Chapter 4: A New Lease

"So let's get right to it. Are you with Night Raid and the Revolutionary Army?" Esdeath asks.

"Y-Yes… I am. I was using that small village as a front to conceal my whereabouts while on standby for new orders. Clearly, that didn't last very long," I answer.

Pulling out the satchel, Esdeath tosses it on the table before me, the dossiers spilling out.

"How did you get a hold of this information on us?" She questions.

"Happened upon some dead courier while I was hanging out in the forest last night prior to your arrival. It wasn't a part of whatever mission I was supposed to get. Just a lucky find on my behalf," I explain.

Seryu shakes her head disapprovingly.

What?! Sure if I told a lie and said it was my mission to deliver them somewhere, it would be more believable but I did in fact tell the truth just now!

"Oh really? Just completely by luck that these documents happened to wind up in your possession? Do you expect me to believe that?!" Esdeath slams her right hand on the table.

She's so scary!

"N-No, I don't… but that's the truth. I swear on it," I respond, trying to not reveal how fearful I am.

"Very well. Give me his combat knife, Seryu. It's the perfect size," she says.

"For what reason if I may ask?" Seryu questions, just barely hiding the reluctance in her voice.

"If he truly believes that, he's willing to lose a finger then. Only then will I accept his answer," Esdeath responds.

"I understand," Seryu says, handing over the knife.

I gulp nervously.

I-I'm seriously gonna lose a finger?!

Yanking my left wrist, Esdeath places my trembling hand flat on the table.

"Not too late to tell the real story," Esdeath informs.

"W-What I said is the real deal," I shakily reaffirm.

"Well, I gave you the chance," she says.

As she brings the knife closer and closer to my ring finger, my heart races and my breathing gets erratic.

Looking at Seryu, I silently plead for help.

"It will be over soon enough," Seryu mouths, opting to look away.

Not very helpful!

Feeling the sharp edge of metal touch the skin, I try to keep myself from yanking my hand away the best I can.

Shutting my eyes in anticipation, I wait for immense pain to start.

… That's weird.

I'm not feeling any pain.

Did the adrenaline kick in?

Opening my eyes, I see that Esdeath hasn't even started the sawing motion.

Is… is her hand… trembling?!

"On second thought, I don't want to get blood all over my hands," she says, changing her mind.

I wince as she gives me a small cut on the finger.

"You didn't crack under pressure and so I'll believe your story is honest," she says.

Seryu silently sighs, relieved.

The merciless general… hesitated and gave me an out?

Having Tatsumi's resemblance actually did something good for once.

"T-Thank you for sparing my finger, G-General Esdeath," I say.

Her face keeps shifting between disgust and delight, probably deeply confused on how to handle this.

Pushing my luck, I give her a reassuring smile, watching her face almost immediately flush a light shade of red.

"N-Night Raid scum! Enough of your visual tricks! Cease it or I'll kill you outright!" She threatens, having drawn her rapier.

Seems that pushed it too hard!

"What visual tricks do you mean?!" I say frantically, holding my hands up.

"Your face! Do you possess some kind of Imperial Arms in your body that allows you to shapeshift?!" She asks.

That's Chelsea's thing, not me!

"I swear I don't! I'm just a normal guy with a normal face!" I answer quickly.

"Seryu?" She looks back to her, wanting her input.

"He's not lying. His face looked the same while he was unconscious. It took me back a bit too," Seryu says.

"In that case…," Esdeath says.

"Glad we got that outta the way—whoa!" I exclaim, standing up after having narrowly dodged Esdeath trying to thrust her rapier into me while I was still sitting. "You're gonna kill me anyway?! At least finish interrogating me first!"

"You're part of Night Raid and you happen to resemble my Tatsumi a lot! The very idea of him getting mixed up with that lot angers me greatly! You must be killed to preserve his image!" She yells, managing to quickly grab me by the shirt and slam my back onto the table.

"General Esdeath, I have a selfish request to make!" Seryu shouts amidst the chaos.

