A dark alley.
A man was running.
He appeared to be in his mid-30s, with a sturdy build, sleepy eyes, and unkempt hair like seaweed. His appearance was that of an ordinary man commonly seen in the empire.
However,
An extraordinary past made him special.
A former member of a criminal organization.
A man who once had his wanted poster displayed on the main road.
The man, once known as Pickpocket Jackson, was running desperately, as if worried his heart might burst.
The place his hurried steps reached was a three-story, gray building. An ordinary multi-family house like any other, but the person living there was a particularly special woman.
Thud thud thud thud-At the urgent knocking, a small window opened, revealing sharp eyes.
“…Who is it?”
“Minette! It’s me!”
“Jackson? What brings you here at this hour?”
Recognizing his pale face, the woman opened the door and let Jackson in.
Their connection was just a few months old, meeting at a flower shop and then at a fruit shop. Bringing a strange man into her house was risky, to say the least.
But Minette didn’t think Jackson was a bad person. Rather, despite her caution, she even handed him a cup of water, showing kindness.
“We, we have to leave this place.”
“…What are you talking about? Leave this place?”
“I don’t have time to explain in detail. I’ll explain everything once we leave Rien. Just grab your valuables.”
Jackson couldn’t tell her that criminals were being slaughtered. Although it was unrequited love, he wasn’t brave enough to share such shameful parts of his past with the one he loved.
“Oh…”
“Hurry!”
“Ah, okay. I’ll be right back.”
Watching Minette rush up the wooden stairs, Jackson sighed in relief.
And the heavy sensation felt in his pocket.
[VIVLE]
Jackson recalled his repentance from 10 years ago as he opened the scripture.
‘Oh omnipotent Father in Heaven, the karma of my foolish past has come back. I do not deny the sins of my past. I will accept the deserved punishment. I will not hesitate to go to hell. Just, please do not let today be the day I go to hell.’
The hard scripture greedily absorbed the sweat from his hands, but the unease in his heart could not be quelled.
It was because of the ominous rumors that had been circulating recently.
‘The new emperor has started a purge.’
Public executions of condemned criminals to drive away evil and welcome good fortune were not unusual at the New Year, but this time, the severity seemed extreme.
It wasn’t that he felt sympathy for those with criminal records like his own, but the sight of bodies with severed heads and wanted posters shocked him into realizing something was terribly wrong.
Even Jackson, who had thought he’d washed his hands of his past, trembled with fear. The new emperor’s actions were enough to incite primal fear, making him feel uneasy unless he left Rien immediately…
“I’m ready.”
Minette, carrying a bundle, came down from upstairs. Jackson, delighted, grabbed her hand and cautiously opened the door they had just entered.
Whack-
Minette grabbed his hand. The grip was stronger than expected, startling Jackson.
“W-what?”
“There’s a back door.”
“…What?”
“You’re being chased, right? Then the door we just came through is dangerous.”
With a firm grip on his wrist, Minette dragged Jackson somewhere. Jackson, led by the strong grip, quietly followed behind.
‘She’s surprisingly strong… I didn’t know.’
They walked down the stairs to the basement. Minette navigated the dark path well. Jackson extended his foot, using the pulling force as his guide.
A sudden, fishy smell entered his nostrils, but Jackson paid no mind. He guessed it was the moldy smell or the smell of sewage. He didn’t have time to care.
“We’ve arrived. Thanks to you, Jackson. Thank you.”
“Th-thank you…”
Jackson scratched the back of his head at the gratitude from the woman he liked, just as Minette spotted the secret door leading outside…
Clang-!
Sparks flew from the steel door. The impact seemed to have punched a hole, letting moonlight seep through.
Creak- creak-
Sparks continued to fly. The creepy sound echoed in the basement, and against Minette’s will, the steel door creaked open in two.
Gleaming golden eyes. The chilling killing intent made Jackson’s legs tremble.
When did they catch up to us?
He was not even on a wanted poster.
How did they find this place?
“…”
Questions quickly flashed through Minette’s mind. But there was no time to resolve them now. They couldn’t fight a monster that could tear through a steel door with bare hands.
“I’ll grant you a final wish.”
The monster’s cold voice echoed in the basement.
“A-a final wish! What are you talking about…”
Suddenly, Jackson felt a burning sensation. His legs gave out, and he felt someone push him strongly from behind.
Jackson felt a long sense of floating, realized he was flying toward the monster against his will, and heard the sound of someone running away growing fainter.
“Are you okay?”
Lucia, who had caught the flying Jackson, checked on him. Judging by his condition, he couldn’t move his legs; his lower body was paralyzed.
“W-what… is this?”
Jackson, still not understanding the situation, asked the girl who was stripping his clothes. Lucia pulled out the dagger embedded in his back and poured a potion given by Shiron.
“I couldn’t move rashly because I thought they were using you as a hostage, but I’m glad you’re okay.”
Pop-
Pop pop-
Lighting the lighter that made a sound she liked, Lucia lit a cigarette given by Shiron.
“Hold this. It’s a painkiller, but it will do for now.”
“…”
Jackson, having no strength to argue, inhaled the cigarette. All he wished was that everything happening now was just a dream.
