TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 44

The black-haired boy’s expression was full of hatred. Like a lone wolf, he bit the slave trader in front of him without hesitation. Blood splattered across his cheeks, and his round pupils gradually changed—elongating like those of a beast, revealing something inhuman.

A deep, animalistic growl rumbled from his throat. Strange black mist rose from his body, still maintaining the shape of a wolf, as if a wild beast had possessed him, its instincts taking over his mind.

The slave trader’s body twitched a few times at first, then fell silent.

The hired thug nearby had no time to react before the boy lunged at him viciously, like a predator in the wild ambushing its prey. When the man finally came to his senses, fear of that shadowy wolf gripped him. His hands trembled around his weapon.

What… is that?

A monster? Or some kind of magic?

Whatever it was, it was far beyond what he could handle.

While he was frozen in fear, the crouched beast raised its head to look at him. The shadow-wolf did the same.

With a clatter, the thug’s weapon fell to the ground. He collapsed, scrambling backward.

The beast looked around, its gaze locking onto the prison cells.

Inside, the slaves fell silent, not daring to breathe.

Albin held his breath too. He stared at that blood-soaked figure, meeting the deep blue beast eyes, and recognized it was Xiao Hei.

The gruesome, terrifying scene made his heart pound violently.

He couldn’t quite describe the feeling—it wasn’t fear, and it wasn’t excitement—but his blood suddenly surged through his body, making his breathing quicken.

Albin had never seen someone die in front of him before. The sudden impact left him dazed, standing there blankly.

His eyes were wide, his vision filled with crimson and deep blue.

From Xiao Hei’s gaze, Albin vaguely sensed that the boy had come for him.

But Xiao Hei, looking at him from afar, seemed to think he had scared him. His expression suddenly fell, and he whimpered softly, stepping back as if to flee.

“Wait!”

Albin materialized his magic into a blade and sent it forward, slicing through the cell lock.

He walked step by step toward the dangerous black-haired boy, his eyelashes trembling. “Xiao Hei?”

The beast’s eyes wavered, as if a shred of consciousness remained. A deep growl escaped his throat: “Let’s go… together…”

Albin stepped forward and, ignoring the blood covering him, hugged him tightly and began to sob.

“I’m sorry, Xiao Hei.”

Looking at Xiao Hei, who had come for him, Albin couldn’t help but think—although the slave trader was an evil man who deserved punishment, Xiao Hei shouldn’t have had to stain his hands with this blood.

It was all because of him.

If he hadn’t made that promise to escape together, then broken it, Xiao Hei wouldn’t have come looking for him.

If he had found a way earlier to help everyone escape, Xiao Hei wouldn’t have needed to kill.

If he had been stronger, able to stop all this and get Xiao Hei out of the castle sooner, none of this would have happened.

Albin rubbed his cheek against Xiao Hei’s, smearing the sticky blood onto his own pale hair and skin.

He was an accomplice.

His thoughts were restless, his hands still trembling, but he reached up to wipe the blood from Xiao Hei’s mouth, touched the great shadow-wolf emerging from his body, and forced a smile with hands on his hips.

“Alright, let’s go together!” His voice still shook.

The shadow-wolf gradually receded into Xiao Hei’s body.

“But wait a second, I need to—” Albin didn’t finish before Xiao Hei suddenly grabbed his arm, staring at him intently, as if afraid he’d vanish again.

But then he let go as if burned, his voice uncertain and downcast: “Did I scare you?”

Albin froze for a moment.

“Nope!” He patted his still-trembling chest, tears still clinging to his lashes, and declared with certainty, “I’m a bad kid anyway—how could I be scared of something like this?”

He turned his grip to hold Xiao Hei’s hand instead, sighing as if helpless. “Let’s go save everyone together!”

They went to the prison cells. The other slaves, full of fear, shrank against the walls to avoid them.

Albin muttered inwardly.

Why are the grown-ups more scared than me? And Xiao Hei’s so cute—only a year older than me, still a kid like me. He’s not scary at all!

