Matthew McMahon

"So long as people are the way they are, the fighting won't ever stop. We're soldiers. Whether people call it wartime or peacetime, we keep fighting for our country."

- Matthew McMahon in Chapter 49

Matthew McMahon (マシュー・マクマホン) is a member of Garden and is also the Director of Policy at Berlint City Hall. He assists Yor Forger during her mission aboard the Princess Lorelei.

Appearance
Matthew is a tall, thin elderly man with a long face. He has narrow eyes and gray hair parted down the middle.

He dons a black suit with a blue tie, reflective eyeglasses, and a ring on his left ring finger.

Personality
Matthew is a blunt and straightforward individual. He maintains an air of professionalism, even when presented with the risk of death.

Similar to Yor, he remains relatively unfazed when fighting enemies. He has demonstrated mild exasperation with the latter for killing so messily, commenting on the effort it would take to clean up the scene. Matthew is dedicated to his job as an assassin, sharing the same belief as the Shopkeeper that they are soldiers and nothing more, even reminding Yor when he notices her emotions affecting her focus. Matthew also dislikes war and those who start it for financial gain, believing that Ostania would be better off without them.

History
Not much is known about Matthew, aside from his status as a member of the Garden. Given that he is referred to as her manager, he likely ranks above Yor. It is implied that Matthew is, or has been, in a relationship, as shown by his ring.

Cruise Adventure Arc
At Berlint City Hall Matthew calls for Yor Forger to inform her that she has a phone call from her "special contact," the Shopkeeper. After the call, he escorts her to the Shopkeeper's garden, where Yor is tasked with protecting the remaining survivors of the Gretcher Family on the Princess Lorelei cruise ship until their rendezvous with another ship. Throughout the Shopkeeper's briefing with Yor, Matthew stands silently behind Yor, only nodding in agreement when the Shopkeeper reassures Yor that Matthew has arranged an excuse for her to be away from her job and family.

At the port, Matthew and two other men from city hall meet with Yor. After the cruise ship sets sail, the group introduces themselves to Yor's clients, Olka Gretcher and Furseal Grey. Furseal expresses uncertainty about leaving Yor as Olka's sole bodyguard, but Matthew assures him that they will be safe as long as they remain in the cabin and the two head off to sweep the ship. However, Yor and Olka secretly sneak outside in disguise without his knowledge, and Olka's identity gets overheard by an informant working with the hitmen.

At nighttime, the group enjoys a fancy dinner at the ship's restaurant, but Yor, Olka, and Furseal are too nervous to enjoy their meals. Matthew kicks Yor's chair, reminding her to relax. They surmise the assassins will wait to strike at the last possible minute at Olka's rendezvous. Afterward, he sends Yor and Olka back to the cabin while the others drink at the bar. On their way back, Matthew notices a suspicious man tailing them and excuses himself from the group. He silently approaches the stalker and quickly immobilizes him by breaking his limbs, then interrogates him for information about the other hitmen. After learning many hitmen have intel on Olka, Matthew kills the hitman and dumps his body in the sea. Matthew quickly grabs Furseal and rushes back to the room, realizing their enemy had no intention of waiting until the next day to attack.

When Matthew and Furseal arrive at the room, it is already under attack by an assassin disguised as a waiter. Using throwing darts he picked up from the bar, Matthew skillfully strikes the assassin's hands. As the assassin focuses on Matthew, Yor hurls her weapon through the door and pins his head to the wall, killing him. Matthew orders them to get the body into their room while making as little of a mess as possible.

After retrieving the corpse, Matthew informs the group that the itinerary got leaked and there are multiple enemies aboard the ship. He orders Yor to take the group to a vacant room in the second-class suite while he covers up the mess. Matthew forewarns her that the ship might return to port if there is a public incident and recommends she avoid fighting to prevent that. After giving the group masks to disguise themselves with, he tells them to get going as he makes a call to guest services to report the damaged door.

Afterward, Matthew goes to the new room where Yor and Olka's group are staying, knocking on their door. As soon as Yor opens it for him, Matthew chastises her for forgetting their secret knock in the last room. He orders her to watch the door while the others rest up for tomorrow, while he will patrol the floor to reduce the enemy's numbers as much as possible. Furseal, whose real name is revealed to be Zeb, is baffled by how composed the assassins are and says that despite the war officially ending over a decade ago, war is still around. After a moment of silence, Matthew replies that as long as people are the way they are, the fighting will never stop and that he and Yor are soldiers fighting for their country. Before exiting, he glares at Yor, warning her not to drop her guard and to focus on the job, or everyone will die.

In the morning, Matthew informs the men from city hall that they will no longer be entertaining the Greys, saying they had a major blowup the other night and are not in the mood to do anything. He tells them that it is not their fault and to take the day off to enjoy themselves. Matthew then gets to work, standing by at a radio until the evening when he receives a transmission and calls Olka's room. Yor answers the phone and informs the others that they got the all-ready signal from the ship at the rendezvous. While it will be in four hours, Yor tells the group to prepare and change into their disguises.

