Chapter 80

The reaction on the first day of the bribery operation went like this:

“Why are they suddenly giving this out? Has the Lord gone mad?”

“Are you sure they actually gave it away? I didn’t see a single hair of those carriages!”

“I heard they’re coming again tomorrow. Try going near the Second Gate in the morning.”

And the reaction on the second day went like this:

“Hey! Why aren’t we getting anything while you guys are? Are you discriminating against us right now?!”

“If you’re so salty about it, move near the Second Gate yourself!”

“Yeah! And you and I are both people from the lower district! Where do you get off talking about discrimination? The soldiers said the Lord specifically bestowed this upon the lower district!”

It was the precursor to what is commonly known as “divide and conquer.”

Differentiating the strata of the opposition. Making those with differing statuses fight among themselves. And as a result, making them forget their original enmity toward their actual foe.

Already, their resentment toward the upper district was escalating into hatred for one another. It was evidence that my plan was working perfectly.

“It’s not a particularly pleasant method, though.”

“To think you’ve already fractured public opinion in the lower district… I think I finally understand how you managed to clear those dungeons.”

Technically, Ronari was the one who used her head there, not me.

‘I rolled through those places with my body, not my brain! Look at this arm of mine!’ …I didn’t make such a pathetic appeal out loud, of course.

Instead, I simply said, “It’s too early to be impressed. Tomorrow is the real show.”

Then I grinned deviously. If Ronari had seen me, she probably would have scolded me for looking like a lower-district thug again.

Just as that thought crossed my mind, a soldier came up from below the gate. The captain of the guard asked him, “What is it?”

“Well… there’s someone here who says they want to see the Young Master if he’s here. I told them he wasn’t and sent them away, but they haven’t moved from out front since.”

I pointed at myself. “Me?”

Is it Adele? Or Izack’s search party? Or perhaps the pursuers?

I peeked over the battlements, searching for the visitor. “Where are they?” I asked the soldier.

“Over there… around that spot.”

The soldier, who was also hiding, pointed his finger toward the visitor. But the visitor was someone I hadn’t expected at all.

“Vittorio…!”

I jumped up and called his name.

I stood face-to-face with Vittorio in the gatehouse room.

“I feel like I’ve been saying this a lot lately… but what on earth are you doing here?”

“I said I would return soon. I am merely keeping my word.”

“No, even so… how did you even get into the lower district? The gates should have been sealed.”

Vittorio gave a brief explanation of what had happened since he arrived in Denabi.

“Anyway, after the fight, I hid in the lower district while searching for Malik and a woman named Adele. Then I heard rumors that raw materials were being distributed at the Second Gate at will.”

“So you figured that had to be me?”

“It was Izack’s hunch. I thought it was logical as well. And indeed, here you are.”

Of course, Vittorio’s explanation didn’t feel “brief” to me at all. Rather, it sounded ridiculously eventful—borderline absurd. The problems they had faced were excessively spectacular.

I reflexively started to stand up to shout at him. The content would have been something along the lines of, “…How does that even make sense?”

That is, if the words could have actually made it out of my mouth.

“No… I mean… no…”

My mouth was stuck on repeat, failing to find a direction. Every single thing that had happened was such a major incident that I didn’t know which part to emphasize first. I just slumped back down into my seat.

In the end, all I could manage to mutter was a hollow curse.

“Dammit…”

“It hasn’t blown up into a major problem yet.”

“That’s very comforting news, but I’m not sure which ‘it’ you’re talking about. Are you talking about the massacre in that alleyway? Or the fact that Malik really was the mastermind? Or the fact that Adele vanished alone and hasn’t returned?”

Vittorio stroked his chin. “I was referring to the first point, but now that I think about it, the second and third points haven’t exactly become problems yet either.”

—Sigh.

I exhaled my displaced emotions in a long sigh. Should I call this a sigh of relief?

Vittorio talked as if it hadn’t escalated into a “big problem,” but from my perspective, what had already happened was a massive problem in itself.

“So, what happened to Izack? Why did you come alone?”

“He went to find that Adele person and Malik. He told me to protect you.”

“Why didn’t you stop him?! You said Izack was injured!”

“Because you are far more important to me than he is.”

The atmosphere in the room turned… delicate.

“I’m begging you, please refrain from making such misleading statements.”

“What part of that was misleading? Your life is my life. That is an absolute truth.”

I took the hand I had extended to persuade him and pressed it against my forehead instead. I rubbed my face as if trying to wash away the sheer awkwardness. It had no effect, obviously.

‘I have a dozen damn problems to deal with; I shouldn’t be getting flustered over this.’

I shook my head and stood up.

“But as you can see, I am very safe right now. The gate guards are protecting me, and I’m not even showing my face outside. If anything, Izack and Adele are the ones in danger.”

“Nevertheless, I have no intention of leaving your side.”

“Finding those people is the best way to help me!”

“I still cannot leave.”

“Why not!”

“For the same reason we looked for Malik instead of you when we first entered the lower district.”

