CHAPTER 51

Marcella quickly wiped away the flowing tears and frowned, gazing at the boy before her.

It was undoubtedly a familiar face, yet one that shouldn't be here.

".....Hurry, get out. Quickly."

Marcella spoke with all her strength, her lips pressed tightly together.

"I said, get out quickly!"

There was urgency conveyed in her quietly whispering tone.

Tears still lingered on Marcella's cheeks, untouched.

Vlad lowered his head as he looked at her.

Yes, this was the place.

Where my nest once was.

The woman struggled to hold back tears under the harsh light as she communicated with her eyes.

"..."

Something sparkled and fell.

Vlad gazed sadly at the twinkling starlight on the ground, amidst the cage of desires created by men.

Even if a flower falls to the ground and is trampled, if it still has a scent, it is still a flower.

The boy, smelling the scent of roses after a long time, slowly rose from his seat.

Now was the time to wipe away her tears.

※※※※

"..."

Madam sensed the tense atmosphere between the blond man and Marcella.

But she, too, was someone who survived in the back alleys.

Accustomed to such sudden situations, Madam quietly signaled to the men sitting at the table far away.

'Get him out!'

The men, receiving Madam's signal, began to rise one by one.

There were at least over ten people.

They were all Jack's subordinates dispatched here.

"...We should settle the payment."

Yet, despite the tense atmosphere, the blond man rose casually and just looked at Madam.

His blue eyes filled with red veins.

"Before I give you 100 gold coins, I have to do some calculations myself."

Madam was surprised.

The man who had just seemed like a noble youth now looked like a starving wolf.

"...What calculations?"

Madam cautiously asked, swallowing her saliva.

As the blond man exuded an overwhelming aura, the men behind him, with lust in their eyes, began to step back little by little.

Seeing this, Jack's men quietly revealed their teeth, advancing slowly.

It was like the eve of a storm.

"One-armed Jack."

The man who slowly raised his head spoke up.

"There's something I need to get from that guy."

Madam, taken aback by the unexpected mention of someone's name, wanted to ask what he meant, but...

Suddenly, feeling bloodlust on her face, she could do nothing but close her mouth.

One of Jack's henchmen who had been sneaking up behind him was now collapsing weakly.

"You stay here quietly."

A trickle of blood was flowing from Vlad's unadorned sword.

"If these guys aren't enough, I'll take from you too."

The hungry wolf released from its cage was salivating.

Having endured for so long and with tasks that must be done before him.

"Get out of the way! Move!"

"Who is that bastard!"

In a place where desires were spat out, it suddenly turned into a scene of carnage.

Guests witnessing this scene began to scream in terror.

"Go in now!"

"Where did you learn such futile tricks!"

Fleeing desires.

Rampaging beasts.

Watching Jack's henchmen charging recklessly, Vlad smiled faintly.

"...I think I missed this."

Vlad felt his foot sinking once again into the dirty mire, but it didn't matter. 

Because the star that the boy dreamed of all those years ago was now held in his hands, not high up in the blacksmith shop.

"Who sent you, bastard?"

"...Who sent me?"

Vlad smiled without realizing it at a line he hadn't heard in a long time.

And so, he replied.

The name he had carried in his heart for so long.

"Jorge."

"What?"

With those words, Vlad drew a dagger from his waist, the same one the man who had picked him had always told him to carry.

"Jorge sent me."

Jorge's dagger, along with the unadorned sword, entered the men's necks.

Though that day he had slipped away silently, today was different.

Vlad had crossed many rivers to reclaim his name.

So today, in this place...

He had returned with the right to call himself by his own name.

"The Vlad you've been looking for is right here!"

Marcella covered her mouth with her hand to suppress the exclamation that came out.

She remembered.

Vlad who had cried out behind the knight bathed in the blue moonlight.

"Come to kill me, just like that day!"

Vlad struck relentlessly without pause.

At the shackles wrapped around his ankles.

"It's that bastard, Vlad!"

"Damn, he's still alive!"

The animals, hearing the boy's cry, lunged with sharp teeth bared.

"Come on, you bastards!"

With crimson streaks, the man charging at the forefront was cut down by the boy's world.

One swing of the sword, one scream.

One scream, one life.

Vlad, with eyes filled with bloodlust, cut through Jack's henchmen.

He wouldn't spare a single one.

Even for the sake of Marcella, who was shedding tears.

Vlad dodged those who were running at him using the steps instructed by the knight, and bit off their ears as he had learned in the back alley.

It was messy, yet driven solely by efficiency.

Neither a knight nor beast, but something else entirely was running amok here.

"Yah!"

Some turned their bodies against Vlad's ferocity, but there was no consideration for them.

Vlad grabbed the fleeing man by the scruff, slashing his throat with the dagger.

The fountain of blood poured coldly onto the Rose's Smiles floor.

"No, not us!"

"Please spare us! Please!"

Those drawn by desire to this place were now plastered against the wall, wailing.

Even if the rage wasn't directed at them, they couldn't bear the overwhelming force.

