Chapter 58

Merad formulated a plan and, together with Cassandra, executed it like assassins, but they soon discovered the plan was useless.

Because Broly liked too many things to eat, no matter which team member handed him food he would eat it, and the Danger Beasts encountered on the road were also roasted and eaten down.

"Ah, just how am I supposed to attract his attention?!"

Merad scratched her hair into a mess; Broly was close to everyone in the team, but precisely because he was close to everyone, it instead made her feel he was hard to approach — no matter how she tried to close the distance, the distance seemed to remain there.

Of course, Merad also noticed the boy seemed to treat Akame, Kurome, Main, and Esdeath differently — a relationship even closer than with the other children — yet she could not figure out why at all.

"Miss Merad, why don't we just go ask directly? Us guessing here gets us nowhere."

This was the first time Cassandra had seen her own young lady troubled; after thinking it over she offered a suggestion.

"Would anyone really tell someone like me who's come to steal their man?"

Merad felt definitely no one would tell her; during these two days of travel she had not refrained from indirect inquiries for intelligence, yet she could sense the vigilance of those few girls who received special treatment.

"Saying 'steal a man' is a bit too early; he's still just a boy……"

Cassandra retorted, then began speaking well of the group.

"I think Akame and Main and the others are all quite easy to get along with; they didn't discriminate against me just because I'm a freak with an extra pair of arms."

Because of the extra pair of arms that set her apart from common people, Cassandra had been abandoned by her birth parents when she was very young.

A circus troupe picked her up, but only treated her as a freak, locking her in a cage to tour and exhibit for money.

Until Merad took a liking to her and wiped out the circus people, rescuing her from that miserable life, did she finally obtain liberation.

But even so, others would still look at her extra arms with strange eyes; Cassandra no longer cared, yet she had always been sensitive to such gazes.

Yet during these two days of interaction, she discovered the children in this team did not regard her as a freak different from common people because of it, giving her an inexplicable sense of peace.

"Cassandra, you won't end up assassinated by them instead, will you? They assassinated your heart and made you fall in love."

"Of course not, Miss Merad; I just feel that false lies cannot exchange for another's true heart — sometimes only by laying everything bare can you exchange true heart for true heart."

Merad's joining the team was an act; although Akame and the others didn't see through her disguise, they could sense a sense of incongruity.

Conversely, Cassandra didn't act much — just did her maid's work and helped boil water and cook on the journey — yet she was a step ahead in winning the team's genuine acceptance.

"True heart for true heart, huh?"

Merad felt somewhat uncomfortable; as an assassin she had learned plenty about disguise and acting, but suddenly being told to exchange true heart for true heart made her whole body ill at ease — still, after thinking it over, she made her decision: "Then true heart for true heart!"

As for exactly with whom to exchange, it definitely couldn't be with that group of girls younger than herself, and the others didn't look much closer to Broly than she was either — so the only choice for exchanging true hearts was……

"Miss Esdeath, could you come over here for a moment? I have some things I'd like to ask you."

Esdeath, resting during yet another bout of sparring with Broly while on the march, was sought out by Merad, whose surface identity was now a fallen noble daughter.

"Ask me something — is it about martial arts?"

Esdeath, brought to the lakeside, asked with interest.

"How could that be? I don't know martial arts."

Merad was good at acting; she played the part of a powerless noble daughter and confessed her favorable feelings toward Broly.

"I like Brother Broly, but I don't know how to make him pay more attention to me."

Merad's face flushed slightly, her eyes seemingly holding a sticky affection, vividly acting out the image of a little girl with a crush on a boy.

"Sister Esdeath, can you tell me the method?" Her attitude was sincere as she asked for the secret to capturing a boy.

"I've met guys who tried to steal my prey, and I've met guys whose prey I stole, but I've never met someone like you — asking me to teach you how to steal my own prey."

Although Esdeath was currently Broly's prey, in her heart she treated the powerful Broly as future prey she would inevitably hunt — harboring the intention to one day defeat Broly and then treat him as prey she could dispose of at will.

"Uh, what are you saying? I don't quite understand — how could Brother Broly be prey? Could it be… you also like Brother Broly?"

Merad feigned surprise and asked.

"If harboring such intense emotion to become a strong person who surpasses him can be called 'liking', then I suppose I like him very much."

Esdeath did not conceal it; at twelve she still didn't quite understand the emotion of 'liking', but the feeling of wanting to surpass Broly and become stronger than him was absolutely certain.

"So, because you also like him, as rivals, you can't tell me a way to make him pay more attention to me?"

Merad said with tears welling in her eyes; she used a provocation tactic.

"Hmm, let me think… it's not impossible."

Esdeath thought a moment and said.

"Eh, really?"

Merad was a bit surprised, but the next moment she hastily retreated, dodging a sudden axe kick Esdeath brought down.

"Of course you can — provided you can beat me."

Esdeath assumed a combat stance.

"Ah, but I don't know martial arts."

Merad retreated again, dodging Esdeath's axe kick, and said somewhat panicked, as if hoping the other would stop.

"Your dodging movements don't look like something someone who doesn't know martial arts could do — am I right, Group 5's athlete Mermaid?"

"You recognized me?"

"Nothing strange about that — your arm muscles are very distinctive, and your walking posture hasn't basically changed; from the first moment I saw you, I knew who you were."

"Then why didn't you expose me?"

"Why would I expose you?"

"I'm the bad girl trying to steal your prey."

"That suits me just fine — we didn't cross paths at the Martial Arts Tournament, so now's a good chance to make up for it; if you've got the skill, come steal him."

Merad fell silent, then laughed: "Cassandra was right — true heart for true heart really is simpler."

She unfastened the buttons of her dress, took it off and flung it onto a nearby tree, leaving only a set of plain white underwear, socks, and shoes.

Merad asked the Esdeath opposite her: "You said, as long as I beat you, I'll get the method to attract his attention from your mouth — that's correct, right?"

"Mm."

"Then, come."

Under the sunset, by the lake, two girls began a battle, wagering the method of introducing a certain Saiyan boy to draw his attention.

(Chapter End)