Chapter 24: Shipping

The next day in the imperial palace, Esdeath gathered her subordinates to their most important meeting since forming the Jaegers.

“I can’t afford failure here! I need a feasible solution” Esdeath’s eyes scanned her subordinates.

“First, you must forget about the direct approach. It is obvious how ineffective it was. In fact, it brought more harm than good” Dr Stylish said seriously.

Esdeath nodded “I know, I had first-hand experience after all. I don’t have any clue what to do now.”

“Umm… Why don’t you forget about the whole…...” Wave spoke but interrupted by an ice spear passing his head and scratching his cheek.

“I suggest you drop that line of thought before I drop your corpse!” Esdeath gave a death glare to Wave who quivered while saying weakly “Sorry”

Esdeath turned to Bols who was sitting silently, she asked him “ Bols, yesterday you spoke about taking it step by step slowly. Do you have anything in mind?”

“Ummm… From my experience, I don’t think attempting to make him your lover first will work, you need to move slower.” Bols replied.

Esdeath hummed thoughtfully before asking again “What experience are you talking about? And what do you suggest me to do next?”

Bols replied shyly “I was lucky and got married and now I have a cute little daughter 

The Jaegers were stunned silly by his words. While Esdeath nodded with a smile, Bols is the one who can truly help her.

“Yesterday, Mr Garou gave me the impression of him being impatient, short-tempered and can  easily get violent” Bols said carefully while watching his leader's every reaction.

Esdeath nodded in agreement “That’s true, he is a tyrant by nature and inspires fear instinctively”

Bols was relieved seeing she was not angry at him speaking like that about Garou, he continued, “I think you shouldn’t try to be his lover directly, try to become a close friend to him first. Afterwards, you can attempt to take the next step in your relationship”

Esdeath smiled and nodded, “That’s a brilliant idea, good job, Bols!! We still haven't delivered the money, I shall deliver it personally and improve my friendship with him!”

Esdeath ran out, leaving her subordinates. Rin eyes watched Esdeath leaves then turned to the rest of his teammates as he said “Is it a good idea to let her go? Didn’t you tell me yesterday Garou explicitly said that he didn’t want her to deliver the prize? Would she be okay alone?”

“Your concerns are not misplaced, but we need to let her go to find her happiness. If things went bad, we as her subordinates should give her all the support we can” Dr Stylish spoke, his words ignited the wills of the rest.

“Even if she is scary and Garou, even scarier, I will help them! Besides, she is as scary as Garou when she is angry. They are really a good match for each other” Wave said, which earned him nodes from everyone else.

“By the way, Dr Stylish, How is General Bodou? Garou injured him badly yesterday” Seryu asked.

“With a genius such as myself, I naturally restored his arm. Luckily I could treat him without delays, so in a week's time, his arm will be fully recovered ” Stylish said proudly.

Seryu and Wave both clapped for his success while Rin smiled.

“Guys, what if they fight again? What about the citizens?” Kurome asked suddenly.

The group froze, just imagining the damage alone made them shiver.

“We should follow the general, if the worst scenario happens, some of us will help the citizen to run while the rest will help the general ”

The rest nodded slowly, they stood and took their weapons with them. Today, the team was heading out to perform one of the most dangerous missions in the empire’s history, to support their commander in her quest for love.

_______________________

In the orphanage, when Garou woke up and like any other day, he went to perform his morning warmup training before heading out to hunt beasts. When he returned, he sat meditating until Himiko finished cooking. And as usual, Himiko called him to eat, Garou headed to the dining room and sat in his chair, when he was about to start eating the orphanage door was knocked.

Himiko stood and went to answer while Garou couldn’t help but frown, he had a feeling that he wouldn't like the unexpected visitor. The next instant, Esdeath ran inside with a smile on her face.

“Hello Garou, I hope you missed me!”

“ UGH!!! Why are you here?” Garou asked already feeling annoyed.

