Chapter 1: I’m the Crazy One In This City
The lawless city of Liqueur. This place that Keter was born in had a harsh, extreme environment. It was free to enter, but leaving was impossible. The air here was thin, even though the gravity was twice as strong as outside.
What kind of people would voluntarily enter such a shitty city? Well, there were heinous criminals who would receive the death penalty if caught, psychopaths exiled from society, and vicious cannibals.
Of course, that wasn’t to say there weren't any sane people here at all. There were also people like debtors who fled to escape their creditors, people entangled in grudges who came here to hide, and those who were mentally unstable.
This was Liqueur, where people like this were considered normal, and this was where Keter was born.
Just as creatures born in the sea naturally had webbed limbs and gills, and those born on cliffs had wings, Keter adapted to survive in Liqueur, a city of madmen. He became a lunatic to face lunatics, and he chose to become a hunter rather than prey.
At least, that was what he claimed. Some people said he was crazy to begin with and he was just making up excuses, but... Actually, perhaps that was true, as Keter was very much enjoying his way of life.
In Keter’s childhood, he was often beaten or scammed because he was weak and incompetent, but now it was the other way around—he was the one beating people up.
However, he didn’t scam people; he had a legitimate business. Unlike normal Liqueurians, who solved everything with violence, Keter had a legitimate job as a fixer. He solved problems with reason, logic, and just a tad bit of violence.
Simply put, Keter didn’t have trouble putting food on the table in this lawless city, and he didn’t have many opponents either. Though, if he had to pick one thing that was disappointing about his life...
“I really want to go outside.”
No matter how comfortably Keter lived and how powerful he was, this was still Liqueur. Of course, it was a huge city, but living here for eighteen years had made it feel small.