Chapter 72 October 3, 2022
Chapter 72 – Back Alley Meeting (1)
The bar was messy.
Men approached laughing women, who were wearing heavy makeup and perfume, like bees who were attracted to the smell of honey.
There were also some people who played musical instruments along with parties that drank and filled the room with noise.
“It’s quite chaotic, I see.”
“It’s because this place is rather famous. It’s a four-story bar, so there are a lot of customers.”
Ludger and Hans scanned their surroundings lightly after they entered the entrance.
“How about the place of the meeting?”
“It’s on the fourth floor.”
“Is that the top?”
“Ordinary people are allowed access up to the second floor, but starting from the third floor, only those who have permission can enter.”
The two men went up to the second floor while sharing casual conversation.
The second floor was no different from the first floor—the seats were full, and it was as noisy as the first floor.
The only difference was that there were men on guard on the second floor that weren’t on the first floor.
Just as Hans said, the stairs to the third floor were blocked by two sturdy guards.
“Only authorized personnel can pass.”
“Here.”
Hans presented the invitation that he had prepared in advance.
The guard confirmed the invitation, and without saying a word, they stepped aside and opened the way for Hans and Ludger.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
Hans took the lead, and Ludger followed him.
The guards’ gazes stuck on his back, but he ignored it.
When he arrived on the third floor, Ludger understood at a single glance why it was called a luxury bar.
‘It’s so quiet that it can’t be compared to the noisy first and second floors.’
Even though it was so noisy downstairs, the disturbance was not well conveyed in that place.
The space itself was soundproof.
Even the interior was more luxurious, and the faces of guests sitting at each table were clearly different compared to those below them.
—They were all dressed tidily and neatly, enjoying an atmosphere with a good mood and sipping their drinks lightly.
The light from the scarlet lamp dreamily blanketed the atmosphere inside.
But Ludger and Hans’ target place was one floor higher.
It was the highest floor in the bar, where only the most important people could gather.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
The two arrived on the fourth floor after climbing the wooden stairs.
Unlike the third floor, which was made up of a wide hall, the fourth floor consisted of a long corridor.
‘Is it a room?’
It was a pretty good place to have a quiet conversation.
“Which room is it?”
“It’s at the very end of the corridor. It’s the innermost part.”
“Is there no one who protects this place?”
“Ah. That’s probably because it’s a special place.”
“A special place?”
Hans explained the information he had happened to hear.
“I’ve heard that this bar has often been used as a meeting place for the organizations of Leathevelk’s underworld, so they had decided on an unwritten rule between themselves to never fight inside this place.”
“To never fight, huh…”
“Well, even though they are the type of people who betray each other, stab each other in the back, and live in a dirty way, there are still strict rules and principles that must be obeyed.”
“That’s true.”
Ludger nodded his head.
“As you know, we have our own rules in this world, and this is where those rules are most strongly applied.”
“To invite us to such a place…”
“It’s just to make sure that we follow the rules.”
“Interesting.”
Ludger smiled slightly.
They showed such nerve against Ludger and Hans, who had destroyed the Crimson Society with just the two of them.
If Ludger had a more ill-tempered or cruel personality, there would have been a bloodbath on the fourth floor of the bar that day.
It wasn’t like he couldn’t think about it at all.
Nevertheless, inviting him meant that they were confident.
“I’ll have to see their faces.”
He thought they were being arrogant, but he wasn’t angry.
If the ones announcing their stance knew when to draw the line despite getting their hands dirty, he would at least pay his respects.
“We’re going in.”
“Yeah.”
Soon, the two people who reached the end of the corridor opened the door and went inside.
Inside, there was a large round table made of hardwood with various foods on it.
And there were also people who sat a certain distance away from the table.
‘There are four important people here in total.’
Ludger’s gaze was directed at the person sitting exactly on the right side of the table from his point of view.
—He had a beard on his face and was quite fat, but the most eye-catching thing about him was his figure, which was unbelievably small for an adult.
‘He suffers from dwarfism, I see.’
It was also called GHD, the sufferers had the same body structure as normal people, but it was close to a kind of disorder in which only their height was excessively small.
