Only I Am A Reader

Leo's trip to the marketplace and back to the 'hotel' took slightly over 2 hours. The reason it took so long was self-explanatory by looking at the large sacks hanging over Leo's back.

"Back to being penniless…"

Life in Sky-Pierce City was especially unforgiving to the poor. Even with the discounted accommodation, Leo's life over the last year or so had almost exhausted his unreplenishable sack of gold. After this shopping trip, Leo's savings had directly dropped below the 'gold' level.

"Let's get ready."

As sad as his financial situation had become after being unemployed for so long, Leo could only dismiss his nonsensical thoughts as he started loading almost everything he bought into his horse carriage, only returning to his room when he had one bag left

Although it would have been much easier to take the horse carriage along from the very beginning, Leo had his reasons to not do so. At the very least, he managed to test the new height his strength had reached.

Back in his room, Leo emptied out the bag on his bed only to reveal a set of clothes. However, compared to what Leo usually wore, the clothes looked flashy and undisciplined, even then, Leo already started putting them on.

After getting fully dressed, Leo took out the last item the bag held, an empty backpack. Slightly adjusting it, he started filling it with whatever he could.

"Here we go."

Looking at himself in the mirror in his new getup, Leo gave himself a thumbs up. He was finally able to hide his knightly charm under this flashy facade!

Quickly disappearing from the 'hotel' before he could be seen, Leo marched north as planned. He had only just reached his primary goal today, but it was better to strike the iron while it's hot! He was going to get to the end of his trouble within the same day!

`~~~`~~~`~~~`

Despite being the capital city of the Empire that reigned over the whole continent, not even Sky-Pierce City was devoid of unsavory business. Still, it was strongly restricted within a certain range, that was exactly the purpose that the northern periphery of the Capital served.

The few streets there were usually bustling. However, since it was still barely afternoon, the contrast wasn't apparent to passersby. One particular pub in the middle of this was especially calm.

Ding!

Strongly pushing the door open that the hanging bell almost fell, a tall man with disorderly hair unsteadily made his way to the counter, everything about him screamed 'ruffian'.

"Hick… I heard the drinks here were great! …am I at the right place?"

The bartender standing in front of him only replied with a frown. Although they were open for business with already a few customers in, there were only drinking juice or something light. On the other hand, the tall man was not only drunk this early in the day, but he also made a commotion as soon as he entered.

If he ended up attracting the patrol's attention, wouldn't that spell the doom of the pub?

"Hick! I mean this is the place with the underground floor reserved for important people… right? I also want in! I may not look like it… but I'm definitely important enough!"

The bartender was just thinking about how he would drive this scoundrel away when his eyes suddenly widened. This…

'Trouble!'

Discarding his earlier thought, the bartender immediately threw a glance at the waiter cleaning the ground. The waiter glanced back but ended up shaking his head.

"Hm? You think I'm not worth it?! Do you know who I am? I'm a great Sword Master! I even have noble heirs as friends! You better let me in or…"

The tall man seemed to notice the eye signals of the two as he burst off blabbering. He was going to bang at the counter, but the waiter who put away his mob held his arm.

"Of course, we don't mean to disrespect you, sir. Come with me, right this way."

The waiter smilingly pointed at the door to the counter's left after letting go of the man's arm, but he was fuming deep inside!

"That's more like it!"

With a bag still on his back, the tall man stood and followed the waiter through the door which he personally opened.

"It's dark in here…"

"It's just down these stairs."

Maintaining his smile, the waiter didn't even look back as he walked down these stairs. He couldn't stop himself from cursing out in his mind, did this trash have to come here when he was on guard duty?

He had already checked from the very moment the man had entered. Not to mention being a Sword Master, this show-off wasn't even the weakest grade-1 Swordsman, he didn't have an ounce of Sword Breath on him!

If it wasn't for the fact that the nonsense he was spewing was a sensitive topic, the 'waiter' would have already thrown him out. However, now that it came to this, the 'waiter' swore to take good 'care' of him.

"Here we are."

At the end of the stairs, the two armed men standing before a stone door widened their eyes at the waiter's words.

"These two will take you to our 'special' floor."

Still not turning back to this point, the 'waiter' faced the stone door before opening his mouth once again. No sound came out, but the pair already gripped their swords' hilts.

'Finish him.'

The two words mouthed by the 'waiter' were obvious, but it wasn't like they needed it anyway. Since a stranger like this made it here, there was only one correct response!

Swish! Swish!

As the sound of confirmation reached his ears, the 'waiter' held his forehead as he turned back. The problem was taken care of, but…

"Now then, who was the one who blabbered about…"

The tone of the voice was no longer that of a waiter, but more of a superior. However, before the man dressed in waiter clothes could finish his speech, his mouth froze as his eyes quickly blinked a few times.

"Don't worry, no one blabbered about it. I had my own 'special' way of knowing about this place."

Thud!

Holding the blood-dripping Sword Breaker in hand, Leo dropped the now useless backpack at the same time the two headless dead bodies collapsed to the ground.