Chapter 135
Chapter 135
Bounty Hunter (3)
While Kairus was meeting with Barenza Onui to gain permission for a bit of destruction in their territory—
I was also on my way to go through the same process. Like Kairus, I had to meet Lukas directly.
‘Boss Lukas.’
He was also known as Alpha, or simply, the Boss.
Inside Bennett City, while the Rose Garden handled securities and Lumis & Wesson took care of manpower replenishment—
Lukas’s Children were in charge of managing ranks and overseeing the control and operations of the hiring offices.
Every hiring office offered a share of their profits to Lukas’s Children. In return, Lukas’s Children periodically conducted qualification reviews and provided the results to those offices.
‘An arena, huh.’
Like Kairus, I followed a similar procedure, and the place I arrived at was an arena. However, perhaps because it wasn’t currently open to visitors, the entire place was eerily silent.
“Irena Kellogg.”
The ones guarding the entrance confirmed my identity and then stepped aside to let me into the arena.
Thick dust had accumulated on the arena’s stands. This wasn’t just a one-day closure—this arena clearly hadn’t hosted guests in a very long time.
The sharp stench of sweat mixed with something even fouler—an iron tang that stabbed at my nose. I could see dried, dark reddish stains on the floor.
‘Blood.’
Not fresh blood, but the kind that came from flesh and blood that had been spilled and left to rot over many years, forming streaks like screams etched into the floor.
“Aaaaaaaagh! I was wrong! I, I—I was wrong… I swear! I’ll never do it again… please, h-heuk… plea-ea-eaase!”
With the clinking of chains, a man seated on the stage—where gladiators were supposed to face each other in deadly combat—let out a scream.
His left eye socket had collapsed, and there were more teeth scattered on the ground than left inside his mouth. He was begging for his life in a hoarse voice, but his shattered right arm, with bone piercing through the flesh, made it impossible for him to bring his hands together in a plea.
“You were wrong? You’ll never do it again?”
With a dull thud, his face jerked to the side from a punch to the jaw. And even the few teeth he had left were now even fewer.
The man—wearing nothing but an olive fishing vest and a pair of jeans over his bare body—was Lukas.
Chewing on a dried squid leg, Lukas grabbed the man’s hair and lifted his head, locking eyes with him.
“You piece of shit. What do you take me for, a schoolteacher? You thought you could rat out our info to another crew and get away with just writing an apology letter?”
With a sickening thud, a soccer kick slammed into the man’s head, and the blood that had been trickling down his face exploded into a fine spray under the impact, scattering in every direction.
…
A few drops splashed onto my face. And yet, even after such a brutal blow, the man chained up didn’t die.
Lukas had controlled his strength skillfully—just enough not to kill. It wasn’t mercy that kept the man alive. In fact, death would have been mercy. That’s exactly why Lukas wasn’t letting him die.
“Please… please. Just kill me! Please, kill me!”
“You bastard, trying to soften me up again.”
Lukas, listening to the man’s desperate pleading, suddenly shoved his hand into the guy’s mouth. The man trembled violently in panic.
When Lukas pulled his hand back out, he was gripping the man’s torn-out tongue.
He threw the tongue onto the floor and crushed it under his boot.
“Go on, beg again. Say it right this time and maybe I’ll be nice enough to forgive you.”
There was no way he could speak properly with his tongue ripped out. He tried to say something, but the only sounds that came out were wet gurgles of blood-tinged gibberish.
“Dumbass piece of shit.”
“Boss.”
As Lukas sneered at the man who couldn’t even speak properly, one of his subordinates approached, greeted him, then shot a glance in my direction.
Lukas looked at me too, then spoke.
“Move this one. Let the boys use him for dart practice while they drink.”
It was a simple game where the “dartboard” was a person, and each participant took turns throwing darts into them. Whoever’s turn it was when the target died would lose the bet.
“Understood.”
Once the subordinate left, Lukas clapped his hands with a snap and walked toward me.
“Well now, sorry you had to see that.”
He pulled a clean handkerchief from the pocket of his fishing vest and held it out to me.
“Wipe it off. Got blood all over that pretty face of yours.”
“…Thank you.”
I accepted the handkerchief without resistance and wiped the blood from my face. Meanwhile, Lukas dragged over a worn-out chair with a loud scrape and plopped down into it, looking up at me with a grin.
“Kellogg, Kellogg. Irena Kellogg. I hear the Treasury Chief really treasures you. A daughter like you, part of the knights and all—of course he’d want to keep you safe.”
“Thinking of kidnapping me?”
“What do you think? Could squeeze quite a bit out of that, no?”
Lukas’s grin in the dark revealed his teeth, beastlike in its malice. He looked like a predator that could tear out someone’s throat in an instant—and someone like me wouldn’t take more than a heartbeat.
Just having his eyes on me sent a chill creeping up my spine.
“You’re making that face, and now I really do feel like kidnapping you and shaking you down.”
Ptooey. Lukas spat the squid leg he’d been chewing onto the floor.
“You think you can take down Colby Devendish?”
I nodded at his question.
“I’m more than capable.”
“Not sure about that. From what I remember, your abilities were fully evaluated during your last qualification review.”
But since that review, I’d undergone another surge of growth.
“I’m not the same as I was back then…”
The moment I said that, a few of the many tattoos carved into Lukas’s body lit up.
