## Chapter 257 – Counterattack (8)
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“Haa… haa… Die…
Who… is dying…”
Vivian’s breath was already ragged with excitement and shock, but she calmly responded to Parlotzino’s question.
Parlotzino, leaping down from the spear shaft like he was on a trampoline from Deborah’s relentless attacks, cleanly sliced at Deborah, then gently kicked the severed spear shaft with his toe, sending the short fragment flying like a javelin into her thigh.
“Kuh…!!”
It was a strike that showed the reason the spear hadn’t broken until now was due to his spearmanship skills in parrying his sword.
Deborah, taken by surprise, clutched her thigh and knelt on one knee. Parlotzino suddenly gave a noble’s greeting and turned to leave.
“I think I must be going today.
Let’s continue our conversation later, little by little.”
“Kkeueug… Where do you think you’re…!!”
Deborah, her mobility impaired by the spear shaft in her thigh, raged and threw everything she could grab—knives, stones—at his back.
But Parlotzino dodged even the smallest pebble with a tilt of his head, disappearing into the alley with his men, his steps leisurely.
Eventually, only Vivian and Deborah remained.
One staggered, trying to chase after Parlotzino, but eventually collapsed, unable to walk properly.
The other, with the spear shaft buried deep in the ground next to her hair, could only stare at the sky, breathing heavily.
But Vivian eventually pulled out the spear shaft and stood up, lightly cutting off the crushed hair and letting out a shallow sigh.
‘It wouldn’t be easy… Yeah…
I didn’t even… think that……’
It felt like her sparring with Anne had been a buffer.
When she first tested Nemea, she thought there wouldn’t be many who could surpass her, who had become almost invincible.
But after feeling a wall with Anne, she continued to realize that there was always another sky above.
‘Can I… reach Laratina like this……?’
She had been utterly defeated by Parlotzino, a mid-tier cartel member.
What about the Laratina Cartel, which was considered a larger cartel above that?
Her own strength continued to show its limits…
Would she be able to fulfill her role to the end?
“Gulp… gulp… haa…… Then……”
Vivian, lost in thought, staggered to her feet, opened the canteen at her side, and sipped the sweet liquid inside.
The sweetness and coolness that relieved her fatigue lingered on her lips, making her body feel refreshed, but her heart felt like it was covered in dark clouds.
Meanwhile, Deborah was likely filled with resentment towards Parlotzino, one of the few ‘criminals’ she had ‘again’ missed.
She stared at the alley where he had disappeared, pulling the spear from her thigh.
Judging by the blood flowing from the wound as soon as the spear was pulled out, her condition didn’t seem normal either, but she leaned on her sword like a cane and continued to try to stand up.
“There’s no need for us to tire each other out.”
“Wait!! Where are you going…?”
But when Vivian showed signs of moving, Deborah immediately turned around and shouted at her.
“I don’t know either. Here, drink this.
We were a team for a while, after all.”
Vivian unexpectedly tossed her the canteen with half the energy drink left, making it easy to catch. Deborah caught it and looked back and forth between the canteen and Vivian.
But when Vivian wiped the liquid from her lips with her wrist, Deborah finally opened the canteen with a displeased expression and began to sip the contents.
Perhaps she hadn’t expected it to be so sweet, her eyes widened and her face slightly wrinkled.
Vivian chuckled at the sight and turned around, slowly walking forward.
“Wait… a moment…”
“What is it? Why?”
“Your… your name…
Was Vivian…”
A question thrown at Vivian, who had enough余裕 to stop for a moment and sneer.
But feeling that the question wouldn’t be good, Vivian trailed off slightly.
“So…?”
“Now I remember…
Vivian… Vivian de Grenot……
The missing eldest daughter… of the Grenot Marquisate…
The disappearance shrouded in secrets…”
Finally, someone who had come close to the truth had appeared.
Vivian’s eyes began to harden slightly as she faced such a person.
Of course, she could deny it, but Deborah’s eyes were filled with too much conviction to do so.
The thought that she would chase after her in some way if left alone filled her head.
“The blonde from earlier… must be Laniere de Bertrand, who also went missing…
Yes… after disappearing from the academy, when she appeared at Proden’s mansion.
And when we met in the back alley this time…
Yes… both of your portraits and faces have changed a bit… so I couldn’t remember.
But… it’s definitely you… I can tell now…
Compared to what’s left in the records… you’ve changed in many ways.”
It was somewhat true that their appearances had changed from the old portraits.
They had initially disguised their faces to some extent when going outside, thanks to the Parasites.
