Thankfully, the children received treatment at San Marco Cathedral in time.
Watching the priests attend to the children one by one, I felt much more relieved and stepped outside.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, Officer, both the children and I survived.”
The military officer who received my heartfelt gratitude stared at me for a moment.
Then, with deep-set eyes that gave no clue to his thoughts, he suddenly asked,
“Why?”
“What?”
“Why did you risk your life to help the Subura children?”
Only then did I understand his question, but I could not understand it myself.
So I asked in return.
“Does a person need a reason to help another person?”
“Usually.”
“Because that is not true, we have survived and prospered in this cruel world. That is what I think.”
Seeing the Sword Saint’s memories was much like reading a book.
I could recognize the things he had seen, heard, and experienced, but I could not experience them exactly as he had.
Naturally, there were many things the Sword Saint had done that I could not understand.
But as I read through his life, I realized one thing clearly.
Even the Sword Saint, who had seemed like the greatest Martial Artist in the world, had survived thanks to the kindness of many people.
He had not become the Sword Saint simply because he was exceptional on his own.
“Helping others is helping myself. If you do not know that, you are no different from those people in Subura.”
It was true that the emotion driving me to help the children was twisted.
I could not deny that.
But what did it matter whether the emotion was twisted or not?
Were the reasons people helped one another always supposed to be pleasant to hear?
Whatever the reason, people simply helped. That was how they survived.
Whether it was for my own sake or someone else’s.
“Even putting such complicated matters aside, must I seek some grand reason to help a child I know?”
After I firmly conveyed what I believed, the military officer fell into deep thought.
I did not know whether my words had convinced him, and I did not expect them to.
A person’s values, built up over an entire lifetime, did not change so easily.
Still, perhaps it had been easier to convey than more complicated words.
The military officer gave a short laugh, placed his hand atop my head, and patted it.
“I cannot agree, but they are fine words.”
“Was that answer enough?”
“More than enough. Fine, Jeong Johan. I will remember your name. People like you die young, but I hope you survive and that your name reaches my ears again.”
Before I could respond, the military officer turned and strode away.
Only then did I realize I had not even asked his name and tried to call after him.
“That lowborn bastard has gotten even ruder since I last saw him.”
Uncle Aldo stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.
“You know him?”
“I do. Both that bastard and I are from Subura.”
“What?”
I knew directly from Uncle Aldo that he was from Subura, but I had never imagined the military officer was as well.
He spoke a little viciously, but he looked like a respectable military officer.
Noticing my surprise, Uncle Aldo added an explanation.
“Even after Suburans get Outside, they hide being from Subura as much as possible and pretend they do not know one another.”
“Why?”
“Why? Did you not hear all that talk about trash and garbage earlier?”
As though he could not believe I needed to ask, Uncle Aldo repeatedly smacked my back with his palm.
Why was an injured man still so strong?
“It hurts! People do not normally think like that, not like the Officer!”
“What are you talking about? That bastard is the average Raechian. If you have never heard such things, it only means the people around you are far too good.”
Goodness, I had never considered it.
Thinking about it, it was strange.
So many people lived in such a vast place.
Yet no one around me had ever spoken of Subura.
As though it were somewhere that did not exist in the world at all.
I froze when I realized that even that was discrimination.
Uncle Aldo gave a bitter smile at my expression.
“That is why men like that go out of their way to despise and curse more fiercely. To deny that they are from Subura.”
“Why deny it?”
“Because normal people hide things they cannot be proud of. It is like wearing a mask to hide burns. You know that too, do you not?”
Uncle Aldo nodded toward my leg.
Certainly, until not long ago, I had tried to hide this leg.
I hated letting other people see it, so I had avoided appearing before them at all.
I could understand it to some extent, but I still could not understand it rationally.
“Still, I do not understand why the Officer acts that way when he is already a military officer. I still limp, but he is a respectable Raechian citizen now.”
“Not everyone is as bright and pure as you are, kid.”
Uncle Aldo stroked my head as though I were cute.
I was neither bright nor pure.
Feeling oddly uncomfortable, I was just about to ask him to stop.
“Um....”
Emilio approached from behind and called for me, so I turned around with Uncle Aldo’s hand still resting on my head.
His hesitant, thoroughly dejected face came into view.
“How do you feel? What about the other children?”
When I asked without pointing out his attitude, Emilio’s face brightened.
“I did not even need treatment in the first place. They said the other kids are all going to be okay too!”
“That is a relief. As expected of San Marco Cathedral. The priests here are remarkable.”
This was the greatest among the cathedrals devoted to the Sky God Deus.
Naturally, the priests here were all outstanding.
Perhaps because of that, even the child whose fingers had all been broken was said to be all right. I had thought that child would be left disabled, so I was much more relieved.
As I naturally took Uncle Aldo’s hand and moved it away from my head, I was about to congratulate Emilio.
But he was faster.
“Th-tha....”
“Tha?”
“Th-thank you!”
Was that one phrase really so difficult?
Emilio bit his lip and hesitated for a long time before shouting it out loudly.
