The last time I visited Bran's house, the living room exuded a cozy and homey atmosphere. Scented candles were sometimes lit to provide a subtle fragrance and there was always a pot of tea ready on the table. But now, the living room looked more like a military command room: the table was filled with all sorts of documents and maps detailing the area around Wildpost, and even more maps were pinned on the wall showing the city of Halros and its vicinity.
But what really caught my attention was the map of the Kingdom of Edria pinned beside the map of Halros. It was the very first detailed map I'd seen of the country I had been living in for the past thirteen years.
Edria's borders looked like a long inverted triangle, with its apex pointing to the south. The triangle's base to the north was the only section of the country that merged with the rest of the continent. The rest of Edria's borders were surrounded by the ocean, which made the country a peninsula.
“Please excuse the mess for the moment,” Bran said as he invited us to sit. “The past few weeks have been quite busy as we begin our preparations.”
“Preparations?” I asked in confusion as Selise and I sat on the couch. “Preparations for what?”
“That is a topic for later,” Bran said as he set aside the maps and documents. He went to the kitchen and quickly returned with a steaming pot of tea and some tea cups. “Let's first talk about Belka. I'm sure you've already noticed her unpleasant behavior in the short time you've seen her.”
“‘Unpleasant’ is putting it mildly,” I said as I poured tea into my cup. “It's like Belka turned into a completely different person. Her body and mind are extremely different from what she used to be. If not for the prosthetic arm, I never would have recognized her. I understand that she's lost her memories, but I can't help but feel like the change in her personality is a bit too drastic.”
Bran drank his tea in one go and refilled his cup, delaying his answer. Once he had another full cup in his hands, he sighed. “With the severity of Belka's memory loss, she might as well be a wholly different person. Stodge—he's our healer by the way—has determined that Belka lost roughly two decades' worth of memories.”
“Two decades?!” I exclaimed. “Why is her amnesia so bad?”
“Losing two decades of memories is actually the best outcome that could have happened,” Bran said with a strained smile. “When you brought back Belka two weeks ago, Stodge said the chances of her survival were almost non-existent. Her organs were studded with bruises and hemorrhages, most of her ribcage was shattered, and her muscles were internally shredded from trapped shards of bone. Even after the impromptu blood transfusion you performed, Belka was still in a severe state of blood loss when she came here. Stodge said the lack of blood had caused some damage to her brain, which resulted in her blood loss.”
I grimaced as Bran enumerated Belka's grievous injuries. Just one of those was enough to kill a person, yet Belka had suffered through them all and still managed to live. I was starting to understand why they thought Belka's current condition was the best possible outcome.
“Aunt Belka survived through all that?” Selise whispered in shock.
Bran nodded. “It baffled us as well, although when we asked Kazimir for more details about the events that transpired in Halros, we found out that Belka had successfully broken through into the third Level of Augmentation after almost a decade of being stuck in the bottleneck. Her breakthrough is the sole reason why she's still alive. Her improved body had kept her alive long enough for her condition to become stable.”
My eyes widened in realization as I recalled the trip back to Halros. Belka's heart had stopped multiple times throughout the trip, only to stubbornly restart again and again. That must've been her resilient augmenter body trying its best to keep itself alive.
“As of now, Belka's body is continuing to knit itself together, although her muscle mass has severely deteriorated. There are shards of bone still trapped inside some of her muscles preventing her full recovery, though, so I'll have to ask for your assistance in that department, Mr. Marion,” Bran said.
“Consider it done,” I replied.
“Despite the severity of Belka's injuries, there is a very high chance she'll make a full recovery,” Bran continued. “The only remaining complication is her memories. I've talked to Belka at length ever since she woke up this morning and I determined that her memories starting from before she came to Wildpost until the present are lost.”
“Is there any chance for her memories to come back?” Selise asked with worry.
“I'm afraid nobody knows the answer to that question, Selise,” Bran said regretfully. “But Stodge has high hopes. He quizzed Belka earlier about Wildpost, and although she knows almost next to nothing about it, some of her responses show signs of familiarity.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“For example, Stodge asked Belka what her opinion of Wildpost is,” Bran said with a hint of a smile. “She has a lot of colorful things to say about it, but one thing she said that caught our attention was ‘why would anyone want to live in a forest full of dire wolves?’”
“What's so special about that?”
“You see, Belka only learned about dire wolves when she first came to the village,” Bran said with a hint of hope in his voice. “If that is the case, then how could she know the name of the monster if her memories supposedly stops before she ever came to Wildpost?”
“She still remembers a few snippets of information,” I whispered. Hope blossomed in my chest.
