Ch.184Report on the Downfall of Charity (26)

The sun set between the buildings. Just that alone made it as dark as night.

So it wasn’t time to dream yet. Bella resented herself. If only she had fainted, it would have been better, but being awake meant she was still suffering.

Leonardo had continued to flee without stopping. When he escaped to the streets, the guards who hadn’t properly assessed the situation failed to stop him.

She was tired of being dragged around in the arms of a sturdy man. Her head hurt so much she wanted to vomit.

“Where is it? Where the hell is it?”

Leonardo muttered incomprehensible words. Then he forcibly pulled Bella to her feet. Bruised all over, Bella couldn’t properly resist, and she closed her eyes as another slap came flying.

“Tell me, where is it! The secret passage that only nobles know about, you must know it!”

“I don’t know, I don’t know. Really, I’ve never heard of it.”

Bella could only sob weakly.

But the sobbing was short-lived. Once again, a terrible scream was heard. It was the same. The same sound had been heard since entering this alley.

First came the sounds of fighting, then screams and shouts, then pleading voices, followed by silence.

The sounds were getting closer. And ahead was a dead end. But when she looked back, there was a presence.

“W-who’s there!”

Leonardo pulled Bella closer. With one hand holding her body and the other holding a dagger he had received from his subordinate, he pointed it at her neck.

Soon after, a staggering woman appeared. Leonardo sighed in relief. She was one of his most skilled fighters and had been by his side the longest.

“Just hold on, I’ll somehow…”

But the subordinate collapsed with a thud. There was a grotesquely long stab wound on her back.

“Ugh, ahhh, ahhhhh!”

With a clacking sound, someone walked out of the alley. A man moving with labored steps, leaning on a cane in his right hand and holding a cutlass in his left.

It was Kain. His entire body was covered in blood. The rose thorns were still wrapped around his right hand. They were now embedded so deeply that they seemed impossible to remove.

“You, what kind of man are you, where did you come from?! I’ve never heard of someone like you. Someone like you didn’t exist!”

Leonardo ranted. Bella whimpered. Her neck stung and seemed to be bleeding.

“P-please spare me! Please…”

Kain breathed heavily.

The image of Beatrice’s final moments overlapped in his mind. She had been like this too. Held by someone’s hands, with a knife at her throat, staring blankly at him.

And his own hand was not in good condition either. His breathing was rough, and he could barely tell what he was holding. It felt as if a beast was biting below his wrist.

“If you come any closer, I’ll kill her!”

“Bella. Right?”

Kain tried to smile. His appearance was probably not very appealing at the moment.

“Remember me? The cane workshop. Francesco’s… friend.”

At the mention of Francesco, the girl slowly examined the man. It was undoubtedly that incredibly rude man. Someone she hadn’t liked from the beginning. At the same time…

“Run away.”

The person who had taught her how to escape.

“I said I’ll kill her!”

The chilling blade cut deeper into her skin. Bella felt the blood flowing. But she didn’t lose consciousness. Everything happening felt like a midsummer dream.

It might be because of the man before her, Bella thought. Though she was trembling from unavoidable fatigue, he seemed calm. His voice was steady, his posture upright, and his eyes looked sad.

She didn’t know why, but he looked sad. It was the same look Francesco had when he stared blankly at the sea. When she asked what he was thinking, he had never answered.

Was the man looking at the sea too?

The girl was smart. Smart enough to realize she was focusing on strange thoughts to escape this reality, but she also felt it didn’t matter.

“Run away now. Running away isn’t shameful. Bravely, escape. Live. Live and…”

And the girl saw it. The man named Iago clenching his right fist tightly, the unstoppable flow of blood soaking the ground.

She wanted to shake her head, to say it was nonsense. She would have if not for the rough man holding her and the knife cutting at her throat.

Suddenly, a wind blew through the alley. A hot, salty wind. The seasonal wind of Venelucia, what the locals called “the embrace.”

The girl somehow thought she smelled roses.

It was strange. The season of blooming roses had passed. And this hot wind had always been full of the smell of rotting fish and salt.

But she could be certain. It was the subtle, lingering scent of roses. She saw the man’s hair fluttering. At the same time, she felt her voice returning.

“Live and return to the people you love.”

The man made a gesture as if spreading his arms. The movements he had taught her vividly came to mind.

‘I want to be like Beatrice.’

She wouldn’t have been afraid. Bella made up her mind.

There could be no preparatory movement. No mental preparation was needed. The way to escape was that simple.

She threw open her shoulders and elbows to push Leonardo’s arm upward. She lifted her feet off the ground as if she was about to fall on her backside.

“You crazy thing!”

But Leonardo was a pirate. He never let go of his loot, even on a rocking ship. As soon as he sensed this impertinent little girl trying to break free and escape, he roughly embraced her.

Bella was too weak and light to shake off the man’s arms with her weight. It was a desperate escape attempt, but there was nothing she could do about her inherent lack of strength.

