There were ten quarter in the city and the Hull Quarter and the port area were separated from the other quarters by a wall running through the city.
They left through the gate west of the guild quarter and entered the hull quarter, and the carriage driven by Marino drove slowly down the street lit by street lamps.
"The loan shark we are meeting is called Pepe Don, you can't laugh like that when you hear his name!"
Yu couldn't stop laughing when he heard the man's last name. Marino was so afraid of the loan shark that he looked around to see if anyone had seen what Yu had done.
"I will be respectful to Mr. Don, I promise."
"You're still laughing when you say that! Look, he's not someone you can make fun of."
"Okay, don't worry, I can stop laughing."
He had a talent for not laughing if he didn't want to laugh, even if he saw something that would make other people laugh.
Even though he was already laughing, he was worried inside. He had told Yurine that he didn't want to be separated from her, but he had to entrust her to Lucie.
The only thing he was doing now was hiding his worry by laughing.
"Have you thought of anything to convince the loan shark?"
"No, have you?"
"I thought you might think..."
If Marino was going to expect everything from Yu, it was going to be a difficult time for him.
"Try offering your house as a hostage, leave your wife and children at the inn for a while."
"I... I didn't explain to them what we were going to do." Marino pulled the carriage into an alley. "I don't know how to explain, how to explain this."
He could understand Marino. It was not easy to tell his family about something like this and it would upset them.
"You simply say, 'Mr. Valarfin won't let me talk about the job.' If they get on your case, you tell them that this is my condition for doing the job and that if you tell anyone, the job will be canceled."
The carriage went through the alleys and into the back streets. At night, the main streets of the city would be empty, but here they were full as if the day had just begun.
The lighting in the area was also different, green, red and blue lanterns giving the street the look of a cheap pavilion.
"Over there," Marino said. He gestured to the Thirtyoné Bar.
After pulling his carriage in front of the bar, Yu got out, his expensive clothes standing out.
Marino gave three silver coins to a thin young boy who came up to him as he got out of the carriage. He must have been used to doing this because there was no dialog between them, the boy took the money and then the carriage and left.
"They look at you as if they have seen a human being for the first time."
Especially the prostitutes on the street were undressing Yu with their eyes. It stroked his ego and disgusted him at the same time.
"You shouldn't look at them," Marino said as he walked through the door of the Thirtyoné Bar.
The guards at the door were not human. They were tigers, two meters tall and standing on two legs. The tigers recognized Marino and let him through.
"He's with me." Marino vouched for Yu to go inside.
The half-animal guards frisked Yu before he entered, the feel of their hands on his body disgusting him.
The first thing he encountered when he entered was smoke. It was smoky from tobacco and drugs, the heavy odor burning his nose, so Yu covered his mouth and nose with his hand.
Marino had his hand over his nose, as did Yu. As he followed him, Yu felt a woman's touch on his shoulder, his eyes burned as she blew smoke from her pipe into his face.
"Don't hide your face," she said. Yu put his hand to his eyes to wipe away the burning, and when he pulled his hand away, he could feel her breath.
The smell of tobacco from the redhead's mouth made Yu's forehead tense, he had never been this close to a woman as repulsive as her.
"Want to have fun?" The woman snuggled closer to Yu and whispered in his ear.
Yu was where he didn't belong, he slowly pushed her away and followed Marino.
Yu was attracting women like never before in his life. With every step he took, women leaned against the walls, trying to touch him and seduce him for the night.
He knew it was because of his expensive clothes rather than his handsome face. In Rolderhelm, clothes were a sign of status.
There was a woman singing in the Thirtyoné bar, but the bar was so crowded and the smoke so thick that Yu couldn't see who was singing.
He could see a person every step of the way. He was glad he hadn't brought Yurine to a place like this, he wouldn't want anyone to come in contact with him.
He followed Marino and they passed the area where people were gathered and entered a VIP area with more guards.
"Marino, have you come to pay your debt?" the guard said. Unlike the guards at the entrance to the bar, he was human. He was a little taller and older than Yu.
"I wanted to ask Mr. Pepe for more time."
"He's been giving you a grace period for six months."
"This is the last one, really…"
Unable to look the guard in the face, Marino lowered his head.
"Who is that?" the guard asked after looking Yu. "Did you trick someone to vouch for you?"
"I didn't... He is Mr. Valarfin. Mr. Valarfin is a businessman, he agreed to accompany me."
The guard looked at Marino and then at Yu and hissed. He turned around and said a few words to another guard in a language Yu did not understand.
They made them stand for ten minutes. In Rolderhelm culture it was customary to keep guests waiting who were not respectable.
"Mr. Pepe is waiting for you." The guard let Marino and Yu enter.
Before Yu walked through the door and met Pepe Don, the guard grabbed his shoulder. "Don't be stupid enough to vouch for anyone's debt, whether it's that nigger or anyone else, do you understand?"
"Yes."
As the guard pulled his shoulder away from Yu's hand, Yu entered the VIP section.
It was less smoky and a little brighter than the rest of the bar. There were still drug users around and the smell of tobacco smoke bothered Yu.
But it was not as suffocating as before, which was due to the fact that it was a private area and only certain people could smoke.
Two blonde dancers with fox ears were dancing in the center of the space, wearing erotic outfits that covered only their genitals.
