A street in an alley illuminated with the colors of the night.
Crack! Crack!
The sound of bones and tendons being cut was awakening the quiet alley.
That sound, along with the unidentifiable bones hanging all over the shop, made the atmosphere of the place grim.
"Is the owner here?"
"...What?"
Two men entered the butcher shop, pushing aside the meat hanging all around.
The owner of the butcher shop, who had been cutting meat for a while, frowned as he looked at the two men crowding in front of the store.
"How can a bastard without a brain speak so rudely to an adult?"
When the boy, who looked freshly out of his teens, spoke informally, the owner, who seemed very indifferent, spat out the bone he was chewing on and growled.
"Did your parents teach you that?"
"It's been a while since someone came here looking for their parents."
Shrugging, Vlad removed the hood he was wearing and handed a small note to the owner.
The owner's face seemed to stiffen a bit as he saw the boy's blond hair that didn't match the atmosphere of the place and the note with tiny letters.
"Why these people?"
"No, I was wondering if you've seen him."
"Why would you come to the butcher shop looking for someone? We don't sell people here."
"Really?"
Vlad smiled as he watched the owner pound the meat forcefully.
He's here.
"I used to be a resident here, but I recently came back. Was this place always a butcher shop?"
"Ask that to the Black Bear. I have permission."
The butcher. The Black Bear.
The name of another boss who dominated the back alley emerged, but Vlad simply smiled as if he found it ridiculous.
He couldn't intimidate the boy with just that kind of reputation anymore.
"Then I'll ask later."
Vlad leaned over the counter and brought his face closer to the butcher shop owner's.
Although it seemed dangerous for a boy to approach someone who was cutting meat with a knife, each action of the boy carried an unknown weight.
"But seriously, it's quite interesting."
"What is?"
The owner, staring directly into the boy's blue eyes, swallowed saliva unconsciously.
At first, he thought he was just a spoiled kid, but suddenly he was influencing the atmosphere of this place with just a few words.
"If you want to survive, buy something. If not, leave right now..."
"How did you know the name on the note was a person's?"
The boy's question stopped the descending knife's movement.
Only the sound of the chain link that Vlad had just pushed could be heard in silence.
A strange silence hung over the butcher shop.
"Learning to read here isn't easy."
"..."
Clang-
The owner, still holding his meat knife, stared at the boy in front of him.
Or more precisely, at the dark-skinned man standing behind the boy.
The man who had just closed the shop door.
"I came here to ask, so give me an answer."
The corner of Vlad's lip curved as he looked at the owner, who gazed back with tense eyes.
One corner of Vlad's lips curved upward, as if he were about to say something.
"Do you sell people besides human flesh?"
"Damn it!"
The owner quickly brandished the knife he held, but Vlad had already anticipated it and simply tilted his head.
It was a sharp move, unusual for a simple butcher, but the boy was now an entity that had risen to the level of a knight.
"Business here ends today. Otar."
"Understood."
The dark-skinned man, Otar.
The man who officially served as the deputy commander-in-chief of the guard. He drew an axe from his belt.
"Who are you?! Where did you come from?!"
"...Where did you come from?"
As the lights from outside were obscured by the closed door, inside the butcher shop, only the candles tremblingly lit by the trembling owner remained.
Dim, flickering light in the darkness.
It was the color of the back alley.
"That's what I want to ask."
The lights cast deep shadows on the boy's face.
Crack! Crack!
Inside the tightly closed butcher shop, the sounds of meat and bones being cut still echoed.
The only difference from before was that mixed in were the screams of someone.
***
In the back alley, just before dawn.
Vlad sat across from a street vendor who was about to close up shop and picked up a skewer.
"Take one too."
"Got it."
The two men sitting down began cleaning their weapons as they bit into the skewers.
Otar's bloodied axe.
And Jorge's dagger, which now only Vlad could wield.
The appropriate tools for the back alley had now finished their day's work in the hands of their owners.
"When did a guy like that show up?"
"Jack hasn't been managing things well lately."
"He's messed it up that much?"
"...Well, ever since that day, he changed a lot."
Though Otar had been a subordinate of Jack, he didn't want to criticize his former boss's final appearance.
