The celebration was dying down. Most of the kids were either knocked-out drunk or puking their guts out. Molrrets, waddling around the cave, eating the children’s puke. No self-respecting underground creatures would waste any food.

  The only group of children that was still somewhat lively was the older kids, who drank late. John, D’aka, and Cooper were drinking a bit far from Regulus, while Kisara and Eda were drinking next to him. Grigori and Azali already fell asleep, down for the count.

  “Heeey~ Regulus, Heeeey~” A very drunk Kisara put her hands on Regulus' shoulder, shaking him violently. “Reguluuus~ Burp. Tell me something. Those Molrrets, what do they eat?” Kisara pointed at the two blood-covered Molrrets who were napping at the mouth of the tunnel.

  Regulus faced the two Molrrets, and focused his nose at them. They smelled like they just ate sewer king.

  “Sewer King.”

  “YEEEES. I WON!!! ANAAAA, WHERE’S MY 10 COPPER AZUUUUL ANAAA?” Kisara immediately stood up and wandered around the cave, looking for Ana. Occasionally stumbled on a passed out urchin.

  Regulus was confused. What did she win? What’s a copper Azuuuul?

  “Eda? What’s a copper Azuuuul?” Regulus asked Eda, the only children who were still conscious near him.

  Eda, who was half-inebriated, reacted a bit slow to Regulus' question. “Hmm, ohh. Copper Azul?” Eda reached to her coin satchel. She opened it and looked inside it. All she got was Copper Azul. She smiled dejectedly looking at her entire net worth, but it was perfect to answer Regulus’ question.

  “These are copper Azuls, Regulus.” Eda handed her entire asset to Regulus, and continued sipped her wine slowly.

  Regulus pulled out of the coins from the satchel … he was captivated by them. He felt copper ores before, he destroyed them before. However, he didn’t know it was possible to craft intricate details on them, to shape them in a circle. He just never thought of doing that.

  Regulus rubbed his fingers on the coin, the texture, he loves them. Each coin had a different texture to them, different details. What an interesting thing humans created. He could not get tired rubbing them, so much so he dropped his bottle of wine, spilling the contents to the floor. Seeing those, some children who were still conscious crawled towards the spilled wine and lick them. No self-respecting drunks would let a good wine go to waste.

  The celebration was dying down. The children were knocked out drunk. The Molrrets were eating pukes. Regulus was busy rubbing the copper Azuls. Eda sipping her wine slowly. And Kisara kept yelling, looking for Ana.

  “ANAAA. WHERE’S MY COPPERRR???”

  “SHUT UP BITCH!!! YOU’RE HURTING MY HEAD!” John yelled back. He was trying to sleep but Kisara’s loud voice gave him a migraine. “ANA WENT OUTSIDE WITH A COUPLE OTHER GIRLS. NOW SHUT UP!”

  “WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BITCH ASSHOLE.” Kisara no longer cared about the bet. She was now looking for a fight with John.

  John and Kisara went on a screaming match. Some of the Molrrets got distracted by them… But not Regulus. He was enjoying his new toy.

  ********

  “Cheers !!!”

  The bar was filled to the brim. Thugs, sailors, guards, mercenaries, and even ordinary citizens mingle together over cheap beers and overcooked food. Barmaids were running around with plates of food and mugs of beer. Whores flaunted off their assets, looking for horny men to suck their livelihood and seeds from them.

  On a corner table, Paulie, a newly initiated member of the Lorca gang was currently associating with some veteran members. They were bragging about how the Lorca was better than the Burhan all night. All Paulie could do was nod along. He had no emotional investment in the Burhan.

  “...So you listen up Paulie. You’re lucky that Krieg died when he did. Otherwise us Lorca would have been the one to slaughter your entire gang, including you.” Boasted one of the Lorca, Omar, one of the longest serving members of the Lorca. He had followed Lorca from the time they were still active in the south, a time before War of the Empress even started. “Praise the stars, praise the Gods that you managed to join us. Don’t worry, we won’t hold a grudge against you for being a filthy Burhan.”

  “Of course, Omar. I’m grateful being able to work for Lorca. I don’t want to end up being a nobody.” Paulie stroked Omar's ego. He even offered to fill Omar’s beer mug, which he happily accepted. “You got a good head on you, Paulie, my boy. Work under me and I’ll make sure you’ll be a big player in the gang. WAITRESS, WE’RE OUT OF BEER HERE!”

  Omar realized that their beer pitcher was getting low, so he yelled as loud as he possibly could. Hearing him, a waitress panickedly hurried to fill their beer. As soon as she approached, Omar groped her butt, making the entire table laugh pervertedly while making the waitress fear for her safety.

  “Omar, looked. Lady Rose. The belle of this God forsaken tavern.” One of Omar’s lackeys pointed at Lady Rose who was hanging out on the bar’s second floor. The most popular whore on this side of the city. She wore a flamboyant red dress and dyed her hair equally flamboyant red.

