128 I’m Smarter than a Monkey!
Leon snatched the wallet from Will’s hands.
When he looked up again, the thief’s earlier bravado was nowhere to be seen.
His lips were pale, cold sweat poured down his face, and even though he was wearing slightly loose pants, his legs were visibly trembling.
This was quite normal, of course. After all, a crafty thief longing to join the Lionheart Association could never have expected to steal right under the nose of the association’s boss one day.
Leon sized up Will, noticing how young he looked, and then asked, “How old are you this year?”
“Ten… eighteen…”
“Be honest.” Nacho said from the side.
Will quickly corrected himself, “Seventeen! My eighteenth birthday is in two months!”
“Oh, so shouldn’t you be in school at this age? Why drop out to become a thief?”
“Bro, I’m not a thief!” Will solemnly explained.
Leon raised an eyebrow and looked down at the wallet he had just recovered, “If that’s not a thief… what is it?”
“A rogue!—Ow! That hurts…”
Nacho smacked the back of his head, “You little brat, you don’t study much but you sure can argue!”
Will scratched his nose and laughed awkwardly, “Alright, actually my dad found me a decent job not long ago, being a rogue—ahhh I mean thief, is really just my side gig.”
Nacho laughed mockingly, raising a leg as if to kick him.
But Will dodged nimbly.
Leon chuckled too; he had never heard of anyone who treated stealing as a part-time job.
A person like that usually only existed in various magical comic books, right?
By day they’re just a miserable office worker, getting pushed around by bosses and colleagues, but by night they transform into a masked superhero or a cynical villain.
But for someone like Will to turn himself into a thief is probably quite rare.
“With such great skills in your side job, your main gig must be even more impressive, right?” Leon teased.
Will hummed thoughtfully, “Eh, not really, bro. I just do the night watch at a warehouse.”
Before Leon could comment on Will’s main job, Nacho teased from the side, “Putting you as a night watchman is like sending a monkey to guard a peach orchard!”
“Hey, Nacho, you can’t say that!”
“And how should I say it?”
“I’m definitely smarter than a monkey!”
Nacho covered his face in exasperation.
This was one of the reasons he didn’t want Will to join the Lionheart Association.
Besides the age issue, this kid could be totally ludicrous sometimes.
For a while, Nacho had been digging into Will’s background and could confirm that he was, without a doubt, a born-and-bred citizen of the Empire.
Originally from the lower district, thanks to Will’s dad’s hard work, they managed to crawl up to the central district and started a small business.
But as everyone knows, in the Empire, you might earn a little, but the Empire never seems to lose.
Those who suffer the most are the small-time businessfolk with no connections or power.
So in theory, Will could join the Lionheart Association.
But this cocky kid… was just too hot-headed.
“What kind of warehouse would hire you for night watch? Doesn’t your reputation as the great Will the Thief spread all over the central district?” Nacho asked.
“Locals know I’m a rogue, but outsiders don’t! This warehouse isn’t from the central district; it was temporarily built by the Royal Family on a piece of land borrowed from the central district.”
After a pause, Will changed his tone, fuming, “Every time I think about it, I get angry. They take our central district’s land and charge only half the regular rent, calling it ‘Royal requisition, consider yourselves lucky.’ Pfft! I’ll burn that broken warehouse down sooner or later.”
Searching keywords: Royal Family, Central District, temporarily built warehouse.
Leon and Roswiser exchanged a quietly knowing glance.
The couple was perfectly in sync, everything unspoken.
“What do they store in that warehouse?” Leon asked.
“Here, this!”
With that, Will pulled out a folded paper lantern from his pocket.
Since the number of paper lanterns needed for the Lantern Festival was quite large, they were designed to be foldable for convenience of carrying and storage.
It was simple to use—just unfold it from both sides.
“Ah, so a monkey’s ventured into a peach orchard.”
Nacho said with a sigh, “Then you must’ve stolen more than just this one, right?”
“Nacho, I only stole this one!”
“Hmm?”
“…Alright, five.”
“Try again.”
“…A dozen, okay? Anyway, there are so many paper lanterns in that warehouse, who would notice how many I take?”
Will explained, “I planned to sell a few to make some money, consider it our rental payment from the Empire.”
“Dream on.”
“Right? Nacho.”
“Stand over there.”
“Ow.”
Will hung his head and quietly walked to the side.
Nacho then came to Leon, lowering his voice, “I guess what you’re thinking right now is the same as what I’m thinking.”
Leon glanced at Will, who had his hands in his pockets, idly kicking at stones on the ground.
“After you mentioned Will last night, I asked Rebecca, and she said his background was hard to investigate. I’m worried the kid will crack under pressure and spill the beans.” Leon shared his concerns.
Even though he didn’t really dislike this brash, self-proclaimed rogue, when it comes to important matters, Leon couldn’t just decide based on his subjective judgment.
“He definitely won’t spill.” Nacho said, “Though some parts are hard to track, I’ve dug up Will’s history these past few days. Besides his age and being a bit impulsive, he really does fit well with the Lionheart Association.”