"It can wait until after I pierce his heart!" Esdeath readies her rapier.

"Wait wait wait! You're mistaken on a few things! Let me tell you everything first!" I exclaim, panicking.

"I've heard all I needed to hear!" Esdeath says.

"Esdeath!" Seryu quickly grabs Esdeath's wrist preventing her from just barely skewering my heart.

"What's gotten into you… Seryu?" Esdeath says in disbelief as she looks at Seryu.

"S-Seryu?" I grunt weakly, shocked by seeing tears form in her eyes.

"Please… hear Tetsuo out!" Seryu begs.

"…Very well," Esdeath sighs, putting her weapon away but not letting go of me. "This better not be a waste of time."

I take a deep breath and exhale.

"I never planned on giving Night Raid those documents. In fact, they're in the hands of the rightful owners where I needed them to be. Saves me a lot of trouble figuring out how to get them to you," I say.

Granted, I didn't wanna get captured by them so I could get off scot free.

For a brief second, Esdeath seems surprised.

"So if I am to believe your words on that as well, that would mean you're dead set on betraying Night Raid? Aren't they your comrades?" She questions.

I… I… No! Never were!

"My comrades? Don't make me laugh! They were always my enemies from the get go! They took away my everything with this war! They mean nothing to me! I only ever joined them to bring it all down from the inside! Revenge is all I seek! Nothing more!" I shout, letting my bitter anger out.

Night Raid… must be destroyed! The Revolutionary Army… will crumble! The Empire will prevail!

Anger and hatred surging through me, my vision gets more and more blurry!

I start frantically trying to get out of her grip!

"Release me, Esdeath! Justice must be served! For me! For Seryu! FOR THE EMPIRE!" I yell with great intensity, realizing I can barely hear anything anymore.

Feeling a swift hit to my head, the dark void of unconsciousness overtakes me.

Regaining consciousness, I rub my eyes with one hand and hold my now aching head with the other.

"Shit, my head is killing me," I groan as I sit up.

I'm in a bed yet again and the same one at that.

I could've sworn I was being interrogated… but then everything… just kinda… faded out after I got mad.

It would be just my bad luck if that thing happened again and here of all places.

Watching the door open, Seryu comes in.

"Seryu," I grunt.

Letting out a gasp, she rushes to my bedside and sits in the chair.

"About time! I was worried!" she says, giving my left cheek a slap.

"Ow! Do you forget that your hands are metal?!" And worried? What the hell happened?!" I question, holding my cheek.

"The interrogation happened of course," she answers.

"That doesn't really explain anything to me. All I remember is up to the point of getting really angry and then things are just a blur after that," I recall.

"Don't worry about that," she says.

"You can't just slap me and then tell me not to worry when I—," she cuts me off with a kiss.

Pulling her lips away, she looks at me longingly as she rests a hand on my cheek.

"My bad. It wasn't my intention to hit you. That's just how it came out. As I said, you don't have to worry about what happened. Not right now. Just focus on me instead," she says softly.

"…O-Okay," I stutter, blushing.

Slowly, she pulls me into another kiss, her hands moving onto my shoulders and mine grabbing her waist.

Still hard to believe this situation I've gotten into isn't some big lie.

Continuing to make out, she starts moving onto the bed so she can straddle me.

The door is abruptly opened and Esdeath steps in, frightening Seryu and myself.

She quickly breaks away from me, sitting back down in her chair beside the bed.

"W-Wasn't expecting you this late, G-General," Seryu stammers.

"Our doors have locks for a reason. Please make use of them," Esdeath humorously suggests. "While I'm at it, you could at least let him have dinner first," she gestures to the delicious smelling plate of meat and potatoes in her hands.

… I take it back! What the hell is this?!

"Dinner? You mean breakfast or lunch, right?" I ask.

Esdeath immediately turns her head to Seryu.

"Did you not tell him that he's been unconscious for the entire day? It's currently night as we speak," Esdeath harshly narrows her eyes at Seryu.

What?!

