The Magnificent James Lawrence

Multiple corpses are scattered in an old abandoned factory.

The syndicate leader screamed in despair.

His body is covered with blood.

While lying on the ground and holding his broken right shoulder,

"You damn cocky brat! What the hell do you want with our group?! Now you've done it. After this, don't think that you can live in peace from now on. Th-"

After cutting through his neck,

"Dumdass~ My life has always been not in peace."

John is waiting outside.

"I expect a bonus this time. Your work is always messy. Geez, how do you think I'll clean this by myself?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll add a bonus. Don't be angry now. It's only this messy because of their numbers, but I always clean my mess, you know? Then I leave the rest to you. See ya."

***

Lebrycg City is the biggest city not only in the country of Allas but in the whole world.

It is the location of the largest trading center in the world.

This country is always developing advanced technologies and trading them to other countries.

What a fine day today is.

Another great day to start a new job.

The job this time is to annihilate a robbery syndicate.

They will rob the house of the client tonight, which is the chief executive of the company that supports the government behind the scenes.

Despite targetting an important person, they only have a small number, the job is finished instantly.

After the job, I hang out with Ray, my childhood friend.

He was my classmate during our primary school.

He's 17 years old, the same as me.

And he's currently in high school.

School is such a boring place.

It's more interesting to take on dangerous jobs than listen to a boring lecture.

Their class is now finished.

After waiting at the front gate, Ray finally came out.

After waving to get his attention,

"Tch! Why are you here? Leave! I'm busy right now. I don't have time to play with you!" He said while walking past me.

"Is that so? I just came and visit my friend, after a long time because I missed him and I want to treat him. Too bad. Maybe I'll just spend all of my pay alone. Then, see ya."

While walking away, Ray shouted while chasing me.

"Wait, damn it! I'm just joking. I'll come with you. Hey!"

While eating on the bench in a park, Ray asked me,

"Why do you keep working at that job? Isn't it about time you stop? You have lots of money now. You should attend school or start a normal life now, you know? You know how scary my mom right? It's hard to keep your secrets to her, you know?"

While looking up at the sky,

"School, huh. I'm always telling you that it's a boring place, right? So I don't want to attend. As for starting a normal life... Well, after dirtying my hands, I don't think I can still live a normal life. And about your mom, I'm sure I can leave her to you."

"You bastard. If my mom finds out we're both dead, you know?"

This job started back when I was around seven years old.

My family got caught in a syndicate dispute near our house.

Fortunately for me, I was at school around that time.

But it was unfortunate for my father, mother, and little sister.

After the incident, a man talked to me.

"Do you want to avenge your family? Do you want to be strong? Then, come with me."

Why did I trust this man?

It felt like it was the right thing to do at that time.

Revenge for my family is the only thing on my mind back then.

William then took me to the Institution in the Plaza, where they are taking in children that lost their families due to wars and syndicates.

Plaza is an underground place where all sorts of illegal things are happening.

So it is not recognized by the government.

They are raising children to be strong.

They taught us how to hold a knife, guns, and other kinds of weapons.

After three years of training along with other children, William has been giving us jobs until now.

Of course, it comes with pay, depending on the job.

After six years, I came back to our house to live there and reunited with Ray.

But instead of a tearjerker reunion, Ray welcomed me with a punch in the face and grabbed my collar,

"Where have you been all this time, you bastard?! You've gone missing after what happened to your family. You've got some nerve showing up now like it was nothing. I cried because I thought you got depressed and killed yourself. What are you gonna do now, huh?! Give me back all of my wasted tears."

"Now, now. Calm down. That's why I'm back I'll explain everything to you. But promise me not to tell anyone."

Despite our personalities, we trusted each other more than anyone else.

After explaining everything that happened to me after my family was killed, he invited me to have dinner at their house and introduced me to his family.

Then after that, while going home, a group of thugs was harassing a woman in a dark alley in the Mestone district.

Mestone district is a slum in Lebrycg City which was abandoned by the government.

Because of the lawlessness of the area, various syndicate leaders came up with a rule.

The rule is the demands of the strongest shall be met by the residents.

The strongest is decided by whoever wins a fight.

"I already told you, why can't you understand? I said that I'll pay double next week."

