novelraw Chapter 35 : A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Chapter 35 : A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Chapter 35: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Seeing this scene, Leon also realized how thorny the situation was—these people were genuine underworld gangsters.
In fact, among the five present, there was one man who looked somewhat familiar to him, likely someone who had been investigated and registered by the Inquisition before.
The surrounding patrons either watched nervously or with eager interest.
The tense, swords-drawn atmosphere quickly cooled what had been a lively tavern.
Facing pressure from five people, Leon showed no sign of retreat.
He shielded Melissa behind him and replied, “She can’t drink anymore.”
Garcia was not particularly surprised by Leon’s attitude.
There were always some inexperienced fellows who underestimated how ruthless people like them were, thinking that in broad daylight, they wouldn’t dare act rashly.
But in truth, as long as Leon dared to take Melissa outside, even without drawing guns today, they could beat him with fists and feet until he could only crawl out—perhaps limping for the rest of his life.
Afterward, when the sheriff investigated, it would amount to nothing more than an ordinary tavern brawl.
One of his men would step forward to take full responsibility and spend some time in the holding cells.
To them, it was routine.
However, today Garcia didn’t need to go that far.
“Heh heh, Melissa didn’t say that, did she, Melissa?”
Garcia sneered, his gaze seeming to pierce through Leon and directly reach Melissa hiding behind him.
“I don’t want to make things ugly. When I come to your house to collect the debt later, I don’t want to smash anything either. Nobody wants that, right?”
Melissa shuddered and, trembling, stepped out from behind Leon.
“Good. Come sit here,” Garcia ordered, pointing to the seat beside him.
Then he looked at Leon, his eyes gradually turning cold.
“As for you, sir, you can see it yourself—this has nothing to do with you anymore. Leave. Don’t test my patience again.”
Melissa fearfully drew her hands to her chest.
She suddenly realized that her choice concerned not only what her family would face afterward, but also Leon’s safety.
Driven by fear, she took a step forward.
At that moment, Leon raised his hand to stop her.
“Oh no, buddy…” Seeing Leon be so tactless, Garcia shook his head and sighed.
He raised his hand, about to signal an attack, and several subordinates cracked their knuckles and stepped forward.
“Don’t! Don’t!” Melissa cried anxiously.
At that moment, Leon suddenly said, “Did you bring a receipt?”
“What?” Garcia froze for a moment.
“You’re here to collect a debt. You should have a receipt, right? How much do they owe this time?” Leon stared at Garcia and asked.
Garcia and his men looked at each other.
Then Garcia suddenly burst into laughter, as if he had heard the funniest joke imaginable.
“Hahahaha—are you planning to pay it for them?”
Melissa also looked at Leon in surprise.
“How much?” Leon simply asked, his tone firm.
The smile on Garcia’s face did not fade.
“I collect once every three months. By the normal schedule, they should be paying twenty-four thousand Fenni every quarter. Do you have it?”
This was the repayment standard—including principal and interest—that Melissa’s father had set when he borrowed money to run the small theater.
But in reality, Sally and Melissa had long since been unable to repay according to that standard.
Each time, they could barely manage to cover the interest and late fees, and sometimes they couldn’t even finish paying that portion.
Garcia quoted this number only to see the other party’s embarrassment.
Ordinary people couldn’t pull out such a sum all at once.
Helping the Hesh mother and daughter repay the debt was not something that could be done without substantial assets.
In his eyes, their fate had already been sealed.
Before long, Mrs. Hesh would die, and their debt would exceed the deadline.
At that point, they could seize the Hesh family’s house.
In fact, they had already taken several row houses in that alley.
The Hesh family’s neighbors had lost their house years ago because they couldn’t repay their debts.
The wealthy merchant Potter wanted that whole plot of land.
As for Melissa, burdened with massive debt and without a home, Garcia would then be able to naturally take her and introduce her to some “good work” to repay the debt.
Many women in the town had fallen into that line of work this way.
Today was an opportunity.
Melissa would end up like that sooner or later anyway.
He might as well enjoy it in advance—maybe it would even help her “wake up” earlier and understand what kind of work was most suitable for repaying debts, saving her a few years of detours…
Bang!
A loud sound interrupted Garcia’s thoughts.
Leon expressionlessly pulled out a rolled piece of parchment and slapped it onto the table, unfolding it in front of everyone.
A Church-issued gold voucher, with a face value of twenty thousand Fenni.
Not long after getting the money from the junk shop, Leon had found ways through other channels to exchange those large-denomination gold vouchers for gold coins and smaller vouchers.
Large vouchers passing through underworld hands were unsafe and not suitable to keep for long.
“Well then, that’s perfect. I won a big sum gambling today—it seems God wanted me to use it here!” Leon said.
Garcia frowned slightly and carefully examined the gold voucher.
As a debt collector, he had handled gold vouchers many times.