‘Is he the leader of the group?’
In a world where human rights were not yet sufficiently developed, his disability must have made his life too difficult to imagine.
Ludger noticed that the dwarf man was Pinion, the leader of the circus group, Kirchus.
The next thing Ludger saw were the two people sitting in the center opposite him.
‘An eldery man and a girl?’
It was also a pretty striking combination.
A gray-haired and rugged-looking old man with a cute doll-like blonde girl.
However, as they gathered here, those two were also the heads of an organization.
—They were Mastella and Deon, the leaders of the Old Kids group.
‘If I were to judge who had the higher role amongst the two, it would, surprisingly, be the kid..’
Usually, Deon, who had years of experience, would appear to be the leader, but Ludger did not think so.
—Because he felt a strong gaze coming from Mastella, not Deon, as the kid tried to analyze him.
She could also manage her facial expressions, and she was young, but she was clever.
‘And lastly, the Black Rose Women.’
From Ludger’s point of view, there was only one person sitting on the left side of the table.
She was a lady who wore a black dress, had tied her hair up, and covered her face with black cotton.
‘Is she Violeta, the leader of the Black Rose Women?’
Pinion…
Mastella and Deon…
Violeta…
Except for the Crimson Society, all the leaders of Leathevelk’s underworld had gathered in one place.
And there were also a handful of men to escort their leaders.
Ludger opened his mouth as he sat down in his designated seat.
“James Moriarty.”
His monocle over one eye glittered as it received the light.
“That’s what everyone calls me.”
“Hmm. James Moriarty, huh. I don’t think you’re lying here.”
The first to respond was Violeta.
A seductive voice came from beyond the black, cotton yarn.
“Are you really the legendary man who dominated the Delica Kingdom?”
“You seem to know me well.”
“There’s no way I don’t know about you. James Moriarty, who was the de facto ruler of the Delica kingdom, which was famous for their steel industry—you even dealt with their military supplies to start a war with other countries.”
War…
When the words came out of her mouth, the atmosphere in the room sank even more heavily.
Especially Hans, who stood behind Ludger, expressed his uncomfortable feelings openly on his face.
Ludger nodded gladly.
“Even though the annoying detective ruined everything.”
“I thought you’d be dead or secretly arrested and in prison after that since there was no news from you. I didn’t know you’d appear in Leathevelk like this. So what kind of purpose do you have in coming here? Are you going to start a war that you couldn’t start previously in this empire on a larger scale?”
Violeta’s voice was strangely sharp.
Other leaders stared at Ludger as if they were on the same page as her.
Their gazes were not favorable.
“War, huh. That’s an obscene topic.”
But for Ludger, Violeta’s words were just amusing.
How could she talk about war when she didn’t know the reality of what happened in the Kingdom of Delica?
What she had discovered so far was commendable, but still, it was the limit of the underworld, and their influence was not strong enough.
“I don’t have such thoughts.”
“Even though you destroyed the Crimson Society as soon as you came here?”
“I just cleaned them up because there was something dirty in front of my eyes.”
Ludger spoke about his elimination of the Crimson Society as if it was insignificant.
There was just something dirty, and he just sorted it out.
How arrogant was the meaning behind the words.
But no one was able to make a retort toward Ludger because he had done it with his overwhelming skill.
“So what do you want?”
It was Pinion, the leader of Kirchus, who opened his mouth.
He had a husky voice that was unfit for his small physique. Ludger noticed that he was smoking.
“Looking at the fact that you came here and accepted our invitation, you seem to have your own purpose.”
“Yeah.”
Ludger nodded slightly because there was nothing he had to hide.
“I want to build my own force here.”
“Force, huh?”
Pinion tapped his finger on the armrest of his chair.
“That’s not enough of an answer.”
“Do you need more explanation?”
“If you’ve eliminated the Crimson Society simply to create your own force, then it’s fine. That’s worth it. The Crimson Society people had been desperately trying to mess with us until just then, and they had a dirty personality. They could have offended you as well, and that’s why you destroyed them.”
“You know it well.”
“This is the important point… Is there any guarantee that a new organization created by the famous James Moriarty will not become a second Crimson Society?”
