Bad Born Blood

Translator: FenrirTL
Editor: Matt, Greedy
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< Chapter 11 >

Ilay and I entered the visitation room.

Lilian Ramoness was dressed in a black dress adorned with violet embroidery. As soon as she saw me, she spat out her words, laced with thorns.

“Luka, why have you been avoiding me?”

It seemed her pride had been hurt. After all, she’d likely never experienced rejection from anyone in her life.

“…Because I’m not interested.”

I replied coldly, not even bothering to take a seat. I planned to draw a line before this became even more troublesome.

“Luka. Still…”

Ilay tried to mediate with a smile on his face. I didn’t even look at him.

“Ilay, shut up. This situation alone is more than annoying enough.”

At my words, Lilian’s eyes went wide with surprise.

The Carthica Family ranks higher than the Ramoness Family. I’d just spoken harshly to the young master of the esteemed Carthica Family.
It was undoubtedly an unconventional scene.

“Did I do something wrong to you? Or is there something about me that you dislike?”

Lilian rose from her seat and approached me.

“I don’t have the luxury to spend time on women. As you know, I’m from an orphanage. Unlike you, if I slip up even once, I’ll never get another chance to rise.”

“Then, wouldn’t it be all the better to get close to me?”

“It seems you don’t understand me, Lilian Ramoness. If I rely on you to succeed and rise up… then everything I’ve built could collapse on a whim of yours. But a tower built with one’s own strength doesn’t fall so easily.”

“So, you’re saying you’re close to Ilay Carthica but won’t benefit from a noble family’s advantages? That’s contradictory.”

Lilian glanced briefly at Ilay as she spoke. She might think that way, but it wasn’t something to say in front of him.

Ilay looked troubled. She must have assumed he was a pushover. Then again, he wasn’t the type to be harsh with a girl practically a little sister to him.

“My relationship with Ilay isn’t because he’s from the Carthica Family. He’s someone I trust with my life, my comrade and friend. I’m sure Ilay feels the same. In battle, what protects us isn’t family prestige or fame. It’s only the comrades standing beside us,”

I said without even glancing in Ilay’s direction. I didn’t want to see his smug grin.

Lilian was at a loss for words, her face frozen in frustration. If she ended up cursing at me and stormed out, it would probably bring me some peace.

I braced myself, suppressing my combat reflexes, ready even for a slap.

“…You truly have no intention of giving me even the slightest chance, do you?”

Lilian spoke, as though struggling to hold back her emotions. She looked up at me, then lowered her head.

I felt a small pang of guilt. Still, I didn’t want to leave any room for misunderstanding.

“If there’s nothing more to say, I’ll be going.”

With that, I turned my back and walked out of the visitation room. Ilay didn’t follow me; instead, he stayed behind to speak with Lilian.

This was likely an uncomfortable situation for Ilay, who had served as a mediator. But he had brought this upon himself.

I sat down on a bench away from the visitation room and waited for Ilay. Before long, he came out and dropped down beside me.

“Luka.”

“What?”

“You went too far just now. There was no need to be that cold.”

Ilay sighed. He seemed worn out from trying to placate Lilian.

“If I hadn’t gone that far, she wouldn’t have backed off.”

“Well, maybe so. But why are you so adamant about rejecting Lilian? You could at least try seeing her casually.”

I couldn’t respond immediately. Even I couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason. It was purely instinctual. I simply felt that rejecting her was the right decision.

I traced back through my thoughts. To me, Lilian was an unknown entity.

“…I can’t understand why she’s clinging to me. I get why the late Claude tried to introduce her to me. He saw potential in me and wanted to link me to his family. But Lilian doesn’t know me well. Even so, she’s trying to get close to someone like me, who has nothing to offer. There must be some reason for it.”

If that reason was mere curiosity, then I had all the more reason to keep her at a distance. Curiosity is a fleeting emotion. Even children in the slums, once they tire of a toy, toss it into the trash without a second thought.