This one looked genuine.
Melissa’s eyes widened.
Leon continued, pulling out two Gold Shields and tossing them onto the table, where they clinked loudly.
Together with the gold voucher, it made exactly twenty-four thousand Fenni.
After thinking for a moment, he took out another Silver Wolf and placed it on the table, saying in a slightly gentler tone, “One quarter’s payment, and this as a little compensation for everyone. Is that acceptable?”
Garcia reexamined Leon.
Leon’s attitude had clearly changed.
The look in his eyes toward him seemed more earnest.
Garcia had often seen this expression—those who wanted to smooth things over all wore that face.
He suddenly laughed.
It seemed the Hesh mother and daughter had really run into a great benefactor.
But in the eyes of people like them, a good person was practically synonymous with a soft target.
Twenty thousand plus wasn’t a huge sum for someone with stable work and the ability to save, but few were willing to give it away to settle someone else’s trouble.
A benefactor who could take out money like this was a fat sheep in his eyes.
Perhaps in the future, he could visit this good sir a bit more often and make good use of that mother-daughter pair to squeeze out some more money.
“Sure thing, buddy,” Garcia raised his eyebrows, smiling meaningfully.
“Since you’re so generous, let’s just let tonight’s matter end here.”
He finally stood up from his seat, reaching across the table toward the gold voucher and coins.
At that moment, Leon spoke: “There’s one thing I forgot to mention. pI’m not your ‘buddy.’ I’m an Inquisitor.”
As soon as these words were spoken, Garcia and his companions—who had just relaxed—instinctively stiffened all over.
Garcia’s hand reaching for the money froze for a split second.
At the same time, the “fat sheep” in front of him suddenly bared its ferocious fangs!
Just as Garcia was about to raise his head to look at Leon, Leon lightning-fast drew the hand that had silently moved toward his waist.
Suddenly, a Church-issued silver dagger appeared in his grip, and he viciously stabbed it down at Garcia’s frozen hand.
Leon used all his strength.
The dagger pierced straight through Garcia’s palm and nailed it into the soft oak tabletop.
Caught completely off guard, Garcia let out a miserable scream.
Before he could finish screaming, the flintlock pistol drawn by Leon’s other hand was already pressed against his face.
Seeing this, Garcia’s subordinates all drew their guns at Leon.
With a gunfight imminent, the tavern instantly erupted into panic.
People screamed—some rushed for the door, others crawled under tables in terror.
“Ah!” Melissa screamed as well, clutching her head and squatting down.
But another, more commanding voice immediately drowned out everyone else’s cries:
“Inquisitor! Come on—if you’ve got the guts, shoot!”
Leon shouted, glaring at the armed men with bloodshot eyes.
Garcia’s men looked at each other.
They didn’t dare lower their guns, but they could only stand there in a standoff with Leon.
Someone recognized the dagger decorated with the Four-Pointed Star Emblem and sucked in a sharp breath.
They didn’t dare act rashly.
For one, their boss was under the other’s gun.
For another, killing someone in public was no small trouble—and killing an Inquisitor would be catastrophic!
Garcia also instinctively reached for his own weapon.
Leon gripped the dagger and twisted it slightly, pressing the gun muzzle firmly against Garcia’s face as he threatened in a low voice, “Don’t move! Raise that hand!”
“Guh!!” The searing pain as the blade cut deeper into the wound made Garcia’s whole body shudder.
He immediately gave up on drawing his weapon and raised his hand.
Then Leon released the dagger and pulled out the Four-Pointed Star Emblem from his person, holding it up for everyone to see.
“Come on—let your people shoot!” Leon glared at Garcia viciously.
“I shoot you, they shoot me. In front of all these people, shooting an Inquisitor—openly rebelling against the Church. Come on! Come on!!”
Garcia gasped from the pain.
Only with great difficulty did he squeeze out a sentence through clenched teeth: “When you deal with people… leave some room… there’s no need… to take it this far…”
Whether Inquisitors or guards from the Security Office, they had dealt with both before.
They weren’t truly afraid of law enforcers.
If their criminal dealings were discovered, they would even kill enforcers without hesitation to silence them.
But now, with so many witnesses, killing an Inquisitor in public while exposing their identities was tantamount to openly challenging the Church’s authority.
They would undoubtedly be put on a priority wanted list.
Stirring up such enormous trouble, even the organization backing them would fear being implicated and treat them as expendable—perhaps even worry that if they were captured and talked, they would be internally executed outright!
This Inquisitor had seized precisely this point, daring to draw blade and gun alone against five people.
But would an ordinary person really go this far?
If even one of them lost control, there would be no turning back.
He himself would be riddled with bullets and die on the spot.
Gambling his life like this—people like them, who lived on the edge of a blade, might not even be able to make such a decisive choice!
A madman! This person was completely insane!!