Chapter 2

[Translator – Prøks][Proofreader – Prøks]

Chapter 2

It might have been due to the long-standing rivalry over the small alleyway.

“Did you even manage to hire mercenaries?”

Thomas, the Cripple, seemed to have made thorough preparations to hunt down the Mad Dog Sein.

“The kid managed to take over half of the alley with just his fighting skills, so should I have not expected this?”

Thomas chuckled.

In contrast, Sein’s face darkened slightly.

‘He’s a professional.’

He wasn’t just any roaming mercenary.

His confident stride.

His upright posture.

His skilled swordsmanship.

‘I didn’t notice.’

Above all, until Thomas called him, he hadn’t even realized such a person existed.

“Oh?”

The mercenary exclaimed in admiration at seeing Sein.

‘Did he read me?’

The mercenary had also grasped that Sein had gauged his abilities.

“Your movements and dagger skills are impressive, and your eyesight is sharp too. It’s a shame to waste your skills here in the alley.”

“Are you here to praise him now?”

Even to the Cripple’s voice, the mercenary spoke while looking at Sein.

“Will you come with me?”

“What?”

“What?”

Both Thomas and Sein were equally perplexed.

“What the fuck are you talking about!”

At Thomas’s curse,

*Crack!*

The mercenary used his hand to cover Thomas’s mouth.

*Snap!*

The sound of a solid jawbone fracturing happened in an instant.

“Ugh, ughh… Ughhh!”

Thomas began to scream in agony, thrashing about.

“Wow! First a cripple, now a mute. What should I call you now?”

“You even have a gag reflex.”

The mercenary seemed satisfied even with Sein’s reaction. But the mercenary needed to know, even though they were just thugs from the alley, they still had their own code of honor.

“Boss!”

“Kill him!”

The blade that was heading towards Sein suddenly turned towards the mercenary.

The remaining thugs under Thomas’s command.

*Squelch!*

However, before they could close in on the mercenary, they were cut into pieces and scattered.

Blood turned into rain in the moonlit alleyway.

“Asshole.”

That’s all Sein could say.

“Called in a tiger to catch a dog.”

Sein’s sharp gaze.

‘He’s knight-level.’

He wasn’t just any run-of-the-mill mercenary rolling around anywhere. At least, he was at knight level. Well, considering his recent move, he could even be considered a commander-level mercenary.

“Did you see that? Truly beyond expectations.”

*Thud.*

The mercenary approached, stepping on puddles of overflowing blood.

“So, are you coming?”

It wasn’t a suggestion, it was a threat. If he didn’t accept, he would end up like Thomas, or perhaps one of those lackeys.

“I would love to, but some circumstances prevent me.”

“So you are declining me?”

The mercenary tilted his head in amusement.

“How unexpected. I thought you knew better than anyone how precious life is.”

“It’s because it’s my life.”

At that moment.

“…!”

The mercenary, sensing something, reached out his hand, but

*Boom!*

The explosion erupted right in front of the mercenary’s nose, catching everyone off guard.

*Whoosh!*

The smoke that followed quickly filled the alley.

“The Dragon’s Breath…?”

In the smoke, the mercenary murmured, seemingly bewildered.

With that destructive force and smoke, it was a bomb called the Dragon’s Breath, one of the lost secrets of the Empire, now vanished.

“This…gives me more reason to catch you.”

The mercenary began to move.

***

*Pant! Pant!*

Sein was running and running.

Now in the alleys of Chichiron, which could now be called his own territory.

*Pant!*

He knew better than anyone where to run and how to escape.

But even for someone like Sein, the situation was dire.

“Damn it. That crazy cripple.”

The mercenary he summoned was not a hunter but a tiger to hunt him.

“Why the hell did that guy come to this alley?”

Chichiron was a small outpost on the outskirts.

Even if it was an alley, it was still the same.

“Damn it!”

Even if they were just guards, they were still formidable.

No.

“He’s someone even the knights of the lord would find hard to deal with.”

So it was inevitable to feel overwhelmed.

No matter where he ran, there was no one to stop him.

“There’s not much time left.”

Frustration and resentment.

This dog-like life.

He was sure the sun would rise soon if he waited just a little longer.

“There you are.”

Instead of the sun, an ominous darkness enveloped him.

With the voice echoing from afar.

*Thud! Thud! Thud!*

The buildings in the alley Sein was running through began to collapse.

“Insane!”

That’s a monster.

Now, with nowhere to escape due to the debris of collapsed buildings, all he could do was stop.

“You run like a rat. I thought I took care of you, but you’re quite a sight.”

*Panting… Panting…*

The mercenary, facing him.

“Where did you get the Dragon’s Breath from?”

“….”

“You’re not going to answer?”

He could be certain.

“There’s nowhere to run.”

*Clank.*

He gripped the dagger.

“Oh… Seems like you even know what the Dragon’s Breath is. My curiosity is piqued.”

“I’ll follow you.”

Sein spoke.

“Please spare me.” Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ N0ᴠᴇFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

“You said you wouldn’t come earlier, didn’t you?”

