Chapter 196 : Chapter 196
Chapter 196 : My Friend
“You were, looking for me…….”
I raised my head.
As our eyes met, Alkabang bowed his waist awkwardly.
“Are you feeling a bit better?”
“Yes, th, thanks to you…….”
“Sit.”
I pointed to the opposite side.
Alkabang looked alternately at Kuhn and Bolero on my sides, hesitated for a moment, and then carefully sat down on his butt.
Seuk―
Kuhn stood up and cleared the small table in front of me.
On the table were The Way of Medicine and a manuscript translating it into the Kingdom language.
Taking advantage of the brief bustling moment, Alkabang scanned Kuhn overtly, and when he met my eyes, he bowed his head like a sinner.
“So, sorry.”
“For what?”
“Uh, th, that is…… I, looked because I intended to steal a glance…….”
I do not know what expression Kuhn was making.
Alkabang's face, having raised his head in bewilderment, instantly turned red as if it would burst.
To lighten the atmosphere, I laughed lightly.
“It's fine.”
“Thank, you…….”
“You must have many questions in various ways too. Before that, let me ask just one thing.”
“Yes, please speak.”
“When Dayron built this altar, do you remember what he said?”
We are at the altar on the coastal cliff. I pointed to the spot behind my back where ‘Rosaria who became the Moon’ used to be.
“I do not know that well. At that time, I was merely the head of a single Family. The Ruler of the Port at the time was…….”
Alkabang glanced at Kuhn and bowed his head again.
“He died at Dayron's hands for the reason that the statue of the goddess became dirty.”
“I see.”
“Sorry, for not being able to give a sufficient answer.”
“No. It's fine. I was just curious.”
I was sitting cross-legged, and suddenly my waist felt uncomfortable.
I twisted my posture obliquely and raised one knee.
When I rested my arm on it, Alkabang flinched.
“I'm sorry……!”
He seemed quite uncomfortable in his seat.
Originally, it was customary for the previous ruler who lost a duel to be executed.
Even if the newly ascended ruler did not want it, they would disappear without anyone knowing, done by the gangs underneath.
‘Well, it's strange for a gang leader to die peacefully at the end of their lifespan too.’
It is me who saved Alkabang's life, who was in a position where it wouldn't be strange if he became fish food at any time.
With me and the ‘statue of the goddess’ he usually worshipped being together right in front of his eyes, it was no wonder Alkabang felt suffocated.
Alkabang suddenly slammed his forehead onto the ground.
“M, my greeting was late! Thank you for saving me……!”
“No. Brakenport can only move forward if the chain of evil customs is broken. Please help Ellen with all your heart. That is the reason I saved you.”
“Of course! I understand well, Cult Leader!”
“Hm? What did you just say?”
“……Pardon? D, did I make a slip of the tongue?”
Alkabang's face turned pale.
Cult Leader.
Instead of scolding him, I turned my gaze to Kuhn.
“…….”
Kuhn was not moving an inch while kneeling.
It seemed she was operating the Turtle Breathing Technique with her eyes open.
‘……She's immersed in her role as a machine doll.’
Anyway, it was clearly Kuhn's doing.
She seemed intent on pushing the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult not as a one-time strategic card but as an actual faith.
‘Isn't it excessive?’
Bolero, sitting opposite Kuhn, cleared his throat.
He looked somewhat displeased.
‘……I don't know.’
Smart Kuhn will handle it on her own.
Since the name of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult came up anyway, I talked with Alkabang about the poor living infrastructure of Brakenport.
As I, the leader of a cult group, discussed the bottom-level circumstances of the city, Alkabang was continuously bewildered as if he was completely surprised because it was unexpected―
And I, too, was a little surprised to find out that Alkabang was a guy whose head worked surprisingly well.
‘Impudent.’
Does that mean he knew how to do it but had been doing nothing until now?
Anyway, our conversation continued for quite a long time.
“Today's story was very impressive. I will carve it into my heart, Cult Leader.”
“You may go.”
“Yes, then.”
Watching Alkabang's back as he went down the stairs, a yawn burst out.
‘Doing something that doesn't suit me makes me feel restless.’
