A Disaster-Level Assassin Has Been Freed

Chapter 81: Special Request (7)

The bar Sheratiya Viyan introduced was quite luxurious, as befitting a place located in the Inner District.

The numerous liquor bottles displayed behind the bar seats and the warm, orange lighting blended to boast a unique atmosphere, and Harang thought it seemed even better because the weather was chilly these days.

Of course, that wasn't particularly important.

While Harang was looking around the interior, she, who had sat at a table, quickly finished ordering, and as soon as the alcohol arrived, she poured three glasses down her throat in quick succession without any side dishes.

“Puha!”

“You’re drinking too fast, are you okay?”

Harang asked.

He himself was a being who could digest even lethal poisons, so he wouldn't get drunk, but most people outside would be reeling from half a bottle of whiskey.

That's why his voice carried a hint of worry.

At that moment, Sheratiya, who was about to drink her fourth glass, abruptly turned her head to look at Harang.

After silently staring at him for a few seconds, she smiled faintly and spoke.

“You really seem like a different person.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you, you. Before, I used to be confused about whether I was talking to a normal person or not, but now you even say things like you’re looking out for me…… Just how great a person taught you? Did you say he was an elder you know?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“What does he do? I’m just curious.”

“He is a beggar.”

“……What?”

“Did you not hear me correctly? He is a beggar. One who wanders around the Marzen Outer District.”

“Uh…… Sorry. I take back what I said. You’re still an unpredictable human being. At least, the most peculiar among the people I know. Puhuhu…….”

Sheratiya, who burst into laughter, drank again.

Harang glanced at the label on the glass bottle.

55.8 degrees.

Confirming it was quite strong liquor, he considered stopping her but soon decided against it.

He thought that she, being much smarter than him, would manage her drinking capacity on her own.

However, it didn't take long to realize that this was a misjudgment.

“Fuck…… Sh…… it……!”

“…….”

“This fucking world…… May it all be ruined…… Haha, hahaha! No, no…… Don’t be ruined. If it’s ruined, fuck, where will I get compensation for all the dog-like suffering I’ve been through…… Sh…… it……!”

“You’re very drunk, shall we get up now?”

“No? I’m not drunk, me?”

At Harang’s question, Sheratiya suddenly straightened her posture.

That wasn't all.

Her eyes, wide as she stared at Harang, made her seem sober, though perhaps a little angry.

If only her complexion hadn't turned so red, noticeably so even under the orange lighting.

‘It seems dangerous if she drinks more. Should I take her home, even by force?’

As he was thinking that, the woman who had been standing behind Sheratiya since a while ago slowly shook her head.

She was the coachman and servant who had driven the carriage to the Eddy Mercenary Corps' Hideout, and she mouthed these words.

‘I’ll take care of her, so please bear with her a little longer.’

“…….”

How much more did he have to bear with her?

As he took on this new worry and also drank a glass of whiskey, Sheratiya, leaning heavily on the table, began to pour out her grievances.

“As for me…… I wanted to become a novelist.”

“By that, you mean…….”

“Yes, I ultimately couldn’t become a novelist. The circumstances didn’t allow it. Isn’t it ridiculous? To think that even though I’m a noble by name, I had to give up my dream.”

‘It’s not ridiculous.’

Harang still didn't quite understand the difference between nobles and commoners.

All he knew was that nobles received a bit more preferential treatment here and there, had a bit more money, and were a bit more arrogant.

‘Ah, thinking about it that way, it is a bit strange. If they have a lot of money, why can’t they do what they want?’

Around the time such a question arose in his mind, further explanations continued to flow from Sheratiya’s mouth.

The fact that her parents had quickly squandered the considerable fortune inherited from her early-departed grandparents.

The fact that all the businesses they started to cover their extravagances had also failed, leaving them with only one ‘daughter’.

“Yes, I was a product. A product that could help those who were rich and capable…… but of low status, obtain a noble title. Or a product for high-ranking nobles who wanted a young and pretty concubine.”

“…….”

“To escape being treated as such a ‘product,’ what I needed to do wasn’t to become a novelist. A profession that could generate greater added value than being sold off to just any noble family…… Being a Merchant was the only thing I could choose, and that’s why I’m obsessively attached to the merchant guild work.”

“Ah.”

Harang wore an expression as if he had realized something.

It was because he recalled his past interaction with Sheratiya.

‘I had said that Lady Sheratiya looked happy and cool doing her merchant guild work. Her reaction to that…… wasn’t good.’

He had wondered why she showed such an attitude, but now he understood.

He thought that she might have felt bad hearing such words about a job she was forced into due to unwanted circumstances.

Recalling the past, he bowed his head and apologized.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what? Ah…… That time? It’s okay. I thought about it carefully, and now I like the merchant guild work. It wasn’t like that at the start, but I grew fond of it as I did it. Thanks to you, I realized it anew, so I’m rather thankf…… Uuup, hmm!”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine…… Still, talking a bit seems to have sobered me up a little. Let’s finish this bottle and then go. Phew…… Anyway, you see.”

“Yes.”

“I’ve suffered so much like this to avoid a marriage I didn’t want, supported my parents who spill money like there’s a hole in their pocket, and lived so damn, so diligently…… And yet, my parents went and found another marriage prospect for me behind my back.”

