chapter 42
42 – Lawless Zone Requitas (2)
Lawless Zone Requitas’ interests were coveted by all criminals.
Although one wonders what kind of interest there is in such an old and shabby city, there is something sweet about it.
Because long-accumulated evil itself brings gold and desire.
A red-light district overflowing with alcohol and drugs, women and violence. A primal city where only instinct survives.
Countless people threw themselves into their desires in this city.
It was a fight where if you didn’t get everything, you could only get death. There were two forces that survived until the end in a place that was like a wilderness.
‘Gutter Rat’ grew up mainly in the drug business.
‘Crescent Moon’, which deals with secret information, was the main character.
The two survived by eliminating their competitors in their own way.
Of course, there was no reason for those who had grown up like that to leave each other alone.
The two giants bit each other for a long time.
It was a long fight. Sometimes the advantageous side was reversed, and sometimes the confrontation continued like a cold war.
The reason for expressing that long fight as if it were a thing of the past was simple.
This was because the recent struggle between the two powers was virtually over.
The bar owner also seemed unaware of the details.
However, it was said that the tide suddenly turned at some point.
A monster-like guy appeared, and thanks to that, the Rats have now virtually taken over Requitas.
The current Crescent Moon was in fact nothing more than a collection of defeated soldiers.
‘Ha. Take over the city with those scum? I don’t know what kind of guy he is, but I definitely need to see his face at least once.’
Gutter rat. Drug addicts drunk on mullet flowers.
It was a derogatory name given because the watery smell that was released as a side effect was similar to the smell coming from a gutter.
In the public eye, when people talk about ‘gutter rats,’ they mean people with such miserable lives.
These were people who sold their souls for a little pleasure, sold their freedom to a strong addiction, and became slaves.
Without medicine, they lived like corpses, so naturally they had no ability to get involved in conflicts of interest.
However, in this city of sin, the word ‘gutter rat’ was used in a slightly broader sense.
A dealer who makes and sells drugs and sometimes sells addicts as products.
Everyone, including the executives who received all the benefits behind the scenes, were members of the rat.
It was like using an idiom-like derogatory name as the name of the organization.
Sirien and I made all those gutters our enemies.
‘I have a debt that I must repay to the street rats.’
The day Therion died and Henna went on a long journey.
The first enemies we met were those gutters.
Because of the unique smell of water, we found out that they were the ones who came to kill us.
The rats were the most direct enemies of Therion and Henna.
Is that all?
Although Edwin killed him, we also owed him a debt with the pursuer who chased us.
Crooks, who was a tracker, said he took money from a rat.
It meant that the people who did the same thing in the same space as him were still alive.
Even though they became corpses, our resentment did not all disappear.
Because the pain was too great to just chew over.
The memories of that day remained in our hearts like a thorn that had not yet been pulled out.
Even now, when I touch that thorn, my heart aches.
Especially when I think of Therion and Henna, it felt like something inside my heart was being cut with a knife.
It was a pain that only I and Sirien shared in this world.
There may be a way to be careful not to irritate the thorns.
If you don’t think of those two, it won’t hurt, so you will be able to live like that.
But we decided to proudly pull out the thorns.
– Do you know what? My employer said so. To erase you from this world.
– But, the request didn’t say anything about killing you gracefully.
– I heard that the young princess is very beautiful.
A vivid voice seemed to linger in my ears.
It wasn’t worth hearing, but there was one thing that bothered me.
Saying that you will erase it from the world.
Fortunately, we were not erased.
Then isn’t it time for us to erase them from this world?
* * *
Tomorrow’s tears.
The turquoise cocktail went down my throat.
‘It’s definitely not a taste Sirien would like.’
I had high expectations because it was a cocktail, but it wasn’t a very tasty drink.
It didn’t have the sweetness that Sirien liked, and it just tasted like a mixture of hard liquor and hard liquor.
Only the unique scent of alcohol penetrated my nose, and I could not sense any special flavor, fruit scent, or aged wood scent.
It was clear that if I ate something like this, I would be in bed the whole next day.
There must be a reason why the name of the drink is Tomorrow’s ‘Tears.’
