Gun of Ashes

Lorenzo felt for the first time... the fatigue of going to work. Kamu seemed to anticipate everything about Lorenzo’s condition. In the swaying carriage, he draped a pre-prepared blanket over Lorenzo and offered some snacks.

But Lorenzo had no desire to eat at all. Having just crawled out from underground, he was covered in an indescribable sour stench.

Looking at Kamu sitting at the front of the carriage, this homeless man was renewed, wearing brand new clothes, steering the carriage, taking Lorenzo through the streets of Old Dunling. He bore no ill will towards Lorenzo, not even wary of Lorenzo’s weapons, as if he was certain Lorenzo wouldn’t harm him.

Lorenzo closed his eyes in contemplation, feeling a strange sensation at that moment.

He wasn’t quite sure how to describe it; it was simply very peculiar. After battling demons for three hundred rounds, just crawling out of the river, he found himself entangled in another affair.

Actually, it couldn’t be called ”another affair.” From the start up to now, Lorenzo could clearly feel that all the events he’d experienced were a part of a whole, manipulated by a hidden hand behind the scenes.

The Rat King.

He didn’t know when it started, but Lorenzo had stepped into his chessboard. From the very beginning, the silhouette of the Rat King lingered in these continuous events.

In this dark filth, the omnipresent rats guided him, leading him to that hidden outpost, involving him in the battle with the demons. It even seemed that the arrival of Suyalan Hall was driven by the Rat King, dragging everyone into this lethal danger.

Lorenzo recalled the intelligence brokers who, through gathering vast information for conjecture and deduction, could reconstruct the origin of an event. Such power, when applied on a small scale, was merely a certain level of wit and acuity. Yet, upon reaching that intangible upper limit... it seemed omniscient in human capability.

Perhaps the Rat King achieved this, calculating everything, and casually placing the pieces on the chessboard, resulting in this current situation.

In that way, all of Lorenzo’s seemingly coincidental experiences were not accidents but the premeditations of a cunning mind, who used everyone.

Lorenzo was filled with anticipation for the upcoming meeting. This mysterious being, hidden under the shadows of Old Dunling, detached from the Purification Mechanism—it was too tempting for Lorenzo not to be excited.

”How much longer until we arrive?” Lorenzo asked.

”Almost there,” Kamu answered.

”What happened next?” Lorenzo continued to ask.

”Next what?”

”I mean at that time...” Lorenzo recalled that time he continued to chase the enemy along the wall, leaving the intelligence brokers and Kamu in place, ”Where did you go after that?”

”We ran. So many people died then, and we’re just unarmed ordinary people; of course, we had to flee far away.”

From Kamu’s words, it seemed they didn’t wait for Lorenzo, which made sense. These inferior rats were very shrewd; fools couldn’t survive amidst such chaos.

”Then you met the Rat King?” Lorenzo asked again.

At that time, Kamu was just a vagabond, but now he was a well-dressed coachman, or someone akin to that. In short, he’d improved significantly in such a short time, making Lorenzo certain something happened after that.

”Yes, I met the Rat King, and he gave me a new job, which is what you’re seeing now.”

Kamu said candidly, very sincerely, without any disguise.

Such compliance made Lorenzo uneasy. His former opponents were all ruthless, eager to threaten with knives at necks during encounters. Yet, this time, the Rat King in the dark appeared so agreeable.

”You’ll like him. He is a... very, very lovely person.”

Kamu turned around with an eerie smile, seemingly recalling something amusing.

This smile and description discomforted Lorenzo more. He wasn’t afraid of those brutal people, yet he was wary of such secretive and strange figures. The Rat King sounded like someone with peculiar quirks... He even considered whether he should jump out of the carriage now.

But there was no time for Lorenzo to jump out; the carriage suddenly stopped in front of a tavern.

Lorenzo looked around warily. This location wasn’t very good; with bustling buildings on one side and dilapidated districts on the other, this was the junction between the Lower City District and the West City District. It’s usually a place for handling black money, transferring wealth from the Lower City District to other places.

Kamu gestured for Lorenzo to get off.

”Of course, before you see him, you still need to pass a small test.”

”This sounds like a concubine selection.”

Lorenzo said reluctantly, yet he still pushed open the tavern door. Kamu didn’t follow but stayed by the carriage, seeing Lorenzo off.

The air was mixed with the aroma of alcohol, intoxicatingly fragrant. Contrary to expectations, it wasn’t chaotic. Everyone sat in their places, drinking in silence, whispering in low voices. The ambience was like heavy iron; even the sweet allure of alcohol couldn’t ease it.

Lorenzo’s arrival caught their attention... but it was hard not to notice him, soaked clothes with a peculiar smell and faint traces of blood, as if he’d just been through a slaughter.

The patrons coming here weren’t good people; the businesses they discussed mostly related to gangs. They weren’t particularly surprised by someone like Lorenzo.