CHAPTER 54

The faint dawn was shining on the boy.

Rose's smiles.

A splendid garden created by the boy.

The boy, dyed in brilliant red, was walking with heavy steps.

Leaving behind the countless roses that he had bloomed.

"······."

At the end of sweet pleasure, there always comes a sense of emptiness.

Revenge may be sweet, but the subsequent emptiness is inevitable for anyone after taking it.

Shoara's soldiers watched the boy, who emerged from the building covered in blood, with blank expressions.

They couldn't believe it, but the boy had truly emerged after defeating fifty of them.

Seeing the boy, who had accumulated achievements to the point where they couldn't even approach him, the soldiers showed both reverence and fear.

Even Vordan, who had descended to take responsibility for all this.

The rightful executor and avenger walked alone like that.

Relying solely on his unadorned sword.

At that moment.

"Vlad! Vlad--!"

There was a desperate cry from someone behind the soldiers.

"Vlad! Over here! It's me, Harven!"

The boy, who hadn't completely emerged from his own world yet, turned his head upon hearing the voice of someone he longed for.

His figure reflected in the boy's blue eyes.

A humble staff was swinging above the soldiers' heads.

"······Harven."

Vlad, standing at the edge of the horizon, was gradually returning to reality.

Harven's ugly staff.

It was personally carved by Vlad for Harven, who walked with a limp.

"Harven?"

Vlad waved his hand gently towards the brown-haired boy eagerly searching for him.

Seeing this, the soldiers quickly made way for the brown-haired boy behind them.

"Hey, man..."

As the sight cleared and the path opened up,

Harven was at a loss for words when he saw Vlad he was looking for in front of him on the open road.

More than the joy of seeing each other after a long time, the sight of Vlad, looking so red and pitiful, pierced Harven's heart painfully.

"Are you okay?"

Harven hurriedly made his way through the soldiers with limping steps.

"....Ah, my goodness."

Vlad put away the unadorned sword he was leaning against and hugged Harven as he approached.

The tension that was holding Vlad was released, the feeling of emptiness he was holding was thrown away, and he became truly free.

"Ah... damn. It hurts so much. Everywhere hurts."

"What's this? What happened?"

Harven naturally had to let go of the staff he had been holding to support Vlad who was naturally embracing him.

Vlad, relying on the unadorned sword.

Harven, relying on the ugly staff.

Both of them, setting aside the things they had been relying on, embraced each other.

They stood in the world, leaning on each other.

Just like they used to rely on each other under a single blanket.

"······Feels like you've finally returned."

Vlad closed his eyes within Harven's embrace.

※※※※

As the moon set in the night sky and the sun of today rose in the morning of Shoara, yesterday's chaos seemed to have vanished, as if the city's back alleys had fallen back into slumber. 

And now, the boy who needed to be active in the daylight rather than at night slowly opened his eyes, welcoming the spreading sunlight.

"······Having a hard time getting used to it."

He wasn't adapting well. 

The place where Vlad opened his eyes wasn't the back alleys. Shoara may have been his hometown, but the areas beyond the back alleys still felt unfamiliar.

"Ooo. Take your time getting up, Captain."

As soon as Vlad opened his eyes, Gott, who seemed to have been watching over him by his side, quickly offered him some water.

"······My whole body hurts."

"Yeah. It's understandable."

Gott, who didn't even have enough water to drink and even prepared water for washing himself, was smiling as he put a towel on his arm as if he were a butler.

"....Why are you like this?"

"Well, that's just how I am."

Watching Gott's suspicious behavior, Vlad furrowed.

"Cut it out."

"...Okay."

Seeing Gott awkwardly smiling, Vlad thought to himself. He must be anxious. 

After all, one by one, the ties Vlad had left in Shoara were starting to appear.

For Gott, they might feel like threats to his position.

"As long as you do your job well, I'll take care of you reasonably."

"······."

Gott simply nodded as he listened to Vlad say that he already knew his intentions.

He hadn't yet stepped into the boundaries set by Vlad.

It would take some more time for Vlad to enter the boundaries he had set for survival.

"What time is it now?"

"Lunchtime has already passed."

Upon hearing Gott's words, Vlad absentmindedly looked out the window at the light streaming in. Indeed, the sunlight seemed to have deepened in color, indicating that he had slept and risen late.

"If you're feeling alright, Lord Vordan wanted to see you for a moment."

"Alright then."

One-armed Jack is dead.

His subordinates, too, were all killed by Vlad.

Even so, Jack's shadow wasn't wiped out in one fell swoop.

He had long been rooted in the back alleys, and he was also the one who controlled everything.

"······Lord Vordan must be busy."

Vlad knew well the process of the organization's bosses being defeated or pushed out, as he had seen it right next to him.

"Sigh······. Guess I'll have to help out."

Vlad got off the bed with a heavy body.

In all things, it was always important to finish what was started.

※※※※

"We've kept a good watch over the woman named Marcella. It looks like she was a bit distressed."

