The Gullyman Hunt (2)
The day of the quarrel between the sun and the moon passed in the blink of an eye as well.
"...."
Elena woke early that morning. "Luke?" Only a hollow echo answered her. Still heavy with sleep, she searched for her brother, but it was no use.
With a soft click, she reached for the phone in the suite, intending to call Armo or Carso. At that exact moment—
Ding-dong!
The loud chime of the doorbell snapped the last traces of drowsiness from her mind.
"...."
The instant Elena opened the door, Felicia slipped through the gap.
"Elena, are you finally awake?"
"...."
If it had been Luke, he wouldn't have needed to ring the bell at all. Still, Elena had hoped—foolishly—that it might be him.
"What do you want?"
"Luke and Manfredi have both reached the site."
"What?"
What Felicia reported was that the operation to purge the minor factions between the two families would begin shortly.
Why didn't Luke wake me?
As Elena tried to guess his reason, her expression unconsciously grew serious.
"He said you were sleeping too soundly for him to disturb you."
"I didn't ask you."
Felicia spoke in a tone that suggested she knew exactly what Elena was thinking. More than anything, Elena had wanted to hear those words from Luke himself.
"You've both changed so much."
"...I'm tired of hearing that."
Luke and Elena. Their relationship had grown far too close. To Felicia, the change was far from welcome. At the very least, she had thought they should be given time to mourn Vito Fellini. She never imagined things would improve this quickly.
Honestly, Felicia did not dislike Elena. After all, Elena was the one who had delivered Luke to her. If Elena hurt him, Felicia would be the one to comfort him. That had been their unchanging formula—until now. The problem was that it could no longer continue. Because Felicia, too, had come to understand just how precious Luke was. Elena, who had only realized his value after her parents' deaths, seemed utterly pitiful.
"Anyway. May I come in?"
"Why should you?"
"We need to settle things between us as well. There are matters we should discuss."
It was clearly about Luke. Elena, who had no intention of yielding, willingly let her into the room.
*
The Greenbug district, located in the southeast of Hevilly. The name's origin was simple enough. It was a place where many green-skinned races—orcs, goblins, and the like—lived in large numbers. To the humans of Hevilly, these other races were little more than errors in the world, so they simply called them green errors.
Of course, what was happening here now was so significant that the origin of the name hardly mattered.
"Graaaagh!"
An alligator beastman burst from one of the buildings, only to have both legs seized by someone who dragged him straight back inside. The sharp sound that followed was that of something slicing through the creature's thick hide.
"Next building."
Sarina led the Fangs under her command, sweeping through every corner of Greenbug. The targets of her assault were the scattered Gullyman organization members throughout the district.
Originally, the territory of criminal organizations like the mafia or gangs wasn't defined by planes of area, but by points and lines. Since they possessed no administrative power, they could never truly dominate an entire surface. Therefore, it was enough to strike the key bases that connected those lines. The same principle applied when the enemy attacked us.
"Sarina's blood is really up."
"...Yes, that's understandable."
"...."
Giovanni and I watched the scene from a distance. When I didn't immediately respond, Giovanni gave me a look that asked whether I was truly clueless.
"It was a joke. Of course I know why."
"Really?"
"It's because of Felicia. She already hates Elena, and now on top of that, Felicia is marrying me. No wonder she's worked up."
Giovanni seemed slightly surprised that I had hit the correct answer immediately.
"More importantly, I believe it's time to deploy my subordinates. With only Sarina and the Fangs, the remaining enemies might launch a counterattack."
"Sarina will hate having her prey stolen."
"Hah, those bastards are my prey."
These battle-crazed maniacs. Did they truly enjoy the cycle of killing and being killed that much? I had killed countless people to reach this position, yet I could never understand that kind of mindset.
"Brother?"
"Fine. But make sure it's handled so cleanly that Sarina can't complain."
"Understood."
Giovanni and the Claws he commanded began moving into Greenbug.
"Underboss, contact from the Marinelli side."
"Manfredi?"
"Yes."
Armo, who had remained at my side, brought the phone over. I took the receiver he offered, and Manfredi's deep voice came through at once.
"Luke?"
"Yeah, it's me. How are things on your end?"
"I can say it's proceeding smoothly. Though not quite at your level."
Manfredi was an honest man. The fact that he could offer such praise to me—someone he'd been on bad terms with until recently—told me it was genuine, not flattery.
"Then let's meet in the middle of Greenbug as planned."
"Ah."
"Is there a problem?"
"Just now Sarina crossed beyond the area we had pre-agreed upon. We won't claim that sector, but my men have accumulated quite a bit of frustration lately."
It wasn't a bad proposal for the Marinelli. They wouldn't have to bother cleaning up territory that would have been theirs anyway.
"...Understood. If our people run into each other, I'll instruct them to withdraw."
"Good. That was quick."
The concise, meaningful call ended.
"Underboss, are you certain this is wise?"
"About what?"
"No matter how you look at it, we're clearing out sectors that should belong to them."
"We've gone as far as a political marriage. Let's consider this an act of goodwill. Besides, look at them."
At my words, Armo raised a pair of elegant brown binoculars and observed Giovanni and Sarina's rampage.
"...They truly are remarkable."
"That's why they can enjoy this sort of thing."
"Do you not feel the same, Underboss?"
Armo asked the question with obvious caution. He must have been quite curious.
Remember death.
Just as I was about to answer, the clouds in the sky began to move in a bizarre pattern. The shape they formed soon became legible letters.
"Well, it's difficult to explain the reason."
"...."
Armo looked disappointed, as if he had expected something more profound. He must have thought there would be some grand justification.
Then it can't be helped.
