Chapter 26: Leon’s plan
The fat man’s small, greasy eyes instantly shone with greed the exact moment he saw the coins.
His thick, sweaty hand shot forward with remarkable speed, eagerly snatching the ten copper coins right out of Leon’s open palm before they could disappear.
Leon kept his expression entirely cold and flat, not showing a single shred of emotion as he watched the landlord frantically count the money.
"That is to fully cover the two months of past rent I have been owing you," Leon said, his voice completely calm. "And that also completely pays for the entirety of this current month in advance as well."
The fat man’s mouth hung slightly open in sheer surprise, his brain struggling to process how a trash porter had suddenly come up with such a significant sum of cash.
He cleared his throat loudly, his chest puffing out as he was about to speak and demand even more or lecture the young man further.
However, Leon completely turned his body around and began walking away down the concrete steps without giving the landlord a single chance to utter another syllable.
He honestly couldn’t care less about whatever it was the fat landlord wanted to say to him at this point. The business between them was officially settled for the next few weeks, and he had far more important, life-changing matters to occupy his mind than listening to the annoying complaints of a greedy slum lord.
He started making his way down the quiet, dark streets toward his own small apartment, his footsteps echoing softly against the cracked pavement.
As his boots moved through the shadows of the lower district, his mind was actively working, deeply analyzing and thinking of the absolute best possible way he could illegally get into a dungeon.
He went over different scenarios in his head, but each standard method carried too much risk of them discovering him before he could get in.
Suddenly, a brilliant idea popped directly into his mind, and his eyes brightened up.
He vividly remembered an article he had carefully read just a few days back. The broadcast had briefly mentioned a massive, impending dungeon outbreak that was forecasted to happen very soon in the neighboring city just across the border.
Because of the immense danger, the ordinary citizens living around that specific sector had already been strictly ordered by the government to vacate the entire area, leaving the streets empty, while the powerful local guilds meant to be handling the crisis had already stationed their players all around the perimeter.
Leon’s lips slowly curled up slightly into a dark, knowing smirk as the details of the situation perfectly aligned in his thoughts.
’The only real issue with that place is...’ Leon thought. ’The Rainy Shine Guild and the Cross Block Guild are currently too busy fighting over the ownership rights of that dungeon.’
Both of those factions were greedy, each wanting to claim the exclusive rights to harvest the monster corpses and rare resources that would drop during the massive event.
They were locked in a tense, bitter standoff, watching each other’s movements like hungry hawks instead of focusing entirely on the security of the unstable gate.
When the dungeon outbreak finally happened, there would surely be a massive, chaotic commotion breaking out among the members of both rival guilds.
They would be far too occupied arguing with one another and scrambling to secure the best kills to notice a single player slipping through the cracks of their defensive lines.
’And I will use that commotion to run directly into the dungeon gate without anyone even noticing!’ he thought, chuckling.
A little black-haired boy who was passing by on the sidewalk with his family noticed the strange sight.
The young child stopped walking and pointed his small finger directly at Leon, turning his head up to look at his parent.
"Mom, why is that man over there laughing to himself like that?" the little boy asked in a loud, curious whisper that carried easily through the quiet evening air.
His mother quickly grabbed the boy’s hand and shook her head in deep disapproval, pulling him closer to her side as she cast a judgmental look toward the passing porter.
"That is Leon Allistar..." the mother whispered back to her son, her voice filled with a mixture of disgust and mockery. "He has completely gone crazy after everything that happened to him. Just pray that you never end up like him when you grow up."
Leon simply kept walking forward at a steady pace, not even hearing the woman’s harsh words.
As he navigated the rest of the neighborhood, nearly everyone who passed him on the street saw his strange smile and immediately thought he had completely gone crazy.
They looked at his worn-out clothes and his distant gaze, shaking their heads in deep pity for the fallen noble who had been reduced to a broken slum dweller.
*
A few days later...
A large, formidable group of fully armed players were gathered closely together out in the middle of an open, completely abandoned city street.
Their clothing, weapons, and armor sets were completely different from one another, drawing a very clear line down the center of the crowd.
Every single player present had one of two completely different guild logos emblazoned proudly right onto the center of their chests, representing the bitter rivalry between the Rainy Shine Guild and the Cross Block Guild.
They kept looking straight ahead at the center of the empty street, their bodies locked in a stiff, highly tense posture.
The dungeon gate about to open in front of them was a C-rank dungeon, which was very different from the E or F-rank that mostly appeared.
Because of the high danger level of the impending outbreak, most of the elite vanguard players standing in the front lines were experienced C-rank players.
There were only a few highly skilled D-rank players mixed carefully among them to act as secondary support units, making the entire gathering an incredibly powerful force that completely dominated the empty neighborhood.
[Kindly Check Author’s Thoughts]
