The Final Protectors

God did not exist. At least, to some people, He didn’t.

In a cramped alley, a thin and weak man lay in an underground water channel, puking his guts out. Dark shadows colored his eye bags, eyes bloodshot. Sweat mixed with tears, leaving one impossible to differentiate between them.

“Buddy, need help?” The city’s garbage collector had stopped the garbage truck here. At the man’s miserable state, he jumped in shock. “Hey, there’s blood on your lips. Need a ride to the hospital? Or…”

But before he could finish, the man stumbled to his feet, seemingly in fright, and ran off without another look.

“What a weird person.” The garbage collector got out of the truck, pulling open the cover of the garbage can habitually. Pulling on his gloves, he moved the can to the truck. But all of a sudden, something caught his eye. “Oh… The hell is this?”

It was a man’s clothes. The garbage collector picked it up, and immediately widened his eyes. It slipped out of his grasp and fell onto the ground, sending him stumbling a few steps back in fright.

The shirt was soaked in blood from the collar down. Flattened and circular, it looked like a drum… At the side was a human’s bloody handprint.

The garbage collector quickly called the police, and was brought away to make a police statement. Working overtime, the police detectives then investigated and drew up a composite sketch based on the garbage collector’s description. An arrest warrant was announced on the news ticker. For three days, there were no results. That thin and unprepossessing man seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Even if he hid himself in his home, didn’t he need to buy food and drinks? Didn’t he need to leave the house?

On the third night, a door of a run-down apartment building opened from the inside, and a short man walked out. Hidden in the dark, his face was indistinct, pupils a dark red, with deathly pale light seemingly flashing repeatedly in the irises at the center in an incredibly odd manner.

He was like a epileptic patient whose facial muscles violently twitched and wavered between cold composure and pained struggling. But his body stably and nimbly jumped out of the second floor corridor window.

As if exhaustion was not a concept for him, he walked on the streets without rest, and got onto the last train. He reached a renowned neighboring red-light district where prostitutes were still attracting clients. Very quickly, a woman noticed the man pacing back and forth at the end of the streets—even if he did not look too pleasing to the eye.

This was a slow-witted, dumbheaded man incapable of coherent speech. But it did not matter as long as there was money in his wallet. The woman kissed his cheek half-teasingly. She intended it to be a fleeting one, but the man suddenly fiercely pushed her face down and lapped gently at her eyelids.

She stilled. Thick make-up had adorned her face, shoddy mascara stuck itself onto the man’s lips, looking sticky. Many bought their bodies, but rarely did they have interest in kissing them. She grew a little excited, pulling the man closer and whispered, “I’ll show you a nice place.”

Her back towards him, she led him to a desolate alley, missing the sudden soundless grin that spread across the man’s face—the smile’s curvature was humanly impossible, giving one the feeling that half of his face was about to fall off.

His eyes shone even more fiercely.

Such a pure and fresh smell of flesh…

The next morning, the woman’s corpse was found by a middle schooler taking the backstreets to school. The entire area was quickly cordoned off with yellow tape. The body was half nude, pieces of internal organs flowing from the corner of her mouth, expression twisted into extreme fear—but her eyes were missing.

It was the second case of having eyeballs gouged out in the State of Sellute. Heated discussion began among the people. A young officer, newly graduated from the police academy, sprinted away to throw up.

Right at this time, a few people, both women and men, walked into the sealed area, carrying with them a unique air—but they were neither police officers, nor the forensics.

The leader was the newly appointed Cleric, Roy Margarett.

“Do excuse me.” He flashed his work permit as a “Special Investigator”. The officiers crouching by the corpse had already received notice from their higher-ups and stood up to make way for him reluctantly.

Roy put on white gloves and carefully inspected the body, speaking quietly to Michelle as she hurriedly took notes. The State of Sellute’s eye-gouging case already involved a fearsome extinct Decay as well as another unknown creature. It was highly dangerous. Mr. Good’s first dispatched team of investigators was assembled majestically; the team included two Golden Emblems and an instructor, and was led by the Cleric. If they made any discoveries, the State of Salla would send immediate support for him.

Roy’s brows are tightly knitted together—if not even Karlos could be sure of the other Decay involved, then…

“Mother, I have already sent people to join the investigation,” Jel spoke to the phone. “Yes, it’s Roy. I know they’re staying at your place right now. Thank you for taking care… Oh, give it up. Should I remind you that you’re no longer a member? Yes, I know you know when to stop… No, seriously, this time, the victim is a prostitute without any connection to Mike’s teacher, Ms. Laura, isn’t she? I don’t think you need to be so worried… Oh, no, no, they’re doing pretty well at my place. They didn’t create any trouble. Ka… John also likes them very much. Rest assured, if I can’t handle it, I’ll hire a nanny…”

His arms holding a very thick and heavy Decay almanac, Karlos walked over. Jel waved at him in dismissal, mouthing a “do not worry”. He exchanged a few more words to the phone before he finally hung up the call.

“I’m being serious.” Karlos slammed the thick book on the table. “This book’s quality is out of the ordinary. The calligraphy of the text is beautiful, and the artworks inside are very realistic as well. But are you sure it’s not a children’s book?”

“Just make do with it. Many ancient books have been lost to time due to a lack of historical verification. Among the current Decay almanac subscriptions, this is the most detailed.” Jel poured a cup of soda for him—ever since this guy fell in love with Coke, he refused to drink anything non-carbonated—then he glanced at the nearly empty candy box below the table, and said rather disagreeably, “I’m being serious, Karlos. I don’t think you should pamper the kids this much. When they make unreasonable requests, you should refuse the ones that  should be refused. If children were to eat so many candies at this age, it’s easy to get cavities once their adult teeth grow out.”