“So, in short, you’re rejecting her because you don’t know her well enough. At this rate, you’ll end up a lifelong loner.” Ilay teased provocatively. I almost snapped back but stopped myself.

I didn’t know anything about Lilian. I couldn’t understand why she wanted to approach me. Her identity and motives were completely unknown.

“No matter what you say, my decision remains the same. Don’t bring up Lilian again.”

The unknown is dangerous. I had no desire to be the first to eat a strange fruit without knowing whether it was poisonous.

* * *

It had been about a month since I began learning Arkies Combat Method under Kinuan. Kinuan took me with him to the lower sector.

We rode the elevator down and passed through the checkpoint that served as the boundary between the upper and lower sector.

“This place is familiar to both you and me.”

Kinuan spoke as we entered the lower sector.

The upper sector was located at the city’s center, while the lower sector lay outside. The further out we went, the more law enforcement diminished to the point of near absence, and the streets were filthy with decades of uncollected trash.

To be honest, I had forgotten my roots—the sticky, sordid life at the very bottom.

Returning here felt strange.

“Move it, damn it.”

“You’re the one who was standing around like an idiot, you punk.”

Harsh voices echoed through the street. As we walked along the main road, I saw two fights between vagrants and nearly fell victim to pickpockets four times.

‘The air—choking and lukewarm.’

Old memories kept resurfacing. My mind drifted back into the past.

Underneath the capital Akbaran lay a lava field. Geothermal energy drawn from there powered the entire city. Unfiltered wastes and heat from the power plants is released in the lower sector where the poor lived.

“Luka, this way.”

Kinuan, with his hood pulled low, looked back at me. He pointed to a narrow alleyway.

‘He knows the geography of the lower sector better than I do.’

He must have frequented this area.

Despite being originally from the lower sector, he’d spent decades as an Imperial Guard. Why would someone in his position be so knowledgeable and come here so often? The question lingered in my mind.

Step, step.

As I walked through the alley, I remained on high alert. I could feel the eyes of vagrants and beggars on me, ready to turn into robbers if I showed any weakness.

The alleyway, snaking between illegally expanded buildings, felt like a maze. Only a few faint beams of light managed to reach the ground, threading through like needles. The deeper we went, the sharper the stench of rotting organic matter and rusty metal pierced my nose.

‘Uneasy.’

I lifted my arm, looking at the prosthetic hand, bare of even synthetic skin. The prosthetic arm and leg I had equipped had low energy output, only suitable for daily activities. The sense of limitation was unsettling. It felt like shackles on my limbs.

Kinuan had insisted I wear prosthetics with low energy output for this trip. I didn’t know his purpose, but if I wanted to continue training under him, I had to follow his instructions.

‘With this body, I can’t even dodge a bullet. If someone ambushed me from beyond my senses, I’d be helpless.’

Because of that, I was more tense than usual.

‘I don’t feel like I’ve learned much under Kinuan so far…’

For the past month, I’ve been practically visiting Kinuan every day. Each time, we’d spar five times within roughly an hour. There wasn’t much instruction.

Kinuan wanted me to figure things out for myself rather than teaching me directly.

‘If you can’t pick it up just by watching, then no amount of teaching will help you learn.’

Perhaps sensing my frustration, Kinuan had said this. And he wasn’t wrong. By now, I’d managed to grasp the essence of Arkies Combat Method.

…Arkies Combat Method was distinctly different from any combat style I had learned so far.

As far as I understood, Arkies Victima was about repurposing the combat skills I already possessed.

Most combat training involves learning specific new methods and mastering them. But Arkies Combat Method analyzes, dismantles, and reassembles my existing abilities. In other words, it was more of an optimization of my combat method.

To borrow Kinuan’s words, he even used the term “superior combat algorithm.”

‘That’s why so many half-baked fighters pick up a few superficial aspects and start parading around like they’re masters of Arkies Combat Method.’

