"What if I don't want to?"
"I've given you ample warning."
Before Balud could finish his sentence, the mobsters behind him appeared.
Their faces solemn, their suits just like Balud's.
They were a far cry from Kursha's free-spirited men.
Despite the atmosphere of ready-for-fight, Kursha did not back down.
"You're just going to sit here and talk shit, Mr. Director. Don't you see what I'm about to do? This is a vendetta to build our organization's prestige, and you have no right to stop it."
"It's my job to execute the vendetta, after all, I'm the one who suffered the humiliation."
Balud glared at Osian as he said it but there was no real animosity in the gesture.
It was the Kursha family, not Osian as an individual, that Balud was concerned with at the moment."Hmph. Well, well. You're offering to do some work for me as an ally, and then you go out of your way to prevent me from doing so?"
Osian was surprised, too.
At first, he thought Balud was there to help his fellow North Blinders, Kursha but the conversation between them revealed the opposite.
Kursha's reaction was less than favorable.
He was smirking and laughing on the outside, but his eyes said otherwise.
‘Is this some kind of rivalry?’
This was a good thing for Osian.
Even if it was, he wasn't in a position to take on all of Balud's men.
"Hey, Balud, are you sure this has to end here?"
"The die is cast, and it's your choice to accept it or not."
Balud's voice was as cold as ever. Kursha frowned at the bluntness of his voice, which showed little emotion.
"Oh. So, what if I don't accept?"
At those words, Kursha's men readied their weapons.
"Then I guess we'll just have to finish each other off here."
Balud's men leveled their weapons as well, glaring at them with fierce eyes.
The atmosphere was one of impending doom. The moment someone pulled the trigger, there would be a skirmish.
At that moment, Kursha's lips twitched and he burst into laughter.
"Pahahaha! Stop, everyone, lower your weapons."
Despite the abrupt order, Kursha's men lowered their weapons.
Their expressions were reluctant, but it was Kursha's order, and they had no choice but to obey.
"Just kidding, just kidding. If you want to carry out your own vendetta, I'm not going to stop you. In fact, for the sake of the organization's prestige, I'd even support it."
Kursha shrugged, and Balud adjusted his glasses and gestured to his men.
Balud's men lowered their muzzles and slung their weapons on their hips or backs in a respectful manner.
"Still, I'm surprised. I had no idea you cared so much. I suppose the first failure hurts, after all, and there's nothing more unsettling than jeopardizing the position you've barely climbed."
Kursha chuckled.
Several of Balud's men were about to explode at those words, but they held themselves back desperately.
Since Director Balud was in charge, it was impossible for them to step in instead.
When they didn't rise to the challenge, Kursha shook his head in disbelief.
"Well, that's enough for today. Mr. Balud has made a big step and I'm going to have to give in."
Kursha lowered his sunglasses slightly and stared at Balud with piercing eyes.
"This is not the time for us to see the end."
With that warning, Kursha led his men away.
Osian chuckled to himself at the sight.
‘Well, well. I've become an unwanted guest.’
Just as he was about to fight Kursha, Balud intervened, and the center of attention shifted to their relationship.
The rest of the Balud family was ready to leave.
As Osian watched, their eyes locked.
"Don't thank me. I'm not here to help you."
Who said what?
Osian stared at Balud in bewilderment.
"It is strictly up to me to enforce the Vendetta. The next time we meet, you'll be an enemy."
At that, Osian let out a thin laugh.
"Well, I will."
He didn't like the sound of it, but he couldn't help but be grateful for the help.
Just then, he sensed a figure running in the distance.
Balud must have sensed it too, because his gaze snapped to the direction of the footsteps, and then his expressionless face broke, if only slightly.
Oh?
Osian looked at him curiously, realizing that Balud had a look of defeat on his face.
The uninvited visitor had finally made his appearance.
"Balud, that's too bad, you can't just disappear like that!"
The woman, who appeared to be in her early twenties, spoke in a cheerful voice that seemed out of place in the grim atmosphere of this abandoned building.
Her waist-length brown hair swayed in waves as she moved.
Her skin was clear and blemish-free, and her dress looked expensive.
She stood tall and proud before Balud, unfazed by the sight of his rough-looking men.
"Isn't that disrespectful to the lady, you should have given me a full escort!"
"Lady......."
What was even more surprising was that Balud's men actually bowed to the woman, and Balud himself was somewhat stunned.
"Hmm? And who is he?"
The woman asked, noticing Osian.
"Just, uh, an acquaintance."
"Oh, no! I don't know him, do I? Is he going to be dunked in a drum?"
TLN: the expression dunked in a drum means drowning someone.
What?
Osian's ears perked up at the woman's words.
How could she mention drums in such an innocent and cheerful voice?
It was only then that he realized the woman's identity.
"Miss, there's no need for you to come all the way here, otherwise you wouldn't be able to see the boss."
Indeed. The woman was the daughter of the leader of the North Blinders.
No wonder she could so casually dismiss Balud's subordinates, and even speak ill of him.
'It seems a little closer than boss and subordinate, though.’
Especially the way she looks at him. There's a certain amount of affection in it.
It was the same for Balud. The man who was supposed to be as cold as ice was unable to hide his agitation in front of her.
Ah. So that's it.