After laying Jackson on a flat surface, Lucia entered the building without hesitation.
In anticipation of a possible situation, the secret door was blocked. Therefore, the next path Minette chose was the underground passage that doubled as a sewage system.
Gasp- Gasp-
Every breath filled her lungs with the nauseating smell, and every step splashed the filthy water up to his waist. Having rarely faced such rough conditions during her undercover life, she continuously questioned why she was doing this.
But there was definitely a reason.
Five years since she distanced herself from battles while playing the role of the Grand Elder’s spy, her rusty instincts still warned her that the danger hadn’t disappeared. Her instincts screamed that she shouldn’t stop even for a moment.
Crash-
The front wall shattered, and a tightly clenched fist emerged through the gap.
-Why break through an intact wall? You could just follow normally.
-I just wanted to try it once. And what does it matter? It’s not like I’m going to fix it anyway.
The dust in the humid place quickly settled.
“That bitch. Why run through such a filthy place?”
“…”
“You’ll get ten times the torture.”
Shiron compared the wanted poster with the face in front of him and blinked.
“Hey. The face is different. And why is your hair blonde? Did you dye it?”
Contrary to the ugly woman drawn on the wanted poster, the woman in front of him was surprisingly beautiful.
[It’s not like they drew a portrait, maybe they compiled witness testimonies. There’s a prejudice that barbarians are ugly.]
Shiron shrugged it off and walked through the darkness.
“Where is your hometown?”
“…I grew up in an orphanage in the Quallun region.”
The cool footsteps tightened her heart, but Minette steadied herself and answered. From the conversation she just heard, she thought she might be able to get out of this situation if she played it right.
However, a clumsy lie didn’t work on Shiron.
[She’s lying.]
“You filthy barbarian slut.”
“…What are you talking about?”
[She got angry.]
A flimsy excuse that couldn’t even fool herself was no help at all.
Minette stared at the eyes that shone even in the darkness.
The recent rumor spreading across the empire.
‘The emperor has ordered the extermination of criminals he had postponed.’
But a rumor was just a rumor. As Silleya’s spy, the truth she knew was different.
‘The emperor, enraged by a joyous day’s ruin, released the hunting dogs.’
Minette took out a dagger from her pocket and assumed a combat stance. With no place to run, she could only hope for an honorable warrior’s death.
“…Come, Emperor’s hunting dog.”
‘Geez. The choice of words.’
Shiron shivered at the cringe-worthy words that came out of nowhere. He wanted to scratch the itch right away but decided not to, considering that Lucia might have missed something at the expected point.
Focusing on his target, Shiron reached into his chest.
He considered drawing the holy sword, but this was a narrow sewer. There was no need to risk piercing the walls and causing filth to burst out with a sharp strike, so his hand stopped at the black dagger. The high-strength item Hugo had gifted long ago.
Bang-
He kicked off the filth and leaped. Minette swung her dagger wrapped in deep blue energy.
Clang clang clang clang-
Dozens of exchanges continued in the cramped space. Minette gritted her teeth as if she was giving her all. Shiron’s expression remained relaxed.
The exchange continued, and the walls scratched by the blades deeply crumbled.
‘What is this?’
Having dedicated her life to martial arts, Minette was bewildered. Cold sweat poured down in disbelief.
With each clash, she accumulated more wounds, but her blade touched nothing but solid metal.
Despite hundreds of exchanges, Minette couldn’t inflict any wound on the man.
The swung dagger didn’t even graze him. The skill gap was too large. It wasn’t even a matter of degree. He viewed the scenery through accelerated thoughts and a rising fighting spirit.
The man predicted the dagger’s path and placed his own dagger at the end of the trajectory.
Beyond the wildly swinging blade, a sneering face stared at Minette.
-You’ll get ten times the torture.
Minette swallowed her breath at the increasing wounds.
“Where’s your boss?”
Shiron leisurely asked while pressuring Minette. The sight of the screaming woman beyond the rapid exchange seemed pitiful.
“I’ll spare your life if you answer obediently.”
“To think you’d suggest betrayal, truly a filthy emperor’s dog!”
“…You’re useless too.”
With a surge of mana from his dantian, Shiron heated the dagger. The magic of flames imbued the blade. To decapitate in one swift move, he cast the significantly more powerful [Barbarian Slash].
“Barbarian Slash.”
He didn’t forget to call out the skill’s name.
Then something strange happened. The dagger imbued with flame magic was supposed to decapitate the barbarian, but it didn’t. Instead, the intended target had moved several steps away from Shiron.
“Here’s the boss you’re looking for.”
A familiar face appeared.
“But, it’s not a barbarian, so what now?”
With a roughly slit skirt and a violently opened coat revealing a white shirt beneath, the figure emitted a furious red aura.
“Call me a barbarian one more time. I’ll really kill you.”
A tiger had walked right in. Or perhaps, the filthy sewage-filled sewer was the tiger’s den.
Whatever it was, it didn’t matter. Shiron was pleased to save some trouble and relieved to meet the target sooner than expected.
Shiron tossed the dagger into the air. The spinning dagger embedded itself into the ground. At that moment,
“What are you saying, barbarian?”
Sneering laughter filled with provocation echoed.
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