Chapter 187: An Ordinary Citizen
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 187: An Ordinary Citizen
Belland, Lower District.
A thin mist drifted off the Old Rhine River, shrouding this ancient, silent district. The sky, choked by dark clouds, allowed not a single ray of light to pierce through; the entire district looked like a reflection of hell itself.
This was the source of Belland’s darkness, the shadow cast upon the earth by the city’s lush canopy.
Chaos was the eternal theme here.
Even with all roads out of the city sealed, the Upper District guarded by knight orders, and a curfew in full effect, the flash of blades, fire, and blood continued to spread through the corners of this district.
"Stop right there!"
Roars and shrieks shattered the silence of a secluded alley. Frenzied thugs brandished sharp weapons and swords, wreathed in the glow of torches as they pursued a scrawny figure not far ahead.
"No... don't come any closer. Let me go, please, let me go."
The emaciated man fled in a panic. He was covered in wounds, appearing as though he had already endured a great deal of inhuman torture.
Whiz—
The piercing sound of wind cutting through the air rang out. The man suddenly stumbled and fell; a sharp bolt fired from a crossbow had pierced straight through his calf.
Blood flowed freely.
"Let me go, I beg you, let me go! I didn't betray the Rat King! I just... I just washed my hands of the business! I didn't betray him!"
The man’s face was a mask of blood and tears as he groveled, pleading with the thugs for mercy and forgiveness.
"Let you go?"
The thugs approached slowly, their faces twisted in cruel grins.
"You forgot the rules of the Rat Society? Back when everyone was making money, you were more eager than anyone. Now, just because the wind is blowing the wrong way, you want out?"
"No, I didn't, I didn't! I just don't want to do it anymore. I don't want to kill people. I want to be a good man."
The man struggled to crawl toward the thugs, knocking his head against the ground to beg for his life.
"We used to be colleagues, Swick! We used to drink together! Let me go, please, let me go. I really just quit, I haven't betrayed anyone!"
"Let you go? If I let you go, who’s going to let me go?"
The thug called Swick looked down with cold eyes. He slowly raised the repeating crossbow in his hand, aiming it at the man’s forehead.
"If you wanted to be a good man in your next life, you should have started sooner. Don't wait until your hands are soaked in blood to start talking about this nonsense."
"No! I want to see the Rat King! I want to see the Rat King! I've done so much for him, he can't do this to me!"
The man roared in terror, but it was useless. Amidst his despairing gaze, the bowstring tightened, and then... released.
The man instinctively closed his eyes, waiting for death to arrive.
Ding.
A crisp sound echoed, but the expected death did not come.
The man’s eyes snapped open in shock. Standing quietly before him was a plain, pitch-black cane. Faint marks from the bolt’s impact were visible on its surface.
Who?
Who could possibly use a cane to block a bolt fired at such high speed?
Everyone stared in astonishment at the person who had suddenly appeared.
He wore a pitch-black, gold-trimmed formal suit that exuded nobility, yet the jagged hem of the coat hinted at a faint, savage aura of violence.
He was a head taller than the average man, projecting an immense sense of pressure. Beneath the wide brim of his top hat, a cold, handsome face characteristic of the Northern Slavs was currently curled into a strange smile.
"Good evening, everyone."
He pressed a hand to his hat, greeting them all with polite refinement.
"Did I just hear... someone say they wanted to be a good man?"
"Who are you?"
Swick immediately shifted his repeating crossbow, aiming it at this bizarre newcomer.
His thugs also raised their weapons, their expressions turning fierce as they gradually surrounded him.
"Don't be nervous, gentlemen. I'm just an ordinary citizen passing through."
The tall figure in the formal suit tapped his cane against the ground, gesturing for everyone to relax like a true gentleman.
"You can call me... hmm, let me think. Call me... Bruce Wayne."
The smile at the corners of his mouth grew more amused, as if he had just thought of a very funny idea.
"Yes, Bruce the ordinary citizen. Bruce without superpowers. That sounds quite fitting for me."
"What exactly do you want?"
Swick’s finger slowly tightened on the crossbow's trigger as he barked the question.
"Don't tell me you're in league with this coward?"
"No, no, no. Didn't I say? I'm just passing through."
The man calling himself Bruce—Muen—seemed not to notice the crossbow on the verge of firing. He remained leisurely. Surrounded by thugs, he made no move to escape; instead, he pushed aside a machete held near him and draped an arm around a thug’s shoulder, acting as friendly as a long-lost companion.
"However, I do have a small question I'd like to ask this kind gentleman."
"A question?"
Swick frowned.
Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't talk this much. Anyone who dared interfere with Rat Society business would be killed on the spot and tossed into the sewers.
But he couldn't quite read this man who had appeared out of nowhere. He maintained a degree of caution, preferring not to use violence if the problem could be solved otherwise.
"What question?"
"I want to know where your boss, Rat King Sam, is right now..."
Whiz—
The piercing sound of wind interrupted Muen’s words.
He tilted his head slightly, holding his top hat in place. He glanced sideways at the bolt that had grazed his cheek and embedded itself in the wall behind him, then let out a regretful sigh.
"Why can't people ever let a man finish his sentence?"
"Kill him!"
Swick roared, his eyes wide. "The boss said anyone asking about his whereabouts lately gets put down!"
"As expected of Rat King Sam, rumored to have over a dozen safehouses and to change his sleeping location three times a night. Such caution is truly admirable."
Muen patted the shoulder of the thug next to him and asked softly:
"Wouldn't you agree?"
"Fuck you! Die!"
The thug clearly couldn't appreciate Muen’s "gentleness." He gripped his machete tight and swung it directly at Muen’s neck.
"And this is why I've always hated violence."
Muen sighed again.
"But why do you all insist on forcing my hand?"
His fingers twitched.
Thunder Clap.
To the horror of the onlookers, the arm of the thug closest to Muen simply exploded, disintegrating into a mist of blood.
Amidst the crimson spray, the man calling himself "ordinary citizen Bruce" whistled as he picked up the fallen machete.
He weighed it in his hand.
"Sigh, I've gotten too used to using Elizabeth. Every other weapon feels like trash now."
He shook his head in displeasure, then flicked his wrist, driving the blade into the throat of a thug trying to sneak up behind him.
He moved with a casual stroll, as natural as breathing.
"But I suppose this will do."
"Kill him! Kill him! Everyone, get him!"
Swick bellowed, his eyes bloodshot. He cocked his repeating crossbow and took rapid aim.
Stay calm.
I have to stay calm.
He's just one man. He can't possibly take out a dozen of us at once.
As long as we pin him down, the power of the magic repeating crossbows will turn him into a pincushion in an instant!
"Ah, right. Could you answer one more question for me?"
Just then, the "ordinary citizen" pulled the blade from the man’s throat, elegantly dodging the spray of blood. He turned his gaze back to Swick.
"What is ten seconds divided by ten?"
Ten seconds divided by ten?
Are you testing a child?
"It's one, obviously!" Swick answered instinctively.
"Is it?"
Upon receiving the answer, the "ordinary citizen" Mr. Bruce suddenly stood still. He pressed down on his top hat, ignoring the thugs lunging at him from behind, and whispered as if counting down.
"Then... one it is."
In an instant, as the words left his lips, the man suddenly turned into an afterimage and vanished from Swick’s sights.
Then, accompanied by screams that erupted almost simultaneously, countless mists of blood rose in the alleyway—like a brilliant Equinox Flower slowly blooming in the endless night.