The crowd was shocked, stunned, and terrified. They all had a single thought:
'We should kill him before he becomes like his father!'
This was a normal reaction, and Leonard expected it. In fact, he hoped for it to happen.
Leonard stopped walking and looked at two of the people. As if he were the one being wronged, he put on an expression of grievance and spoke.
"You two and that man started a fight with me. Everyone here is a witness."
"..."
"..."
The two men, as well as the crowd, were shocked at this. Although Leonard was right, they didn't want to support him, but none of them denied it. If it were a normal person, they wouldn't bat an eye, but Leonard was the son of a deranged serial killer who killed for fun and enjoyed torturing people. If Leonard grew up to be like that, wouldn't he look for those who had opposed him?
'He has to die!' This thought intensified greatly. It was not the first time they had such thoughts; many had wished for Leonard's death once he was revealed to be the son of the Reaper. Three people had once attempted to kill him when he was younger, but they were found dead, split in half. Their corpses were beyond recognition.
After that, no one attempted to kill him. They only showed him discrimination but never inflicted life-threatening damage. The Reaper had died before they attempted to kill Leonard, but because of his mysterious protector, some assumed that the Reaper was still alive or that someone else who didn't mind killing was protecting him. Either way, they didn't want to be in the bad books of Leonard's protector.
The Reaper was pronounced dead by the Feathers—the people who dress in white trench coats and maintain order—but not many saw his corpse, unlike his mother's.
"You two damaged my pocket watch. Repairs cost one thousand pounds," Leonard said while looking wronged.
'Extortion!'
Everyone realized what Leonard was doing: extortion in broad daylight. A standard pocket watch costs about fifty pounds; repairs should be much cheaper. But Leonard was demanding one thousand for repairs. Furthermore, Leonard wasn't injured even once; how could he have a damaged pocket watch?
"That's a lie! How could your common watch cost that much?" one of the two being accused shouted. His voice sounded drowsy; he was drunk as well, just not as much as the man previously beaten. "You're extorting us, aren't you!" he added.
Leonard didn't reply. He just looked at him with eyes that could kill and walked up to the man. Seeing Leonard approach him, the man tried running back, but he couldn't run due to his intoxication.
*Boom.*
The man tripped and fell, hitting the dirty ground.
"I'm sorry!" he shouted once he noticed Leonard reach him. He was shaking nervously.
"Just give me the money for repairs and we're good," Leonard said, his voice flat and cold.
The man's eyes held immense anger, looking at someone younger than him humiliate him. He wanted to fight back, but he knew how it would end. Swallowing his pride, he reached into his pockets and took out a black wallet. He took out five dark green papers with the face of a lady on them. Seeing his money about to go, he gritted his teeth, threatening to break them.
The job he was doing paid five hundred; with his connections, he was given the money in advance, but now it was gone.
'Curse you, Reaper's spawn!' He looked at Leonard with eyes that could kill while cursing him. Leonard grabbed the money from the man's hand and started inspecting it. After confirming that everything was in place, he walked up to the other man.
He didn't offer any resistance and just handed Leonard five hundred pounds. Leonard was pleased at his attitude and gave him a low nod. After getting money from the two, he went to the first man, who was still on the ground gasping for air. Leonard didn't want to walk too close, as there was a mixture of blood and vomit which caused his skin to feel uneasy. Once he was close enough, he said in a calm voice:
"Don't forget to meet me. I'm sure your two rapist friends would like to hear what I have to say."
The man's eyes went wide once he heard this. He realized that he was going to be extorted until he had nothing left to extort. He wanted to curse Leonard until he ran out of insults to throw at him, but he held it in; he didn't want to get beaten any more than he already was.
No one was too close to them, so no one heard what Leonard said.
'Time to leave.'
Leonard turned around and left, acting like nothing had happened. He walked until he left the construction area. Once he was a distance away, the people started talking.
"He's finally snapped."
"Dear Lord, he's just like his father."
"Yes, of course he is. After all, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
"This is bad. What if mutated corpses start to appear?"
"Then we'll know it's him. Like father, like son."
The two who were robbed of their money had unsightly expressions on their faces; just listening about Leonard filled them with anger over their lost money. Almost simultaneously, they looked at the man down on the ground.
"You're the one who caused this!" one man shouted, saliva flying out of his mouth as he talked.
"Yes, it's your ugly face that started talking about his mother!" the other shouted as well.
"Give me back my money!"
"Give me back my money!"
They both said this while charging at the man.
The man looked at the two approaching him. He was the one who had lost the most in this confrontation, yet he was being blamed. Grabbing dirt that had vomit and blood on it, he threw it at the two coming for him.
"You cowards! Want to try something? Come, I welcome you with open arms," he said. Talking came with pain, and just like them, he felt disgusted grabbing vomit, but for now, he planned on taking out his anger on the two. And the two planned on taking out their anger on the man.