Those Who Live Without the Law

Chapter 77

Office Lease

Irena gave Kairus a reproachful look.

“See? Even a small act of charity can make you feel much better. You’re just too twisted inside.”

“It’s not that I’m twisted inside. It’s that you’re disgustingly at ease.”

Kairus thought she was a simple-minded one if giving a few coins to beggars could make her conscience clear.

“So, where do you plan to go from here?”

“Hm? Oh, first there’s a restaurant I used to work at. I’m thinking of dropping by there.”

While Kairus and Melvin talked, Irena was still scanning her surroundings with a complicated expression.

“Um, here. I’d like you to have this.”

A few of the children she had just pitied approached her.

What the child held was a bottle of water and a few pieces of potato.

It was their way of thanking her for the kindness she had shown.

The child’s eyes shone with innocence as he repeatedly said thank you and asked her to accept it.

“Oh dear, you really don’t need to.”

Irena gave a faint smile and reached out to take the gift the child held out. There were even tears welling in her eyes—she seemed genuinely moved.

“Hey, you try it first.”

At that moment, Kairus’s voice came from behind her as she was about to take the food and water.

He had been talking to Melvin just moments ago, but the second he noticed what was happening, he headed straight toward Irena.

“What are you suddenly doing?”

Irena looked flustered and glanced at the child. The child, too, was trembling and staring wide-eyed at Kairus.

“You’re making the kid cry.”

Instead of answering her, Kairus opened the bottle of water and held it out to the child.

“Go on, drink it. Or do I have to shove it down your throat myself?”

The child still didn’t move. Kairus rolled up the boy’s filthy tattered sleeve.

His forearm was covered with marks from needle injections.

“Your regular shooting den having a discount event? You’ve taken a lot of hits.”

“What are you talking about? What are all these marks?”

Had he been abused? Irena wondered.

Kairus answered plainly.

“First time seeing a young junkie? No, I guess it’s your first time seeing a junkie at all.”

After saying that, Kairus whistled and brought the bottle to the boy’s mouth. Immediately, the boy screamed and struggled violently.

With a loud smack, Kairus slapped the boy across the face. His cheek swelled instantly, and blood dripped from his mouth.

“Hey, keep that up and I’ll break all your teeth.”

Terrified, the boy glared at the bottle approaching his lips.

When Kairus forced the water into him, it wasn’t long before the boy collapsed as if struck by something.

“…This little—”

“What’s going on? The food you were given was laced with a sedative. You would have eaten it, passed out… and when you woke up, your limbs would have been bound while men did things to you you wouldn’t be able to bear seeing.”

Kairus’s mouth spilled out those horrific words as if they were nothing. Irena could hardly believe her ears, but she kept asking.

“Why? Why would they do that?”

“Our little junkie friends were planning to sell you to men and use the money to buy drugs. See over there?”

The moment the child who had handed Irena the food collapsed, a group of kids hiding in a nearby alley scattered in all directions.

Irena could only remain silent. She didn’t want to believe what Kairus was saying, but the evidence in front of her was too clear to deny.

“Luckily for you, your status is high, so you probably would’ve been rescued. Of course, there’s nothing that could’ve been done about what happened before the rescue.”

As Kairus walked a little farther with Irena, several people who had been loitering around quickly closed in on the fallen boy, rifling through his body for anything of value.

Irena looked at Kairus with an expression like she might be sick.

“Welcome to the city where pure goodwill is repaid with horrific malice.”

Kairus offered his greeting to Irena and Melvin.

“Still, the two of you are lucky. You managed to get your vaccination in time.”

They had learned the truth without having to experience it in the flesh. Usually, people only realized how dangerous this city was after suffering a tragedy and ending up miserable.

“What do you think, Dr. Istovan?”

Irena asked Melvin.

“It’s difficult… but isn’t this, in the end, just another way people live?”

Melvin gave her a hesitant answer, without much conviction. Kairus nodded.

“I agree with the doctor. It’s not something you can call pleasant, but the world isn’t made of pretty things alone.”

Melvin responded to Kairus’s remark.

“You can tell from studying history—there is no beauty or ugliness in human life. There are only causes and responses.”

No custom, lifestyle, or era ever arises without cause. Every habit is the most reasonable solution people could devise after wringing their minds to adapt to the situation at hand.

“Even customs from the past we don’t understand now all had reasons back then. This city may be the same. If I had to give my own evaluation…”

Kairus let out a curious sound.

“Your evaluation?”

“This city is like a cancer cell. The entire place pulses with an intense and destructive desire and vitality.”

A broken cell that destroys everything around it, caring nothing for the consequences, knowing only how to expand its own influence.

And yet, despite that, it was highly active and had a tenacious vitality. In that sense, calling this city a cancer cell was certainly fitting.

“Fair enough. I’ll guide you, so follow me.”

Still shaken by their first impression of Bennett City, Melvin and Irena followed Kairus until they arrived at the Longwave Bistro.

“Think about what you want to eat. This place is relatively safe, so there’s no need to be overly tense inside the restaurant.”

After seating the two at a table, Kairus headed to the kitchen to find Jonathan.