After all, regardless of the outcome, only Jack had accepted the man with different-colored skin into the back alley.
"Well, we'll figure out the details with the higher-ups."
The man disguised as a butcher said:
He was only a middleman collector and claimed that the slave traders would know more details.
He hadn't heard anything about Anna, but in the end, she had been secretly selling people in the corner of the back alley all this time.
"Even if we confirm the identity, will this be enough...?"
He hadn't thought that such a light matter would have such deep roots.
Perhaps, if it weren't for Vlad's existence, as always, this incident would have simply been considered one of the many that happen in the back alley and would have been buried.
Light and darkness, those who are excluded and those who shine.
The boy still stood on the dividing line between them.
"Vlad! Brother!"
The familiar voice of the boy reached Vlad's ears, who had been lost in thought.
From the end of the alley, a dark-skinned boy was running hurriedly towards them.
"Phew... Phew... Ah!"
"I'm not going anywhere."
Vlad placed a skewer in the mouth of the boy running towards him eagerly.
It was the fair reward the boy should receive.
"Did you understand what I asked you?"
"Uh... I heard there are kids who saw her."
Indeed.
Vlad and Otar nodded at each other.
As if birds heard the words during the day and mice heard them at night, rumors in the back alley always reached the ears and eyes of young children.
"What did they see?"
"They saw the girl Vlad is looking for. Was her name Anna?"
"That's right."
Ned replied with an excited expression as he bit into the skewer Vlad had given him.
"Someone said they saw the girl get on a stagecoach for the first time about a month ago. But it was a bit strange."
"What was strange?"
Instead of answering, Ned offered his palm to Vlad.
"...You did a good job raising your little brother."
"Hmm."
To survive in alleys like those, even the youngest had to become ruthless.As both knew, instead of getting angry, they simply nodded.
"Here's one more skewer."
"The strange thing was..."
At Vlad's request, Ned began to speak.
The little mouse that had been sniffing around the alley brought the exact information Vlad wanted.
"It was said that all the women who boarded that carriage were pregnant."
"What?"
To others, Ned's words might sound strange, but to Vlad, they evoked something.
"...All of them were pregnant?"
"They say all the women who boarded the carriage had bulging bellies. Isn't that strange? Someone is buying pregnant women who can't even work."
"······"
When Ned asked if he could have more to eat, Vlad simply nodded backward without saying a word.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
Although Otar asked with an increasingly serious expression, Vlad couldn't snap out of his thoughts.
"Buying and selling pregnant women?"
Finding out that Anna was pregnant was already shocking, but accepting that there were people buying and selling pregnant women in the back alleys was even harder to swallow.
It made no sense and was morally wrong.
But those people were here.
'······It can't be.'
A sinister premonition swept through for a moment.
[It's always best to pay attention to bad feelings.]
Though he wanted to think otherwise, the warning from the voice in his mind reminded him of an incident that took place on a winter day.
There was a woman crying in the middle of a snowy camp, searching for her son.
A son who hadn't even been born yet.
[We should be prepared. It can't be that bad.]
Vlad could only nod at what the voice said.
There was something that the boy always noticed in Joseph's behavior.
His attitude was always one of preparing for the worst.
"...There's nothing wrong with being prepared."
The memories of that winter day still lingered vividly in Vlad's mind.
The morning sun was rising, but to Vlad's eyes, it still felt as if a shadow loomed deep in the back alley.
***
"Mr. Bordan."
"Yes, is there something to report?"
Bordan's office located in the town hall.
It was always filled with snacks, but today it was tidy.
"I discovered a suspicious trend."
"Oh... really?"
Looking at Vlad's serious expression, Bordan seemed ready to listen, but in reality, he was busy organizing papers.
"I told you to rest... I guess you didn't listen when I told you to take a break."
"No, I'm investigating Jack One-Armed."
"I didn't expect you to ask so soon."
Bordan awkwardly smiled as he stroked his chubby chin.
"You should rest, shouldn't you?"
"······"
Vlad finally understood.
Why Joseph would growl every time he saw Bordan.
The fat knight was a person who wouldn't move unless someone pushed him.
