Chapter 32
The Big Family Gathering.
It was a meeting held every three months by all the bosses belonging to the mafia alliance of the Dracon Marquisate.
This was due to the ironclad conviction of the Godfather, the alliance's supreme leader and the boss of all the bosses.
- “A son who doesn't show his face to his father even once every three months is no longer family.”
Attendance at this gathering was mandatory.
Unless someone had urgent business, notified him in advance, and received permission, missing this meeting meant excommunication.
Thus, when two sons—both alliance executives—were absent from this regular gathering, the Godfather split the desk in half in his fury.
“You bastards! Drag those sons before me at once!”
A red-eyed man with long black hair hanging down his back glared, blood vessels standing out in his eyes.
Faced with the wrath of the Godfather, whose obsidian horns had grown like a crown, all the ‘children’ in the room hunched their necks.
“Send the enforcers! Make sure you bring them alive and force them to kneel before me!”
Thus, eight enforcers were dispatched to the cities where the two executives were based to convey their father's hurt and anger.
And half a month later.
Of the dispatched enforcers, only one returned to the Godfather's side.
“Huff··· pant. Father···”
A scar-covered man, missing his left arm and drenched in blood and sweat, staggered into the room, gasping for breath.
When the Godfather first saw him, he suspected rebellion and shattered the armrest of his chair.
His ruby-red eyes narrowed into vertical pupils, and scales began to sprout all over his body.
“How dare you···! Have you betrayed your father!”
The air grew heavy as though responding to his anger.
Dragon Fear.
Merely recognizing his presence made those of lesser races barely capable of breathing through their terror.
Amid that atmosphere, the enforcer overcame his fear and forced the words out from deep within his core.
“The young masters··· have passed away.”
The Godfather, who had begun transforming, returned to human form and staggered.
He had sent men to discipline his unruly sons, but what had returned was news of their deaths.
Though they were not related by blood, their souls had been bound by liquor stronger than blood; they were no longer among the living.
Tears formed in the Godfather's red pupils.
“The grandchildren?”
“They have all passed away.”
“I see···”
The young man known as the Godfather embraced the enforcer who had lost his left arm.
“I will not hold you responsible for the failure. You should rest now.”
“I’m sorry, Father.”
“No. I’m just glad you survived.”
After sending the enforcer away, the Godfather leaned back in his chair as though collapsing and sank into deep thought.
Soon, he wrote letters to the other bosses and the alliance executives.
- “My children have committed a great act of filial impiety. They went to heaven before their father.”
- “I dearly wish to hold funerals for those children, but the enemies who killed my sons still remain in this domain.”
- “Take their heads and avenge your brothers.”
- “According to my son who returned alive, the enemies are a trio: an elven woman, an old man in a suit, and a narrow-eyed young man.”
- “They are Third, Third, and Fourth Tier, respectively.”
- “Two have already fallen, so do not stubbornly try to face them alone. You must go with nearby brothers.”
- “Never commit the unfilial act of leaving this world before your father.”
Thus, the Godfather repeatedly admonished his children.
And one week later.
“The two young masters have passed away.”
When the news reached the Godfather's mansion, a mournful dragon's roar echoed throughout the city.
***
“It seems they’ve finally caught on.”
Dominic said this while standing before the corpses of two bosses.
Jane replied as though it were nothing particularly important.
“Whether it’s the authorities or a criminal organization, people tend to become diligent when their own lives are on the line. It’s nothing surprising.”
Dominic nodded in agreement.
If anyone had been able to look inside Dominic's head, they would have scolded him for having the nerve to say that.
But Jane, unaware of Dominic's true feelings, bowed her head toward the old butler.
“Thank you. For leaving one of them alive.”
No matter how rapidly Jane had grown through her recent series of life-and-death battles, she was not yet capable of taking on two bosses at once.
For her sake, Dominic took on one of them while she fought the other this time.
He did not even counterattack, doing nothing but evade.
“You didn’t overdo it because of me, did you?”
“Though my luster may have faded somewhat compared to the old days, I am not so decrepit that the claws of a beast like that could injure me.”
“Then I’ll count on you again next time.”
“Gladly, miss.”
The corners of her mouth twitched at the old butler's salute.
The way he called her miss had become familiar to her after spending the past several months with him.
It was also an embarrassing form of address that made her feel as though she had become a young lady from a fairy tale.
By now, she even felt as though she had become this old butler's master.
But remembering who this old man worked for, she shook her head and returned to reality.
Instead, she asked about something she had been curious about throughout the battle.
“I’ve been curious for a while—did you ever learn how to fight from someone?”
During this battle, she had realized something while watching the old man.
His method had roots similar to hers.
A style that did not adhere to any particular school and relied on fundamentals and improvisation.
The old man's method felt familiar to her somehow.
In response to her question, Dominic calmly nodded.
“No. I’m self-taught.”
“As expected.”
She was not very different from him, having absorbed every means available to become stronger.
Taking all the clues the old man had hinted at so far into account, she was certain that he too had followed a path similar to hers.
Though she did not know his circumstances, he too must once have burned himself up for revenge.
