The Biography of Albrecht - Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Translator: Nezu

Editor: Daed

The Bizer River was split into two, with the land sandwiched in the middle, and merged back into the sea. The city of Roybeck was built in the middle. A little further along the river laid the deepest part of the bay of Roybeck.

The Bizer River formed a natural moat around Roybeck, and it was only a distance away from the sea. It was the perfect terrain condition for a city to settle down.

Roybeck was far from the East Continent, and it was smaller than most famous cities in the South.

Its total area was a little larger than Yeouido1 but much smaller than the Kaltern Estate. However, the densely packed buildings in Roybeck showed that it was almost as populous as the Kaltern Estate.

The buildings were two to three stories high. Their walls were painted white, and their roofs were pointed. Some single-storey buildings were made of bricks, and there was a stone wall up to one’s waist that surrounded the city.

The sun was just about to set. There weren’t many people coming in and out of the city gates.

As the group tried to enter the city, they saw two soldiers who were actually dressed in their uniforms and armed with shields and spears. Soldiers rarely wore those so it was strange. At first, their inspection was lax; however, when they saw Benzel, they pretended to inspect the group strictly.

They talked to Benzel about something then looked at Albrecht.

“That’s the Vertical Mangler?”

“Damn.”

One soldier urged Benzel to tell him in detail what happened that night, and asked whether the rumors were true.

Benzel answered with a merchant-like smile, “I’ll tell you later. The sun’s setting so I’d like to go back to the ‘Den’ first, change my clothes and rest.”

Inspections included checking through the contents of carriages and confirming the identities of the people entering the city, yet the soldiers didn’t do those things at all.

Since the city itself was connected to the underworld, these soldiers might as well have been their minions.

Rather than checking in at an inn, Benzel told the group to go to the ‘Den’ for now. The ‘Den’ was both their business office and open hideout. Its official name was ‘Wolf’s Den’, but it was actually a place for entertainment.

Albrecht’s party agreed since they knew that they had to meet Rutger anyway.

As they walked around the outskirts to the south of the city and entered, they saw less of the beautiful buildings they saw before and more of the shabby houses usually seen in slums. They walked a little further and saw a three storey building about the size of a modern department store on Earth.

Its walls were neatly painted. The first floor was built with bricks while the second floor had a combination of wood carvings.

It was a huge, stylish building rarely seen in this era. However, it was a stark contrast to the shabby houses around it.

Before they knew it, it was dark. Bright lights shining through  the windows lit up the area like daylight.

Albrecht—and even Diego and the three women who came from the largest city of the Northern Continent—was overwhelmed by this huge and splendid building.

One of Benzel’s people led Albrecht’s horse to the stable attached to the building. Albrecht took his axe, shield, and helmet that he had hung on the horse’s saddle; Diego’s party took the chest and the rest of their belongings. Benzel went inside the building first.

Like a modern club on Earth, a reverberating sound could be heard from outside the entrance of the building. When Benzel opened the door, a loud noise immediately followed.

“Wow, Benzel, is that you? It is!”

“Son of a bitch, guess he isn’t dead yet. He’s fucking alive! Hahaha!”

“What’s so good about this place, you moron? Why’d you even come back?”

“Does your other head still work? Hahaha!”

More rude but welcoming greetings were heard.

“Shut up, you morons.”

Benzel greeted them rudely in return.

Albrecht opened the door and went in.

Except for a few rooms, the entire first floor was completely illuminated by countless lanterns, candles and a long central fireplace.

A mess, something that seemed inconceivable to happen in this era, was on display.

Some people were throwing up; some were fighting; some were just sleeping casually; some had a woman on their laps whom they rubbed and bit, even squeezing the women’s bottoms or having sex with them; some were pouring alcohol on some prostitutes doing strip shows on the long table; and some were gambling.

The place was crowded with people who poured out their raw desires without reservation. The noise produced by this frenzied harmony seemed to belong to no other place than hell.

Albrecht and his party were at a loss for words by this immoral, overwhelming sight.

Diego and the three women had seen some perverted spectacle back in Lucrezia, but this was their first time seeing everything mixed up in one space.

The door Benzel used was an exclusive door. There was a long bar right in front of it, a more civilized(?) place for lower-level executives of the Thief Guild.