  Seeing her, Omar downed an entire pitcher of beer. “Perfect. I’m sleeping with her tonight.” He stood up from his table, leaving the poor waitress alone. The lackeys and Paulie followed him from behind. He walked until he was directly below her. He looked up at her and screamed, ‘LADY ROSE. I’M BEDDING YOU TONIGHT.”

  Hearing that, Lady Rose and her posse giggled. Even though she was just a lowly tavern whore, Omar was not the level of her normal clientele. “Sure, Honey. That’ll be a Gold Azul for the night.” She said with a smirk on her face, knowing someone like Omar could not afford her rate.

  True enough, hearing those prices, Omar sobered up a little. He did not have anywhere near a gold Azul on him right now, not even including his lackeys' money. Heck, he never had a gold Azul in his life— not because he was not capable of earning that much, but he was not financially responsible enough to save his money to reach a Gold Azul. Hearing that number, his emotion flared up.

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  “YOU BITCH. I SAID I'M GONNA BED YOU TONIGHT, AND I WILL.” He aggressively marched towards the second floor stair. The other three lackeys were a bit concerned, but they followed him nonetheless. Rose and her posse started to get worried, they might have bitten more than they chew. The tavern’s bouncer immediately blocked the path to the stairs, but they knew if a physical confrontation happened, they could not possibly beat Omar. A man famous for being Lorca’s number one enforcer.

  “Well, well. What do we have here?”

  A calm and confident voice ringed in the entire bar, silencing the tense situation. Everyone could not help but look at the source of the voice. The patrons with war experience knew the moment they heard it, whoever that was, he was using [Kingspeak].

  A young boy, fourteen years of age was standing confidently in front of the tavern door. His hair was as red as flame, so were his eyes. He was so handsome one could mistaken him as a noble child if it were not for his peasants clothing. Behind him were two heavily tattooed men. They were Rex’s men. The boy— he was nameless, but the street known him as Red. He was Rex’s right-hand man. The brain behind the gang. The only person able to reason with Rex and strong enough to not be killed by his erratic nature. A child so talented that even Baron Gano wanted him at his fold, yet strangely the red-haired boy had been consistently rejecting him.

  “Hey, Big Oaf. you do realize that this bar is under Rex’s protection right? Do you want to start a war with us?”

  It was a threat. A threat that was more than enough to rattle Omar and his lackeys. Rex might not be the smartest crimelord. But he was exceedingly violent — brutal. Just like Krieg, Rex was a former knight. But unlike Krieg, he was much stronger and accomplished than him. Rex was a former Imperial knight, serving directly under the Emperor himself. He was once known as the Bastard’s Bane. Now, the street known him as the Flame-Fist Rex.

  Seeing them rattled, the red-haired boy approached them slowly, while humming. Every step he took made the air feel heavier. His boss, Rex had a fearsome reputation, but the red-haired child was not losing in terms of infamy. If Rex was unpredictable in his violence, the boy was calculated. Rex and Red tortured the previous crimelord controlling their neighborhood before taking over their territory. Worse, they displayed his tortured body on the street for everyone to see, on Red’s order.

  Tap

  The red-haired boy stopped right in front of Omar. Still humming. Confident smile on his face, mocking the scared Omar. A disrespect Omar could not handle.

  “YOU FUCKER”

  Omar threw a huge right hook. A swing so big the red-haired boy dodged without any effort — a swing so telegraphed, the boy countered with a compact punch to Omar’s beer belly.

  BOOM

  The impact of the counter was so strong that the entire bar could hear it. Omar immediately spit some of the beer he had drunk, he clutched his stomach to prevent more from leaking out — big mistake, it exposed his jaw.

  In one clean motion, the red-haired boy went for a flying knee kick that landed perfectly on Omar’s nose, breaking it. The boy could have aimed for the jaw, but breaking the nose inflicted more pain.

  Omar fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Seeing Omar downed, the lackeys were about to pull their flintlocks and daggers. But they were stopped when they saw the red-haired boy’s left hand motioning them to halt.

  “Ah, Ah.”

  The red-haired boy wagged his finger, meanwhile, his right arm — his right arm was covered in flames. The boy had casted [Blazing Fist] without chanting a single word.

  “You don’t want to start a fire fight with me.”

  The fiery arm reminded the lackeys of Rex. Reminded them of street tales of how Rex burned his enemies down.

  The boy was capable of the same thing.

  “Relax. I don’t want a war… and neither did you.” The red-haired boy kicked the downed Omar in the head. “Take this fat idiot with you and I’ll pretend this never happened.”

  The three of them nodded at each other and lifted the groaning Omar out of the bar. Once they were out of sight, the boy turned off the flames on his arm. The bar was tense, scared of the red-haired boy.