When her thoughts reached that point, she bowed her head toward the old man after some deliberation.
“Could you teach me how to fight, too?”
If their roots were the same, inheriting this old man's method would not be particularly difficult.
Normally, asking someone in this world to teach you was an extremely dangerous thing to do.
To a master, a disciple was a perfectly refined pill, while to a disciple, a master was a fortuitous opportunity to take his head and advance.
That was why, early in the journey, when she could not trust this old butler, she had not asked him for instruction and had only planned to use him to complete her revenge.
But over the past several months of traveling together, she had reached the conclusion that she could trust this old butler, if only a little.
(For the record, the narrow-eyed tax official was still suspicious.)
“There’s nothing I can do for you right now. But once all your revenge is over···”
“Very well.”
“What?”
“I’ll teach you.”
The old butler's answer was quite disconcerting to her.
As a matter of common sense, there were only two kinds of master-disciple relationships.
Either they sought each other's necks, or they struck a deal.
But the old man had unilaterally offered to bestow a favor upon her.
For someone whose entire world had been barren, it was an unfamiliar kind of goodwill.
That was why she could not easily trust that goodwill.
“What do you gain from it?”
“Isn’t it more beautiful for flowers to bloom than for new firewood to be piled atop ashes? That is payment enough.”
“Flowers? Are you trying to seduce me?”
“Ho ho. To think you see this old body as so young—I hardly know where to put myself. You needn’t understand what I mean by flowers just yet.”
At the old man's meaningful remark, she tilted her head, then···
“All right. Then I’ll be counting on you, Dominic.”
***
Several weeks passed.
Throughout the journey, the old butler taught her his methods of fighting whenever they had the opportunity.
“A sword requires technique, not strength. If you aren’t confident you can cut an enemy in half with one blow, just think of it as adding more wounds.”
“One vital point is far more threatening than dozens of scratches. Settle your impatience and try responding with a little more composure.”
“When running, if you know a signal will sound ahead of time, you can start half a beat earlier. Combat is the same. Unless one side overwhelmingly dominates, a duel is ultimately a battle of wits.”
The old man's method was underhanded and unorthodox.
He exploited the enemy's gaze, the environment, and anything else he could, targeting openings with actions outside their predictions.
It was a method of making up with technique for the physical limitations of a body that could not become overwhelmingly fast.
Jane liked his method very much.
“Were you an adventurer?”
“I was, in my younger days.”
“As expected.”
Since she too had started as an adventurer and advanced to this level, she was able to absorb the old man's method like a sponge.
In the process, the old man's mindset naturally seeped into her as well.
“You must have been quite willing to use any means available in your younger days.”
“Ho ho.”
The old butler brushed off her question with a laugh.
She did not press him any further.
She could already roughly guess his past from what the old man had hinted at.
Thus, after today's lesson ended, the two of them headed into the streets to buy groceries.
Since the narrow-eyed tax official was someone of high status, preparing meals fell to Jane and Dominic.
(Unknown to her, the narrow-eyed tax official himself was practically dying of discomfort.)
While strolling through the streets of a city they had liberated in the past to rest for a while, she could see smiles on the people's faces.
The citizens no longer feared the mafias' gunfire and protection money. They boldly came out into the streets and enjoyed their daily lives.
- “Long live the Vigilante!”
She had heard that there was no major confusion because Rex had belatedly dispatched an administrator to the cities her group had torn through.
Word traveled fast, and because of this, her group became famous as a righteous outlaw group that liberated cities: the ‘Vigilante.’
Thanks to that, surveillance grew tighter as they moved from city to city, but the citizens' support for her grew just as much.
Children, lovers, parents, and old people.
As she heard countless citizens chanting her name, a warm emotion welled up in her heart.
The old man seemed to notice her state and smiled with satisfaction.
“Can you see it now?”
“···”
“Revenge? I won’t say it’s bad. But in the end, isn’t revenge also an act done for your own satisfaction? If that’s the case, there’s nothing wrong with thinking about happiness after your revenge is over.”
“I···”
“Whether what remains after a fire becomes a pile of ashes or a field where new crops can sprout depends on how you look at it.”
She nodded.
And she reached a hand toward the old butler···
“Isn’t it too early to discuss that?”
She caught the wrist of a thug who swung a hatchet at the old butler's neck.
Ignoring the attacker who struggled with all his might, she said to the old butler,
“You seem to have let your guard down too much. What would you do if you’d been caught off guard like this and died for nothing?”
The old man chuckled at her question and pointed down.
When her gaze lowered, she saw a wire connected to Dominic's white glove.
Following it, she saw that it was wrapped around the hatchet's handle.
She snickered.
“You sly old geezer.”
“Thank you for your concern, miss.”
Dominic crooked a finger.
Clink.
The severed hatchet fell to the ground.
Taking that as her signal, she drove her clenched fist into the attacker's lower jaw.
Using her as the center, Dominic spread the wire and severed the ankles of the people surrounding them.
Jane shouted.
“Dominic! Don’t let a single one of them escape alive!”
“Understood, miss.”
The old butler saluted courteously as always and carried out her command.