Despite his lingering doubts, he continued for the day, and at night read some of the notes he took down about Qi. After doing all this, he called it a day. Lying on his dirt-covered, uncomfortable bed, he closed his eyelids; he soon fell asleep.
Waking up, he felt his body ache all over. His feet suffered the most pain; his fingers had some cut marks on them which had healed slightly on their own.
'My Qi healed them.'
Leonard left them untreated to see if he could self-heal; although it was on a small scale, he could still heal himself. Standing up from his bed, he saw a crude wooden sword on the floor. It was the sword he had painstakingly made, which had caused the cut marks on his fingers. Seeing it filled him with a sense of joy. The sword didn't look like his saber, but he was sure that it would take longer making something that resembled his saber, and he was certain he wasn't skilled enough to pull it off.
He opened his pocket watch and checked the time.
'08:14.' It was still, in a way, considered early. Thinking of what he was about to do, he sighed heavily; his sigh held helplessness. He looked for a pair of clean clothes; after finding black trousers and a black shirt, he left, heading to the public bath.
While walking there, he was given glances from the residents, but he continued to walk unbothered. Once he reached the public bathroom, he noticed a short line. Once the people saw him, they showed strange expressions. Leonard walked to the front of the line, not bothering to wait at the back; he was given angry glances, but none tried to stop him.
A middle-aged man came out of the bathroom. Once he saw Leonard, he started to shake slightly as if he did something wrong; he managed to calm himself and mumble some words.
"Sorry for taking so long to bathe."
Leonard wasn't even upset at how long the man took to bathe; after all, he had just arrived. Maybe those at the back would have been upset. He just looked at the man with eyes that looked annoyed; the man shook even more upon seeing this. Leonard soon walked into the bath. Inside the bathroom, he saw a small shower space as well as soap. There was also a small sink where Leonard placed his clothes and towel.
Opening the shower, he felt cold water assault his skin. Once it did, he moved slightly trying to avoid the water. Once half his body was wet, he moved out of the shower temporarily.
'I hate cold water.'
He gritted his teeth and fully stepped into the water.
'I wonder how people could enjoy this.'
***
In a park, there stood three people; each had wronged expressions.
"What's the time?" one of them asked. He was dressed in dirty rags and had a muscular body; he had a black hat and eyes, and his appearance could be described as below average.
"It's ten-twelve," a man with slightly clean clothes said. He had brown hair and a slightly civilized air around him.
"Fu*k the time, Robert! How do you let a fu*king child boss us like this?" A man with the same appearance as the first man spoke; his voice sounded pained.
The man named Robert just looked at him, then spoke. "If only you could control your fu*king lust, we wouldn't be here. Why the fu*k do you even do such acts in broad daylight? Go to the fu*king mini-forest for such acts!" Robert's voice was anything but calm; his fists were now clenched. He looked at the two with eyes that held immense rage.
"It's hard to drag people to the mini-forest," one man tried to defend his actions.
"Then rent a dragger to do these things," Robert said with a voice that was losing its patience.
"Draggers are expensive," the man said, then added, "I've heard that he's been going to the mini-forest." He paused, then said with a dark voice, "We could kill him there."
Once these words were said, they all kept quiet. Robert then spoke. "Killing him is our best option." He then added in a dark voice, "If we do it in the forest, who will know it's us? After all, what happens in the forest stays in the forest."
"But the Reaper..." one man tried to refuse.
"The Reaper is long dead. Tell me, have you even once seen the Reaper protect him?" Robert said, then added, "Even if he had a mysterious protector, do you think he'll be able to protect Leonard in the mini-forest? Can this protector fight all three of us at the same time? Will this protector see us commit the crime?"
Robert looked at them with eyes that held murderous intent. "Man up. How can you hope to live with such fear? Killing a child—I'm sure you've done that before while committing your despicable acts."
***
"Twelve hours." While walking in the park, Leonard muttered the time while holding his pocket watch.
He walked to the place he had once met the three criminals. Like last time, he saw all three of them. However, something felt off. For people who were about to get their money taken from them, they seemed too calm. Once they saw Leonard, they didn't flinch at all; they were calm, as if being robbed of their money wasn't happening.
Leonard didn't specify the time they would meet, but they all came at an early time. They most likely waited for a long time, but they strangely weren't looking at Leonard with eyes that were tired of waiting.
Most would be weirded out by their behavior and grow suspicious, but Leonard wasn't. If anything, he was happy.