“Is that so…” Leon pondered.
“So, what now?” Nacho asked, “This is the fastest way for us to get paper lanterns.”
After a moment of contemplation, Leon organized his thoughts and said, “Tonight, we’ll bring a few people, not too many, to avoid causing any issues that might lead to losses for the Lionheart Association.”
“Then we’ll take enough Shadow Stones, so we don’t have to steal the paper lanterns from the warehouse. We can just hide the Shadow Stones on the lanterns in the warehouse and then use illusion magic to conceal them. This will save us a lot of time.”
“Finally, we’ll tally the paper lanterns collected from other channels; our goal is to cover all districts of the Empire.”
Nacho nodded, “Got it, I’ll take care of it right away.”
“Yeah, try to get it done before 3 AM.”
“No problem.”
With the orders given, Nacho turned and walked over to Will.
After a quick chat, Will leapt three feet in excitement.
“Thanks, Nacho!”
Then he turned and waved at Leon, “Thanks for giving me this opportunity, Leon!”
“Alright, off you go.” Nacho pushed him on the shoulder, steering him toward the alleyway exit.
“Eh? Aren’t you coming with us, Leon?”
“Of course not! Have you ever seen a boss personally go to the front lines to do the dirty work?”
“Oh, that’s true.”
The two gradually moved away, their figures quickly disappearing into the crowd.
Roswiser turned her gaze toward Leon, her eyes sparkling with a smile, “Honestly, I thought you were going to handle this yourself just now.”
Leon shrugged, “You taught me, as a leader, it’s not necessary to do everything personally.”
“But you also need to—”
“But you also have to be prepared to face the consequences if the plan fails,” Leon cut in.
“Humph, you remember that pretty well.”
A good leader never steals the glory from their followers.
Just like this warehouse matter.
Leon was only responsible for making plans and decisions, while the actual execution was carried out by the members of the Lionheart Association.
If the plan succeeded, it would be the result of everyone’s collective effort.
But if it failed, Leon wouldn’t dump the blame on Nacho and the others.
As he just discussed with Roswiser, that’s the pressure a leader carries; they bear the full consequences of failure.
And Roswiser would always stand by his side.
“So, what are we doing now?” Roswiser asked.
Leon thought for a moment, “Let’s go check on Teacher Caroline and the others.”
…
Casmod Orphanage.
The children and several nuns had moved two big boxes of paper lanterns to the front door.
“Good job, kids! For dinner, we’re having braised meat~”
“Yay!”
“Teacher Caroline is the best!”
Everyone cheered and ran towards the cafeteria, ready to embrace the once-a-year braised meat dinner.
Caroline turned her gaze away from the kids and looked at Leon at the door, “These paper lanterns are what you ordered, sir. We worked overtime to make a lot of them.”
“Thanks for your hard work, Teacher Caroline.”
Caroline gazed at this familiar figure in disguise; even a brief moment was enough to bring her comfort.
She didn’t know what Leon planned to do.
But just like Sharen said, Brother Leon is back; we have hope.
“Teacher Caroline!”
Just then, they heard Sharen’s voice from behind.
Everyone turned to see the little nun running towards them, holding a paper lantern.
“I… I made the last paper lantern! Please accept it, sir!”
Sharen held out the lantern with both hands.
It was already open.
The outside of the paper lantern was covered with the names of all the nuns and children from the Casmod Orphanage, packed so tight there was hardly any space left.
However, at the very top of the lantern, a single line was left alone.
This line contained just one name:
Leon Casmod.
“This paper lantern is…”
“It’s very meaningful, sir!” Sharen exclaimed excitedly, “We all wrote our names on it, and the name at the top… it’s… it’s…”
She seemed too excited to speak clearly.
Leon naturally noticed the only name written separately on the lantern.
From the handwriting, it seemed to be written by Teacher Caroline herself.
In that moment, Leon realized something.
Could it be that the teachers had already… recognized him…?
“He’s our hero, sir.”
Teacher Caroline extended her hand, gently cradling Sharen’s hand, moving the lantern closer to Leon, “He was in the past, he is now, and he will be in the future.”
“So please accept this lantern; it carries the hopes of everyone at the Casmod Orphanage.”
Leon confirmed his suspicion in his heart.
But now was not the right time to acknowledge it; with so many people around, once everything settled down, there would be time for hugs.
Leon looked at the lantern filled with names, his pupils quivering slightly.
After a moment, Leon reached out and solemnly took it.
“I understand, thank you, Teacher Caroline, and thank you, Sharen.”
“Your welcome, sir.”
After a pause, Teacher Caroline smiled, but her tone was serious, “May you have great fortune in your endeavors.”
As a nun, she almost never said ‘may you have great fortune’ when parting with someone.
Over the years, only one person could prompt Caroline to say those four words every time they bid farewell.
His name was Leon, the best child Caroline had ever taught.
