Chapter 279: The Encounter (5)

The epicenter of the commotion appeared to be a weapons shop.

Elvis stared intently at the source of the noise, his pupils reflecting the image of a red-haired man. After blinking a few times, a soft, groan-like sound escaped his lips.

“Kendrick…?”

Despite the incessant noise and the countless people milling about, Elvis felt as if time had frozen. In this monochrome moment, only this one man seemed to possess color.

That was how Elvis perceived him.

No way…

Disbelief was his initial reaction. But that disbelief quickly crumbled. The voice was unmistakable.

Over 190 centimeters tall with a powerfully built physique.

His signature, flame-like hair.

Though he looked much younger than when Elvis had last seen him, how could he possibly fail to recognize someone he had shared so much time with?

Thud.

Elvis took a dazed step forward.

His hand slowly rose, reaching out.

Kendrick…

His dear friend, with whom he had shared decades of life-and-death struggles, who had stuck by him through thick and thin.

Though Kendrick didn’t seem to recognize him now, Elvis knew instantly.

That man was undoubtedly Kendrick.

The blank expression on Elvis’s face transformed into radiant joy.

It’s Kendrick… it has to be Kendrick!

Elvis grinned widely.

“Ken…!”

He called out the name of his long-lost friend and was about to rush toward him.

If only what happened next hadn’t happened.

“Why can’t I? Do you really need to ask?”

“I’m asking because I genuinely don’t know.”

The merchant stared at Kendrick, whose face wore an expression of genuine bewilderment, and his own expression underwent a rapid transformation.

First, confusion.

Then, disbelief.

Finally, fury.

A roar erupted from the merchant’s throat.

“Hey you, you thieving bastard!”

The merchant’s gruff shout was quite intimidating, but Kendrick merely picked his ear nonchalantly.

“Geez, mister, watch your mouth! A thief? Is that how you treat your customers?”

“Customers? Customers?! Demanding a 10-gold dagger for 1 silver? If that’s not highway robbery, what is!”

“Is this your first time haggling? Haven’t you been trading here long?”

“I’ve been trading at this spot for twenty years!”

“Then you should know better than to act like this, shouldn’t you?”

“Twenty years of trading, and you’re the first person to ask for a ten-gold dagger for just one silver!”

“Well, I’ve given you a memorable experience. How about you give me the dagger for one silver?”

“Th-this… this is outrageous!”

Generally, someone who’s been trading for twenty years would have honed their skills and become adept at handling customers. Most customers could be easily swayed with words.

But Kendrick was no ordinary customer. After all, wasn’t he the one who had been relentlessly trained and worn down to the bone working under Louis?

Far from being swayed by the merchant’s words, Kendrick had seized the initiative and was now manipulating him instead.

Moreover, Kendrick’s speech pattern, eerily similar to Louis’s, completely shattered the merchant’s composure.

Enraged, the merchant shouted, veins bulging in his neck, “I won’t sell it like that! No, I refuse to sell it at all! Get out of here now!”

The merchant shoved Kendrick hard in the chest.

Kendrick staggered backward…

Thud.

He collapsed onto the floor.

“Ugh!”

Clutching his chest, Kendrick trembled violently.

Startled by the sudden turn of events, the merchant panicked and crouched down.

“Hey! Are you okay?!”

“Cr… crgh…”

“Hey!”

“My… my chest…”

Kendrick screamed and rolled on the floor.

“Gwaaaah!”

A pig-like squeal erupted from his throat.

The sound was so loud that passersby stopped and turned to stare at the merchant and Kendrick.

Crouched on the ground and groaning, Kendrick squinted slightly and quickly assessed the situation.

Then he scrunched up his face again and continued groaning.

“Ugh…”

“Cut the act! I barely pushed you—how could you just collapse like that?!”

The merchant was right.

Though the merchant was burly himself, it was hard to believe that Kendrick, a man towering at 190 centimeters, had crumpled from a single chest push.

Kendrick gasped, his voice barely audible.