Osian nodded in understanding.
As if sensing that, Balud glared at Osian with a piercing, sharp glare.
"Consider yourself lucky."
"You're an unexpected romantic."
A self-made man from the Northern Barbarians romancing the boss's daughter didn't sound like a bad picture.
Of course, Osian's words were meant purely in admiration, but Balud didn't take them at face value.
“Let’s go now. The guards must be getting anxious.”
"I'd like to stay and play a little longer."
"No."
"Chi. I think you're too stiff."
Balud lowered his glasses slightly, tired of the woman's teasing, and rubbed his fingers across the rims of his eyes.
One thing after another had happened today that was too tiring for him.
"Let's go."
"Okay, okay."
Balud left, taking his boss's daughter with him.
Osian watched their backs as they walked away, and somehow felt that he would see them again.
*
It was nearly dusk when Osian arrived at the Violet Fox.
-rattle.
He opened the door and was greeted by Ronan in his usual spot.
"Hoo hoo hoo. You're here."
"......."
It was his usual smile and face, but maybe it was the time of day.
As the long sunset blazed a bright red color behind Ronan, he looked like the leader of a secret society that wanted the world to end.
Osian couldn't help but wonder if Ronan is the one who gave Kursha his information, even though he knew he's not.
Ronan's perceptive mind is quick, and he picks up on the subtle hints in Osian's unchanging expression.
"No. I don't know what you're mistaking, but it's not me."
"......Ah, right."
There was a moment of awkward silence between them.
"Hoo-hoo. So it looks like you got your work done."
"You heard already?"
"Yes. Congratulations. You've just hooked up with someone who will be one of your biggest financial supporters in the future."
"Well, that doesn't help me in the immediate future."
"Huh. I suppose so. It'll take some time to sort out the Goldiron family dynamics, and there's still the matter of succession."
"I see you're still well aware of that."
"I'm glad to say that Mr. Osian seems to have gotten what he wanted out of this assignment."
"Does it look that way?"
"Yes. You seemed in a better mood than usual."
Osian smiled sheepishly and shrugged.
Ronan wasn't exactly wrong. It was to be expected, given his age.
"But there's something else I'm curious about."
"Yes. Go ahead."
"Do you know anything about madmen?"
Ronan's real eyes squinted longer than before.
"Alas, you do not mean in the literal sense of the word, Mr. Osian, and I assume you are referring to the Four Madmen?"
"Yes."
"You've already met one of them, Dyke Goldiron, the Madman of Gold."
The story of the Four Madmen is well known in the city, so it was easy to explain.
"The people they call the Four Madmen are literally crazy about something."
"But why were there four of them?"
"Because they have a lot of money."
"Ah."
So the Four Madmen were famous because they were crazy people with a lot of money.
If an ordinary man was crazy, he was a madman, but if a man with a lot of money was crazy, he became a famous madman.
"The mildest of them all is Dike Goldiron, the Madman of Gold."
"The other three, not so much."
"Well, they're famous in more ways than one. They're called the Madman of the Stars, the Madman of Fairy Tales, and the Madman of Books. They all have one thing in common: they're all godfathers with a lot of money."
"Hmph."
Among them, Osian was quite attracted to the name of the Madman of the Stars.
It was a natural reaction considering that the Starlight Sword he used was powered by stars.
"They all seem to be doing some strange things."
"Of course, that's what the rumors say, and I don't know if they're true. But otherwise, there's no smoke coming out of the chimney."
Goldiron, the gold maniac, was known for discovering and developing gold mines and raking in the cash.
But what about the other three?
Stars, fairy tales, and books.
They don't seem to go hand-in-hand with the word godfather. Maybe that's how they earned the title of madman.
"I wonder what they’re like."
"Haha. They're not the kind of people you can meet just because you want to. They have a lot of money, but some of them are also chairmen of companies."
"Corporations?"
"Yes. One of them, James Earhart, the star maniac, is the godfather of aviation. He's the chairman of Shalahi Mountain, one of the airship manufacturers, and he has a lot of power in Tirna."
"Why is such a man called a star maniac?"
"He says his goal is to reach the stars with his airships, and he'll do whatever it takes to get there. He's famously vowed to finish it before he dies."
"No wonder he was called a madman."
Science was considerably more advanced now than Osian remembered, but there were still many things that were lacking compared to 21st century Earth.
What James Earhart was trying to build seemed to be at least a manned spacecraft.
It would take at least forty more years of scientific advancement to accomplish that, if not more.
Even if magic or other mysterious forces could shorten that time frame, it would be difficult for James, an elderly man, to accomplish in his lifetime.
But he's not giving up on it, and he's going for it.
No wonder he was seen as a madman in the eyes of others.
'Why is he so obsessed with the stars, is it some kind of connection to another celestial phenomenon?’
That's what Osian was thinking when the door to Violet Fox's shop opened with a rattle.
A large man with a fearsome appearance walked through the door.
His appearance was intimidating just by looking at him and he was a man who stood out in Osian's memory.
"Jonathan?"
Jonathan, a large man.
He was an augmented mutant, and a fixer who had fought alongside Osian during the incident involving the Blood Brotherhood.
Jonathan strode over to Osian, who was his original target and bowed deeply.
"Please accept me as an apprentice."