Steel Eyed Faker

Chapter 5: Save the Anomaly

Beta read by Shigiya and Paragon of Awesomeness

.

.

.

-???-

Throughout the early stages of her life, Seryu Ubiquitous grew up in an average household as part of a loving family. Her father had been serving faithfully in the Imperial military police as a lieutenant with a bright career ahead of him, and her mother kept the house and family functioning as a humble housewife — a normal but happy life that she’d felt blessed to have.

Yet everything changed when one day, her father didn’t return. From the reports she’d read detailing the events of his passing, he’d been killed by members of the accursed Revolutionary Army while aiding one of the small villages just past the Capital’s walls… Having been sent out with a number of his men to protect the villagers from a series of Danger Beast attacks ravaging settlements in the area. But… it had actually been part of a Revolutionary plot to sow chaos and weaken the Capital’s protection, and her father had died because of it. They hadn’t even been able to recover his body. The words within the page she read that day with her shaking hands detailing how he had been ambushed and murdered in cold blood alongside all his most trusted men. This revelation had been so world-shattering that it broke her mother. With no one to support them and unable to find a job herself, her mother chose instead to go and be with her father again, and took her own life.

Just like that, her peaceful, happy life with her family had been completely taken over by tragedy. Tragedy that left deep scars in the very core of the brunette’s heart and soul. All because of the Revolutionary Army…

Left with nothing aside from an empty home that now elicited only painful memories and rapidly dwindling stores of money to feed herself with, Seryu had seriously been contemplating following in her mother's footsteps until she was found by Captain Ogre. It was as if fate itself had decided to give her a second chance, shining a light through the darkness around her with his arrival. That day, she had been trudging along the dirt roads just outside the walls of the Capital, fully prepared to end up as food for a passing Danger Beast, covered in rags and having reached her limit. The girl happened to spot the massive man helping a couple of merchants escape a group of ‘bandits’, people who were reportedly working for the Revolutionary Army and ambushing certain trade lines that merchants used as a route to the Capital.

The same Revolutionary Army that killed her father, and subsequently took everything from her. She had watched in awe as Captain Ogre slaughtered those heinous villains, killing them with his greatsword, and with such little effort. Blood and guts flew everywhere he went, and she found herself entranced by his strength and bravery as he fought off those evildoers in the name of justice. This wondrous sight, coupled with the faces of the innocent who so joyously gazed at this mighty figure with reverence and gratitude as he defended them, captivated Seryu. It was a scene that remained a core memory within the young girl's mind ever since, and formed the foundation of who she aspired to be.

This was the justice her father strived for. And it was a vision that she swore to fulfill in his place. In her father’s name, she would eliminate all traces of evil and give the people reasons to smile.

“Hey brat, what the hell are you looking at? Look at you, barely clinging to life. Humph, keep looking like that and you'll wind up dead by tomorrow at the latest. If you’re gonna keep on being so miserable and pathetic, do me a favor and make sure you die outside the city, I don’t want to waste my time cleaning up the corpse that you will leave behind. Got more important things to do then having my men cleaning shit off the street..” He spoke harshly at first, frightening the girl who didn't know how to respond.