Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: 6. Slaves Are an Excellent Source of Labor
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Cleaning the capital's back alleys, sweeping away the darkness.
A fine endeavor. It had to be. But there was one reason I opposed it so firmly.
‘If you sweep away the back alleys, the orphan mines will disappear.’
Essentially, it meant dismantling the Orphan Gacha system, so there was no way I could agree.
Of course, I wasn't advocating to leave the capital's cesspool intact just for my own greed. Regardless of my own troubles, there were practical issues at stake.
“Your Highness, if I may be so bold, isn't this the second time?”
“......Why do you think that?”
“I've pondered why Your Highness would seek out someone like me, a mere orphanage director.”
The things a member of the imperial family could do in the empire were staggering. It would be quicker to list what they couldn't do.
Even if she was just a princess and not the emperor himself, the manpower and funds at her disposal were beyond imagination. So why had she come directly to me? Was she truly captivated by the orphanage business?
It was possible, but I suspected another reason. The impetus for a royal to lift their lofty posterior and come all this way.
She had already experienced one failure.
“I haven't been in the capital long, but as I looked around, I noticed something odd. Even in the capital, back alleys and cesspools should exist, yet I saw scarcely any.”
“......Isn't that a good thing?”
“Of course. However, as I mentioned, it's impossible for a city teeming with people to lack such places entirely. So I thought: what if the cesspool hasn't vanished completely, but instead of congregating in one spot, it's scattered thinly across the entire capital?”
Back alleys and cesspools naturally cluster together. Those who live in the light and those in the shadows can't share the same space.
But now, things were different. The princess had already cleaned house once, destroying the cesspool, and they had lost their gathering grounds.
‘It's like smashing a cockroach nest.’
Smashing a filthy cockroach nest is good. The problem is that eradicating the cockroaches entirely, or preventing new ones from infesting, is impossible.
And cockroaches without a home don't cluster in one place—they scatter sporadically throughout the house.
“If I may presume, hasn't the capital's crime rate actually risen compared to before? Even heinous crimes that were once contained within the back alleys have likely surfaced.”
“Your insight isn't bad.”
“I deal with such matters often, visiting the back alleys from time to time, so I have some sense of their ways.”
Just as actions taken with good intentions don't always yield good results...
The princess had purged the capital's underworld, the empire's cancer, only for the cancer cells to spread throughout the body. Naturally, it had become far harder to manage and eradicate than before.
That was likely why someone of her stature had sought me out directly.
‘A baron, certified nobility, familiar with the underworld's dynamics, and someone who can wield imperial authority freely.’
People from the light side couldn't do it. Nor could nobles or elites who might cause future headaches. Reliable backing was essential too.
I fit those criteria. Her personal visit was proof of her determination to succeed this time.
And that was precisely why I had to oppose her plan outright.
No matter how resolute her will, it was impossible from the start.
“So, you're saying I should just give up?”
“Yes.”
“It's not about purging the empire's tumors entirely. Just in the capital, where imperial power is strongest......even that's impossible?”
“I don't know what your advisors told you about the plan's feasibility. But in my view, yes.”
Princess Ariel quietly bowed her head. It was only natural after hearing that her efforts were futile.
But back alleys, cesspools, and the underworld never truly vanish. No matter how much you suppress and surveil them, they only burrow deeper, spreading thinner and wider.
That was why.
“We need a different approach.”
“A different method?”
“Completely eradicating them is impossible, but leaving them in check and controlling them is feasible.”
“......You mean.”
“Sweep the back alleys just enough to keep the tumors clustered there. Lure them back to the alleys like before, but place one of your people at the top. Control the capital's darkness that way to the greatest extent possible. Ensure they don't cross lines—or if they do, you know immediately.”
That was the best solution I'd devised. Since the cancer wouldn't disappear, concentrate it and control it firmly.
But that meant compromising with reality, and withdrawing her original plan would amount to admitting her limits.
