Vol. 1 - Ch. 281 - Promotion and Clan (5)

"Yohooo, Ren-kun!! Long time no see!"

The top of the lunge from Benze instantly had everyone on the floor turn around. A deluge of inquisitive gazes surged over me.

"H-he is here...?"

"Woah... he's the Mad Hound? ...So, he's real......"

"Just like rumours describe, he has the eyes of a typical brat......"

"You're not wrong, but look closely. The expression in his eyes is definitely unlike any of them…..."

"Kukuku. But then it doesn't matter, I am going to beat him down."

While I had my rolled eyes up at how overwhelmingly, pointless the contest appeared to be, Benze approached with an excited look, and hit up conversation like we were some old childhood friends.

"I am so happy to see you coming! Between, I heard about your exploit on Dragreid's «Ancient Underground Labyrinth»! It's definitely going down as a legend in your name!"

"......The heck you mean legend. You're overblowing it, and I just happened to be locked into it. Anyway, how many times have I said do not speak to me like we're some chummy friends? The last thing I would want is for others to misunderstand we're acquaintances."

A bit out of habit, I thew a left hook on Benze's stomach, and just as I was expecting him to bend over in "く" shape, and I had prepared to deliver a right upper cut to his jaw—

"Grahhh!"

......Unexpectedly, he resisted my initial hook, and himself threw a left punch aiming for the back of my head. 

Slow. I twisted and escaped out of the range. My dodge made him stumble forward slightly, and I took advantage of this to throw the earlier upper cut. The upper cut had carried my whole momentum from the counter, and it had him toppled backward. 

Crap. I wasn't expecting him to counter, so I forgot to hold back. I guess he'll be cold for sometime now... 

Uh-huh, that was now a blunder. I couldn't help but sigh, imagining how this might have turned into a nuisance, but Benze actually got back to his feet, appearing quite indifferent to the exchange. 

"Ouch, that sure hurts! It's been a while since I last felt your fist, Ren-kun."

The heck. What was with that smile over being punched......

"Haha, he *just* happened to be stuck in that «Legend» he says..."

"S-so harsh!"

"Amazing, he instantly demolished the Benze-kun."

The Benze? I didn't know there was another Benze... Atleast, this fatty was definitely not any champion. 

More importantly, what would these guys take to stop adding some grand title like «Ancient Underground Labyrinth»? Like, seriously, just stop embellishing stories. 

At least, I wasn't required to compensate, but Satowa explained that authorities had already begun the investigation of ruins in absolute secrecy. How the later situation was gonna play out is up in the air for the time being. 

Regardless, if they knew what I did was blowing what was essentially the treasure of mankind to smithereens, I fear it wouldn't take much before «Legend» became something else... I was only helping myself by keeping the incident from blowing up.

"Sigh...... you sure has improved, eh, Fatty."

I remarked, a sigh naturally escaping out thinking of the situation. A creepy "Hihihi" laughter was the response from fatty. 

◆◆◆

"Just like you had told me, Ren-kun. I made friends who throw punches at each other instead of saying greetings. We have gone through, like, thousands of quarrels easily since the Rose Familia incident."

Benze gave me a rundown of his doing while, and I have no clue why, shadowboxing in the background. 

"Just stop... you're being noisy," I vacantly said. 

It was so stupid I had even lost any energy to retort. I mean, sure, I did advise him to stop being a lone wolf, but that was mere reference. Just how many times he must have pulled a quarrel each day of the last half year to hit the 2000 count? 

I ran my gaze around, and caught glimpses of people with black and white marks on their faces. It was quite obvious they're wearing their 'battle scars' from losing the war. Someone really needs to teach these dumbasses about productivity.

"My words, even we're more often forced to face him. Well, I wouldn't lie though. I can feel we're improving our strength too."

This remark came from a short-haired girl, dressed in what appeared to be a double bogie-like dress resembling construction workers' clothes. She was Ninata-san, a part of the female-only mutual aid society named Chufur Witcher. Though it appeared she had already left Chufur Witches alongside her little sister Crita-san, and had been acting independently as explorer. 

"Yeah, tell him more. The idiot Benze thinks he can push himself hard, and salve alone would be enough to keep up with. Honestly, we really can't keep up with him anymore."

The next one to speak was the quirky, red-haired boy Souma-kun, a former Round Peace member. 

I have been familiar with them. Apparently, until a while ago, these young explorers were hailed as the Four Heavenly Kings who would lead the eastern capital section to the top. 

I had come in contact with them through usual business, aka when they're picking fights, and of course, I turned the tables on them. In between such interactions, we somehow became acquaintances. Even during the Rose Familia incident, I hadn't particularly requested them, but they'd voluntarily followed Benze to support. 

Then again, they'd only arrived after everything was done and dusted, so they're as good as standees. 

