The guard let out a surprised yell as Kona pulled my hood back and casually revealed not only my name but the fact that I was a criminal. Instantly, I stepped to the side and swatted her hand away from atop my head. I was upset and angry with her and looked at her with those emotions bleeding from my eyes. But she looks back at me, confused. Did she not think I would react like this? Was she expecting me to be calm?
The guard rushed forward towards me, so my focus turned to him, ready to defend myself, but where I expected him to draw a sword, he instead held out the book.
"Can I please have your autograph?!"
I froze for a moment, not really understanding what the hell was happening. Then I heard the others around us turn their attention my way, all of them mumbling my name. After a few seconds, a second and third person approached me, holding out my own wanted poster.
"Can we have your autograph too, please?"
I lowered my guard and turned back to Kona.
"What the fuck?"
"Guys around these parts hate the church. If you're on a bounty poster, they issued that makes you a celebrity around here. The bigger the bounty, the more famous."
"And you didn't think to tell me that BEFORE pulling my hood down!?"
"I told you I had this. Do you think I would ever actually sell you out? Don't you trust me?"
"You just… surprised me, is all. Next time you pull something like that, give me a warning, please. I was this close to killing that guy."
The guard looked at me, surprised by what I said, "Killed me? But you're unarmed"
I sighed and took the book from the guard and signed it, mumbling, "Will this get us through the gates faster?"
The guard nodded, and he took his book back. The other two that were waiting moved closer, holding paper out, so I signed that as well. As I was signing it, there were whispers and mumbling from the other people behind us in the line. A third man approached, also holding out my wanted poster.
As I went to sign it, suddenly, from behind the paper, a knife pierced through it and hurled towards my face. My hands were already over the paper, ready to sign. I dropped the pen and managed to push the attacker's arm to the left while I moved my head to the right, the blade only grazing my cheek, leaving a small cut.
The attacker stepped back with the knife held high as everyone fell silent and watched. Kona grabbed her axe and held it up, ready to intervene, but stood to the side.
"Oi, why did you attack me?"
"Cuz I need the money."
"What for?"
"Fuck you mean what for? To eat."
"Okay." I raised my hands and waved for him to come at me with his fingers.
As he charged forward with all his weight behind the knife, it was obvious what he was trying to do. With one single thrust, he planned to drive the blade into my chest. I stood upright and casually, no stance, no defences. After all, Nigel was faster than this guy could ever be.
As he got within arm's length, I snapped my arm from my side and grabbed his forearm. Twisting my wrist, a loud crack was heard. He dropped the knife and fell to the floor, crying and holding his broken arm. I leaned down and picked the knife up off the floor.
"There's food in the forest if you know what to harvest. Killing someone for food is senseless and unacceptable. If you said you needed to kill me to make enough money to save someone else from a disease or something, that's a different story, and I might have even helped you. But, at least you didn't try to kill me just to get money you didn't really need. So, I'll go easy on you."
I squatted down and grabbed his broken arm, causing him to wail loudly in pain. My hand drifted up his forearms and stopped at the palm of his hand, squeezing it tightly. I lifted the knife to his finger and sliced through the pinkie, causing it to fall to the floor.
Standing again, I then tossed the knife as far away into thick grass as I could so he couldn't find it. I turned to the guard who was watching in awe for a moment before snapping out of it, as if he took a moment to realise I was looking at him.
"S-sorry about that, I guess you don't know. Most people will respect you for pissing off the church enough to want you dead, but some people are, of course, desperate enough to try to get the money. The guilds support anyone who's an enemy of the church, and we're the law around here. Besides, your bounty's not that high, so I guess this guy was either desperate or an idiot."
"Got it, I'll watch my back. Can I enter now?"
"Of course, also please go to the Raven Mercenary Companies headquarters to speak with our leader. He's the one who imposed the anti-church doctrine here, so he'll want to meet you. Our base is the old city hall, the biggest building there is."
With a nod, I walked through the gates, and Kona followed.
"Last time I was here, I remembered a lot of people actually spoke Imperial and Viltin. So I can finally actually understand what people say for a change. You don't need to be my interpreter anymore."
She gave me a pat on the back as we walked side by side into the large town. I felt kind of sad hearing that. I kind of liked having her rely on me. Well, hopefully that little show at the gate will deter anyone else from trying to kill me in this town.