True users of Arkies Combat Method were exceedingly rare.

At some point, the narrow alley began to open up. With the growing crowd, the atmosphere became livelier.

“I thought that once I became a cadet in the Imperial Guard, I’d never have to come back to the lower sector. I wanted a life where I wouldn’t have to breathe this kind of filthy air again.”

I said this as I kicked away a pickpocket reaching for my pocket. He cursed under his breath and vanished. That made five now.

“You’re the type to succeed. You’re persistent and have the talent to match.”

Whether that was praise or sarcasm, I couldn’t tell.

A little further, the alley came to an end, and a large open square with a market emerged. Looking up, I could see precariously constructed buildings with extensions that spread out like branches, tangled like a spider’s web to obscure the sky. Underneath these structures, ready to collapse at any moment, people were buying and selling goods.

“The black market.”

I said as I stood beside Kinuan. I hadn’t come this far before either.

“It’s the freest place in the Empire.”

Kinuan spoke, his eyes gleaming.

“The heart of chaotic disorder.”

I replied with a grumble. The reason I’d never been to the black market was simple.

‘Because it’s recklessly dangerous.’

More than a few kids had vanished after coming to the black market out of curiosity. Even if they returned, they were often missing an eye or an organ or two.

Well, seeing the black market that I had only imagined in my childhood felt strangely surreal.

‘…Though these are items from several generations ago, they’re openly selling military goods.’

Military weapons and prosthetics were brazenly displayed for sale on the stalls. The shop owners were all armed, and gangs patrolled the streets in place of law enforcement, wandering around as if marking their territory.

I halted. Kinuan, who was walking ahead, had stopped. He was looking at a building guarded by a gang member.

“The entrance for spectators is over there.”

The gang member standing guard said to Kinuan. Instead of eyes, he had a single visor-style goggle implant, and circuits glowed under his artificial skin like decorative tattoos.

“I have business with the supervisor of this establishment.”

Kinuan spoke calmly. His confident demeanor made the gang member hesitate.

“What’s your connection to Brother Aleph?”

“Ah, so the supervisor’s name is Aleph, is it?”

The gang member scowled as soon as Kinuan said this.

“This crazy bastard! Get lost right now!”

The gang member threatened Kinuan, raising his gun at him. Quite the sight. How many people in the Empire had dared to aim a gun at an Imperial Guard and lived to tell the tale…?

If Kinuan revealed his identity here, this thug would likely wet himself and collapse.

Tap.

Kinuan tapped his thigh with his finger. A signal meant for me.

Swish.

I lowered my stance, moving carefully out of the gang member’s line of sight. And then, in a single swift motion—

Crack!

I closed in on the gang member’s side, wrapping my arm around his neck and shoulder, locking him in a chokehold. As his gun barrel tilted upward, Kinuan moved safely out of its line of fire.

The gang member trembled in my hold. With my arm locking his joints, breaking free through sheer strength would be difficult.

Kinuan took the gun from the gang member’s hand and casually inspected it. Soon, the barrel of the gun was aimed at the thug’s forehead.

“I suggest you bring Aleph here right now. It won’t end badly for you either. If you understand, nod.”

The gang member quickly nodded. I caught Kinuan’s signal and released my hold.

“Ugh… you…!”

Swallowing his curses, the gang member went inside the building. I watched him go, then voiced my question.

“By the way, what kind of place is this?”

“It’s the colosseum.”

I fell silent, almost as if I were broken. I had a feeling I knew why Kinuan had brought me here. And why he had insisted I come with weakened limbs.

“…Is it what I think it is?”

“That’s what I like about you—you’re sharp. No need to spell everything out.”

I suppressed the urge to punch Kinuan in the face and sighed.

Click.

I looked down at my hand. I could feel the weakness in my grip. I’d have to fight in the colosseum with this hand that couldn’t even crush a stone. Just the thought made me sigh.