Bad Born Blood Chapter 304

304
I searched through my past memories and recalled Gabriel’s words.

Back when I was still ignorant of the Empire, Gabriel spoke proudly of his origins.

‘… … I was born in the wasteland. I am a nomad who lives a free life.’

The society of the planet Novas is complex. It is not just a society of races and a society of nations.

On the planet Novas, there are groups of wanderers who are not confined to any race or nation, and such groups are collectively called Nomads.

The assassin who left a deep impression on my mind, Ragnata Anima, was also a member of the Nomads.

I squinted my eyes and recalled my memories. I grabbed hold of Gabriel’s blurry words and actions one by one.

‘I was about five years old, so I don’t remember much. Thinking back, I think the group I belonged to was about to do something dangerous. That’s why they paid to leave me at Akbaran’s orphanage. Since we haven’t heard from each other in over twenty years, they’re probably all dead.’

Gabriel estimated that his nomad group had been wiped out.

Swish.

I moved my pupils and saw a ‘middle-aged woman who resembled Gabriel’. Her fierce appearance and unusual size reminded me of Gabriel.

‘Gabriel’s family?’

There seemed to be a blood relationship between the middle-aged woman and Gabriel. I didn’t ask about her relationship with Gabriel.

“We… … came to find Kinuan. You too, I suppose. I’m Luca, and this is Quilia. How about you?”

The middle-aged woman scratched her lion-like mane of hair and answered.

“Maria, this is Maria Oganovna.”

After the announcement, there was a brief silence.

‘I don’t think it’s easy to tell you the purpose of finding Kinuan.’

If there is a conflict in the purpose of finding Kinuan, a battle may break out here.

‘Just because there is a common enemy does not mean that we will just cooperate.’

It was a tricky situation. If Maria simply had a grudge against Kinuan, it would have been easier for her to cooperate.

‘I don’t think it’s because of a grudge.’

Maria seemed to be pursuing Kinuan for more material reasons.

“Maria, Kinuan wants us to clash. If we can cooperate and share information, that would be best, but if not, we will quietly retreat. I am pursuing Kinuan for personal reasons and to secure the ‘artifact’.”

I didn’t want to waste time, so I put out my objective first. I was confident that I could escape even if Maria attacked us.

‘The upper hand in violence is on this side.’

If you have power, you can have some leeway in negotiations.

“You’re kind and considerate, Luca. You’re the first to state your purpose in an uncomfortable situation. But that shows how confident you are in your ability to be violent. Even if things go wrong and you get the first blow, I can sense that you’re confident that you can kill me.”

Maria said with shining eyes. She seemed as experienced as the years that showed on her face.

Maria put her hand to her ear and opened the communication with her colleague.

“Raphael, Uriel. Come this way. This is for negotiations.”

The general store was soon filled with large people. Two heavily armed men with fierce appearances came in. The general store felt cramped.

‘This is crazy, how many Gabriels are there?’

They had aspects that resembled Gabriel. To be exact, Maria’s genes were quite strong in them.

Still… … they were all better looking than Gabriel, and Maria was a strong woman who some men might like.

Old memories keep coming back to me. Gabriel used to claim that his frequent facial fractures made him ugly. I guess that’s somewhat true.

“Are they sons?”

“They all have different fathers, but they are my children born from my womb.”

Raphael and Uriel looked younger than Gabriel. Uriel in particular was surprisingly boyish in appearance, despite his large size.

‘A tattoo similar to Gabriel.’

Raphael and Uriel had tattoos on their arms and shoulders that looked like crosses or angel wings. Gabriel also had angel wings tattooed on his back, in the same shape as theirs.

‘Are they Gabriel’s brothers?’

Perhaps Mary is Gabriel’s mother.

Quilia, who had been quiet until now, saw Raphael and Uriel and joined the conversation.

“Maria, you believe in an old religion.”

There was a strange hostility in Quilia’s words and actions. It was rare for her emotions to be felt.

“It doesn’t sound good to call it an old-fashioned religion. Well, my family is Christian.”

Maria took the cross necklace from the nape of her neck and lifted it.

“Quilia, it doesn’t matter to me what other people’s religions are.”

I warned Quilia not to be unnecessarily hostile. Quilia nodded and stepped back.

“Excellent. You seem like a well-educated Imperial soldier. I really wonder. An Imperial soldier working with a priest of Korra?”

Maria said smugly.

“If you want to dig into this situation, then give me the information. You know the ways of the Empire, don’t you? I made the first concession. You’d better not take my concession as weakness.”

I frowned and took three steps toward Maria.

Raphael and Uriel reacted to my actions and tried to raise their guns, but Maria stopped them. If they had pulled the trigger, Gabriel’s blood relatives and Nabal would have had their heads shattered by my hands.

“That’s right. Negotiations can only happen if they’re fair. Let me explain the situation. We put something up for auction at the Border City auction house a while ago. It’s an arcane artifact that we worked hard to find.”

“In capsule form?”

“Yeah, my boyfriend was in charge of transporting artifacts to the auction house. He died in the auction house raid. Oh, I’m not chasing Kinuan because of a grudge. I have two other boyfriends now. I guess I’m not good at being monogamous.”

I had a hard time hearing about Maria’s personal love life. I don’t know why I should know about the… … debaucherous love life of a middle-aged woman.

“Kinuan intentionally left traces for you to track him.”

… … I wanted to add that if you value your life, give up here. However, to those people, such words were no different from a provocation.

“But I can’t just leave empty-handed, um, um, um.”

Maria put her hand to her ear as she spoke. It seemed like she had received a call.

A smile spread across Maria’s lips.

“Oh, we found Kinuan first. Believe it or not.”

I opened my eyes wide and observed Maria, not missing even the slightest sign of her emotion.

