After walking and talking with Mary through the streets of the capital for a few minutes, we returned to the place where I snatched the kid’s canvas from. I didn’t take it to keep it, I took it for a chance to get in contact with Aaron, the target. I figured that since he was going to be in the garden, enough noise outside the estate should attract him over to where I was at. Thankfully, my on the fly plan worked and now that my mission was completed.

Therefore it’s only right, I give the canvas back to the boy plus interest.

“Hey, Mister!”

“Yo, scrub. I came to give this back to you… Why do you look beaten up?”

Upon seeing the kid, I asked with a frown. His face was slightly swollen and I could see smudges of blood around his nose from where he tried to wipe it clean.

This boy was beaten up.

“...Did they take your money?”

Glancing at his person that had nothing that resembled a place to store money, I asked with a sigh.

“...”

The kid was silent as he looked down at the ground while trying to hold back his tears filled with anger and sadness. I’ve seen this look thousands of times, mad because he got robbed and sad because he couldn’t do anything about it.

This indignation, I know it all too well.  

“Who could do such a thing! He’s only a child! Here, hold still, [Heal].”

Notwithstanding seeing the little boy in pain, Mary casted a healing spell on him and gently patted his head while saying ‘there, there, it’ll be okay’. Only then did the boy silently let the tears flow from his eyes.

“...”

I may not be the one to speak, having robbed a lot of people but isn’t robbing a kid of his money going a little too far?

Are the robbers that desperate or did they see an easy target? 

Well, either way…

“Do you want to get the money back?”

“Eh?”

I won’t stand for this.

Seeing this kid’s sad appearance is making me overlap some of my memories with the children of the orphanage. When there were times where they couldn’t get the things they wanted such as a toy or candy, I'd indirectly give it to them via Alice or Father Jefferson. 

I would give it to them directly but due to hardly being at the orphanage, I was treated as relatively as a feared older brother who was always up to no good. 

…The things kids say when they’re young are brutal. I swear one made me shed tears one time.

But despite the blatant show of fear they had towards me, I still did my best to make them happy. After all, Father Jefferson told me ‘every happy memory created for a child is a treasure of a lifetime.’ I felt like he stole that quote from somebody but I couldn’t call him out on it due to seeing how proud he looked when he said it. 

Even though Father Jefferson loved to read books, his books of choice weren’t the kind a typical priest would read. In fact, his tastes leaned more towards the degenerates side.

The collection of H*stler magazines he had were praiseworthy.

…Anyways, his words stuck with me and therefore, whenever there’s a chance to make a kid happy, I don’t see the point of not doing it.

“Explain the situation to me.”

Crouching down at the kid’s level, I asked gently with the friendliest smile I could muster up.

“U-uhm?”

At my question, the kid steps behind Mary and glances up at her with eyes that seem to say ‘can this man be trusted?’

Am I that scary?

“Don’t worry, despite him acting like a pervert every once in a while, he’s a nice person.”

Mary said with a kind motherly smile as she looked at me with a teasing look. Damn, talk about brutal. 

“You heard her, I’m not a mean person. Can you tell me who did this to you?”

“...Will you really get the money back?”

After a few seconds of hesitation, the kid begins to speak.

“Yes.”

“Once you get it back you’ll give it to me and won’t take it?”

“Of course I’ll give it back to you. I’ve got plenty more money from where that came from.”

With the king on my side, Attendant Willis is the ultimate piggy bank. As long as I tell him it’s vital for mission success, money will start rolling in. 

“Promise?”

The kid throws out his pinky. Seeing him do such a childish thing, I returned the gesture in kind and said with complete seriousness.

“Promise. Now tell me what happened.”

And so he told me. 

***

“He said the guys who robbed them were staying here for the night.”

Lighting a cigarette, I said to Mary as I casually leaned against a building. We were looking at an inn right down the street. The little boy, whose name was Dillus said that although he didn’t see where they went after they robbed him, he did know where they stayed at due to one shouting it out to their friends. 

‘Because I got street to street trying to sell my drawings, I practically know this city like the back of my hand!’

Dillus said proudly as he puffed out his chest. Hmm, in a nice way, being a roamer of the streets has its perks. I thought about recommending him to the Vagrant Association but dismissed the thought immediately after. I heard their pipeline is tough and the risk of death is fairly high.

I don’t want to subject this kid to such horrors.

“He said that the ones who took his money were three men and two girls. To steal from a child because of such a simple reason… these guys are lower than low.”

With her eyes carrying hints of killing intent, Mary was beyond anger as she stared at the inn. Her anger was understandable because from what I gathered from the story Dillus told me, he got robbed for one simple reason.

He looked easy.

Seeing a happy kid running back to his home with a pouch of coins was an easy mark.

“Let’s go get them.”

Mary said as she stared at me, she was raring to go. So while taking a long draw from my cigarette, I pushed off the wall and started walking towards the inn.

“Alright then… Let’s go.”

It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t so excited I could barely contain my smile. After all, it’s not every day I can have a valid reason to beat the shit out of people. 

“Oh and since you're so gung-ho, I’ll be giving you a test.”

“And that is?”

“Let’s see who can take down their opponents the fastest. Since I’m a master of bar brawls, I call the three dudes. You can have the two women.”

“Eh? why?”

While my hands are rated ‘E’ for everyone, I’m still a little reluctant to hit a lady over a small matter such as this. Especially if they’re pretty. It’d hurt my conscience to ruin such a thing.

Therefore, that’s where Mary comes in.

She’s a female so she can fight them no holds barred.

When I explained this to her, she threw a glare my way saying.

“Hmph, says the man who doesn’t hesitate to punch a girl as pretty as Kari in the face.”

“T-that was in the name of training.”

“What about sweeping Ms. Alice legs so hard from out under her that she practically slammed into the ground?”

“It was necessary. It’s better to treat every fight as if it was real to give them combat experience.”

“The ground had cracks in it!”

I even shed a tear after seeing how harsh I treated her. It hurts every fiber of my being when I inflict harm upon Alice.

“Oh yeah? Don’t think I haven’t forgotten the time where you put me in what was it called? The Walls of Jer*cho? Do you know how painful that was?”

“You tapped out though?”

“Lies! As soon as I tapped out you said ‘in battle, there’s no such thing as tapping out!’ with an evil grin and continued to escalate The Walls of Jer*cho! Do you do that for fun?”

“...”

She verbally beat me into submission.

I can’t deny, I usually do those things to them for fun.