Locke and El (Part One)

Chapter 22: Locke and El (Part One)

The curtain hanging in the corner stirred without a breeze, and a tall, thin shadow silently squeezed through the gap between the window and the bookshelf.

"Tsk, tsk. The noble Marchioness threw herself at you, and you still turned her away. You really do have a heart of stone. Just because you've broken up doesn't mean you can't sleep together and have a little fun, does it? How heartless. What a disappointment. I thought I'd get to watch a good show tonight. Sigh..."

The shadow shook his head as he walked, apparently mourning the fine opportunity Lorist had let slip away. After a few steps, he stopped and slapped his forehead. "Wait. How did you know I'd come up here, kid? Were you bluffing? I shouldn't have come out. You never used to know where I was hiding."

"Heh." Lorist chuckled. That had been before. Now that he had reached the realm of Dark Force, his hearing and sight were sharper than ever. Within four or five dozen feet, even a mouse slipping past could not escape his senses, let alone a person in hiding. And the room was hardly large. The shadow had thought himself well concealed, holding his breath and keeping perfectly still, unaware that his heartbeat and the rush of blood through his body stood out to Lorist like a beacon in the dark.

"After she came upstairs and put out the candle, you slipped in through the door when she sat down a little later. You used the darkness to reach that corner and hid behind the curtain. Did I get that right, El?" Lorist laid out his movements.

"That doesn't make sense. Weren't you watching your little sweetheart when I came in? I made sure to stay out of your line of sight." The shadow strode over to the table and glanced at the five high-level Battle Qi Manuals in the drawer. "Not bad. You don't see manuals like these on the market often, and they aren't fresh copies, either. Judging by the parchment, they must be a hundred years old. Your little sweetheart went to a lot of trouble for you. Some wastrel noble probably stole these from his family's collection to sell. Even at a bargain price, they'd cost at least three or four thousand Gold Fudes."

The shadow was Lorist's friend El, whose full name was Brunan Evenbert. He was the nephew of Brunan Garilando, owner of the Red Raven Tavern. He was also a Silver Two-star and the underworld boss who controlled the organization spanning three nearby blocks.

The story of how Lorist and El met was almost comical. Lorist was nineteen at the time and often teamed up with Fatty Shi from Dawnlight Academy to take jobs at the Mercenary Guild for extra money. Once, while on a gathering job, they happened upon a herd of Black Horned Magic Antelopes. These low-level magical beasts lived among cliffs, and their pelts and black horns fetched good prices. It took the two of them several days to deal with the herd before they hurried back to the city with their spoils.

Fatty Shi had to return to the academy on other business, so he asked Lorist to put everything in a house they rented together and wait for him to come back before finding a buyer. The house was small. They mainly used it to rest and wash up after trips, and to store the tools and equipment they needed for jobs rather than hauling them into the academy.

Lorist entered the house and forgot to shut the door properly. He tossed down his things, stripped, and went straight for a bath. After days of eating and sleeping outdoors, he felt so filthy he wanted nothing more than to soak in water. He was enjoying his wash when he heard the door open and then close. Thinking Fatty Shi had returned, he called out a few times. When no one answered, he went to take a look.

The moment Lorist stepped out of the washroom, he got a fright. A young brunette woman was leaning against the door, panting hard. At the sight of him, she nearly screamed, clapping a hand over her mouth as her wide eyes fixed on his crotch.

Lorist was mortified. He hastily dragged a chair in front of himself to cover his bare backside, then pulled on his clothes. Before he could fasten the buttons, the woman rushed over, dropped to her knees, and clutched his legs. "Please, sir, have pity on me. Save me."

Lorist had just bathed and, in his haste, had only pulled on a pair of trousers. With the woman kneeling before him, her face was right at his crotch. The slightest brush was enough to make him react; he was young, after all. Flustered, he tried to help her up and asked what had happened.

She refused to rise. Clinging to his leg, she told her story through sobs. She was a newlywed whose looks had caught an underworld boss's eye. He had lured her husband into gambling and saddled him with a huge debt. Her husband had been sold to a seagoing ship as a slave, but that had not cleared what he owed. Now they wanted to seize her and sell her body. With nowhere else to turn, she had fled here.

The woman plainly felt the change in Lorist's lower body. In a coaxing voice, she begged him to save her, promising to repay him however he wished. She even licked her lips.

By then, someone was pounding on the door outside. Lorist hurriedly told her to get up and hide. As long as he was there, he would not let anyone take her away. Then he took his sword and went out.

That was the first time Lorist saw El. He was bare-chested, his ribs showing, with a coat draped over his shoulders and a large chicken leg in his hand. Several bites had been taken from it, leaving teeth marks. He was cursing and reeked of wine, as though he had been in the middle of a meal when a subordinate reported the mishap and sent him hurrying over. Several dejected men stood before him, being berated one by one.

When Lorist came out, El bluntly demanded that he hand over the woman. There was no point denying it; someone had seen the wench run into his room. If Lorist fancied her, fine—he could have the whole afternoon with her for just one large silver coin. He should know what was good for him and not ask for trouble.

Lorist shot back that El was a filthy thug who ought to get lost, and that not everyone was as vile as he was. A few more insults were enough to bring them to blows. To Lorist's surprise, the gang boss played by something like rules. Rather than send all his men at Lorist, El chose a subordinate who was also at Black Iron rank. Perhaps he had spotted the Black Iron Battle Qi badge on Lorist's clothes and thought that made it a fair fight.

The Black Iron-rank subordinate was no match for Lorist. After several men lost in succession, El refused to believe it and decided to fight himself. He even swaggered about and told Lorist to surrender, since he was a Silver One-star. And then... he ended up sprawled at Lorist's feet.

