Vicious Darling

[24]

Despite Peter Garrett’s subtle warnings, the food was generally not bad.

‘Is it because they use fresh ingredients?’

The Spring Continent seemed to use almost no spices in their food. It was different from the Summer Continent with its spicy food or the Winter Continent that used a lot of spices.

Chris quietly observed Yuri. He didn’t seem to have any major complaints either.

‘That’s a relief.’

Yuri is a picky person. However, having struggled so much to reach his current position, he was able to adapt flexibly depending on the situation. But if his satisfaction was low, it tended to show subtly.

Chris tried to suppress his rising excitement.

He was enjoying himself to the point where it seemed out of place for someone who came to find Rosenhauser’s remnants. As if he had come on a trip rather than a mission.

‘I need to focus.’

To some extent, it seemed to be the fault of the April Continent’s wind.

The breeze carrying the scent of flowers made one’s heart flutter.

After the meal, Peter leaned forward and asked,

“How did you find the market you looked around today?”

“It was abundant,” Yuri answered Peter’s question.

“Excessively so.”

Chris, sensing that a more serious conversation was about to begin, pretended to clear away the napkins while operating his device to create an invisible sound barrier.

It emits a certain wavelength to prevent sounds within a certain range from the device from being heard outside.

This was also something Anong had included in the device as a service.

“That’s right,” he nodded quietly in agreement and added.

“There’s even a saying in the Spring Continent that it’s easier to die from overeating than from starvation.”

“It seems difficult for an organization distributing drugs to operate covertly in a place like this,” Chris said, frowning slightly.

He wasn’t doubting the Barrel Society’s capabilities. It’s just that the scenery he saw today was extremely peaceful.

Those people wouldn’t fight over scarce resources like in the Winter Continent, nor would they need to crawl under someone else’s roof to avoid freezing to death.

So why would they turn to drugs?

“You’re wrong. It’s precisely because it’s a place like this that it’s good for drug dealers to infiltrate,” Yuri replied indifferently.

“What could they possibly lack?”

“They lack stimulation,” the man said with a blank expression.

“Because everything overflows and there’s no shortage.”

“…Ah.”

Chris blinked slowly.

It was a reason he couldn’t even imagine.

“If you plant a seed, it sprouts almost immediately. The climate is mild all year round, so there’s no need to build many buildings. No need for heating or cooling. The rain falls just right, neither too much nor too little, so only minimal irrigation facilities are needed.”

“I thought that with such an environment in place, people would live more intensely.”

“Not in the Spring Continent,” Yuri said firmly.

“The newly elected mayor seems to have other plans, but the local influential figures don’t budge at all. That’s why they’re implementing policies favoring immigrants.”

Chris looked at Peter with a puzzled expression.

“If they’re implementing policies favoring immigrants, isn’t it strange for an executive of the Barrel Society, a community of illegal immigrants, to stay in the Spring Continent for a long time?”

“Ah, well. That’s…” Peter clicked his tongue as if troubled and looked at Yuri before speaking.

“The immigrants welcomed in the Spring Continent are only from the Summer Continent or the Autumn Continent.”

“…That’s…”

Chris couldn’t understand at all. No one could match the tenacity and diligence of those from the Winter Continent. Weren’t they the ones who built cities from ruins?

“Didn’t Rosenhauser instill various prejudices when he was influencing the Esper Union? Like saying the Winter Continent is a den of criminals. Or that unregistered Espers mainly fled to the Winter Continent.”

“Right. That’s true. But now that the truth about Rosenhauser has been revealed… shouldn’t they know that all the prejudices against the Winter Continent were fabricated?”

“Well, there are people here who say Rosenhauser didn’t say anything wrong.”

“Ugh,” Peter messed up his hair vigorously and banged his head on the table.

“This new mayor is really crazy. You know what? He tracks down illegal immigrants, locks them up, and says he’ll release them after they’ve done labor for the Spring Continent for a certain period.”

It’s a bit unfair, but it might sound tempting to those who have secretly hidden in the Spring Continent.

“But then he says that even after they’ve filled in a good amount of labor days, because they entered illegally, the records are unclear so they don’t know when they started.”

“What? Surely it wasn’t a mistake?”

Chris asked in surprise.

“Well, at first we thought it was due to the Spring Continent’s characteristically lax administration. But among those caught and forced into labor, there are more than a few whose start and end dates have been sneakily changed.”

Peter’s mumbling voice was tinged with resentment.

“I’m not saying illegal immigration is right, but… they’re even locking up people who moved to this continent quite a while ago and had settled down.”