Second Crimson Society…
That was exactly what they were worried about.
The Crimson Society had done anything that would make money, and it had even crossed the line in the underworld.
They were united to resist such a Crimson Society.
The Crimson Society had a lot of people, and they hadn’t known what the society was going to do, so the three organizations had been working together to keep the balance.
—The balance that had collapsed due to an individual who appeared out of nowhere.
“Was that your concern?”
Ludger’s apathetic tone hardened the countenance of the people gathered in their seats.
Ludger spoke as if the issue that was serious for them was nothing.
Of course, he had the right to do so.
Ludger had single-handedly destroyed the Crimson Society even though there were people with Semi-Knight levels of power in the Crimson Society.
But in some ways…
He was more dangerous than the Crimson Society.
“Then we’d better clear up the misunderstanding and talk here first.”
“Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding do you mean?”
Deon asked while raising his eyebrows.
Ludger shook his head once and soon pointed to Mastella with a chin gesture.
“Stop trying to trick me and tell it yourself.”
“What do you mean…”
“Grandpa Deon. It’s alright.”
A cute voice that peculiarly belonged to a child stopped Deon.
Mastella, the cute girl who looked like a doll, stared at Ludger with curious eyes.
“You managed to notice that I told him to do it.”
“I didn’t live an easy life that’d make me able to look down at a child.”
Children with natural talents who had learned the art of living were much scarier in this world than old people who had aged without doing anything.
Those who didn’t know about it would ignore them and comment about their experience, saying, ‘What would a child know?’
Ludger wasn’t like that.
“So what kind of misunderstanding are we having?”
“If I wanted to get rid of you because I thought you were annoying, I would have done it earlier.”
They were blatant words, but no one got angry or anything.
—Because it was an obvious fact.
“But I didn’t, because I also have boundaries that I have to protect.”
“So what are you trying to say?”
“At least that you’re much better than the Crimson Society that I destroyed. I don’t have to be your enemy, and that’s why I agreed to do this meeting.”
When he hinted that at least he had no hostility toward them, their wary gazes faded a little.
—But there was still no sense of trust in their gazes.
They suspected that even that statement might be deceitful and false.
That was the way things worked in that business. Whatever he said, they had to doubt it first.
“So what are you going to do now? All the infrastructure and businesses that the Crimson Society had are yours.”
Pinion twitched his mustache and ate an old turkey’s leg in front of him.
Violeta gave a scolding at Pinion’s mannerless appearance.
“Pinion. Can’t you please stay still here at least?”
“Sorry, old lady. I can’t pretend to be as noble as you.”
“Old lady, you said? Tsk. This is why these uncultured people are the worst.”
“Take it easy, both of you.”
Mastella, who couldn’t stand to see them, stepped up and stopped them.
Ludger seemed to approximately understand how the three organizations interacted.
Their relationship was bad, but there was someone who could moderately mediate between them.
They maintained their own balance, so they didn’t seem to collapse much.
“So are you going to keep the genealogy of the Crimson Society intact?”
It was Mastella’s bold question.
Ludger obviously shook his head.
“Such a shabby Society is unfit for my dignity.”
“Dignity, huh. Then you must be thinking of something amazing, right?”
“Yes.”
At the time he made the organization, Ludger had already made his plans.
And that place, Leathevelk, would be the cornerstone for that.
“I’m thinking of making a new business. Unlike what the Crimson Society did, it’s a business that can be more honorable.”
“Business… that sounds really interesting.”
Violeta spoke.
But rather than speaking admiringly, it was more of a little sarcastic tone.
How honorable would it be if they were doing business in the underworld?
Even if they didn’t do dirty things like drugs or trafficking like the Crimson Society, they wouldn’t be able to boast about their businesses either.
It must have been all about selling alcohol, shipping luggage, and doing miscellaneous work.
Ludger spoke with a smirk as if he was reading their thoughts.
“If you think so, then that’s your own limit.”
“What?”
“So while we’re all together, I’ll make a suggestion.”
It was time for him to get to the point.
“Everyone, be my underlings. If you do so, I’ll promise you success.”
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