## Chapter 171 – The Deficient Girl (3)
It’s almost cliché to explain it now, but the back alleys consist of over twenty cartels.
Saying it like that might make you wonder how so many people can exist in such a confined space as the back alleys, but the back alleys weren’t a specific place.
The back alleys referred to all the vulnerable areas surrounding the royal castle, the center of the kingdom, and the residential, commercial, and industrial districts where numerous nobles and commoners lived.
In fact, almost everywhere except the royal castle could be considered a back alley.
Anyway, for that reason, even if their numbers were too many to count on both hands, there was a certain hierarchy and balance.
If you asked the residents of the back alleys how much they knew about the cartels, they would surely be able to answer a lot.
There was the Sir Parlocino Cartel, whose boss was rumored to be unusually righteous for a cartel leader, and who had many followers and was viewed favorably by most of the back alley residents.
There was the Madam Laratina Cartel, which controlled and managed all the high-end brothels, influencing not only the shady areas of the back alleys but also the respectable areas of the kingdom.
There was the Tanzelpira Cartel, made up of high-end mercenaries who moved for money and were said to do everything in their power to achieve the goals of those who paid them.
And then there was the Terra Cartel, which had caused a stir this time, and the Luna Cartel, a small cartel that had shown considerable growth before ultimately being destroyed by them.
Among them, there might be many answers and conflicting opinions, but there was one thing that everyone would agree on.
The one who could be considered the best of them all was the cartel of an unidentified man known as ‘Deckard.’
Deckard, the slave trader.
He possessed numerous slaves who were practically his private soldiers, and even without them, he was a man feared by everyone in the back alleys, and worshiped to the point of reverence.
No one had ever seen his face, and only a few trusted subordinates could receive his orders directly, and even they had never seen his face.
He was, in a true sense, the one who had adapted most thoroughly to the small world that was the back alleys.
Because no one knew his identity, no one could dream of betraying him, and if anyone did betray him or tried to deceive him, they would invariably face a cruel retaliation akin to divine punishment.
The story goes that even children who cried bitterly at the mention of Deckard taking them would stop crying, but no one dared to say such a satirical thing to a child.
Listening to such stories, you could probably get some idea of his notoriety.
Deckard was already designated as a Class 1 wanted criminal by the Public Security Police Department, but likewise, no investigators actually dared to try to catch him.
Whether it was out of fear of bloody retaliation, or because there was no real chance of catching him, it was one or the other.
Even Deborah, the notoriously tenacious hunting dog of the Public Security Police Department, had once chased Deckard, but she had only managed to catch a few clueless underlings.
Considering that she had set up a fairly elaborate trap and conducted an investigation, you could see how difficult it was to catch his tail.
So, no matter how much Deckard kept his appearance hidden, it was clear that no one would doubt his power.
‘I’ll give you this world.’
In that sense, Vivian’s ambition to conquer the back alleys first was no different from facing an insurmountable wall from the very beginning.
But if she was going to give up because of something like that, she wouldn’t have even thought about it in the first place.
Vivian, who knew from the start that she would be facing a difficult fight, didn’t see such things as a problem at all.
She had taken all of that into account when she chose this brothel.
“Then… how can I help you?”
Ignoring Yui, who was watching Carla’s reaction and waiting for Vivian’s answer, Vivian began to focus ahead.
Vivian politely greeted someone who had opened the lobby door and was looking around cautiously.
‘Who is it…? A nice scent…’
The soft scent of lilac wafting from the swaying purple hair of the woman passing by her.
The moment she brushed past her, Carla felt as if she were experiencing déjà vu, and she was stunned by the powerless voice of the woman standing in front of the counter.
“Excuse me… can I… work here…?”
“Oh? You’re thinking of joining us?
Then I’ll have a short interview with you, so please wait a moment?
First of all, I told you, it’s hygiene education.
If you need anything, tell Aurora, or tell me later.
Then, would you mind clearing the space? Quickly!”
Vivian, smiling at the woman who said she wanted to work at the brothel and asking her to wait a moment, was soon whispering to Yui and shooing her away.
Eventually, Yui grabbed Carla’s hand with a reluctant expression and led her somewhere, and Vivian, watching them disappear, sat back down on the chair at the counter.
“So, you want to work here?”
And Vivian, smiling at someone in front of her who was looking at her with a timid expression, was showing off her venomous fangs without reservation, not missing her prey.
“Miss Marie Monehen?”
The face of the other party, who belatedly noticed those venomous fangs, turned as white as a sheet, and Vivian’s eyes once again emitted a fierce gleam.
“How… I… I’m not that kind of person…!!”
“Sit down, Marie de Monehen.
Third year, Department of Magical Engineering, Saint Flansina Academy.
Your parents run a trading company in the family, and you have a younger sister, Anne Monehen, right?”
Despite the truth already written all over her face, Marie, who was trying to deny it, began to step back from the counter.
But at Vivian’s voice, which laid down the law in a low voice, Marie stopped in her tracks, as if she was going to show that she wasn’t an easy woman.
“You… this…
This is… a matter of insulting nobility…!!
Do you think you’ll be safe after this…!!
H-how did you know…? A-answer me…!!”
Insulting nobility.
It was lighter than insulting the royal family or treason, but even so, in a society with a class system, touching a noble was a very dangerous thing.
That’s because the basic punishment was flogging, which could potentially be a life-threatening level of punishment.
And at the end of it, the cases were mostly divided into ‘how to kill them,’ so it would be strange to see it as not dangerous.
‘Certainly, that’s true for most of the citizens.’
In the first place, even the people in these back alleys don’t know who I am.
If someone like me hides, will they be able to find me?