I stared blankly for a moment, then burst out laughing.
Until now, Emilio had only spoken casually.
Like an animal that bared its teeth and growled at everything approaching it.
He had acted as though he would be attacked if he did not use rude, sharp words first.
And now, he had thanked me formally.
This was not merely a change in the way he spoke.
The boy who had never bowed his head to anyone had learned how to bow his head.
He had learned how to be grateful for kindness.
The bird that had been trapped inside a small egg called Subura and father was finally breaking free of its shell to face the world.
Proud of him, I patted his head.
Just as Uncle Aldo, Grandma Sujin, and my parents had done for me.
“Huh? Why are you patting my head all of a sudden...?”
“Just because. You did well.”
“I only said thank you, though. Formally.”
“Expressing gratitude to someone else is quite difficult.”
Had I not suffered for ten years because I could not say those words to my parents?
Emilio had managed at once what I had only done after receiving the Sword Saint’s memories.
That was worth praise.
Once again, I thought it had been good to help him.
Uncle Aldo and I had nearly died and been injured, but it had been worth it.
“You will become a good adult.”
It would take a long time to cast off the way of thinking ingrained in him by Subura.
And Raechia, which they had escaped to with such difficulty, would not always be comfortable or pleasant.
But Emilio and the children would surely manage.
With that pleasant certainty, I patted Emilio’s head again.
Enjoying the cool breeze that blew at the boundary between spring and summer.
***
Even when the summer sunlight brightly illuminated the world, dark places still existed.
One such place was where only Raechia’s wealthiest people lived.
The basement of a grand mansion whose snow-white walls shone in the sunlight was one of them.
A voice echoed in darkness without even a single candle.
“My lord (my liege), there was an incident in Subura.”
The reply did not come quickly.
Instead, something tore through the darkness, breaking the silence, and a faint fishy scent spread soundlessly through the air.
“You should call me Boss now.”
“My apologies.”
“Forget the Archipelago for a while. Do not speak the Archipelago language either. From now on, we are Raechian citizens who have lived on the Peninsula our entire lives.”
“Yes.”
Only after finishing his rebuke did the man ask about the report.
“So, what happened?”
“Some men apparently took people out of Subura.”
“Which people?”
“Children, they say. There was a clash during the escape, and quite a few people died or were injured.”
“Those men?”
“No. Only the Subura men were hurt.”
The sound of something tapping in the darkness echoed.
Then another question came, sharper than before.
“Have the Raechians gotten hold of our tail?”
“I do not believe so. It appears to have been something a random child and a middle-aged Adventurer did on impulse.”
“Are you certain? Is there not even the slightest possibility?”
“There is none. They had no time to gather evidence, and it is not as though the Subura men only began living soaked in drugs and alcohol yesterday.”
As the unpleasant sound continued again, the reporter asked carefully,
“Would you like us to investigate further? The Adventurers, perhaps—”
“No. Do not approach or touch the Adventurer’s Guild.”
“What?”
“A troublesome monster bitch lives there. She seems to be rotting away as an old woman in the back room now... but there is no need to provoke her.”
A voice like iron scraping against iron and the sound of teeth grinding made the air shudder.
The reporter grew restless as his master’s mood darkened.
Fortunately, a flat voice returned to him.
“What is Subura like now?”
“They are in utter chaos, arguing over who was at fault.”
“They will happily beat one another again. Then they will go back to living like filth in a jar.”
“Would that not be all right? It is not particularly bad—”
“It is bad. They need to suffer more and rage more. So that they escape beyond the jar.”
Speaking casually of someone else’s misfortune, the owner of the voice struck flint.
Sparks scattered through the darkness for a moment.
Then he pressed the flame that caught on the tinder into a lantern.
In the dim light, he was revealed to have an unexpectedly ordinary build.
But his face was covered in scars from burns and cuts.
His resentment and rage against the world were plain to see.
“Release all the remaining opium. Every last bit of it.”
“May I ask why?”
“Make sure the rampaging trash gets so high that they all collapse. They will have sweet dreams for a few months. Then what will happen when they stop taking the drug?”
“Ah....”
It was common knowledge that an addict who stopped taking drugs suffered intense withdrawal symptoms.
Only then did the reporter understand his master’s intent, and he was astonished.
“For men who are nearly at death’s door from withdrawal, we can say that the Raechians blocked the old drug and released Gakt in its place. They will all become beasts.”
“Exactly!”
“When they have all gone mad and begun to rampage, we will appear. We will proudly become the city’s saviors, then slowly take this city for ourselves.”
The Boss murmured calmly, then suddenly drew the Pirate Blade at his waist.
Holding the weapon drawn with a sound that sent chills down the spine, he muttered as though spitting out the words.
“With the power of this prosperous city, I can return to my homeland. And.”
As he watched, entranced, the light flowing along the rippled pattern of the blade.
The Boss made a vow.
“I can burn it all down too.”
Remembering his homeland collapsing and burning in vain, and the shame of having to flee while leaving screams behind.
The vengeful spirit willingly decided to offer more than ten thousand people as sacrifices.
For revenge.