“That's right,” Bran said, more excitedly this time. “We haven't had enough time yet to observe her, but I sincerely believe that Belka retains a bit more information than she realizes.”
“That's great!” I exclaimed. I knew there was still a sizable chance that Belka never recovers her memories, but it was pointless to dwell on that possibility when the only thing we could do was wait. We might as well hope for the best and keep our spirits high.
“Finally, some good news,” Selise sighed with palpable relief beside me. “But you still haven't explained Belka's change in behavior, Chief.”
“Ah,” Bran said with a sheepish smile. “That's because before she came to Wildpost, Belka's profession was a bit… legally questionable.”
“You mean she was a criminal?” I asked.
“Not exactly,” Bran said evasively, and I noticed a complicated emotion that passed briefly in his eyes. “Although her profession did result in her having to interact with unsavory individuals.”
“Is that why she's so… aggressive?” I asked.
“Partly. Belka's former work required brute force and a harsh demeanor,” Bran said. “But the significant factor was her trust issues. Back then, Belka only took orders from nobody else but me. Coupled with the hostile environment she lived in, it resulted in her unhealthy tendency to be suspicious of everyone but me and caused her to develop an abrasive attitude towards people she doesn't know.”
“Do you mind if I ask you what your profession was back then?” I asked. “You said Belka's job involved unsavory characters, but also that she received orders from you. Does that mean your profession is also on the legally questionable side of things?”
Bran didn't answer immediately, opting to drink deeply from his cup of tea first. His face was calm, but I noticed a bit of apprehension in his bearing as he glanced at Selise. The Chief's gulps were audible in the silence as we waited for his answer.
“I hate talking about my past, Mr. Marion,” Bran said as he put down his tea cup with a loud clink. “The past is done and gone and it should stay that way. Digging it back up is just a good way to remember old regrets.”
I shrugged. “It's alright. I'm not forcing you or anything. We all have our secrets.”
“That we do,” Bran nodded. “And you just so happened to have entrusted me with your greatest secret. The level of trust you've shown me warms my old heart, Mr. Marion, and it would be quite rude of me if I don't reciprocate it. Besides, if we are to cooperate closely from now on, we need a deep level of mutual trust between each other.”
“He's in on the secret?” Selise asked beside me with wide eyes.
“Oh? Selise knows of your secret as well?” Bran asked with his white eyebrows raised.
“Selise is actually the first to find out I'm an Ascendant,” I admitted. “She knew it for a long time already.”
“And she didn't give away a single clue about it,” Bran nodded approvingly. “Then it seems I can trust her with my secrets as well.”
“Really?” Selise asked excitedly.
“You've already proven yourself to be a trustworthy individual, so I don't see why not. Just take care not to blurt it out amongst your fellow young'uns, yes?”
Bran took an awkwardly-long sip of his tea before speaking. “I once held a high position in the city that let made me the boss of all the gangs in Halros.”
The silence in the room was deafening as Selise and I quietly stared at the feeble-looking old man who proclaimed himself as the kingpin of all the gangs in Halros. We're talking about the same gangs who were notorious for their refusal to bow down to any master, even the King.
I expected Bran to break out a smile and say he was kidding, but he simply stared at us with a neutral expression that hid his emotions.
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“Seriously?” I finally asked with a disbelieving voice.
“Yes,” Bran replied. “I was once the city's treasurer and worked alongside the previous Governor himself. My position gave me control over Halros' assets, and I took advantage of it to take a firm grasp over the city's economy, including its expansive black market. With the black market in my control, I was able to make the gangs follow my every whim.”
“But surely you didn't do it for selfish reasons, right?” Selise asked with a nervous laugh. “Knowing you, I bet you did it for a good cause.”
Bran chuckled bitterly. “I certainly did. With my power over the gangs, I could've easily wiped them out. But no man is infallible to temptations, Selise. A man strong at heart could easily resist the temptations of his desires, but I'm just a normal man, no matter what others may think. I may have had a good cause in the beginning, but somewhere down the line, I started using my power for my own gain. I took a cut from every transaction that occurred in the black market, and I regularly made deals with the gang bosses. Eventually, I became one of the most powerful men in the city and the young Belka was my right-hand woman. She made sure the city's crooks obeyed me and cracked the heads of those who stepped out of line.”
“I thought you said Belka's job wasn't criminal in nature?” I asked pointedly.
“There's no law that prohibits people from harming criminals,” Bran replied. “That is why they are called outlaws: they are outside the protection of the law. Which means everything that Belka did while following my orders were legal, if barely.”