"Aaargh!"

Vlad, seizing one of Jack's henchmen hidden among those men, unhesitatingly drove Jorge's dagger into his throat.

The man's eyes rolled back.

"Huah! Huah!"

The last surviving henchman, who had made it to the door, gasped for breath.

With trembling hands, he continued to turn the handle, but the door cruelly refused to open.

As if someone outside was blocking it.

"...If you start a fight, you have to pay the price."

Kwaaang!

The door burst open with a violent kick of Vlad.

"Ugh! Cough!"

Though he stumbled, he finally made it outside, the last remaining henchman, driven by the instinct to survive, clutched his chest and tried to stand up. But awaiting him were Shoara's guards, surrounding Rose's smiles.

"It would have been better if we just finished it inside."

Vlad's voice came from behind. It was a strangely calm voice, but the man who heard it actually got goosebumps.

"...Please, spare me!"

"No."

Vlad stomped on the ground, pinning down Jack's henchman, then mercilessly slashed his throat with the dagger.

Though he desperately tried to stem the flow of blood pouring out, it was all in vain.

"If you had caught me that day, you wouldn't have spared me either."

That would have been the case.

One of the rules of the back alley was that if you couldn't kill it, you would die.

"Gah... Gak."

In the silent alley, only Jorge's dagger swallowed someone's final scream.

※※※※

Rose's smiles.

It was once a symbol of Shoara's alley, but now it had become a den of money-bugs, where a man sat, pouring himself another drink.

"....Another round."

Using the hook on his left arm, he smashed the ice and pushed the cold chunks into the glass in front of him.

"Boss, you've had too much."

"...".

His subordinate beside him cautiously suggested he stop drinking, but One-armed Jack just stared down at his glass in silence.

The knight of the prostitutes, Jorge.

Since his disappearance, Shoara's back alley had practically become his domain, yet One-armed Jack didn't rejoice. Instead, he sank deeper into alcohol with each passing day.

As he deteriorated, so did the pulse of the back alley.

"Is this all I can control? Enough talk, just pour the drinks."

"....Yes, boss."

Watching the liquor rain down like tears, One-armed Jack turned his head to gaze silently at his subordinates below.

These guys are talking loudly without knowing anything.

Do they know?

That our lives are merely dictated by those above us?

"A life like a dog's."

Even though he lived in a miserable back alley, One-Armed Jack was an ambitious man.

I will climb to a higher place.

I am not one to settle in this place.

Thus, he didn't hesitate to snatch what belonged to others and willingly built stairs by stepping on the corpses of his enemies.

The victors were above, the losers below.

He firmly believed that everything could only be obtained through victory, yet here he was, despite his defeat.

That day, he lost to Jorge.

But in the end, it was Jorge who died.

"This damn world."

Someday, I'll end up like that too.

Someone above will decide my fate.

Just like Jorge, who died feeling empty that day.

"In the end, it's all meaningless."

One-armed Jack downed the bitter liquor in one gulp, trembling with the rising intoxication.

It was a night where one couldn't sleep without getting drunk.

Bang!

"Boss! Boss!"

In a moment, everyone present turned to see a man who forcefully opened the door, causing a commotion.

"Boss! Something big's happened!"

"What is it?"

"Why are you in such a rush? What happened?"

Jack's subordinates asked a few questions as they saw the man running up to the fourth floor in a hurry, but the man who suddenly appeared only kept sprinting up the stairs until he was almost out of breath.

"Boss!"

"What is it?"

The man, who was out of breath in front of Jack, was barely able to utter a single word.

"We're surrounded!"

"...What?"

Jack's eyebrows furrowed at the unexpected news.

"Here?"

"Not just here..."

The man who was reporting swallowed nervously before speaking in a subdued voice.

"The entire back alley is surrounded. Soldiers surrounded us."

"....Move aside."

One-armed Jack, who had finally put down his drink in response to the unusual report, roughly pushed the man in front of him and stood up.

"Boss!"

"Are you alright?"

His subordinates approached to support Jack as he staggered down the stairs.

"This is..."

Even as Jack descended the stairs, he stared out the window with a dazed expression.

The back alleys of Shoara were engulfed in darkness. Instead of the inviting lights that should have adorned the streets to lure in customers, there were other forms of light surrounding them.

"Open the door!"

Responding to Jack's urgent command upon reaching the ground floor, his subordinates quickly opened the door.

"This is..."

"What's going on?"

What was waiting for them when they went outside were numerous torches.

There were images of soldiers standing in an orderly manner under the torches.

"Hah."

Jack, watching the scene before him, couldn't help but sigh, whether in frustration or admiration, it was unclear.

"Boss, we're surrounded. We're surrounded."

"I know."

However, even in the face of this threatening sight, Jack remained nonchalant.

"······I guess the guests are coming."

"Pardon?"

"Instead of causing a scene here, we should be preparing to welcome our guests."

Putting aside the impending doom brought by the approaching torchlight, Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

Facing the imminent danger right in front of him was somehow more reassuring than the uncertain anxiety of what might come.