The Last Gentleman
Chapter 532: Moon Rats

Blacktail Hotel

As the most distinctive hotel in Rat City that accommodates the most out-of-town visitors, its status is also extremely high.

The owner, Congriff Blacktail, is a formidable figure well-known throughout Rat City,

yet such a hotel mysteriously collapsed at night. Aside from the large number of onlookers, several completely different noble rat people specially came from the Inner City District.

One of them held a flute, and as the sound of the flute rang out, a large swarm of rats burrowed into the building’s ruins to investigate. "Congriff is dead, the reason being the leakage of the Abyss’s secret..."

A certain marsupial rat noble lurking underground voiced from its abdomen, "What an idiot!"

Another female noble, whose pink tail peeked out from beneath her long skirt, said:

"This may not necessarily be stupidity.

The exceedingly timid Congriff, who only knows how to hide in the crevices, is not stupid enough to do this.

He’s well aware of how serious the consequences of divulging the Abyss’s secret are; it’s very likely that he was coerced or even induced at the level of thought before mistakenly revealing it.

Make no mistake, a guest who stayed there must possess extraordinary strength, completely overshadowing Congriff, and possibly even more formidable than any of us.

Moreover, the incident occurred in the Seam Space created by Congriff himself, so there’s no way to ascertain the specific reason.

How dangerous~ Should we report this? Perhaps if the adults know, the problem could be solved ahead of time."

"Are you seeking death? Fei Qi, reporting without any clues will get you immediately killed."

"That’s true. Ah, we can only pray that the other party isn’t here to cause trouble for us and that it was just Congriff bringing about his own demise."

...

William had just left the hotel when he contacted Keith White Teeth, his guide from yesterday.

When Keith rushed from his home and saw the completely collapsed hotel, he was stunned with fear. Although he didn’t know the reason, his intuition told him it was almost certainly related to the young man before him.

"Boss, what happened to your clothes?"

"There was a slight incident. Could I borrow some cloth from you?"

"Just a moment, boss!"

Keith immediately transformed into the crawling shape of a rat and hurried to a nearby shop to purchase a black piece of leather material that barely matched William’s attire, and with a bit of trimming, it could serve as a patch.

William mainly wanted to cover his exposed buttocks, as he constantly felt a chill.

"Where would you like to go today, boss?"

"Take me to the city center for a visit and formally introduce me to Rat City. Tonight, if we can’t find a suitable hotel, I can stay at your place, and we’ll settle the cost later."

"No problem."

Keith did not inquire about the hotel incident and devoted himself fully to the task of leading the way.

The structure of Rat City is quite straightforward, roughly divided into two parts— the Inner City and the Outer City or the Noble District and the Commoner District, with an even more solid Corpse Wall separating them.

All the buildings in the Inner City are constructed with Dark Stone similar to Blacktail Hotel, which is a special ore mined from the Dark Nest Mine. It is dark and-resistant to light, causing the whole Inner City to be shrouded in darkness year-round, fitting nicely with the rats’ preference for darkness.

William observed the ’Black Rat Guards’ patrolling beneath the Corpse Wall, dressed in heavy armor,

"Can we go to the Inner City?"

"Boss, are you sure you want to go in? Many rats who venture into the Inner City end up being out of touch for a long time or even dead. The nobility living inside have the right to forcibly dominate the commoners.

If someone takes a fancy to us, they can pull us into their homes to become slaves, and no one dares to resist."

"It’s fine, I’m here... If you can’t get in, I’ll find a way myself."

Keith would not waste such an opportunity to show off and quickly said, "Yes, yes, yes, I have a friend who is a Black Rat Guard. Just a little money, and he will let us in."

After some negotiation by Keith, a mere ten coins easily bought their way through.

The moment they set foot in the Inner City, they were enveloped by pitch-black darkness so dense they couldn’t see their hands before them, causing even Keith, a rat, to tremble in fear in such darkness.

However,

William felt no discomfort at all, as his gaze immediately turned towards the center of the Inner City District, where a tower stood far taller than any other building, even taller than the city walls.

