had already used the medical supplies they provided to bandage himself.

His expression did not change in the slightest throughout the process, as though pain of this level was nothing to him.

Lubbock, on the other hand, stared until he was almost dumbfounded.

What kind of macho man was this?

After dealing with his wound, Bulat revealed a sunny smile.

"Thank you."

He lowered his head and said with great sincerity, "If not for all of you, I would probably have waited in that prison until the day of my execution and died for nothing. I'm truly grateful."

"There's no need for that, Bulat. The reason we saved you is because we need your strength. More than that, we need your spirit!"

Najenda explained, "I learned about your deeds through a special channel. I admire you greatly."

Hearing her say that, Bulat instead grew gloomy.

He said in a low voice, "No, I'm not worth admiring. I'm only a foolish soldier who failed to see the Empire's true nature."

"Compared to me, my superior, General Liver, was far more outstanding. May I ask why you did not save him?" Bulat asked somewhat emotionally.

"General Liver?" Najenda froze.

She thought for a while, then explained, "Although I have heard some of his deeds, unfortunately, our informants did not obtain any information about him."

Hm.

"What?"

Bulat was extremely confused.

General Liver should have been arrested before him.

The reason had been utterly ridiculous.

Because he had not bribed the newly appointed Minister, he had been framed on baseless charges and thrown into prison.

Bulat had tried to investigate that matter, only to be framed and falsely accused as well.

The problem was that he had not managed to find even the slightest trace of his superior.

That was why he had thought of using the enemy's plan against them.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

He had not resisted and had allowed himself to be imprisoned inside the Great Prison.

However, Liver had not been there.

This pessimistic result made Bulat suspect that Liver might already have met with disaster.

Could he already be dead?

Getting in was easy, but getting out was difficult.

From the moment he entered the Great Prison, he had faced severe torture every day.

Food was only given once every several days, and because his body had weakened, even escaping had become difficult.

Whenever he thought of how dark and corrupt the Empire had become, all hope turned to ash, and he even began to feel that dying there might not be so bad.

At the very least, death meant he would no longer have to endure that filthy world of officials.

The only thing he could not accept was that he, known as the "Hundred-Man Slayer," would not die in a real battle against the foreign tribes, but would instead be framed by the very people he had protected and die at the hands of his own side.

Even he had never imagined that someone would dare break into the Imperial Capital's Great Prison to rescue someone.

And they had come specifically for him...

'What a pity about General Liver. If only he were still alive.'

"Damn it, the Empire..."

Bulat clenched his fist.

Seeing his righteous anger, Najenda took the opportunity to persuade him.

"Join my unit, Bulat!"

"The Revolutionary Army...?"

"No, that's not quite accurate. It's true that we are part of the Revolutionary Army, but my unit is special. You know about the Empire's Assassination Unit, don't you?"

"I've heard of them. They're said to be quite the insane group—decisive in killing, ruthless, and completely merciless."

Hearing this, Akame hugged the long blade in her arms a little tighter, and her legs pressed more closely together.

This was the first time she had heard someone completely unrelated evaluate the Assassination Unit.

Although Father... although Gozuki had once said that they were not heroes, being seen as executioners still felt painful.

"It cannot be denied that they effectively removed obstacles for the Empire. Many of our comrades were brutally killed by them. From those enemies, we also learned something."

"Therefore, I plan to establish an assassination unit even more outstanding than the Empire's!"

"The people here are the members I have found for now."

"Let me introduce everyone."

Najenda stood up.

"First is me, Najenda. I was originally an Imperial general, but I could not tolerate the Empire's brutality and joined the Revolutionary Army."

"This is Lubbock, my former adjutant. Don't be fooled by his frivolous appearance. When he gets serious, he's very reliable."

Najenda's introduction made Lubbock a little embarrassed.

"Next is Leone."

Hearing that it was her turn, Leone raised a hand on her own and greeted him.

"Yo, I'm Leone."

Najenda continued adding, "Leone is also a Teigu user. She is strong and experienced. Although she always says she joined us so she could live a good life, she is actually a gentle person. Her real reason for joining us was because she could not stand nobles killing children, so she casually killed those beasts."

"Mm."

Leone's face reddened, and she felt her ears grow a little hot.

She was used to disguising herself with a carefree attitude, but in truth, she was not good at revealing her true feelings and would feel embarrassed over it.

That was somewhat at odds with her charming appearance.

"The one keeping watch over there is Mine. She is very strong-willed and has extremely high self-esteem. At the same time, she is a genius sniper even more suited to her Teigu than I am, and she is our most trustworthy support."

Then Najenda glanced in Mine's direction.

Although Mine was far away, Najenda still lowered her voice before saying, "She's just a little dishonest about her feelings."

Bulat nodded and smiled as well.

Because every one of these people was so interesting.

"Finally, Akame..."

At this point, Najenda glanced at Akame beside her.

"She is an elite assassin from the Empire's Assassination Unit. Her strength matches her cuteness, and she is also extremely reliable."

"The Assassination Unit?" Bulat was shocked.

