A week has passed since Shawn and I went out.

That night, we ended up being scolded by Madam and Zaraha for leaving without even annoucing our departure. Well, to be fair, though, it was I that was the target of these scoldings, the only one who was directly scolded was Shawn for he was the one who incited me to do that in the first.

And, as he stated, there were no words of what we did outside that came out of my mouth, because I was not personally questioned as to what we did, but only Shawn, who did everything to cover up for what we truly went to do out. They might have doubted, but they didn’t personally come to inquire of me what exactly we went out to do. Instead, it was Nia that came up to me with the questions. She was trying to be subtle, but it was clear that she came on behalf of Zaraha.

It might sound stupid and contradictuous, especially knowing how much I can’t stand him, but I didn’t spill a word, maybe because he took upon himself all the blame that night when we came to the inn or the fact that I didn’t want to be the source of an argument between the couple that literally lived next door or both.

"It’s been two days already, Aunty." said Zaraha to Madam, from the counter.

"It’s only been two days. He said he would be gone for some time. What are you afraid of? "

"I don’t know. You know him. What if he gets himself in trouble again, who knows, killed this time maybe?"

"He will be fine. You’re stressing yourself for nothing and the baby. "

"Yes, Zaraha," "Madam is right. Nia rassured while patting her back awkwardly.

Apparently, that Madman was out there again, this time for more than two days, and a drama was unfolding as a result; Nia, who was standing with them, was just watching, trying to hide her presence as best she could from them while also trying to be supportive, occasionally casting a glance at me, asking what exactly she was supposed to do, to which I responded with a shoulder shrug.

I was done with anything regarding him. I didn’t want to have anything to do with this matter anymore.

"I guess you two are right. I should’ve known that something like that while making a baby with an idiot like-"

"Greeting my fellow people." A voice joyously greeted, followed by a "Good morning Madam, Zaraha, Mademoiselle Rena, beautiful as always." and "Good morning, everyone."

The ones to shout were, naturally, the trio: Charle, Henri and Franq.

"So he was not with you three?"

"Who? Shawn? ... No! He' not. "

"If he isn’t with them, Where again is that idiot? What was wrong with me when I chose someone like him as a partner? Now I’m left with... "

Noticing that things were getting awkward, the three slithered their way toward the tables where I was sitting.

"Hello!"

"Hi, An, Shawn again?"

"As you can see."

"I heard from my brothers that you were wandering around..." lowering his voice, Charle leaned toward me. "—That you and Shawn wandered in the outer city." Are you two finally friends now? "

"No."

"Well, how unsurprising."

"Well, he can be insufferable, but he's a decent fella, at time, ... from time to time, ... "

The former, of course, he's without a doubt insufferable, but the latter, I highly doubt that.

That man was everything but a decent person.

"Got your breakfast, already?"

"Yes," But go ahead if you want something. "

"No—no, we’ve already gotten ours too."

"I see."

"Psst, hey An." Henri said,

"Hum?"

"I only see it now, but I’ve heard of it beforehand from Franq. Is Rena really working here?"

"I said, she was helping, not working, dumbass." Franq corrected.

"It’s the same."

"No it isn’t."

"Humph!... Whatever. Are you really okay with that? "

"What do you mean? Is there a problem with that?"

The three of them looked at me as if I had said something very stupid, then proceeded with hand gestures to point out their faces,

"What?"

"Really? Her face It's really okay for your beautiful girlfriend to work in a bar where men like Franq and Charle go in and out. I personally wouldn’t. Maybe to show off, but only once. "

"First of all, we aren’t like that, she and I. We’re just friends. "

The three of them took a very sarcastically doubtful face.

"It doesn’t change the fact that she’s beautiful."

"—Very."

"And her voice..." Added Franq, "Hum? What? Why are you looking at me like this? It’s true though, you’ve heard it right? "

"You're a weird man, Franq."

"Yeah."

"I mean, do you guys hear her voice, this innocent clumsiness emanating from it?" This baguette-like vibe from her accent; Does every girl from where you guys are from talk like that? "

"I literally have no idea what you’re talking about. Anyway, let’s be done with that topic. She was the one who wanted to help. It’s here to get to choose. So what are the three of you up to? It’s almost two weeks since we saw you three together for the last time."

