Chapter 27: Like a Battlefield

Trade flesh for the kill.

I’d won by killing the enemy, but the price was still steep.

With severe bleeding, shock was a real possibility. I immediately requested medical service, and soon all the cuts on my body disappeared. I’d barely managed to cling to life. My vitality must’ve recovered—I perked right up. It wasn’t over yet. Hans, who’d protected me, was in danger.

The viper who’d taken mount position was trying to drive a dagger into Hans’s throat, and Hans was desperately fighting him off. If I left him, he wouldn’t last long.

"Aaaah!"

Just as I was about to help Hans, Bodo screamed and plunged a sword into the back of the viper’s neck. The viper slowly crumpled. Hans shoved the body off and gasped for breath.

"Haa, haa, haa."

"Huff, huff. Thanks, Bodo," Hans gasped.

"I... I killed the bastard who killed Mom. I killed him!"

Thud.

"Bodo!"

And then Bodo collapsed, unconscious.

Startled, Hans caught Bodo before he hit the ground, so thankfully his head was spared. It must’ve been the shock catching up with him. The vipers who’d been fighting Ted and Oscar in the rear fled without looking back once Frost was dead. Ted had collapsed with severe bleeding from his stomach and leg. Fortunately, Oscar was unhurt.

If I’d had my way, I would’ve chased down every last one of those fleeing bastards and killed them, but I didn’t have the energy.

When the Savage Streets quest completed, 2,000 points came in, turning my −1,500 points into 500 points. And I gained 50 Family Prestige points, bringing it to 100. As soon as it hit 100, the system explained that I’d unlocked the benefit of Streit Prestige (recognition 5%, governance 5%).

"Inspector! Ted’s in danger! At this rate...!"

Ted was in critical condition.

He’d lost so much blood that he’d gone unconscious.

Unfortunately, only I could use the medical service. So I searched the shop and found a 500-point emergency kit in the miscellaneous goods section. The emergency kit appeared, but nobody else could see it. Since it was urgent, I disinfected Ted’s abdominal wound and applied hemostatic agent.

Then I covered it with a dressing.

I instructed Oscar to apply pressure and used tape, clips, and safety pins to hold everything in place.

I also disinfected his right leg, applied hemostatic agent, and wrapped it tightly using a spiral bandage technique while maintaining pressure. Fortunately, the bleeding mostly stopped, and we got past the critical point. I was putting everything I’d learned in the army to use. At least I saved him, thank God.

"Inspector, Ted will be okay, right?"

"He’ll be fine. Thanks for holding out so well."

Finally, I could breathe.

"Don’t call me Inspector anymore—call me by my name from now on. You know it, right?"

"I’ll call you Wolfgang. Please call me by my name too."

"Alright, Oscar. You and Ted are now soldiers of the Streit family."

Oscar Greifs and Ted Meyer were soldiers who’d risked their lives guarding my back. Since I’d proven I could trust them with my life, I repaid them with loyalty. Although Oscar and Ted had been soldiers monitoring me, they were rookies in the inspector unit.

They’d been in a position where they had no choice but to follow the Deputy Inspector General’s orders.

Refuse the second-in-command’s orders? As rookies?

They’d simply carried out their mission faithfully.

Holding their surveillance against them would be admitting I was petty. Besides, these guys had provided the pretext that got Rüdiger killed, so they might get sacked by Adelbert out of spite. For job security and their future, pledging loyalty to me was the natural choice.

"Like a battlefield."

The alley was a complete wreck.

Blood from friend and foe alike pooled together, filling the air with the stench of carnage. Oscar had no major injuries aside from minor cuts, and Hans had no wounds besides the blow to the head. Using two sturdy planks and clothes stripped from the vipers, we fashioned an improvised stretcher and moved Ted onto it.

Hans and Oscar carried it, and I carried Bodo on my back.

I collected Frost’s head along with all the vipers’ weapons. If he was a Schlange officer, he was surely wanted, or there’d at least be a bounty. The weapons we recovered were worth as much as the vipers’ heads. We emerged onto Beien Street looking like something out of a slaughterhouse.

Naturally, it caused a commotion.

Just then, guards from the Judicial Department came running.

"Halt! State your affiliation and name!"

"I’m Wolfgang von Streit. I’m working as a temporary inspector for the Finance Department."

"Ugh? C-could you show me your crest to prove your identity?"

When I said I was a noble, the guard’s expression immediately turned fawning. The typical bootlicker—tough with commoners, groveling before nobles. I’d seen plenty of them living in this city. Fortunately, I was a proper noble, so I was usually on the receiving end of the flattery.

I showed them the dagger I’d used to stab Frost to death.

"Oh my, Sir Streit. My apologies. But what happened?"

"Got into a fight with Schlange organization members near the brothel district, close to the slums. I’ll give you the location, so send guards to recover the bodies. And here’s an officer’s head and the members’ weapons."

I handed over the head and confiscated weapons, then told them the location of The Pauper’s Crown and the alley where we’d fought. But the guard examining the head seemed to recognize something, and his eyes went wide. The other guard was equally stunned.

"Th-this guy is the wanted criminal who killed Deputy Inspector General Rüdiger, isn’t he?"

"R-right! The guards at the northern district checkpoint have been searching for this guy!"

I knew he’d attacked Rüdiger, but he was the actual killer? So the guards couldn’t even track his movements and had just locked down the northern district and searched aimlessly? They’d failed to catch a man walking around freely. Where Frost had fought us was the southwestern district near the slums.

He must’ve been laughing at the security forces.

The guards rushed off to the judicial offices with the head and confiscated weapons.

"Wolfgang, Ted’s awake!"

Fortunately, Ted woke up in the meantime. He looked confused to find himself on a stretcher but seemed relieved when Oscar explained we’d won the fight. I told Ted, as I’d told Oscar, that he was now officially a soldier of the Streit family.

Ted was happy, but with a serious wound still in his stomach, he’d be bedridden for a while.

"Kyaah! Master? That blood...!"

When we got home exhausted, Sabine nearly fainted at the sight of us drenched in blood. Daniel, who’d been helping Sabine, was equally shaken when he came to greet us. After putting Ted in bed, I ordered everyone to rest.

I had Daniel prepare hot water and took a bath first.

I scrubbed hard from head to toe to wash off every last trace of blood.

Yeah, a bath is the best way to end the day.

Even if I almost died.