Chapter 115
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: A Madman with Power
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“Are you alright, Miss Cherry?”
Ethan asked, and Cherry shrugged.
“You mean witnessing that scene? I'm fine. Young Master Wipend was a well-known piece of trash in high society. And I didn't get a good look at the wound. A blessing for my mental health, I suppose.”
Cherry shrugged as if to say she was fine. Ethan watched her with a slightly clouded gaze, seemingly pitying her for being so nonchalant.
The more Harrison listened, the heavier his heart became. He was shocked by the fact that such a major incident had happened to Cherry and he hadn't known.
“A nobleman with nothing but a title, whose debts were forgiven by Chairman Sinclair... now that you mention it, I vaguely recall. So that's what happened.”
Knox, hearing the somberness in Harrison's voice, retorted as if surprised.
“I thought you knew everything about Miss Cherry and the Sinclairs, but it seems there are things even you don't know, Counselor.”
“Ah. Harrison was busy preparing for his wedding with my sister Isabella back then.”
Cherry's explanation seemed to press a button, as both Harrison and Knox fell silent at the same time. Paying no mind to their silence, Cherry asked Charlie again.
“So, you're saying that guy has some kind of power in Kintne? He was always like that. Tried to play politics even when he had nothing.”
“He won't stop. El is... a frightening person.”
Charlie carefully offered his honest opinion. It wasn't because he was trying to read Cherry's mood, but because El truly was a frightening person.
“A madman with the power to act on his madness, now that's truly scary. I heard he served in the military for a short time before he came down to Kintne.”
At Cherry's added explanation, Harrison suddenly narrowed his eyes.
“My lady, now that I think about it, my wedding preparations were five years ago. Why are you still so well-informed about a man you met back then? You haven't been in contact with him, have you?”
“Hey, no way. Am I crazy? Why would I stay in touch with that psychopath? He's a pathetic loser. He had a massive inferiority complex because the Sinclairs were doing better than the noble Vernonhams.”
“Then where did you hear this news?”
“I'm curious about that as well.”
Ethan chimed in, agreeing with Harrison. Cherry gave Ethan a bewildered look, as if to say, 'You too?', but his expression remained steadfast.
However, when everyone else in the room looked at him with a similar gaze, Ethan shrugged.
“One can be curious, can't they? I'm just asking out of pure curiosity.”
“He contacted me first, saying he wanted to see me after all this time.”
“Definitely a madman.”
“A madman indeed.”
“He's certainly mad.”
Ethan, Knox, and Vanilla each muttered a comment in turn in response to Cherry's answer.
Charlie was confused. The people before him, reacting so intensely, didn't seem particularly normal in his eyes either.
‘Then again, El is trash.’
There was a difference between these people, who were simply crazy, and an irredeemable piece of trash. That was Charlie's conclusion for now.
“Hey. Given the situation, what do you think this El fellow will do next?”
Harrison asked Charlie.
“He probably won't give up.”
Cherry vehemently agreed with Charlie.
“That's right. That psycho won't give up. We need to come up with a plan.”
Harrison deeply sympathized with Cherry's subsequent words.
And so, they sent Charlie out and began a serious strategy meeting.
* * *
Kintne, 32 Norban Street, Sinclair Hotel.
On the top floor of the tall, five-story hotel, was El, the leader of the Kintne survival camp.
A gracefully curved wooden pipe was held between his red lips. Gazing out the window, El exhaled a long plume of tobacco smoke, filling his vision with a hazy white cloud.
El's jet-black hair swayed around his shoulders, causing the red earring in one of his ears to swing with it. His eyes, as crimson as the earring, were intently fixed on the view outside the window.
Presently, the door opened.
“Lord El.”
Tid, El's right-hand man, entered and greeted him. Only then did El turn to look at Tid.
“What happened to the Brunel search party?”
“We've lost contact.”
El once again exhaled the smoke he'd been holding in his mouth. Tid sighed at the smoke filling the room and opened a window.
“What should we do?”
“I don't understand. How could they fail to capture a small town like Brunel? We sent fifteen men, didn't we? And I supplied them with plenty of weapons.”
“...I've been wondering the same thing.”
Of course, this was the result of their ignorance; they had no idea that the search party would encounter a group of well-trained soldiers impersonating the Royal Army right as they entered Brunel, nor did they know that Cherry's group was dominating the area.
“Who was the leader?”
“Frank Alto.”
“Didn't you say his brother was here?”
“Yes. He was excluded from the search and reconnaissance parties due to being congenitally frail.”
“Draft him. We'll use him as bait.”
At El's command, Tid bowed his head and left the room. El glanced at the nearly burnt-out bowl of his pipe and took one last puff.
*Puff.*
He continued to gaze out the window, the pipe still in his mouth.
Outside, monsters could be seen roaming the streets, letting out bestial cries.
Kintne was slightly larger than Brunel, but still a very small city. Moreover, its flat terrain, devoid of mountains or hills, made it impossible to completely eradicate the monsters roaming its streets.
Before this catastrophe, El had fled to Kintne to escape his debts and had been living by getting his hands dirty with all sorts of illegal activities—illicit drugs, arms smuggling, and other sordid affairs. And then, he witnessed the moment the world ended.
The moment he saw the city descend into chaos, he thought it was an opportunity for him.
‘I can start everything anew.’
A golden opportunity to cast off the shackles of debt amidst the collapse of the social order and become the ruler he had always longed to be.
To seize new power in the midst of chaos, he first needed a 'safe haven' under his control. What caught his eye was the Sinclair Hotel.
Using the weapons he had smuggled, he gathered allies to help him seize the hotel and succeeded in taking it over. Then, he brought in people who would become the foundation of the kingdom he planned to build.
But this wasn't enough to satisfy him. He couldn't be content with taking just one hotel.
Building a new kingdom. That was El's goal now.
And yet, his forces were so weak they couldn't even capture a single small town. He would have to intensify their combat training.
‘Useless fools, the lot of them.’
El clicked his tongue and downed a glass of Scotch whisky that was sitting on the table.
This time, they absolutely had to capture the survivors from Brunel. He was in desperate need of manpower to use as slaves.
“The era of the old nobles and bourgeoisie is over, Charlie. I'll give you power, too. So bring me Brunel. Show me what you can do.”
He had been sincere when he'd said that to Charlie Green.
He had been born a nobleman with the name Vernonham, but he grew up being treated worse than a mere bourgeois.
He hated the weak. His own poor and powerless family, the Vernonhams. And Cherry Sinclair, who had no abilities of her own besides her family's power.
‘The pathetic Vernonhams, looked down upon even by the weak Cherry Sinclair...’
El clicked his tongue, his mood souring as he recalled the past. Cherry Sinclair, the nobility—they were all the same kind of people, acting high and mighty with what they were lucky enough to be born with.
But the world had changed now. A world had come where he could seize power with his abilities alone.
The time had come, El thought. His world had arrived.