The boy who bloomed roses
The night in the back alley is brighter than the day in the city.
Since it was a place where people who could only live in the dark gathered, most of the people living in the back alleys were active at night.
Among them, it goes without saying if you are a member of Captain Hoover’s organization whose main business is smuggling.
Cripple Haven, one of Captain Hoover’s gang members.
He was just picking up a document and struggling with it.
“One-armed Jack is going crazy…”
The ledger he was holding was empty in several places, but Haven, who had to fill it in, had no idea what to write in the document.
One-armed Jack who seems to rule the back alley.
With the Knights of the Courtesan collapsed and other organizations severely shrunk, there was no organization that dared raise their heads against him.
At least Captain Hoover, who was engaged in a special business called smuggling, was somewhat free from Jack’s control, but that was a thing of the past.
“…What if they keep looting so openly?”
Haven held his face in both hands and sighed.
One-armed Jack has always been a keeper of good.
He was adept at making a single silver coin by squeezing a dry rag, and he was a man who did not try to push his debtors into a dead end.
It wasn’t the goose that laid the golden egg, but it meant that it at least tried to avoid cutting into the stomachs of people who were the size of mice.
However, one-armed Jack showed a completely different appearance after Jorge died.
Even municipal street vendors exploited people so viciously that they did not go to this extent, and as a result, the economy of the back alleys itself was collapsing.
Some people said that Jack was not managing the organization because he was addicted to alcohol, but Haven thought that might be true.
With no one to keep them in check, the money makers were becoming more and more ruined.
“I guess I’ll have to report it first.”
In the end, Haven had no choice but to write down the items looted by Jack’s men and report them to Hoover again today.
I would hear that it was difficult, but it was something that could not be helped.
Because that was Haven’s job.
After leaving the room that could barely fit a desk, Haven ran into a young gang member who was coming inside at the same time
.
“Haven! “Did you hear that?”
“What?”
The gang member in charge of patrolling the area opened his mouth to Haven with a puzzled expression, as if he had taken something big with him.
“I heard the back alley is blocked off?”
“why?”
“They say someone came from Sturmah to catch One-Armed Jack. “I heard Shoara’s guards have surrounded this place.”
“Ah…”
Haven sighed as he heard those words.
This is what happened in the end.
One-armed Jack ended up crossing the line.
Haven thought it was worth it and gave strength to the cane he was holding.
I think a lot of things will happen after he is caught.
“by the way. “Weren’t you close with that guy?”
“Who do you mean?”
Haven, who was about to go to Hoover’s office, heard the words of an organizer behind him.
“Vlad.”
“…Why Vlad?”
As the name he missed hearing for the first time in a long time came out, Haven turned his back and looked at the member of the organization who was speaking to him.
“Why that guy all of a sudden?”
“No, I didn’t see it in person…”
The member of the organization scratched his head and opened his mouth with an expression of uncertainty.
“They said the executioner from Sturmah was blonde. I heard he called himself Vlad of Shoara. “Then it’s not him?”
“what?”
As he heard the familiar words, Haven felt strength go into his hand holding the cane.
“……Really?”
“That’s right. “I heard you said you planted a flag in front of the rose’s smile?”
“…….”
Blonde Vlad and a rose smile.
They were all words that were related to someone.
Haven’s heart was pounding.
“Take this.”
“uh?”
Haven handed over the stack of documents he was holding to the organizer and quickly started walking outside.
“Where!”
“I have to go. “You have to go and check it out.”
Haven, who was sensitive to information and news, already knew about the existence of Vlad of Shoara.
A young squire of Bayezid who displayed aura in the duel of Deirmar and was active in this death worm hunt.
‘It might be real!’
However, based on rumors alone, he could not be certain that it was the Vlad he knew.
Because you have done so many great things.
The Vlad he knew was definitely a guy with potential, but he couldn’t easily believe that he had done such a big thing.
“And then you get whipped again!”
