BXBX NOVEL Chapter 345 Don't act up
"I knew it! I\'m right! This is a portal to another world!" Leon pretty much repeated himself, looking all triumphant as if he was the one to discover it in the first place. And it was this flamboyant and outright arrogant attitude that made me beg Fay to give up on this event and just stay hidden.
Leon was too important for me to freely insult at every possible opportunity. And judging by the one interaction he had with Fay thus far, that\'s how things would likely end up if she were to be anywhere near Leon\'s lecherous eyes.
\'It\'s better to be safe than sorry, I guess,\' I thought, heaving a small sigh before pointing with my hand at the gate that Leon was so excited about.
"Because of how late you are, we are pretty much on the clock. And if we don\'t hurry, then we will get locked out of the other world for god knows how long."
I didn\'t see it, but I could feel Leon\'s stare dig into the flesh of my back as he tried to dissect every possible meaning of the words I said.
"You are right, we still need to relocate the other end of the gate," Makary agreed, walking out from the other side of the hangar.
I didn\'t know whether he got held up by some matters or if he actually arrived later than Leon himself. And quite honestly, I couldn\'t care less. All that was important was that now he was here, I could leave the majority of the burden named Leon in his care instead of trying to humor the rowdy guest all on my own.
"Let\'s hurry up, then!" Leon exclaimed, appearing to be all the more happy about our hurry than he was annoyed by it.
\'Is it his age?\' I thought, struggling to reconnect my image of the city\'s chief magistrate with the extremely energetic persona in front of me. Yet, no matter how damn hard I tried… It just didn\'t feel possible for someone acting like that to be literally the most important person in the entire city and while replaceable, wielded quite a lot of power within the city\'s bounds.
\'I wonder, between the two of them,\' I looked at Makary and Leon at the same time. \'Between the two of them, which one holds more power, I wonder?\'
My perception of their respective might was bound to be skewed. I was surrounded by all sorts of displays that Makary created when he invested what apparently was nearly the majority of his private wealth and the free funds of the group he managed. On the other hand, Leon was pretty much the one running the city and dictating the rate of taxation.
And while, thankfully, I was never wealthy enough before my life changed to pay taxes…
The taxes continued to be one of the biggest sources of revenue one could imagine. And with how few public services there were offered in the city, Leon was pretty much free to pocket a great chunk of the tax money, either by using a complex net of shell companies and virtual accounts or by outright taking the money out of the city\'s treasury.
He was a chief magistrate, after all, and the quasi-autocrat of the city needed some ability to throw money at any given dumpster fire that threatened to spread out and engulf the whole town.
Busy with my own thoughts, I crossed the barrier between the world without much fanfare, not even bothering to uphold any sort of conversation with Leon.
Given the level of matters we represented, Makary advised me not to put up a fake front. Apparently, Leon took great delight in dismantling people\'s fake, business masks, turning the attempted courtesy into a disadvantage in any kind of negotiations that followed.
And in all honesty, not bearing the burden of pretending not to be annoyed by Leon\'s presence was a boon the worth of which I dared not to undervalue.
Still, my freedom to act around Leon the way I actually felt was the boon that also came at a cost.
A cost of having to endure his antics even after we crossed to Fay\'s world, where I hoped for him to be too amazed by the wonders of this place to bother me. Hopes that I soon found to be unfounded.
"Oh my gosh! This forest is so… beautiful! And fresh! And…"
Before Leon could complete his eulogy over how beautiful the simple trees around him were, his eyes just happened to lock on a random divine of a silver lineage simply passing through.
"Who was that?!" Like a kid who just found a new, interesting toy, Leon jumped up to Makary and demanded answers.
"Those are one of the two types of locals that live in this forest. They could call them…" Makary hesitated before putting a small smirk on his lips, "reluctant allies? Allies out of necessity?" Makary\'s words were more of a suggestive question rather than a straight-out answer.
And from what I could see and tell, those words worked wonders when compared to the annoyed looks I kept throwing at the man.
"Oh…" with Leon\'s excitement fading within a single instant, I just couldn\'t help but commend Makary in my thoughts. \'But how… why…?\'n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
"As you might have guessed, it could turn into a massive issue if you were to disrespect the wrong people, so for all that you hold dear, keep your damn tongue trapped within your closed mouth."
Makary\'s face made it clear that this time, he wasn\'t joking or just play-fighting with his acquaintance.
And for as well I came to know the man in the few weeks since I\'ve first met him… Right now, he was extremely serious.
\'Well, I can see how the whole situation could go to shit if he were to clash with Etaria…\' Just the thought of how such an event could go nearly made me bend in half and retch my lungs out.
It would be a simple meeting that would either devastate any sort of good impression we managed to imprint on the princess over the past two days… Or things could actually turn bad, bringing ruin to the work we did at the camp in the last two days and all the prep we had to go through before that.
"Who do you take me for, some kind of idiot?" Leon protested loudly, instantly attracting the surprised glares from the few divines and celestials that passed by the clearing.
In the times since I\'ve established the gate in here, Makary\'s men seemed to come to a silent understanding with the locals that while their presence was disturbing, both the divines and the celestials were willing to keep up with it, both for the sake of repaying them for their help in warding off the imperial invasion but also in hopes of keeping good relations from when we would all move out to the plain outside of the forest.
With that silent, mutual understanding in place, it was only a matter of two days before mercenaries learned that not making much noise was just another form of respecting the peace of the forest that the locals fought so hard to protect.
"Ah," Leon jumped a little when he noticed both the glances the forest folk were stealing of him, and also the furious stares of the mercenaries in the vicinity. Still…
"I\'m sorry for shouting. If there\'s any further behavior of mine that needs correcting, please feel free to speak your heart out."
As much as I didn\'t want to, I had no other choice but to give it to Leon that he composed himself from his overly excited state far sooner than any normal person could. And if his ability to quickly turn serious when needed wasn\'t enough, Leon appeared to be intelligent enough to catch on the local customs with nothing but his damn intuition alone!
"It\'s okay. For now, though, it\'s best if you stay silent and try not to stand out any more than you already are," Makary commented while rolling his eyes after giving Leon\'s fur coat a short yet lasting glance.
"If you have some clothes I could change to, I would be both willing and happy to do so," Leon countered immediately, proving that at the very least, his wits were as quick as his control over his own emotions. "I never liked those bags, but given my position, I can\'t just walk out of the magistrate in sweatpants and a hoodie, can I?"