adbindia Chapter 154 : Chapter 154
Chapter 154 : Chapter 154
Chapter 154. Albatross
The old man stayed silent for a long while, his gaze moving back and forth between Rossi’s calm yet faintly weary face and that swollen, reddened hand.
After a long pause, he picked up the boning knife again.
“Well done, Albatross.” The old man’s voice was still hoarse, but the note of scrutiny in it had faded considerably.
“In this line of work, not many people can tell what matters most and still make it back alive. Since this was only a personal grudge, that makes things easier... It seems our plan merely ran into a small little ‘accident.’”
“So for now, you still can’t go back.”
“Why?!” Rossi nearly jumped to his feet, only the stabbing pain in his mind preserving the last shred of his reason.
“The fact that you made it out alive already proves your ability.” The old man pulled a crumpled sheet of straw paper from under the counter and casually wiped the blood from the knife. “And you said it yourself, this was a private vendetta. If it’s just a private vendetta, then once he’s killed enough people and cooled off, the situation will stabilize.”
The old man lifted his eyelids and revealed a cold smile. “Albatross, you’re the best card in our hand. Now that the Tarassa family is gone, Whiteport has entered a power vacuum. That actually gives us a perfect opportunity.”
“But my codebook...”
“I’ve got a backup of that right here.” The old man cut him off and tossed over a small cloth pouch. Inside was a brand-new set of contact codes, along with a Communication Crystal that looked like nothing more than an ordinary stone.
“This is your new identity. Starting today, you are the assistant manager of Deep Sea Trading House. You have only one mission—stay embedded.”
Rossi stared at the pouch, and his hands began to shake.
The fucking codes!
“What? Is there a problem?” The old man’s voice dropped, and the boning knife in his hand tapped lightly against the tabletop, making a steady thock-thock sound.
“No... no problem.” Grinding his molars, Rossi snatched up the pouch in one grab. In his heart, he was howling in fury, having already cursed this old bastard’s ancestors eighteen generations over.
If you won’t let me live, then don’t blame me for dragging you down into the pit with me.
“Three days.” The old man held up three fingers. “I want to know who’s next on Logaris’s purge list. Since he came for revenge, Tarassa can’t be the only unlucky family. We’re going to use this chance to see whether we can win over a few Northern Territory nobles scared out of their wits.”
“Understood.”
Rossi lowered his head, hiding the vicious gleam that flashed through his eyes.
Win them over?
Keep dreaming. That bringer of disaster had quite the appetite right now. Anyone who got close would be the next dish on the table.
...
Good news never travels far, but bad news flies to the ends of the earth. And that was especially true for something packed with explosive elements like “aristocratic grudges,” “bloody revenge,” and “how the mighty rise and fall.”
In less than three days, news of the Whiteport purge had grown wings. It spread along the tracks of the magitech trains and through the mouths of wandering bards until it reached every corner of the Astrelia Kingdom.
In an era where entertainment was still underdeveloped, a scandal like this was more thrilling than a forbidden book.
Shocking! The Northern Territory’s rising power bathes Whiteport in blood—could it all be for a case from twenty years ago?
The Revenge of the West Family: The boy who left home on that rainy night has returned!
Exclusive Reveal: The untold story of Logaris West and Princess Sylvia
Half-true and half-false rumors filled the skies.
Northern Territory, Stone Forest Town.
This was one of the poorest backwaters in the entire Northern Territory, where even the wind carried the taste of dust and sand.
The West Barony Manor.
Although the courtyard was not small, one look at how old and worn down it was told you it was not worth much, especially in a remote place like this.
“Dad! Did you read the paper? Look at this!”
A sturdy man of about thirty barreled noisily into the study. He was Thomas, Galahad’s son. Waving a crumpled copy of the Northern Territory Daily in his hand, his expression looked even more twisted than if he had just won the lottery.
Galahad had been dozing in his armchair. Jolted awake by that shout, the old man blinked blearily and almost flung the teacup in his hand.
“What are you screaming for?” Galahad glared at his son irritably. “Composure! How many times have I taught you this? A noble must carry himself with noble dignity!”
“To hell with dignity, Dad! Our family’s finally getting its chance to rise again!”
The middle-aged man was far too excited to listen. He slapped the newspaper right into his father’s face and jabbed at the massive headline on the front page, his finger trembling.
Shocking Secret! The Bloodbath in Whiteport Was Revenge? A Debt from Twenty Years Ago Settled Today!
The subheadline was even more sensational:
The Return of the West Family: That forgotten surname has now become Tarassa’s nightmare!
Galahad froze.
With trembling hands, he put on the old reading glasses missing one of its arms and leaned in close to read. He recognized every word, yet when strung together, they felt like some absurd joke.
The Tarassa family... was gone?
That monstrous power that had lorded over others for decades, the same one that had almost crushed their whole family like an ant back then, had been uprooted overnight just like that?
Thomas burst into laughter. “Hahahaha! Good riddance! Those beasts finally got what was coming to them!”
“I told you! Heaven sees everything! Back then they stole our business and forced us into this godforsaken place to gnaw on black bread, and now look at them. Retribution came, didn’t it?”
“Dad! Look what it says here—the big shot who led this purge is called Logaris West!” His eyes darted restlessly, gleaming with a calculating light. “That name... that surname... could he be Aunt’s old...?”
Galahad’s hand jerked violently, and the newspaper slipped from his fingers with a rustle.
He ignored the greedy gleam in his son’s eyes, the kind of look a man gets when he smells meat. Instead, he shakily rose to his feet, walked to the innermost shelf of the bookcase, and pulled out a dust-covered tin box.
Inside was a yellowed black-and-white photograph.
In the picture, the younger him stood in a neat military uniform, and beside him was a little girl smiling as brightly as a flower. That was Elvira. Back then, she had not yet met that man dressed all in black, and she had not yet thrown her life away outside in the name of so-called freedom.
“Twenty years...”
Galahad touched his sister’s face in the photograph.
So this is the freedom you wanted?
This is the son of the man you chose?
Ruthless enough. Absolute enough. Those methods were almost exactly the same as that man on the rainy night, the one who had frightened him so badly he had not dared draw his sword.
“Dad! What are you thinking about?” His son edged closer, rubbing his hands together excitedly. “Since that big shot is our relative, shouldn’t we go recognize him as family? Now that Tarassa has fallen, this is our chance to—”
“Shut up!”
Galahad spun around abruptly.
“Recognize him as family? What family are you going to recognize?” The old man slammed his cane against the ground hard enough to make it thud. “He went there to settle a private grudge! What the hell does that have to do with spineless wretches like us who sold out our own kin for glory?”
“But—”
“No buts! Get out, all of you!” Galahad drove the fools whose heads were full of thoughts of profiting from this out of the study.
The door shut.
The room fell into deathly silence once more, broken only by the occasional crackling pop of the damp firewood in the fireplace.
Galahad slumped back into his chair and stared out at the gloomy sky beyond the window. Suddenly, he found it all a little laughable. The Tarassa family was finished. He should have been happy.
So why did that hollow feeling still linger in his chest?
Elvira...
Had this debt finally been repaid?
Or had it only grown deeper?