“They say you’re a little late!”
Haven leaves the blockaded streets to see if it’s the blonde he knows.
As he walked with the help of a cane, his limping steps were clearly more distorted than before.
※※※※
“You should have at least filled your teeth.”
“Hmm…”
Vlad looked at the man staring helplessly at his feet.
When he was Jorge’s assistant, he was the guy who came in with one-armed Jack and knocked over the candle box.
The teeth of the guy who had hit me back then were still empty.
“I guess I don’t need it anymore.”
Vlad slowly thrust his sword into the chest of the man who was quietly lying down.
“Ouch…”
The man, unable to let out a proper groan, perhaps because his lungs had been pierced, slowly lowered his head while biting into blood bubbles.
“Haa……”
Vlad sighed for a moment and looked back at the path he had walked.
A hallway full of blood.
Broken stairs.
A room of silent prostitutes.
All of One-Armed Jack’s men, numbering more than 50, fell, pierced by the boy’s sword.
Everyone held their breath.
[This is enough.]
“…….”
Listening to the voice, Vlad swung his unadorned sword and shook off the blood.
The boy forced himself into a path of suffering.
Since his goal was to become the Knight of Blue Moonlight, Vlad had to follow in his footsteps somehow.
“is it so. “I think this is enough.”
And although it wasn’t perfect, Vlad was able to recreate the scene of that day to some extent.
Everywhere was filled with roses that the boy had bloomed.
“…I have to finish it.”
Vlad wiped something, whether sweat or blood, from his forehead. He leaned against the wall for a moment and looked at the stairs leading to the fourth floor.
The first floor is the lobby. The 23rd floor is the window building.
And the 4th floor is the space for organization members.
There was a knight of prostitutes who always sat there looking the same, eating their prescribed diet.
“…….”
Vlad walked up the stairs to the fourth floor one by one.
The ominous sounds of that day were still coming from here
.
It was a staircase that needed repair, but the fact that it had been neglected for half a year also meant that Rose’s smile had not received proper care during that time.
‘Marcella will be freaked out.’
As he climbed the stairs he had missed, Vlad inadvertently thought about the same thing as before.
But the boy going up the stairs was no longer Vlad the candle seller.
“…I’m here. boss.”
The rightful avenger and representative of the honorable man has finally come to the last.
“Oh yeah. Prospect. “Welcome.”
All the men had been crammed into the third floor, so only one-armed Jack was sitting on the fourth floor.
Jack turned his head and patted the seat next to him as if he was happy to see him, but Vlad didn’t even move.
“It’s not fun.”
As Vlad just stood there silently with a grim expression on his face, One-Armed Jack turned his head and raised his glass alone.
This will probably be Jack’s last drink.
“You are the real Vlad of Shoara. “I heard a rumor.”
“Has it spread here?”
“I should have brought you here the year before last. “Who was in charge at that time?”
One-armed Jack furrowed his eyebrows, thought, and then ended up laughing.
“Well, that bastard must have already gone.”
Jack poured the glass he was holding into his mouth and slowly stood up to face the boy.
“Still, I’m glad I know someone.”
Jack, dressed neatly with his waist straight, held a short sword that looked like a cutlass in one hand. Then he looked at Vlad with the hook in his other hand.
“For a while, I didn’t want to do it so I left it alone, but I’m someone who makes sure I finish it.”
A sloppy relationship.
A world that eats away at its own world.
“…….”
However, the one-armed Jack that the boy looked up to did not feel the presence he had back then.
It may be that he fell, but it may also be because the boy’s world expanded.
One-armed Jack’s world could no longer contain the boy.
“going.”
Although he was like an enemy, Vlad decided to show one-armed Jack his last respect.
Wow-!
Even though it was a back alley-style courtesy, it was rough.
“Ugh!”
Jack crossed his sword and hook to block Vlad’s sword.
I blocked it with both hands because I thought I would have to do this much to stop it, but Vlad’s momentum when I met him directly easily surpassed my expectations.