“What is it? If you wait, you’ll get your food.”

“Boss, could we talk for a moment?”

Jonathan, who had been stirring broth in a large pot with a ladle, responded to Kairus’s words.

“What is it?”

“I think I need to rent an office. Thing is, I don’t really have anyone else I can ask for something like this.”

Jonathan set the ladle down and let out a short snort.

“Do I look like your personal errand service?”

“Aw, if you say it like that, you’ll hurt my feelings. Isn’t it just proof of how much I trust you, Boss?”

Kairus replied with a grin.

“You’re not expecting some palace of an office, are you?”

“I’d just like it to have enough space so I could sleep there as well.”

He wasn’t asking for anything extravagant, but it still needed to at least look like an office.

“Besides, as you know, I still have a bit of money left.”

“I’m sure you do.”

Jonathan gave Kairus a mocking look, then thought for a moment before speaking.

“You’ve got a reputation for having money, so the rent will probably be several times the normal amount.”

Kairus let out a small sigh.

“So that’s how prices get set here.”

In Bennett City’s real estate dealings, there was no such thing as a set price or market rate.

“The landlord’s asking price is the price.”

If a stranger wanted to rent an office, most landlords would demand an absurdly high rent. That was just the way this city worked.

In fact, expecting exactly that, Kairus had wanted to be introduced to a landlord through Jonathan if possible.

“It’s not really something I can help much with.”

“Oh? Sounds like landlords here are more troublesome than I thought.”

Jonathan nodded at Kairus’s comment.

“Ownin’ a building in this city is no easy business.”

There were the tributes to be paid to the organizations that made up the Canal Operations Committee.

The protection fees to the various big and small groups controlling the area where the building stood.

And of course, those countless criminal organizations didn’t just collect tributes and protection fees politely.

If they had any pretext at all, they’d extort money from people and landlords in particular were squeezed far more often and for far larger sums.

“And what does that have to do with you not being able to introduce me to a decent office, Boss?”

“I can introduce you to a landlord, but I don’t know anyone well enough to get you a place at a fair price.”

In other words, any landlord Jonathan introduced would bleed Kairus dry with outrageous rent.

“I see.”

“Still, if you’re willing to take my introduction, I’ll help.”

Kairus nodded at Jonathan’s words and answered decisively.

“Please introduce me. I can handle the price negotiations myself.”

“That’s true enough.”

If the other side insisted on being uncooperative, Kairus would simply make them an offer they couldn’t refuse.

“In that case… do you want me to personally arrange things, or just tell you where to go?”

“Just telling me the location would be best.”

If the landlord knew Kairus had come through Jonathan, it could cause trouble for him.

Kairus’s planned negotiations would likely involve a fair amount of force if things went badly.

There was a high chance the beaten party would take it out on Jonathan, so it couldn’t be in the form of an official introduction.

Jonathan obligingly gave Kairus a location.

“The boss of a fairly well-known organization in that area.”

“As expected, only people like that would own buildings here.”

In this city, where simply being a landlord meant you were constantly extorted, the pool of people who could own buildings was small.

Most buildings in Bennett City were owned either by gang bosses or high-ranking members of large organizations.

Kairus jotted down the location Jonathan gave him, then offered his thanks.

“Thanks for the help.”

“Then at least pay extra for your meal.”

“Oh, come on. You’re going to serve me that smoked herring you’ve got hanging over there and call it a meal. How can you keep asking for more money?”

“What, you little punk? You think smoked herring comes out of a sewer? I pay good money for that!”

The two bantered for a while before Kairus left the kitchen and returned to the table where Melvin and Irena sat.

“So, does it look like you’ll be able to get an office?”

“Well, if things go well.”

From Irena’s perspective, his answer was a little unsatisfying.

“If you can get it, you can get it. If you can’t, you can’t. What’s this ‘if things go well’ nonsense? Didn’t you have a fair amount of money?”

“It’s not that I’m short on money.”

For the foreseeable future, there was nothing Kairus planned to do that would be stopped for lack of funds.

“I might just need to use some force.”

With no reason to hide it, Kairus explained the current situation and his plan to Irena.

“That’s easy. Just beat the gangsters until they cough up the office.”

“Something like that. A few people will probably die in the process.”

Irena snorted at Kairus’s words.

“I don’t care. Killing a few thugs in this garbage city would actually be a welcome thing.”

She had already seen the way Bennett City worked, and had even narrowly escaped danger once. Any trace of sympathy was long gone.

“I never said they’d be weak.”

“Don’t tell me you think I’d lose to some gangsters?”

Irena bristled instantly, and understandably so.

“Strength and morality are two separate things.”

Kairus shared a bit of wisdom learned from experience.

There was no rule that criminals had to be weaker than knights.

“Here’s your order.”

As they spoke, Jonathan brought over their food and set it on the table.

The three of them, Kairus included, began eating.

“So… what should I do? Should I come along?”

“That’s a good question.”

Kairus frowned at Melvin’s question. Bringing him along to fight gangsters didn’t seem like the smartest move.

Fighting while having someone you needed to protect was always several times harder than an ordinary brawl.