The slaves, looking at the two blood-covered children: …

“I’ll remove your shackles and erase your brands. Then, just like we planned before, you can all leave. The slave trader’s dead—no one will come after you.”

After a brief hesitation, the slaves, having spent a few days with Albin, let their desire for freedom win out and came forward one by one.

Those released first spotted the thug sitting helpless on the ground. Old grudges and new anger flared, and they began to beat him.

Someone took the slave trader’s money pouch, and soon the others joined in splitting the cash.

They even left a share for Albin and Xiao Hei.

When the division was done, they all left.

Albin glanced back at the slave trader’s corpse.

Death might not be the only way, but sometimes it worked.

Maybe now he understood a little why Sutanlai had done what he did.

He and Xiao Hei also left. Covered in blood, they worried about frightening people on the streets, so they ducked into an alley to clean up.

Albin used water magic to wash the blood from Xiao Hei’s skin and erased the slave brand on the back of his hand.

The brand was too obvious. Back in the castle, he hadn’t dared remove it—he’d planned to do so only after escaping.

The metal tag on Xiao Hei’s collar could come off now too.

As he worked, Albin asked curiously, “How did you find me?”

“I saw the tower door open, so I asked the butler.”

“Huh?” Albin’s worry spiked. “Idiot! Why didn’t you just run? You even went to the butler? Good thing you got away now.”

He anxiously scanned Xiao Hei. “When you escaped, did the butler see you? Are you hurt?”

Xiao Hei hesitated.

“You are hurt?! Where? Let me see!” Albin lifted his shirt to check.

“No,” Xiao Hei thought. The dead can’t really be called witnesses.

The butler had seen him, but the butler was dead—so that meant no one had seen him. Perfect escape!

He nodded and said with certainty, “No one saw me, and I’m not hurt. I hid under a carriage to escape.”

“That’s good!” Albin sighed in relief. After cleaning the blood from both of them, his racing emotions gradually calmed.

“There’s still some here,” Xiao Hei pointed behind his cheek.

“Hm?” Albin tried wiping with a damp cloth. “Still there?”

Xiao Hei nodded.

Albin puffed his cheeks and leaned over righteously.

“No mirror, I can’t see clearly at all — you wipe it for me.”

Xiao Hei smoothly took the damp cloth and began carefully wiping, as if he were cleaning some priceless treasure.

Albin gazed at his deep ultramarine eyes, so close, and was reminded of the shadow wolf from before.

“That big black shadow from earlier — what was that? Magic?”

“I don’t know either… When I found the slaver, I heard he was planning to send you to some infamous noble tomorrow. I got really angry, and then it just… came out.”

Albin thought for a moment. “Black… maybe some kind of dark magic? Can you summon it now?”

Xiao Hei felt for it, then shook his head.

Albin: “So it only comes out in an emergency… so cool.”

It was just like a special power in an anime!

“But even if you can’t use it, it’s fine. I’m going to be a future all-element mage — I’ll protect you!” Albin puffed out his chest, proud and satisfied. “I’m going to be really strong one day!”

Unexpectedly, Xiao Hei refused without hesitation: “No.”

Xiao Hei insisted: “You’re younger than me, so I should be the one protecting you. I’ll get stronger and keep you safe!”

He had to protect Albin — he couldn’t let him get caught again.

Thinking of this, a flame of determination lit in his eyes.

Albin huffed in protest: “I’m not younger than you!”

He was a dignified reincarnator!

…Though, in his past life, he’d also been a kid.

When it came to the question of who should protect whom, neither of them would back down.

“No matter what, we’ve escaped together now!” Albin grew excited. At last, he didn’t have to be locked in that lonely little room, and Xiao Hei wouldn’t be enslaved and beaten anymore either.

From now on, they’d have to help each other survive in this city of sin — but Albin was confident.

How could the great future mage be defeated by a little hardship?

They didn’t have much money, not enough to eat and drink without worry, so their first concern was lodging.

If there had been a temple nearby, that would’ve been easy, but sadly, Thorn City was a godforsaken place, and Albin’s talent — something temples would fight over — had nowhere to shine.

“Damn it!” The future great mage had no use for his profession here, and Albin had to admit defeat.