“Then how about the things that you did?” I asked. “You still haven't explained how you got into that position in the first place. You say you did it for a good cause in the beginning, but all I hear is a flimsy excuse to partially justify your actions.”
“Calm down, Mr. Marion,” Selise said beside me worriedly. I then realized that I was leaning forward as I spoke. My real hands were balled into fists, and it took conscious effort to unclench them.
“I understand if you're mad at me, Mr. Marion, and I never tried to justify my actions,” Bran said serenely. “Everything I did was wrong, and I spent the past few decades regretting it and trying to atone for all of it.”
It was true that I was mad at the Chief, even if I didn't want to be. But whenever I heard the word ‘criminal,’ I always end up remembering the day that Mom died. Criminals were the ones that took her from me. Even though Bran had been nothing but kind and understanding to me ever since I came to this village, learning of his criminal past made my blood boil involuntarily, not to mention that his being my friend made it feel like a betrayal.
“So what was this good cause you keep mentioning?” I asked while trying my best to keep my voice level. It still came out a bit harshly, but now was as good as time as any to practice in keeping my emotions out of my voice.
“When I got into the position of Treasurer, I did it to rid Halros of its gangs permanently, something that has been attempted countless times throughout the city's history. But I had to do it another way,” Bran said. “You see, the King and those before him didn't simply ignore Halros' current state. Royal Constables, the King's personal enforcers, were regularly sent to the city to try and solve the problem of crime, but the gangs are numerous and smart. No matter how much they are culled, they come back time and time again like stubborn cockroaches. Add the fact that the city is essentially the gangs' turf and you have an outsider Royal Constable with no ally other than themselves to deal with the problem. As a result, being assigned to Halros was seen as a surefire way to put a blemish on their record, so the Royal Constables stayed away and looked for easier assignments that would give them more glory.”
“Did the King fully abandon the city right then?” Selise asked.
“No, the King wouldn't have done that,” Bran replied. “If nobody volunteered for the job, then His Majesty would have forcefully assigned a poor Constable to it. But he didn't have to, because an idealistic Royal Constable with a powerful desire for justice decided to take up the job. My father volunteered for the blasted position.”
“Your father was a Constable?” I asked with surprise.
“Ironic, isn't it?” Bran chuckled. “Yes, my father was a Royal Constable, and he went to Halros to try his hand in solving the gang problem. I was already a young man then, and he brought me with him so we could live in the same city. While he performed his assignment, I worked as an apprentice in the city's government offices with a dream of following in my father's footsteps. You see, being a Constable isn't a military job, but rather, an administrative one. Working as a government official would give me relevant experience for the job.”
Bran paused for a moment as his face hardened. “Unlike the previous Royal Constables whose plans simply involved mobilizing the city guard and trying to suppress the gangs with brute force as they sat in their office, my father formed his own information network out of the victims of the gangs' abuse. They willingly fed him intelligence that would help them retaliate against their oppressors, and he would use that information to mobilize the city guard and conduct raid after raid against the gangs without pause. He knew the guards were corrupt, of course, so he would personally oversee the raids to make sure no bribery occurred and the criminals were properly apprehended or eliminated. His plan was extremely effective, and within a month, my father wiped out multiple gangs and received praise from his higher-ups in the capital. But then things took a turn for the worse.”
Bran brought his cup to his mouth to take a sip, but it turned out to be empty. He reached for the pot, only for it to be empty as well. He sighed and shook his head as he continued his story. “The higher-ups in the capital were happy at the rate things were going, but the higher-ups in Halros was a different matter altogether. All of them were complicit in criminal business, and they all deemed my father as bad for business. The next time he went on a raid, my father never returned. They told me he died, but they didn't even tell me where his body was nor did they even try to retrieve it. The guards that came with him all returned with fake condolences, and the gang they were supposed to raid was officially declared ‘wiped out.’ I knew it was a lie because my father told me about the location of the raid. I visited the site of the ‘raid’ and saw a seedy tavern with gang members drinking with a few men I recognized as city guards, some who were even part of the ‘raid.’”
The anger I felt towards the Chief abated as I listened. It was still there, but the fact that he also lost a parent to criminals resonated so much with me that I found it hard to stay angry with him.
Bran had a helpless expression as he told us of his father's death, but his face slowly darkened as he continued. “My father always taught me that the law was the epitome of justice, and I wholeheartedly believed it when I worked as an apprentice. But the naive lenses he put over my eyes came off along with his death. Justice is supposed to be absolute, and if the law that enforced it is easily corrupted and circumvented by lowly city guards, then it is a useless medium to exact justice with. So I decided that if the law couldn't bring forth the justice that my father lost his life for, then I would do it with my own hands.”
