It was a well-polished road, comparable to the ones that lined mansions where aristocrats or rich merchants lived. Yet, one of its serious drawbacks was that it turned into a dirty sludge mixed with all kinds of filth whenever it rained. With the road as the center, several buildings lined the sides; although the shape and size of each building were different from each other, they shared the commonality of having a huge sign attached right on top of their entrances.
Many carriages carrying loads crossed the streets. This was a commercial district where various firms were squished together. As expected of a city known for its commerce and logistics, there were all kinds of headquarters and branches of firms at Bambis, where every imaginable good was bought and sold. Although these firms were all gathered, they weren’t all alike. Their building sizes displayed the difference that each firm had in terms of wealth, scale, influence, and so on.
Among these buildings, there was a gigantic building that clearly looked to be among the largest buildings in the city. Horses and carriages continued to pass through its large front door, numerous goods piled up inside or left the place, and people went in and out of their offices to conduct business. Soon, the congestion and fever died down and disappeared when the moon rose in the sky.
The lock of the front door where people and carriages passed through was shut tightly, and hardly anyone was left within the perimeters. The only people remaining were guards who guarded the storage room. By their rough faces and singular weapons, they appeared to be mercenaries. Because of the tall walls surrounding the building, it was difficult to see them clearly from the outside. Perhaps that was why, but these people didn’t seem too focused on guarding. Instead, they seemed to have no interest in their job as they stood with their legs crossed and yawned continuously. Some were even chuckling while exchanging obscene jokes with each other.
Thud!
One chuckling guards’ necks arched sharply downward while he made a vulgar hand gesture. The other guard participating in the conversation pulled out his weapon in alarm.
“Who…!”
Thud!
Like his colleague, the back of his head was also struck. These two men clutched the back of their heads as someone stood in front of them.
“You bastards, what do you think you are doing?”
“Ah, Mr. Platt!”
After finding out who had struck the back of their heads, the guards stood up straighter.
“I asked what you guys are doing.”
“Under Boss’ orders…”
“Boss?” Tim’s voice rose sharply, and the guard quickly corrected his words.
“Ah, no! We were standing guard under Captain’s orders!”
“Yes, guarding—that’s your guys’ responsibilities. How strange. All I see are gangsters busy killing time rather than guarding.”
“T-That is…” The guard’s eyes rolled this way and that as he tried to find a good excuse; but when he met Tim’s eyes to say his excuse, all the hundreds of excuses that came to his mind suddenly escaped. Eyes that didn’t seem to belong to a human shot back at him; they held the ferocious energy and bloodthirst of a wolf who had learned of the taste of blood.
“I don’t expect you guys to act like real, proper guards. I know you guys are bottom-level pieces of trash, but it’s a different story if you guys can’t even act like something else.”
Tim grabbed one of the guard’s hairs and pulled his face closer.
“You guys should at least pretend like you are doing your jobs! Did you forget how important this job is? Do I have to break open that bean-sized brain of yours and engrave it into your thick skulls!”
“S-Sorry, sir!”
“Guys like you really need an example.” Tim raised his hand. All his fingers stood up stiffly and made a hand blade. The guards looked at it with eyes full of fear of death.
“That’s enough.”
Tim turned around and saw a man walking towards him. Around his waist, the man wore a sharp and large knife; he had an angular face and emitted a rough, fierce aura.
“Those bastards aren’t your underlings but mine. Even if we are collaborating, don’t do anything out of line.”
“Out of line?” Tim thrust the guard he was holding roughly onto the ground. The guard groaned loudly when his face struck the floor; although he survived, his large nose was completely flattened.
“Thanks for bringing that up first, you bastard! I don’t think you guys understand the importance of the work you are doing right now. Should I explain it to you nicely and respectfully again?” Tim said to the man.
“With your fists, right? I don’t mind taking that, but don’t you think your amazing and important work would be ruined then?”
“Seeing the stupid things you guys do, it’s obvious you will all fail. It would be better for me to turn this thing upside down when I have the chance!”
The man with an angular face stared at Tim’s fingertips. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks with him, but Tim’s fingernails appeared longer. This was not good. Although he was acting strongly in front of Tim so he wouldn’t appear like a pushover, he was fully aware that he and his men would be ripped to shreds if they really had a fight with Tim. In the end, the man backed off.
“Okay, okay. I will warn other collaborators and my underlings once more that they shouldn’t put their guard down no matter how trivial the situation seems to be.”
“Don’t just tell them. Since they are all complete blockheads, they need an example.”
“…You are pushing it, Tim Platt.” The man with an angular face frowned for the first time, “We are your collaborators, not your underlings. Are you saying that you would make an example of other people’s subordinates?”
“You guys are the one pushing it. This is something bigger than what any of you guys have ever done before. It needs as much attention and caution for it to succeed. You don’t want us to fail just because of some idiots, right?” Tim pointed at the guards. The guards were trembling and watching the situation like cornered mice and were surprised to be mentioned. “Quit right now if you plan to work with that kind of rotten mindset! Or should I make you quit?”
