Blood Of Platinum
Chapter 53. Arkan and the Long Day
At the same time when Theo met Kino back then, there was another person doing a long job in the city.
Arkan who had spent two hours shopping for all the necessities of the bar finally intended to return home to his estranged place in the city. He walked the main streets of the city carrying all the groceries on his list alone.
“Wall paper to cover his blood stain. I bought enough just in case. Then I had also ordered a large carpet at the subscription store and had them deliver it this afternoon. This can be called wastage. It's just that I'm the one who takes care of all this alone”
Amidst the grumbling, Arkan sees a clock shop and pauses in front of the store's entrance.
“Jam yes. I think I should stop by for a second, who knows that old pocket watch I found that can be fixed”
After deciding to stop by, Arkan entered the store with all his groceries.
“Welcome, sir. Can anyone help?” the shopkeeper greeted him
“Excuse me, what here accept service jam?”
“Oh, of course sir. Please, please”
Arkan put all his groceries on the floor and sat down on the chair the shopkeeper had prepared. After Arkan saw the shopkeeper finished wearing his glasses, he took out an antique pocket watch that was in his pants pocket.
“This is the clock. Actually this pocket watch I found at my place of work. Because it looks like it's broken so I'm thinking of bringing it in for repairs. Can it still?”
“Hmm, briefly”
The shopkeeper noticed the antique pocket watch was fine. The clock does have a lot of scratches everywhere, there are even foreign letters on the inside of the lid. After looking around for a few minutes, the shopkeeper smiled.
“Master, it looks like this clock is not broken. This thing works very well”
“Function?! You sure about that? I mean, the hour hand just didn't seem to move at all until just now!. Try to do it more thoroughly!”
“No sir, it's moving. Since the beginning of this clock is moving, look at yourself”
The store owner showed the pocket watch to Arkan and he was surprised by his flat face.
‘How is it possible? I remember clearly this morning the clock was not moving at all. Am I the wrong one to see?’ arkan murmured in the heart
“Then how about sir? What is this hour so you service?”
The shop owner's questions break the silence and make Arkan return to the real world. He could only look at the old pocket watch once more. It is true, now he sees the entire clock on the pocket watch moving including the clock hand showing the seconds.
After a moment of silence, he took the watch and put it in his pants pocket.
“Not so. Thanks for the help”
Arkan took his groceries back on the floor and went out of the store while continuing to grumble along the way.
“Am I lacking rest because of excess stress huh? I'm sure the clock didn't move at all. I've noticed it, I'm sure of it. But if the fact is that now the pocket watch is working fine, I think I can keep it now”
Arkan paused again for a moment, moved the groceries held by one hand to the other and took the pocket watch.
“When the initial intention if it can not be used, I will throw this object again into the trash. Thank goodness this pocket watch I can wear now”
There was already nothing else that Arkan wanted to go to in the city and this time he actually decided to head back to the bar. After walking through the residential area, he went down the stairs that were there to walk back to the bar.
“Finally you can actually go back to the bar and directly take care of the remnants of the leafy party….Uh!. Shit, I almost forgot!”
The initial intention to go home was eventually put on hold for a while.
“I almost forgot I had to go to Riz's place to ask him to take the bodies”
Really a waste of time. It was noon and he still had to fight with all the dead bodies behind the bar he was working in.
The journey Arkan made to go to the destination took approximately fifteen minutes since he went down the stairs.
An area that is less sunlight and very quiet with empty and unkempt buildings actually shows that the foreign place will remain a place that is not friendly to anyone, he said, including Arkan who had spent time living there more than he could remember.
After fifteen minutes had passed, Arkan arrived at a place called [Riz Mortem]. In addition to the uninhabited buildings around it, the place called Riz Mortem is also one of the other unfriendly buildings because on both sides of the entrance there are skull ornaments as decoration.
Seeing the unique decoration, Arkan commented with a face look and a flat tone.
“What a nice taste” one word for the place he is visiting at the moment, the smell of death is everywhere
Arkan opened the door of the place without getting into it.
“Riz, it's me. Are you home?”
There was no reply until a coffin in the place opened. Right, the coffin inside is a living human.
-CRIIIIITE
“Yo, Arkan. Can I help you?”
A tall, black-haired teenage boy with straight bangs and black clothes came out of the coffin.
As if he was reluctant to enter, Arkan simply held his flat face in front of the door muttering as the teenager had exited the coffin and relaxed his body.
‘He slept inside that thing? A good hobby. I think he learned to feel what it was like inside his coffin before he died for real’
The teenager came out of the coffin and walked towards the entrance where he was standing. Arkan did nothing but stand at his door.
“Do not want to go in first and talk well? I can make you the, Arkan” teen named Riz approached him and let him in
“No, thank you. I need to hurry back before my carpet comes. Riz, I want to borrow your services. Can you move the five bodies that are behind the bar I work at?. If I could I'd like you to come with me now”
“Hoo...cadaver yes? Did Justin do anything today?”
“Not today but last night. There's a little party at the bar and now I still have to work rods to clean up the rest. Justin-sama seems to be feeling bad so he killed the men and three women who often accompanied him to sleep last night”
“Antracious! Is the body intact? Good condition no? If it's good I can take it to the black market in this place later tonight to resell without needing me to cut again” Riz looks very happy
Hearing what the teenager who seemed to be younger than him said, Arkan could only comment inwardly.
‘Basic pervert! I question his taste now. I've known him for a long time but I'm still not used to the fetish he has. What's good about human corpses?’
Returning back to reality now, Arkan answers Riz's question.
