Chapter 17: The Recklessness of Thought

The footsteps of the young beggar had already left the corridor as he pulled open the back door, the cold wind and snow striking his face. He closed the door behind him and silently walked out of the alley. The infant girl in his arms had fallen into a deep slumber once again. As he gently touched her cheek, it seemed that the fever that had been subdued by the warmth of the tavern was now flaring up once more in the biting wind and snow. He lifted his head, confirmed his direction, and decided to head towards the clinic...

"Is this the place?!"

Suddenly, a frantic voice came from the street. A group of soldiers rushed towards the front door of the Pink Lady tavern, their pace urgent. The men and women lining the streets screamed and scattered, narrowly avoiding the soldiers as they stormed into the tavern, causing chaos.

The beggar, who had just been about to step onto the street, shrank back into the shadowed alley. He had realized that the leader of the group was one of the three men from the dozen who had protected the little girl earlier. At that moment, another group of soldiers rushed past him, heading straight for the alley that led to the back door of the Pink Lady. No one spared a glance at the small beggar standing by the alley.

Though others were unaware of the situation, the beggar had a faint sense of what was happening. With his head lowered, he walked briskly out of the alley, determined to leave this place of trouble behind, his steps unyielding against the cold. As it turned out, his decision was wise. Five minutes later, the little girl, dressed as a maid with a cloak over her shoulders, walked out from the tavern's front door, her expression one of anger, guarded by a group of soldiers. Another ten minutes passed, and the middle-aged man and the fox, both sword-pointed by the soldiers, emerged from the tavern, their situation far from dignified.

...

The snow continued to decorate the world, the cold six-pointed crystals crashing against the rooftops with the hardness of stone, creating a pinging sound in the city's silence.

The night had deepened, and the streetlights on either side of the road were covered in snow, their dim glow reflecting the white cotton of the falling flakes. The fractured light source barely illuminated the scene.

Crrk, crrk, crrk...

The worn cloth shoes sank into the thick snow, and the exposed toes were frozen, bruised purple. These small feet, so young, knew nothing of rest or comfort. They only continued to fulfill their most primitive task, walking ceaselessly in the snow.

The beggar held the infant tightly in his arms. Her complexion had improved significantly, the fever almost gone. The fatigue and pain from the recent injection made her fall into a deep sleep, her eyelids gently covering her gem-like green eyes.

Hanging from the beggar's waist were two small bags. One contained the remaining twenty-seven Sula coins, while the other held the medicines purchased from the apothecary. The blanket was tightly wrapped around them both, the chain around his wrist biting deeper into his skin from the cold. He pulled the blanket tighter around the girl and himself, quickening his pace toward the home beneath the bridge.

"Hey, kid. If you had waited just three more minutes to take the money from that middle-aged man, you'd probably be captured by the soldiers and tortured by now."

Amid the swirling six-pointed snowflakes, the blood-red eyes opened once again, and the voice of the darkness resonated in the beggar's mind.

"Heh heh heh, I see you were busy earlier, so I didn't disturb you. But now that you have time, why don't you tell me how you managed to get this far?"

The beggar remained silent, his pace undeterred.

"Hmph. First, I must commend your quick reflexes and sharp judgment. But there are a few issues I need you to answer."

"One, why did you decide that the trader was not the elderly man described by the fox, but instead that middle-aged man?"

"Two, the fox's expression changed several times during your transaction. What do you make of that?"

"Three, why did you decide to take such a risky course of action to kidnap the girl, even though it seemed irrational and dangerous compared to the fox's plan?"

"Answer me, human."

The white mist escaped from the beggar's mouth as he exhaled. He was tired. On this snowy night, a ten-year-old child had already endured more than most his age could ever imagine, and even more than some adults could fathom—the filth, the crimes. He had struggled and survived in this stinking gutter, trudging through the muck to reach this point, and now he walked on, his numbed feet dragging him toward his destination.

The darkness waited. It had enough patience to wait for the beggar's response. The blood-red eyes studied its current "host," eager to judge his "qualifications" based on his answers.

