Chapter 105
Chapter 105
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Owen Baltani
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Owen Baltani had no idea about the massive debt he was saddled with.
After holding his late grandfather's funeral and spending his days pouring out his grief through music.
It was the rough loan sharks who dragged the boy, lost in melodies of tragedy, art, and lamentation, back to harsh reality.
An artist is a starving profession.
Claren, a city teeming with such artists, was a goldmine for loan sharks.
On top of that, under the excuse of seeking inspiration, they guzzled drugs, gambled, drank, and puffed away at cigarettes, making business expansion a breeze.
A perfect breeding ground for street punks to turn into gangsters. That was the dark underbelly of the artists' city, Claren.
Anyway.
While Owen was deep in his loneliness, the loan sharks showed him documents revealing his grandfather's debt—the first he knew of it.
Seeing the enormous sum and his grandfather's signature, Owen felt like he'd been smashed in the head with a hammer.
With nothing left but piano playing amid his struggling debts.
He'd been scraping by with street performances arranged by the city hall.
But loan sharks weren't that patient.
Whack!
On his way to the rooftop at Purucheni for today's performance, Owen was grabbed by loan sharks, dragged into an alley, and beaten.
“Urk!”
His face swelled bright red. The boy, with no connection to violence, rolled on the ground with teary eyes from a single thug's punch.
Just moments ago, he'd vowed to play his heart out, but his world drowned in resentment and tragedy in an instant.
“Hey, look! Your grandpa owed us money, right? You gonna pay it back or not?”
The loan shark rattled the debt documents while kicking him nonstop.
In the midst of the beating by the foul-mouthed leader, the bespectacled man smoking behind him called him off.
Owen's huddled body, too battered to even breathe easily, trembled.
The brief respite felt like a sliver of mercy.
“Kid, you think slaving away all day like this will pay off the debt?”
“…….”
“Just doing those city hall gigs? Claren's crawling with musicians. You won't even cover interest scraping by on pennies.”
Hoo.
Thick cigarette smoke billowed out, clouding Owen's mind with its acrid haze.
“Lemme tell you a good deal. Do this, and your debt's gone in a flash. You'll be rolling in cash, living easy.”
“Ah…….”
What was he saying?
Did this guy want something else from me?
Owen was bewildered, but the loan shark smiled kindly—uncharacteristically—and extended a hand.
“Take it. A whole new world'll open up. Make your money, then go back to playing what you love.”
Truth be told, Owen didn't care. He just wanted out of this mess.
“Yeah.”
He reached out with his trembling, bloodied hand.
Whack!
But the foul-mouthed man behind him flew past Owen's side.
Crash!
He tumbled across the ground into an undignified sprawl, already out cold.
“What the—one hit?”
White hair tied in a ponytail, but messily with strands sticking out, unaccustomed.
Loose shirt and black pants for easy movement.
Blood-red eyes staring like a predator eyeing prey.
The smoking man instantly knew the sudden woman was no ordinary foe.
“Pindenai, go grab the documents.”
Then the black-haired man who appeared behind her. Slightly long black hair falling to his jawline.
An aesthetic look fitting the artists' city, with neat clothes hinting at nobility.
Pindenai approached the sprawled foul-mouthed shark and snatched the debt document he'd clutched.
The smoking shark chewed the cigarette end bitterly before spitting it out.
“What do you think you're doing?”
He took a submissive tone for a noble but looked ready to flip the table and charge if things went south.
Deus ignored the smoker, checked the documents Pindenai brought, and frowned.
“Fakes?”
“……!”
The loan shark's eyes twitched. His feral glare wilted in an instant.
“Just lifted the signature from other docs and magicked the rest.”
Scammers like this popped up sometimes. That's why documents needed triple-checking by experts.
The city hall even loaned magic tools to verify authenticity for free on request.
But 16-year-old Owen, who'd only played piano, couldn't have known.
“We can take it to an expert right now if you want.”
The man's cold eyes made the shark's heart shrink. Despite the summer heat, chills wracked his body.
“N-no, that's…….”