“okay! “Since I’ve done this much, I must have climbed up there!”
Jack was truly amazed as he watched the boy grow.
Jack also had a dream.
He was also a man who embraced something called a star, even if the form was different.
Therefore, I was able to understand the adversity the boy had gone through.
“excellent!”
“…!”
Flames exploding as swords collide.
The boy was struggling against the world that had bound him for a long time.
Because he knows that Jack’s world can no longer confine him.
“Keueuung!”
Jack did his best to accept the boy’s sword.
Even if it stumbles, even if it looks ugly.
Perhaps this is the last appearance and choice you can make.
“Jorge would have liked it if he saw it!”
“shut up!”
Vlad screamed fiercely as he saw Jack daring to bring up Jorge as his enemy.
He was a man who could not be forgiven.
He was the bastard who helped kill Jorge, devoured Rose’s broken smile, and sold Marcela out.
You must die miserably.
“Huh…haha!”
Between pain, regret, desperation, and calmness, Jack swung the hook on his left arm.
The cutlass he was holding was already rolling on the ground along with his right arm.
I knew this day would come someday.
I just lived fiercely, believing that today would not be the last.
‘This would be better!’
One-Armed Jack truly thought so.
Because like Jorge, it would be better to be trampled to death by a young world that is trying to step on you than to be trampled to death by a huge world.
If his life was going to end this way anyway, he just wanted to end it with his own choice.
“You will rise higher than me!”
“I told you to shut up!”
The boy, who had not yet retained the depth of time, could not properly understand what Jack was saying and simply swung a blow in anger.
However, although the boy’s heart was hot, the sword he was holding was extremely cold.
“Ugh!”
The chill pierced Jack’s intestines and jumped out onto his back.
Bright red blood drops were falling from the tip of the blood-soaked sword.
Cut off the loose ties and become truly free.
“Any last words?”
“…….”
The boy was out of breath.
Looking at the boy who had climbed up here with all his might, Jack quietly raised his hook and pointed to where he was sitting.
“……Take a rest. Good work.”
“……what?”
One-armed Jack slowly retreats step by step, saying unknown words, and pulls out Vlad’s sword.
“Huh!”
Despite the pain of having his internal organs ripped out, he forced himself to stand up and take a step backwards toward the railing.
“…This is enough.”
Jack lifted his head with a sigh and looked at the ceiling.
I looked back on my life as I watched the flashing lights passing by inside the gorgeous chandelier.
“This was good enough.”
He was satisfied.
Although he lived evilly, his life was intense.
Even though the last one ended up being crushed by the huge world, it wasn’t entirely his fault.
“…….”
Finally, Jack screamed loudly at the building he couldn’t have.
“I had a good time. “Jorge!”
Vlad saw one-armed Jack slowly falling backwards.
Go over the railing and into the lobby.
The last sight of him falling from the 4th floor to the 1st floor.
bang-!
A world that fell apart, just like Jorge that day.
In the death-like silence, only the falling blood drops showed the passage of time.
“…….”
Revenge is sweet.
Therefore, it is something that must be done.
However, the bitterness that lingered on the tip of the boy’s tongue was something that could not be helped.
After finishing everything he had to do, Vlad walked wearily towards the table where Jack was sitting.
“……this.”
There were two drinking glasses waiting for the boy.
Vlad saw a full glass of alcohol next to Jack’s empty glass.
Vlad, who realized what Jack had just said, sat still and looked at the drink he had poured for himself.
The seat where the boy with his head bowed sits.
Two empty drinking glasses.
“…I’ll give it back to you, boss.”
And one shiny gold coin.
The boy returned the gold coin that One-Armed Jack had given him that day.
Because a knight must receive only fair compensation.
This is the smile of a rose.
A place where people passing by gather for a moment.
Today, a drop of stagnant water flowed out into the world.
Leaving behind small ripples in the boy’s world.