One of the thugs slapped her and said,

"That won't do, missy. You said the same thing the other week. You know that you must follow his rule, you know? But if you really don't have money today, I'll cover for you. In exchange, you have to pay me using your body."

After that, he pushed the lady to the ground and tore her clothes.

While the thug was tearing off her clothes,

"Ganging up on a single lady, aren't you embarrassed of yourselves?"

The thug turned his head,

"It's not good for a brat to wander by himself in the middle of the night alone, you know? Some scary dudes might come and hurt you. Be careful on your way home, and don't tell this to anyone, okay?"

"I know that well. That's why I'm here to save that lady lying there from the scary dudes that you said."

After hearing that, all of them started laughing.

And he stood up and faced me.

Then all of the thugs surrounded me.

"Brat! Do you even know where you are? Get the hell outta here before you get hurt."

But the thug got knocked out by just punching him once.

After seeing that their leader got knocked out by a kid, all of them attacked together but got the same result.

Fortunately, the lady only got her shirt torn off.

But she has a bruise on her right cheek from the slap.

After supporting the lady to stand up,

"Thank you, boy. You didn't even know me, but you helped me. As thanks, come to our house. It's my little brother's birthday today. And we have a little celebration."

Even if I already ate, why couldn't I refuse to the lady?

While on our way to her home, we introduced ourselves, talked about why she was harassed by the thugs and why I was alone at night.

Her name is Linda.

She's working at a restaurant in Mestone district.

Based on her physique, she must be in her twenties.

I didn't ask because they say that it's rude to ask a lady her age.

It was her little brother's birthday, and she was saving what little pay she had for her brother.

Their father died during the Trade War 10 years ago.

And because her mother was frail when she was pregnant with Yin, her mother passed away as soon as Yin was delivered.

Now that Yin is 10 years old and still studying, she has to work hard for both of them.

"I'm home!" Ms. Linda shouted with excitement as soon as she opened the door.

And her brother welcomed her with a wide smile and open arms.

But when Yin noticed the bruises of Ms. Linda, he immediately got mad.

"Sister! Why do you have bruises again? Don't tell me you didn't pay again because of me! Why are you always like that? You're always getting hurt because of me."

As he was crying, Ms. Linda hugged him and muttered,

"Don't cry, Yin. It's your birthday, you know? So you should smile. Here, I got our food. And look, you even have a visitor. This is Alfred. Get along with him, okay?"

Yin nodded and wiped his tears off.

"Who's that?"

"I'm Alfred. Nice to meet ya. I happened to help your sister on my way home, so she invited me to your birthday. Happy birthday, Yin."

Woah, what a place for a lady to live in.

Their house is rundown.

It's amazing they endured living here.

Now that it was brighter in their house than in the alley, her face is clearer, and Ms. Linda is so beautiful.

Her face is like a kind and caring mother.

After we finished eating, 

"I should get going now, Ms. Linda. Thank you for the invitation."

But Ms. Linda stopped me from leaving, saying that it was dangerous outside at night.

"Don't worry about me, Ms. Linda. I can take care of my-"

She tapped my right shoulder, and a menacing aura was coming from her.

And with a smile, she talked with a terrifying calm tone,

"No! You should stay here for the night, Alfred. Who do you think will take responsibility if something happens to you? So stay. You understand?"

"Y-Yes, ma'am. I'll stay for the night."

Ms. Linda lets me sleep in the room which was used by her parents.

The next day, Ms. Linda was cooking for our breakfast.

We greeted each other and, 

"I'll help you out, Ms. Linda. I'll set up the table."

But Ms. Linda said that I don't have to because I'm a visitor.

Ms. Linda was scary, so I just sat down and waited at the table.

After Ms. Linda finished setting up the breakfast, Yin also came out from his room, and we started eating.

Yin gets to school after we finished eating.

While fixing the dishes,

"Just leave them to me, Alfred. You should get home now. Your parents must be worried, and you still have your school."

"It's okay, Ms. Linda. My parents were already dead, so no one would worry about me. And I don't attend school, so I'll just help a little here. You still have work, right? So leave this to me. After this, I'll also go home."

"I see. Then I'll leave it to you. Be sure to lock the door when you leave, okay?"

Ms. Linda left.

After washing the dishes, I also left the house.