I stretched with all my might. My joints screamed.
Bolero, who had kept his mouth shut the whole time, spoke.
“Brother, what on earth do you intend to do?”
“Hm?”
“It's fortunate because it's you, Brother; if it were anyone else, it would have been impossible. I would have smashed their jaw long ago.”
He was thinking my intentions were impure.
Well, I would have done the same.
Since I am trying to overhaul the entire city beyond simply guiding the bottom-level guys, my actions were sufficient to buy suspicion.
I signaled Kuhn with my eyes to bring the table where The Way of Medicine and the manuscript were placed.
Just then, Bolero frowned while looking at Kuhn.
“And that― Phew, right. What is the identity of that woman again? It's not like she's some summon.”
“Bolero. What is the reason we came here?”
“That is, of course―”
Bolero swallowed the end of his sentence. It was after seeing the scrap of paper I held in my hand.
[Noser is listening.]
Bolero gulped down his saliva and rolled only his eyeballs left and right.
Soon, he opened his mouth carefully.
“……It is to practice Elzerus's mercy and love, and your Chivalry.”
Preparing for the confusion of the Imperial Capital from the evil clutches of Chancellor Zisair and going further to end it is our true goal.
The Elzerus Alliance is a part of achieving that task, and the establishment of the Solari branch is merely a pretext to hide that original intention.
And here―
My ultimate long-cherished desire to stop the Eight Demons and Adeline's ambition aiming for hegemony are interlocked.
“Right.”
I pulled the corners of my mouth. As expected, unlike his appearance, he is not a dull guy.
“My heart wanting to save Brakenport remains unchanged. For now, I plan to try until my strength reaches its limit.”
Even I thought it was a very exemplary answer.
Good, then now it's my turn.
“Now I wish you would tell me the real reason frankly.”
***
‘……!’
Noser covered his mouth while opening his eyes wide.
He was hiding his body in a crevice of rocks midway up the coastal cliff.
‘What is it? Was I caught?’
His pupils that went upward trembled. He barely calmed his breath.
‘No, that can't be.’
It was too exquisite to call it a coincidence.
It just happened to be the point Noser was also agonizing over.
‘Since I cannot continue this precarious relationship blindly forever.’
He forcibly created sins and pinned them on him.
It was to put a leash on the man who dared to be called the strongest in the Kingdom currently.
‘It feels like we somehow got tied together, though.’
Noser touched his neck for no reason.
Now he had to make a decision slowly.
Whether to formally ask those two to lend their strength, or―
‘Or what…… Should I tell them to go back now?’
His head tilted on its own. That was also a funny thing.
‘As expected, there is no other way but to reach out my hand.’
It was not the time to put forward his pride.
The current Imperial Capital Knight Order was only shiny on the outside, but the inside had long since rotted.
Deep cracks were spreading uncontrollably beneath the plate armor that looked solid.
It was to the point where he had to suspect whether his direct subordinates, let alone the knights within the Left Camp, were Zisair's lackeys.
‘Hm.’
Noser's brow crumpled.
No matter what, he felt this wasn't right.
He just couldn't save face.
‘I am the Vice Commander and the leader of the Sharon Faction, for heaven's sake―’
To think I have to cling to the pant legs of an Imperial swordsman whose roots are unknown and a Martial Priest who used to be a street fighter.
Even if I conceded hundreds of times and did so, I was at a loss as to how to even broach the subject.
Noser imagined.
His own figure appealing for the salvation of the Imperial Capital and His Majesty the King right to their faces.
‘…….’
Suddenly, a scene overlapped over that.
It was that day when a certain transcendent entity, for which he didn't even know what name to attach, tore through the sky of Brakenport and descended.
Hundreds of eyes blinked as if watching the world, and the huge wings layered upon each other swam as if to swallow everything on the ground.
Beneath that, people were crushed by pain.
Screams and wails mixed, and some went mad on the spot or breathed their last.
Noser's eyebrows trembled minutely.
The scene of that day was still vivid before his eyes.
It was the moment the sky split and the world was dyed with screams.
―I will declare an end to the era of violence.
In the middle of it, Bihen was standing.