“What did you do?” Selise asked quietly.
“I bided my time. People knew I was the Constable's son and watched me closely to see if I would become a Royal Constable as well, but when I didn't follow my father's footsteps and instead became a paper-pusher working in the city's offices, they ignored me,” Bran said with a slight smile. “The time came when they forgot all about me, and that was when I slowly worked my way up the ranks. I made sure not to catch too much attention and limited myself, but slowly and surely, I rose. My authority went up as well, and I started getting privy to knowledge that was outside of the official records. Along the way, I found Belka and took care of her as my own daughter.
“When I finally attained the position of Treasurer, I struck. All the favors and blackmail material I gathered over the years working as a lowly paper-pusher, I used them to manipulate important people in key places within the city government. Then, once I was confident that the city government wouldn't be able to threaten my position, I moved on to my plan to wipe out the gangs. Since I knew that fighting them as an external force would cause them to immediately unite against me, I created my own ‘gang’ whose main purpose was not to participate in illegal activities, but to take over the other gangs and wipe them out in the process.”
“You mean like fighting fire with fire?”
“An apt metaphor,” Bran nodded.
“And how did it go?”
“The gangs never realized what was happening until it was too late. I put Belka as the figurehead of my faux gang and sent her to crush the other gangs. Before they could come to their senses and unite against us, the remaining gangs were already too weak to pose a threat. The Governor at the time disagreed with my actions, but he couldn't do much when I threatened to publicize all the dirt I gathered against him. The evidence I had was enough to have him hung in the gallows. Sure, he would bring me down along with him, but I didn't fear death at that time and he knew it,” Bran said before casting his eyes down. “But just when I was on the verge of ridding Halros of its centuries-old parasite, I wavered. My initial plan was to wipe out the gangs and surrender myself to the authorities. After all, I violated countless laws and I wished to honor my father, who gave up his life serving the law. It seemed fitting that I exact justice upon myself after committing crimes that my father abhorred so much.”
“But I did not turn myself in,” Bran continued, and his face held so much shame that it reddened. “I told myself that with all the power I accrued, I could use it for the betterment of others. So instead of eliminating the gangs, I consolidated them into a single organization with me at the top and called it a ‘peacekeeping’ force that patrolled the city. But that didn't last long. Funding issues started cropping up, so I re-established some of the former criminal activities I shut down when I came to power like smuggling of contraband. I told myself then that it was a necessary evil to maintain the peace. But I went down a slippery slope as I made compromise after compromise until I became no better than the criminals I once despised.”
“But you did stop yourself, right?” I said. “Or else we wouldn't be having a conversation in this quiet little village you built for yourself in the middle of nowhere.”
“I was forced to,” Bran said with a bitter laugh. “I was the richest and most powerful man in the city right then, you know, and only the Governor was able to keep me in check. The younger me would never give up all that. I would have continued spiraling down into the path of no return if not for Belka's stupidity.”
“What did she do?” Selise asked curiously.
“Belka was my only family at the time and I cherished her deeply, but a man like me couldn't be found with such possible avenues for blackmail, so we kept our relationship a secret” Bran said. “But the young and stupid Belka accidentally revealed our secret while drinking at a bar. When I learned of it, I knew it was only a matter of time before my enemies made their move. So I gathered everything I valued and quickly took Belka with me to the secret outpost I had built in the middle of a monster-infested forest for emergencies. We hid there as my loyal associates in the city regularly reported to me. In my absence, my enemies struck my vulnerable organization and took over everything I had built. What was left of the loyal members of my organization had no choice but to run from the city, so I sheltered them in my secret outpost and slowly expanded the place. We intended to use it as a temporary base of operations before we moved back in to retake our top position in Halros.”
“But you didn't”, I said.
“I didn't,” Bran nodded. “I wanted to do so. I had been extremely furious at the time and reprimanded Belka harshly. But when our preparations finally finished and we were about to set out to retake the city, I wavered again, just like how I wavered when the decision to wipe out the gangs of Halros came. But this time, Belka was the reason. The thought of sending her back to Halros where the possibility of her dying was high terrified me. And the long time my people and I spent building and expanding the outpost into something like a home gave me plenty of time to reflect on my decisions. Memories of my father resurfaced and shamed me deeply. When I saw how Belka was happier living in the outpost together with our close friends and loyal allies, that was the final straw that broke the stubborn camel's back. I decided to stay and live out the rest of my life in peace and repentance.”