‘Perhaps… … it’s true. It’s not a lie.’

I looked at Quilia for a moment. Quilia nodded as if to say that she left it entirely to me.

“Maria, it will be difficult to catch Kinuan with just your strength.”

“If we were to cooperate, wouldn’t our goals conflict? We both have goals for the capsule relic. I have no intention of handing the relic over to you.”

Maria said.

Knock, knock.

The sound of a gun cocking was heard. Uriel and Raphael were glaring as if they were going to pounce at any moment. Gabriel kept coming to mind.

“Even if we can’t pay the full amount of the auction house sale, we can pay a certain amount. Wouldn’t it be better to cooperate and make some money than to lose Kinuan and go broke?”

“Hmm, but… … .”

Maria looked at me and smiled. She tried to continue speaking with her tongue moving expertly. She must be trying to gain the upper hand in the negotiation.

But Maria’s negotiations end here. I will stop here.

Creepy! Crunch!

I raised the output of my body in one breath. There was a vibration under my feet and the floor cracked. My feet were sunken in.

“I told you earlier, right? My concessions end here. If you’re confident, pull the trigger, you idiots. I’ll show you just how cruel the Imperial soldiers can be. The reason you’re still able to act cool without breaking your limbs… …is because of my clumsy mindset. Now, pull the trigger. If I attack you first, I’ll tear you to pieces without a moment’s hesitation.”

Equal cooperation is only possible when there is equal violence.

This is the extent of the negotiation that Maria’s power can bring to me. I will not allow any more.

I held back because I was thinking of Gabriel. If I had a temper like that, I would have shown my power by making one of Uriel and Raphael into a blood clot.

An awkward silence hung over the general store.

“… … Alright, young man. If we fight, only thieves will do good deeds, so let’s get started.”

Maria held out her hand, rubbing it against her pants. I grabbed her hand too. The strength of the prosthetic hand was fierce.

* * *

I figured out why Maria was able to find Kinuan’s traces so quickly.

“Let me introduce you. My adopted son, Sariel Oganov.”

Maria said, looking at one of the crawlers.

Maria’s nomad group seemed to have a very complex composition, one of whom was a crawler.

The grown crawler, Sariel, sniffed around to identify the people around him.

‘Are you blind?’

Crawler Sariel had deep scars over both his eyes. It seemed as if he could not see.

“Crunch.”

Sariel came near me and Quilia and took a deep breath as if imprinting the scent.

“Sariel, the cyborg is Luca from the Empire, and the woman with the nice smell is a priestess of Korra. Remember, they are allies.”

“Alright, okay, Ma, Maria, Maman.”

Sariel’s speech was awkward, even for a crawler. His behavior did not give off the wild sharpness that is typical of crawlers. In vulgar terms, he was a somewhat lacking friend.

“Sariel lost both his eyes and his sense of smell became extremely developed. He has a nose that is unrivaled compared to other crawlers.”

Maria took a large piece of jerky out of her pocket and handed it to Sariel.

Sariel stayed by Maria’s side, munching on jerky.

‘They seem more like pets than children.’

Maria whispered something to Sariel. Sariel nodded repeatedly and pointed in the direction with his finger.

Maria’s group seemed to have covered the relics with a ‘specific smell’ as a kind of insurance when handing them over to the auction house. It was said to be a smell that Sariel was particularly sensitive to.

‘Where there is a capsule relic, there is Kinuan.’

Maria’s crew may be the group that can find Kinuan the fastest in Border City.

We followed Sariel. Maria looked at me and spoke.

“A lot of the nomad groups are, to put it bluntly, dens of social misfits. I took in Sariel, who was kicked out of his own tribe. You seem to be a strange species that has a hard time adjusting to society, but if you’re interested, let me know. I’m looking for a son-in-law for my daughter. She’s beautiful because she takes after me.”

Well, not to brag, but I’m a guy who’s attracted to women who are generally beautiful. I don’t want to have anything to do with a ‘Maria-like beauty.’

“Just accept my heart.”

I answered briefly.

The place Sariel’s sense of smell reached was a warehouse building.

“Hey, we have stuff here.”

Sariel pointed to the building with his large finger.

Kuk.

I grabbed Quilia’s shoulder, who was about to step forward, and held it down.

‘It’s Maria’s gang that takes risks.’

I still don’t know the strength of Maria’s group. I wanted to fully understand their abilities.

“Raphael, Uriel. Go and check.”

Maria motioned forward, calling the names of her two sons.

Raphael and Uriel moved with agility that was unusual for their size, splitting up to the left and right and adhering to the windows of the building.

Raphael, as expected of his older brother, moved more skillfully. And… …Uriel, like an inexperienced boy, touched the window and tried to open it.

“mum…….”

Before Maria could say anything, it happened.

Kwa- Ang!

An explosion occurred at the window where Uriel had been stuck.

We saw humans being torn apart into pieces. Blood and flesh splattered in a horrible way. The being known as Uriel was reduced to a lump of meat.

“Uh, Uriel, is, dead, Maman! Kwaaaaang!”

Excited Crawler Sariel screamed and tried to run away.

Whoosh! Crunch!

Maria quickly grabbed Sariel’s head and threw him back.

“Without your nose, you can’t find the thief! You stay behind! Just have another human child!”

Maria frowned so fiercely that it showed her teeth.

-mother…….

Raphael’s communication, which was heard through the window, was ringing in our ears.

-……escape.

Raphael couldn’t finish his words. A blue ray of light shattered the window and pierced Raphael’s forehead.

Whoosh! Bang!

Light seemed to spread across Raphael’s features, then burst out as if an explosion had occurred inside his head.

“Quilia.”

I said briefly. Quilia put on her mask, and she became transparent and disappeared without a trace.