Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Return of the Mad Dog
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073
Chichiron, a small village in Zone 10.
A carriage bearing Demorus pulled into the place, whose population barely exceeded ten thousand.
“……”
The streets were eerily silent.
That didn’t mean there were no people around.
Every soul in Chichiron had come out and was prostrating themselves on the ground, holding their breath.
Rumble.
The sound of the carriage wheels rolling in.
Gulp.
To the citizens, it felt like a death sentence pronounced upon them.
‘What the hell.’
That single question dominated their minds.
Why had Demorus come here?
Rumble.
And what was he going to do?
Those watching the scene from hiding had even more reason to hold their breath.
This was the edge of the continent, a sanctuary of sorts that fugitives had reluctantly made their haven since ancient times.
Creak.
At last, the carriage came to a stop.
“The procession of the great Demorus. All shall show proper respect and reverence.”
Thud!
At the coachman’s voice, the citizens slammed their heads to the ground.
“We pay our respects to Demorus.”
Demorus was receiving treatment fit for an emperor of old.
No—even back then, it hadn’t been to this extent, and they knew it.
“This is kinda thrilling.”
The man who emerged from the open carriage door said as much.
“……?”
Someone nearly lifted their head without thinking.
“Long time no see, everyone.”
The voice was so familiar.
“Hope you’ve all been well?”
The casual tone was so welcome.
“Se…in?”
Someone quietly raised their head and spoke.
“How dare you!”
The coachman reached out toward them, but Sein was faster.
In an instant, he was standing before the woman who had spoken.
“Hey, Auntie, been good?”
Aunt Karen.
The woman who had forged a bond with him by giving him a rotting apple when he’d been born in the alleys and had to rummage through trash to survive.
“You’re really… Sein? No…”
Karen, having lifted her head, didn’t know what to do.
She had no idea how to address or speak to someone of such stature.
“Everyone, get up.”
Sein said.
“The mad dog’s back.”
Only then did it sink in for all of them.
“……!”
Chichiron’s troublemaker.
Chichiron’s mad dog.
A worthless boy who had nonetheless taken over the alleys and made Chichiron’s backstreets his own.
“Boss!”
The idol of the red-light district.
Even Sein was feeling this sensation for the first time.
‘I get why people go for the triumphant return now.’
He hadn’t thought of Chichiron as his hometown, but apparently, he had some affection for the place.
Stepping foot here again—a place he’d sworn never to return to—the rotten air even had its own charm now.
“……”
A group approached quietly.
They were the ones who had once served under Sein as part of the Sein Family.
“You been good? Wis.”
The Family’s number three.
“Boss… Is it really you?”
“Who else?”
Thud!
Wis dropped to his knees and shouted.
“We’ve been waiting, Boss.”
He’d always known this day would come.
Clap.
Sein clapped his hands to liven up the mood.
“I declare it here and now.”
This was a privilege granted to Demorus’s heir candidate.
“Chichiron is my territory, Sein Demorus’s, from today onward. I delegate all Chichiron matters fully to Wis, and any challenge to Wis or the Family will be seen as a challenge to me…”
Smirk.
“A challenge to Demorus.”
Sein continued with proper procedure.
“And it’s time to settle accounts.”
The land where Sein had been born and raised.
Countless grudges and debts were tied to this place.
“Let’s resolve them today.”
At Sein’s words, one group turned and bolted.
Of course.
Slash!
In a flash, the coachman—no, Delan, Sein’s bodyguard—shredded them to pieces.
*
*
*
No matter how many lives Sein had lived, surviving as a mere child would have been a pipe dream.
Without the perk named Derun, that young Sein might have been beaten to death in the alleys or starved.
But Derun hadn’t been the only one to help Sein.
“Here.”
Gold from Sein’s hand.
Enough to buy Chichiron dozens of times over.
“Boss… what’s this?”
“Aunt Karen, Zag…”
Names were listed off.
“You know what this is for, right?”
The reason Wis had become the Sein Family’s number three.
Combat ability? You couldn’t expect much from Zone 10 trash like them.
“I’ve already been taking care of them. I’ll make sure it’s handled properly.”
The guy was quick on the uptake.
“And take this.”
A small gem glittered in Sein’s hand.
“Processed mana stone.”
“……?”
Smart as he was, he couldn’t know something he’d never seen or heard of.
“It’ll let you all use mana.”
“……!”
Wis’s eyes widened as he grasped Sein’s words.