"Well… I was going to after the fun was over," Seryu sheepishly replies, rubbing the back of her head. Esdeath shakes her head, ashamed of Seryu's behavior.

As I watch Seryu get up and take the plate from Esdeath, my eyes widen in horror as it dawns on me that Esdeath has a bandage on her cheek.

… Wait… T-That's not my fault, is it?! Oh no! This has to be the final meal before my ass gets executed!

"You look like you've seen a ghost. Are ya doin' alright?" Seryu asks me.

"W-What's going on with Esdeath's cheek?" I inquire, trembling.

"Oh, that," she says.

"So you were unconscious during that. How interesting. One thing at a time so eat first," Esdeath says.

"Say ahh," Seryu holds up a chunk of potato on a fork.

About to open my mouth, ice suddenly juts from the floor between me and Seryu.

Looking over at Esdeath, we can see a trail of ice stemming from her feet.

"A-Apologies. It's gonna take some effort to not conflate my Tatsumi with you… which really makes me question your tastes, Seryu," Esdeath says as the ice crumbles into tiny fragments and disappears.

"I-It's strictly a coincidence, General! I didn't even notice the similarities at first!" Seryu says defensively.

"I'll try my best to not doubt that. Ugh. I'll just turn myself around so I don't interrupt again," Esdeath says, facing the wall with crossed arms. "You can continue."

"You sure that's Esdeath?" I whisper to Seryu.

"Only when it comes to Tatsumi," Seryu answers quietly.

"Do the two of you want to know what an ice spike tastes like? Because you will find out soon enough if this keeps up," Esdeath warns.

"As I was saying, open wiiide, Tetsuo," Seryu says, adding some meat to the fork before stuffing it into my mouth.

"Mmm! That meat's so succulent and the potato certainly is no slouch either!" I compliment.

"But it's better than Night Raid's cooking, right?" She asks.

Esdeath looks over her shoulder, awaiting my response.

There's really only two ways to answer that so I'll be honest.

"S-Strangely enough, it's kinda tied. I can't really put one above the other especially when this is the only thing I've tasted from here as of now excluding the tea and cookies," I chuckle nervously while scratching my head.

"… Fair enough," Seryu and Esdeath say.

Phew!

Seryu leisurely continues to feed me, taking a few minutes to clear the plate much to Esdeath's silent yet blatantly obvious annoyance.

"There we go. All done!" Seryu says.

"Finally," Esdeath sighs, turning around. "Now originally, I was going to kill you but Seryu's wish and the fact that it'd clearly be a grand mistake to do so has made me reconsider. Be grateful for these circumstances."

"That's a relief but I'm more concerned with that bandage on your cheek and whether or not that's related to your reconsideration as well," I say.

"Well, you had seemingly gone insane during interrogation while I was hearing you out and so I knocked you out or at least I thought I did. You then proceeded to break free from my grip and actively attack me so we fought. To my surprise, you were actually keeping up with me, managing to put a minor scratch on my cheek with your fingernails before I knocked you out again."

"I… did that? That sounds crazy," I say, shocked.

That's not the usual thing that happens.

Am I gonna have to be weary of something else going on with me?

"It was wild. You were growling and snarling too," Seryu adds.

"I've never seen anything like it. You were using some kind of peculiar fighting style like a raging Danger Beast. I'm not even sure what class to specify it as. It's very intriguing to me to say the least," Esdeath says.

T-The hell?! Something similar to Leone except without an Imperial Arms or… completely different than that?

"So… what are you gonna do with me and this new… discovery?" I inquire.

"That depends on you. Do you truly hate Night Raid as much as you claim you do? Is seeing them and the Revolutionary Army being crushed under the Empire's heel to satisfy your revenge really what you crave?" She questions, looking down into my eyes with an icy glare.

… Of… of course!

"Yes! More than anything!" I shout.

She smirks devilishly.

"Then continue to harbor that hatred and hone it to power yourself. You clearly have talent and skills to grow into and evolve. We will make you into an exceptional soldier, strong enough to carry out your revenge with your very own hands!" She asserts.

