[Jevan Perspective]
Life most of the ti spits in your face, but this ti it seed to decide to smile at . After making the deal with Verona, I had officially beco one of the Night Wolves. The idea of joining a major gang was never part of my plans, but now at least I was protected from Claw’s pursuit. True, the protection only applied to my identity as the terrifying masked man, not as Jevan, but that was better than nothing.
As I crossed the corridor, I waved at the giant n who had greeted the first ti.
"Hello, fellows, welco your new mber."
They all turned at the sa mont, and for a second I felt like I had put myself in a stupid situation. But the surprise was that one of them stepped forward, put his arm forcefully around my neck, and said:
"Welco among us, brother."
The rest erupted into cheers.
...
I spent the entire night celebrating with them. For the first ti, I realized how wrong it was to judge people by their looks. I an, Garrod is the biggest example of that he looks like a monster with too many muscles but is actually sowhat kind. These giants seed at first as if they were ready to chop off my head, but in reality, they were fond of drinking and having fun. They brought pots of food, cups of wine, and the music rose with their voices as they sang and laughed until the early hours of dawn.
Even Corvin wasn’t left alone. He tried to resist, but in the end, he was dragged by force into the circle. He was the only one besides who didn’t touch the drink. His features were pale as if he was sitting on a barrel of gunpowder waiting for the explosion. As for , I clung to my empty cup and contented myself with watching.
The whole scene felt strange and unexpected. In the Bloody Fang, things like this never happened. There were no celebrations. Even though I wasn’t close to most of the mbers, they were all extrely reserved it was rare even for them to speak to you. To be more honest, they were all sowhat strange, if we ignore relda. The only ti sothing remotely similar happened was with Raven when we found Timaeus, Iris’s cat. Back then, we two celebrated with Iris as well...
A sharp slap on my back nearly knocked out of my seat and snapped my train of thought. I turned to find the sa man who had welcod earlier. His na was Calvin, and a broad smile stretched across his face.
"Why do you look so gloomy? Celebrate with us!" he said, waving his hand toward the rest of the n who were dancing like madn.
Corvin, who was sitting across from , coughed several tis, his face growing even paler. Did he think I might cut off the man’s hand just because he dared to touch ? What kind of lunatic did he think I was? I didn’t know if the original Jevan would have gotten angry over such a small act, but I wasn’t him.
I answered with a sly smile behind the mask:
"It just... reminds of so old comrades."
Calvin’s smile vanished entirely. He sat next to , placed his elbow on the table, and rested his chin on his hand.
"Oh, I’m sorry."
I turned my head toward him.
"No need to apologize. It’s not like you’re the cause of it."
He took a deep breath and said:
"Just last week, I lost five of my closest friends."
I stopped fiddling with the empty cup before , though I didn’t lift my gaze from it.
"And you can still celebrate like this?"
He gave a bitter smile, lifted his shoulders, and turned his gaze away from .
"If you’re going to live in grief every ti soone close to you dies, and you’re part of a gang, you’ll go insane. Our comrades who died don’t want us to mourn they want us to carry their dreams with us. What I’m trying to say is... don’t grieve for the past or for those who left. I’m sure your comrades wouldn’t want that for you either."
A short, empty laugh escaped .
"I suppose you’re right."
He turned his head back and looked at .
"You know? I didn’t expect you to be like this."
"What do you an?"
"You’re the legendary masked man, aren’t you?"
I nodded my head.
"You thought I was a monster, didn’t you?"
He laughed lightly, shaking his head.
"I won’t lie. When you first walked through the door, I was trembling with fear."
Another man, drunk to the point his face had turned red, chid in:
"Even I felt like I was about to piss myself!"
Everyone burst into laughter. I raised my hand and pointed at Corvin, who was sitting in the corner of the room trying to force a friendly smile.
"I don’t know what kind of rumors you’ve heard about , but they’re all exaggerated. Ask him, isn’t that right, Corvin?"
"Yes, that’s right."
"There you have it."
The place filled with laughter again. For a mont, I felt so relief... in fact, a lot of relief among these n. Corvin ought to learn from them. But in any case, I was curious about what other rumors they were spreading about besides that ridiculous story about a monster devouring passersby at night.
But I didn’t ask them about that the past belongs to the past. Tonight, I decided to enjoy the present.
...
The night passed, and morning ca. Golden sunlight pierced the windows, casting shadows across the bodies sprawled here and there. Everyone was fast asleep, except for and Corvin. As for , I didn’t need sleep at all thanks to the mask. As for him, it was clear he needed plenty of it.
I asked him after setting the empty cup on the ground:
"Aren’t you going to sleep?"
"I’ll sleep when I get ho."
I stood up and stretched.
"I suppose you’re right. We should go back now. Vensen is still there."
"In fact, I’ve changed my mind. I’ll stay here. You can go alone."
"You’ll really let go alone?"
"No, of course not. I was just joking."
We left the palace together. Corvin tried to hire a carriage, but every ti he ntioned our destination outside the district, the drivers refused. In the end, I got fed up and headed to Verona’s office. Luckily, I found her awake. I asked her for a carriage, and she quickly agreed. When I ca back, Corvin was still arguing with one of the drivers.
"Don’t worry, I asked Verona for a carriage, and she agreed."
That sa complicated expression appeared on his face the one he seed to practice daily. This ti we didn’t wait long before the sa carriage that had brought us here yesterday arrived.
...
When we arrived in front of Corvin’s shop, I stepped down from the carriage and gazed up at the sky. The sun was already starting to sink behind the buildings. I walked to Corvin’s shop and pushed the door open only to be hit with an unexpected scene.
Vensen and Timaeus were tied to a chair in front of the table, while two n stood before them. The first wore a long black cloak with a hood that covered his face. The second looked sowhat familiar I felt like I had seen him sowhere before. The man in the black cloak turned to , and on his face was a black mask painted with a wide white smile.
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