Yor and the group try to reach a storage room to wait for the rendezvous but get forced to cross through the upper deck, where they get ambushed by assassins. Matthew catches up to them and kills the sniper attacking from above. He then takes the sniper rifle and shoots down three other assassins, along with a lock for a hatch cover for Olka and the group to hide. After Yor safely secures the hatch, she and Matthew take out as many assassins as they can. After seeing the bloody mess everywhere, Matthew comes down from the sniper's nest and tells Yor to keep things as bloodless as possible. Yor apologizes and says she did not have much choice, and Matthew agrees. While he acknowledges the talents of these assassins, he says they are hardly in the Garden's league and orders Yor not to leave any of them alive.

While the fireworks show plays in the background, Yor and Matthew face off against all sorts of assassins with varying gimmicks. Yor swiftly and mercilessly tears through each of them as Matthew follows close behind, cleaning up after her and disposing of the bodies. After Yor brutally beats down an assassin, she complains about jamming a finger, leaving the remaining assassins dumbfounded while Matthew cleans up the mess.

As Yor and Matthew clean up after killing almost all of the assassins, the Assassin Leader speaks up and is amazed that Yor killed them all, calling her a heartless woman. Yor is nonchalant and proposes that the remaining assassins walk away, but the leader says it is out of the question, stating that they have been paid in advance. He adds that there is no way to walk away on the boat and that Matthew has no intention of letting them leave alive.

Matthew sees the leader as someone who sees war as another way to make quick money, saying that Ostania would be better off without people like him. In response, the leader calls Matthew an old soldier with old ideas and prolongs their conversation long enough to allow a Swordsman to attack Yor and Matthew from behind. Matthew ducks the slash a little slower than Yor, and before he can shoot back, he is struck in the chest by the sword sheath. Matthew gets knocked back to a wall, leaving him unconscious, while Yor fights the Swordsman herself.

Matthew eventually regains consciousness and is just in time to shoot the Assassin Leader and interrupt him before he can shoot Yor. After Yor defeats the Swordsman, she goes to check Matthew's injuries, and the two later retrieve Olka and the others from the hatch. The group reaches the storage room, where Matthew prepares the inflatable boat for the rendezvous and gives Zeb further instructions. After Olka bids Yor a grateful farewell and leaves, Matthew and Yor watch for the signal from the retrieval ship. Matthew sees Yor getting sentimental and snaps her out of her daze, reminding her that they are only foot soldiers. After a short pause, he relays to Yor that Loid and Anya Forger requested to meet her the next day. Yor is unsure, but Matthew says he will be on the lookout for any other killers. He tells her to do as her family asks and to consider it a reward for completing her mission. Matthew tosses Yor a handkerchief, telling her to put ice on her face so they will not notice the swelling. He also tells her to make sure they do not see her chest wound, which an embarrassed Yor says they will not.

Abilities and Skills
Despite his appearance as a frail old man, Matthew is still an active member of the Garden, implying he is, even in his advanced age, a competent killer.

Enhanced Strength/Endurance: Matthew demonstrated his strength by effortlessly picking up and throwing the corpses of fully-grown adults off the cruise ship using just one hand. He can also break an assassin's arms and legs with ease and was able to pierce Knockman's hands with throwing darts.

Enhanced Speed/Reflexes: Matthew displays great speed and reflexes. He was able to swiftly dodge a knife swung by an assassin and disabled him just as quickly. In addition to blocking an attack using a broom, he was able to dodge a close-up sword strike just as fast as Yor. Additionally, he was able to dodge a stab from behind while cleaning up blood.

He was fast enough to be able to disappear from his vantage point and reappear behind Yor, with the latter noticing only after he spoke, though this may have been for comedic effect and not a true reflection of his speed.

Weapons: It seems that Matthew prefers to use mostly firearms, including a sniper rifle which he wields with great proficiency. He was able to kill three opponents in quick succession without a reaction from any of them. In close-quarters combat, he relies on a silenced gun. However, it is assumed that he periodically uses cold weapons, such as throwing darts, as well as knives, which were seen in his briefcase. On one occasion, he also has used a broom to defend himself.

Cleaning: Like Yor, Matthew has expert cleaning skills. During their battle with the assassins, Matthew brought along a broom and bucket to clean up blood from Yor's fight and quickly managed to keep the deck of the ship clean after their kills.

Yor Forger
Matthew is Yor's supervisor in both Garden and at City Hall. He and Yor have a professional relationship since they both work under the Shopkeeper and usually get to see each other when he calls them. Despite that, they both care about each other in times of danger, as on several occasions, they looked out for each other while fighting the assassins on Princess Lorelei. Throughout their mission to protect Olka Gretcher on the ship, Matthew acts as Yor's senior, giving her instructions and keeping her in check. He notices Yor losing focus on the job and emphasizes several times to her that they are nothing more than foot soldiers. However, at the end of their mission, as Matthew says they must remain vigilant, he sees Yor's sentimental expression and relays to her that her family requested to meet with her. Saying that he will stay on the lookout for more assassins, Matthew allows Yor to be with her family.

Chapter Appearances

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Anime Appearances

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Trivia

 * Tatsuya Endo never imagined that Matthew would go on to play such a major role and gave him a generic old man design. After this proved otherwise, Endo regretted not having spent more time getting his design right.

Quotes

 * (To Yor Forger): "Stay focused on the job...or everyone will die."
 * (To Yor Forger): "These do appear to be a fairly talented bunch. Plenty of new faces with unfamiliar fighting styles among them. That said... they're hardly in the Garden's league."