CHAPTER 94

A golden ball rolls.

For some, it's a moment of thrill; for others, it's a ball carrying the weight of their entire lives.

A ball rolling continuously over the black and red ledge was sparkling in the light from the chandelier.

[We should've come here earlier.]

However, amidst the bustling atmosphere of the gambling den, Vlad was focused solely on the spinning roulette before him.

[There's no better place to train one's reflexes and agility.]

The voice was right.

Even now, the ball rolling incessantly on the roulette showed irregular movements, constantly shifting.

"....I prefer red."

Thinking of the girl with red hair who would soon turn eighteen, Vlad placed a chip on the number eighteen.

A straight bet, putting all odds on one number.

He didn't know what prompted him to place the bet, but Vlad followed where luck seemed to lead.

[Let's begin.]

Vlad quickly closed his left eye and began to evoke his aura.

The Body Strengthening Art he learned from Larmund, a technique that enhances the body.

The golden ball, spinning vigorously on the roulette, began to slow down within Vlad's pupil.

"Hmm."

Vlad's blue eyes, cutting through the fleeting moments invisible to ordinary people.

Watching the golden ball, whose trajectory was uncertain, Vlad's eyebrows began to furrow.

"..."

There's nothing as cunning as faith.

Though everyone here might have thought that the roulette would move solely based on fair luck, it didn't seem that way at all to Vlad, who had his own world where he couldn't be fooled.

"You cheating bastards."

To win in a duel, one must control the battlefield.

But here, manipulation was underway beyond control, rendering any effort futile.

It's a flawed world.

"Sir Vlad."

As Vlad pondered over the emotions quietly simmering within him, someone's voice calling out reached his ears.

"If you had informed us in advance, we would have accommodated you."

A gentleman in a neat suit, somewhat out of place in the alley.

Listening to the words of the gambling den's manager, Vlad couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.

He used to be the one who would angrily tell Vlad not to come near when he was a street urchin in the alley, but now he was bowing and scraping, saying he was honored to receive him.

"Is the boss here now?"

"Master Dice is still upstairs, waiting for Sir Vlad."

The gambling den's Dice, one of the bosses of the back alley.

Upon hearing that the boss was waiting for him, Vlad once again realized his position.

Things had changed since before, and the atmosphere was different.

"But why is he waiting for me quietly?"

"Pardon?"

That's why Vlad didn't move from his spot.

This was the wrong place, and Vlad was a dignified individual with legitimate grounds and qualifications.

So the person who should come looking for him would be the owner of the gambling den, not Shoara's knight.

"Tell the boss to come down here."

The voice had spoken.

Suppress with grandeur.

Make sure nobody can speak up.

"Until then, gambling establishments will be closed."

"....What's that supposed to mean?"

There was a knight who stood tall on the table containing the wrong world.

He was an impressive man with blond hair shining under a fancy chandelier.

"Dealer over there. Hands off."

Vlad strode confidently across the table, sweeping away chips and glasses underfoot.

As Vlad walked, the attention of everyone in the room began to focus on him.

"Vlad, Sir Vlad!"

The owner of the gambling den, realizing the seriousness of the situation, hurriedly began to descend the stairs with a clatter, but it was too late.

Vlad's gaze was already fixed on the dark truth hidden beneath the roulette.

"······It's been fun so far, hasn't it?"

The boss in the alley. Dice of the gambling den.

He found himself caught in a breathless sensation as he looked at the man grinning fiercely at him.

'Caught on.'

The players in the gambling hall slowly approached the smiling Vlad in confusion, but they soon had no choice but to retreat.

"Don't come any closer. The knight is on official duty right now."

"Hmm."

"Can we kill these guys? It seems like we could get away with it."

Before anyone knew it, three men had blocked Vlad's path, brandishing their weapons with fierce intent to push them back.

"Well, this is..."

It was only then that Dice realized that Shoara's new mayor had unleashed a fierce dog against him.

And that dog was the kind of guy who could stir up trouble in every nook and cranny of the alley with just a sniff.

Because he was a guy born and raised here.

※※※※

The day he broke into Harven's room and brought him out. Vlad walked down the street, frowning as he held a bottle in his hand.

"Isn't this it?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Harven followed Vlad with a small bundle in his hand.

The bundle contained everything Harven had collected in his lifetime, but it was also light enough to hold in one hand even with a staff, and it was quite a light load.

"It's good to be a knight. You break into someone's room and drag out one of their members, and they even give you gifts instead."

"...This isn't a gift."

Vlad looked at the oddly viscous and shimmering liquor in the bottle with a look of discomfort.

"It's Captain Q, right? This."

"Actually, it's Captain Q3. It's an improved version made by the boss."