As Albrecht entered the Wolf’s Den, the people who welcomed Benzel all turned their eyes to him.

He stared at them indifferently.

One man asked Benzel in a whisper, “Is that…?”

Benzel nodded without a word.

Unlike their previous encounters during their journey, the people around acted timidly and fixed their eyes on him. They looked at him nervously while scrutinizing him at the same time.

Benzel said, in a rather apologetic way, “Sir Knight, my sincere apologies, but I’ll have to go up first to inform our leader to properly greet you. Would that be alright?”

Since it was rude for a host to keep a nobleman waiting without giving out greetings, Benzel respectfully asked for his understanding.

Albrecht nodded as if it was nothing.

“Hey. Give Sir Knight a glass of South’s finest wine.”

“There’s nothing like that here on the first floor,” the bartender answered frankly.

Benzel had an embarrassed expression on his face as he looked at Albrecht.

“The hell, then give him the most expensive one.”

The bartender still acted brusquely as he poured beer into a wooden glass. Benzel exaggeratedly motioned Albrecht to sit down.

“Have a seat over here. I’ll be right back.”

Then he climbed up the stairs in a hurry.

Albrecht sat down and took a sip of the beer. It was good. Diego’s party stood awkwardly behind him.

The other low-level executives at the bar soon turned their attention away and began talking amongst themselves again.

Benzel didn’t come down for a long time. Albrecht’s beer had already turned lukewarm and he’d already finished half of it.

Feeling someone’s gaze on him, Albrecht glanced to the side. In the midst of the group of low-level executives was a fairly large man staring at him.

Albrecht stared back at him calmly but he had no plans to avert his eyes. Suddenly, a pointless eye staring contest began between the two. Albrecht leapt to his feet and walked over.

The low-level executives all paused to watch the situation.

“What? You have something to say?” Albrecht asked while looking down at the man.

The big man with a full beard who looked like a bandit stood up. He was a head taller than Albrecht.

He looked down at Albrecht and replied, “I have nothing to say.”

As soon as the big man’s words left his mouth, Albrecht grabbed his jaw. All the low-level executives pulled out their daggers at once.

“Then maybe you don’t need this anymore?”

The big man tried to shake off Albrecht’s arm with both his hands but he couldn’t break free. Albrecht gripped his jaw so hard, it came right off.

“Keuooooo…”

The man yowled in pain and sat down.

Albrecht looked at the low-level executives, “What? Since you’ve pulled out your daggers, you should use it, right?”

They all hesitated. None of them dared to come at him.

Just then, the big man drew a dagger from his waist and attempted to stab Albrecht. Albrecht simply caught the man’s hand that was holding the dagger and kicked down on his knee.

“Aack!”

The big man tried to sit down, but his knees were bent the other way, leaving him in an ambiguous position.

Albrecht forced the big man’s hand to stab himself in the eye. He forced it down slowly on purpose. The man made a pitiful sound when his hand was forced by an overwhelming force to stab his own eyes with his own hands. He tried to swing his other arm to hit Albrecht’s face but it also got caught.

As the dagger gradually approached his eyes, the man took turns looking at his dagger and Albrecht, his eyes frantically pleading.

His jaw fell and an inexplicable desperate cry rang out.

“Aaah! Aaaaahhh! Aaahhh!”

“What? You didn’t have anything to say, right?”

Albrecht didn’t stop. The dagger touched the big man’s eye. A deep voice of a man screaming broke out. Still, Albrecht didn’t stop. The big man’s body struggled like a fish that came out of water. The dagger was slowly inserted up to its handle. When it reached the man’s brain, his body began to convulse and he eventually died.

The low-level executives around froze and were overwhelmed.

What made this even more tragic for the big man was that this gruesome sight only added more heat to everyone’s enthusiasm inside the Wolf’s Den.

Albrecht straightened his back and turned around. Somehow, Benzel had now come down. He stood frozen, his mouth wide open as he looked over in Albrecht’s direction.

Behind Benzel was a man with a long vertical scar around his left eye. His large, sharp blue eyes contained madness that made him look like a ferocious wolf.

He spoke with a pleased expression on his face, “I apologize for being late, Sir Knight. Welcome to Wolf’s Den.”