"Can't it wait a day or two? Is it that urgent?"
"It seems so."
"Think it over. Are you sure it's an imminent crisis?"
Although Bordan seemed to say this with a smile, Vlad already understood what he meant.
"Maybe you should go see the mayor."
Vlad's determined attitude finally made Bordan, who realized he was the only one who would solve the problem, sigh.
"This was my precious day off..."
After preparing for a delay, Bordan went to the window in frustration.
But there was no paradise in the place he escaped to.
"They're coming both up and down... I can't avoid it... They should come in one or two more days."
Vlad approached Bordan, who was sighing deeply.
Looking out the window, he saw the carriages and knights entering the town hall.
The flag hanging in the middle of the procession bore a familiar emblem.
It was the emblem of Bayezid.
***
"Are you here?"
"How have you been?"
Bordan and Vlad, after seeing the procession, quickly went to the front of the town hall to greet Joseph, who had arrived earlier than expected.
His arrival earlier than expected began to cause a stir in the town hall.
"Not much has happened so far, right?"
"Yes, everything was quiet. Mr. Joseph."
Bordan bowed to Joseph, despite his belly seeming not to want to bend.
"······"
But when Joseph's eyes met Vlad's, the latter only returned a subtle look, as if he had something to say.
"It seems there are problems."
"······"
Unnoticed by anyone, Bordan sighed and weakly followed Joseph's steps.
People greeting Joseph.
And the people entering Soara along with the procession.
While servants hurriedly brought down Joseph's belongings, the group followed the mayor's directions and headed to the very center of the town hall, where his office was located.
"Let me check first."
With the possibility that there might be something suspicious among Joseph's belongings, Jager began to search the room.
"There's nothing suspicious. He wouldn't walk around with something like that, would he?"
"······"
Although the mayor's response, who was smiling uncomfortably, was puzzling, Jager continued to search the room without saying a word.
For Jager, Joseph's safety was paramount.
The mayor's reputation was not important at all.
Faced with that calm reaction, the mayor of Soara simply withdrew without insisting.
While Jager searched the room, Joseph turned his head to look at Vlad.
"Thank you for your work."
"Thank you."
The two men, who knew what the gratitude meant, simply wondered about each other.
That was enough, considering they were in the same situation.
"What do you mean? Tell me."
"······I'm not sure if I should bother you with this."
Vlad hesitated at Joseph's words.
He knew that procedure was important because of what he had seen and heard in the Bayezid family.
"I would like to receive support in one way or another, but I guess I have to talk directly to the mayor..."
Joseph was a nobleman, but his lineage did not guarantee authority.
A suitable position for him. Only then could Joseph have authority.
And right next to Joseph was a person with such authority.
Even if he stood there not knowing what to do because of the discomfort Joseph gave him.
"That's a good judgment."
Joseph smiled as he looked at the boy studying the time and situation for himself and not acting recklessly.
He was proud to have taught someone who always considered the worst situation.
"I don't see anything suspicious, Mr. Joseph."
With Jager's nod, Joseph began to walk naturally toward the center of the office.
"······"
Watching Joseph walk to the mayor's desk under the afternoon sun, Vlad remembered the office in Sturma.
He was always sitting where he should be, looking at Vlad.
"The scenery here is quite nice too."
Joseph, lounging in the chair that only the mayor could sit in, smiled as he looked at the landscape outside the window.
Naturally, Soara's mayor stepped back due to the confident spirit shown by Joseph.
"I guess I'll have to replace the chair."
"...no no. Mr. Joseph, maybe."
The former mayor of Soara, who had finally realized what was going on, turned pale, but no one looked at him.
It seemed that the air in the room was changing.
It was the air created by Joseph.
"Now don't worry about that and just say it."
Vlad looked straight ahead with an empty gaze.
The man who was always sitting in front of him was there, feeling no discomfort at all.
"Talk to the new mayor of Soara."
The young man who had fought to survive was now sitting in a position he had earned for himself rather than being guaranteed by blood.
The new mayor of the city of Soara.
Joseph Bayezid.
The man with deep-shadowed eyes looked at the young man with a smile as the light streamed through the window.