Captain Hoover, one of the bosses in the alley.

He used to be a famous sea captain in his prime, but now he's old and fallen, hiding in Shoara's shadow.

However, even after his downfall, there was one passion that still remained in him, and that was to recreate the mermaid's drink he had tasted in his youth.

"Maybe mermaids don't have tongues."

"Because they live in the sea, their body structures might be different from ours."

Harven said Hoover's liquor-making skills were mediocre but not bad.

Even when Jorge was around, his boss wasn't a bad guy, and although he was rough around the edges, he was also the one who took in Harven, who had a disability.

"The new mayor of Shoara won't touch Captain. He's creating value for the city in his own way."

"Oh, really?"

"No matter how many bugs there are, there are beneficial bugs and pests."

Harven, although he hadn't directly seen or experienced it so far, indirectly glimpsed various worlds through the documents and tasks given to him.

The nature of smuggling organizations that reached far distances through rivers greatly sharpened Harven's insight.

"Putting you, inexperienced, in the hardest-to-control area like the alley, was also a test, in a way. This is both an opportunity and a crisis."

"Hmm."

Vlad naturally matched his pace with Harven's, starting to walk slowly.

Not only out of consideration for his disability, but also because the words coming from Harven's mouth naturally caught Vlad's stride.

"So, what's next?"

Josef didn't give detailed instructions to the inexperienced Vlad.

He believed that even seeking advice would help the young knight.

"Let the bosses know, like you did today."

Harven smiled, looking at Rose's Smiles far away in the night sky.

"That you've come."

New mayor, new knight.

And a new order.

Harven knew exactly what Josef wanted from Vlad.

※※※※

Marcella had indeed given half of the fourth floor to Vlad.

"Thank you."

"...I know you too, after all."

Otar, now serving the knight, thanked Vlad for giving him a room and a job.

"He will be dead soon if I keep pickpocketing."

Vlad, leaning against the railing of the fourth floor, looked at the boy diligently sweeping on the first floor.

The black boy who took over the job Vlad had when he was a newbie.

Vlad prepared a place at Rose's Smiles for Ned, who was Otar's younger brother and also had a relationship with him, and Ned was currently living on the fourth floor with Otar.

"Madame is pleased. She says you got rid of all the troublemakers who were causing problems."

Zemina, who approached Vlad pretending to clean, quietly whispered, pointing to where Harven was.

"······I didn't know that Marcella hated it so much."

At the spot Zemina pointed to, Harven was there, dealing with people who came to see Vlad with a table set up.

"He seems different. I didn't know Harven had this side to him."

Vlad didn't audibly respond to Zemina's words.

He simply nodded in agreement.

A person needs a place to showcase their abilities to prove themselves. And Harven, in his current role as a knight's representative rather than being stuck in a dark room with a foul smell, was sorting out the riff-raff with the credentials of a knight's representative.

After today's interview, which was probably as long as it had been, he would come to Vlad with a list of people who could be of help.

'It's time.'

Vlad chewed on the sandwich Marcella had made for him, waiting for the person who would come to see him.

Josef had promised support for a total of four salaries, and Vlad knew that Harven and Otar alone weren't enough to handle the security tasks in the alleyway.

However, there had been someone who had been consistently making their presence known to him, so he could probably fill up to three positions without trouble.

"Vlad! Vlad!"

"What's up?"

Ned, who had been cleaning the floor for a while, ran up the stairs frantically to find Vlad.

"Vlad!"

"I'm here."

Vlad frowned at Ned, who was so different from his quiet brother.

"There are guests from the City Hall looking for you, Vlad. One of them has a long beard..."

"Tell them to come up."

Vlad thought Gott wouldn't miss this opportunity.

Even if being a stableman in Bayezid's stable was considered a stable job, he knew that Gott wouldn't be satisfied with just being a servant.

"But there are two."

"Hmm?"

But Gott had brought one more person besides himself.

"Who?"

To Vlad's question, Ned quickly licked his lips and began to answer with a puzzled expression.

"Lots of tattoos and braided hair..."

In the North, the position of a black person was low and poor.

However, there was one being that even black people, who were discriminated against because of their skin, did not want to get close to.

"Could it be? Vlad?"

Along with Ned's concern, there were two people entering with Rose's Smiles

Behind Gott, who looked somewhat defeated, stood a man with a striking impression.

Even the staff preparing for business and Marcella turned their heads momentarily at his overwhelming presence.

"I quite like it here."

A barbarian, who followed the trail of the mystical spirit's blood all the way down to Shoara, grinned as he looked at Vlad from the fourth floor.

"The mayor said there would be job opportunities here if I came. Is that true?"

The Aage of the Budart tribe chuckled as he looked at Vlad.