On a bench a distance away, Leonard spotted three people sitting. They all saw what Leonard had done to the mugger. Leonard walked up to them; he felt a hot liquid caressing his fist—it was the blood of the mugger which came from the knife Leonard was holding.
Walking up to the three, he noticed that the construction man had an angered expression despite trying to hide it. The other two seemed agitated by Leonard's appearance.
'Guess my act is working.'
"Let's make this fast. I want the three of you to pay me one thousand pounds every week."
Hearing Leonard's words, the three stood up and spoke in outrage.
"The fu*k do you think you are!"
"One thousand? Do you mean one pound, you illiterate fool!"
The man who was beaten earlier was also outraged, but he didn't speak up. The other two, however, weren't as reserved; they didn't bother being polite as they threw insults at Leonard as if breathing.
"I'm sure you know of the coronation," Leonard said, then added, "Why would they let criminals such as yourselves go? Won't they kill you to make the surroundings a better place?"
Once Leonard said this, they kept quiet. Realization could be seen on their faces. Leonard then added:
"Tell me, if I round up a large number of people to report you to the Feathers, won't they deal with you thoroughly?" He smiled, then said mockingly, "Who are the people more afraid of: two local rapists and a corrupt man, or the son of a crazed murderer who has started showing signs of going crazy?"
Upon hearing Leonard's words, the man showed an expression of understanding something. He considered Leonard's actions to be odd; Leonard had been involved in fights before, but he usually tried reasoning with people first, and the brutality of the fight was normally at a controlled level. At most, he would have minor bruises. But now, for some reason, Leonard showed a different side, as he didn't bother reasoning and went directly to fighting. This caused the people who were there to realize that Leonard had reached a limit and was at the gate toward insanity. Him stabbing the mugger in the thigh and brutally stepping on his head displayed his madness in front of those in the park.
With the coronation about to take place, the royal families would without a doubt want to remove defects. In the past, crimes could be done as long as a Feather didn't see them happen; even if reported, as long as hard evidence wasn't provided, nothing would happen. But now it was different. With Leonard showing a crazed side, he could threaten a number of people to report the two; if this was to happen, the Feathers would capture the two, thus removing the defects.
This was one of the reasons why most people here didn't agree to the coronation; the criminal way of life was threatened.
Seeing them remain quiet, Leonard knew his plan had worked. Being crazed had its disadvantages, but Leonard was more of a schemer than a fighter. Seeing the coronation about to take place, he decided to take advantage of it, leading to the current situation.
"When is my first payment coming?" Leonard asked, his voice cold.
"One thousand is too much, boss. Maybe if it was a hundred..." one man tried to plead with him, but Leonard just shook his head.
"One thousand pounds. That's my limit," Leonard said.
"How about four hundred pounds? That's all I get paid. I have to eat, please be considerate," one man pleaded.
The two who pleaded were both sex offenders; unlike the construction man, they would most likely face a harsher punishment, possibly death. If anything, the construction man was just caught in the crossfire. Leonard even felt some sympathy for him—just a little, though. The man just happened to be close friends with the two; he only did crimes such as extortion, blackmail, and some corrupt practices. It wasn't at the level of his two friends.
"I can only manage one thousand per month, not week," the construction man said, then added, "I can give you two thousand pounds per month." His voice sounded pitiful, defeated.
"No. One thousand per week." But still, Leonard was unmoving. He didn't have that much sympathy for him.
The man gritted his teeth upon hearing Leonard's refusal to his request.
"You're being unreasonable!"
"Please reduce the money, boss, please!"
The two shouted, tears could be seen in their eyes. Leonard coldly looked at them and said:
"Those screams for help... didn't the people you once molested say similar words?"
Upon hearing Leonard's words, they kept quiet.
It sounded like Leonard wanted them to buy his silence, but Leonard planned on selling them out regardless of what they did, just not now. Leonard had aims he wanted to achieve before the coronation. Some of them were:
* Get on the royalties' good side.
* Acquire as much information as possible.
* Raise his strength.
His extortions were helping him with these aims.
"Give me the money in two days. We'll meet here at the park," Leonard said.
"Boss, please recons—"
Boom.
Before he could finish his sentence, Leonard had punched him. He flew from the bench to the ground; blood from his nose danced in the air. Leonard looked at the two with his cold brown eyes.
The man on the ground touched his nose; blood was pouring from it. He was confused and scared. The construction man flinched on instinct once he saw Leonard's outburst.
"I said in two days' time, bring me the money. Give me less, and I'll chop something off," Leonard said. Hearing his voice, the three couldn't help but feel a chill.
'Devil.' They had such a thought.
A reasonable person was scared of an unreasonable person; an unreasonable person was scared of a person who didn't fear death. Leonard was showing signs of being unreasonable; such a person could only be called a devil in human clothing. But who wasn't a devil around here?
Leonard was not only unreasonable to them, but he showed that he didn't fear death. Everyone knew that the more people they offended, the more people would try to kill them, but Leonard didn't seem to care about who or how many people he offended.
A person who didn't fear death was, to them, was a true devil