Unnamed Swordsman

3•Resolve in this Cruel World

Rousei Village...

Akame was nervous, she stood in the middle of a graveyard with the moonlight basking them of its beauty, surrounded by tombstones. Per instruction in her envelope given by her adopted father, Gozuki, a shocking revelation came to her. She was instructed to kill Martha. The very same woman that she's grown close to enough so that she considered her more of a mother than her original one.

She held hope, she didn't want to believe that Martha was an informant for the Revolutionary Army. It all seemed impossible for her. Then she heard footsteps behind, she couldn't turn around, Akame didn't want to face the very same woman, who grew so close to her, that she needed to kill.

"What's wrong, Akame? Why did you call me out this late at night?" Martha asked, confusion laced in her voice while Akame tried to reject the info she was given. 'No matter how hard I try... I can't see a person as kind as Martha being a spy. Could Father's information have been incorrect?'

"Oh! Are you trying to negotiate a higher price for your food ingredients? Then just come back at lunchtime with Aka-" She couldn't even finish her sentence as Akame had interrupted her. "Martha!!"

The older woman was taken aback, she grew nervous, she didn't expect Akame to suddenly burst like that. "...Akame?"

"I have something I want to ask you. Please answer honestly." Finally finding the resolve to ask, Akame went straight to the point. "...Are you a spy, an informant for the Revolutionary Army?"

The older woman went silent for a moment looking down on the ground, this caused Akame to grow nervous as the red-eyed girl wished this had all just been a misunderstanding. It wasn't until Martha began to laugh a few seconds later that caught Akame off guard.

"Ahahaha! What are you talking about, Akame? How could I be an informant for the Revolutionary Army? Even as a joke, this isn't funny at all!"

"...Ye...Yeah! You're right!" She felt happy, believing Martha's word as had originally believed this was all but a misunderstanding and it is, she was thankful that Martha wasn't as the information said.

"Akame, someone's playing a joke on you! I should go complain to Gozuki!" Martha said, a devious smile graced her lips causing Akame to grow nervous. "Uh...Um, you... You can't do that!! I'll go double check. I'm sorry, Martha!"

Quickly turning around, Akame was happy, thinking that her adopted father was wrong. But as she turned her back against the innocent Martha, she felt a killing intent come from behind her. Akame quickly turned and spinned around, taking a step back. She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it.

There stood Martha, with a knife in hand, the second closest person she had as a family just tried to kill her.

"Oh? I barely nicked you. Not bad, Akame." She said in a cold tone Akame wasn't used to as she twirled the knife in her hand. "...Ma...Martha..."

"That's not good at all, you know? You should've been taught by Gozuki that... You should never trust what your targets say. It's the most basic rule of those who live in the shadows."

"...Then...Then Martha, you really are..."

"Yep. I'm an informant for the Revolutionary Army."

"Ugh..."Then suddenly Akame's body grew heavy, causing her to almost lose balance, thankfully she had built some semblance of resistance towards poison. '!? My body is going numb... It was coated with poison...!'

"Normally you shouldn't even be able to stand... Not bad. So you learned to resist poison through training and eating." Akame had hit the nail in the head, the knife was indeed coated with poison.