And more than anything, being exposed to Enic’s mucus and energy drinks seemed to promote their development in a strange way.
It was something she was hesitant to think about herself, but she originally thought her figure was pretty good, but now her body was even more enhanced than before.
The places that should be in were incredibly in, and the places that should be out seemed ready to burst.
Perhaps anyone who knew the old Vivian and Laniere would have to see them again to recognize them.
And yet, they had been found out like this.
‘Should I kill her……?
In her current state……’
It was too risky to leave someone who knew their identities alive.
As she thought this, she picked up the sword that had fallen on the ground and was about to grip the handle tightly.
“……Why…? Why would a noble young lady from the Marquisate…?
Abandon a strong family… a guaranteed future…
Why in a brothel? Even fighting with other cartels…?”
Instead, an unexpected question came back, making Vivian’s expression a little blank.
Although she seemed confused in many ways, Deborah’s question felt pure even to Vivian’s own eyes.
That look in her eyes, which could only be shown by someone who had repeatedly bumped into an unsolved mystery, struggled to the end, and eventually reached a dead end, was something she had recalled many times as well.
Back when she thought she had lost everything, she had once thought so too.
She thought that what she had lost was everything in the world.
Thinking that there would be no more opportunities or anything for herself.
Not knowing that what she had lost was only things that were not worth that much, she struggled in agony, wishing for the world to end.
“You wouldn’t… understand even if I told you……
Yeah… you probably wouldn’t……”
But it was different now.
If she stopped here, she would have to give up everything.
Now there was something she didn’t want to let go of, and a seat next to her that she didn’t want to leave.
‘Yeah… I’ll do it…
I can do it……
For him……’
“The important thing is… I’m no longer a Grenot…
I’m just… Vivian now…”
Vivian, feeling uneasy, pushed the sword back into its scabbard and turned away.
Although it had been eventful in many ways, the goal of destroying the three surrounding cartels, which was her goal, had already been achieved.
“Someday……”
A low voice, its excitement subsided, came from behind her.
“Someday I’ll catch you…
And with that mouth…
I’ll make you confess everything yourself…”
Vivian glanced back at the voice, raising one corner of her mouth in a mocking smile.
“Catch me if you can.
I won’t be caught easily anyway.”
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“Are you going back?”
“That’s right. I’m going back.”
“Can you judge a person based on just that one thing?”
“Maybe, maybe not.
But… we’ve shown each other, haven’t we?
With just ‘one moment’…
I’ll try to think of it that way this time.
In that sense… would you all go back first?
I’ll take a little stroll and go back leisurely.”
“If that’s the case… I’ll follow your orders.
Your choices have never been wrong.”
His colleagues, who received his order, left, and Parlotzino, left alone, leisurely moved his steps.
As he enjoyed the surrounding scenery for a while, he felt someone walking beside him and let out a small chuckle.
“Someone with a heavy ass has come all the way here.”
“……”
Unlike Parlotzino, who was wearing a gentlemanly suit.
Someone wearing dark-colored leather clothes that looked heavy at first glance, layered with a shirt, coat, cloak, and gloves, and wearing a wide-brimmed fedora on his head.
The attire, reminiscent of a hunter who did rough work rather than a merchant, and the silent atmosphere spread a considerable sense of intimidation around him.
But Parlotzino spoke to him as if nothing was wrong.
“I think I know roughly how things are going.
That’s right… it was good when we were bickering…
I quite enjoyed the feeling of playing hide-and-seek for a few months…”
Parlotzino continued to speak with a chuckle at the silent figure.
The man who was still walking beside him hesitated for a long time before finally opening his mouth and saying one word.
“I didn’t like it very much.”
“It depends on how you think about it, Deckard.
It also depends on what you’re thinking now.
Many things could change, or perhaps stay the same.”
“So you smashed my slave market…
I think you went too far back then…”
“But you felt relieved too, didn’t you?
And yet you’re still… sitting at the top even now.
And… you must be bored now.
With your comfortable current state……
So you came out to watch, didn’t you?”
Parlotzino, glancing sideways and cautiously watching the silent figure, wondered if he had said something difficult for no reason.
He cut to the chase, looking at the other with kind eyes, and added just one word.
“What are you looking at?”
The other, hearing his question that contained so much, silently looked up at the sky.
“I see… you’ve changed too…
Then I must change too……
Hehehe…!! Hehet!! Hehehe…!!”
Contrary to the rumors that they were rivals, the two men walking through the alley with Parlotzino’s joyful laughter disappeared together towards the other end of the alley.