Yu wanted to look, but instead of looking at the belly dancers, he looked at the person Marino was looking at, Pepe Don.
"You still haven't brought my money." Pepe Don's voice, deformed from drinking, was wheezy.
The loan shark had straw-blond hair, balding in the middle. His face was completely bald and he had no eyebrows.
He was obese and wore only a scarf. His sagging breasts were disgusting, and even more disgusting was the fact that even his nipples were sagging.
Pepe Don was lounging in a black armchair and didn't bother to get into a sitting position for his guests. With his dark blue eyes he looked at Yu, who was standing behind Marino.
"Rolderhelm looks beautiful on the outside, but inside there are such assholes."
"I ask for a grace period until the end of October, and this time I swear I will pay-" Before Marino could finish his sentence, a masked man standing next to Pepe Don stepped in front of him and punched him in the stomach.
Yu tried not to react, just watched as Marino doubled over and fell to the ground.
"How much more time do you want, asshole!" Pepe smashed his drinking glass against the corner of the sofa. His already weakened voice broke into a coughing fit as he forced it out in a fit of rage.
"I swear, pay-" Marino tried to speak again, but he couldn't finish; the masked man who had just punched him, this time stomped on his head with his foot.
All the while the belly dancers continued to dance as if nothing had happened.
"How will you pay?" Pepe Don was spitting as he spoke.
"Let me speak for him." Yu took a step forward.
"Are you the Valarfin?"
"Yes, my name is Yu Valarfin. I met Mr. Swann a few days ago and decided to do business with him, but I can't do that if you kill him because he can't pay his debt."
Pepe Don's gaze disgusted Yu. He hid his feelings, unable to do anything but endure it.
"What business is that?" asked Pepe.
"It's a brokerage, I won't give details." The thing he was most worried about when he came here was the possibility of Pepe getting involved. "I came here with him to ask you to give Mr. Swann until the end of October."
"You're going to vouch for him? Why should I accept your vouching?"
"I'm not here to vouch for him, I'm here to ask."
"Don't mock me!" Pepe Don shouted, spittle flying from his mouth again.
"Is there nothing we can do to get a respite from you? Mr. Swann is willing to pawn his house for a respite." Yu spoke calmly.
"I'm going to take his house anyway and not just his house but his life!" Pepe nodded and the masked man grabbed Marino by the neck and lifted him up. He was about to break his neck.
Seeing Marino dying, Yu lost the calm he had kept until now and raised his voice.
"Is there nothing we can do? Maybe a job? A mission?"
"DON'T RAISE YOUR VOICE WHEN YOU TALK TO ME, BOY!"
Two of Pepe's men in the room came at Yu, Yu took two steps backwards and bumped into another man. Facing Pepe's men, he lowered his voice again.
"Even if you want to kill him now and confiscate his assets, they will want to do the same because he owes money to the bank and you will end up in a confrontation with the bank. Instead of doing that, give him two more months and take your money, your money is worth more than his life and property."
Pepe Don thought for a moment, then nodded. Yu thought he was going to say no, but then he spoke. "Very well."
Pepe Don thought Yu's words made sense.
"Thank you-" Marino tried to speak, but the masked man squeezed his throat.
"You don't speak," Pepe Don said. Then he turned to Yu, "But I'll give you a task. If you succeed, you'll get the respite you want. If you fail, I will take everything from Marino."
The task. The only plan Yu had thought of before coming here was to ask for a mission.
"What mission?" Yu asked.
"Before morning you will find my son and kill him. Marino will stay here and wait."
"Your son? I, I can't kill someone."
Yu had killed Sorrow, but it was in self-defense. Now he was being asked to kill someone for his own benefit, he couldn't do it.
But if he didn't, Marino would die and if he died, his plan would fail.
"You can bring him to me and not kill him if you want, it doesn't matter, but if I don't see you here in the morning with him dead or alive, this man will die."
"Why do you want to kill your son? I don't understand?" Yu could understand wanting someone executed, after all he was a man involved in illegal activities, but why did he want his own son to die?
"It's none of your business. Are you going to do it or not?"
Just because he had killed someone before didn't mean he had the power to kill someone else. In trying to kill someone, it had to be assumed that he could kill himself.
He wasn't sure he had the determination to do it, as well as the fear of death.
"I'm not really doing this just for myself. It is also necessary for Yurine's request. So it would be selfish to refuse this mission, wouldn't it? It would be selfish if I refused for my own conscience."
He had to decide quickly, he had to come up with an excuse to convince himself.
"Marino will die too, if he dies, his little children will suffer..."
He didn't care about Marino or his family, but he had to deceive himself to accept the mission.
"If Marino dies, I die." That alone was enough for him to accept the offer.
He clenched his fist, he would accept the offer.
"How will I find your son?"
Pepe Don gestured to the half-naked servant next to him. The maid ran off and returned thirty seconds later with a necklace.
Yu took the necklace from the maid. It was one of those necklaces with a picture inside.
When he opened it, there was a picture of a woman inside. She was an attractive and beautiful woman with long straw blonde hair, white skin and dark blue eyes.
"This-" he didn't understand why a picture of a woman was brought to him.
"This is my son. He is trying to escape from the city, he is lingering near the harbor, waiting for the morning. In the morning he will escape on a ship, catch him before he escapes, kill him or bring him to me."