Karlos, “…”

He couldn’t bring himself to tell him that he was the one who ate most of it. He only rubbed his nose sheepishly and silently had Mike and Lily take the blame.

Jel sat opposite of him. “My mother said another woman was killed, with her eyes gouged out the same way. The victim was a hooker, and similar to Ms. Laura, her cause of death was a rapture of her internal organs.”

“Hooker?” Karlos asked.

“Mm… It means a prostitute who makes a living with her body,” Jel said, “The victim was a low-ranking streetwalker, and would attract customers on the streets with heavy make-up at night. Her customers were usually physical labourers or people with low income.”

Karlos frowned.

“Roy and his team are already there.” Jel said, “Seems like the perpetrator is very dangerous, so, some Golden Emblems may be sent out as support. I’ll probably try to join them, and bring Evan along to get some experience too…”

Karlos’s eyes lit up. “Can I come along?”

Jel fell silent. “Sorry, Karl. That’s not possible.”

Before Karlos spoke, Jel explained, “Previously, Amy didn’t consent to sign your papers. His view is that although your wounds have been treated and your recovery is going well, your physical health isn’t as good as it seems. Looking at tests, he thinks your life was very irregular, causing your digestive system to be extremely frail. You have many old wounds too, and many of them aren’t just surface wounds and put giant burdens on your muscles and bones. Without proper recuperation, it will be difficult when you get older.”

“What? Amy?” Karlos peeled a chocolate candy and tossed it into his mouth unhappily. “Why do I need his signature? He’s not even as familiar with the Healers’ Legal Code than I am.”

“Yes.” Jel’s face was smiling as he responded with patience, “But at the very least, he wasn’t kicked out of the hospital during his internship. What do you think?”

Karlos, “…”

“And Archbishop Aldo disapproves of your continued active service.” It was after a while when Jel said, testing the waters, “Er… I don’t mean anything by it. It’s just that he seems very concerned about you. The first documents he looked at after he left the Underground Palace are your body check-up reports, which he found pretty incomprehensible. But he summoned Amy to explain every part to him in detail, and read through the ten-page report for practically the whole day.”

Karlos was silent.

Uncertainty lurked in Jel’s heart. Even if this guy was giddy and smiles all the time, no matter his name or experiences, it was far too confounding to the modern generation.

Although he would vaguely utter a few things about his experiences when he was in a good mood, he did not allow the listeners to get a clear idea and instead mystified them further. The age barrier brought about by their different time periods did not, in fact, surface when Karlos glued himself to the TV and asked stupid questions, such as “How do I heal from being infected by a computer virus? Will I die?” The barrier was only perceptible when he suddenly turned silent.

This land had experienced countless rises and falls, and feudal society had long became history, thus there were no longer that many rich noblemen everywhere. Many of the countless rottenly luxurious castles in the legends were no longer private properties as well. Although Fraruitts’ bloodline still continued, the old glory had already perished in the abyss of history. Other than producing a number of outstanding hunters, they were no more the celebrated aristocrats who possessed manors and castles.Each generation grew up on the common streets and alleys like ordinary kids.

So, none of them had Karlos’s aura of nobility that grew even purer after experiencing the arduous life of a vagabond.

And each time at this moment, Jel would deeply and genuinely feel that this person was his elder.

“You and… Archbishop Aldo don’t get along well, right?” Jel asked.

“Nah.” Karlos shrugged. “Actually, we’re okay. He’s a colleague worthy of respect, suits the Archbishop role very much. In comparison, an unofficial member like me doesn’t enjoy following orders, and gave him tons of trouble.”

Er… it didn’t seem like that though?

Jel asked, “Then, why did you two start fighting the moment you met?”

Karlos laughed. “About this… We were too shocked, probably? Back then, our minds were a mess, and I didn’t expect that he’d guard the Barrier… with himself. It’s really an impressive resolution.”

Jel asked straightly, “Then what about in private, outside of official business? When I asked you this question before, you said you hated him.”

“Can’t say we had a personal relationship.” This question left Karlos in silence for a while. After answering, he stood up immediately, clearly, not wishing to continue this topic. “To hate him and think he’s worthy of respect are two different things—Mike, didn’t you say you want to eat Madonna? Call Lily, let’s go out!”

Mike screeched as he slid down on the stairs handrail, and leaped straight into Karlos’s arms. When he was raised up and spun around, the boy laughed happily. In contrast, Lily walked down the stairs reservedly and corrected him seriously, “I believe you mean to say MacDonald’s, Karl. Mike, Granny said that’s junk food. You’ll turn into a pig!”

Mike pulled his eyes and made a face at her.

Karlos began laughing and sat him on his shoulder. Then, he pulled up her little hand. “No worries. Even if you turn into a pig, I can still carry you—Miss Lily, don’t you want that toy of a big-faced cat without a mouth? Quick, let’s go!”

Lily muttered as she tugged her skirt, declassing herself and following them. “That’s Hello Kitty, not some “big-faced cat toy without a mouth”. Men are really so boring.”

Jel hurriedly added, “I arranged all the cash in your wallet according to numbers, separated by a tag. So, they won’t be bunched up and won’t confuse you—also, in many places, you can just give the credit card to the cashier and sign the receipt. No need to use cash.”

Mr. Karlos “Brother Forrest” Fraruitt mimicked Mike and made a face. Then, he left with the two kids. Without the three rowdy kids, the room immediately became much quieter.

Only then, Jel sighed. He turned and slightly bowed towards the guest room on the first floor. “Your distinguished self.”