“I… I have a pre-existing condition…”

”…A pre-existing condition?”

“Gah!”

The surrounding crowd murmured as they watched Kendrick writhe on the ground, clutching his chest.

“What’s going on?”

“Looks like the merchant hit someone.”

As the crowd grew, the merchant’s face twisted in frustration.

Meanwhile, Kendrick continued to writhe on the ground, clutching his chest.

Or rather, he lay there, glancing furtively at the dagger on his belt.

Realizing what Kendrick was implying, the merchant shouted, his face contorted:

“Eight gold! I’ll give it to you for eight gold!”

“Ugh! S-someone’s dying here!”

“Fine, seven gold!”

“Ugh, my chest…”

“Oh, gold!”

The price continued to drop, but Kendrick still showed no sign of getting up.

The merchant, his face flushed crimson, abruptly turned, snatched a dagger, and flung it at Kendrick’s feet. “T-take it for one gold!”

Before the words had even left his mouth, Kendrick snatched up the dagger and slowly sat up. “Ah, now I’m starting to feel alive again.”

Kendrick patted his chest, stood up, and brushed the dirt from his clothes. He then pulled a single gold coin from his pocket, placed it in the merchant’s hand, and grinned. “I’ll put it to good use.”

Of course, the merchant wasn’t about to return that smile in kind.

The merchant spat on the ground and glared at Kendrick.

“Ptooey! Just my rotten luck! Get out of here right now!” he roared, storming back into his shop, furious.

Despite being publicly insulted, Kendrick simply grinned cheerfully.

Meanwhile, Elvis had watched the entire scene from beginning to end.

”…”

He slowly lowered the hand he had instinctively reached out and muttered to himself, ”…No, it’s not him.”

The man certainly looked like Kendrick. But it wasn’t him. This was merely someone who resembled Kendrick, a completely different person. His personality was far too different from the Kendrick Elvis knew.

Kendrick causing trouble for a merchant…?

The Kendrick Elvis knew was taciturn and cautious. For that Kendrick to act like this on a busy street? Utterly absurd.

Besides…

What’s with that sleazy, despicable grin?

The man stood there, gleefully brandishing the dagger he had practically stolen from the merchant, a smug smile plastered across his face. Elvis inwardly berated himself for momentarily mistaking this scoundrel for his noble friend Kendrick.

Forgive me, Kendrick. Forgive me for even for a moment confusing you with such a wretch.

With that, Elvis tried to shake off the sight of the Kendrick-lookalike and focus on his own task.

If only he hadn’t missed the intruders who burst into the scene at that moment.

Thwack!

Tania leaped from the crowd of passersby and slammed the back of Kendrick’s head.

“Ugh!”

“Hey, you crazy bastard!”

Kendrick crumpled forward with a heavy thud, his body twitching on the ground. Lavina hurried to his side and began slapping the back of his head repeatedly.

“Deadhead! Are you dead? Are you dead?!”

Seizing the opportunity, Lavina crouched beside Kendrick and continued pounding his skull.

Kendrick shot to his feet and yelled at Tania, “Tania!”

“What!”

“It hurts!”

“That’s why I hit you, you little brat!”

“You’re hitting your own brother!”

“Don’t you dare act like you know me in public… it’s embarrassing.”

“What did I even do?”

”…Are you really asking?”

Tania squinted at him, and Kendrick, feeling a twinge of guilt, stammered defensively, “I-I was just bargaining!”

”…Since when is self-harm extortion considered ‘bargaining’? That’s just blackmail.”

“Tch, how could such a foolish younger sister possibly comprehend her elder brother’s grand schemes?”

“What ‘grand scheme’ involves blackmail? And didn’t you hear what the teacher said? We can play outside, but we shouldn’t act out!”

“I didn’t act out!”

“Isn’t blackmail acting out?”

“But… isn’t this exactly what the teacher taught us?”

”…”

This time, Tania was the one left speechless.