He held his sword and disappeared as if embracing the monster.
A while later, the sky became quiet like a lie…….
The monster, the thunder, and the terrible light all disappeared.
All that remained was the radiance shattering into pieces like white dust and Bihen standing alone within it.
―Heavenly Demon Manifestation, Ten Thousand Demons Bow in Submission.
Noser shook his head violently.
His palms were damp with sweat.
It was like this even though he only imagined it.
‘……Imperial swordsman and Chivalry.’
Pfft, a laugh leaked out.
Of course, it was not a mockery.
Rules and oaths that had already been forgotten and abandoned by the world, now degraded into vulgar jokes.
But that Imperial swordsman was protecting them as if it were nothing.
Noser felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
He saw his past self in him.
‘Hmph hmph, well, it is clear he is not a bad guy.’
A pleased smile spread across Noser's lips.
Bending his pride to such a man was not a shameful thing.
***
“Here is the deepest part of the back alley on Smith Street.”
The boy who was leading the way turned around and spoke.
The old man following him raised his head.
His back was hunched.
“Mmm.”
The old man slowly took off the hood of his robe. Wrinkles were revealed.
“My, my, to think there is anything to see here.”
The boy muttered while clasping his hands behind his head.
It was a dead-end alley where even sunlight did not reach well.
All kinds of scrap metal, rotten piles of firewood, fragments of useless ships, or broken wagon wheels were piled up in a tangle.
‘Ahem.’
The boy, Tiaro, sniffled. The smell of raw iron and mold mixed together.
He glanced back at the old man.
‘……It's strange.’
It was the first time seeing such an outsider.
He felt as if he had walked all the way here in a daze because he was flustered.
The old man asked him to go to this place, which even Brakenport people rarely visited, as if he had known it from a very long time ago.
‘Wait, surely I'm not…… causing trouble right now, am I?’
Tiaro frowned.
His eyeballs rolled busily left and right.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, Roxy and Masa, and now this old man.
‘Somehow it feels similar…….’
Suddenly, his lips went dry.
He suddenly resented McRay. McRay had been exclusively in charge of escorting Roxy and Masa on Noser's orders for a few days now.
‘Damn it, if something goes wrong, it's purely my responsibility this time.’
It was when he was thinking all sorts of ominous thoughts alone.
The old man came next to him and stood side by side.
“I think I can go alone from here.”
“……Pardon?”
Tiaro blinked.
He looked straight ahead again.
He couldn't understand where he was going in a dead-end alley.
All that remained were a few abandoned houses on the verge of collapsing.
“What, where are you going―”
“Shh, shh.”
The old man scolded him frivolously and then moved his steps trudgingly.
Tiaro stared blankly at his back. He couldn't figure it out at all.
Stop.
The old man stopped in front of an old and low building that looked like it wouldn't be strange if it collapsed soon.
Instead of a door that seemed to have been torn off a long time ago, the entrance was gaping black like a cave.
“W, wait a minute. What is in there?”
“It is the house of a very old friend.”
Tiaro frowned as if it were absurd.
Anxiety seemed to be becoming reality.
“Thanks for guiding me. Now go back.”
“Th, that can't be done!”
“Can't be done?”
“Outsiders cannot wander around here as they please……, Ah damn, the rules are like that.”
The old man stopped entering and clicked his tongue.
“Hm, that's troublesome.”
“…….”
Tiaro gulped down his saliva.
For some reason, the back of his neck felt cold.
“Who, who is the friend living there?”
The old man twisted the corners of his mouth.
“Luke.”
Tiaro's mouth fell open. His mind was in chaos.
“G, Grandfather, who, who are you?”
“If I say who, do you know?”
“It's not that, but……”
“Deganelo.”
“Pardon? Dega―”
“Do you know?”
Tiaro shook his head left and right quickly.
Seeing that, Deganelo tutted.
“That's fortunate. Thanks to that, you lived.”
“…….”
“I hate smart people. Moreover, guys who talk a lot even more so.”
Deganelo crumpled his face as if he truly detested it.
He winked one eye toward Tiaro and then leisurely disappeared into the darkness.