***Chapter 272 Varkas I***

――He had no memory of his father.

He was probably just one of the many customers his mother had entertained.

His mother also died soon after, and he didn't have much memory of her either.

By the time he could remember, he was changing dirty beds in cheap brothels.

Apparently it was decided from the time he was born that he would become a slave.

His mother stole money from the brothel and ran away, but she couldn’t find a place to work, and ended up selling her body again, where she was caught.

A stupid woman.

Naturally, the money she stole became her mother's debt, and her son became a ‘cleaning tool’ for the inn.

It would have been different if he was a girl, but he was just an unattractive boy.

Although it was good that they took him in as a slave, they probably wouldn’t have cared if he had died at any time.

He was given moldy bread once a day.

He worked from morning till night just to get that.

He didn’t have a name.

When people called him ‘you’, or ‘brat’, it wasn’t particularly inconvenient.

His mother was the same, and she seemed to have a grudge against her newborn child.

He didn’t know what happened.

It was probably just a silly dream talk anyway.

If that were the case, she should have just killed him when he was born.

There's no way one bread would be enough.

He learned to scavenge for leftovers and steal food to survive――and he began to have doubts about that kind of life before he turned ten. He wondered how many more years this would continue, felt despair, and hated everything, so he ran away from the brothel and went into the city.

At first, he was afraid of being caught, but he soon realized that he wasn't even worth the effort to find and catch in the first place, he laughed at that realization.

Even a pet dog would have more value than him.

The red-light district was full of kids like him, probably with similar backgrounds.

No one cared about dirty kids like them, and at most they would just look at him with disgust, making sure their money or products weren’t stolen.

That was the freedom he gained by losing even the bare minimum of food.

As long as one is alive, they will get hungry.

Just when thought that even if he was going to die anyway, he didn't want to die of starvation and suffering, he saw some dirty kids stealing food from a stall.

That’s good, he thought and followed them into an alley.

He picked up a stick and a stone that were lying around and decided to take it from them.

The kid nibbling on stolen food, covered in rags, shivered as they slept in the back alley.

He didn't feel like joining them.

He didn't see any point in trying to please some brat and eating poor food after all this.

If that were the case, he wouldn’t have run away from the brothel in the first place.

――What he wanted to achieve was freedom.

To eat as he pleased, sleep as he pleased, and die as he pleased.

In a world where absurdity reigned, he wanted the freedom to impose that absurdity.

That’s what he desired.

He knew the strength of adults, but he could handle kids.

Holding his breath, he waited for nightfall to find out who the leader was, and smashed his head open with a stone.

The leader seemed to be somewhat older, but if the head was crushed then you would die.

It was surprisingly easy, he thought. While the other kids screamed and woke up, he quickly beat them with the stick.

“Hey, hand over the stolen food.”

He conveyed his demand with just those words.

――He was the weakest at the inn, but that's not the case among the kids.

Compared to brats who didn't even have enough to eat that day, leftover food from a brothel was still more nutritious.

Getting beaten every day made him resistant to pain, and he probably had unconsciously used physical strengthening from then.

His physical strength was incomparable to the kids, and even if they were taller than him, he was invincible against those lanky kids.

He had no qualms about beating up the same brat or killing him.

In a world where even one’s own life had no value, there was no way that other people's lives have any value.

Even if it had value, it didn't matter.

He was hungry.

When he had enough food for several days, he ate to his full, and when it ran out, he searched for a group of kids and stole their food.

The law of that world was for the strong to prey on the weak, and it was truly a world of beasts.

Seeing them bleed from the nose, cry, and beg for their lives felt good.

At that moment, he existed in the world.

Even if he was a nameless kid, everyone bowed down to him for that moment.

He had nothing to lose, and if he lost, he’d just die. It just ends.

That would be refreshing too.

By staking his worthless life, he could control the fate of others.

Fighting was the best pleasure.

Of course, such days didn’t last long.

There’s always someone stronger, and he was just a big fish in a small pond.

In less than a month, he was beaten down, crawling on the ground.

“Hey, stop. He’ll die.”

“But, Boss――”

“Shut up. Anyone who gets killed by a kid would die soon anyway.”

There were three adults. He could remember trying to bite through one’s neck, but the next thing he knew, he was on the ground being kicked.

