Chapter 81

Right after arriving at the gate and persuading the guards, I paid a visit to someone’s home.

“You are…”

The woman who opened the door was speechless for a long moment. Her wide eyes reflected my image.

“Hello, Vina. It’s been a while.”

Vina. She was the carpenter who had worked in the upper district and then deserted after the wheelchair street stall non-return incident. I had memorized her address even before coming down to the lower district.

Vina cast her gaze past me, checking my rear.

‘Heh. It was definitely the right choice to come alone.’

“I haven’t come to arrest you. You must have heard the news that I’ve forgiven everyone.”

“For now… come in.”

Even as she let me into the house, she remained wary, checking to see if anyone had followed. I felt a bit bitter that I wasn’t the one she was wary of. However, one look at the muscles on her arms made it easy to understand why. Even if there were two of me, I’d lose.

I followed Vina to the kitchen. The house didn’t seem particularly spacious, but the neatly organized utensils spoke to the owner’s diligent lifestyle.

“Sit.”

I sat at the dining table as instructed. Just then, a voice drifted in from outside the kitchen.

“Sister, who is it?”

It seemed to be Vina’s younger sister. Vina immediately raised her voice so she could be heard outside.

“Stay in your room.”

“…”

There was no reply from the sister. Only after she was certain her sister wouldn’t come out did Vina sit across from me.

“You seem to cherish your sister very much.”

I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth. No matter who heard it, I sounded like a villain declaring, ‘Your sister is now my hostage!’

Naturally, Vina seemed to interpret my words that way. Her expression darkened. I hurried to clarify.

“I have no intention of doing anything to you two. I simply came because I wanted to talk.”

Vina watched me with wary eyes and asked, “Young Master… how are you here? The gates should have been sealed because of the riots…”

“I was already inside before the riots started. Thanks to that, I can’t get back to the other side. Currently, I’m under protection at the Second Gate.”

“I see. Then what business do you have here? If you aren’t here to take us away, we have nothing to discuss.”

Straight to the point, then. Is this bluntness a characteristic of lower-district people? She has an aura similar to Izack’s. Thanks to that, I could speak comfortably as well.

I held up two fingers. “There are two things I’d like to ask of you.”

“Two things?”

I gave a shallow nod. “First, I’d like you to return to work, Vina. We are still short-handed in the upper town.”

“And the second? I assume that’s the real reason you’re here.”

Sharp. I gave a slight smirk.

“Please help me.”

“…”

She fell silent and turned her gaze toward the kitchen door. She seemed worried about her sister.

“I’ll tell you in advance: there will be no retaliation if you refuse my request.”

“Then I refuse.”

“Hey now, you haven’t even heard it yet.”

“You said there would be no retaliation.”

“That is true, but…”

However, I didn’t get up from my seat.

“I promised not to retaliate, and I promised to forgive you. I will certainly keep that faith. And I believe that you, Vina, will not betray that faith either.”

Ultimately, I was asking her to grant my request. Even so, when a matter becomes one of loyalty rather than a contract, the human heart tends to soften.

After agonizing over it, Vina finally spoke with difficulty. “Speak.”

“Thank you. My second request is actually nothing much. I just want you to support me.”

“Support you… how?”

I briefly explained the donations that would begin tomorrow and the plan associated with them. Vina showed immediate pushback.

“In the end, you’re telling me to incite my neighbors? To stand against the riots according to your will.”

“If phrasing it that way helps you understand, well, I won’t deny it.”

Incitement. It wasn’t an incorrect term. It’s a lowly method. Nevertheless, I intended to choose that means. I have plenty of people and citizens to save. I absolutely cannot let this situation continue.

“I came to hire you. It means the upper district needs the lower district. Conversely, I believe the lower district also needs the upper district.”

I looked into Vina’s eyes as I continued.

“The upper and lower districts need each other as much as they hate each other. Excluding and fighting one another does nothing to help us coexist.”

“And for that, you want me to incite my neighbors?”

“I believe there are surely people in the lower district who share my thoughts. We are simply drawing out their hearts. I’m not asking you to lie, nor am I asking you to mislead public opinion.”

I took Vina’s hand. She seemed a bit surprised, but she didn’t pull away.

“I want to make the lower district a better place.”

—Creeak.

The sound of wood creaking came from outside the kitchen. Appearing with that sound was another woman in a wheelchair.

“You certainly talk sweet. I suppose that’s expected of a noble.”

“Yelena…! I told you to stay inside.”

“But I could hear everything you were saying, so what was I supposed to do? Look at you two, getting all cozy and holding hands already.”

At her sister’s remark, Vina hurriedly shook off my hand.

“Didn’t you tell me before, Sister? That I should watch out for men like him. That people who only say sweet things are bound to have foul intentions?”

Uh-oh, is this an interloper? I quickly stood up and bowed my head to try and salvage the ruined atmosphere.

“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Shane, the youngest son of the Lord.”

“I know. My sister told me you’re the one who gave me this.”

Yelena glanced down at the wheelchair she was sitting in.

“It was fair compensation for work. I didn’t just give it to you.”

“Fair compensation, my foot. My sister took this and ran away immediately after.”