Hearing that, I could no longer remain stubborn. I spoke on his behalf.

“…I suppose so. It’s not as if we know where Izack or Adele are to go looking for them.”

“Exactly.”

Just when it felt like things were finally starting to unravel, another problem came crashing in. The lower district was a den of iniquity twice as bad as I had imagined. I don’t mean to insult the residents as a whole, but…

“Regardless, my policy remains the same: no bloodshed. I’ll overlook the skirmish in that alley since it truly couldn’t be helped, but I will not tolerate any further violence.”

“Your dream of a bloodless resolution has already been shattered anyway.”

“Even so!” I shouted. “I still won’t tolerate it.”

“I think the time for such weak-willed talk has passed.”

“Choosing violence so easily—that is what’s truly weak!”

I stepped right up to Vittorio’s face.

“I don’t intend to spout some brainless humanitarianism. I am a man who rules people and runs a business. I am more accustomed than anyone to seeing people as numbers. Do you want to say that since dozens have already died, one more won’t make a difference? Don’t make me laugh! The weight of the second life taken after the first is exactly the same as the hundred-and-first life taken after a hundred!”

The echoes of my shout lingered in the room for a long time. Until the silence surrounding us finally faded, my words continued to swirl around my feet.

It had only been three days since I faced death for the first time. That, too, had happened in the lower district. I hadn’t grown accustomed to death, and I didn’t want to. There is nothing more horrific than a family having to wait for a member who will never return.

“I’m not so shameless as to order warriors not to fight in enemy territory.”

“Then what do you plan to do? You seem to be contradicting yourself.”

“The people of the lower district are also people of Denabi. If they don’t desire a fight, then we simply make it so this is no longer enemy territory.”

It had been three days since the donations began in front of the Second Gate.

The rumors had spread so far that the area was now packed tight. While the amount of fruit and grain arriving daily was sufficient, the sheer number of people created a sense of competition. Naturally, those who arrived late were pushed to the back.

A man standing a bit apart from the crowd was one of those latecomers. He was starting to think his turn would never come. The Lord’s charity wouldn’t last forever, after all. Thinking that today might be the last day made his heart heavy.

He had a family to feed. Since the gates to the upper district were closed due to the riots, his income had been meager.

“Come to think of it, how long do they plan to keep the gates to the upper district closed? The upper market was great because the goods were cheap. They even bought my leather for much more than the back-alley black market.”

The man swallowed hard. He was a tanner. His job was to skin and process the animals brought in by hunters.

A woman approached and chimed in.

“With those bastards living near the upper gate causing trouble, how can they open the doors? A few days ago, they were even setting fires out front. It was total chaos.”

“Those punks… I ought to go there and give them a piece of my mind.”

“What are you going to do? Sounds like those lot have teamed up with the vigilante thugs and are making a real mess of things.”

“If we all go in a group, do you think they could afford not to stop? Surely they wouldn’t draw blades against their own people from the lower district.”

With that, the tanner stood before the crowd and shouted.

“Hey, everyone! Listen to me for a moment.”

“What is it?”

“Isn’t that the leather-working fellow from the other side?”

“Even while the Lord is away on an expedition for the sake of the fief, hasn’t he bestowed grain and fruit upon us like this? Yet those fools living near the gate don’t even recognize his grace and are just busy showing off their strength. How disgraceful is that?”

A few people nodded in agreement, but not everyone was convinced. Voices of protest soon broke out.

“What are you talking about! The Lord has neglected the lower district for decades! I don’t know what kind of whim makes him act all merciful now, but we can’t forget the humiliations we’ve suffered!”

“Exactly!”

“All that ‘Lord’ fellow ever does is get obsessed with playing war and throwing away money and lives!”

The one who countered that wasn’t the tanner, but the woman beside him.

“I wasn’t going to get involved… but the way you’re talking is just unbearable. Are you saying my son in the Legion is out there risking his life just to ‘play war’ then?!”

The tanner backed her up.

“Absolutely not! If the Lord hadn’t taken the soldiers to subjugate the dungeons, we’d all be dead by now! Even the Emperor knows how dangerous this region is. The Lord couldn’t look after the lower district because he lacked the resources, not because he threw us away!”

“That’s right! You lot… all you know how to do is blame the Lord all day and night. Have any of you ever paid a single cent in taxes to the castle!?”

As the voices of the tanner and the woman grew louder, the momentum of the dissenting voices faltered.

“Fine! I’m going up there right now to tell them to knock it off. Anyone who wants to come along, follow me!”

“He’s right! Let’s go!”

People who had been hungrily devouring fruit began to follow the tanner up the slopes of the lower district. Seeing so many people following him, the tanner felt a surge of strength.

‘Wait, where did that woman go?’

The thought crossed his mind for a brief second, but it was soon swept away by the cheers of the crowd.

“Open the gate! Get rid of the rioters!”

“Open the gate! Get rid of the rioters!”

And before he knew it, the tanner was chanting along with the rest of them. The woman who had helped him—the one who said her son was in the Legion—had long since vanished from his mind.