Book 3: Chapter 127 (2) |
Nacho had been wandering the Mid-District in his beggar disguise, scouting for useful intel.
But at the sound of Will’s voice, Nacho felt an urge to drop dead.
*Why’s this hot-blooded kid still haunting me?!*
“Nacho!”
Will rushed up to Nacho, hurriedly pulling out the wallet he’d stolen from Leon,
“Look, look at this! I stole it from some royal guy. This should count as my *letter of allegiance* to join the Lionheart Society, right?”
Nacho glanced down, then froze.
This wallet… why does it look familiar?
“Right there! Those two!”
Will pointed into the alley.
The couple had paused their rock-paper-scissors, turning to look over.
Seeing it was Leon and Roswitha, Nacho’s disguised face didn’t know what expression to make.
Leon and Roswitha were equally stunned—why was Nacho here?
The three stared at each other in silence.
Finally, Will broke the quiet.
“Hey! You two, weren’t you all high and mighty just now? Why so quiet all of a sudden?”
“…Hey—” Nacho tried to stop the kid’s rant.
But Will, oblivious, kept gloating,
“Let me tell you, I’m actually a member of the Lionheart Society, specializing in *robbing the rich to help the poor*. If you two leave quietly now and pretend nothing happened, maybe when Leon Kasmod leads us to topple the Empire, we’ll spare some of your family fortune.”
“Leon… Kasmod?”
“Yeah, what, you’re not telling me you’ve never heard of the man’s name, are you?”
Leon quirked a corner of his mouth, “Hmm… never heard of him.”
“Then you’re really *long-haired but short-sighted*!”
Leon: …
“Anyway, all you need to know is that Big Bro Leon will lead us into the next new era.”
“Will, I’m advising you to shut up.”
“What’s wrong? Oh, right, right, we gotta keep things secret outside, can’t leak the organization’s info. I get the rules.”
Will quickly racked his brain, glancing at the couple in the alley,
“But they already know who we are, so maybe—”
As he spoke, Will made a “slit throat” gesture.
Nacho silently facepalmed,
“Seriously, I’m begging you, shut your mouth.”
Will scratched his head, “What’s the deal?”
Nacho slowly raised a hand, pointing at Leon,
“He’s not from the royals.”
Will blinked, confused, “Then who is he…?”
Before he could finish, a scarred hand clapped down on Will’s shoulder from behind.
Will’s small frame trembled, as if an electric current shot through his spine, goosebumps rising instantly.
“I’m Leon Kasmod. Can you give me back my wallet now?”
…
Leon took the wallet from Will’s hand.
When he looked up at him again, the self-proclaimed master thief had lost all the bravado he’d had ten minutes ago.
His lips were pale, cold sweat dripped down, and even in his slightly loose straight-leg pants, you could see his legs trembling faintly.
This was understandable—after all, a master thief desperate to join the Lionheart Society could never have predicted he’d one day steal from the head of the Lionheart Society himself.
Leon sized Will up and down. He looked young, so Leon asked,
“How old are you this year?”
“E-Eighteen…”
“Tell the truth,” Nacho said sternly from the side.
Will immediately corrected himself, “Seventeen! Two months till my eighteenth birthday!”
“Oh, at that age, shouldn’t you be in school? Why’d you drop out to become a thief?”
“Bro, this isn’t just a thief job,” Will explained earnestly.
Leon raised an eyebrow, glancing at the wallet he’d just reclaimed,
“Not a thief… then what are you?”
“A chivalrous thief!—Ow! That hurts…”
Nacho smacked the back of his head,
“Little punk, didn’t study much, but you’ve got a whole set of excuses.”
Will scratched the tip of his nose, grinning awkwardly, “Alright, fine. Actually, my dad got me a decent job not long ago. Being a chivalrous thief is just—argh, fine, a thief, a thief’s just my side gig.”
Nacho snorted, lifting his foot as if to kick Will’s butt.
But Will deftly dodged.
Leon chuckled too—he’d never heard of anyone treating thieving as a side gig.
Weren’t those types usually found in wacky comic books?
By day, a miserable office worker, taking flak from bosses and colleagues, but by night, transforming into a masked superhero or a cynical supervillain.
But someone like Will, turning into a thief? That had to be rare.
“Your side gig’s already this impressive, so your main job must be even more amazing, right?” Leon teased.
Will huffed, “Eh, not really, bro. Just night watch at a warehouse.”
Before Leon could comment on Will’s main job, Nacho mocked from the side,
“Letting you guard a warehouse is like *letting a monkey guard a peach orchard*—what’s the difference?”
“Hey, Nacho-bro, you can’t say that.”
“Then what should I say?”
“I’m way smarter than a monkey!”
Nacho helplessly facepalmed again.
This was one reason he didn’t want Will in the Lionheart Society.
Beyond his age, this guy could be way too *unreliable* at times.
Over the past few days, Nacho had dug into Will’s background and confirmed he was a pure-born Empire citizen.
His family started in the Lower District, and through his father’s hard work, they’d climbed to the Mid-District, running a small business.
But as everyone knew, doing business in the Empire meant you might make a small profit, but the Empire never lost.