Draga Of The Vanguard - Chapter 20 Justice..does It Exist?

As Rei stepped unto the training grounds he was met with scornful gazes. He started his training with Espoir, but half way through was stoned by a rotten tomato.

“Yo monster! Why don’t you try your bullshit here! I’ll beat your ass for ya.” said a tall boy wearing a grin that made anyone seeing it want to punch it off.

He had short black rough hair and his brown eyes pierced through Rei as he sat on a fence with another tomato in his right arm.

“First, wipe that shit-eating grin off your face. Second, run now.” said Espoir to the lanky pest.

“That’s gutsy, Shadow…but do you really think you can defend that rat from all of us.” said the boy as he raised his wooden sword.

The pair were soon surrounded by Vanguards in training, all holding wooden variants of their weapons. “Heh. We won’t go down that easily.” said Morte looking at Rei.

“Might as well test it… I apologise if this is too much.” said Rei as his pupils turned ruby red and glowed.

“On guard!” shouted Espoir as he disappeared and kicked away one of their attackers. Rei defended against 3 attackers, disarming them and knocking them out with swift swings of his sword.

More and more attackers followed, and were dispatched as they arrived. Eventually the boys were exhausted and the knocked out attackers had recovered, charging towards them again.

“As expected of Vanguards. Cockroaches to the end.” said Morte as he sent another boy flying with a throw. “This is fairly exhausting…but it’s good training.” said Rei as he punched the lights out of a girl, as his sword had broken.

They were soon cornered.

“Now we beat you pieces of shit!” shouted the tall boy who had avoided participating in the earlier stages.

“Get the- What the hell!” shouted another boy as in the distance he saw people flying. “The beast! The beast has returned! Run for your lives!” shouted the boy who threw the tomato.

The group scattered, some were caught and thrown by this beast. Then Morte saw it. An angered May was running towards them.

“Yo Drag…Got anything left in the tank?” asked Morte.

“Not much.” said Rei, still unaware of May’s presense.

“Then run this way!” Morte said, already sprinting in the direction he pointed.

Rei followed and caught up to him. “Why are we running?” he asked Morte.

“Look behind you.” he said hurridely, then he disappeared.

Rei looked behind him to see May chasing him at full speed. He didn’t know why, but he panicked and ran even faster.

“Espoir! You prick! How dare you leave me alone!” shouted Rei as he kept running with his dragon blood active. As he thought about what he did that could make May chase him, he slowed down.

He turned around and stood in a defensive position, prepared to face the incoming threat.

Then she ran past him. “Espoir!!!!!! YOU TOOK MY SHARE!!!!!! HOW DARE YOU TAKE MY CUT OF THE GOLD!!!!” she shouted as she continued running.

Then she punched air and Morte appeared, becoming shadow and continued to run. “GIVE ME THE REMAINING 4 PIECES!!!!” She shouted at the black sprinting silhouette.

“Remaining 4 pieces?” Rei said puzzled.

“Morte’s a dead man. We were each supposed to get 20 gold pieces.” said Pierre. “He only gave May 16. Luckily he gave us the correct amount right Drag?.”

Rei now just realised that he himself had just been cheated. “Oh well.” Rei said as he walked towards their outpost.

“Honestly, what was all this even abou-” he said to himself before his leg was grabbed by one of the defeated Vanguards.

“Murderer.” she said before she fainted.

Rei looked at her and began to wonder what she meant. Then he remembered his rampage. He looked at Pierre with eyes expecting an answer, but he turned away.

“So it’s true….” he said before walking to the outpost, away from the madness around them.

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“The current head of state, Dei Clypeus, has given his ruling on the case of the kinght that went rogue in the battle against the fog giant.” said me Dure, on a stage in front of a large crowd in Asfleia’s town square.

Rei was standing on the stage, in chains.

“The berserker, Rei Drag, is to spend an hour chained up to this stage. That is all. You may throw tomatoes if you like, but no knifes. We don’t need another ‘incident’.” said Dure as he left the stage, leaving two vanguards to watch it.

“….That’s all.” said a little girl in the audience. She had long jet black hair and was shorter than Rei in stature. Her eyes were a simple white blue and her figure unnaturally slim.

“Obviously that’d be all. I mean he’s a Drag. No one is actually going to even remotely attempt to anger those monsters.” said a red bearded man who had just finished a bottle of alcohol. He had a huge grey sword on his back and a body as hairy as a bear.

“And I doubt anyone is dumb enough to actually throw a tomat- HEY!” shouted the man as he saw the little girl running towards the stage.

She climbed it and ran towards Rei, proceeding to punch him on the face. She looked at the boy expecting him to be angry, but all she saw was a dead eyed corpse…at least he looked like one.

“You…you killed my big brother!” she said as she punched him again. “We…we were going to make enough money to survive. To leave here and go to Incursia. He wanted me to learn how to read without any dangers. He wanted me to become someone we both could look up to. Then you killed him!” she shouted, punching Rei again.

“You took away my hopes and dreams, and all you get is this! This isn’t punishment! This is a joke! People like you deserve death! Scum like you shouldn’t be born! Monsters like you should be killed along with the demons!”

“Oi, that’s enough.” said one of the Vanguards guarding Rei as he saw blood trickling from his nose.

“Sorry about that.” said the bearded man as he grabbed the screaming girl. “She gets really emotional.” he said before turning away.

“….Kill me.” the man heard behind him, he turned to his back to see the boy looking at the girl, tears in his dead eyes.

v”Whenever you can…wherever you want…if you find yourself in a situation where you can kill me…then please kill me.” Rei said to the girl.

Looking at the ground, he prepared for his hour long punishment. He was pelted by the occasional tomato, but the name Drag had completely takken the merit from this punishment.

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“Do not worry little girl. Come on stop crying.” said the bearded man as he sat the girl down in an inn room and wiped her tears.

“May I inquire your name?” he asked her, seeing that her tears had let up. “Reina Flor.” she said quietly.

“A foreigner… I’m Feram Rex. A professional adventurer. Under me you’ll become stronger than any vanguard..” the bearded man boasted.

“And you’ll get your revenge on that Drag.”

“….Thank you.”