Jake knew who the boy was. It was Sieg, a boy he had met at the executive meeting who was about the same age as himself.

Sieg held a small short-sword and was showing no hesitation in attacking people with it.

“W… wait… Kah!”

“You bastard. Who do you think you’re waving the sword at… keugh…”

There was one rule amongst the back alley thugs – even during a war between themselves, they would not use a blade. The reason behind that rule was because if they used a blade, the capital’s guards would investigate it as a murder case.

If they were unlucky, the guards might find a clue that could lead to the entire organization being captured. That was why there was an implicit rule to only use a small knife, and only to threaten with it.

But Sieg was different. He was using, without hesitation, a short-sword that was much more lethal than a knife. He had no qualms about stabbing people in the throat or their heart and soon, the enemies who held Jake down became cold bodies.

“You alive?”

Only after he had dealt with all the enemies did Sieg speak to Jake.

“Y… yeah. Thanks to you.”

“I’m glad. Can you stand up?”

“Of course.”

Jake clenched his teeth and stood up. His entire body was hurting, but he forced himself up. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t want to show any weakness in front of Sieg.

“Thanks for saving me.”

“No problem. But you’re pretty good yourself. You managed to hold them off all by yourself with just a club.”

“……”

“You’re better than the rumors. Seems like you’re pretty talented.”

Sieg looked at Jake with interest in his eyes.

Jake was suddenly filled with an odd emotion when he saw that gaze.

“Don’t get all high and mighty.”

“Huh? Why? Is it annoying you?”

“…It is.”

“Heh… you’re still pretty young.”

“You son of a…”

In a fit of rage, Jake tried to attack Sieg, but before he could, Sieg’s short-sword touched his neck.

“In your current condition, do you really think you can beat me in a fight?”

“……”

“There’s a time and place for your reckless bravado. If you’re going to be obstinate in a situation like this just because of your pride, you’re an idiot. You might as well just die as a gutter rat.”

Sieg’s words poked at Jake’s inferiority complex.

Jake stalked forward and grabbed Sieg by the collar. His skin began to bleed as the short-sword that had been pointed at his neck dug into his skin, but Jake didn’t hesitate.

“Do it if you dare, you son of a b*tch.”

“Ooh…”

Once again, Sieg was looking at Jake with interest in his eyes. The Jake reflected in Sieg’s eyes wasn’t just a brainless idiot refusing to yield in a fit of anger. Jake knew very well that there was a sword at his throat, but he was putting his life on the line for his cause.

‘He’s pretty good.’

At that moment, Sieg changed his assessment of Jake. Instead of a chess piece knight that he wanted to use, Jake became someone he wanted to have under his direct command.

“I’ve decided. You’re mine.”

“What? What bull** are you… keugh…”

Jake couldn’t continue. Sieg had grabbed his wrist and twisted it, then he pushed Jake against the wall.

“I guess we should clarify the hierarchy in this relationship?”

“What bull** are you spouting?”

“It’s gonna hurt a bit.”

“You son of a… Guh!”

Crack!

Jake’s arm broke.

***

When Jake regained his senses, he saw an unfamiliar ceiling. And the first voice he heard was…

“Are you awake?”

“You’re… you son of… keugh…”

“Stop moving. You’re hurt.”

“And whose fault is that?”

At Jake’s question, Sieg scratched his head as he responded.

“Sorry, I tried to stop myself, but you were too gutsy.”

Even after his arm broke, Jake had attacked Sieg. Sieg had won because Jake couldn’t use one arm, but Jake had still attacked him again and again until he had fainted.

After knocking him out, Sieg had brought Jake to his own safehouse.

“Drink this for now.”

Sieg handed over a bowl of warm soup. Jake got up and drank it. Perhaps it was because he had lost in a one-on-one fight, but Jake seemed quite discouraged.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Sieg. Living the same back alley life like you.”

“No. No, you’re not.”

“Oh? What makes you think that?”

“Just… I don’t know why, but you’re not. You’re different.”

He couldn’t put it into words, but intuitively, Jake knew it. Sieg was completely different from himself.

Sieg smiled when he saw Jake was looking at him with hard eyes.

“I’m not lying. I don’t know who my parents are and in order to survive, there’s nothing I haven’t done since I was a child. I’m just a common street rat”

“……”

“But, if there’s one thing that’s different, it would be that I have a big dream.”

“Dream?”

“That’s right. A dream. A goal or even an ambition.”

“……”

Siegfried’s words were so unfamiliar for Jake. A dream? A goal? An ambition? Those were words that he never thought he would hear in his life.