“I can’t do it right away. I need to stay in Chichiron for a while. But if that’s okay, I’ll follow you.”

Sein’s eyes didn’t seem to be lying.

But…

“That’s not possible.”

Damn it.

This was why Sein had refused the mercenary’s offer from the beginning. The fact that at least a knight, if not a commander-level figure, had come disguised as a mercenary all the way to the alleys of Chichiron.

That meant…

‘A fugitive.’

He was running away from someone. So no matter how much he wanted to, it was a calculated decision to leave this place immediately.

“One month, no, a week would be enough.”

He tried to negotiate somehow.

“You have too many conditions. Since I can’t cut your tongue, I’ll have to cut your limbs first.”

The mercenary had approached Sein’s nose without him realizing it.

His hand, reaching for the sword.

“I need to know your secret.”

The moment the sword touched, Sein would have ended up like the fragmented lackeys of Thomas, if he was lucky enough to be alive at all that is.

But just as the mercenary’s hand reached the hilt of the sword…

*Boom!*

What erupted wasn’t the sound of Sein’s body being brutally cut, but flames.

“What…?”

The mercenary’s face was filled with confusion.

This was the only chance Sein had been waiting for.

“Yeah. What! You bastard!”

The mercenary’s sword slipped from his grasp, and Sein plunged his dagger into the nape of the mercenary’s neck.

***

“Really…”

It was a genuine voice.

“I can’t believe it.”

The mercenary, with a face that showed complete bewilderment, looked down at what lay before him.

*Cough… Cough…*

There, Sein lay, gasping for air.

“With movements unseen in the alley, and the Dragon’s Breath…”

The outcome was already decided.

“Until the end.”

The mercenary was genuinely impressed.

“Who the hell are you?”

In such rural areas, only things unseen in the slums could be seen. Even in a world dominated by darkness, this was a remote countryside untouched by even the darkest shadows.

“Answer me.”

*Scream!*

The mercenary spoke as he stepped on Sein’s ankle.

“What are you?!”

Initially curious, now turned into suspicion. And bubbling beneath was greed.

“I’ll spare your life. You seem to have some use.”

“You damn well want to know?”

In agony, Sein twisted a grin and spoke.

“Shall I tell you?”

“You arrogant bastard.”

*Thunk!*

Finally, a groan erupted from Sein’s ankle.

“…Cough. Now I’m a cripple too.”

Despite everything, Sein’s laughter could be seen as madness itself.

“One arm, one leg, wouldn’t matter. Can’t have a fugitive like you carry a crippled one like me while running, now can you?”

*Whoosh.*

Under the radiant moonlight, the mercenary’s sword gleamed, pointing toward Sein’s dazzling eyes.

Towards those eyes with a glimmer of madness.

*Swish.*

It was the moment the mercenary’s sword was about to fall slowly.

*Boom!*

Another burst of flames.

Sein wondered if the mercenary had still left a trick up his sleeve, but the mercenary’s expression was different now.

Shock, and fear.

“Witch…! Why you!”

*Clank! Clank! Clank!*

The mercenary’s sword, still spewing flames, was blocking something.

Sein could clearly see what the sword was blocking.

A pale white something.

It was…

“I came here for a business, didn’t expect to run into a fugitive.”

It was the leg of a Bone Spider, an undead creature

*Boom!*

The mercenary, having deflected the Bone Spider’s leg, stepped back heavily, touching the ground.

The aura of death from the Bone Spider infected the mercenary’s chest, making him appear deadened.

“A…business?”

“Yeah.”

A shadow loomed in front of Sein’s nose.

There stood a woman with jet-black hair, so black it seemed to swallow light, and curves that seemed sculpted by someone.

“This guy here is my business.”

“What…?”

Beauty.

A silhouette that encapsulated it.

But within that beauty, there was an unmistakable aura of death, fierce and unyielding.

“You wanted to know what this guy is, right?”

“Witch. Spare me, and I’ll leave quietly.”

“Too late.”

*Boom!*

The Bone Spider’s leg.

Of course, that wasn’t the only one.

Altogether, there were eight of them.

From behind the black woman emerged something that seemed unbeatable, piercing through the mercenary’s body with eight holes.

“No way…!”

The trembling mercenary spoke.

“De…ath…”

Facing death, the mercenary tried to utter his final words as if it were a last testament.

*Shooock!*

The leg of the Bone Spider, piercing through his body, didn’t stop there, tearing him into pieces.

A scene reminiscent of the alleys.

The woman who brought about this spectacle turned her head slowly and spoke.

“You’re Chichiron’s mad dog, Sein, right?”

*…*

Sein looked up at her, confronted with a death so overwhelming that it couldn’t be compared to the mercenary’s.

“Tell me, who are you?”

Sein was smiling.

“Well, ignorance is bliss, I suppose.”

Beneath the radiant moonlight,

“You may not know, but you are of great blood, Sein.”

The two were facing each other from different positions.

“Sein Demorus. That’s your identity.”

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]