"...Because..."

The mist slipped from the beggar's mouth again as he exhaled.

"...He's human."

Without slowing his pace, the beggar began speaking slowly—

"A person will lie. Even when coerced, you cannot be certain that everything they say is the truth."

"Heh heh heh, interesting. Especially considering that the fox, who has been crawling through the streets for decades, could not possibly be threatened by a child and spill all his secrets. He must have planned to send you out to kidnap the girl, knowing you'd fail and get caught. After all, it's nearly impossible for a child to successfully kidnap a girl on their own. Hmm, go on."

"...I observed him. He had said he needed a girl for the transaction. But in the tavern, he wasn't in a hurry at all."

"Hahaha, his calm demeanor was a clear sign of his lie. If he were really desperate to complete this deal, he wouldn't be so composed. So?"

"Therefore, the answer to the second question is clear. He had already kidnapped other girls. What he told me wasn't pure deception, but he did intend to distract me and hoped I would be caught."

The blood-red eyes gleamed with excitement, and a laugh echoed in the beggar's mind: "Interesting. So from the very beginning, you never trusted his words. The second answer is that he was surprised, as he didn't expect you to succeed in kidnapping a girl."

"...Hmm. But not only that. He probably didn't expect me to bring someone. So he started to wonder if I had found the place where he was hiding the girls, intending to use that information to demand money. But when I didn't go to the hiding place, his expression relaxed."

"Hahaha, kid. I can't believe you managed to see the fox's expression from behind. Impressive."

The beggar paused for a moment, then said softly, "I could see it clearly from the reflection of the glass of the lamp, the brass plate on the door, and the jewelry of the woman walking towards me."

The darkness sneered, "Well then, answer the third question. If he had already kidnapped the girl, why did you take the risk of doing it yourself? Wouldn't it have been easier to find the place where he was hiding the girls and report it for a much greater reward?"

The bridge was nearly in sight, and just one more alley remained before home. The beggar glanced down at the sleeping infant in his arms, then quietly said, "Because I didn't know the hiding place."

"Many places in the Pink Lady are off-limits to me, with guards everywhere. So, the only way I could get the money was to kidnap a girl."

All the questions from the darkness had been answered. From the blood-red eyes, it was clear that it already knew these answers but had been waiting to see if the beggar's retelling aligned with its expectations. The result was satisfactory.

"Well done. Your decisiveness and reasoning skills are the most intriguing I've seen in anyone. Heh, very good. But kid, you made two mistakes in your actions earlier. Do you know what they were?"

The beggar silently thought for a moment before nodding.

"Heh heh, the first mistake was that the girl you kidnapped wasn't processed in time and was rescued. If she had simply not been dealt with, it would have been a careless pass. But the problem is, she never even had the chance to be humiliated."

Under the swirling six-pointed snowflakes, the beggar nodded as he walked.

"This meant that the girl remembered your face. Given her family background and her ability to mobilize so many to rescue her, she must be of high status. Especially those guards, who immediately gathered people to search the Pink Lady as soon as the girl was reported missing. You've made an enemy of that young lady, and the consequences could be dire."

The beggar finally slowed his steps as he reached the end of the alley, the bridge entrance now in sight. He silently walked the final stretch, regretting his lack of caution.

"The second mistake. Do you know what it was?"

The beggar exhaled a puff of white air and said, "The second mistake was that I shouldn't have been greedy for the fifty Sula reward. I should have demanded thirty Sula inside the tavern, handed over the key, placed the infant down, and left quickly. Then I could have reported to the patrol and earned much more than fifty Sula."

"Exactly. You made both mistakes. This shows that your thinking wasn't thorough enough, and your actions were rushed. You're still too inexperienced."

...

The beggar said nothing more. He realized that his decisions had lacked the composure to consider every detail. He knew his own limitations: he was just a filthy rat in the sewers, and for his wits to have kept him alive this long was nothing short of lucky.

The snowstorm raged on, the ice shards stinging his skin. The beggar hurried into the bridge's shelter, finally returning home.

Home...