Siegfried continued to speak to Jake.

“In order to make my dream come true, there’s a lot of things that need to be prepared. Right now, I’m in the process of preparing.”

“Process of preparing?”

“That’s right. First, I need to take over the back alleys of the Empire’s capital.”

“You’re going to take over the back alleys? You?”

“Yeah. I’m telling you this now, but such a small goal isn’t it. Later one, it won’t just be the back alleys of the Empire, it’ll be the entire Empire, no, I’m going to make this entire world mind. That’s my goal.”

Siegfried spread his arms wide as he spoke. A smile could be seen clearly on his face.

He seemed happy just imagining his ambition.

“You’re insane.”

“Well, you could think that. But I’m being serious. This is my life’s goal.”

“……”

Sieg stuck his hand out to Jake as he spoke.

“How about it? If you don’t want to die as a gutter rat, then why don’t you work with me for my dream?”

“You want me to be on the same side as a psycho?”

“Doesn’t it sound fun?”

Jake looked into Sieg’s eyes. There were no ulterior motives nor was there any sign of embarrassment for talking about such absurd delusions.

‘Is this bastard being serious?’

Jake could instinctively tell that Sieg was being very serious right now.

“I’m…”

“I guess you’re hesitating?”

“……”

“Guess it can’t be helped. In that case, at least stay with me until the end of this war. You can make your decision after that.”

“By this war you mean… How can you say that when you don’t know when this war will end?”

“Don’t worry about that. It’ll end by today.”

“…What?!”

Jake was genuinely shocked. They had been fighting this war for the past three months, continuously shedding blood with no end in sight. But it’s going to end by today?

Sieg spoke to Jake with confident eyes.

“I want you to watch clearly from my side. See exactly what kind of person I am.”

***

“I think we’re pretty much done now, right?”

“I agree. At this point, I’m sure the higher up will understand the circumstances.”

In a tucked away bar, two men were drinking and talking to each other, but the problem was, these two men had a relationship that made this impossible. Chason and Gregoy. These two men, who had been competing to take over the back alleys of the capital, were currently sharing a drink, harmoniously.

How? How could two people who had seemed desperate to kill each other be like this?

There was only one reason – this war had been faked.

Even if this was the Empire’s capital, it was impossible for there to be zero dark aspects to it.

It is inevitable for darkness and light to coexist where people gather. However, in order for public safety, regular maintenance of the dark areas was necessary.

In order to do so, the Empire’s guards held strings connected to the dark. Since it was impossible for them to completely eradicate it, they had decided it would be best to manage it so that the general public wouldn’t be harmed or bothered.

Chason and Gregory were a part of that management.

Recently, the higher ups of the Empire had secretly ordered them to reduce their force. Since it had been mentioned amongst the nobility, the higher ups were perfectly happy to have the two organizations fight and annihilate one of them.

It was a kind of backdoor deal, but it was a very efficient method of maintaining public security. In the first place, it was difficult to completely uproot such darkness, and even if they were uprooted, similar peoples could come and settle down. That was why it was better to leave Chason and Gregory, who would listen to them, alone. But more importantly, if Chason and Gregory fought, then it wouldn’t require the Empire’s guards to devote separate manpower or budget into it.

And so, Gregory and Chason chose to fight amongst themselves since it was better for them to have their aggressive subordinates bleed once in a while to make them easier to control. Not to mention, it would help strengthen their authority.

And so, the war in which the two of them colluded began. In other words, the men who were currently bleeding in the back alleys were dying for no reason. But in reality, a high-ranking official of the Empire had said something and Chason and Gregory’s men were dying on their own while Chason and Gregory were making some personnel adjustments.

“I guess we should slowly talk about a peace treaty. When should we do it?”

“Maybe in about a week or two later?”

“Mm… let’s do that. But more importantly, there’s a hell of kid in your organization.”

“Who? Are you talking about Jake?”

“Yeah. He’s pretty great. Some of my closest men who’re pretty strong couldn’t handle that kid and were beaten up pretty badly.”

“Hm… I see, so he’s that good.”

Chason stroked his beard as if he was troubled. Having a subordinate in the back alley meant that you never knew when that subordinate might become an enemy and stab you in the back. If Jake grew up, then his position could be at stake.

“I’m gonna have to deal with him.”

“Really? Then why don’t you give him to us? I’ve got a lot of boys who were thrashed by him, so it’ll be perfect for them to get their revenge.”

“Sounds good. We’ll use that as an opportunity to create a reconciliatory atmosphere.”

“Kahaha… I’m glad we can understand each other.”

Just as Chason and Gregory were having that conversation…

Bang!