“…….”

“Not only that, but also the unsightly behavior I showed today…… Phew. That’s why. Just…… That’s why.”

Sheratiya’s complaints ended there.

After finishing her words, she gasped for breath to shake off the alcohol, yet she continued to pour alcohol down her throat.

There was a moment when she seemed to have sobered up, but not anymore.

The coachman, who had been watching her dither under the influence of alcohol, finally stepped forward to support her master.

At that moment, Harang, who had been silently organizing his thoughts, asked a slightly delayed question.

“Why do you continue to stay with your parents?”

“What?”

“If they are people who have never been of any help your entire life…… shouldn’t you just cut them off?”

“Puh, puhuhu…….”

Sheratiya, who received the question, lowered her head and laughed for a long time.

Inside the empty bar, her hollow yet sad voice filled the space.

But when Sheratiya sharply lifted her head, a voice, powerful and bitter enough to overwhelm the previous emptiness, flowed from her.

“Because they’re still family?”

“Because they are family…… you say?”

“Yes. It’s a funny story, but even though my parents treated me like a ‘product,’ they have always genuinely loved me, then and now. I also think of my parents as ‘pathetic people who can’t even manage their own affairs,’ but I still have loving feelings for them.”

“…….”

“Was that not an answer? Then it can’t be helped. I’m now really, really drunkaa…….”

Thud.

With those words, Sheratiya Viyan completely lost consciousness.

Harang moved upon seeing her dangling in the coachman's arms, but there was no need.

“I will take care of it from here on.”

“Ah, I understand.”

“Thank you for listening to the young lady’s story. Then, I’ll be going.”

Leaving those words behind, the coachman and Sheratiya left, and only Harang and the bartender remained in the bar.

Silence.

More silence.

Harang, who had existed in the quiet for about 5 minutes, ordered a new bottle of alcohol and slowly drank it.

All the while, he thought about the concept of ‘family,’ but unfortunately, it was difficult to understand well.

However, it wasn't that he had gained nothing.

‘Sheratiya is also making an effort.’

Just as he strived to make friends and maintain relationships.

She too was doing her best to continue her ties with precious people.

The sense of kinship that came from that somehow pleased Harang.

Furthermore, it made today’s meeting meaningful and motivated him to meet more and various people.

“Interesting.”

Harang’s monologue echoed in the desolate bar.

The bartender, then as now, was quietly wiping a glass like a still life, as if he didn't exist.

* * *

Around the time Harang and Sheratiya were having their first drink.

That is, right after the gathering at the fancy restaurant had ended, a scale was busily tipping in the minds of the Viyan couple as they returned home.

Should they entrust their daughter to a young man who was cherished by Philip Portville, Marzen’s greatest talent, a youth with no flaws to be found?

Or should they continue to push for the marriage with the person they originally had in mind?

No matter how much they thought, an answer didn't emerge, and upon returning home, they had to greet an unexpected guest.

A towering height.

A square jaw.

A robust physique and a rugged face.

But a being who flaunted a greasy hairstyle unbefitting such an appearance.

It was Jeten, the Guild Leader of the Jeten Swordsmanship Guild, the one with whom they had been secretly arranging the marriage for Sheratiya, who had come to visit.

“W-well, welcome! Sir Jeten!”

“Th-that’s right. Welcome. But how did you come all this way without any notice…….”

“I heard there is someone by Lady Viyan’s side.”

“……!”

“……!”

“Ah, you don’t need to make such faces. I think it’s perfectly understandable. There’s no way there wouldn’t be anyone by the side of such an attractive woman. In the end, all that matters is that this Jeten is the one who will protect her side at the last.”

“Th-that’s right.”

“That’s correct.”

“However, I can’t help but be curious. I heard he is a young man named ‘Harang’…… Could you perhaps provide some information regarding him? To win the flower, one needs to know well about the rival, after all.”

“…….”

“…….”

“Are you not going to say anything?”

Jeten’s attitude was, at first glance, exceedingly rude.

However, none of the three gathered there thought it strange.

It was as if an agreement had already been reached on who was superior.

This was by no means a typical relationship between a prospective son-in-law and prospective parents-in-law.

In a way, it was natural.

The Jeten Swordsmanship Guild was a massive guild that wielded significant influence over three cities, and Jeten was the head of such a military organization.

In terms of influence alone, even the Portville Sword Family could not compare to him, so his reputation could not be ignored even if he was from another country.

Perhaps because he was such a person.

Even after hearing that Harang was a promising young man ‘favored by Philip Portville,’ Jeten showed no signs of being intimidated.

Rather, he smiled fiercely.

And he muttered.

“Philip Portville…… a formidable old man. To be favored by such an old man, his skills must be excellent, and his spirit must be soaring. In that case…… it would be more advantageous for me to break that high-and-mighty nose of his first.”

“…….”

“…….”

“Ah, don’t worry too much. There will be no use of physical force or anything like that. I will simply, politely invite him…… and show him the difference in our class, and he will realize it himself. That he is an ordinary man unbefitting of Lady Sheratiya Viyan. Isn’t that right?”

The Viyan couple nodded their heads vigorously, and Jeten, seeing this, let out a smirk.

A day after that.

An invitation arrived at the Eddy Mercenary Corps’ Hideout.