From top dog to underdog in a flash. He scrambled for excuses.
“Pindenai.”
Deus called her name flatly, and she lunged forward like a wolf off the leash.
Crack!
Her knee smashed straight into the shark's face.
Nosebleed and broken teeth sprayed everywhere.
Not done, she grabbed his hair with one hand, hurled him deep into the alley.
He crashed onto the fainted shark, both screaming in agony.
A hand extended to Owen again.
Stiff and curt, unlike the shark's seductive offer.
“Come.”
Some inexplicable trust welled up, and Owen seized Deus's hand.
* * *
After bringing Owen to the inn, giving him a room to wash up, and ordering food at the first-floor restaurant.
I sat at the table, lost in thought.
[You seemed like you wanted something from Owen.]
“Yeah, exactly.”
The loan sharks had lured that little boy to follow them.
Even forging stubborn fake debt docs.
Might not seem like much at first glance, but flip it around.
They wanted Owen bad enough to go that far.
“They figured out Owen has some special ability too.”
[Probably. But I'm curious why they want him.]
It looked like just soothing yokai, but I couldn't pin it down yet.
He barely understood his own power.
Right on cue, Owen came down, towel-drying his hair. Iluania, prepped ahead, sat him in a chair and started applying salve to his wounds.
The innkeeper's food filled the table with savory aromas.
“Eat up first.”
At Iluania's gentle smile, Owen teared up and shoveled food in.
Starved for proper meals amid debts, the skinny boy wolfed it down.
After watching from afar a bit, the Black Necromancer and I resumed talking.
“The sharks' attitude bugged me too. Before I called out the fake docs, they were itching to jump me.”
[They had some backing?]
“Likely.”
Someone shadowy behind them, craving Owen's ability.
“Intriguing.”
Curious about the shadow, but Owen's power hooked me more.
“No choice.”
I pulled a cloth-wrapped gem from my pocket. It oozed ominous wails from souls just by existing.
[You plan to wake him?]
The boy's grandfather had passed peacefully.
But weird events swirled around the boy.
“Ask him direct, we'll know.”
I'd question the grandfather's secret myself.
* * *
“So you failed?”
In loan shark Volfras's office.
All the thugs stood heads bowed, terrified.
At the center, a woman in a robe utterly out of place.
“Y-yes! Sorry!”
Volfras, the boss, trembled. His dry tongue twisted.
One wrong move, and she'd devour him.
He'd seen it too many times to relax.
“You brought the guys who got nabbed?”
“Yes! Bailed 'em out with bond and bribes from holding.”
“Good.”
She popped bread in her mouth, chewing sloppily.
Thugs shuddered, hastily dragging in today's culprits.
The two knelt, a sorry sight.
One face pulped and swollen, the other both arms snapped.
Pindenai's artistic handiwork, mindful of the artists' city.
They slammed foreheads to the floor, trembling, tears and blood pooling as they begged.
“W-we're truly sorry!”
“These weird guys jumped us! One more shot, we'll get him!”
“Bullshit.”
She shot up from the plush chair, hand thrusting out.
It morphed into a massive maw like a magic beast's, jagged teeth ripping through and devouring them savagely.
“U-ugh!”
“S-spare us……!”
Crunch crunch.
Sobbing screams turned to flesh-and-bone crunches quick.
Thugs gulped, heads down, staring at the dripping blood.
“Couldn't even snag the grandson instead of the old man…….”
Grumbling irritably, her eyes flashed. Then an incredulous look.
“Hah, that's why?”
Having eaten them all, she clutched her belly, cackling wildly. Wiping teary eyes, she muttered.
“Damn, killed the guys who tipped me off to something this fun.”
Thugs didn't get it.
She flopped back on the sofa, legs crossed.
“A necromancer's here.”
What a coincidence.
After Dante's monster surgeon got killed by Aria Rias, they came to yokai-packed Claren for reinforcements.
And ran into the elusive Deus Verdi.
“Keuk, kekeke.”
She licked her lips with a satisfied grin.
Like a lavish feast laid out tempting.