Well, I didn’t have much time to wander with them with the incoming Somaroha, given that it is the best period of the year for an artist such as myself to perform on varuous stage, so I’m preparing myself too.

"Somaroha?"

"Oh, you don’t know about it? Well, normal given how new it is."

"It’s a festival that was established three years ago. It was formally referred to as the Feast of Spring and was celebrated later in the year, but it has been chosen after, well, the three big trees, meaning that it would be celebrated around this period of the year and would be refered to as the Somaroha, in reference to the big green-leafed tree that was one of the Hazo."

"I see. And that festival is taking place next month? "

"Yeah."

"Well, good luck to you. And you two? "

Both looked at each other, then proposed, "What about seeing it yourself?"

"Seeing what you’ve been up to?" I asked doubtfuk.

"Yeah, you’re free this afternoon? Well, what am I saying? Of course you are. Franq, you’ll come too?

"

"No, I still have something planned for this afternoon."

Both of them stood up, "We’ll pick you up this afternoon. You don’t mention any of this to anyone.

Especially not Madam, she'll kill us."

"Where are you two going?"

"Making some arrangement, remember not a word," they said, without leaving any further words.

"See you two later."

***

Just as they said, Charle and Henri, early in the afternoon, came to pick me up. We were now on our way to the said destination.

"Where and to what exactly are you two taking me?"

You’ll see. Take this, put this on. We’ve arranged things for you, but you’re still too flashy. Charle said, handing what seemed to be a black cloak.

I remembered what happened last time with Shawn, and without much hesitation, I put the thing on.

"What we’re taking you to is a couple of kilometers away, so I guess I still have time to narrate you that one incredible story?"

"Too bad Shawn and Franq aren’t here. Shawn likes hearing this story when it is Franq who is at least a decent narrator who tells it. "

"Shut up, if he can do it, I can do it, too. Well, An, back to the story I was about to tell you. It is the story of dragons, a man, and rats. " He presented dramatically.

With only these three first words, I could only imagine how cinical this story already is.

"It all started not so long ago, two years ago, to be exact."

With these words, Charle proceeded to narrate this story to me as we headed to our destination.

***

As he said, it happened two years ago, when the dragon traversed Beaufort just like they did for the entirety of the human contienent in direction of the Iharana Great Forest.

That day, though they didn’t pass through the city, the direct consequence of their mere passage in the neighborhood was to trigger catastrophic earthquakes that wreaked the city apart. No one was expecting their passage, they just happened out of nowhere. In fact, for most people, it was only very much later that they learned that what they’d been through was because of dragons that breached the barrier. To them, what happened was just, at least for some time before the news reached the people, a disastrous calamity that came out of nowhere.

For many, there was no doubt that what was happening was the beginning of the end, the incarnation of hell on earth, but then, after a while, once things had calmed down, hope, or at the very least, relief began to bloom from the rumbles. The dragons were gone and so were the calamities they naturally triggered along their passages, though there were countless deaths of a majority of the population thanks to the active protection of the nobles during the rumbling.

The city was heavily injured and profusely bleeding, but it was still alive. All that was left was to rebuild, to heal up from its wound, for it was done now. They were done with dragons now. Or at least, that was what they believed.

Amidst the chaos that was the earthquake triggered by the dragons and its aftermaths, their passages and their anchoring went completely unnoticed. It was only roughly one month after their passage became omnious and painfully obvious.

Rats.

Flying the dragons from wherever their natural habitat was, they found their ultimate shelter in the city of Beaufort.

These rats, and it must be precised that rat here nothing of what any normal person would imagine when thinking about rat.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

We’re talking about rats whose size varied from one of a fist to the length of an adult forearm upon reaching adulthood.

Nobles’ and commoners' alike, these rats started to roam rapant in the city’s streets and houses. No one was spared. In a mere matter of a few weeks, their population doubled, not even trippled.

Amidst all of this, a new kind of job arose in Beaufort under the direct tutelage of the Edouard family and the Ducal family. RatSlayer they were called. These were people hired with the sole purpose of exterminating those rats that were infesting the city.

It was then, months later, after the creation of this job of RatSlayer, that a weird rumor emerged from the South-East outer quartier. The rumor was that somewhere in the South-East Outer Quartier, there was a strange and uniquely popular type of entertainment that was gaining in popularity among the people living there.