Tim’s eyes turned yellowish. At that point, the man with the angular face realized that he could no longer push this any further. “…We can’t quit. Fine, I get it. But I will be the one to make an example out of these guys since they are my subordinates. That’s all I can offer you.”
The man with the angular face felt his lips become dry. The situation could completely change depending on Tim’s next action. Fortunately, the worst-case scenario didn’t happen.
“…Fine. But if I check later and you didn’t do a thorough job, I’m not going to stand back and just stay still. Tell the other guys to shape up as well.”
“I got it.”
When Tim turned his body around, the man with the angular face let out a sigh. He was able to avoid a direct confrontation with Tim, which was the worst outcome for now. He clicked his tongue as he watched Tim jump over a wall and went out of the building.
‘That hot-tempered bastard.’
Even though he was also hot-tempered, his temperament couldn’t be compared to Tim’s. Tim was the definition of a crazy dog. He spat towards the direction where Tim left and stared at his underlings who were the cause of this mess. Their bodies were stiff as they waited to receive their punishment.
“Hey.” The man with the angular face turned back. There were several more underlings waiting for his order. “Kill these guys. As a warning, take their heads off and pass it around to the other guys.”
“B-boss!”
“Please…!”
Crunch!
Blood spurted out of the two guards’ mouths. The man with an angular face had swung his fist. “How many times do I have to tell you to quiet down!”
Then, he began relentlessly kicking his collapsed underlings. Without being able to scream, they had to crouch and quietly take the hits.
After kicking them until he was satisfied, the man gave an order to his underlings, “Drag them out!”
His underlings dragged out the guards repressing their cries. People who came running from the commotion watched this sight with frozen expressions.
‘As he said, an example would definitely be made out of them.’ However, this didn’t mean that the man admitted that this commotion was his or his subordinate’s fault. In the first place, he was low-life trash who passed off his mistakes or faults to another person.
“Damn!” He snorted and turned his body in frustration. “What the hell are you doing! Go back to work!”
His underlings hurriedly went back to their stations. The man with an angular face menacingly glared at his underlings once and also moved out. Like this, a disturbance that took place in the middle of the night ended.
* * *
‘Those bastards run around carelessly without knowing how important this job is!’ Tim was still angry. He wanted to immediately turn back and cut the man’s angular face into a circle and make his underlings into blood paste.
Even though he could take care of them with just his fists, he couldn’t just kill them all. They were still his collaborators for now.
‘If only I had my own forces!’
As expected, he needed his own forces. After he was successful with this plan, he vowed to make his own group. Moreover, he felt iffy that he left the situation like that, especially since he frequently clashed with the angular-faced man.
‘Come to think of it, their target is the Demiro Firm, right?’ An evil smile appeared on Tim’s lips.
* * *
Zich was sitting face to face with Tim. While Zich was having a drink to end his day, Tim came to see him; that was the only reason why Tim would come to find him. Zich was hopeful, but on the outside, he asked nonchalantly, “Did you bring me new information this time?”
“Of course!” Tim’s voice was loud and full of confidence.
“Okay, tell me.”
“Before I tell you, I have something I want to ask you.”
“What?”
“Do you have a lot of money?”
“Is that related to getting more information?”
“Yep. Don’t you know it better than me? In order to get information, you need money. If you need to use someone, you need money to hire them, and if you need to get someone’s help, you need to bribe them a bit. And if you’re going to get involved in something dangerous, you need money to cover it up.”
Zich let out a sound of admiration. However, it was admiration mixed in with mockery. “It seems like you obtained some rare information. But what I expected from you was just some rumors floating around in a back alley. I also didn’t expect much from you either.”
Tim was provoked, but he tried to repress his anger. He needed to first hear how much money Zich had before making his final decision.
‘If he doesn’t have much money, I should just give him false info and rip off some of his money.’
However, considering that Zich easily gave him a precious jewel for small strife, he probably had loads of money.
‘Then, I need to drag this guy in a little deeper.’ Tim thought this and said, “I found a pretty trustworthy route. In order to crack that route, I need money.”
“Where is it?”
“I can’t teach you that.”
Zich stared at Tim for a brief moment and began to pour out money and precious goods all over the table from his magic box. Tim’s carefully constructed composure all flew away when he saw pouches filled with gold coins and sparkling jewels. It was too much wealth for one person to have.
“Would this be enough?”
Tim swallowed his saliva. ‘This is way more than I expected!’
At that moment, Tim changed his thought of Zich as merely a means to earn some allowance to one of his main goals.
‘If he can immediately show me this amount of wealth, he’s probably hiding more wealth!’
“…This is enough.”
“Right? Then, tell me what information you have right now. If you give me useful information, I can fully compensate for your efforts, but before that, you need to earn my trust first.”
“You’re going to make your judgment based on the information I brought you today?”
“Of course.”
“All right. I’m sorry, but I haven’t found the bandit’s home base or anything like that. But I think I roughly figured out the bandits’ main goal.”
Zich leaned his body forward and showed his interest. “Their goal wasn’t to ambush people near the city?”
“No. Their goal is a bit bigger. I think their real goal is not outside but inside the city.”
Zich looked at Tim’s thumb; it was not moving.