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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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Clank, clank, clank.
The entire establishment shook with the rumble of the passing train.
“They should just blow up the tracks already.”
The owner said it jokingly.
He didn’t actually have the guts to blow up the railway.
But that seemed more likely than earning enough money to move his shop away from the noisy tracks.
“What do you think, pal?”
The owner asked, glancing at the man sitting at the counter.
But the man just stared blankly at his drink, lost in thought.
“Looks like he’s drifted off to dreamland again.”
The owner chuckled and turned away.
He knew the man well. He was a regular, after all.
Suddenly, someone from a boisterous table shouted,
“Another round over here!”
“Alright, alright, just hold your horses!”
The owner filled their glasses with more alcohol.
The man at the counter, his gaze unfocused, listened to their conversation.
“Hey, did you hear about the Azure Dragon gang getting wiped out?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard the rumors. They’re trying to keep it quiet, but…”
“Bullshit. No one in Sak, not even the government, can touch those guys. How could they be wiped out overnight?”
The Azure Dragon gang controlled the eastern district of Sak.
They were notorious for their illegal activities and thuggish behavior, terrorizing the residents.
But lately, whispers of their downfall had been circulating.
“There is someone who can. The Masked Man.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. How could one person take down an entire organization?”
“He’s just another criminal, if he even exists.”
The owner placed their drinks on the table.
They each picked up their glasses with grim expressions.
“Let’s just drink.”
“Cheers.”
They clinked their glasses together and downed their drinks as if trying to forget their troubles.
But one of them hesitated, his hand trembling as he brought the glass to his lips.
“What if the Masked Man… what if he’s real…”
He mumbled,
“Maybe he can do something about the Company.”
The others choked on their drinks.
“Cough! Hack! Watch your mouth!”
“You know what happens if the Company catches wind of that.”
They frantically looked around the bar.
Thankfully, the only other people present were the owner and the man sitting at the counter.
And the man at the counter was a washed-up drunk, so they didn’t need to worry about him.
“Why don’t you badmouth the White Tiger gang or the Vermillion Bird gang instead? You know those guys get away with everything because of the Company.”
He knew, of course.
Those thugs were untouchable because of the Company, an organization that held more power than the government itself.
But that only made him cling to the hope that the Masked Man truly existed.
Something as impossible as taking down the Company… it seemed like a task only someone like that could pull off.
“Sorry, I screwed up.”
But there was a difference between hoping and voicing that hope aloud.
The moment the words left his mouth, they were no longer just a private thought.
He had made a grave mistake, drunk or not.
“It’s fine. Like anyone’s listening anyway. Just don’t say stuff like that out in the open.”
They continued drinking and talking until it got late.
“Alright, everyone have a good rest of your day off.”
“Yeah, if we don’t die of a hangover first.”
“True.”
They laughed and stumbled out of the bar.
…The man at the counter watched them leave, then stood up himself.
“Hey, pal.”
The owner called out to him.
The man stopped and turned around.
Instead of replying, he held out his hand, wordlessly offering payment for his drinks.
Clink.
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‘It’s unusually dark tonight.’
He walked home from the bar, his steps unsteady.
He had definitely overdone it this time.
The back alleys he usually took were poorly lit and known for their high crime rate. But tonight, they were eerily deserted. He didn’t see a single soul.
‘Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.’
The drunken words he had uttered to his friends earlier kept replaying in his mind.
‘Maybe he can do something about the Company.’
It was a dangerous thing to say, even in jest.
He couldn’t even understand why he had said it out loud.
‘I need to be more careful next time.’
Thankfully, there was no one around to hear him this time.
But what if someone connected to the Company had been nearby?
“Ugh!”
A sudden wave of nausea hit him.
He clutched at the wall, his legs giving way.
“Blech.”
He threw up, his throat burning.
After emptying his stomach, he managed to stand up.
Though he felt a bit better physically, he was also weaker, his body drained of energy.
That’s when he saw it.
‘Huh?’
A fleeting figure in his peripheral vision.
A human silhouette.
‘Who was that?’
He thought he had seen someone in the alley he had just passed.
But they were gone now.
‘Was it just the alcohol playing tricks on me?’
Or maybe just someone passing by.
But a persistent sense of unease gnawed at him.
‘I need to get home. Now.’
His drunken slip-up from earlier was weighing heavily on his mind.
He picked up his pace.
As he walked, the feeling intensified.
‘Someone is following me.’
And they were getting closer.
Too close to ignore.
Then,
Crack!
The incandescent lamp overhead flickered, then went out, plunging the alleyway into darkness.
‘No!’
He tried to run, his instincts screaming at him to get away.
But the person following him was right behind him now.
A blade glinted in the dim light.
‘I’m dead.’
That was his last thought, before someone else stepped into the fray.
The clash of steel on steel rang through the air.
The blade that was about to strike him was knocked aside.
A flash of silver.
Swoosh.
A spray of blood, defying gravity.
His attacker’s head thudded onto the ground.
It was over in an instant.
“G-guh…”
He collapsed to his knees, paralyzed with fear.
But the newcomer turned towards him and placed a finger to their lips.
Silence.
‘Wait, but…’
He looked at his savior’s face.
Or rather, the mask that completely obscured it.
‘A mask?’
The conversation from earlier flashed in his mind.
“Don’t be ridiculous. How could one person take down an entire organization?”
“He’s just another criminal, if he even exists.”
It was possible.
After witnessing that display of skill, one person taking down an entire organization didn’t seem so absurd anymore.
“Are…are you perhaps the…”
“Watch. Your mouth.”
The masked figure cut him off, then turned away.
They stepped over the body and disappeared into the shadows.
‘He’s real…’
The Masked Man, a figure whispered about in hushed tones.
He had actually met him.
And he had just saved his life.
Pitter patter.
‘Huh?’
He felt something cold on his forehead.
He looked up.
It was raining.
‘I need to get home.’
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The coin lay on the counter.
The man’s payment for his drinks.
‘I just wanted to tell him to cut back on the drinking. I’m worried about his health…’
The owner sighed and pocketed the coin.
‘Well then, time to close up for the night.’
As he was about to lock up, he noticed the rain pouring outside.
‘I wonder if that guy even has a place to stay.’
He knew nothing about the man, not even his name.
He just showed up at the bar every day, looking like a mess.
‘Well, excessive curiosity isn’t a good thing. He seemed like a man with many stories’
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Whoosh.
Rain poured down, drumming against the pavement.
The man huddled in the corner of the alley, seeking shelter from the relentless downpour.
He sat motionless, his eyes vacant, as if he had given up on everything.
He wasn’t drunk.
No matter how much alcohol he consumed, he couldn’t get drunk.
And he couldn’t even catch a cold, no matter how long he sat in the pouring rain.
People just saw him as another homeless man, a nameless face in the crowd.
No one paid him any attention, no one tried to remember him.
Not even himself.
He had no reason to live.
He simply existed, cursed with a body that refused to die.
Splash, splash.
He heard footsteps approaching through the rain.
But he didn’t stir.
Not until he heard his name.
“Mr. Libero.”
He slowly lifted his head.
A young boy, wearing a raincoat, stood before him, his hood pulled low over his face.
“It took me a while to find you.”
“Do I know you?”
“Of course. I’m here to collect on a promise you made to my ancestor.”
He could sense a faint trace of the Lodraim royal aura emanating from the boy.
There was no mistaking it.
“So what is it you want?”
The boy looked at him, his expression serious.
“I desire strength.”
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Batman !!