Rat fighting

Unbelieveable and unreal as it might sound, a man, RatSlayer from the outer district, has started a side business aside from his usual rat-slaying activities. The man started to catch rats that he would raise and train to become a blood-hungry creature that knows nothing but savagery, hunger, and canibalism, ultimately displaying the raised beast in a battle to the death inside a pit for people’s entertainment.

Up to now, it was not known if it was a glimpse of a despair-induced mass hysteria, a coping mechanism from the calamities, or people’s hatred for rats, or all three of them altogether, but soon after the rumours circulated, the rat fighting enterprise rose from a mere entertainment for those living in the South-Outer Quartier to an enterprise that works under the underground cooperation and supervision of the mayors of the inner districts. Even though it wasn't advertised as such, it was common that among the onlookers were nobles who came out of curiosity, only to become addicted to this new type of bloody and tribal entertainment.

The man behind this new ratfighting entertainment and its enterprise peaked. Money was pouring in from every side; the biding business, rat selling business, the personally-customized rat-training (yes, there were people who were requesting their purchased rat to be trained by the man himself). Even though the money was divided between the man who came up with the idea and the countless partners that took part in his business, that is to cite the Mayors of the inner district, the benefits were boundless for a man like that who was living with only him and his 16-year-old son, who was his assistant.

Starting from the day the rumour started, the ratfighting business went on for more than six months until it happened.

As such, on the sixth, during one of the organized rat fights, a fight broke out. Though the ratfighting was known to all, it was not something that had been accepted by the duchy as a legal activity. As such, most of the nobles who were coming to witness the ratfight were under cover, trying to seamlessly blend amidst commoner, as it was the best way to fully enjoy the show without having them be the center of attention. In some ways, this is what nobles were looking for in these rat fights: a place where they could let loose without tarnishing their reputation. For more than half a dozen months, it worked well, but when it didn’t, the only time it didn't, the results were catastrophic.

Many died, mostly commoners, but among those there were also a few nobles.

Up to this point, it was clear that the matter wouldn’t just end there. The noble family who had lost one of theirs that day were obviously enraged, and were seeking revenge against all the commoners present that day. For that family, those who did it were part of the continent's newly announced "rise of the Aristocracy."

But seeking revenge against that many people, however common they might be, was simply impossible, or at the very least unacceptable, especially in these complicated times.

Betrayed by his associates in charge of the inner city’s fight, the man and his son were the ones to whom all the blame was pushed onto.

The news reached everyone across the city; the father and son duo were to be executed in the noble districts.

That day the execution was carried out. The man who came up with the ratfighting idea was executed, but unexpectedly, the son, who was supposed to be executed along with him, was spared. It was clear that with how angry the family that led the inquisition was that someone, at least, very important spoke in favour of the son for him to be spared and freed.

***

"– that tragic day, the legend died and rat fighting or any rat-involved activities were made illegal. So, at this poignant and tragic end, his story ends. "

"Gone but not forgotten."

"Peace to his soul. "

"Is this really all?" I asked.

I must admit that I was totally taken in by this story, as unreal as it sounded.

"Where there is indeed a sequel, about the son, or to be exact, the sons of our protogonist and the secondary character. Upon being released, the legend’s son was left with little to nothing, for what they had was scavenged by those who betrayed him. Left with not much else to do, he went to live with his aunt, who happened to be an innkeeper. He fell in love with one of his aunt’s waitresses, and even empregnanted her. He met decent friends, the best he could hope for. He tried to live a decent life, but him being what he was, ended up coming back where it all began. In a brawl against the one with whom he was once acquainted to and working with, he accidentally killed one of the goons ganging upon him. From here, I believe you get the rest of the story, right? "

"Yes." I nodded.

From the moment he mentioned the South-East outer quartier, I knew who the man who came up with the rat fighting was and who the son was.

It was Shawn’s father and Shawn himself.

While recovering the money with Shawn that day, I came to ask how it was possible for someone to have lent so much to so many people. There were at least fourty of them. Now I can finally guess where exactly that money originally came from.

It was around that time, maybe two or three weeks after his father’s execution, that Shawn and I met for the first time. Of course, with my father being who he is, you can guess how rough our first meeting was. If it wasn’t for Franq, I’m sure I would’ve been the one he would’ve been sent to prison for the murder of. " Charle said.