Despite her gentle appearance and polite speech, Ariel seemed to have a rather cold temperament. She replied softly.
“......I'll be going.”
“Your Highness.”
“Thank you for the advice. So, for now......I'll be going.”
Ariel rose with a complicated expression and left. Only then did it sink in.
‘Whew, managed to protect my rice bowl for now.’
Colluding with the regime only works if my rice bowl stays intact. Anyway, whoever tipped off the princess about me had to be Hainkel.
‘That bastard Hainkel.’
I'll deal with him when I get back to Luton.
*
“Your Highness, how was your outing......”
“Tell everyone not to enter.”
“Understood.”
Ariel barricaded herself in her room immediately upon returning to the palace. Seeing her rare prickly demeanor, the servants and aides respectfully withdrew, leaving her in peace.
Alone in the vast, quiet room, Ariel could slowly sort through her thoughts.
──Impossible.
“Such a thing.”
She couldn't make excuses like "you don't know until you try." Because she had tried. She had strongly pushed to purge the capital's back alleys once. Hadn't she personally joined in and slain numerous criminals?
Organizations like the Smile Family, infamous at the time, had been dismantled. Yet as time passed, the situation worsened.
‘Gangs are rampaging all over the capital. Mostly riffraff, but the crime rate keeps climbing.’
Now, all eyes and whispers were on Ariel, who had forced the purge. Desperate to resolve or settle the matter herself, every crime by these ragtag groups across the capital weighed on her like her own fault.
She felt the so-called sense of responsibility and guilt, and her rage toward the capital's tumors grew. She wanted to root them out completely and cleanse the city.
......Until the young orphanage director—whom the old man had touted as an ally—flatly declared it impossible.
‘No, it can't be.’
It couldn't be impossible. She was imperial blood. How could a highborn like her leave the empire's tumors be? Purging these pure evils was right. So Ariel believed.
To bolster that conviction, the princess rang a bell to summon her aide.
“Your Highness, you called?”
“Head maid, has the intelligence guild's report arrived?”
“It just came in. I'll fetch it right away.”
The head maid bowed politely and brought several sheets of paper. Ariel took them and scanned the text.
She had met the guild's leader once, but this report included input from Baron Luton's aide as well. She had specifically ordered deeper investigation into not just Yujin's orphanage but Luton's back alleys.
Her interest in that small rural town of Luton stemmed from its sharply declining crime rate. After hearing the old man's words during the probe, she had decided to enlist Yujin from there.
With the detailed report in hand, she could reference Luton's case. So Ariel thought.
“......This ‘Lady’ unified the back alleys?”
Her expectations were betrayed in a different way.
Contrary to her assumptions, Luton's back alleys hadn't shrunk, and their power remained solid. Yet the crime rate had dropped—an ironic twist.
The explanation was on the next page.
‘The mysterious figure known as the Lady suddenly appeared, ousted the Homias Gang—the largest force in Luton's back alleys—and swallowed the underworld, reigning as its ruler. And it didn't end there......’
The Lady appears to have allied with Luton's lord, Baron Hainkel. This matches what the baron himself stated.
“Ha.”
A noble allying with some underworld boss? And boasting about it to her aides?
Ariel let out a disbelieving scoff, but the next part in the report left her breathless.
Yujin, the orphanage director, is said to have connected the Lady and Baron Hainkel. Rather than equals, Yujin seems to hold the superior position───
As a result of this cooperation between Luton's underworld and its lord, violent crimes have plummeted, and the overall crime rate has declined.
“.........”
Yujin, the orphanage director.
Why did that name appear here? If so...
‘That young orphanage director stands above Luton's underworld and lord?’
And through such control, Luton's crime rate fell, and public safety improved. Only then did Ariel understand why Yujin had made that proposal.
It was obvious. He had already "tried" it—and unlike her, achieved good results.
Before questioning how a mere orphanage director could lord over an underworld boss and a baron...
“Then......”
Was she truly wrong? Were her purges, her attempts to eradicate the capital's tumors, just pointless folly?
