Chapter 18

**(18)**

**Question:** Choose the floor where the gang leader of the slums should place the safe and hideout.

1. The first floor, where you can escape at any time.

2. The third floor, which connects to other buildings via the alleys and allows for a quick escape.

3. The second floor, which is easy to access from both the first and third floors.

**Answer:** ???

“Die! You crazy bastard!”

The man with the hatchet charged forward with rage.

His whole body was swollen with veins, as if he had just taken drugs.

I lifted the one who had just pierced my heart and used him as a shield.

The moment the hatchet hesitated, I kicked the corpse toward him.

Perhaps we had some affection for one another, as he didn’t let the body roll on the ground.

His desperate attempt to grab onto the corpse with his left hand was heart-wrenching.

“Even though you’re a junkie, you have your loyalties.”

I swung my sword down, slicing his exposed neck.

With a squelching sound, the skin and vessels of the neck were cut smoothly as if slicing butter with a sharp knife.

It wasn’t a grand blow that pierced bones, but I preferred elegance over brute strength.

“Cough…!”

He collapsed on the floor, clutching his bleeding neck and writhing in agony.

I turned my back on him and surveyed the hideout.

There was so much smoke that it was hard to see even the outlines of people.

Which floor would it take to find the safe and the leader?

“This neighborhood actively uses the sewers.”

I mumbled ‘sewers’ a few more times in my mouth and checked the pillars and walls.

“I need to go to the second floor.”

The third floor was too high, and the first was too precarious.

Since it was a stone building, there wasn’t much to burn.

The flames were slowly dying down, but the smoke was rising even more.

I gathered the flames that were draped behind me into my palm.

A couple of drops of cold sweat trickled down.

Though I felt my focus wavering in the middle of it, I managed to stabilize myself.

I hid the fireball, now the size of a large marble, in my left hand.

There were no signs of the gang as I ascended the stairs.

They all seemed to be working outside.

Entering the second floor, I headed immediately toward the room in the south center.

The sunlight came in well, I could monitor any intruders in real-time, and there were no buildings in front of me to risk being sniped at with a bow.

“……”

A thick, luxurious oak door blocked my way at a glance.

“I found it.”

I thrust my sword once more through the gaps in the planks.

With a creaking sound and the shattering of solid wood, a cry escaped.

“Ah! You bastard!”

Before I could grab the doorknob, the door burst open.

A gaunt man, bleeding from his side, leaped up with daggers in each hand.

“Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue and threw the fireball forward without hesitation.

Whoosh! The flames shot out like the fire of a young dragon, engulfing the gaunt man and the man behind him.

I stepped into the room and didn’t glance back at the two rolling on the floor.

The smoke that had come up to the second floor followed me in like a thick morning fog.

“Who dares to block my path, lowly beings?”

I spat out words that sounded like a villain in a comedy, accompanied by a chuckle, and lowered my sword.

“……!”

There were seven left in the room, not counting me.

One sat unmoving in a chair behind a desk.

He had a neatly trimmed short beard.

He was undoubtedly the leader.

Among the six blocking my way were a bald man, a woman, and a cloaked man.

Except for one wielding a long scythe, the rest were armed with daggers or hatchets.

I didn’t spare them a glance as I spoke to the leader.

“I’ll commend you for not running away.”

“From which gang did you come? I haven’t heard of a skilled person like you wandering into this street.”

I wrung out all the empathy I had learned in my 57 years of life, including my previous existence, to grasp the meaning of his words.

Surprisingly, it was a compliment.

Recognition from the leader of a well-organized gang that dealt drugs in the red-light district.

If I were indeed just a knife-wielder in this street, it might have made me somewhat proud.

But I was the man who had risen to a position above the commoners, the noble Valenciaunos, brother of the Emperor, and the Elder Brother in the Imperial Family.

Receiving praise from a gang leader like him would only elicit a snicker.

“Shut your mouth and wait, you commoner.”

By deliberately making a provocative remark, I aimed to scratch his pride and prevent him from escaping.

I glared at the six knife-wielders while bringing my sword down.

Their fierce eyes and the sharp edges of their weapons formed a pleasing harmony.

Let’s go.

I took a breath and stepped forward.

I expanded every muscle in my body with mana.

The sensation of every muscle fiber surrounded by mana, the burden that followed, and the sounds of the environment fading away became unnoticeable.

Imperial swordsmanship, Level 1. One with the body.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

As I kicked off the ground, a loud noise echoed like bones scraping.

The muscles, which had swelled up, shrank back again, and cold sweat dripped down.

“W-what?”

“Cough!”

“No!”

“Leader!”

“Just now…”

Blood sprayed from the six who had been blocking me as they fell to the ground at chest height.

“This isn’t a joke.”

I panted, rubbing my throbbing right wrist.

Though I was superhuman compared to my peers, it was a taxing technique to use with my seventeen-year-old body, which was still in the midst of growth.

Especially after using mana lavishly to conjure such flames.

The leader stared at me with his mouth agape.

His previously stern expression turned foolish.

However, I read not fear but hope in his eyes.

In that moment, I sprang off the ground.

The dagger meant to strike my calf sliced through the air.

“Ugh!”

The man with the leather greaves glared at me with eyes filled with rage.

Having crawled while bleeding, long streaks of blood smeared on the floor behind him.

He was weak.

I clicked my tongue inwardly.

Even now, when using my sword, I unconsciously moved like I used to.

Though my insides were ruined, my physical growth had matured, I was still in the period when my appearance was tough.

It was natural that I couldn’t keep up with this body that was both untrained in skill and raw in appearance.

I came crashing down from the momentum of my leap and stabbed him in the back.

The jarring impact reverberated through the sword as it shattered his spine against the stone floor.