In terms of survival, though, Xiao Hei did have some experience.

The two boys walked into the remote East District, the slums. In their ragged state, they blended in without drawing any suspicious looks.

They heard on the street that the owner of a certain house had died today, so they went to check it out, planning to live there from now on.

It was a dilapidated place, in a secluded spot, and had clearly been looted after the owner’s death — inside, it was almost bare.

The corpse, however, was still in the house. Xiaohei was dragging it out, not letting Albin open his eyes to see.

Albin hadn’t seen much death before, and was uneasy. “Can we really live here?”

Xiao Hei replied calmly: “Yes. Lots of people do this.”

“Well, since we’re taking his house, we should at least bury him.”

Naturally, Xiaohei agreed.

Albin knew magic, so there were many ways to handle a burial — but to avoid disease, he chose cremation.

While it was still light out, they burned the body.

Like he had once seen in the Sun God’s temple, Albin closed his eyes and prayed for the homeowner.

They tidied the place up a bit, and when night fell, they curled up together to sleep.

The moon rose above the branches. Night awakened emotions buried deep inside. When Albin closed his eyes, he thought of the slaver and the corpse in the flames. He couldn’t sleep — unease spread like creeping vines, making him more and more afraid.

Dad…

Curling up, he longed deeply, calling out to his father in his heart, tears welling up.

He kept telling himself: just a little over a year, and he’d find his dad.

But he still couldn’t calm down.

Beside him, Xiao Hei was also awake. Hearing Albin’s muffled sobs, he didn’t know what to do, so he tried to hold him.

“I know a lot, and I’m strong. Tomorrow I’ll look for a place that needs help from kids. We’ll move to a different place.”

“I’m not scared!” Albin grumbled. “I just… miss my family a little. My dad and my brother are super nice!”

Xiao Hei asked blankly: “Then where are they? I’ll take you home.”

Albin’s face fell, his voice sad: “I can’t see them… They’re in another world.”

His brother was in his past life, and the dad in this timeline he hadn’t even met yet.

Seeing him sadder, Xiao Hei assumed his family was dead and blurted out: “I—I miss my mom too…”

Not wanting to touch Xiaohei’s wounds, Albin quickly dropped the subject.

They pressed their foreheads together, feeling the warmth of the other person. Slowly, a strength grew inside them to fight the fear. Breathing together, they drifted into sleep.

Albin felt truly thankful — whether it was when he first arrived in this strange world or now, returning to the strange Thorn City, there was always someone by his side so he didn’t have to face it all alone.

Half-asleep, he murmured: “Xiao Hei… thank you for staying with me…”

The person beside him tightened their grip on his hand.

In the following days, they worked hard to find odd jobs and prepare for the coming winter.

It was harvest season, so everyone was busy, and many places were short-handed — even hiring child workers. Xiao Hei helped out at a blacksmith’s, while Albin covered a few days’ work at a tavern, running errands.

He was cute and sweet-tongued, so he often got tips.

One day, while running an errand to the market, Albin saw a man in a black robe.

Because it had been a black-robed person who had used magic to send him back in time, Albin always paid special attention to them.

In a chaotic place like Thorn City, shady black-robed figures weren’t uncommon — but today’s was different.

He felt certain this was the same black-robed man from before, the one working with the rats.

Fixing his eyes on the man’s back, he immediately activated wind magic to track him — but with the help of the wind magic, he caught a strong scent of blood.

It was coming from… the alley the black-robed man had exited.

Someone was hurt!

Abandoning the chase, Albin dashed into the narrow, dark alley to save them. He saw bloody footprints — clearly the black-robed man’s — and had a bad feeling.

Following the trail, he found the victim and was stunned.

Blood stained the ground around them. In the pool of blood lay an adult man with multiple stab wounds, apparently already dead.

He looked a lot like Sutanlai, whom Albin had met before — but the hair was different. Sutanlai’s was orange, this man’s was brown.

Whoever he was, Albin still crouched down and reached out to feel for breath — and faintly saw the man’s fingers twitch.

Albin’s eyes lit up.

There was still hope!