How had she appeared in Yujin's eyes? Pitiful, no doubt.
Creak.
As Ariel wallowed in self-reproach, someone quietly opened the door and entered. Only one person had permission to enter the princess's room without knocking.
“Your Highness.”
“......Old man.”
His white hair swept back, his face etched with wrinkles and scars yet retaining dignity. Without the hair, he could pass for middle-aged.
Not tall, but his forearms bulged with solid muscle, and on his back hung a longbow as tall as he was.
The imperial palace's chief guardian, one of the empire's rare spiritists. More a ranger who wielded spirits to enhance his archery than a pure spirit fighter—and even without spirits, a bowmaster who had reached mastery through skill alone.
And to Ariel, more family than guard—the one who had watched over her since childhood.
As Gilbert Linden approached, Ariel took a deep breath and faced him.
“Gilbert, old man, straight to the point. I met the orphanage director you mentioned, Yujin.”
“Oh? How was the young man? Is he well? I heard something from a mage recently that worried me......”
“He said it's impossible.”
“Your Highness?”
“And not just denial—he suggested another way.”
No need to specify the subject. Ariel and Gilbert shared a bond like grandfather and granddaughter, forged over long years.
Gilbert eyed Ariel's reddened eyes, and she turned to the old man she trusted second only to her father.
“Old man, was I wrong?”
“.........”
“Was everything I did meaningless......and did it make things worse? Did no one tell me because I'm a princess?”
On the table beside her sat stacks of documents detailing incidents caused by the riffraff vying for the capital's back alleys.
She was compensating victims out of pocket. It was her doing, so as one in high station, she bore the responsibility.
With each new report, Ariel wavered and doubted.
Yujin's words had now left her questioning if she had ever been right.
“Your Highness.”
“How many mistakes have I made so far? The things I believed right brought worse than nothing, and if my aides hid that......then I───”
“Ariel.”
Gilbert finally called her by name and knelt to meet her gaze.
“Calm down and tell me. What did you discuss with the scout?”
“.........”
Ariel slowly recounted her encounter with Yujin. Disguising gratitude to visit him, reassuring the basement orphans, showing the business reports.
His declaration of impossibility, and the Luton report.
Hearing it all, Gilbert's lips curved faintly.
“Business, hm......”
“Gilbert, old man?”
“No way. The young man I watched for two years isn't like that.”
“But.”
“And I understand why Your Highness is shaken. He's always preferred blunt talk over beating around the bush.”
“.........”
Had he demanded harsher force, she might have nodded. Even if it meant more blood on her hands, she'd gladly purge the capital's tumors.
But Yujin saying her very approach was wrong—and unnecessary—shook her deeply. Especially since he was the old man's trusted pick, it felt like direct rebuke from him.
“So, why not verify it yourself?”
“Verify?”
“Return to the orphanage and speak with Yujin again. You're planning to continue cooperating with him anyway, right?”
“......Yes.”
“Reports, guild intel, my advice—they're all fine, but what matters is Your Highness's own judgment. Isn't that so?”
The large, callused hand that had comforted her since childhood.
Ariel clasped it, took a deep breath, and steeled her eyes.
“Old man......you always teach me profound lessons.”
“It's only right.”
“I'll go, old man.”
“Safe travels.”
Thus, Ariel prepared another outing, still grappling with doubt and confusion.
Left alone, Gilbert's smile turned bittersweet.
“Yujin......”
You're still haunted.
By the Mountain King incident.
──Yujin, that was......
──Old timer, you came all this way?
──A green kid like you looked ready to drop dead any second. Didn't want you going first and leaving me feeling cheated.
──That's true enough. Don't worry, no plans to die. Got a reason to live now, instead.
──......Yujin, about her.
──Old timer.
──Yujin?
──I'm retiring.
He couldn't forget that conversation.
Yujin's expression as he stood before the fresh grave mound Gilbert himself had likely made.
It was no expression one could ever forget.