Even if I am caught, I can just ask him to take on a different face.
Vivian snorted at the threat that didn’t do any damage, and Marie’s eyes were shaking.
Marie wasn’t the type to threaten people with such things in the first place, but perhaps she was so surprised by the reality in front of her that an unknown woman had recognized her identity at once.
“I said sit down.”
But she had no choice but to follow Vivian’s words.
That’s because Marie knew that even if the other party lost their life, she herself would inevitably suffer a great loss.
‘The more you have, the more you have to protect.’
Serkov, who was trying to live his life too easily while doing drugs, was a viscount’s son like Vivian.
Originally, most viscount families were warriors who fought in the very center of the nobles’ political battles.
Groden’s supreme and unapproachable king, and the dukes who served him right by his side, were in a position where they couldn’t easily engage in politics because their responsibilities were too great.
Thanks to that, where there are no tigers, foxes are king, and the people who have the most influence on politics without anyone knowing are the people of the viscount families.
Vivian smiled bitterly at the proverb that reminded her of herself, who had to constantly fight against herself in order to protect her prestige as the young lady of the Grenot viscount family.
But that also meant that the less you have, the less you have to protect, so you can aggressively seize opportunities.
Vivian herself was in a situation that perfectly suited those words.
“I don’t think you’re stupid, so I’ll only say it once.”
Let’s assume that the fact that Marie, a noble young lady, came to the brothel to find work leaked out.
Even if only rumors spread, it would inevitably become not just Marie’s problem from that point on.
All noble children, young ladies, are those who play the role of the face of the family through external activities.
With that, it was a matter of course that Marie had already tarnished the name of the family she belonged to.
The fact that she, a noble young lady, was even actually visiting a brothel at this point, it was natural that the malicious rumors would gain credibility that was hard to deny.
Besides, she couldn’t possibly not know how sad her family would be when they heard this nightmarish news.
The fact that the work she had found to ease her family’s burden would only make them sad was nothing more than nonsense.
She had thought about it countless times, and she had thought about what kind of repercussions would occur if that fact was discovered.
But after deciding that there was no other way for her, she had finally mustered the courage to set foot in this place.
‘Anne… I’m sorry…’
Marie had been telling her parents and family good news in order to reduce the burden on her sister, who was worried about her family.
But in reality, it was just a common story of telling a lie of good will.
It was certainly not a lie that the Monehen family’s trading company was regaining its strength and running hard towards the normal track.
But the time it would take to return to normal was too long.
Unless a miracle happened, it was impossible to return to the way it was.
She couldn’t possibly tell Anne, who was only expecting good news.
As such, support from the family was inevitably weak, and if she didn’t work, it would be difficult to afford not only the academy tuition but also living expenses.
‘Sister…!! Sisterrrrr…!!
Wake up…!! Someone…!! Someone help me…!!’
Once, after collapsing from exhaustion while doing odd jobs at a restaurant, she showed her sister such an embarrassing sight.
From her sister’s eyes, which were even more worried about her, she felt not only simple worry but even guilt that blamed herself.
Marie couldn’t do anything that would worry Anne anymore.
A job where she could rest a little, so her body wouldn’t be as tired, and she could earn enough money, and it wouldn’t interfere with her studies.
But under the judgment that such a thing was not possible normally, she turned her eyes to the underworld, and she couldn’t have predicted that there would be someone who knew her in this brothel that appeared in front of her, for some reason.
At least a brothel in a place close to the surface, not deep in the back alleys.
Marie had even predicted the possibility that if she went too deep into the back alleys, she might not be able to get out.
If it was simply for her personal safety, she could have gone to a high-end brothel on the surface.
The customers who received there were also people with a certain status, and they had at least a minimum of dignity.
But if she, a noble young lady, worked in such a place, it was natural that the possibility of her identity being revealed through acquaintances would increase.
Marie’s face, which was falling into an even more incomprehensible maze with Vivian’s next words, looked as if she had aged about 10 years, as if she had been rolling around for days.
“Work.”
“What… did you say…?”
“From now on, while you’re here, your name is ‘Mary.’
I told you to work here under that name.
I don’t care who you originally were, as long as you do your job properly.”
The offer from this woman who managed this mediocre brothel that she thought was optimal for her was like a lifeline from the sky, but at the same time, it couldn’t help but look like too delicious bait.
“Of course, that also means you can get as much as you work hard.
If you’re going to work half-heartedly just because you’re a noble lady, I’m telling you to quit now.
If I’m uncomfortable and you want to go somewhere else, I won’t stop you either.
Just decide what you’re going to do.”
Marie, thinking that Vivian thought she wasn’t stupid and entrusting the decision to herself, had no choice but to follow, even though she thought that the words were no different from a threat.
“I… I’ll do it…”
Literally, she wasn’t stupid enough not to realize what kind of reaction the other party would have when she said she wouldn’t do it.
“Then I’ll assume you’re working here.
The basic salary will be this, and the designation fee will be this.
And I’m going to present a separate condition…”
At Vivian’s words, watching Marie’s resigned expression, Marie raised her head and looked at her with trembling eyes.
A woman she had never met before, but a woman she felt like she knew for some reason.
But, because of that, her lips, which she was even more afraid of what she would say, began to move, and the silence of the lobby, which had been flowing with silence, was broken.
“You don’t have any experience in this kind of thing, do you?
If I let you work in this state, it’ll only hurt our reputation.
I’m planning to give special lessons to such a greenhorn.
Can you clear a week, perhaps?”
A week, enough time to drop someone into hell.
Vivian was aiming for it with the eyes of a beast aiming for its prey.
And between Marie, who was unable to answer easily due to numerous worries and fears, a dark current was overflowing.