"Oi, Shinya. You're not mad at me about the gate thing, right? I definitely should have given you a heads-up, considering how careful you've been with hiding your identity. I'm sorry."
I looked over my shoulder at her and gave her a large smile. "You can make it up to me later"
As we walked through the stone city, we looked out for the largest building as we continued towards the middle of the city. Most of the buildings were made of stone, and almost all were at least two stories tall. The roads were cobbled nicely and were a far cry from the rough gravel and dirt roads I had trodden my whole life. However, there was one thing we didn't consider. Staying the night in a city this opulent might be a bit costly, and we had spent most of our funds on rations we still had an abundance of, as we had been reliably catching fish for dinner as we travelled up the coast.
As we walked, Kona slowed her pace a bit, dragging behind. As I turned back to face her. She snapped her fingers and looked upward as if coming up with an idea.
"I got it. I know the perfect way to make it up to you. I'll meet you at the big building later."
She ran off and waved at me, leaving me standing in the middle of the town hall. I guess she's going to go buy me something? I might as well go see the leader of the Ravens company by myself.
I arrived at the largest building I could find and spoke with the guard out front, confirming I was in the right place. I explained that the gate guard told me to come here to speak with their leader, and the guard led me inside, where there was a receptionist who, upon hearing who I was, went deeper into the building.
After a short wait, I was led deeper into the building and into a simple and plain office where, across from it, sat a man with long black hair and a short beard. He gestured for me to sit in one of the two seats across from him.
"I'm told you speak Viltin and Imperial, which do you prefer?"
"Imperial", I said as I sat down.
"Very well, you're Shinya Akame, correct? And an enemy of the church?"
"Well, they want me dead, so I would say so."
"They really, really want you dead. I just intercepted this letter."
He placed a paper on the table, turning it and pushing it towards me. It was my wanted poster. I grabbed it and looked it over, freezing up as I saw the bottom. The bounty was now one million franks.
"I-is this real?"
"Very, I don't know what you did, but they really, really want you dead. Now I haven't circulated these yet, as this amount of money is absurd. Naturally, even I contemplated trying to kill you when I saw the amount."
"Are you going to?"
"With a bounty like that, I doubt I would be able to. Read the fine print at the bottom aloud."
There was a bunch of text below the bounty price.
"Warning: extremely dangerous. If seen, do not engage, do not fight, do not get near. Dispatch a notice to the church, and the adjudicator will be dispatched. What the fuck is an adjudicator?"
"That would be one of, if not the single best fighter in the church of the seven saints. Currently, that would be Sir Galahad. Now I haven't distributed these bounties because I'm afraid that every idiot in town will try to get you and all of them will die. Now you're well within your rights to defend yourself, of course. But I would rather avoid a sea of blood on my streets"
"I appreciate it."
"Now, I can't say the Black Hand will do the same. Eventually, word will get out about this bounty, and you will be more and more at risk."
"The Black Hand?"
"Right, you must be new here. Let me explain."
The long-haired man explained that the Ravens Mercenary Company controlled the city of Ravens Rest and, by extension, half of the population of the Black Lands. All of the other towns and cities are controlled by the Black Hand, a different mercenary guild that operates out of the Black Fort, a ruined fortress to the southwest. As I was about to leave, he told me his name was Corvis Malik and gave the bounty poster to hold on to.
As I left the building, Kona ran up to me, waving happily with a big smile. Holding onto two small cards.
"Shinya, Shinya! Guess what?"
She stopped in front of me, holding the cards I had just seen her waving around behind her back.
"What?"
"I signed us up to be freelance mercenaries!"
She held out one of the cards to me, which had my name and a seal to show I was registered with the Ravens Rest Mercenary Guild. I wasn't thrilled with the idea, but we did need money, and she seemed awfully excited about it as well.
"Well, we do need the money. I guess looking at the available contracts couldn't hurt."
I wanted to tell her about the bounty increase on my head. To fill her in on what Corvus told me about the fact that the longer we stay here, the more dangerous it could get. But it's not like anywhere else is safer for us now. Besides, I didn't want to spoil her mood.
With a small jump, Kona turned around, grabbing my wrist and pulling me towards the Ravens Rest mercenary guild.