Book 3: Chapter 124 (2) |
Leon said, stepping toward Roswitha.
Roswitha instinctively took half a step back, “What are you doing?”
Before she could react, Leon pulled her into his arms and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead,
“Then I’ll give you a kiss in name—”
“Gross! I don’t want it!”
Leon froze, “Then give it back.”
“Fine, I’ll give it back! Who’s scared of who?”
Roswitha stood on her tiptoes and kissed Leon’s forehead in return.
With that, the queen strode toward the clock tower in her high heels.
Looks like twenty minutes was still too long.
When it came to baring their true feelings, just five minutes was enough to make each other’s hearts race.
*This, this, this, this won’t do!*
*We’re about to go to war!*
Leon shook his head with a smile, then caught up.
Back at the Lionheart Society clock tower, a few members were still on night duty.
Rebecca and Nacho hadn’t gone to bed either.
Leon carried the bag of recording stones over, placing it on the long table in the center of the hall.
Other members had also brought back recording stones, a sizable pile—likely enough to achieve the resonance effect Leon had mentioned yesterday.
“Whoa, Captain, you actually bought recording stones,” Rebecca said, slightly surprised.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Wasn’t my fieldwork to buy recording stones?”
“I thought you and sister-in-law were out dating all day.”
“Dating and fieldwork, I can handle both.”
Rebecca’s eyes lit up, “Is this the time management skill of a married man? Impressive.”
Leon waved her off, ignoring the *snarky commentator* crazy girl.
Nacho stood to the side, hands in his pockets, counting the recording stones bought today, then said,
“Tomorrow, we’ll need about a third of this amount more, as a backup.”
Leon nodded, agreeing with Nacho’s plan.
“But we’ve got another problem.”
Nacho said, “Using the resonance effect to transmit the message is no issue with the recording stones we’ve collected, but the problem is, how do we get the recording stones into the paper lanterns for the Thousand Lantern Festival?”
A new challenge arose.
Leon frowned slightly—this was indeed a tricky issue.
After a moment’s thought, Leon asked, “Does anyone in the Lionheart Society have family that makes paper lanterns?”
He asked because he recalled what Carolyn had told him during the day: the welfare home was preparing paper lanterns to sell at the Thousand Lantern Festival to earn some money.
So Leon thought they might contact the suppliers of these lanterns and start from the source.
Nacho thought for a moment, then shook his head, “No. Paper lanterns are only sold around the Thousand Lantern Festival. No one specializes in making them.”
“Is that so…”
Leon scratched his temple, saying, “I can get some paper lanterns, but the quantity definitely won’t be enough.”
He was referring to the batch he’d reserved from Carolyn.
But as Leon himself noted, the output of a single welfare home couldn’t produce nearly enough lanterns.
Nacho ruffled his hair, looking a bit frustrated,
“Ugh… let’s think of other ways. I’m gonna rest for a bit. Rebecca, wake me up at midnight.”
As he spoke, Nacho headed toward his rest room.
“You’re sleeping this early today?”
Nacho waved an arm without turning back, “That brat Will’s been pestering me again. Annoying as hell.”
With that, Nacho returned to his rest room and closed the door.
“Who’s Will…?” Leon asked.
“Oh, a kid who hangs out on the Mid-District streets. Somehow he heard urban legends about the Lionheart Society and decided Nacho’s the big shot. Every time he sees Nacho, he clings to him, begging to join.”
“Then why not let him join?”
Rebecca shrugged, “One, he’s too young, not even an adult. Two, the kid’s got sticky fingers—a notorious street punk with a sharp mind. It’s hard to investigate his family background, so we’ve kept him out.”
“I see…”
“Mm.”
Rebecca hopped off the long table, “Captain, sister-in-law, you two should rest early too. We’ll discuss the lantern issue more tomorrow.”
“Alright, good night.”
“Good night, Rebecca.”
“Good night, sister-in-law! Oh, by the way, Captain, can I sleep with sister-in-law?”
“No way.”
“Why not!”
“Your sister-in-law’s *socially anxious*.”
“Hmph! Stingy married man!”
…
There were two days left until the Thousand Lantern Festival.
While the Lionheart Society didn’t have direct connections to paper lantern suppliers, they had a few members who could pull strings in the Empire’s business circles. Calling in a favor to secure some lanterns wasn’t an issue.
But relying on these alone probably wouldn’t be enough.
Leon’s plan was to have the recording stones’ message cover all five districts of the Empire on the day of the Thousand Lantern Festival.
If they only operated in the Royal District or Upper District, residents in other areas would be left completely in the dark.
That wasn’t the outcome Leon wanted.
He wanted all the oppressed common folk to see the true face of their lofty rulers with their own eyes;
He also wanted them to personally experience the most significant revolution in the history of the human Empire.
On the other hand, the more people who learned the dark truth about the Empire, the better it would be for Leon and the Lionheart Society.
They needed the power of the masses to confront the corrupt, rotten authorities.
So, the paper lantern issue had to be resolved quickly.
After much thought, Leon decided to seek Claudia’s help, hoping his *erudite* “aunt” might come up with a solution.