“Sir, please spare some change. Madam, please spare some change.” A group of malnourished kids were begging in the middle of the street, hoping someone would spare them a glance and some sympathy. But lately, the city and its citizens have been under a lot of pressure. There was an ongoing gang war that the citizens knew nothing about and a couple of mysterious accidents happening all over the city. The citizens were too busy worrying about their own safety and well-being over the stomach of some street urchins they would never see again in their life.

  “Napier, the sun is setting.” A small child approached one of his fellow urchin beggars, his face full of worry and fear. The day was coming to an end, and they were nowhere near their daily quota. The adults who feed and control them would not be pleased. Seeing his friend's anxious face, Napier tried to console him. “It’s okay. I’ll figure something out. Just continue begging for now until time runs out.”

  His friend's face brightened and he left Napier to continue begging. Once his friend was out of sight, Napier’s face darkened. He had no solution. He would love to steal some valuables to make up for the lacking quota, but he had been caught stealing once and had his left hand cut as a punishment. He was lucky to be able to survive the grueling and feverish days that came after the dismemberment. He did not know if he could survive another one if he got caught stealing again. His only option was to beg for forgiveness and endure the upcoming beating that would come his way. At the very least, he would be the only one receiving a beating, while the other kids might survive the wrath of the disgusting adult that ran this begging ring.

  “Sir, please spare some change. Madam, please spare some change.” Napier continued begging, but he knew it was pointless for no adults in this world ever cared for children like him.

  ********

  Whaaam

  A fist sent Napier’s fragile little body flying. All the other children watched in horror as Napier’s body violently collided with the ground. They wanted to help, but fear overruled them. None of them wanted to be the fist next target. As he laid on the cold hard stone floor, Napier could only curse at his fate. He hated the adults who treated him this way. He hated the other children who could only watch him suffer. He hated himself for being so weak the world could jerk him around whenever it pleased.

  “GET UP YOU BRAT.” The disgusting adult kicked Napier, urging him to get up but not allowing him the time to. “HOW DARE YOU COME BACK HERE WITH THIS PALTRY AMOUNT OF MONEY. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT COST TO FEED ALL OF YOU?” He kept kicking Napier’s stomach, not caring if he would end up killing the kid or not. There were many other kids like him either way, losing one or two would not affect their gang by much.

  “Please stop.” A calm yet commanding girl’s voice could be heard. There was a sense of confidence in the tone, enough to anger the disgusting adult who instinctively felt challenged by it. “WHO SAID THAT?” He yelled at the group of scared children, asserting back his dominance, but none of the children was the source of that voice. “Boss,” one of the disgusting adult’s lackeys tapped his shoulder, showing the source of the voice.

  Napier saw the figure before the adults did. A small hooded kid, with scars on their face. He had trouble telling whether the kid was a boy or a girl just from what he saw, and he could not tell their gender by their voice, for they were small enough to be a boy who had not hit puberty.

  “What the hell are you looking at, brat? You want to die?” The disgusting adult approached the hooded kid, posturing as he walked. Even though the adult was almost three times their size, the kid did not move from their spot. Instead, standing defiantly in their spot, aggravating the disgusting adult. “What you’re looking at kid?”

  It was hard for Napier to see the hooded kid’s face, for he was obscured by the disgusting adult fat body, but he managed to catch a glimpse of smirk on the kid's face, or at least what Napier believed to be a smirk. He could tell that the disgusting adult was enraged by the hooded kid’s audacity.

  SMACK CRACK

  Without hesitation, the adult backhanded the hooded kid’s head. The sound of the smack was so loud every single urchin in the area winced, their bodies remembered the pain the adult used to inflict on them. Only Napier was watching the scene closely, the kid’s head was jerked sideways by the force of the smack, but their face looked unharmed, in fact, half their face was as black as iron.

  “AAAAAAH,” The disgusting adult was screaming from the top of his lungs. Clutching his hand in pain — it was broken, purple, swelling like crazy. His fingers bent in unnatural ways. “You… You… Little Bitch.” He was cursing his heart out to ease the pain even by a little bit. His body that was standing straight and menacing before was now hunched over, making him look small.