In the end, I couldn’t drink all the alcohol. It was okay since drinking wasn’t the goal in the first place.
“Thank you for the useful information. “Is this enough money?”
“That’s enough. “I will use it for something useful.”
After hearing everything I needed to say, there was no need to stay in this bar anymore.
Silence saw us off as we left the bar.
On the way out, I caught a glimpse of the owner.
Sirien and I were cleaning up the three corpses that we had made.
I killed one, and Sirien killed two.
At least in that bar, there was no one who could recognize the power of Hybras. To the uninformed eye, it would seem that he just killed a person without even lifting a finger.
There are many people who are good at using swords, but beings who can inflict such death are rare.
The unknown will become the soil for fear to grow.
‘Now that I think about it, Sirien was a little upset because of the drinking problem.’
I felt like I needed to buy at least a snack on the way.
Looking at him, it seemed like his mood wasn’t fully resolved yet.
As her mercenary life continued for quite some time, Sirien was able to eat well from various things.
In fact, even in the cabin, he complained less about the food than Therion.
However, Sirien did not lower the hurdle of her taste.
Just as she had in the Forgotten Forest, Sirien’s senses were keen.
Even though my physical abilities increased dramatically as I became a sword master, I was still unable to surpass Sirien in terms of her senses.
So, even when going to and from the battlefield, Sirien was always in charge of the search, relying on her senses.
Well, Siri End is no longer able to be called an ordinary person as divinity dwells in her body.
Sirien’s misfortune was that her blessed senses reached her taste buds.
Therefore, Sirien’s meaning of ‘becoming better at eating food’ was not much different from the meaning of being able to tolerate unpleasant meals well.
If we were to find an exception, would it be sweet foods, fruits, or vegetables?
Food that was close to its original state seemed to be eaten well.
In fact, fruit alcohol was included until recently, but alcohol was banned due to the recent uproar.
I had no intention of giving Sirien alcohol in the future.
“Earlier, I saw that they were selling fruits outside that were pickled in honey. Do you want to eat some of that?”
“I don’t like it.”
“Yes. On the way…… Huh?”
“I saw it too, but I won’t eat it. That wasn’t honey. “It smells bad because it’s mixed with something strange.”
Sirien waved her hand near her nose.
Just because she was me, I couldn’t see inside her face covered by her cotton thread.
But I could clearly see her frowning expression.
If Sirien refuses to eat her sweets, it means that it’s something she really can’t eat.
If she bought it, she was planning on taking a bite, but it was a good thing.
“The smell here. “Is it very difficult?”
“It’s better than before. Her nose felt numb from the stench around there. “It was especially bad in her back alley.”
“Specifically?”
“There is an unmaintained gutter on the floor, and people smell a mixture of sweat and alcohol. In the back alley, there is an old smell of blood. And although it wasn’t a smell, I just heard a scream.”
“I can hear that too. Two, no, three men. And one woman?”
There was a small fight behind an alley a little ways away.
It was probably about two to three alleys away.
In this lawless area, women become prey just by being a woman.
Although the situation was difficult, there was no sense of loyalty to help.
Well, seeing as the man screamed first, it looks like the woman also did the same.
Since coming to Requitas, I have only seen one or two fights like that.
Even ten bodies would not be enough to participate in the fight here.
No matter what happens to others, it would have been better to just ignore it and take care of ourselves.
“Should we look for an inn in advance? It would be a little better than sleeping on the street. But I heard that if you go inside, there is a place that looks quite decent.”
“Let’s go. Still, I want to sleep in bed. “I also want to take a bath.”
So, originally, I had no intention of going forward at all.
The plan was to find a suitable inn and start moving in earnest starting tomorrow.
There was absolutely no reason to interfere in the fight between people whose faces and names were unknown.
That was until the men who were fighting said something that couldn’t be ignored.
– We’re both tired, so should we give up after this? It was hard to find. Anyway, all you have left to do is rummage around. Rumors have spread that your father ran away.
– Do you know anything? Still, in the paper house, I wonder if the captain will make her a pet because she is a princess.
– We are happy to receive money from our captain, and you are loved by our captain, so we are both happy.
Paper house.
It was the nickname of Crescent Moon, which sold information.