Chapter 83: The Thief Who Steals Nothing
Under the cover of night, Leon led Noia into the royal city through a secret passage on the outer wall.
This place wouldn’t trigger the sensory barriers’ alarms and was far from the main roads inside the city, so patrols rarely made it down here.
According to the intel Nacho provided, this secret passage had been constructed five years ago, known only to people of his rank or higher.
You had to admire how the once-novice clerk had really climbed the ranks—looks like working for the imperial royal family was quite the sweet gig!
But Leon didn’t have much time to ponder his “old colleague” anymore; he needed to find the Heartguard Dragon Scale as quickly as possible.
With intel from Nacho and Scott, Leon and Noia tiptoed toward the inner city along the outer edge.
Just as Nacho said, there weren’t many patrols near the secret passage, and they quickly located the stash of the Heartguard Dragon Scale.
It was an underground facility, with only an entrance visible on the surface, guarded by four fully armed guards.
On top of that, there was a sensory barrier that was no less secure than the outer wall.
If they tried to charge in, they’d trigger the defensive measures, and the longer they took, the more enemies would show up.
Only those four guards could disarm the barrier, allowing visitors to enter and exit safely.
Leon and Noia pressed against a wall, scrutinizing the guards.
“The intel Nacho gave me mentioned something about passwords and codes,” Leon said. “To get into that underground facility, we need to match the code with those guards.”
“So, we just waltz over there and give the secret code, then?” Noia asked.
“Looks like it. The guards won’t change shifts, so it’s the same four all night. We have no time window to sneak in.”
Noia blinked and asked, “What if they recognize you?”
Even though twenty years had passed and there had been many personnel changes in the empire, Leon was still a known figure from two decades ago, and he hadn’t changed much in looks. So, the risk of being recognized was definitely there.
“Hmm… that is a pickle, considering this handsome face of mine is quite memorable.” Leon pondered seriously.
Three black lines slid down Noia’s forehead.
Mom loved his sense of responsibility, admired his bravery, appreciated his selflessness and strength—but did she also love this narcissism?
“Mom, I think you’re really hungry.”
“Fortunately, I made some preparations before coming.”
As he spoke, Leon pulled out a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and a silver coin he’d pilfered from Nacho.
Disguise was secondary; the key was the silver coin that represented royal identity and status.
Back when he served in the Dragon Slayer Army, the imperial family had given him one like it.
It was flashy enough, but he had never cared for things like that.
So, he’d gone home, banged around some more and repurposed it into a cowbell, which he hung around his donkey’s neck.
Now, when the donkey trotted around grinding away, the delightful jingles provided endless entertainment for its otherwise drab “996” lifestyle.
Leon donned his sunglasses, toyed with the silver coin, then tilted his chin toward the four guards, affecting an official tone,
“Let’s move, Miss Noia.”
The guards looked at him with a mix of disdain and reluctant willingness to comply—how’s that for a complicated feeling?
Was Mom like this when she was dating him?
At twenty-three, come on, old man, can you act a little more mature?
Though she was internally rolling her eyes, Noia still played along splendidly.
“Yes, Lord Leon.”
The father-daughter duo walked confidently toward the underground facility’s entrance.
The moment the four guards heard footsteps, they immediately tensed.
“Who goes there? Coming to the royal city’s Western Tribute storage in the dead of night?” the lead guard barked.
Leon didn’t answer; he continued flipping the silver coin between his fingers.
“Western culture is unparalleled,” Noia stepped forward and replied quietly. “With so many people during the day, we chose to come observe at night instead.”
The guards eased up, taking a second glance at the coin. Suddenly realizing this guy was an important official, they quickly changed their demeanor. “My apologies, sir! The code is mandated by the royal family—whether you’re important or not, everyone has to recite it first.”
They had cleverly tucked the password into a question-and-answer routine to disguise the purpose of the place, hiding the stash of Heartguard Dragon Scales behind a ruse of “Western Tribute.” Anyone who wasn’t in the know would definitely have been caught!
Leon secretly sighed in relief but still had no intention of speaking himself.
Noia continued to handle the communication. “It’s all good; we understand. We just need to check the goods, it’s part of the routine inspection. Please disable the barriers for now.”
“Of course.”
The guard nodded respectfully, then disarmed the facility’s barrier.
Noia glanced back, “Sir, we can go in now.”
“Ladies first.”
La~dies~ First~
Yay!
Old Deng was surprisingly dramatic.
Oh, and Mom could be quite the drama queen too.
So, no worries then.
You can’t get two types of people out of a single bed.
The father-daughter pair walked one behind the other into the underground facility and descended the staircase.
Torches flickered to life one after another as they made their way through the multi-layered staircase until they finally arrived at the basement housing the Heartguard Dragon Scales.
The basement was vast and empty, with dozens of stone platforms neatly arranged, each floating different colored glowing dragon scales.
As soon as Noia stepped into the basement, she felt an overwhelming pressure.
Furrowing her brow, she surveyed the room filled with Heartguard Dragon Scales.
She understood that this pressure was coming from the scales; although the Dragon King’s body may have fallen, the power trapped within the scales still existed.
But Noia was no expert on this stuff. After all, the Heartguard Dragon Scales only started to condense a century after a dragon’s birth.
And she was only twenty-two this year.
“The number of dragon scales isn’t that high…” Leon observed nonchalantly, “a good number of the platforms are empty.”
“Yeah, they might have already been used up, or maybe they’re saving space for newly collected dragon scales,” Noia responded. “But the low count also means that the empire isn’t collecting all sorts of dragon scales, right?”
Leon nodded, “Exactly. A century-old dragon is common; if the empire were just trying to collect all dragon scales, the numbers wouldn’t be this low. Unless their target is some special Heartguard Dragon Scales, like…”
“The Dragon King’s Heartguard Dragon Scale,” Noia completed.
“And Little Light’s reversal magic just happens to require Heartguard Dragon Scales of the Dragon King level to activate,” Leon added.
Noia clicked her tongue, “But how do we know which scale is similar to Rave’s magical properties?”
If they picked the wrong one and the reversal magic didn’t activate, then this little adventure to the empire would have been a total bust.
However, General Leon calmly said, “Isn’t that simple?”
Noia turned her gaze to him.
Then Old Deng pulled out a black cloth bag from his pocket, “Why not just take them all?”
Oh no.
It felt like the moment Monkey King stepped into the Peaches of Immortality Garden.