Peter added that these were people who had crossed over to the Spring Continent even before he joined the Barrel Society, looking quite exhausted.

“They impose huge fines and confiscate assets… But those people would have come here, started families, made friends, bought homes, right? So they can’t leave, and end up having everything taken away and trapped in inescapable labor.”

“…The mayor is completely out of his mind,” Yuri clicked his tongue.

“Ha. Moreover, among all the continents, the Spring Continent has the most illegal immigrants. Because it’s really the best place where you won’t starve or freeze to death even if you start with nothing.”

At Peter’s words, Chris squeezed his eyes shut.

Just because people left the Winter Continent, did they want to leave the place where they were born and raised?

They must have endured for months on ships, cramming themselves into those narrow barrels because they couldn’t bear it anymore and wanted to live better lives. Only to end up in a situation no different from slavery in the place they had barely managed to settle.

“We need to topple the mayor first,” Yuri said.

Peter glanced at him.

“…You’re not saying you’ll help us?”

“I can give some advice at least.”

Peter’s eyes welled up with emotion at Yuri’s casual response.

“Wait, weren’t you supposed to be a heartless mafia boss?”

Chris bristled at Peter’s words.

“Didn’t you just talk about the prejudices Rosenhauser spread about the Spring Continent? The notorious reputation about Yuri is also fabricated.”

“Don’t bother responding to everything,” Yuri quietly restrained Chris and looked at Peter, lifting one corner of his mouth.

“Some people are easier to handle if they think you’re a bad person.”

Peter rolled his eyes.

‘Regardless of his reputation, his personality seems genuinely bad.’

Rosenhauser had been shouting at the top of his lungs that the master of Baekyah was a bad guy.

But apart from that, Baekyah’s actions in keeping the Esper Union in check were not to be taken lightly.

The Espers of Northern Light who roamed the Winter Continent disappeared and never returned. In the end, no one knows where they went.

The same goes for the drug dealers in Baekyah’s territory. Rumors were rife that they were sleeping under the freezing sea.

Those who bought and sold Guides were sold as livestock in the very places where they had traded in people. The buyers were Guides or their families, or the bereaved families of Guides.

The hunters became the hunted and died, and the merchants became goods and died.

Yuri never wielded the whip against ordinary people nor did he rule by fear. He merely showed what kind of person he was to his enemies.

When Baekyah first got its name, there was no one left to sneer that Guides were strutting around under the protection of Espers.

Instead, the S-class Esper gained the nickname of “loyal dog.”

As if that could have been an easy feat?

“Anyway. I’m glad you’re helping. I thought you’d just take everything you could get from us and then ditch us.”

“With that kind of mindset, I’m surprised you’re an executive in the Barrel Society…” Yuri trailed off and snorted.

“Even the biggest illegal immigrant community won’t last long.”

Peter’s eyes lit up at those words.

“Oh. Actually, that’s our ultimate goal. To completely disappear someday.”

This was unexpected, causing Chris to raise one eyebrow.

“After all the illegal immigrants have freely gone to where they want to go, the Barrel Society will disappear too. A ship that has served its purpose will go to rest.”

It was an incredibly bright statement. But Yuri was listening to his words without making any response.

‘He’s quite a formidable opponent.’

If nothing else, it was clear that this guy had moved Yuri’s heart.

Yuri tended to be lenient towards this type. That is, the kind of devoted people who sincerely care for others.

“I joined the Barrel Society because I want to lock the cabin of that very last ship. It’s still daunting, but…”

But instead of criticizing, Yuri, for the first time, looked intently into Peter’s eyes with his lips tightly pressed.

“…That’s a good goal.”

It was essentially a compliment.

As if Yuri had been certain he could take revenge on Rosenhauser when he established Baekyah?

He couldn’t collapse so he couldn’t stop. Unable to turn back, he kept moving forward until he became capable of killing his enemy, and that’s what he did.

“I think so too.”

Peter scratched the back of his head as if embarrassed and asked the two,

“So, how are you going to help us?”

“…Didn’t you just say it yourself? That the newly appointed mayor is an idiot,” Chris replied.

Peter turned pale at Chris’s answer.

“Assassination is out of the question.”

Chris felt a headache coming on as he watched Peter tremble, saying they would all die if word got out that the Barrel Society had made such a request.

“I never said we’d kill him,” Yuri retorted coldly. But he didn’t rebuke him like before.

“But… we need to make him self-destruct.”

His crooked smile drew a line so beautiful it was intoxicating.