Not expecting Leon to appear in the slaughterhouse of Hector Norman, Ruth darted off her seat.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Madam roots said glaring at Leon as if this is the last place she expected to run into him, "Young man, you haven't returned to the saloon all day last night. Don't expect this will go unpunished. And what are you doing walking in like this in front of Mr. Hector without…"

"Ruth, knock it off." Hector spoke, "I had him on a job."

"Mr. Hector…" Ruth turned to Hector with a perplexed face, "This is my Rabbit, Mr. Hector… he works for me… I…"

"And you work for me, right?" Hector looked at her with a frown, "What's yours is mine, Ruth… or did you forget the deal we had?"

"No, Sir. I did not." Ruth said lowering her head but her face displayed dissatisfaction and resentfulness.

"Alright. Roll out now." Hector said, "And stop getting us involved in things we have no use for." And he turned to Leo, "We need to talk."

Ruth walked away looking backward at Leon and Zal who stayed behind before violently turning herself ahead in full commitment to walk away. Meanwhile, Hector stood up from his sofa and signaled Leon to follow.

"There is news about the painting." Hector said as he walked through a door.

"So I have heard." Leon replied.

"Good. Then you know someone else beat us to it?" Hector said as he entered the secured room.

"About that." Leon looked at Mr. Zal and winked.

Zal nodded and stepped forward to a table on the side. He put the portrait he was carrying on the table and started removing the sheets covering it.

"Hey… don't tell me!"

At that moment, the face of the Bull changed color.

He saw the painting, he realized it is the Pride of Del Mar… but…

"You IDIOTS!"

Rather than getting pleased, he completely turned into rage mode.

The Bull's face showed a terrifying expression and his presence dominated the room as he pushed both Zal and Leon away with just one sweep of the back of this hand.

"You morons! I should have figured out it was you!"

At that moment with their backs against a wall, Leon and Zal raised their hands as Hector pulled out one large knife from his coat. His bald head and face made him look like a demon about to lash out.

"Calm down, Mr. Hector. Please!" Leon stood forward with his hands raised ready to defend himself and Zal.

Zal himself was holding his shoulder and struggling against the wall as he fell on his knees and cried from the pain. Meanwhile, Mikaela and three other men ran into the room with their knives held up against Leon and Zal.

"What did you two idiots do?" Mikaela shouted.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" Leon shouted, "Mr. Hector still didn't explain why he lashed out like that."

Feeling disparate, Leon started to count in his mind how he can kill those three men and Mikaela if he had to before this Bull makes a move. He will be able to do it in time but he will have to give up the painting and Zal and potentially everything he tried to accomplish with the Syndicate.

"You morons! Look what they brought to my home!" Hector shouted as he pointed at the painting laying on the table.

Mikaela's face changed in an instant and glared at Leon and Zal the same way Hector did.

"You fools! That's why the Boss told you to stay put!" She said, "This painting is being tracked by Magic!"

Seeing and hearing where their fears had come from, Leon had that look on his face before calming down gradually now that he knew what they were rambling about. It seemed that despite being street thugs, these guys had good eyes and ears to get that much information.

"Magic? You mean the Tracking Spell?" Leon asked.

Seeing him mention it; Hector, Mikaela and even Zal looked at him with eyes that didn't know whether to understand or misunderstand this young man.

"You knew of the spell and you still brought it?" Hector asked.

"After we took care of it! On the spot!" Leon replied with an angry tone before turning to Zal, "And the man who planned it all, you harmed him like that."

He said as he helped Zal up and winked at him without the other's noticing. Zal was still holding his shoulder which seems to have been dislocated yet he was aware enough to notice that Leon was getting them out of the hard spot and kept immersing himself in pain.

"You took care of it?" Hector asked in confusion but mostly was disbelieving it and hoping it was true at the same time.

"Yes. Check it out yourself if you have the method to… which of course you do!" Leon said in anger as helped Zal on the nearby chair, "Mr. Zal hired a specialist to seal that spell and another one to distract the Mages away."

"He did?" Mikaela asked.

"Of course he did. Were you taking us for fools or something?" Leon replied dismissively, "We kept the painting for a few hours now and no one came after it since last night. It has been around 16 hours by now and you think we fucked up?"

Hector and Mikaela calmed down as they heard Leon but of course they won't just take his words. Hector looked at Mikaela and spoke.

"Go bring that!" He said.

She nodded silently and kept an eye on Leon and Zal as she left. Meanwhile, Hector kept the two under his frightening gaze until Mikaela returned with a young woman with messy dark hair in brown dirty robes being held from her shoulder forward. The woman's face was boney and dry from both starvation and dehydration which seemed excessive treatment and inhumane but those are the scumbags of the Syndicate nonetheless.

Mikaela put that young woman on a chair and made two men hold her still as she went ahead and came with the painting towards her.

"Hey! Hey!" Mikaela shouted and kicked the woman's leg violently, "Do you feel anything from this? Do you?"

The woman was indeed sitting on the chair but she wasn't looking at the table or anything, she was rather staring at Leon with eyes full of fear.

Not the shaken fear, not the trembling fear… the silent frozen fear. The fear of a prey, the fear of the absolute certainty that is death. Leon can recognize those eyes.

Funny! This whole situation gave him a Deja Vu sensation, a memory. He kept trying to remember it but the memory was elusive. It forced him at the end to look at the woman and mumble… "Read!"