Then I felt it—a fist flying toward my face. I quickly drew my sword and stepped back.
“What the hell, you’re serious?”
Lukas didn’t remember the skill level of every person he’d evaluated. It was only because he heard I was coming that he’d had one of his men recite my assessment file.
And just now, the punch Lukas had thrown—if the data from that assessment had still been accurate—I should’ve taken it squarely and had my nose smashed in.
“That’s pretty damn interesting.”
His eyes sharpened again, and another fist shot forward.
“…Ha.”
This time, I couldn’t even react. Lukas’s punch stopped just in front of my face—his knuckles glowing red with strange symbols etched into each finger.
“If you hadn’t dodged that first one, your pretty face would’ve been wrecked.”
This strike hadn’t been serious. Lukas had thrown it on a whim, so he hadn’t followed through with actual impact.
“You want to capture him alive? Winning is one thing, but capturing… that’s gonna be tough.”
Having roughly gauged my level, Lukas pulled his fist back and said:
“And if you fail, you die.”
“Right. The Imperial Treasury Chief’s daughter dies roaming this city trying to bag a psycho.”
Lukas wasn’t someone who’d fail to grasp what that meant—or what it could mean to Simid Kellogg.
“Are you afraid of the Empire?”
“Do you act polite to customers because you’re scared of them?”
Lukas’s Children operated like a private military company, working in various countries and earning income through those activities. It was one of their main revenue streams.
There were three companies directly linked to Lukas’s Children, and eight more private military companies that followed their orders in more indirect ways.
To them, the Empire was also a major client. Moreover, for the sake of Bennett City’s future, maintaining a balance between the Republic and the Empire was part of their carefully cultivated business strategy.
“But you didn’t come here to ask if you were allowed to bounty hunt, did you?”
I’d come to ask for understanding. There was bound to be some chaos in the areas Lukas controlled once I started hunting. I needed his permission for that. Lukas had no obligation or reason to stop me from going after a bounty.
“Exactly.”
“Some of my boys are already sweeping our territory. I’ll let them know—go team up with them.”
Lukas gave me the location where I could meet up with them. That was the end of our conversation.
“Thanks for the consideration.”
“Now get out of my cave.”
With a casual lift of his hand, Lukas pointed toward the door. After I left, one of his officers stepped up and bowed slightly as he spoke.
“Are you sure this is okay? She’s the daughter of the Treasury Chief.”
“I know. It’s fine.”
Lukas had already sensed Nora’s presence. Maybe Irena hadn’t noticed, but someone like Lukas wasn’t easy to fool.
If we’re talking sheer individual combat power, Lukas was the top of the top in Bennett City.
If Cecilia had managed to capture Nora, there was no way she could’ve slipped past Lukas unnoticed.
“You sure about her abilities…?”
“Someone like you? I could snap your neck like a twig. Worry about your own damn self.”
With that, Lukas got up from his seat.
“Man, I’m starving. What’s for lunch? Skip the sides, just tell me the main.”
“Grilled herring, sir.”
“Son of a bitch. Is it that damn hard to put meat—real meat—on the damn table?”
Grumbling, Lukas shuffled out the door and headed straight for the arena’s mess hall.
“Boss.”
As soon as the gang members saw Lukas, they began to rise from their seats. All of them were heavily tattooed from head to toe.
“Chill the hell out. Your mouths already stink of fish, so sit your asses down and finish what you were chewing.”
Unless something special came up, Lukas always ate the same meals as his men.
Back when he was a kid in the orphanage, it used to eat at him—how the food going into the director’s mouth looked nothing like the crap shoved into his own.
“This any good?”
Slamming himself down into a seat that was always reserved for him, Lukas glanced around at the men at his table.
“Yes, sir. It’s good.”
“Bullshit.”
He let out a dry laugh at the quick reply. While Lukas always sat in the same spot, the other seven seats rotated based on specific internal rules.
Eating the same food, in the same space—it came with unexpected side effects.
“Let’s see. Red hair. What’s your name again?”
“Thomas, sir.”
“Ah, right. You’re the guy who said your house had a leak. So, you get it fixed?”
“Thanks to your help, everything’s fine now.”
“Good, man. Nothing shittier than coming home from busting your ass all day only to have water leaking all over the damn place.”
The guys seated at the table shared all sorts of things with Lukas during meals—from trivial personal stories to life events.
Lukas would listen as he ate, then offer whatever support was needed, or just a few words of comfort.
Only personal matters, though. Work talk was forbidden. One time, a guy brought up a business issue at the table—had no idea what he was doing—and Lukas scooped out the guy’s eyeball with a spoon.
Then made him eat it.
No one dared bring up work here after that.
“Would you believe it, boss? This week alone, the newspaper guys came by three times trying to sell subscriptions. Same guy, too, just pitching a different paper every time!”
“There’s an Ascension Cult church near my house. My wife suddenly found religion and now she wants me to go too…”
“My daughter’s hair is so long the drain gets clogged every damn time she showers. It’s driving me nuts.”
Pointless stories. Petty complaints. Family struggles and personal annoyances.
Stuff you wouldn’t even share unless it was with family—that’s what got shared at this table. And no one would deny that this was one of the things that held Lukas’s Children together as one.