"Thank you."

"You can take care of her later."

"Yes."

While Vlad breathed a sigh of relief at the news that Marcella was doing fine, he also widened his eyes at the snacks laid out before Vordan.

"Want one?"

"······Did you eat them all by yourself?"

Piles of sugar cubes, desserts with no traces left.

The corpses of the sweet things that the chubby knight had devoured were scattered all over the desk.

"You'll die if you eat like this."

"I feel like I'll die if I don't."

Watching Vordan putting sugar into his coffee while replying, Vlad couldn't help but shut his mouth.

"What are you going to do from now on?"

"Well, I'm not sure."

Although Vordan looked convincingly professional with his own office, to Vlad, who knew his true self, it was just refreshing.

"Things ended faster than expected because of you. I'll be busy with handling the aftermath, but officially, I'd say your job is done."

"I'll help."

Vordan stroked his thick jawline and smiled.

"I would've been disappointed if you hadn't said that."

"I was planning to help from the beginning."

The old knight nodded and took out a piece of parchment from the drawer.

"What's this?"

Vlad, who knew how to read but was not familiar with it, stuttered to read the letters written on the parchment.

"Guard······ Leader's Authority······ Deputy."

"It's an arrest warrant."

"Ah. An arrest warrant."

"It's also a permit that allows you to squeeze it reasonably."

Understanding what was being implied, Vlad nodded, and Vordan swiftly wrote his signature on it.

However, the name being written wasn't his own but that of the mayor of Shoara.

"One-armed Jack's remnants are still lurking in the back alleys. Lord Josef wants to clean up Shoara's back alleys on this occasion."

With the giant weed uprooted, it was natural for a void to be created.

While uprooting the weed was a significant achievement, filling the void with something substantial would be an even greater accomplishment.

Josef always had the next step in mind.

"If that's the case·········."

Vlad nodded as he stroked his chin.

If it came to that, entrusting the task to Vlad would be the most excellent choice.

Vlad was someone who knew the back alleys better than anyone else.

"For now, until Lord Josef arrives, you're officially on standby. Just help me with occasional tasks."

Vordan pushed aside the caramels beside him, chuckling playfully.

"Take some time off for a while, catch up with old friends, relax a bit. Maybe bring out that girlfriend you said was in the convent."

"······She's just a friend."

Vlad denied it verbally, but took a few caramels in his hands and looked embarrassed.

"Then take the day off today. I have a lot to do."

"I said I would help you."

Vlad, who wanted to go to the convent right away, knew that it wasn't a place he could visit at his leisure. It was a sacred place, and there were designated dates and times for entry.

Although Gott had separately requested a visit, Vlad probably wouldn't be able to visit Zemina within this week.

"Well, then, if there are any small remnants of One-armed Jack in prison, interrogate them properly. See if they know anything about Jack's hidden assets or something like that."

"······."

The small remnants of One-armed Jack.

Hearing that, Vlad recalled his escape from Shoara.

He was a boy who always wanted to live proudly without regrets, but life inevitably put him in situations where he had to rely on others.

"That works out well."

Taking the parchment handed to him by Vordan, Vlad stood up and said, "I also have someone to find there."

In their relationship, which had not been easily severed, it was now the boy's turn to deliver.

※※※※

A dungeon provided by the security guard.

The recently captured remnants of Jack's gang were huddled together in a dimly lit area.

As the weather grew warmer, the discomfort of the body heat mingling with each other was palpable, yet everyone present here simply sat in silence.

They all knew well that there would be no salvation for them, like discarded trash rolling through the streets.

"To enter here, you need permission..."

"Here. I just received this."

"....I see, verified."

Clang-

Afternoon sunlight briefly shone in a space where there was no light other than the torch.

A bright color that does not fit in this dark place has stepped forward.

Upon the sudden arrival of a man, some of those confined behind bars began to murmur softly.

Some of them recognized the face of the boy who had just entered, having rolled through the back alleys together.

However, the demeanor he exuded was so confident that it was hard to believe they had roamed the back alleys together.

"You're here."

Ignoring the men who stared at him with eager eyes, Vlad found the person he was looking for behind the bars and smiled.

"It's hard to recognize you when you're squinting so much in the dark."

The men inside the bars turned their heads in the direction Vlad was looking.

"..."

In the dark corner of the prison, a man with dark skin slowly raised his head, his eyes vacant.

No one in his life, having survived in the slums, had ever come to find him, let alone stood tall before him.

"Otar. Give me 40 silvers. Then I'll get you out of here."

Vlad extends his hand playfully through the bars.

Otar just stared blankly at the hand offered to him.

It wasn't just because of the difference in their skin tones.

"I'll even accept bruises."

The only shining presence in the dark prison.

Even amidst the piles of garbage, Vlad from back then, who never lost his blue shine, stood out.

"....Thank you."

Otar grabbed the hand offered to him, following that light.

The boy's eyes were still shining blue.