The Orphan Who Became the Boss
No words would come out.
All around me, letters and phrases kept flickering into view, but right now none of that registered.
Father… is dead?
“Boss! Boss!”
“....”
“It looks like the young lady is still alive.”
The radio was talking about Elena. Thankfully, she seemed to have avoided the hail of bullets fired with clear murderous intent. But her whereabouts were unknown.
“What about Armo? Did Armo pull Elena out?”
“I’m not sure. For now, let’s head to the Chamber of Commerce!”
The wolves under my command began moving faster than anyone else. The one standing beside me was just as shaken by the news of Father’s death.
“…Luke. My condolences.”
“....”
It still didn’t feel real. That Father had met such a death? Assassinated on the very day we were celebrating victory?
At that moment, beyond the waves my eyes were fixed on, something like letters appeared in the sea.
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.
A curse swirled in my head before vanishing into emptiness. What use were such words now?
“Luke, I never thought I’d end up giving you something like this.”
He suddenly held out a folding knife toward me.
When I opened it, hidden lettering appeared on the blade.
It was apparently a revenge knife used in the beastman’s homeland across the sea.
“You probably won’t need my help with your revenge anyway. But if you ever do, just say the word.”
“…Yeah.”
He sounded sincere. But… it was complicated. With Father’s death, the city would soon be crawling with bastards running wild.
If I accepted help from the organization he belonged to, it would give them the perfect excuse to expand into Hevilly. Today’s friend could easily become tomorrow’s enemy.
Soon after, two wolves brought the car I would ride in.
An elf in a green suit, and a golem whose rugged nature showed clearly even beneath his brown jacket.
“Boss, please get in.”
“Straight to the Chamber of Commerce.”
“Yes.”
The two wolves climbed into the car with me without handing their subordinates any instructions.
After the car started moving, a heavy silence fell. The one in the passenger seat eventually broke it.
“Goddammit! Who the hell did this?”
“One of the Five Families, obviously.”
The wolf driving—originally a golem—answered the hot-headed elf wolf who was raging beside him.
“Carso, it might not be the Marinelli Family.”
“What?”
The golem’s name was Carso. The elf’s was Giovanni.
“Did you hear something from that woman again?”
The one who reacted most sharply to my words was Sarina, the sole female among us. Her voice dripped with hostility toward Felicia.
Come to think of it, Sarina hated Elena, Felicia—every woman around me.
“It’s not certain. Still, Felicia warned me that Father was in danger.”
“Boss, that alone isn’t enough to trust them.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right.”
I gave Carso a half-hearted reply.
More than ever, I needed to think coldly. I couldn’t let emotion cloud my judgment. In that sense, Carso’s words made sense.
It was possible Felicia had acted on her own when she told me about Father’s crisis.
“Just let them all come at us. Do they really think we’d be scared because the bastards we already beat once are trying again?”
“Sarina, it’s not that simple. The Godfather and the mayor are dead. The young lady is missing.”
“No, let’s be precise. The successor isn’t the young lady, it’s—”
“Both of you, enough.”
The moment I spoke, the two wolves fell silent. To the wolves, my orders were absolute. I began calmly organizing the situation.
First, we had to survive this hell.
We needed to decide which territories our family could defend with our current forces and which we couldn’t. We couldn’t protect every district in Hevilly.
With Father’s death, it was inevitable that some would try to break away from our family or defect to one of the Five Families or another organization entirely.
We might even have to give up the Academy. The silver lining was that the ports I personally managed were still intact.
Next, I retraced the actions I had taken.
Had Father ignored the warning I sent through Armo? What about the subordinates I had sent to the Chamber of Commerce ahead of us? I had no information on the caporegimes closest to the Chamber either.
“Haa…”
We had been more complacent than we realized, and our enemies had been more cunning.
*
Not long after, we arrived in front of the Chamber of Commerce building.
The subordinates who had ridden in the other cars got out and moved with military precision. The area around the building was already under police control.
“Mr. Luke.”
A police captain who was more than just an acquaintance—he received substantial bribes from us on a regular basis—stepped forward.
“Captain.”
“My condolences.”
“…Have you still not found Elena?”
“....”
The captain glanced around before whispering into my ear.
“No body was found. She definitely made it out of here.”
“Giovanni.”
I immediately called for Giovanni at the captain’s words.
He perked his ears up sharply and came running at once. When it came to speed, he was the best.