That day, when we were in the outer quartier, Shawn told me who Henri was and how he was related to these goons. Charle is the third and last son of one of the mayors of one of the inner districts that, in the end, betrayed Shawn’s father to save their asses when the responsibilities were equal.

"I know he can be an asshole some of the time—most of the time." But please be lenient with him; he got it rough. "

"That doesn’t excuse anything, but at least now you know." Henri said.

"We’re getting close." Henri announced the sight of a huge barrage in the middle of the district.

There were guards at the entrance, but to the sight of Charle and Henri, we’d entered the building without interuption despite how sketchy I was dressed.

Thinking about a detail of the story, I couldn’t help but ask, "This hood you’ve given me? You two, you’re taking me to show me ratfighting? "

"Silly An, there is no more ratfighting in this beautiful city. Instead, we have something else. "

Inside the structure, hundreds, if not thousands, of seats were arrayed in a circular arena-like manner in the dark, with no light source except at a sort of performing podium down below, on which was placed something that uttered a strange noise under a thick violet veil. In the dark, dozens of people were seated loosely across the room.

During our wait, dozens of people came in to attend whatever was about to unfold, but even it was not nearly enough to fill the room, and yet the spectacle debuted.

A tall woman went up to the stage and said, "Gentlemen, good morning to you all. Welcome to today’s contestant presentation. At the unique request of several of our present guests, I will skip the formality, and as I do not wish to waste much time, allow me to introduce the contestant for today’s edition."

"See that woman, that's Charle big sister." pointed at a seat on the front row next to man dressed with hood like I did.

"Oh,"

"Avoid her at any cost. You'll regret interacting with her." Henri whispered.

While glancing at the said, suddenly the man in hood, turned around, and I believe for a brief our eyes met, and I saw a reaction similar to one of a rabbit that noticed a noise, it ran, the man immediately averted his gaze away.

Two men came on stage to unfold the violet veil, under which revealed several dozen stacked cages containing, in each separate cage, a crowing creature.

"Starting from our fighter number 01, Billy, the YellowCock, this one comes to us from..."

"Are those Rooster?"

"Yeah, rooster."

"There is no more ratfighting in this land anymore, yet there is still money to be made out of the business model that ratfighting once was." Now we have roosterfighting instead."

"... I see."

"Well, this isn’t really roosterfighting, at least not yet. This is just the presentation of our rooster to the interested rooster fighter that would fight on the big day."

"I see."

Just as they said, the man presiding over the whole thing only boasted about the chicken for a good two hours.

It makes me wonder how someone can come up with this many words to describe chickens. Every asset of the said bird was thoroughly exposed, where it came from, who had raised it, its age, what kind food it is found of, an exhaustive list of previous bird's victories.

Surprisingly, among the crowd, I even saw people vicarious and passionately taking notes of everything that was cited about the rooster presented.

After only three hours, the rooster presentation finally came to its end. We were still in the room.

It was indeed a very unique experience.

"So how was it?" Charle asked.

"It was... less epic than a ratfight, I guess."

"Sure it wasn't."

"Well, An, about the roostfight. It’s less boring when it’s truly a fight. So which one do you plan to bet your money on? "

"I don’t think I remember any of these chickens' names."

"Neither did I." Henri said, standing up only to be pulled back to his seat by Charle.

"Guys, Let's wait for everyone to leave," Charle suggested as the room began to empty.

"Okay, then."

"So what in all this is your doing?" I asked.

Well, I’ve been tasked to, you know, supervise all of this. Since that’s what I do best. "

"Supervising?"

"You’ve heard the rat story, didn’t you? This activity, though not being as popular as ratfighting, is still a pretty fruitful activity for those who host it, which here is my family. But once again, despite being a separate activity from ratfighting, it is something people, even my family, don’t want to be directly involved in. "

"You mean..."

"Yes, I’m playing the role of Shawn’s father here. I’m the third son, so as such, all of this is under

"my" control and supervision for the sake of appearance, in case something goes wrong once like last time."

That sounds awfully like a crappy family to be in.

"I don’t usually get myself involved in the kinds of business of my family, but with this one I was kind of forced to. Well, I guess it’s fair given how much freedom I am left the rest of the time."

"I see, and you Henri?"

"Who me? I was tasked of supervising him while he was supervising. "

"Okay, I should’ve not even asked."

