An old man with wolf ears walked through a large warehouse. Carriages were parked all over like stones tossed around in a wide field. It was difficult to find such a wide space in the Garbage Dump, but for the once-champion at the Trash Ring, the Colosseum, it was an uncontested privilege.

He would die someday soon anyway and others could make their stupid hideouts here after he was gone, while he was alive the most these thieves would do was encroach on his land.

Till then, he could keep the carriages safe along with some other side businesses. Like keeping an entrance to an invitation-only black market run by the most dangerous people—one of the candidates for the next Garbage King, in fact—in his basement and silly little stuff like that.

Krolf, the old wolfkin was about to stroll back when he heard a faint sound from the newest carriage.

The one parked by that idiot Tanien, who used to be a small member of their boss's gang previously and broke off to take over Rascarte.

Krolf went closer to the carriage. At that very moment, someone slipped out from under the carriage.

“Eek!” A young blonde elf was under the carriage! The elf screamed!

“EEEK!” Krolf screamed louder.

The two of them stared at each other and screamed in surprise for a few seconds before Krolf took in a deep breath, turned around and rested his weight on his knees, controlled his blood pressure, and finally slapped the kid to make him shut up.

“Ouch! What was that for?” Asked the elf.

“What are you doing brat? Who are you?! Don’t you know how to talk to your elders?”

“Um… sorry…”

“How old are you!? Is this how you treat your grandfather?”

“S-sorry, I am 47…”

Krolf was wolfkin. He was far more pureblooded than most wolfkin these days, which meant though he was just a few years shorter than a human’s average life span, his looks were more toward a wolf's. That meant he was an old man but in wolf years…

Krolf was only 45.

“S-sorry…” said Krolf back. Then he shook his head and coughed. Damned elves and their stupid ages! “Why are you coming out of that carriage, boy?”

“T-that…” The elf hesitated to speak. “It’s nothing you need to know sir. My friends must be waiting for me—“

Krolf smiled softly.

There was a black market in his basement, and elves were a very rare commodity.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

This was a place only for garbage. If someone was here, they admitted they had no value to the outside world, didn’t they? Why would anyone care about trash? Trash has to look out for other trash.

“Kid, come here,” said Krolf. “I’ll help you.”

***

“This tastes terrible,” I muttered as I sipped on a cafe au lait at Den-master’s homebrew, a cafe on the outskirts of the garbage dump.

“It must be because they replace coffee beans with other ingredients on customers that look a little gullible,” Tanien explained with a slightly smug face. He took a sip with a smirk, and then immediately frowned. Fucking idiot.

If they were skimping on the ingredients then the taste made sense. I was underestimating the trashiness of this place, garbage had permeated every corner of the garbage dump rather deeply.

With a soft sigh, I flagged the waiter over. When the waiter came in front of me, I splashed the teeming hot coffee on his face.

The people around quietened down, even the ‘master’ at the counter and the other waiters stopped and watched. I placed the cup down and tapped on it.

“You shouldn’t spill a customer’s coffee. Cafe au lait, bring a good one this time, please. And don’t spill it.”

The waiter wiped his face with a handkerchief then bowed and took the cup with him. If my looks made me seem gullible, then actions had to prove otherwise. The other patrons returned to their items.

Tanien looked at me with slight surprise then nodded. “Right. I think you are perfect for this place, sir.”

“Oh? Are you about to spill your coffee too?”

“Sorry. I didn’t say anything.”

I was already annoyed at this bastard, he had no idea about the whereabouts of the information guild that seemingly knows everything. Annoyed I was also a bit at myself. I was not the type to be rude to waiters earlier on, but for some reason, all these scumbags didn’t register as people in my eyes.

It was fine to be a bitch back to bitches, people should be treated with great care though.

The waiter returned sometime later. I took a sip and nodded. “Be careful next time, don’t trip and drop hot coffee on yourself again.”

The waiter took my kind advice and walked away.

I finished the cafe au lait while thinking about our next steps from here onward. I had to find a way to get to the information guild that could answer everything, but asking around in such a place was tantamount to placing your head in a lion’s mouth.

Maybe searching or beating people up was my best option. While I was thinking like this, a small commotion broke out from the table next to us. I turned around and saw two people, newcomers, fidgeting around with their pockets.

A girl with long, purplish hair that cascaded down to her waist and a sharp man in glasses were on the seats next to us. They had just entered and placed their orders but were now fidgeting about.

“Ah, damn it. Where is the money?”

“Jonathan you fool. Did you throw all the cash on some girl?”

“No! I promise it was just with me. Riziel, where’s your money?”

“I gave it to that poor old lady outside! Thank god I kept my identification at least.”

“Wait, you handed money to that scammer? Riziel, I think your nutrition didn’t go to your brain—I apologize! I apologize!”

Tanien laughed at their actions and looked at me. He then smirked. This was the norm in the Garbage Dump, the place full of criminals.

I frowned and turned to the two again. They looked like knights, people from outside. They also looked a bit like upstanding folks.

Handing money out to an old lady here was too naive an act. I shook my head.

It wasn’t right to judge people on their looks or my biases alone, but there was always time to correct my judgment. At least for me. Even when one stabs me in the back it wouldn’t be too late for me to change my ways, quite literally.

These two didn’t seem like scumbags, but people who were suffering from the scumbags gathered here.

Slowly, I tapped on their table. The two turned my way and stopped.

“Ah!”

“You are… that solo adventurer…?”

The two mumbled but I paid them no heed.

“Did you lose your money?” I smiled. “I’ll help you.”