——————————

[STR: 5] [END: 4] [AGI: 5] [PRC: 8] [INT: 3]

- Condition: Withdrawal, Exhaustion

- Titles: {Trash} {Rat}

- Skills: N/A

- Special: [Mana Allergy]

- Proficiency: (Talent: 3%)

——————————

"The fuck?"

Leon almost understood what is going on here.

Say whatever you want about inhumane treatment but this was just plain insufferable. Leon was an unfortunate existence among his peers but this is even worse than Jordi.

A young woman allergic to mana being used as some sort of Mana Sensor. Above all, she is being drugged and abused to the point where her mental state is this dire?

Leon hated it. He hated the fear in that woman's eyes, he hated the way her head was pushed around by that man standing over her as he pushed her face against the painting, he hated all there is to hate about this all. This had nothing to do with being good or bad, it was about how shitty this mud came to make people and how the shitheads control the world whether it is from up or from down.

Why is he having those emotions?

This bitter darkness? It is coming again for some reason.

He had it once when he read that journal on top of the roof and it filled him with hate and spite and darkness and negativity all of a damn sudden.

He was like that once… not him… Leon!

Did the Prince abuse him that way or… it was something before that, right?

Before the Academy?

Leon lost all focus at this point until the voice of Mikaela sounded inside the room.

"Boss, she's not reacting." Mikaela said.

"Really?" Hector walked to the painting and took it from Mikaela's hands with joy and greed, "It is not… it is not tracked?"

"No, Boss." Mikaela smiled then looked at Leon and Zal, "Those two seem to have done it and done it right."

It was too surprising for anyone other than Leon in this room. Zal surely didn't know it was tracked with magic or anything. As far as he is concerned, all he did was to drive the getaway carriage and put a frame on the painting. Aside from that, the charm and the magic were all Leon's doing but he was still to keep silent about all that.

On the other hand, Leon snorted with his head up.

"As I said before, Mr. Zal is a genius at planning." He said and pointed to the man.

It felt wrong to Zal but as the promise went, he was to take credit for all the planning and give Leon the credit for operating.

"How did you do that?" Hector asked Zal with wide eyes.

"Ehehe! Hehehe… mostly through careful planning and leaving nothing for the chance. It also involved reckless ideas but… Leo is the best thief I worked with."

"Well done… well done indeed." Hector changed his attitude completely and looked at Leon and Zal, "You two deserve a big reward."

Zal smiled and Leon became warier yet he spoke without care.

"Mr. Zal can take the reward and would like to be acknowledged for this master-class operation." Leon spoke.

"Done!" The Bull said.

"As for me, I did something for you Mr. Hector and I need a few small favors from you. Nothing too big."

"Alright." Hector smiled and shrugged his shoulders as if there is nothing he can't do, "What do you need?"

"First, Madam Ruth from a while ago is making contact with the Foreman." Leon said.

"Really?" Hector took it strangely but he seemed natural with it, "And?"

"Her activities will severely affect the Saloon and the people over there one day. A change in leadership is something they are after." Leon said.

"Hmmm… usually all the rackets on the river's banks are heavily affected by the Foreman's people but I don't care for that small Saloon. As long as it gives honest young ladies some honest work to do, I don't care who's running the circus. That's all?" Hector gave Leon the green light and asked.

"The other thing is about me." Leon said, "I'll be leaving the city for a couple of weeks to be done with some unfinished business. I don't know my destination to be exact but wherever I go, I hope I can have the support of the Syndicate if possible."

"Ah! You need a recommendation." Hector nodded.

"If possible."

Hector thought for a while before nodding, "This is not something I usually give away but you brought me something that my family sought after for generations. I won't turn you down."

Hector went to a desk at the end of the room, opened a drawer, and took out some trinket from it.

It looked like a coin but was much bigger and was all made of silver. Sure enough, this big coin made both Zal and Mikaela open their eyes wide.

"Take it. Don't lose it. Once you come back to the capital, come back with it and I will give you a proper reward." Hector said.

"Yes, sir." Leon nodded as he took the coin and looked at it.

——————————

[ Token of the Bull ]

- A Piece of a Set.

- @&%^!$# [email protected]$#%.

——————————

"Hm?" Leon frowned as he saw it and realized there was some sort of… encryption?

Can there be anything hidden from "Read"? Like corrupted data?

He couldn't really tell what it can be but he still took it.

"Thank you, Sir." Leon said and turned around, "Now I will take Mr. Zal to get his shoulder looked at."

"Yes, yes. Let me see you tonight, Zal. I'll make sure you are recognized for your work." Hector said.

"Thank you, Mr. Hector."

The two walked in a good mood and are now walking out not better than how they expected but the best results were achieved.

But nothing here was sunshine and rainbows, this shit show was yet to begin. Zal watched Hector left up the painting as he walked after Leon and…

"MR. HECTOR! NO! STOP!"

*Bang* *Screck* *Crack*

Hector raised the portrait and broke its frame violently.

Zal tried to run in and tried to stop him but the men on the door stopped him. Leon looked back and his face went pale.

*Rip* *Rip* *Rip*

Hector took his knife, stabbed it into the painting itself and started cutting as he laughed. The portion of the painting around the sea serpent's head was fully ripped out by the Bull. He raised it to the light of the candle beside him and on its back, a map appeared.

Leon kept staring as Zal kept struggling. This was when he realized what sort of mistake he made.