  “Well, ladies and gentlemen. The problem is gone. As an apology, have one round of beer on me.” The red-haired boy used [Kingspeak] to ease the tension. Hearing that they would receive a free round of drinks, the entire bar started cheering and started their activity like nothing ever happened.

  “Red, thank you for dealing with that ugly oaf.” It was Lady Rose. She had personally come down the stairs to greet the red-haired boy.

  “Part of the job, Rose. You owe me a gold Azul though.”

  “A gold Azul!? I thought we were under Rex’s protection. And we always paid,” complained Lady Rose.

  “Of course, you are a valuable client for us. And the Rex gang will protect you without additional cost … but my service is special and costs more, Rose. Do you think those two could handle Omar?” The red-haired boy pointed at his two bodyguards. The truth of the matter was, they were only following him to make him look more threatening, not to actually protect him.

  “Fine, I’ll pay you. In fact, I’ll pay you two gold Azuls.” As soon as she said that, Lady Rose embraced the red-haired boy. “As long as you sleep with me tonight.” The thugs of Hazen knew the red-haired boy as a fearsome kid, but the whores of Hazen knew him as a master in the bedroom. His… technique… made the whores forget all the boring and passionless sex they did as a job and reminded them of the pleasure of being a woman.

  “I accept. But I have some other work to do right now. I’ll come back again later and bed you.”

  “Don’t make me wait, Red.” Lady Rose whispered seductively to his ear. The red-haired boy grabbed her by the neck and pulled her so her ear was on his mouth level. “If I make you wait, I’ll refund you double.” He whispered back.

  The rough play made Lady Rose excited. She could not possibly wait for him to bed her, enough that she rather not taint the night by taking on a client. The boy released his grip on her neck. “I’ll be waiting, boy.” Lady Rose turned away, swaying her hips while she walked back up upstairs.

  “I’m jealous, Red. How could all the ladies want you? You even earn a lot from this side hustle.” One of the boy’s bodyguards complained.

  “Practice, experiences, and talent. That’s my secret. Now let’s go to work. We got money to make.” The red-haired boy urged his bodyguards to focus. They got work to do, and in all honesty, he could not care less about the night with Lady Rose.

  It was just sex.

  *********

  “FUCK, FUCK, FUCK. I’LL KILL HIM. I SWEAR I KILL HIM.”

  Omar’s pain had subsided enough for him to start throwing a temper tantrum. His lackeys, including Paulie all tried to calm Omar down.

  “Omar, relax. He’s just a brat. We’ll get him someday. Right now we just need to focus and not do anything stupid.” One of his lackeys said.

  “Stupid!? DO YOU THINK I’M STUPID!?” Triggered, Omar immediately grabbed his lackey and choked him with one hand.

  “Omar, calm down. What he meant is we shouldn’t pick a fight while Lorca is still expanding his influence.” Paulie tried to calm Omar down. Mentioning Lorca’s name did the trick, he loosened his grips on his poor lackey. “Once, Lorca— once we controlled all of West Hazen. Dealing with Rex and that boy would be a piece of cake. So just be patient, Omar. The winner laughs last.”

  That was enough to convince Omar. He released his grip and put his hand on Paulie’s shoulder. “You’re right. Once Lorca is done, we’re gonna crush Rex and his goon… and that boy, I will CRUSH him.”

  Omar started laughing at the idea of killing the red-haired boy. Paulie and the lackeys joined with nervous laughter, trying to please Omar.

  “C’mon. Let’s go to another bar and get some more drinks. I sobered up.”

  So the four of them walked the street, following Omar to the next bar… until Omar stopped his steps.

  “Omar?”

  The lackeys were confused. Why did Omar stop suddenly? Then they saw what Omar was looking at. A group of four urchin girls, singing, dancing, and giggling. Obviously drunk.

  “Are they drunk? Who in the hell gives some children alcohol?” Asked Paulie, bewildered.

  Omar did not care about that though… he cared more about satisfying his need that was interrupted by the red-haired boy.

  “Capture them, boys.” Omar ordered.

  “Huh, why would we … oh?” Paulie and the lackeys were confused for a moment. They did not get the purpose of capturing those kids … until they saw Omar’s hard rock pants. “Are you sure about this, Omar? They’re just… kids.”

  Omar glared at Paulie for asking that question, enough to make Paulie flinch. “Well, they got holes. And I got needs.”

  That was the only explanation Omar gave them. And it was more than enough to make them move.

  They approached the drunk girls. Sadly, the drunk girls were too inebriated to realize the danger they’re in. Liquid courage made them brave enough and dumb enough to question the predators’ motive.

  “Hey, what do you want? Don’t you dare mess with us. We got Regulus.” The girls started giggling. They were not making sense, not to themselves, not to the three predators closing in on them.

  Only one of the four girls started to realize the danger they’re in…

  …and the girl's name was Ana.