Tania blinked and snapped, “Ah, just don’t do anything weird! Don’t tarnish the teacher’s reputation!”

“Did the teacher even have a reputation?”

“Are you saying that… I’m telling the teacher about that!”

”…Sorry.”

In the end, Kendrick raised the white flag.

The sight of the Flame siblings bickering so loudly on the busy street drew the attention of passersby.

Elvis was no exception. His mind was in turmoil.

Did he just say… Tania…?

The man who looked so much like Kendrick had clearly shouted that name. And “Tania” was a name vividly etched in Elvis’s memory.

After all, the burden Kendrick carried was none other than his deceased younger sister.

The regret of failing to protect his younger sister.

The guilt of being the sole survivor.

For decades, Kendrick had carried this pain, and that pain had a name: Tania.

“How… how…?”

Elvis walked forward as if in a trance.

It was astonishing enough that one of the two women who had suddenly appeared bore the name Tania. But what truly bewildered Elvis was the presence of the other woman.

A petite, girlish figure stood nearby, watching the Flame siblings’ bickering with amusement.

Elvis strode over and abruptly seized her wrist.

“Huh?”

Lavina’s eyes widened in surprise as her wrist was suddenly grabbed.

Bright golden hair and crimson eyes.

Elvis stared at Lavina, his red eyes filled with disbelief. “La… Lavina? Lavina Trujan… is that really you?”

Initially, Lavina had struggled to free her wrist from Elvis’s sudden grip. But when she saw the desperate look in his eyes, she froze.

In that moment, Kendrick intervened, wrenching Elvis’s wrist away.

“Who the hell are you?” Kendrick demanded, his face a grim mask as he grabbed Elvis’s wrist and hauled him up.

Finally snapping out of her daze, Lavina scurried behind Kendrick for protection.

“Do you know him?” Kendrick asked, his voice slightly calmer.

Lavina shook her head vigorously.

“No, I’ve never seen you before,” Lavina said, peeking out from behind Kendrick and giving Elvis a puzzled look.

Elvis reacted to her gaze with a shout, his voice brimming with joy, emotion, and longing. “It’s you! It’s really you, Lavina!”

Kendrick released Elvis’s wrist and glanced sideways at Lavina. “You don’t know him?”

“I told you, I don’t!”

“Then why does he sound so emotional? Could it be…”

“What?”

“An ex-girlfriend?”

Lavina’s face flushed crimson under Kendrick’s suspicious gaze. “Ex-girlfriend? What ex-girlfriend?!”

“Why are you so flustered?”

“Hah! It’s because you’re talking such utter nonsense! Someone who’s never even been in a relationship having a boyfriend… Hup!”

Lavina immediately clapped her hand over her mouth, but it was too late to take back her words.

Kendrick smirked. “Oho? Never been in a relationship before?”

Irritated by his leering gaze, Lavina snapped, “So what if I haven’t?! What’s it to you? Have you ever had one?!”

“Me? Plenty.”

“Liar!”

Tania stepped in to elaborate, noticing Lavina’s incredulous blinking. “Even though he’s a complete idiot and a dweeb, my brother’s got the looks, so he’s actually quite popular.”

”…Really?”

“At least three times that I know of.”

“Hey! Three times? It’s easily double that!”

Seeing Kendrick puffed up with arrogance and radiating confidence, Lavina shouted, her face twisted as if she were about to cry.

“Pervert! Casanova! Go die, Kendrick!”

Despite her furious outburst, Kendrick remained unfazed, simply grinning smugly.

But someone else reacted in his stead.

“Ken… Kendrick?” Elvis asked, staring up at him with a dazed expression. “You’re… Kendrick?”

Kendrick leaned back with a swagger, his eyes narrowing into a menacing glare. “What? Got a problem with my name being Kendrick?”

Elvis met his gaze unflinchingly.

”…”

”…”

Once, they had been soulmates, recklessly willing to sacrifice their lives for each other without hesitation.

Now, in this twisted timeline, their fated reunion had finally come to pass.