"Hey, hey, she looks fifteen at most, right? She's actually one of the Assassination Unit's elites?"

Asked this question, Najenda's expression also darkened.

She sighed and told him the truth.

"The Empire's Assassination Unit, whose very name strikes terror into people throughout the world... the vast majority of its members are actually children around Akame's age."

"What did you say?"

Bulat was deeply shocked.

Because an assassin was absolutely not something that could be trained in a day or two.

It required several years at the very least, even ten years, before one could be sent into actual combat.

The resources required were dozens or even hundreds of times greater than training an ordinary soldier.

He asked Akame in shock, "You... how old were you when you joined?"

The girl raised her head and looked at Bulat.

She recalled it briefly, and as a result, many memories from the past surfaced.

When she was little, she and Tsukushi, Cornelia, Nahashu, Guy, Green, Poney, and the others had encouraged one another and endured harsh training together.

Her father, Gozuki, had been a strict teacher. He would punish them, but he would also praise them when they performed well.

Every one of those memories was real.

"Eight... maybe seven. Around that."

"Eight years old."

Bulat clenched his fist.

It was not only Akame. Most of the Assassination Unit was like this, becoming killers when they were only a few years old.

"The Empire actually uses children for something like this."

Bulat felt anger.

Even though he knew the Empire's darkness was not simple, he had still underestimated the extent of its madness.

Compared to him, Akame was far calmer.

She said, "Compared to adults, children are easier to control, and easier to... deceive."

Just as that man had done to them.

"Besides, for orphans like us with no one to rely on, gaining strength is not a bad thing. At the very least, it is better than facing death without any ability to resist."

Akame tightened her grip around the long blade in her arms, waves of killing intent radiating from her.

Sensing the astonishing killing intent coming from her, even Bulat was surprised.

She actually carried such killing intent.

Even on the battlefield, he had rarely encountered killing intent this intense.

A girl of fifteen or sixteen had actually trained herself to this level.

No wonder she could become an elite of the Assassination Unit. She really was an exceptional talent.

A born killer.

Feeling that the atmosphere had become somewhat strange, the cheerful Bulat found it hard to bear.

So he tried to change the subject.

Suddenly, he remembered Noah.

"Ah, right. That person we met in the Great Prison earlier didn't seem ordinary at all. And you all seemed to know him quite well."

Najenda's lips moved slightly, but she remained silent.

She hugged herself and gripped her own arm, checking whether she was trembling.

Fortunately, she was not.

Leone's gaze sharpened slightly.

Only Akame froze for a moment before asking, "Do you mean Doctor Noah?"

"Doctor? That person is a doctor?"

The girl shook her head.

"No, he is not a doctor."

"Huh?"

Bulat was confused.

Wasn't she the one who called him Doctor?

"A scientist..."

"What?"

Akame thought for a moment, then answered, "Mr. Noah is an amazing scientist."

"Science... Oh, is he from the Science Division? I remember that's a unit made up of scholars. They're very secretive. No one really knows what they do."

At this point, Bulat suddenly changed his mind.

"No, that's not right. In the prison, I saw that man's movements were extraordinary. That was absolutely not the strength of a mere scholar."

Najenda once again recalled the scene from that day.

She lowered her head and said quietly, "That man cannot be understood through simple labels like scholar or doctor. He is... very unusual. To be honest, I think he is a monster, not a human."

Seeing her state, Lubbock was extremely worried.

At the same time, his hostility toward Noah grew even stronger.

The person who made Najenda suffer was his enemy.

Akame thought for two seconds, then also agreed.

"He knows medicine. He can not only heal others, but also heal himself in the blink of an eye. He can release fire, ice, wind, and lightning. He can create guns out of nowhere, probably. He also knows hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship..."

'What was that?'

Bulat felt as if his brain was no longer enough!

No matter how he imagined it, he could not picture what kind of "thing" the girl was describing.

Besides, what kind of medical skill could heal someone in the blink of an eye?

Could that still be called medicine?

It was divine power at that point.

And fire, ice, and all that—those were obviously not things a human could do. In short, that man named Noah was most likely a Teigu user.

That should not be wrong.

"Don't talk about that man anymore," Najenda interrupted the topic. "Now, our unit already has enough strength to act. Bulat, are you willing to join us and change this country together?"

She extended her hand.

Bulat laughed brightly and also extended his hand.

Their hands clasped together.

"Yeah, of course. An Empire like this has already lost all sense of humanity. If there is anything I can do, I'll gladly lend you my strength!"

Seeing Bulat agree to join, Leone, Lubbock, and Najenda all smiled.

At that moment, Leone suddenly said, "Wait, we already have this many members, but we still don't even have a unit name. How long is this going to keep up?"

Lubbock echoed her. "Yeah, Najenda. It's time to give this unit of ours a name."

Seeing this, Najenda began to think.

First, she stared at the fire for a while, then raised her head and looked at the sky full of stars and the dark night above.

Just then, a pitch-black shadow flapped its wings and flew through the night sky.

Was that a night owl?

Wings in the night... Night Raid!