"Wait, that can't be right. Am I hearing you correctly?" I ask.

"Geez, does she have to spell it out for you?" Seryu questions.

"Tatsu— Tetsuo! You're a Jaeger now! Your training begins tomorrow!" Esdeath proclaims.

So it's not my imagination playing tricks on me.

There's some kinda strange happiness about this aside from avoiding execution I'm experiencing even though my original plans have been changed drastically.

It's so hard to put into words.

"Tetsuo? You seem to be speechless," Seryu says.

"I… am. It definitely has taken me aback," I say, astonished.

"Consider it your new lease on life. Now before I go, I'm laying down a rule regarding the relationship between you and Tetsuo, Seryu," Esdeath says.

"What's that?" Seryu asks.

"Please keep it out of sight, specifically your affectionate interactions. As I mentioned earlier, lock your doors too. It's mostly for my own sake," Esdeath replies.

"Understood!" Seryu responds.

"And Tetsuo?" Esdeath looks back to me.

"Y-Yes?" I stutter, worried about what she's gonna say to me.

"Don't. Get. Seryu. Pregnant. War first, kids after. Do I make myself clear?" She says with utmost seriousness.

"Y-Yes, G-General!" I stammer.

That should be more directed at Seryu than me since I'm afraid of her not letting me pull out!

"Now then, I will be returning to my quarters for the night," Esdeath concludes, notably locking the door while leaving the room.

"So… are you ready for tomorrow?" Seryu questions.

"Not in the slightest if I'm honest," I answer.

"You'll be fine," she assures, starting to undress.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! What are you doin'?!" I question.

"Taking my clothes off of course," she replies. "We may have missed the chance to bathe together today but did you forget about me sleeping with you?" She asks, now standing in a dark green tank top with matching panties.

"N-Not at all," I stammer, blushing as I look at her body.

At least give a fair warning before just tossing off clothes.

"I thought so," she slowly climbs into bed, making sure I can see her cleavage.

G-Goddamn!

"Like what you see?" She seductively giggles while on her hands and knees.

"T-That answer's obvious! L-Listen, we need to get some sleep since my training starts tomorrow," I quickly lie down and face away from her, trying to ignore my sex drive.

"Thought you said you wouldn't weasel out?" She says in my right ear, turning off the lamp while lying down beside me.

"Tomorrow after training. It'll give me motivation to endure whatever the hell you guys throw at me," I reply.

"Tetsuo," she whispers lustfully, pressing her bountiful chest into my back while her right hand massages my crotch underneath the blanket. "Quite amazing how stiff you've already gotten."

Definitely no bra on!

"S-Seryu," I moan softly.

"You'll get to sleep faster if I make you cum," she says, trying to coax me.

I roll over to face her.

"T-That may be true but—," she puts my face in her cleavage, interrupting me.

"Got you right where I want you," she giggles lightly, keeping a hand on the back of my head.

"A-All that to get my face in your chest? What if I had caved in for sex?" I question, resting a hand on her ass.

"It would've been the icing on the cake for me then," she replies. "Now… time to sleep," she yawns, stroking my head.

"Don't… gotta tell me," I yawn back.

"By the way seeing as I forgot to mention it earlier, in the event you do knock me up, take responsibility and don't abandon me or—," she starts to say.

"You'll hunt me down and make sure to take your sweet time killing me?" I interject, finishing her sentence.

"Precisely. Glad to see you're starting to understand me," she says.

"Good night, Seryu," I say, feeling eyelids getting heavy.

"Good night, Tetsuo. I love you," she says, closing her eyes.

"I… you almost got me just now," I say.

"Almost did. Guess I gotta make more cookies tomorrow," she says.

"I was unconscious for the majority of the day so you didn't really get a fair shot. Let's extend the bet to the day after tomorrow," I suggest.

"How kind… of you, Tetsuo," she says tiredly, giving me a kiss on the forehead.

"No… problem," I say weakly.

Before we know it, we fall asleep, still in each other's warm embrace.