Chapter 19 (2/2)
“Yaay! Thanks, dad!!”
“Hahaha, I knew that Kei was an archer from the case he had, but to think he was that ht him inside”
In the faint light of the lah he invited Kei in to talk to Kiska about her hometown, in the end they didn’t speak a word of it
“Now, I suppose we have to dress up, don’t we? I doubt they’d let us in with this get up!”
“I’ll go and change Lily, go ahead and get dressed up, too!”
“Hurray! I will!”
Montand and Kiska had a spring in their step Lily’s exciteue
Montand wiped his body doith a wet cloth before he put on his only good suit, the one he used when he dealt with important people, and adjusted his hair Kiska wore a sih to be out of reach for most people Lily merrily wore a red ribbon in her hair and a cute apron dress
“Alright, no one’s forgetting anything?”
“Nope!”
“All good!”
Montand stuffed his knife that he carried for self-defense and his purse in his shi+rt, snuffed the lamp, and firmly locked the door behind them
After asking the neighbors to keep an eye on their house, Montand and the others headed off into the sunset streets in high spirits
They est of the craftsh class urban section
“So, what to get…?”
“I wonder what’s on today’s menu”
“I want to get a beef stew!”
They walked cheerfully down theboth of their hands The previously lonely, dusk town took a turn and felt livelier A luxuriousthat Lily could rarely look forward to
Kiska lovingly watched her daughter as Montand smiled at them both They were a happy family
The three of theht
Even in the now-dim streets
Al
From far down the street, in a daze
Or perhaps, dejected
A man stood in the darkness and stared
Borris
Borris, who until recently had risked his life to hide a s holes into their backs with his gaze
A sound creaked
“Keh…” Borris sed the words that were on their way up
He spun on his heel and ran the other way, down the slightly dirty road He ran as fast as he could
The place he arrived at was a small, unpopular pub
He sat down in a chair as if it were the same as always and curtly ordered, “Ale…”
Baht in front of hied the bitter ale His storowled
“—Hey, bro I like how you drink,” said a slender man who sat down next to him as he was about to order his second drink
“It’s you…”
The sauy as always It was the man that Borris always sadly slipped a case to under the counter
“Haha what’s up? You’ve got a long face there”
As he snoring the overly-fa
It was lighter than usual He could see the dull copper and hardly any silver After a moment of surprise, he looked closer to find that they weren’t actually silver coins, but sether it almost totaled one silver
Such a tiny amount
“What’s wrong, you look unsatisfied with that?”
The ht next to his ear Taken aback he looked to his side The skinny man smiled at him treacherously
“N-no, that’s,” he tried to dodge the question by picking up his , but immediately realized it was empty and muttered, “Not at all…”
Borris hung his head and clenched the ht that his knuckles turned white The man next to him didn’t miss it
He gave a thin sertips, tap tap He tossed a few copper coins in front of Borris and said, “Follow me, Borris”
With those feords, the ot up and left the pub
Startled, Borris stared at his back as the man left
However, he realized that the money the man put in front of him was to cover the ale He also realized that, for the first ti this job, he was called by his naot out of his seat
“You’re slow To think that I had to wait for you” The ainst a wall outside the pub and wore a cynical smile
“I-I’m sorryI was a little surprised, I-I couldn’t move I’m sorry, I’m really sorry”
“Well, whatever…” the ies and started walking again after repeating, “Follow me”
Borris silently followed after him
Silence Only the sound of shoes hitting stone rang out
That pub, on the darker side of Satyna, was a place where ruffians usually got together and shouted over each other It was a bad spot for a conversation
To take him out of that scenario meant—
Borris felt a strange exalted feeling welling up inside of hi of neither fear nor expectation
“You know…” theas they walked, “I used to be a carrier, too Just like you are now” He stopped and leaned on the wall of a building in a dark alley “So I get what you’re thinking ‘Isn’t one silver too little? Is this all ”
It looked like he was enjoying hi him The words were stuck in Borris’ throat
Rather than let the silence go on, theyou” He sed his smile into a stern expression and said, “To be clear, Borris, your life is worth less than a silver”
With such a cruel statement, Borris was suddenly at a loss for words
“However,” the ht now” He pulled out a metal case from his shi+rt and waved it in front of him “This I don’t knohat you think of it, but it’s so out of your mind This is on an entirely different level froanizations carry With even just this old coin”
“Gold…!?”
Borris’ jaw dropped The price was higher than he could’ve iold, a gold, a gold, the thought that he had been carrying soh his mind, a chill ran down his back
“But, you only get less than a silver Do you knohy?”