“Did you forget? You asked me to deliver the prize” Esdeath answered with confidence.

“ I said the exact opposite, anyone but you! ” Garou replied, irritated.

“No, you said you don’t care who delivers the money unless it was me! I naturally brought it as you asked. What kind of close friend am I if I can’t help you with receiving your rightful prize!” Esdeath said seriously.

“Close friends? When the fuck did you become my close friend?” Garou asked with a strange look on his face.

“Oh, Since we are going to be lovers in the future, we need to be close friends first…. NO!! Best friends” Esdeath answered.

Garou was thinking about kicking Esdeath out of the orphanage when Himiko, who followed Esdeath inside, said “Umm… General Esdeath, I don’t want to be disrespectful, but what are you talking about?”

Esdeath finally looked at Himiko, she ignored Himiko's presence from the very beginning as she was only focused on Garou. Esdeath sized Himiko from top to bottom before replying “ Yesterday, I fell in love with Garou, and so I decided for us to be lovers. Despite being compatible with each other, Garou still acted unreasonably and refused …. ”

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Who between the two of us is acting unreasonably” Garou interrupted Esdeath, he was really pissed off by her, was this really a general?

“See? That’s what I’m talking about ” Esdeath pointed at Garou as if he was the strange one.

Garou didn’t like how Esdeath kept acting, he was genuinely going to beat her when Himiko said “I see… Regardless of the situation between the two of you, you are still our guest! Please join us! But please stop talking about the topic, Garou might attack you if this goes on”

Garou looked at Himiko angrily then continued eating, while Esdeath eyes gleamed at the words attack, she just got the perfect inspiration.

Esdeath sat on the table with Garou and the rest and started eating with them. While Himiko was observing Esdeath

[She is really one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. She got the charisma and confidence, not to mention her high status as a great general and her title being the strongest. Even her hair colour is quite unique like Garou’s, they genuinely look made for each other] Himiko thought as sadness filled her, she was inferior to Esdeath in every single aspect.

“Garou, I have a very interesting proposal” Esdeath said suddenly.

“ I’m not interested ” Garou replied instantly.

“ I didn’t even explain it” Esdeath replied agitated by Garou’s instant reply.

Garou continued eating, ignoring her, so she said “Very well, I will speak anyway! I know you don’t want to join the army or work for me, so what about you spar with me? Consider it training with me”

Garou stopped eating and looked back at her “Why would you think I would want that? You are not my match, fighting against you is pointless for me ”

Esdeath was left speechless, indeed he was stronger than her. She fought with all of her strength yesterday but was still defeated without being able to inflict any significant damage on him. She even had a feeling that he was not going all out against her.

“You didn’t go all out yesterday, did you?” Esdeath couldn’t help but ask.

Garou looked at her then replied “If I went all out against you, you wouldn’t be speaking here”

Esdeath wasn’t shocked nor angry, she seemed even more excited than before. She closed her eyes and thought about it then replied “What about fighting against my team and me? When they are working together, they should be as strong as me”

Garou thought about her words and found them interesting, he remembered her team having weird weapons as well. They might be able to help Garou advance his strength, even if he didn’t improve physically, he might be able to sharpen his skills further.

“Very well, I accept. But I won’t accept anything less than a real battle where injuries would occur” Garou replied. Only actual battles can help him, regular harmless spares are not made for him.

Esdeath gave a dangerous smile. To her, battle was something she enjoyed even more than the feeling she had for Garou. Besides, having the chance to experience the blood rush and the feel of the incoming demise was too addictive for her.

Himiko and the children saw her smiling at Garou and shivered, this smile was exactly like the one Garou gave, scary and intimidating.

[These two are truly made for each other] Himiko couldn’t help but exclaim in her heart. Esdeath’s nature was too similar to Garou’s. Whether it was Esdeath’s team, Himiko or the children, all of them shipped these two as a matching pair