“Just like that?” I asked incredulously. “I mean, I'm happy that you found a chance to escape your old life, but your reason for suddenly deciding to live out in the boonies seems… halfhearted.”
“I understand your doubt, but that's because I haven't told you how much time we've spent planning our return to the city,” Bran replied. “I spent five years as Halros' big boss, and when we ran away to the forest, we spent a decade plotting our return. A decade of living in relative peace and silence, away from the cutthroat politics and backdoor deals. The only things we had to worry about then were the occasional monster attacks which were far less intense compared to now. A decade of peace and reflection is enough to change even the most stubborn fool's heart, don't you think?”
“Hold on, you've been plotting your revenge for ten years?” I asked in disbelief.
“Patience is an important trait for a crime boss,” Bran said with a smile.
“I remember you saying that you've been living in this village for forty years,” I said. “And you said you spent five years as a top dog in Halros' criminal underworld. How old are you again?”
“I never told you my age,” Bran smiled. “But I'm turning seventy this year.”
“You're old!” I exclaimed. “But if I understand this correctly, then you were… just twenty-five when you became the boss of your organization?!”
“That's right, although I didn't act like my age during that time. Which was why they called me the ‘Old Man,’” Bran chuckled. “And so, that's my story. This is the first time I've shared this with anyone outside my circle, and if my shame could burn me, I would have long turned to ashes. But still, I feel it is my responsibility to be truthful to you, Mr. Marion, as a sign of mutual trust between the two of us.”
“I really don't know what to say or feel,” I sighed as I sat back. “You're my friend, Bran, but… past events had made me such that I abhor criminals.”
“Even those that have repented and regretted?” Bran asked sadly.
“I…” I wanted to just close my eyes and cover my ears. I didn't want to feel the conflicted emotions I was feeling right now towards Bran, but running away from the problem wouldn't solve anything. “Tell me, what kinds of criminal activities did you conduct during your time as the boss?”
“Smuggling of contraband,” Bran replied. “Out of all the possible money-making criminal ventures, smuggling was the most lucrative and relatively low-risk. The nobles living in Halros were rich, and they paid a high price for banned products and substances.”
“So you didn't harm people or anything?”
“We would only be fooling ourselves if I told you nobody was harmed by my actions,” Bran said. “My smuggling operations didn't target people, but the people I used were the criminal sorts. They belonged behind bars, but I allowed them to run around to do my bidding. Their actions, even if I didn't order them, are my responsibility. Every person they could have hurt is my fault.”
“You're not making it easier for me to think better of you,” I grumbled.
“I don't want you to think better of me. I want you to know who I truly am before you decide how you think of me,” Bran said serenely.
I sighed and stared at my cup. I realized that I haven't taken a sip from my tea yet, so I opened the mouth portion of Mr. Marion's mask and drank. It was cold already.
“Let's just see where our relationship goes from now on,” I said as I placed my empty cup on the table. “My opinion of you doesn't really matter much at the moment. We have a lot of shit to deal with at the moment, and that takes priority.”
Bran stared at me with a complicated expression before nodding. He looked at Selise.
“I'm not mad at you or anything,” Selise said with raised hands. “It's hard to feel angry at you for something you did four decades ago that doesn't even directly affect me. Sure, it was wrong, but you're trying to repent for it through the village, right? You took in a lot of people into the village over the years and helped them when they had nowhere else to go, right? I think everyone deserves a chance to right their mistakes.”
“Thank you, Selise,” Bran said with a solemn smile. “Now before we continue our discussion, let's have a short break while I refill the pot with more tea.”
Bran stood up and took away the tray with him, leaving Selise and me alone for the moment. Before, I would've thought nothing of it, but after our long talk, a small doubt against Bran sprouted inside me that made me look into his actions more deeply. I had a feeling that Bran left Selise and I alone for the moment so we could have a chance to share our opinions privately.
“Do you think it's fine to condone Bran's actions?” I asked Selise once Bran was out of hearing range. “He was a criminal, you know. He may have hurt people.”
“I never said I condoned the Chief's past,” Selise replied. “I understood that it was wrong, but what do you expect him to do? Apologize to us? We're not the ones he wronged.
“But…”
“I understand your hesitance to trust him, Mr. Marion. You've only known him for a few months,” Selise said. “But as far as I'm concerned, the Chief is my family. He helped my father take care of me when my mother passed away, and he's been nothing but kind and understanding in all the time I've known him for. In the end, we have different perspectives of the Chief, and it's up to you how you want to think of him. Although I do hope that you give him a chance.”
I didn't reply as I stewed in my thoughts. A moment later, Bran came back with a steaming pot of hot tea.