  “That stings a bit.” The androgynous looking kid taunted the disgusting adult. They rubbed their cheeks, pretending that the smack hurts them, but they did not sell it well enough, especially with the huge grin on their face. “YOU BI—” The disgusting adult was about to hit them again with their left hand, his remaining good hand, but the pain in his right hand stopped him in his tracks — a fatal mistake.

  The short haired kid, who Napier was not sure was a boy or a girl, pulled a beautiful ornamental dagger from their hip. They were a short kid, especially compared to the disgusting adult, but that short stature of theirs made it perfect for them to target the disgusting adult’s vitals — his balls. Without mercy, the kid stabbed their dagger at the adult’s groin.

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  Napier could not see the adult’s face, from his perspective, the kid stabbed them in the stomach. To his surprise, the adult that used to torment him, the source of his pain, fell over in an instant. Writhing on the ground in pain, like a dirty worm that he was.

  “BOSS!!!” His lackeys, seeing their boss on the ground, immediately pulled out their daggers. They positioned themselves to surround the armed kid. It was now a three against one situation, and the adults were the one who was wary. They too barely saw what took down their boss, but seeing the location he was clutching, they could make an educated guess.

  “You bitch. You prepared to die?” one of the lackeys tried to threaten the kid. But they were unbothered. She came face to face with death itself, three scared thugs armed with small knives did not scare her in the slightest… and she knew it was not a three versus one in the first place.

  From the group of scared children, a bunch of girls rushed out, armed with daggers and hand axes. They attacked two of the nearest lackeys from behind, catching them by surprise. They hacked the legs of the lackeys, dropping them instantly, and once they were on the ground, rain of stabs hit their back. The girls mercilessly stabbed them to their dead, not allowing an inch of resistance from the lackeys.

  The last remaining lackey could only watch in horror as his comrades were being slaughtered by a bunch of children, the children that they thought were powerless and they used to oppress. “St..Stand Back.” He brandished his small dagger, trying to ward off the raving bunch of murderous little girls in front of him.

  “Drop your weapon,” the androgynous kid with a scar on their left eye ordered, drawing a pistol at him. The last lackey was a bit hesitant in dropping his only protection, but when the other girls pulled their pistols at him, he had no choice but to drop his small knife. “Please don’t kill me.” he begged the girls while putting his hands up.

  “We won’t. In exchange, tell everyone you know; your friends, boss, neighbors, family, or random strangers you met on the street — from now on, this is our territory. Regulus’ territory. Remember that name, or you’ll end up like your buddies.”

  The last lackey nodded, the androgynous kid, who was clearly the group of these armed girls waved her pistol, motioning the lackey to scram, which he did without hesitation. Once he was out of sight, the girls sheathed their weapons. The leader of the kids approached Napier who was still laying on the ground and offered him their hand. “The name Kisara, do you have any name?”

  “Napier,” he accepted Kisara’s hand, who helped him get up, judging by the name, it seemed that Kisara was a girl. Napier was grateful for this mysterious group of kids' help, but at the same time, he was worried about the repercussions. “Thanks for your help… Kisara. But why did you let that guy live? Now he’ll tell their boss, and he’s a dangerous man.”

  Kisara looked at her girls when she heard the word ‘dangerous man’ and they all… Bust laughing? Did they not understand what they just did?

  “Why are you guys… girls laughing? Their boss is a dangerous man. He’s the leader of all the beggars in this district. He led almost a hundred men and he was a former Silver-tag slayer. Guys… Girls. Take this seriously. We need to kill that man now before he tells the beggar king.”

  “Beggar King?” The girls laughed even harder hearing the moniker. Napier was flabbergasted, how could these bunch of girls not be scared of the beggar king? Did they never hear of him? “Aaah… sorry, sorry. Napier was it? This beggar king… we never really heard of him. We’re from the port area. Is he as dangerous as… let’s say, Rex?” Kisara asked for confirmation as she wiped away her tears from laughing too much.