At those words, Vina lowered her head in shame. Yelena looked at Vina and spoke.

“Just do it, Sister.”

“But you…”

“If push comes to shove, I’ll head out and say a word myself. I’m the one who received this chair, not you. We both owe a debt to this handsome young master. You ate your weekly wages and bolted, and I used this chair and bolted.”

With Yelena going that far, Vina finally nodded toward me as if she had no choice.

The woman who had helped the tanner moved away from the fired-up crowd. She headed toward the Second Gate. She approached Yelena and reported the results. Yelena greeted her and offered her thanks.

“That’s our Bridget. I knew you could do it.”

“Heh, it was nothing.”

“Right. Everyone and their mother knows that tanner is a total pushover for rumors. I remember him bragging about how good the pay was whenever the gate was open.”

Yelena turned back to Vina.

“The lower district is crawling with people like that anyway. There are far more people who like the upper district’s money even if they hate the upper district itself. Leave the next part to us. This time, Bridget and I will handle it personally.”

However, Vina looked worried.

“Still, Yelena, it’s too dangerous for you to go yourself. Maybe…”

“If you owe a debt, you pay it back,” Yelena said flatly. “Besides, the Young Master even suggested I work at Denabi Castle. Shouldn’t I prove my worth?”

Yelena began to push her wheelchair outside. Vina realized she wouldn’t be able to break her sister’s will. She hurried to catch up and began pushing the wheelchair. The crowd heading toward the gate was already far ahead.

Izack limped into the building. Armed warriors were gathered in thick clusters at tables lined up in front of the counter. Their gazes converged on Izack for a moment before drifting away.

“Master Izack…?”

But at the sound of that voice, all eyes gathered once more.

—Izack?

—Did they say Izack?

The murmuring voices instantly turned the building’s interior into a chaotic buzz. This was the office of the Guild’s Vigilante Association. In other words, the guild’s headquarters.

“You lot… I see you’re working for Malik’s money.”

Izack’s heavy voice brutally suppressed the commotion in the office.

“Stop this madness. That man intends to wage war against the upper district.”

“You traitor!”

A young guild member shouted at Izack.

“H-How could you do such a thing! You’re the one who built this guild! Colin… Bacchus, Tulisa…! None of them came back from that alley!”

Izack looked at the youth. He seemed to be a friend of those who had died in the skirmish in the alley just a short while ago. It was only natural; with so many guild members dead, there was bound to be resentment.

Izack grimaced. The deep lines etched into his face seemed clumped with pain rather than irritation.

“They all respected you! You created this guild! You proved that we could conquer dungeons without receiving help from the likes of the upper district! How can a man like you serve the upper district and let my friends…”

“Shut up, brat.”

A giant of a man spoke as he shoved the youth aside. The giant stepped forward to face Izack.

“Izack, what did you come here to do?”

“…Give up Malik’s request.”

“You came here just to say that? You’re telling warriors to give up a fight?”

“The target of that fight is Denabi. You have no idea what that request truly entails, Szilard.”

The man called Szilard smirked.

“Hmph. Not Denabi, but the upper district. We’re going to take Denabi back from the upper district.”

“Take it back? From the upper district? Denabi?”

To Izack, the words felt like a stupid joke.

“You know the tyranny of the upper district better than anyone, Izack. We are simply reclaiming our rightful dues.”

Szilard reached out toward Izack. The hand looked threatening, but Izack didn’t blink or move an inch. The hand stopped right in front of Izack’s nose.

“We’ll act as if the fight in the alley never happened. We were trying to kill you, too, and you must have been disoriented. Join us. Let’s capture and hang Alejandro’s youngest brat and take back the upper district.”

“Your true colors are showing.”

Izack’s voice was venomously cynical.

“What you want to take back is the upper district, not Denabi. Let me ask you one thing, Szilard. What do you plan to do after you take it? Chase every last upper-district person into the lower district? And then what? Are you going to become an ‘upper-district person’ yourself?”

“An ‘upper-district person’? Your tongue is a bit sharp. Of course we’ll occupy the upper district. As people of the lower district. Those bastards have to pay for everything they’ve enjoyed until now…”

“If that actually happens, how are you any different from the upper-district scum you hate so much?”

Izack took a step closer to Szilard. Now, the two were close enough to collide.

“In this shitty neighborhood, what was it that kept us going? It was pride. The pride that we were different from the upper-district bastards who abandoned us. The pride of sharing the pain of the lower district without looking away.”

Izack pointed his finger right in Szilard’s face.

“But I can’t find a single shred of pride in you.”

“…”

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Szilard let out a theatrical, hollow laugh.

“Ha, I thought I smelled the upper district on you. I guess since you sent your daughter there and spent time there yourself, you’ve been completely tainted. You’re beyond saving… the ‘Hero of the Lower District’ is a story of the past.”

As if those words were a signal, guild members in every corner stood up and drew their blades. Izack and Szilard each took a step away from one another.

He had come here to persuade them, but what the guild members wanted wasn’t a conversation. It was bloodshed. Like a dark omen, a familiar scent of blood brushed past Izack’s nose.