It was strange that given the height of the tower, William should have noticed it by now, or even seen it easily from outside the city.

"Keith, what’s the deal with this tower? Why couldn’t we see it before?"

"The Dark Moon Tower, built with the highest purity of Dark Stone, only reveals its form in darkness. It’s truly a magical structure.

It was constructed by the second City Lord, and the title of City Lord has not changed since then.

The story behind it is also very bizarre."

"Oh? Let’s walk and talk... Don’t worry about nobles targeting us, I’ve already released some sort of Pupil Skill interference."

"Alright!

Legend has it that the first City Lord of Rat City was a knight conferred by Cancer Palace, a Honored Tumor Knight, who was the only knight in the Knight Order with rat-like features.

The reason for his deployment here was simple: one was the expansion of Cancer Palace’s influence, and the other was because of the Dark Nest Mine that produced special Dark Stone.

The first City Lord ruled Rat City with absolute tyranny, forcing the rat citizens to procreate en masse and sending workers to the mines at full capacity every month, delivering enough ore to Cancer Palace to gain favor in return.

However, this Honored Tumor Knight did not enjoy the ’unearned’ life for long,

Among the millions of miners, a special being emerged.

This rat seemed to have a divine power, always completing the mining work ahead of time, and climbing to the very top of the mine when night fell to admire the moonlight alone,

Eventually, he even stopped returning to the city, sleeping on the mountain instead.

Months passed, and the miners working with him noticed that a moon mark seemed to appear on his forehead.

Just as everyone was secretly discussing it,

the rat suddenly disappeared, nowhere to be found. So some speculated that he was so devout that he received the Moon’s blessing and was eventually led to the moon to have the chance to be with the Moon Lady.

Later, even many other rats began to imitate him, admiring the moon during mining breaks,

Some foolish ones even delayed their work in the mines, invoking the City Lord’s wrath, who then cut off the head of the moon-gazing rat and hung it at the entrance of the mine and even specifically issued a prohibition on moon-gazing.

Any act of looking up at the moon might be considered a crime, and since then, no rat dared to show interest in the moon again.

Years passed,

When everyone had gradually forgotten about this incident,

When countless rat people were worked to death due to intense labor causing widespread resentment,

One night, the rat citizens returning from the mine suddenly found that the moon was exceptionally large and round, feeling as if the moon was just a hundred meters above the city,

Accompanied by a beam of white light descending, the long-missing rat returned,

At the same time, sounds of fierce battles emanated from inside the city, with the commotion so great it nearly destroyed the entire Inner City District... No one dared to approach, and only after a whole night passed, the head of the first City Lord was hung on the city gate.

While everyone rejoiced at the outcome, they also greatly feared the wrath of Cancer Palace for such a grave sin of slaying a Honored Tumor Knight,

Sure enough, the Knight Order soon arrived to investigate, bringing a large force of over a hundred knights.

However, the expected slaughter did not happen. Instead, a woman distinct from the others in the Knight Order stepped forward, came to the rat who killed the Honored Tumor Knight, and bestowed upon him the title of the second City Lord and Knight.

With his rise to power,

Life became better for everyone; the work in the mine was cut by at least 70%, and everyone loved their new ruler, even building the Dark Moon Tower as he requested, allowing the closest moon-gazing experience, even using the tower to step directly onto the moon’s surface.

Regrettably,

With the invasion of the world, although our area was not much affected, the moon was shattered.

The second City Lord hence changed drastically, and Rat City slowly deteriorated into what it is today. For us rats born later, we have never seen this City Lord, not even knowing his name."

"An interesting story... So you’re saying that an ancient Honored Tumor Knight from ancient times, who is also a recipient of the Moon’s blessing, still resides within this tower."

"If he is still alive, yes.

Boss, do not ever approach the tower—aside from whether the City Lord is still inside, there is a prohibition in Rat City. Anyone who approaches the tower without permission will be executed by the Black Rat guards."

"Hmm, I see."