  “Uuuuhm… probably not as dangerous as Rex. But he was still dangerous enough that when Krieg was still alive, he and the Burhan didn’t expand to this place.”

  Kisara cannot help but snort. The girls behind her all giggled. Napier could not make heads or tails why they were not afraid at all. “I don’t get it. Is your gang really that strong? To not be afraid at all? The beggar king is pretty much a crimelord now since Krieg is dead and Lorca is missing. Who’s backing you?” Napier did not know where their baseless confidence came from… until it hit him, “wait… is it Rex? Is Rex your backer?” Napier was a bit hopeful. If Rex was their backer, than their confidence made sense, and if he joined them — not even the beggar king could touch him.

  “Ah no… not Rex. It’s Regulus. Our leader is Regulus.” Kisara corrected Napier’s misunderstanding. Napier’s face went sour, he never heard of anyone named Regulus before. “Who?” He reflexively said, but he immediately shut his mouth with his hands, not wanting to tick off his saviour.

  “Don’t be scared. It’s understandable if you don’t know him. But trust us, Regulus could easily take out this beggar king or whoever.” Kisara tapped Napier’s shoulder, showing him that he had nothing to be afraid of. “More importantly… Does anyone want to join our gang? We’re recruiting.”

  Napier and the children looked at each other. Judging by how Kisara interacted with them so far, it did not seem like she would be offended if they rejected her… but at the same time, did they really have any other option but to accept? To the beggar king, they might as well be responsible for the death of his men, and the life of a street urchin was expendable. Rejecting Kisara’s offer meant forgoing any protection this Regulus person might offer them — they had no choice.

  “I accept.” Napier offered his remaining hand, and Kisara shook it with a smile on her face. Napier did not really understand why their gang would want to recruit a bunch of street urchins, but he was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If this Regulus person wanted to recruit him, he might as well accept it. Who knows, this Regulus person might be easier to handle than the beggar king and his lackeys — Napier might even be able to manipulate Regulus if he saw the chance.

  “Oh, I almost forgot. Regulus told us to do this.” Kisara searched her purse, then she flicked a coin at Napier. He almost dropped it but somehow managed to catch it before it fell to the ground. He opened his palm, revealing a single copper Azul.

  “Welcome to the gang.” Kisara grinned as she welcomed her newest member.

  ********

  In a dark and damp slump, a place only wretches and scums dare to enter, the surviving lackey ran. He was there to find his boss, to inform him of the new threat to their reign. He entered a small shack, inside, sat five people.

  “Boss. we got trouble.”

  His boss, the beggar king, was smoking his pipe. He listened to his lackey’s story, and he broke his pipe in anger once he heard the full story.

  “So someone dared to challenge me? Regulus you say? I don’t know who he is, but he’ll regret ever challenging Hazen’s newest crime lord — ME! THE BEGGAR KING!”

  The beggar king’s wrath filled the room, the lackey trembled in fear as the two-meter tall man stood and crushed the wooden chair he sat on.

  “MY BEGGAR KNIGHTS, PICK UP YOUR WEAPON!!!”

  The four hooded men that surrounded him stood, all of them were infamous in the area, with large bounties on their heads befitting of their infamy. One of them was armed with nunchucks, a martial artist that hailed from the east. Another one carried a large scythe, a famous serial killer that had slain ten prostitutes. There was one who was equipped with full-plate armor and a morningstar, a former mercenary in the War of the Empress. And the last one was a fat man that was even bigger than the beggar king. Wielding a comically large butcher knife — rumour had it he was a cannibal. With these four at his side, the beggar king’s rise as a crime lord was just a matter of time — and he would not let an upstart interrupt with that.

  “MY KNIGHTS!!! WE MARCH AND SLAY THIS BASTARD WHO DARE TO CHALLENGE I, THE BEGGAR KING!!!”

  The five marched outside the shack. Outside, dozens of vagrants were waiting for their king. A war was brewing, and this Regulus person, will face the wrath of the beggar king.