Bella lifted her feet off the ground. Leonardo, noticing her attempt to slip downward, roughly pulled her back.

“Let go!”

Bella struggled and jabbed Leonardo’s solar plexus with her elbow. Caught by the unexpected blow, Leonardo bent forward.

“Oh no…”

He hastily raised his head, but it was already over. Leonardo had lowered both arms, his upper body was bent, but his neck was raised.

That was the end.

Finally, Bella managed to escape. Though her legs gave way, she fled desperately as she had been taught. Cursing her unresponsive legs, she sat down and used her arms to drag her body.

The blade of the cutlass that had emerged from the back of Leonardo’s neck gleamed. The hero of charity could only open and close his mouth, his words unintelligible. There was only a strange deflating sound.

“Ah. Ahhh…”

Bella stammered. It felt like someone was shouting that she should close her eyes, but with her frozen body, she couldn’t do anything.

But the wind blew again. It was gentler than before, but warmer. It felt like being inside a blanket warmed by morning sunlight, or like being in a mother’s embrace. The faint scent of roses was pleasant.

– Well done.

Bella decided to be satisfied with that. Smiling, she collapsed to the side.

* * * * *

Kain dropped his sword.

Leonardo’s face color had long since changed. Bloody foam came from his mouth. He would die soon. But Kain felt regret. There were so many things he needed to know, needed to hear. The story about the Demon King was most urgent.

But what came out of his mouth was something completely different.

“Did Niccolo really tell you to kill Beatrice?”

“Are you… Niccolo’s… remnants…”

Leonardo slumped down. Kain deliberately chose not to correct him. He let the misunderstanding stand. It was easier than explaining.

“I thought all the old man’s dogs were dead…”

“Why did you try to take Venelucia?”

“I didn’t, cough, cough! I didn’t want this. I didn’t want to take it… this way.”

“Then why on earth…”

“This city is disgusting.”

Hatred rose in Leonardo’s eyes.

“The nobles suck up all the money earned by prostitutes, thieves, and pirates, and pretend to be noble. Honest fishermen work until their knees rot, but all they get are chronic diseases. The entire east is the same. That ring you’re wearing…”

Kain looked down at the High Council ring. Soaked in blood, it gleamed under the sun.

“You don’t know how many people’s genitals were sold to make that ring. No, how many people I should say.”

“You were no different.”

“Is it so wrong to treat those fucking bastards like the fuckers they are?”

Leonardo stood up. It was impossible. The man who had been dying just moments ago, who had lost all his blood, instead got up lightly.

“Wasn’t the Duce the same? The Emperor of the Empire? The priests of the Stone-Fire Faith? Don’t they all casually pay with others’ blood to secure their positions? So why can’t I?”

Leonardo pulled the knife from his neck. Now, smoke instead of blood flowed from his neck. The Venelucian cutlass in his hand looked sinister.

“Even His Holiness the Pope created the Demon King for faith to protect belief, so why can’t I?”

Leonardo’s body split open. It twisted strangely. Like a sprouting seedling breaking and crushing its seed to emerge, something seemed to be writhing inside his body.

Kain tried to swing his cane. But he too fell backward. The mercenary woman who had just collapsed grabbed Kain from behind.

“Hee, hee. Hee. Hand, some.”

Something like tentacles writhed in her mouth. Squid-like limbs also writhed from her torn back. She was an opponent he couldn’t defeat with just a cane.

Kain swung his fist. The rose thorns embedded themselves in the mercenary woman’s face. She clutched her face in agony.

Leonardo stood tall. The spilled blood and intestines tangled together, writhing like another arm. His tongue, hanging out of his mouth, dangled.

“Ungrateful bastards. How much money did I spread across this land! How many things did I feed and sustain to not shame the name of charity!”

“Charity is giving to others out of pity.”

Kain murmured. He clenched his fist tightly.

“Buying respect with money like you do is called vulgar. You vulgar bastard.”

“What would someone like you know!”

Leonardo lunged at him. Kain gritted his teeth and threw a punch. With a thud, Leonardo’s body was thrown backward, crashing into the dead-end alley.

The hero of charity looked up at the sky and screamed.

A sword fell from his body with a thud. It was still a lump of metal, not drawn from its scabbard.

A solar eclipse came to Venelucia. A massive fleet blocked the sun. Countless winged beasts, monsters, poured down. The shadows that had subsided now swirled like a storm, being sucked up into the sky.

A shadow also fell over Kain. It was deep and thick enough to be distinguished from others. Tasting bitter metal, Kain stepped back.

From the sky, he descended. With his back to Kain, facing Leonardo.

“Leonardo of Charity.”

The Knight of the Scabbard, Laios, stood there.

“Worthless guide…!”

“I’ve come to claim my share.”

Laios, clenching his fist like Kain, charged forward.