“N-no…”
He looked Borris straight in the eye, who shook his head
“I’ll tell you That’s because it didn’t have to be you The one carrying this that is”
Borris had to let the words sink in But theyour life at risk However, the one that puts their life at risk didn’t have to be you specifically It’s a big thing, putting one’s life on the line But, even a kid could do it if they were prepared, no? There’s an even uards? Who sells the goods once they’re in? And who s it all the way to Satyna? The one that es the entire process? The one that funds the operation? Too many to think of… If you could do this all on your own, Borris, then you’d have the entire gold to yourself”
“T-that’s i all of that… alone?”
“Exactly It’s i the lowest; the least concerning job”
“That’s…” His er, sadness, and e around inside of hi his head
The ain and instead pulled out a metal flask and pulled out the cork
Itand held it out to Borris, “What about you?”
With the flask still in the ue, his eyes ide
“It’s good…” as Borris rant scent of the sweet alcohol entered his nose
It had been a long tih quality alcohol
“Borris Until now, you’ve done the shi+t job that no one cares about” He closed the lid and put the flask away “But, that ends today” Looking straight at Borris, he said, “The organization has decided to pull out of this city”
“What?!”
The man’s words hit him like a punch to the face
“Tha-that can’t—“
“Shh! Don’t shout, stupid” He grimaced and quickly put his hand over Borris’ mouth “Listen carefully… okay? To be honest, the security here recently has been too tough Bribing and all has gone on well enough, but frankly, it isn’t worth it here
“Well… I can understand that…”
—In that case, what about him?
Borris had yet to pay back his loans He wasn’t entirely satisfied with his own portion, but even so, he needed this job It felt like the ground was cru beneath his feet
“And so, Borris Come with me”
His head couldn’t keep up with everything thehim
“What…? Come with you, as in… Leave the city? Why?”
When he finally understood, the feeling that folloasn’t happiness, but bewilderhts of doubt He couldn’t believe it, he couldn’t have confidence in it
“You have a good chance… Well, that’s a little ed “Borris, haven’t you realized it yet? This was your tenth ti”
“Now that you mention it…”
“You’ve done it all this time, but this job has a low survival rate There’ve been other carriers, just how ht…?” He drew his thumb across his neck
The blood drained from Borris’ face
“Well, with that said, whether it was luck or whether it was your own skill, you survived an astounding ten times That’s one reason Another reason is the trust that you can keep it a secret Lastly, the most important reason,” the man smiled maliciously, “I can’t just let someone who knows about us live”
When Borris understood what he meant, his face turned as white as a sheet “Rather than a proposal, it’s my life, huh…”
“You could veto it, you know? Though the price is extreh, so it’s not really worth it”
“But… I have debt…”
“Just skip out on it What’re you being an honest person for at this point?”
Thoughts swam around in Borris’ head
The reasons he didn’t leave the city in the first place was because he had his own house, and he only had his lacking skill inarrows
Even if he did default on his debts and ran away, he couldn’t live in a city with no connections and only half-baked craftsman skills
“In the next city… will I still be a carrier?”
“Nope You’ll be doing a slightly better job… Basically, you’ll beork, odd jobs, and what not”
The , siht?
“I-is that… true?” For Borris, who had already walked across the thin ice ten ti to put hiood to be true “I can’t believe it… I’ll do it, I’d like to do it!”
“Alright… Well, it’s not going to happen right away At the soonest, it’ll take another week Just prepare your belongings in that time”
“Y-yes!” Borris shook with excitement
“Oh, that’s right,” said the ot… I have one last, easy job for you”
Borris froze with a suspicious expression
“You don’t have to ”
“What is it…?”
“Well, honestly, the slave that was supposed to deliver goods to a certain someone died recently”
“Slave…?” The sudden use of the word ‘slave’ instead of someone related to medicine made him tilt his head
“We have slaves work for us too… Of course, they’re illegal It’s sort of an urgent hed through his nose His expression turned dark
This was the first time Borris had ever seen this man without that terrible smile plastered on his face
“That ‘certain person’ that I ood looking little girl, then they won’t be satisfied We have plenty of good looking wo kids… So, I was going to go on the hunt in the sluht?” He asked carelessly, al Borris to a picnic
While it was illegal—co in narcotics, it definitely was an easier job
But, Borris stopped listening partway through
In his head, so came up
A certain, al, happy family
The man smiled maliciously at Borris while he waited
“What’s wrong, Borris, you’ve got a weird look?”
“Do… do the kids,” his eyes turned to a dark, dirty look, “Do we have to get the kids from the slums?”
“Checking out each and every one of those dirty begging kids takes tiuess it doesn’t really matter?”
Borris sh, “Heh Heheh I know someone”
The night wore on