Back to the topic, Souma-kun was right. The effect of the magic salve wasn't infinite, and it definitely wasn't as potent if used in continuous manner. From the details I had picked, the salve helped in recovery by using the body's energy, and the repeated usage could cause the body to reject it through means like anorexia. 

I guess, when they said "being able to eat a ton is a talent in itself', this should be what they meant. 

"So, what brought you here today, Ren-kun."

Benze inquired, his gaze so innocuous that It momentarily stumped me. 

"You really are asking what brought me here? You should be explaining what the hell are you doing by making those cringe posters? And, Big Brother's Ballad, seriously? ......Also, I do not recall allowing you to use my name to create a clan. I mean, what you're doing is your own business, and I am not putting my words there, but stop using other's names.

"You really are asking for a beating," I snarled at him in a chilling tone while pointing at the «Terrific Genius» poster. 

An awkward expression covered Benze, his fingers scratching the side of his face. 

"I, well...... I shouldn't have done that without asking you. But, there's a reason I had to."

◆◆◆

In a stammering tone, Benze narrated the circumstance that led him to the current situation. To put it in short, the reason could be traced back to Rose Familia. 

For a long time, the underworld society of the Royal Capital had been kept on a leash by various industry circles like Crane-Dragon Union. But, the order gradually turned for the worse as Rose Familia gave themselves to the money, and started taking overboard actions.

It was around then I had my personal beef with Rose Familia, where I followed them to their office, and at the end, made a point to 'I better not see you meddling in the law of the eastern branch region.' 

My indirect beef with them had preserved the discipline in the eastern branch at least. Albeit, this also brought in side effects. 

Rose Familia's base had lied in the western branch region, so while they'd pull their hands from the eastern branch, as I forced them to, they continued their menace in the north and south. 

But they'd lost to a mere brat. This fact became the catalyst to deterioration of Rose's solidarity. Their members began to enact even more havoc as if venting out their anger, and that became the straw that finally broke the entire underworld's law and order. Consequently, it spurred the massive shift of explorers—who had yet to build their strength, and who were capable of leaving their mutual aid society—from the other regions to the eastern branch. A majority of them were in the range of D to E-rank. 

Unsurprisingly, it created the basic Supply and Demand problem. The other branches had a massive shortage of explorers in the Royal Capital. Meanwhile, the eastern branch also couldn't just magically conjure up enough jobs to sustain their livelihood, and this had the explorers grumbling in dissatisfaction. It had come to a point where Benze was unable to control them anymore. 

I say, the situation had played out as Rose must have wanted. But, this had been where their prediction ended. 

It appeared just as the situation had been on the verge of losing, Crane-Dragon Union secretly got in touch with Benze. From the timeline, I believe it should be just a short time after I had paid Gin-san a visit with Mimosa. 

The Crane-Dragon Union gave two suggestions to Benze. They suggested he use my name,  since I was a familiar face, and himself became my proxy to keep the leash on young explorers. And that's how the «Mad Hound» took its shape. Well, they initially started as just a local group at first, not the clan I was seeing now. 

The second suggestion was to use the eastern branch as a springboard and spread the influence of «Mad Hound» in the entire Royal Capital. Since Rose couldn't touch Eastern Branch after having them complied to it, this should limit Rose Familia's influence even if they'd wanted to interfere. 

The reach, obviously, ruffled the feather of not only Rose Familia, but even the patrons managing other branches. However, this part was handled by Crane-Dragon Union. They pulled some strings behind the scene, and quietly got them hooked. 

On the surface, it had boiled down to up-and-coming clan «Mad Hound», created by young explorers, and Capital's Old Order versus, like Crane-Dragon Union, versus Rose. Though, in effect, it was simply casting a nest to catch Rose in one full swoop. 

When Rose Familia felt the threat of the Mad Hound as later spread their influence over the north and south branch region, the complaints began to rise up, and soon, skirmishes started to take place here and there. 

Rose Familia, however, figured those skirmishes were merely band-aid solutions on a gaping wound, and reached the conclusion to take heavy measures. But while they'd thought so, their foundation suddenly dropped drastically just when they're at the height of their splurging.

Presumably, their backers must have seen their situation to be hopeless, and abandoned them. 

At the end, the crowd of the Rose Familia had band together at the smell of money, and that was their ration detere. This was all there to it. With financial trouble swooping them, they're no saint to still stick to the sinking boat, and immediately swim away at the opportunity. It didn't take long for Rose Familia to drop from their high heaven to six feet below.

What followed after was anyone's guess. Mad Hound finally seized even the western branch region, Rose Familia's dominion, and under the support of Capital's Old Order spearheaded by Crane-Dragon Union, Mad Hound was now a clan that oversaw the young explorer of the entire royal capital. 

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