Chapter 406: Tatsumi – Can Anyone Save My Comrades!?
"This condition... it's different from all the Teigu I've seen. So strange…"
Bulat furrowed his brow, sharing his doubts with the members of Night Raid.
Before anyone else could respond, Leone's expression changed slightly.
"He can wield two Teigu at once and control them so easily... just like that game merchant I met!"
Back then, Fang Yi had displayed two completely different abilities with ease.
Bulat's current state was strikingly similar.
Bulat approached Tatsumi with a serious expression.
"Kid, where did this sword come from? Do you know?"
"It was forged from refined steel using money collected by everyone in the village! Give it back!"
Even Akame, who had nearly killed him, had been easily defeated by Bulat.
Tatsumi understood how strong this man was, yet his gaze remained cold and unyielding as he stood guard at the warehouse entrance like a shrike impaled on a branch.
"Impossible," Bulat shook his head. "A blessed short sword—this kind of special weapon not only has the strength of a Teigu but also lacks the usual side effects. There's no way an ordinary blacksmith could forge something like this."
Judging by Tatsumi's appearance, his village didn't seem wealthy.
Even a minister in the capital would struggle to gather the resources to forge such a rare item.
After all, even emperors in the past had only managed to create inferior versions of Teigu known as Shingu.
Tatsumi replied coldly, "I'm not a murderer like Night Raid. I don't lie. That short sword cost nine gold coins—money we all saved up for six months!"
But as soon as he said it, he caught a word Bulat had mentioned—"blessed."
Suddenly, he recalled how Mr. Fang Yi had picked up the short sword before they parted and said it was his blessing.
Soon after, Tatsumi felt his body becoming stronger.
Then there was the swordplay during his fight with Akame, and the burst of strength when he broke free from the ambush—everything was starting to make sense.
Clearly, the short sword had caught Night Raid's attention, and it likely had something to do with Fang Yi.
No—he couldn't admit that. He mustn't involve Mr. Fang Yi. These bloodthirsty assassins wouldn't hesitate to silence him.
With that thought, Tatsumi turned his head away, trying to act casual.
But the honest, innocent expression of the rural boy was a dead giveaway, practically screaming, "I know something important! Come torture me!"
"If you don't talk, I'll kill you!"
Akame approached, holding her demon sword against Tatsumi's neck.
His face went pale, the icy blade pressing against his skin making it hard to breathe. Still, he remained silent.
Bulat grabbed Akame's arm and shook his head slightly, signaling her to lower the sword and not scare the boy.
Her sword was deadly—if she slipped, this kind-hearted fool would really die.
"Young man, the darkness of the Capital often wears a mask of light."
Bulat's face was grim. He picked up the red-backed shrike, gripped its shaft, leaned back, and hurled it with all his strength.
Boom!
The thick steel warehouse door, reinforced with rivets, was pierced clean through.
A terrified scream echoed from inside—Elia's voice.
Before Tatsumi could react, Bulat had already walked up to the hole made by the weapon. He gripped the curled steel edges and, like a bear ripping into a beehive, tore open a passage large enough for people to enter.
Gulp...
Tatsumi swallowed hard.
To be honest, the villagers wouldn't have gathered money for a sword without good reason.
They believed in him, a once-in-a-century swordsman.
He was their hope to escape poverty.
Tatsumi was confident in his strength—he had taken down several Danger Beasts on his journey with ease.
But now, compared to this man who tore steel doors with his bare hands, he felt like a pup before a wolf king.
And such a man had become an assassin—not someone serving the country.
What a waste.
With that, Bulat's image in Tatsumi's mind worsened.
"Come on in. I hate to say this, but... welcome to the real Capital."
Bulat sighed and walked into the warehouse, gesturing for Tatsumi to follow.
Tatsumi didn't understand what he meant, but under Akame's cold gaze, he had no choice but to step inside.
The moment he did, a putrid stench hit him like a wave.
In the hot, dark warehouse, blood-drenched shadows hung upside down.
Tatsumi's first thought: this must be Elia's meat storage.
But as his eyes adjusted, he froze.
"Are... are those humans?"
Tatsumi's eyes widened, the world spinning around him.
Hundreds of hanging corpses—each one a victim of torture.
Iron tables lined with cruel instruments made their purpose all too clear.
"Elia's family, they look like kind, wealthy folk on the outside... but in truth, they're twisted monsters. They lure newcomers to the Capital into their home, then torture them in this warehouse..."
Mine looked at Tatsumi with pity.
Had Night Raid not acted early, he might have ended up on one of those hooks.
"Tatsumi, stop them... please!"
Elia, cowering in a corner, pleaded in panic, trying to find something to hide behind.
But Tatsumi said nothing.
He stood frozen, staring at a black shadow hanging from the ceiling, hands bound by wooden stocks.
A girl around his age—
Now just a corpse. Stab wounds, burns, bruises from blunt force, severed limbs.
"...Sayo?!"
Tatsumi's voice trembled as he fell to his knees.
The lifeless girl was his childhood friend, the one he had been searching for.
Her once-proud black hair was matted with filth, her scalp partially peeled.
Mine sneered, "This is who you wanted to protect? Just another piece of the Capital's darkness—a family of sadists."
"No... they're lying!"
Elia, knowing her guards were all dead and only Tatsumi remained, feigned innocence.
"You must believe me! I had no idea this was happening! Don't forget—I was the one who took you in, remember, Tatsumi?"
"Tatsumi..."
A weak voice echoed from a nearby cage.
Tatsumi rushed to the iron bars. In the moonlight, he saw the speaker.
"...Ieyasu?!"
His throat tightened. His other companion, locked in the cage, was barely recognizable.
Ieyasu was covered in wounds—unlike Sayo, his injuries looked more like a viral infection.
His skin was festering, emitting a foul stench.
Tatsumi didn't hesitate. He kicked the door open and pulled Ieyasu into the moonlight, letting him breathe fresh air.
"It was Elia... she's a demon...
She tortured Sayo—ripped out her hair one by one, cut off her scalp…
They injected me with a virus, treating me like livestock, just to observe the symptoms."
"It hurts... so much...
But I'm glad you're okay, Tatsumi."
He gasped for breath, the virus ravaging his body, tormenting his nerves.
Mine grabbed the noble girl by the collar and tossed her out of the warehouse, sneering:
"Still want to lie?"
Backed into a corner, Elia tore off her mask and screamed in rage:
"I did nothing wrong! You lowlifes are no better than animals! I just killed two of them—why should I be punished?! Even the Capital's officials wouldn't dare touch me. Who do you think you are?!"
Tatsumi said nothing.
He walked up to Bulat and took back his steel short sword.
Shhk!
A clean slash.
From shoulder to waist, Elia was cut in two—her screams silenced forever.
Clang...
The steel short sword fell to the ground.
Tatsumi knelt, holding his friend's hand—feeling the fading warmth and the spasms of a body ravaged by the virus.
Tears streamed down his cheeks like falling rain.
"Ieyasu... don't die... please!"
"Someone... someone save Ieyasu!!"
Tatsumi's hoarse cry echoed through the night as he held his dying friend.
The members of Night Raid stood in silence.
No one spoke.
The virus Elia used had no cure.
It brought slow, agonizing death.
Healing-type Teigu were incredibly rare—
And even if they had one, Ieyasu's body was already beyond saving. He was only holding on by a thread.
They had witnessed this kind of parting too many times.
All they could do now was hope the boy would one day heal from his grief.
"Tatsumi."
A voice suddenly called out.
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