“Why didn’t you run?”

I asked, retrieving my sword.

The leader didn’t answer.

“I thought a swordsman like you wouldn’t be able to run away.”

“‘You’? Speak humble, commoner. This is Valenciaunos, the Duke of the Empire.”

I said, pushing my hair back with my left hand.

The leader laughed as if he had seen every kind of crazy.

Yet even in such a situation, he moved his gaze to scan my golden-trimmed uniform and my silvery hair.

“!”

His mouth continued to smile, but his hands began to tremble like aspen leaves.

The gold-trimmed designs I wore could only be used by the royal family.

“Is it true?”

His voice sounded both shocked and incredulous.

“Do you think I would lie after winning? Check outside, there’s a Knight from the Silver Knight Order.”

“H-Haha.”

The leader laughed bitterly, his face a pale mask of fear.

“I suppose this feels like becoming the protagonist of a dragon myth.”

In the Empire, there were tales like, “The opponent you quarrel with on the street turns out to be a dragon enjoying a polymorph.”

“Why, esteemed Duke, have you come to find a commoner like me?”

He rose from his seat awkwardly to ask.

I surveyed the room and replied, “A package should have arrived. The delivery address was written wrong. I’m here to retrieve it.”

The leader let out a grunt.

Considering the likely culprit and the client, that would be reasonable.

Thus, I had to remind him of the owner of that relic.

“You know, that relic belongs to Her Majesty, Emperor Jayrilis. Get your wits about you. Whatever promises you’ve made, can you bear the wrath of her?”

Jayrilis. The authority conferred by that name was something a mere gang leader could not withstand.

The leader’s complexion turned yellow, then green.

I checked the key necklace hanging around the leader’s neck.

The safe should be somewhere in this room.

I suspected a painting that looked out of place or an unusually large wardrobe.

“Hand over the package. It’s not something you should have. Do you want to lose everything for just a bit of money?”

Having said this much, if he didn’t willingly hand over the key, I would consider beheading him.

As the leader, he would likely have some secret weapon, but still, he was merely a beggar gang leader.

He would crumble like a twig before the Imperial swordsmanship.

The leader gritted his teeth.

Seeing that expression, I openly sighed.

His resolved face was calm.

“Valenciaunos grants you a chance.”

He jumped onto the desk and threw the hatchet.

Clang!

I twirled my sword and deflected the axe blade.

The next moment, his flying kick aimed at my chest came crashing in.

The sharp steel spikes on the sole of his shoe glinted.

I adjusted into a stance for the Imperial swordsmanship’s upper cut and stepped back.

My jaw met the wall.

The next moment, he spun around using the foot that had come down and threw a dagger with centrifugal force.

I ducked down and evaded it.

Thud!

The dagger struck exactly where my throat had been.

He rushed in with a second dagger reversed in his grip.

I kicked off the ground as I maintained my crouched stance and swung my sword upward.

Swish!

The blade pierced into his right armpit, cutting deeply between his collarbone and chest and emerging out the other side.

He staggered, taking a step or two before finally kneeling.

“Why did you do it? I thought you were a smart guy.”

I asked.

The leader was not a bad fighter, but he was not strong enough to win against me, especially after I had just taken out the six at once.

Once I had instantly defeated the six, the outcome was likely already decided.

However, he willingly challenged me and met with a foretold death.

It seemed there was a reason for a fight when you were aware you would lose.

Ordinarily, only those with something to protect would take such actions.

I seized the keys hanging from the leader’s neck.

I approached a large wardrobe next to the desk.

“The safe is behind the painting.”

The leader turned this way and spat blood, looking at me with pleading eyes.

“……”

I flung the wardrobe door open.

Inside were a pile of ragged clothes.

As if to hide something.

Clearing away the clothes revealed a passage that led further inside the wardrobe.

It was wide enough for an adult to pass through if they bent slightly.

From the back, a faint smell of water wafted.

It was a secret passage that led down to the sewers.

Finally, a girl was curled up inside.

Was she about fifteen?

She resembled the leader.

“I see what they promised you.”

It was the moment the suspicion I had held since before my reincarnation became confirmed.

The girl had one of her legs chopped off above the knee.

She was unable to escape through the ladder of the secret passage.

I turned my gaze from her back to the leader and said, “The Empire has strict laws against guilt by association.”

In this world, families and bloodlines were prioritized over individuals, and shared both merits and demerits was normal.

If a father stole a relic of the imperial family, his daughter would naturally be executed alongside him.

“Please.”

The leader pleaded.

It was a single sentence laden with deep emotion.

I approached her with my sword lowered.

“You’re in the slums. Without you, it could be worse than death.”

“I was planning to send it to my brother, Your Excellency.”

The leader pleaded desperately.

“Does your brother not use drugs?”

“He doesn’t drink either.”

I turned back and pulled a painting from the wall.

A grimy safe was revealed.

When I used the three keys successively on the three holes, the door opened.

Inside, large enough for two people to fit comfortably, were piles of white powder, red powder, and silver coins shiny from handling.

I picked up the paper bag resting on top.

Tearing open the top, I retrieved the contents wrapped in paper and burned the bag with a spell, which had Rudi’s handwriting on it.

Having secured the relic, I swung down my sword.

Swish, the leader’s head rolled on the floor.

“……”

As I turned my body, I felt a slight regret immediately.

The girl with one leg had stepped out from the wardrobe and was staring at the scene.

Biting her lower lip, she opened her mouth.

Her eyes reflected resentment, shock, sadness, and a refined light of rationality trying to suppress all three.

I glanced at the silver coins and said, “Take as much as you can carry and leave.”

The girl nodded.

“Thank you, Your Excellency. May I ask just one thing?”

“I permit it.”

“Why did you kill my father?”