The door broke and someone walked into the hidden bar. Chason was surprised when he saw who it was.

“You’re… Jake?”

Jake was the one who had burst into the secret bar.

“You f*cking son of a…”

Jake stared at Chason as if he was going to kill him.

He had heard about it from Sieg, but he hadn’t thought it would really be a dirty deal like this. It felt like his head would burst from anger when he found out that people had been killed by their plot.

“How? Why are you here?”

“What happened to all the men outside?”

Chason and Gregory were dumbfounded. Sieg answered the question as he entered the room after Jake.

“They’re all sleeping. Guess everyone was tired.”

“Sieg? You too?”

Chason gritted his teeth.

“You dare betray me? You want to be flayed alive? Is that it?”

Chason cruelly threatened them, but Sieg and Jake didn’t blink an eye.

“Do you think that’s gonna work now?”

“These bastards…”

Chason must’ve thought it wouldn’t be enough to just talk to them as he reached for the knife at his waist.

But then…

“Ugh…”

As soon as he tried to get up from his seat, Chason felt like the world spun in front of his eyes. It wasn’t just Chason either, Gregory was the same.

Sieg looked pitifully at the two of them.

“I’m confident I’ll win if we fought, but… there’s no reason to do that if there’s an easier way.

“You… did you mix something into the alcohol?”

Even though he couldn’t handle his own body, Gregory still spoke up.

“That’s right. Now do you understand the situation a bit?”

Chason and Gregory felt chills going down their back. Chason and Gregory had kept the youngsters because they thought the youngsters would be useful, but now, they realized they had kept tiger cubs they couldn’t handle.

“Well then… we don’t have a lot of time, so shall we get started? First, why don’t you tell me where your secret safe is hidden.”

During a war, leaders of organizations would turn all their important assets and exchange it for money and hide them in places only they would now. Why? Because money was more important than their subordinates.

“What do you mean a secret safe? There’s no such thing… keugh!”

Chason shouted when Sieg’s blade stabbed him in his thigh.

Sieg smiled as he spoke.

“Well, I didn’t think you’d tell me easily.”

“K… guh…”

“Then shall we get started?”

Sieg smiled cheerfully as he looked at Chason and Gregory. Their eyes were filled with fear and despair as they looked back.

***

A new day dawned.

Chason and Gregory, who had been called the back alley titans in the Empire’s capital, became dead bodied.

Sieg had found the assets that these two had hidden and packed it all up. As he was grabbing a heavy purse, he spoke.

“This isn’t a bad start for my military fund. As I thought, you make a lot of money when you’re committing crimes.”

Jake spoke as he watched Sieg.

“What’re you gonna do now?”

“Well, first, I have to leave the capital. If I stayed, I’m pretty sure I’d die.”

He had killed the back alley titans, Chason and Gregory. It wouldn’t be a smart decision if he continued to stay in the capital.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m thinking about heading towards the Republic. Since the boundary between classes is so thin, it’ll be helpful in getting ahead.”

“You believe in your abilities that much?”

“Yes. That and bribery.”

Jake was dumbfounded when Sieg pointed towards the purse.

‘He’s going to use that money to settle down in the Republic… Is that why he called it military funds?’

Jake thought Chason was well above him in life.

But Sieg only thought of Chason as a stepping stone.

‘We have different scales.’

Jake realized that putting superiority in strength aside, he and Sieg were completely different.

He approached Sieg.

“What are you going to do once you get to the Republic?”

“I’m going to rise to the top.”

“And then what?”

Sieg reached out towards the rising sun and clenched his fist as if he was grabbing it.

“……”

Of course he couldn’t grab it.

It was too far away and it was too valuable and great for it to be touched by human hands. However…

That was why…

“I’m going to take everything.”

Sieg wanted it. He had the ambition to get everything that was out of his reach.

At that moment, Jake decided his fate.

“Can I go with you?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“…Um… Well, so, I want to…”

“Of course you have to come with me. Didn’t I tell you? You’re mine.”

“……”

“Even if you say no, I’m going to put a leash on you and drag you with me.”

“Ha… hahahahaha…”

“Let’s go, Jake. Let’s leave behind our names in history.”

“Alright. Let’s go. Let’s do it, you crazy bastard.”

Jake got on the horse with Sieg.

“Ah! It’s okay right now, but later on, make sure you talk to me politely and formally.”

“Even if you killed me, no!”

“Is it because my name’s not dignified? Alright, let’s change my name. How’s Siegfried?”

“I’m telling you, no!”

And so, the two boys left the capital of the Empire in order to leave behind their names in history…