Just as he vaguely thought that it was the end, one of the men stopped it.

“He’s got some potential compared to others. If we raise him, he might be useful. …Hey, kid, what’s your name?”

“……”

He glared at the man. That was the first time he saw his face.

Tall, looking about twenty.

The underling looked much older but seemed to be actually over thirty.

“Can’t talk?”

“...Don’t have one. Just kill me already.”

“Ha, feisty one. Alright… from today, you’re Grunmeld. I’ll keep you as my underling from now on.”

"Haa...?"

The man laughed and approached him, crouching down in front of him.

He immediately tried to rip the man’s throat out, but his head was pushed to the ground.

Despite being slender, the man had abnormal strength.

He writhed in pain feeling as if his skull would crack, he grabbed the man’s arm, but it didn’t budge.

“If you listen to me, you won’t have to do this stupid stuff in this stupid place. I’ll let you eat your fill. You killed one of gofers, so you’re replacing him from today on.”

"Gh, this bas..."

"I'll teach you, a filthy wild dog, how to take feed and make you human. Follow me."

The man’s name was Krarze.

One of the city’s scoundrels.

A small group called Varkas in a fairly large city.

More of a gang than an organization, running errands for a larger organization.

Not some big shot who ruled the city.

Someone like that wouldn’t bother with petty brats fights.

He was just a small thug.

Still, there was no doubt that he was the most important person to him at that time.

True to his word, the man let him eat his fill and gave a corner of his room to the newly acquired underling.

After several beatings when I tried to attack the man in his sleep, he got used to being called Grunmeld and gradually grew attached, eventually admiring him as his big brother.

Although the man was a small-time thug, he was an excellent dog owner.

At least the man gave him ‘name’, Grunmeld, and ‘place’ as his younger brother.

Even as he got older, he still thought about Krarze from time to time.

He was in a small world in a small town.

A hopeless scoundrel with petty dreams, but back then, Krarze was undoubtedly Granmeld’s big brother, and he admired him.

After five or six years, he had learned most things.

How to earn and spend money, how to use his head and how to hone your strength.

Most of the time it was for a no good job, but since he was able to kill people even before he turned ten, he never had any doubts about the job Krarze was teaching me.

“Please stop, that child…!”

“Oh, you were so tough before, and now you’re changing your tune. Hey, don’t you also want to work for your kind father?”

" Eek..."

There were several ways to intimidate.

But the basic principle was always to find the weak spot and exploit it.

Investigate the house and target the family. Or relatives.

Targeting women is more convenient.

Making someone sell their body was realistic, and it’s also easy for the other person to imagine.

If they don't have a daughter, then their wife.

Before the man returned from work, barged into the house and waited there, then when the man opened the front door he would be greeted with thugs.

The most important thing is impact.

If the other person was confused, settle things before they regain composure.

Ransack the house but never harm the hostages. That’s crucial too.

Idiots tend to want to lay their hands on the women, but it’s important to maintain the pretense of a deal. Damaging the woman would only lower their value and could incite anger rather than fear.

It is important not to let the hostage become desperate, and it is important to raise the value of the hostage.

Oddly, even in a strained marriage, when the wife was taken hostage, the husband would often risk himself to protect her.

Don't know if it was a foolish desire to be a hero or what, but it was convenient for them.

"I-I'm sorry for saying something so disrespectful... I-I apologize. I'll also take care of the money somehow..."

"Not somehow, but now is the time to pay. We went all the way to this place, do you think we'll be able to go home empty-handed?"

He quickly stretched his back, but even so he was still a kid.

There were many who were aggressive, but since he was a kid, he used other kids as pawns.

They were brats who had nothing to lose, like stray dogs.

If he took five or six of them along, the other party had no choice but to back down.

Even if they ran to the security force, they knew it wouldn't help.

Even if they managed to capture one kid, new ones would sprang up endlessly.

“...I don't want to make things too big either, but boss Krarze told me to come here. You understand, right? If I go home empty-handed, I'll be half-dead. How much do you think I got beaten when I came home empty-handed from your place the other day? ”

It is also good to say that he was just an errand boy for the boss.

If they understood that taking care of him wouldn't harm Krase, they'd fear retaliation.