“Is that… even possible?”
“With enough money, you can buy eighty percent of happiness and everything else, Wis.”
The Sein Family underlings, born in the lowest Zone 10, were innately poor at handling mana.
The processed mana stone would thicken and purify their mana, enabling them to wield it.
“Boss.”
Wis spoke gravely, as if steeling himself.
“Take it back.”
“Huh?”
“It’s far too precious for the likes of Chichiron or us. You belong in higher places, Boss—better to use it where it matters.”
This was one reason Wis had been number three.
“Kh, heh.”
Sein’s stifled laugh.
“Bwahahaha!”
Finally burst out.
“Hey, you idiot.”
“Yes?”
“Take it if I’m giving it. Whatever I do…”
“There’s meaning in it.”
That’s what Sein had said.
So shut up and obey.
“Chichiron is my turf. And this isn’t just about clearing old debts.”
If Wis hadn’t been Zone 10 born.
If he’d thought a bit deeper, Sein wouldn’t have explained.
But Wis needed to understand.
“Make Chichiron the best in Zone 10. No—better than that.”
“……?”
“Chichiron is valuable land to me.”
Not as some old hometown.
“Hire mercenaries, request support from the people I name. And…”
Sein said.
“Catch the fugitives.”
“……!”
Fugitives who hid in Chichiron.
Sein saw their value.
And Chichiron had another value too.
“One day, this place will be a bridgehead.”
“A bridgehead?”
“You fuck. I’ll get you a tutor—study up.”
“…Sorry, Boss.”
Sein sighed at his subordinate.
“Chichiron will be my passage when I head to the dark zones later, kid.”
*
*
*
Borfeo, which he’d visited even as Rasiel’s candidate.
“I pay respects to the great Demorus heir candidate.”
The reception upon his return was worlds apart from before.
Led by Lord Remi, Borfeo’s lord, knights and soldiers knelt and paid homage to Sein.
Even if they belonged to the New Empire, showing respect to one of the three great dark houses was only natural.
He dismissed the knights and soldiers.
“I knew you’d pull it off, but this fast? Didn’t see that coming.”
Remi, shedding his facade, poured wine as he spoke.
“Switching to casual talk the second no one’s around? Got two lives or what?”
“Gotta keep it tight.”
Remi chuckled.
“Walking on thin ice already. What’s it matter anyway?”
But Remi’s complexion looked better than before.
“The New Empire made an offer. About advancing to the center.”
Zone 2.
New Empire territory, home to those who could truly be called nobles and old royalty.
The New Empire’s people called it the center.
Because it lay between Dark Zone 3 and the holy Zone 1.
“Thanks to you, Sein.”
“You know, then…”
The two conversed like old friends.
“Keep doing good.”
Remi’s face stiffened at Sein’s follow-up.
“Don’t forget whose hand you grabbed.”
Their deal was done—but not over.
“You didn’t think heading to the center would let you slip away, right?”
Sein’s playful tone sounded utterly terrifying in Remi’s ears.
“Think hard about your role there.”
Sein, once called Chichiron’s mad dog.
Now master of Borfeo’s backstreets.
He’d seized Antara’s commerce, become Rasiel’s candidate.
“You think I’ll stop at heir candidate?”
And Demorus’s heir candidate.
For such a Sein, only two steps remained.
“The more you have…”
Clink.
“The more you fear losing it. So remember that.”
Heir.
And family head.
When that day came, Sein would wield absolute power, lording over even greater dominions.
“I’ll… remember.”
Remi’s tone shifted.
“Come on, no need between friends.”
Sein smiled as he spoke.
Thus, Sein—still just an heir candidate—had planted a man in the center.
Turning Remi, whose value would only grow, into a perfect subordinate.
Next, Sein headed to Derun’s backstreets.
“Borfeo’s fully my turf now.”
So long as Sein lived, the entire continent would acknowledge Borfeo as his.
“Borfeo’s backstreets answer to One-Eye from now on.”
“I-Is that for real?”
Cyclops jumped in surprise at Sein’s words.
“What? Don’t want it?”
As if.
Thanks to Sein, Borfeo held a dominant position even in Zone 8.
Booming commerce, trade with Antara, and even the lord—who sometimes clashed with them—had acknowledged full backstreet autonomy.
To those who dwelled in shadow, Borfeo was a mithril mine.
“And Derun’s coming with me.”
As heir candidate, Sein was now handling the errands he’d put off.