El refused to accept his first fall, claiming he had merely been careless. He fell again and again. By the fifth time, he admitted only that he had drunk too much to stand steadily, giving Lorist an unfair advantage. Lorist did not know whether to laugh or cry at his shamelessness. El had been beaten senseless, yet still refused to concede. At a loss, Lorist kicked him a few more times, told him to get lost, and turned to go inside. El grabbed his foot and would not let go. He said he had sent for help, and if Lorist beat the man coming to his aid, El would leave, let the matter drop, and never trouble the woman again.

Lorist had little choice but to stay, especially with El lying on the ground clutching his foot. He could hardly cut the man down for it. Since El would not let go, Lorist planted one foot on him and let him cling to it to his heart's content. El did not seem to mind. Still holding Lorist's foot, he chatted idly with the neighbors who had gathered to watch.

Lorist felt thoroughly unlucky to have run into someone like him. The two of them had become a spectacle. He did notice, though, that the elderly neighbors were not afraid of El despite his being an underworld boss. Instead, they teased him about getting knocked flat. El stubbornly maintained that he had drunk too much and would settle the score tomorrow.

Then El's uncle Garilando arrived. Seeing Lorist standing on El, he naturally assumed Lorist was bullying him. Without a word, he drew his sword and attacked. Lorist kicked El aside and faced Garilando, a Gold One-star.

Poor Lorist had assumed El's reinforcements would be Silver Rank at most. He had not expected a Gold-rank expert. Lorist had not yet reached the peak of Black Iron rank, and he was practicing his family's Blazing Flame Battle Qi rather than the Golden Water Art passed down through his family in his previous life. He was no match for Garilando. After seven or eight exchanges, his sword was knocked from his hand and he was subdued.

El, his face bruised and swollen, scrambled up with a triumphant grin. Without another word, he punched Lorist twice in the stomach. "Ha! Enjoy beating me up? Now it's your turn."

Lorist was not about to take that quietly. He cursed El for having no conscience and forcing an honest woman into prostitution. El cursed him right back for being a meddling bully. The more Garilando listened, the less sense it made. He stopped their shouting and made them explain what had happened. Once they compared accounts, both men were dumbfounded. They had been arguing about entirely different things.

El was furious. "What do you mean I lusted after her and tricked her husband into gambling? Her husband's a sailor. He's home only three or four months a year. That wench has never been faithful. Every time he goes to sea, she finds men to fool around with. She's a gambling addict, too. The night before last, my men caught her cheating at my gambling house. She owed three gold coins and couldn't pay, so I told her to take customers at a brothel to work off the debt. Then she stole a customer's purse at noon today and ran. That's why we were after her. Why would I bother forcing an honest woman into prostitution? There are plenty of willing ones around. Ask these folks. They all know Sailor Sol's wife."

As the elderly onlookers backed El up and scolded Lorist for charging in without knowing the facts, Lorist wished the ground would split open and swallow him. Garilando was the one who reminded him to open the door and see whether the woman was still inside.

Lorist tried the door, but it had been locked from within and apparently blocked with furniture. He called out and got no answer. Finally, he drove his Battle Qi into it and smashed it open. The room was empty. The leather armor he had taken off before his bath was gone, along with his purse and everything else of value. Even the Black Horned Magic Antelope pelts and other parts they had just brought back had vanished.

She had escaped through the back window. But how could she have carried all that by herself?

Much later, one of El's men returned with a hired carriage driver. The driver said he had picked up a woman who claimed her husband had locked her in the house to keep her from visiting her gravely ill mother. She had decided to take her dowry and go home, so she had asked him to park beneath the back window and load her things because her husband had locked the front door. As for why her dowry consisted of a mercenary's tools, weapons, and equipment, she had explained that her husband was a mercenary who now spent every day fooling around instead of taking jobs. She had bought the items for him with her dowry money and was taking them home so he could not gamble them away or use them to pay his debts. She would give them back once he mended his ways.

Everyone marveled at the woman's nerve. While the crowd watched the commotion out front, she had stripped the house bare at the back and even called a carriage to haul everything away. The front and back of the house were barely ten yards apart. One wrong move and she would have been caught.

Lorist wanted to cry. His attempt to save a damsel in distress had cost him more than ten gold coins. He dreaded what Fatty Shi would say when he found out; he would never hear the end of it.

Didn't books say the hero who saved a beauty always won both the woman and a fortune? Lorist admitted he had been a little tempted. She was pretty and had a fine figure, and he had not been with a woman since coming to this world. One embrace from her had made him react. Before stepping outside, he had even wondered whether he might take her as a personal maid after driving El and his thugs away. Having someone to warm his bed and fold his blankets did not sound bad. Damn it. Books really are full of lies. I played the hero and lost both the woman and my money. Lorist squatted on the ground with his head in his hands, full of regret.

The driver said he had dropped the woman off beside a small canal two blocks away, which was why he had returned so quickly. Everyone knew there was little hope of catching her now. The canal had a little dock crowded with boats, and its waters led to the Silver River. From there, she could reach any city on the Malichu Plains. Finding her would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Amused and exasperated, El patted Lorist on the shoulder. "All right. Merchants have an old saying: 'Better your money lost than your life.' They usually say it after running into bandits. You've had it so rough that I'll give you that one. And since I'm a generous man, I won't hold it against you that you knocked me down five times today. Come on, let's go."

That was Lorist and El's first meeting, and neither had come away well. El had taken a beating; Lorist had lost a fortune.