Playing the sympathy card by crying also worked surprisingly well, letting them know that he had no choice but to do it often led to good results.

"Well, I know that your store's sales aren't good. I heard that Keeni also destroyed things at the store wantonly. I sympathize with you...but at least the interest. We don't want to cross dangerous bridges either. From my boss and yours perspective, I’m just a dirty little kid, I also don't want to be sandwiched like this.''

Most people have a sense of humanity, and when they know that the other person was in the same position as them, they couldn’t express their feelings too strongly.

We aren't doing this because we want to, but because we have no choice.

I sympathize with you, but we're desperate too——using this logic, even the initially tough ones would soften.

"...Will you promise never to touch my daughter again?"

“Oh, look. I haven’t actually laid my hand, and if by any chance any of these guys try it, I’ll kill them. It might be hard, but as long as you pay the interest properly, it's fine. ...You can go."

“Y-yes.”

And the setup, having the kids pretend to attack the daughter, then stepping in to stop them himself, was effective.

Showing this to the daughter beforehand ensured that when Grunmeld and the others left, the daughter would testify that Grunmeld had ordered his henchman to not touch her.

Then, they would realize that he was a man who kept his promises.

"Saryu, Saryu, go to the next room. ... Please wait a bit, It's true I don't have the money right now."

"Anything that's worth money is fine. I'll tell the boss myself."

"... I understand."

He never thought he was smart, but he was at least better than the scums.

He had the sense to use both his strength and his mouth, and he rarely failed at collecting money. He hadn't made any big mistakes.

It wasn't a world where a kid who made a big mistake could survive, but he was doing pretty well.

"Boss, this is that bastard Dakkan's interest. I was a little rough with him, but it should be fine. I have finished the talk."

"Oh, that's amazing, Grunmeld. No overdue. Compared to that... Hey, Keeni. Aren't you ashamed? A guy ten years younger than you can do the job right, and you can't?"

"S-sorry, boss..."

The hideout consisted of several rented small rooms, always moving around.

Krarze was cautious, changing his base as soon as something happened.

He didn't play around much, apart from socializing with other groups, and he kept the money elsewhere.

He had three younger brothers, including Grunmeld.

One of them is a big, strong man named Gallus who liked to fight. He was strong in fight and was always kept at Krarze’s side during negotiations, but he usually works as a bodyguard at Krarze’s shop.

A classic example of muscle with little brains, but he never betrayed and always did his job without complaints when asked.

The good thing about Gallus was that he blindly looked up to Krarze's intelligence.

He liked drinking and women, but his straightforward and bold personality wasn't unlikable.

In contrast, Keeni was a small-time crook with no particular merits..

Keeni was the type who relied on force and was not very intelligent, but has a lot of pride.

He had wondered why Krarze would keep such a man by his side, but it seemed that he had been Krarze’s younger brother ever since he was a child.

That was probably Krarze's major flaw.

Despite his ruthlessness, he was lenient with his own people.

Grunmeld looked down on Keeni, and Keeni resented Grunmeld, but it wasn't a big problem.

He never dreamed that a man's jealousy would throw away even his twenty-year-old friendship with his brother.

Krarze was not a person suited to play the part of scoundrel.

Like many kids who grew up in the ditch, he has a strong admiration for words such as family, relatives, and home, even though he verbally criticizes people who live carefree lives.

His insults were a reflection of his envy.

In an attempt to gain what he couldn't have, he created makeshift families.

Grunmeld was the name of Krarze's younger brother who had died as a child.

Krarze was that kind of man, and if he had lived a normal life, he probably would have had ordinary happiness.

He knew that Krarze sometimes forced himself to pretend to be ruthless.

"Well, that's fine, Keeni, go to West street tomorrow. If we can't recover the items, we'll send them to Grunmeld."

"Yes..."

"You can go."

When Keeni left the room, Krarze scratched his head and sighed.

While watching this, Grunmeld poured the cold black bean tea that had been left out since morning into a cup and sat down on the sofa.

There were two sofas and a large desk.

Small swords and cloaks were placed messily on the shelves, along with some alcohol.

It was a simple room, but Krarze Clase nor Grunmeld wanted anything more than protection from the rain and wind.