“Search the area for Elena. There may be witnesses who saw her fleeing. Be thorough.”
“Yes, Boss.”
Giovanni moved immediately, fast enough that he didn’t even care about ruining his prized hair.
Meanwhile, the captain lingered, apparently still having something to say.
“The Godfather’s and your cousin’s bodies have been moved to the nearest morgue for now.”
“…Where is it?”
As soon as I confirmed the morgue’s location, I headed there with the other wolves. I had to see Father. I had to see him.
“....”
The morgue where Father’s body had been placed. The area in front of it was packed with me and the wolves.
Every wolf present, including myself… looked utterly lost. Even though we were indoors and had removed our hats, some were simply staring blankly with their hats dangling from their hands. Others pressed their hats down firmly, deliberately hiding their tears.
“Boss, we’ve already paid our respects.”
“....”
I had yielded my turn to the others because I lacked the courage to face Father.
At that moment, the smoke from a cigarette one of my distant subordinates was smoking began to look like letters.
Death is like a wave that never returns.
I know. I already know that.
I didn’t need to be shown such things to understand.
I wondered what the hell this status window was trying to do to me. It had shown me similar phrases before, but they had only ever irritated me. Or was someone trying to tell me something?
“I got it.”
I answered the wolf who had let me know it was my turn. I stood and pushed open the unusually heavy morgue door.
“....”
A white sheet that didn’t cover his entire body, stopping at his chest. Thanks to that, the countless bullet wounds that had torn into Father’s body were laid bare.
Even as I took in the sight of Father lying there, cold and still, I still didn’t want to accept his death.
When I was young, I had once asked Father this question.
“Father, how are you so strong?”
“Hmm.”
Father hadn’t answered right away. It was unlike him—he usually responded immediately to any question.
After a brief hesitation, he finally spoke.
“Luke, if a parent takes the wrong path, the child may choose a different one. If the parent walks the right path, the child can simply follow. But I… never had a good example. I made mistakes countless times throughout my life. Still, for you and Elena, I will keep moving forward. That’s why I’m strong.”
Back then, I had fully understood those words.
Considering the age I had been in the world I came from, my body might have been young, but my mind had already been that of an adult.
…I had always believed Father would be there.
He had the right to stand at the top of this damned city, and he had done exactly that. But perhaps that had been my delusion.
Before I knew it, my hand was gripping Father’s cold one.
Tightly. Whenever I held Father’s hand this hard, he would always respond with even greater strength.
I felt nothing. It still didn’t feel real.
At that moment.
When I tried to let go, Father’s hand suddenly grabbed mine. As if it refused to release the hand that had entered its grasp.
It must be rigor mortis, I told myself.
“....”
Hot tears rolled down my cheeks.
It was as if he were welcoming the son who had come to see him after death. I stared at Father’s face several more times before finally leaving the morgue.
Carso approached me carefully.
The usual indifferent expression was nowhere to be seen. His face looked… sad and drained. It had been a long time since I had seen Carso’s face so full of emotion.
“Boss, the Consigliere called.”
“…Where is he now?”
Vier Salmo.
The Consigliere of our Fellini Family.
The Consigliere was nominally the organization’s third-in-command, acting as the Boss’s advisor.
In our family, though, his authority wasn’t that strong.
“He said he’ll finish collecting the ledgers at the Academy and the office before heading this way.”
Yes, the ledgers were important. Seeing him move so calmly even in this situation, he truly was our family’s Consigliere.
“Carso, take some of the boys and go meet him.”
“Yes.”
After Carso left, Sarina stayed by my side.
While waiting for news in front of the morgue, I didn’t say a word. I had decided to begin taking action only after Father’s funeral.
As I quietly burned with resolve alone, one of the wolves approached Sarina and whispered something. She then whispered to me.
“Luke, there’s trouble at the port.”
“…What happened?”
“Looks like the lizard bastards attacked the port.”
So it had already begun.
With the pack’s alpha dead, they must have thought we had grown weak. But even if Father was gone, the wolves were still very much alive.
“Current situation?”
“We’ve taken care of the ones we could see.”
“…Our casualties?”
“Two dead, six injured.”
“And the enemy?”
“Most are dead. We’re interrogating the survivors for information.”
The first wave had failed to break us. Would the second? They would probably have to crash against us countless times.
Despite the report of victory, what mattered most right now was Elena.
Please, don’t let her be dead.