Chapter 195: Tell them it was embarrassing

"I know what it says."

"It says to stand down."

"I know what it says, Teo. But the notice came ten minutes ago, and a million gold has been on his head for three weeks."

Corin drew his sword.

"Do you think the Association is going to pay us when it takes the money back? Do you? We are going to hand him in tonight. If they want to argue about it afterward, they can argue with the corpse."

"That is a terrible plan," Leon said.

"Shut up."

"I only mean that the order was an official one. If you attack me now, you are breaking a direct instruction from the Council. They will not pay you. They will probably put you on a different list."

"I said shut up."

"And you are a B-rank player." Leon added, glancing at the tablet, "at best. I can see it from here. I am sorry if that is rude."

Corin’s face went dark red. He lunged.

Leon did not bother to call the shield. He stepped half a pace to the left, and the sword went past his ear and cut a neat slice out of the evening air.

He caught the man’s wrist as it came by and gave it a turn, almost gently, and the sword fell from Corin’s fingers and rang on the stones.

"Ow," said Corin.

"I told you."

The smaller of the other two men let out a yell and rushed in with a short blade. Leon put out his left foot and tripped him.

The man hit the ground and slid, and his knife went spinning into the gutter. The third one, a thin boy with a bow, drew back the string and froze with the arrow aimed at Leon’s chest.

Leon looked at the arrow.

It was a plain wooden arrow, with a gray goose feather and a steel head. It was a perfectly good arrow, and it was probably very sharp.

He felt nothing at all.

"Well," he said, after a moment. "That is something."

"What?" the boy squeaked.

"Nothing. I was only comparing." Leon sighed. "You can put it down. I am not going to hurt you."

"You... you are the one who killed your father."

"Yes."

"Then why would we believe..."

"Because I did not break your wrist," Leon said, nodding at Corin, who was cradling his hand. "And I could have."

The boy’s bowstring slackened. He lowered the bow an inch at a time, staring at the stranger in front of him as if he could not decide whether to run.

Leon walked over to the man with the tablet. Teo was crouched against the wall with his hands over his head, and he flinched when the shadow fell across him.

"Show me the notice," Leon said.

The man held out the tablet with shaking hands. The white text glowed on the screen.

[BOUNTY NOTICE: ALLISTAR, LEON. STATUS: WITHDRAWN.]

"There," Leon said. "You see? It is real. Corin, do you see it?"

"I see it," the big man ground out.

"Then you may go home."

"You..."

"Go home, and tell the other teams that the hunt is over. If anyone else wants to try for the million, you can tell them what happened here." He smiled pleasantly. "Tell them it was very embarrassing."

Corin snatched up his sword with his left hand. He glared at Leon for a long second.

Then, with a muttered curse, he waved at his men, and the three of them retreated down the lane at a hurried walk. The boy with the bow looked back twice. The second time, Leon waved to him.

When they were gone, the lane was quiet again.

’That was not very kind,’ Medusa said.

’I did not hurt anyone.’

’You embarrassed them on purpose.’

’Only a little.’

’You are enjoying this.’

’Hehe...’ said Leon.

She sighed, and he laughed again, softly. But the laugh did not last. He had been thinking, the whole time that the three of them had been standing in front of him, that there were other teams in the city.

There were hundreds. Some of them would see the notice and put down their weapons. Others would not believe it, or would not care, or would be too far from a screen to hear.

One of them might even find his way to a small house with a lit kitchen window.

He did not wish to think about that.

He turned left at the next corner and walked until he reached the long street. It was quiet. A single lamp burned at the far end, and the houses on either side were dark. At the middle of the row, one window still glowed with a warm yellow light.

Leon stopped across the road, in the shadow of a chimney stack, and looked at it.

He did not go closer. She had asked him to leave her alone, and he intended to honor that.

But there was a flat roof on the building opposite, with a low parapet and a view of the whole road, and he climbed the drainpipe to it in a few easy motions and sat down with his back against the brick.

The window glowed. A shape crossed it once, small and dark against the light, and then the curtain was drawn.

’You are not going to tell her,’ Medusa said.

’No.’

’She will be furious if she finds out.’

’She will not find out.’

’She found out about the bread.’

’That was different.’

Medusa did not say anything for a moment. Far below, a cat padded across the road and vanished under a gate. The wind turned, and the smell of the sea drifted over the roofs.

’Leon,’ she said at last. ’I need to ask you something, and I want you to answer it honestly.’

’Go on.’

’Are you sitting on this roof to protect her from the hunters?’

He looked at the lit window.

’Or,’ said Medusa, ’are you sitting on this roof because you want to know what she does when she thinks that nobody is watching?’

Leon did not answer for a long time.

’Both,’ he said.