Krarze sleeps on the sofa in the back, and Grunmeld sleeps on the sofa near the entrance.

The sitting position remained the same.

Grunmeld drink the black bean tea down his throat and crossed his arms with a sigh.

"……Big brother"

"I'm sure we had talked about Keeni before, Grunmeld. Well, even he can be useful sometimes."

"He can only serve as a numbers filler. That Dakkan guy got even more troublesome because he got violent for no reason."

When Keeni first went to collect the interest, it seems that when he heard that he could not pay the interest, Keeni destroyed everything in the store and went home.

As a result, expenses increased unnecessarily, and when Grunmeld was sent away, that Dakkan became furious and shouted that he would ‘file a complaint with the security forces’.

Debts purchased from a bankrupt trading firm.

Collection itself is legal, but interest is illegal.

There's nothing nice about being noticed by the security forces.

The important thing was to find out what the other person could tolerate and have a sense of balance so as not to overstep it, but Keeni did not understand that at all.

He was a guy who only knew how to crush eggs instead of getting them.

Just watching him was irritating.

"Stop it. He's your big brother too."

“My only brothers are brother Krarze and brother Gallus.…Recently, I’ve only wiping Keeni’s butts.”

"... I do feel bad for you, but..."

Krase took a bottle of wine and cups from the shelf, sat next to Grunmeld, and poured for both of them.

"It’s not like we're not related by blood or anything, but we're like family. You and Gallus are my younger brothers, and so is Keeni. I won't cut him off even if you complain."

Then, he patted Grunmeld on the head, swishing up the wine.

"He's well-informed and has a broad network. You know he set up the meeting with the Orgall group, right?"

"...He can’t be trusted much though."

It was a group of nearly a hundred people who they had skirmishes with several times.

They were a group of scums whose only merit was their numbers.

The group was quite large compared to them, which consisted of only four people and an errand boy, but they beat them up a few times.

Both Krarze and Grunmeld were able to use body strengthening, and although Gallus cannot use body strengthening, he was a big man who could defeat four or five people with his body alone.

They had enough strength to fight each other even if they clashed head-on, but the Orgall group often used their advantage in numbers to ravage their own territory, which was a hassle.

That's when the talk comes.

Grunmeld suggested killing Orgall right away, but Krarze, saying that it was an opportunity Keeni had created, took up on it.

"Well, as you say, killing Orgall is one way, but regardless of his strength, he's a great bastard who can maintain such a large group... Considering the future, it would be a shame to kill him."

"It's fine if my brother can take Orgall’s place. There's no one in this town who doesn't know brother, and even the scum that clings to Orgall will listen to what you have to say."

"I'm happy to hear you say that, but there’s sky above the sky. Unless I'm the strongest in the world, that approach won't last long."

‘we have to find a way other than that’ said Krarze, pointing to his head.

Although not convinced, Grunmeld silently drank the wine.

"You're strong for a kid. You'll be much stronger than me in the future. ...But please understand that what's important is not the strength, but how you use them. You can only do what's right in front of you with your physical strength, but if you use your head, you can move even a thousand ri ahead. Isn't that the same with this country? ”

He said, pointing above his head.

“It's not like the king is the strongest, but he can kill whoever he wants with just one word, and money can be collected from the ends of the country. That's the kind of system I want to create. Of course, it's not as big as a country."

Krarze was a dreamer.

He always dreams of an ideal.

"...I can't imagine it. A stray dog is still a dog, no matter how far it goes."

"True, but that's a harsh way to put it. ...But even dogs can decide how and where to live."

Krarze also patted him on the head.

He was slender, but had big hands.

It was painfully rough, but he didn't dislike it.

"You're my younger brother. I'm proud. If you say you can't imagine it, I'll take you there first. Once you're free from living day to day, I'm sure your thoughts will change."

A scum and a good for nothing scoundrel.

However, he was an ordinary man who wasn’t even suited to be a small scoundrel.

That's why it was inevitable.

――Two weeks later, at the second meeting, he and Gallus were poisoned and killed.

Betrayed by his younger brother, he died a foolish and anticlimactic death.

After killing the traitor, killing Orgall, and killing dozens of others, he escaped the city to escape the law enforcement that arrived in response to the commotion.

And so, once again, he was left at a loss.