Chapter IV - Manus Umbra

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After half an hour of ambling through Valetta, Leonardo and Fino found their way outside the Northern gate. This exit led out into the hills and the beach, so it was unused by merchants and farmers. It was hardly frequented, and even the guards disregarded it almost entirely.

There were no roads to speak of here, and the area was mostly populated by hunter-gatherers. The poorest outcasts lived in broken down huts arrayed in no particular order, barely recounting a semblance of civilization.

Valetta didn’t have slums. Though, to refer to this place as such wouldn’t be too far from the truth — it would also be an overestimation. Slums at least have a modicum of safety. Laid within the city walls, guards occasionally make the rounds through it. Here, it was worse.

Inhabited by various stranded rejects from faraway lands, it was closer to a jungle than a human settlement. Home to several dozen strays from various ethnicities, they were the waste byproduct of the otherwise majestic trade hub that is Malta.

It wasn’t anything new for a ship to offload castaways here, just as it wasn’t anything new to see those strays perish after a few weeks. Occasionally, a runaway slave or two would wash up ashore here, trying to make a life for themselves — usually at the expense of others.

Even the adults here didn’t have it too well, to speak nothing of the children. Given it was a hubbub of different cultures, there were at least three dozen dialects in use and few could even communicate. As such, it was bound to be a chaotic mess.

The guards didn’t intervene in this bedlam, and so the only law that functioned here was the law of the jungle. Brutal though it may be, that’s how this place functioned for centuries.

Occasionally, the noble in charge would have had enough and they’d organize a brutal cleansing. This purge didn’t come without cost to the guards, however, so it was an expensive affair. After repeated failures, the government simply chose to turn a blind eye and let the town regulate itself.

All in all, this place was unique among ‘civilized lands’. It was only here that you could see a frenchman, a muslim moor and a saxon ally against a german, for something as trivial as a piece of bread.

It was also only here that one’s original ethnicity, religion, age and gender did not matter at all. The only distinction between humans here was whether they had food or not, and whether or not they had the strength to protect it.

If you were weak, you were prey. It was for this reason that nobody here really owned anything. If they got some scraps of food in Valetta, they’d strictly be consumed there. Everyone returned empty-handed, lest they became a target and end up worse than hungry.

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“Umm, Leo, what are we doing here?”

Despite the courage he mustered earlier, Fino became as meek as a cat as soon as they passed the city gate. This was probably the one place his aunt advised him to avoid in all of Valetta, yet here he was.

“Shh. We’re almost there.”

Beckoning Fino closer, Leonardo leaned against a nearby shack, almost collapsing its walls in doing so, then pointed up ahead.

Three teens convened there, laughing boisterously in front of a worn tent.

“You recognize any of ‘em, Fino?”

“Hmm... The bald one on the left is the chief Garon’s son.”

“Chief Garon?”

“Yes. He is in charge of the guards at the harbor. I saw him speak with my father often.”

“Chief Garon’s son… huh. Looks like Luca found himself good company.”

Squinting his eyes, he watched the trio closely, noting that they seemed like good friends.

Originally, Leonardo had planned to give him a beating and recover Bruno’s money, but it seemed like they were close and might jump him together.

“Let’s go have some fun at the beach, little thief.”

Unwilling to deal with the hassle of a 1v3 fight, Leo decided to come later when Luca was alone. It wouldn’t be too late to make him pay then.

Breaking off into an sprint, Leonardo slipped towards the camp’s exit, leaving Fino in the dust. It took the boy a good while to gather his wits, but once he started running, he wasn’t too far off from catching up.

“Don’t leave me alone!”

Somewhat entertained, Leo decided to test the boy’s skills. He amped up his speed and slipped into a narrow alley, making use of obstacles to heighten their distance.

“Didn’t you say you’d follow? Show me your determination, then!”

Spitting out a cheesy line that you’d only expect to work in an anime, he was awestruck to find Fino double his efforts. Weaving through the random tents and broken crates, he seemed strangely experienced as he hurriedly caught up to Leo’s trail.

Cutting a path through the camp, then out into the woods, they ran further and further away from Valetta. It was only after a good five minutes that Fino reached the limits of his endurance and collapsed like a wounded deer, panting on the ground.

“Not bad, little thief. Now I’m really curious as to how you got caught in the first place, heh.”

Walking back to help the boy up, he offered his canteen with a bemused grin.

After a few greedy gulps, Fino couldn’t help but stammer, “H-how are you not tired?”

Unlike Fino, Leonardo seemed virtually unperturbed by the exercise. Puffing up his chest, he looked down on the boy then spoke with the demeanor of a great master.

“It’s because I know how to breathe with the wind. It’s all in the rhythm of nature.”

Rubbing his non-existent beard, Leonardo feigned the wisdom of a sage as he espoused complete nonsense from his celestial peak. Alas, betraying his expectations, Fino didn’t look enlightened in the least.

If anything, the boy scrunched his brows as if completely put off by a salesman’s bullshit, causing Leo’s pride to deflate like a balloon.

Somewhat aggrieved by his look, Leo waved his hand in dismissal. “Forget it, I can’t really teach it to you anyway…”

Blinking with more curiosity than disappointment, Fino insisted, “Why not?”

“Because… hm?” pausing momentarily, Leonardo gave the boy another deep look. As if he calculating something, he continued only after assessing things for a good minute, “If I were to teach you, I would have to become your master. This knowledge belongs to a special lineage of practitioners and can’t be passed down easily, understand?”

“I need to be a slave to learn things?”

“Not that kind of master…” shaking his head with a wry smile, Leonardo didn’t know how to explain oriental sects to the boy either, “Forget it, the sea is close. Let’s go!”