“The corpse is intact, there are only a few holes in some parts. If it's about the condition I don't know because I just wrapped up last night. It might have smelled a bit or something, but I don't care. So, how?”
“I understand. I'll do it as soon as it's done”
Arkan closed the door and waited outside accompanied by the two skull ornaments. What a beautiful sight in the morning. Just waiting for about fifteen minutes, Riz came out from behind by pulling a wagon with him. His body was indeed small but it seemed like he was already an expert at the job.
“So, how is the bar?”
Riz asked Arkan with a happy face as if it did not represent the type of question he asked
“How to explain it yes. Anyway, I'm trying to change the mood. Over night, the floor and walls of the bar got a fresh red color and Mr. Nox fled the city. See what I brought?. This is one of the temporary renovation plans I thought of”
“Hoo, old man Nox is gone. Is Justin still there?”
“He hasn't been out since last night. At first I thought he had killed himself in his room but it turns out he was still alive”
“Hmm, good that he's alive. That way my business will last a long time. Because all this time the bodies that I got were all the results of Justin. My money field on the black market can still continue to grow. Glad~”
Along the way to the new, Arkan just kept quiet while occasionally glancing at the teenager beside him. It was because Riz kept muttering that no-no about the corpse and the others until his ears hurt. If he were just a normal teenager living in the city, it would be about spending time with his girlfriend, not with a pile of dead bodies.
They finally arrived at the [Barre des Noirs].
“You just go straight to the back. The body was neat so you just take it. I'm going in to put all this wallpaper on. If you have, you can go inside to take your pay”
“Good. I'll take my source of money” Riz smiled as he pulled his wagon behind the bar
Arkan, who came in, knocked on Justin's door to tell him what he was doing this morning, remembering he didn't say goodbye to him before leaving.
“Justi-sama, I'm back. I called Riz Mortem to haul all the bodies in the garbage dump behind. After this, I'll take care of everything before the bar opens. Does Justin-sama need anything?”
At first there was no response at all, but two minutes later from inside the room Justin replied.
“Are there any rats or garbage that came this morning?”
Arkan speechless. He already knew that the rats he meant were small children who used to make money for him and the garbage in question was his own men.
“Still not yet. The boys are likely to come in a few minutes. For others.it looks like you have to wait a little more”.
As if he had a heart attack, Arkan was shocked to see the door of the room open and Justin looked at him with a horrible look. From last night until this morning, Arkan's flat expression had not changed at all. But now, he felt an overwhelming fear.
Even when he saw Justin pointing a gun at him, Arkan felt his life would instantly switch nature after this.
Justin coldly said to him.
“I don't like waiting”
Despite his fears, Arkan still made a scathing comment.
‘You may not like waiting but it's none of my business, right?! It's your fault why tell all those brainless muscular men to go look for the sword-wielding man without the scabbard!. You yourself have never seen it in person and only heard the news about it from your late men who have become corpses now!’
Justin was still staring coldly at Arkan's frightened face. Intentionally, he was eager to shoot Arkan in the head if it did not get a sudden shock.
“Arkan~ I'm done with my money field. I want payment..Ah! Justin-sama, my other source of money~”
Riz came from the front door with a cheerful smile as he walked over to the two people. The scene of the muscular bald man pointing his gun at the bar bartender was not at all an object that caught his attention. Justin's facial features remained unchanged but the gun pointed at Arkan was finally lowered.
‘I survived thanks to the arrival of Riz’ thought Arkan
“Why are you here, Riz Mortem?” Justin asked Riz with his cold face
“Ara, Justin-sama. I heard from Arkan that you were out partying last night, so I came to take my money field. Five intact corpses with a few neatly wrapped holes were already outside. I'd like to request a take-out fee”
Justin throws two necklaces and a gold bracelet in his pants pocket at Riz.
“It! Take that thing and get out of here”
“Uwaaa, this is more than enough! Thank you very much! Nice doing business with you, Justin-sama. Please if there's anything else like that, you should call me right away. See you soon, Justin-sama. I'm leaving first, Arkan”
After Riz left them, Justin put his gun in and went back to his room to pick up the folding knife on the sofa and another pistol there. He walked out of the bar without saying anything.
“Justin-sama, where are you going?” Arkan asked with his flat face back
“I will look for the man who dares to enter my territory himself. Waiting for the trash doesn't help me at all. I'll look for him in the city and I'll take his head to this place”
After Justin came out and the door was closed, Arkan fell silent and clenched his hands while shouting.
“Yeah! Finally you all leave and I can work quietly. Hope you all don't come back to this bar, muscular guy with no brains!!”
******
In the city center, Theo's pale face was instantly seen describing his fear as Kino said his request.
“Will you help me find my lost thing?”
“Things...thing belonging to Kino-nii that is missing?”
“I've been looking for my lost treasure since yesterday, but until now I haven't found a clue. Is Theo-kun willing to help me?”
Theo knows what happened because he did it. He still thinks Kino doesn't know anything yet so he tries to get his mentality back. With a slight forced smile, he asked Kino without giving an answer from the previous question.
“Ka–if you can know, what kind of thing does Kino-nii want to find it?”
“Pocket hours. Old antique pocket watches are golden in color with many scratches. That thing is very important to me and I have to find it”
- Deg
Theo remembered something. He did steal something from the person before him yesterday even though he had accidentally done that. Because at that time Kino had just tried to put something in his pants pocket.
He also remembered that when he gave all his loot to Justin, he threw all the stuff in his pocket at Justin. In other words, the pocket watch was also likely thrown.
Theo could only sculpt while saying inwardly with sweat coming out from his forehead.
‘I'm in trouble now’
******