I decided to recycle one of the phrases my strange ability had shown me before.
"There's a saying: don't fight your enemies too often. All you do is reveal your hand."
"...Indeed!"
Only then did Armo seem satisfied with my plausible answer.
...He was a bit slow, but not a bad person.
"At any rate, it doesn't look like I'll need to step forward."
"No, the boss wouldn't want that. Especially after your recent ear injury."
"This? This doesn't even count as an injury."
Even though I had become underboss, it seemed they were still overprotective of me.
*
Meanwhile, at Pier 8 on the southern side of the port. It was the southernmost of all the piers. The dockworkers and the Fellini Family members mixed among them were enjoying a very leisurely atmosphere.
"Hey, hold on a second."
"What? Where are you going?"
"Bathroom!"
One of the organization members shouted as much, yet headed toward the sea instead of any restroom.
"Ah, that bastard's going to piss in the ocean again."
"Focus on the game. Don't come crying with excuses later."
The member who had reached the water's edge hurriedly undid his belt and dropped his pants. While he was freely emptying his bladder...
Something felt wrong. The liquid leaving his body seemed to strike something solid.
"...Huh?!"
"You filthy animal."
Massive monsters suddenly rose from the sea beside the pier with unnatural calm. The worker was dragged under without even a scream.
"Move."
Alligator humans, shark humans, and various other reptile beastmen—a rather disordered mix—had appeared.
"What the hell?!"
The dockworkers and organization members were thrown into panic by the sudden enemy assault. The saving grace was that Carso, one of the wolves, had remained behind to guard the Rufus Carlton Hotel and the port.
"Brother! It's the Gullyman bastards! They appeared without warning at Pier 8."
"Understood."
Carso immediately set out for Pier 8 with his subordinates. It seemed the enemy had noticed the Fellini Family's forces vanishing and chosen to strike. They had no idea we were attacking Greenbug. It was almost comical, yet the fact that they had targeted the very place our strength had been pulled from was far from amusing.
"Listen carefully. Do not let them inside the hotel under any circumstances."
On the top floor were the family's boss, Elena, and the underboss's wife, Felicia Marinelli. If either of them were even slightly injured... Carso believed he might be killed by the brother he respected and followed.
All of Carso's subordinates were golems.
"Brother."
One of them handed him an appropriate weapon. Carso accepted the submachine gun and drum magazine, preparing to unleash hell on the enemy.
"Let's go."
Pier 8 had become a battlefield. The dockworkers and organization members were desperately resisting the sudden Gullyman assault. Having arrived by sea, the enemy could not use firearms, but their bodies themselves were weapons, making them dangerous enough.
"Damn it!"
They even picked up and used the weapons of the fallen organization members. Just as it seemed the pier would fall into enemy hands, Carso and his golems appeared exactly as the Gullymen had—raking the area with submachine-gun fire.
The sight of them pouring in countless bullets in an instant was immensely satisfying.
Crunch—!
An alligator human that charged in bit down on Carso's shoulder, but the opponent was a golem. No matter how powerful an alligator's jaws, they could not harm solid rock. Moreover, the weapons in Carso and his golems' hands emptied a hundred rounds in under seven seconds. They had become literal walking machine-gun emplacements.
"...."
The Gullymen seemed to settle for their small victory against such a threatening force.
"Don't let them escape!"
The golems were not about to allow it. The Gullymen suffered heavy losses before they could leap back into the sea.
"Brother, what now? Should we pursue them by boat?"
"No. Contact Lumini first. Tell him to bring all his men down here."
Afterward, Carso personally called the top floor of the hotel.
"...."
The line was ringing, but no one answered.
Are they still asleep?
"...Yeah, it's me."
Irregular, heavy breathing came through the receiver—and the same sound could be heard in the background.
"Miss, the Gullyman bastards attacked Pier 8 a short while ago."
"Hey, stop it now."
"Miss?"
Elena seemed to be speaking to someone on the other end.
"Yeah, Carso. So what were you saying?"
Carso had no choice but to repeat himself. He also added that he had summoned Lumini and his subordinates.
"Understood. I'll leave the matter to you."
That was all. Carso wondered what was happening on the top floor, but dealing with the aftermath at Pier 8 took priority.
*
The wolves in Greenbug, unaware that their headquarters had been attacked, were busy celebrating victory.
"Sarina, Giovanni. Good work."
"Luke, say it one more time."
"Sarina. Good work."
Only then did Sarina look satisfied. Giovanni, on the other hand, acted as though he had witnessed something unpleasant.
"But aren't the Marinelli taking their sweet time?"
"No. To be accurate, you two were simply too fast."
"It would have been better to decide that whoever claims it first keeps it."
"Then the Marinelli would have been unhappy."
I responded to Giovanni's suggestion as if that outcome would be troublesome. Well, this time we could consider it as granting them a favor thanks to Giovanni and Sarina's efforts.
"Brother."
"Yes?"
"So who will you entrust this place to?"
Giovanni's question was straightforward. Whose territory would Greenbug become? It was the first district we had seized since Father's death. It could be given to the wolves, or perhaps to one of the other caporegimes.
"I'll need to discuss it with Elena."
"Luke, since when have you been so attentive to the miss?"
"I've been attentive for quite a long time."
"...."
That was probably not what Sarina had meant, but I deliberately gave an off-target answer. As expected, she seemed to have nothing left to say.
While I headed to the center of Greenbug to meet Manfredi, the remnants of the Gullymen who had attacked the port returned to the district.
"...What the hell are these bastards?!"
Naturally, Giovanni and Sarina captured them with ease. Somehow, we had ended up taking the Gullyman boss prisoner. It seemed we no longer needed to worry about who would receive this territory.