"I'm just kidding. I'm just here to observe. Maybe I could make a good bet like I once did. I kind of squandered my money lately and my father is getting more and more stingy as he gets older. "

"Oh, that last time, when was it exactly?"

"Seven months ago?"

That’s quite a while ago.

"And you never won, not even once since then."

"Well, it’s not like that... It’s just that the stars aren’t yet aligned for me. When they will, money will shower me. I must be patient. Which I am."

"Until then, he will squander all his money waiting blindly for these stars to align."

"Not blindly. That bet from seven months ago was a well calculated move, the others in between, not so much. "

"Don’t listen to his nonsenses An. This idiot is nowhere close to being even remotely decent when it comes to betting or anything related to analyzing his chance of winning. The only reason why he won big last time was because he received advice from someone."

"Someone? Who? Shawn? "

"No," — of course not, remember Shawn was already in jail six to seven months ago—"Oh, speaking of which." He interupted himself to wave at a man who was just like me in a cloak.

Charle too waved at the man. The man slightly bowed, no if fact, it was just a nod aknowledging Charle's presence.

Though I couldn’t see the man's face, and even got to wonder how Charle and Henri recognized him, I recognized the man as one of the people who were scribbling maniacally about the rooster.

"Who was he?" I asked.

"Someone related to the man who owned Henri's only good bet back then."

The man was one of the last ones to leave, so we prepared ourselves too to take our leave. It was then that a man, the same cloaked man from earlier taking his leave suddenly stopped middway, starring straight at us.

The man from earlier, though cloaked, I was pretty sure he wasn’t a noble, but this man, despite the casual outfit he was wearing, I could tell was a noble for sure.

For more than twenty long second, he just stood there glaring at us.

"Is there anything I can help you with, sir?"

The man, upon being called out, with no further words left

"You recognize him, Charle? He was seated next to big sis wasn't he?"

"I don’t recognize him. I’ll check that later with my sister."

"So where do you want to go next? We still have a good place to hang out around here. want to hang out there next. "

"Sorry you two, I think I’ll head back to Auberge. It’s already getting dark out there. I, as you said, left the inn without announcing where I was going to. With what happened last time, I’d rather be back before it's too late."

They smugly grinned at each other and said, "Well, I guess we can understand that." Charle said, patting me on the shoulder.

"I guess good company comes with a hearty sacrifice."

"Huh?"

"We might be partnerless, but we understand."

"What are you two talking about?"

"Uh, nothing to worry about. Come on, let’s get you back home before you get yourself in trouble."

Upon leaving the structure, taking notice of something, I, to their proposition, answered, "you're sure you two don't have anything else to do? I'll be fine, even if you two don't accompany me back to the inn. I know the way back."

"I still have something to do, but we're the one who invited you-."

"I'll be fine."

"Well, if you insist, then see you next time."

After bidding farewell to the duo, I made my way through the street of the common district, not back to the inn but instead toward a certain place I took notice on our way here earlier this afternoon.

While slightering through the laberynth-like alleys formed by the tightly packed house of the district, I suddenly, turned heel, and at full speed ran toward what I knew was the one tailing me.

The one tailing me tried to run away, but he swift enough to know that this was a futile effort, so the moment I leapt at him, he steadied himself, and swung something that I must admit the moment, I saw it triggered me to act a way, I didn't intend to.

Easily, avoiding the red blade, I reached for the cloacked man throat, and slammed him on the ground.

Blood and groundsharpnel splashed and flew out from the ground, yet the man was not dead, his eyes were blood-infused red, and blood were seeping out of every hole of his face, but he was alive and panting both hand on my wrist trying to break free of my crasp on his neck.

I couldn't help but praise the man thoughness, since though I initially didn't plan to hurt him, after all he could be Elliel's acquantance but the moment, I saw that red blade of the church, I reacted almost instictively.

The man's face started to distort both by my grasp on his neck and most likely by the realisation that he wasn't able to use magic. As he was struggling to break free and to speak, the cloack hiding his face, lifted off revealing a orange hair, and the facial profile someone in his thirty or so.

This time, I was sure and certain, I have never seen this person before, yet still he did what he did.

With these blades, no doubt that this man was working for the church.

And there was nothing but one things that happened to those of the church who meet my path.

***

Later that day, when I got back to the Inn, Shawn was back from wherever he was, and another drama was unfolding between him and Zaraha. Later when Nia was in my room I told her what happened earlier this morning.