Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 36

[Translation By Divinity]

Damian brushed off his left hand and said to the remaining two,

“Wouldn’t it be easier if you just handed over the wallet obediently, or maybe you could all attack me at once?”

The man with missing teeth and the one in the straw hat glanced at each other, then, as Damian suggested, lunged at him simultaneously.

“What the hell is this guy saying?!”

“Die!”

The man with missing teeth pulled out a pocket knife from his waist and brandished it threateningly.

This time, Lilliana couldn’t help but scream. But Damian calmly dodged the knife and turned his body. The man in the straw hat behind him swung his fist at Damian.

Damian instinctively tried to block it with his right hand. But he had forgotten he didn’t have one and ended up getting punched in the face.

“Damian!”

Lilliana shouted, but Damian, who had stumbled momentarily, quickly regained his footing before the two men could launch another attack. He then kicked the man in the straw hat who had punched him, right in the jaw.

The man, bleeding from his mouth as if he had bitten his tongue, staggered and then collapsed unconscious next to his two fallen comrades after Damian struck a pressure point on the back of his neck with a knife-hand strike.

“Y-You bastard!”

The lone remaining man, wielding his pocket knife, lunged at Damian again with a venomous expression. But his slashes missed Damian every time.

After dodging a few swings, Damian tripped the man, twisted his wrist, and disarmed him. He then stepped on the man’s neck, pinning him to the ground, and pulled out his revolver from his waist, pressing the muzzle against the man’s temple.

“Don’t move.”

“Eek? Eeeek?!”

It wasn’t just the man who was terrified by the sudden appearance of the gun. Lilliana, who had been watching the scene unfold, also gasped.

“Damian? Hey, Damian? Where did you get that gun?”

Ignoring Lilliana’s questions, Damian glared at the subdued man with a fierce look in his eyes and said,

“I’ll give you one chance. I’m going to count to five. In that time, hand over our wallet, gather your buddies, and get out of my sight. Or else I’ll shoot. One.”

“Yes! Yes, yes! I will! I’ll do it! Please spare my life, sir!”

“Damian? Hey, calm down for a moment, Damian!”

Lilliana hopped from one foot to the other, trying to stop Damian, but he didn’t budge.

“I told you I’d give you a chance. Two.”

“Waaah! Waaah! Sir, please spare me!”

“If you want to live, just do as I say. Three.”

“But you have to let me go so I can do anything!”

Indeed, Damian was pinning the man down with his leg, preventing him from moving. How could he return the wallet and leave in that state? Damian’s warning was nonsensical. But Damian continued counting in a cold voice.

“What’s this? Why aren’t you moving? Do you want to die? Four.”

Damian’s shameless words made the man with missing teeth turn pale. He had lived in the back alleys for a long time and had encountered many bad people. He knew the look in Damian’s eyes all too well. This guy had killed before.

The thought that he would die here if he didn’t do something was strong. This guy could easily shoot him. The man trembled and pleaded.

“Aaaah! Sir! I was wrong! Sir! Please have mercy! Sir! If you let me go, I’ll disappear right now! Sir!”

“Damian, stop! You’re not actually going to shoot, are you? Hey!”

Lilliana grabbed Damian’s arm.

“Five.”

Damian, having finally reached five, pulled the trigger of the revolver without a moment’s hesitation.

Click.

“Eek!”

“Aaaah!”

Lilliana squeezed her eyes shut and screamed, and the man, his face drained of color, let out a shriek and fainted from terror.

Damian snorted and slowly stood up. His revolver, instead of firing a bullet with a loud bang, only clicked once as the hammer struck an empty chamber.

Lilliana, who had covered her ears in anticipation of a gunshot, cautiously opened her eyes when she heard no explosion. She saw Damian and the unconscious pickpockets.

The man Damian had threatened was lying on the ground, his pants soaked in urine, but without a single drop of blood. Lilliana asked, trembling,

“Is he… dead?”

Damian, who had stood up and was dusting off his clothes, showed her the empty revolver cylinder.

“He’s alive. I didn’t load it; I just pulled the trigger. He fainted out of fear. There were no bullets from the start.”

Lilliana blinked, processing the situation, then stammered,

“Y-You mean… the gun was empty? Th-then what was with the threat to shoot?”

“It was just a bluff. I didn’t expect him to faint, though. It worked out well in the end.”

“How did it work out well?!”

Lilliana shouted, tears welling up in her eyes. Her body was trembling.

“Do you know how scared I was?! You got into a fight, pulled out a gun! That man had a knife, and it was obvious you were at a disadvantage, but you kept provoking them! I was so worried about what would happen to you!”

“Uh…”

Damian scratched his head, feeling scolded. Lilliana’s fear and protest were more intense than he had expected, and he was a bit flustered.

So he started to explain himself, trying to calm her down.

“But I was confident I could take all four of them even if they attacked at once. I got punched once because I forgot I didn’t have my right arm, but in the end, I knocked them all down, didn’t I? I’m someone who survived after jumping into the middle of the enemy lines alone, where dozens of enemies were waiting. It wasn’t that dangerous of a situation.”

Lilliana looked at Damian’s handsome face, which was starting to bruise, with a worried expression, then pointed at the gun in his hand and asked,

“Why did you have a gun?”

“I brought it in case something like this happened. It’s usually faster to resolve things with a gun than with just words.”

“You mean you’ve been carrying a gun around without telling me?!”

“Don’t worry. I never carried it loaded, and I have a proper gun license. And I didn’t threaten them with the gun from the start; it was a last resort because they wouldn’t listen. Besides, even if I had fired, it would have been self-defense since he pulled a knife on me. I wouldn’t get arrested.”

Damian’s nonchalant attitude, devoid of any guilt, made Lilliana dizzy, and she stumbled slightly.

Meanwhile, Damian searched the unconscious pickpocket’s belongings and confiscated Lilliana’s wallet along with three others.

“These guys seem to be repeat offenders. Let’s report them to the police. And Lilliana, you should return that bicycle to its owner.”

“I feel like you’ve shaved ten years off my life.”

Lilliana groaned. While Damian kept an eye on the unconscious pickpockets, Lilliana, her legs still shaking, went to find a payphone and called the police.

They handed the pickpockets over to the police who arrived promptly in response to Lilliana’s call. And with Lilliana apologizing and returning the bicycle to its owner, the incident was settled for now.

☆

“Ouch!”

Damian winced at the cold sensation on his cheek. Lilliana was holding an ice pack wrapped in a handkerchief against his bruised cheek, scolding him.

“Stay still. We need to reduce the swelling.”

They had ended up near the Central Park while chasing the pickpocket, so they entered the park and sat on the grass. Lilliana had bought ointment and ice from a pharmacy and was treating Damian’s injuries.