Secret: The years I served as a foreign aid for the Aurora Club

Chapter 118 This chapter is Leonard

314
Leonard pulled up his collar that covered his chin, sternly faced the full-length mirror, and tried his best to create an official aura.

His back was straighter than ever before, his hands pressed against his trouser seams, the metal holy emblem of night on his chest gleamed, and his tie was tied meticulously, even the top button was buttoned.

This outfit, coupled with his serious expression, gave him a whole new look, exuding an air of competence and reliability that made people willing to ignore his young face and believe that he was a senior police officer.

Although it looked like it was working, he failed after just six seconds. He pulled his collar outwards in an uncomfortably manner, and tried to roll up his sleeves and pull out the tightly tucked-in corners of his shirt, feeling uncomfortable all over.

He twisted in front of the mirror for a while, but ultimately did nothing and kept the outfit that transformed his image 180 degrees.

"Old man." Leonard whispered, "Do I really have to do this in the future? I'm not used to it. It feels so awkward even when I walk."

After saying that, he felt a pain in his head. Pales used Leonard's hand to slap the head of this person who had not learned his lesson, without any worry of making it even less intelligent.

The old parasite said angrily: "You should be thankful that you were still inside the armor at that time! Didn't you notice that there was a crow on His shoulder? It was a mythical creature. He is face-blind, but crows don't have this problem!"

"If it weren't for the armor blocking your face and your breath, you should have worn a monocle when you looked in the mirror today!"

Leonard rubbed the painful area with his hand, still muttering a few words without giving up: "It may not happen again..."

Pales snorted, and Leonard also shrank his neck, looked up at the sky and whistled, pretending that nothing had happened. He also knew that what he said was not very confident. After all, it was only three months later, and he encountered that terrifying demon again!
——Obviously, he didn’t know that he also met a “passerby” on the night he was tracking the demon dog, so he actually met again not long after Tingen’s descent.

…………

Two days ago, after he woke up from the hospital bed, the old parasite reminded him: "He has memorized your voice, so talk less in the future."

Leonard was startled at the time and almost asked out loud. He swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue when Soest, who had just brought the hot tea, saw him and listened to the old man continue to mutter in his mind:

"I have taken away the relevant memories. This is for your own good."

"what?!"

Leonard was anxious and couldn't help but speak out. He saw Sost looking at him in surprise. After a few seconds of staring at each other, Sost asked patiently, "Are you dissatisfied with the church's compensation measures? You are a wounded soldier, so you can raise any opinions you have."

So this is what Captain Soest was talking about. Thank God, I was almost exposed... Leonard breathed a sigh of relief and pretended not to hear the old man's cold snort. He adjusted the bandages on his head and face and said to Soest with a smile on his face, "No, I didn't hear it clearly. I'm injured and my ears are a little bit insensitive. Can you say it again?"

"Hearing loss? Do you want to get a checkup?"

"No, no, I feel better now!"

"...That's good." Soest looked at Leonard doubtfully for a while, thinking that his startled attitude was very suspicious. Leonard simply tried his best to open his eyes wide to make himself look innocent and simple, and since he was usually a little off the track, Soest didn't take it to heart, just thinking that he had survived a disaster and the young man was a little emotional.

He cleared his throat and continued to repeat the notice from above: "Archbishop Anthony heard about your heroic act of not fearing danger (Leonard's toes began to dig into the bed sheet) and praised you. According to the regulations, you should be given some rewards and substantial subsidies, but considering that you fought bravely after I made the decision to retreat and temporarily avoid the sharp edge, it was suspected that you violated orders, so the merits and demerits are offset, and the reward given to you is revoked."

Soest's voice rose several degrees.

Leonard nodded vigorously to indicate that his hearing had returned.

"During this mission to chase the demon, you faced the enemy twice and successfully killed Jason Belia once. But you acted rashly and unwisely afterwards. You were wearing the Sealed Artifact 1-42 at the time, so it is impossible that you were affected by the ability of the Apostle of Desire to interfere with his emotions before his death. It was because of your personal reasons. Can you tell me?"

After Soest finished speaking, he looked at Leonard seriously. Leonard wiped his nose, which was a little itchy from the bandage, with his fingers and spoke calmly:
"Because I was a little confused at the time, I mistook the stranger for the combat target Jason Belia."

Pales couldn't help but make a choking sound.

It's better to lie than to go to jail. Leonard remained calm and unmoved, his skin as thick as a city wall. Pales was about to make a few sarcastic remarks, but Soest nodded thoughtfully: "I understand."

Soest had already guessed that the negative effect of 1-42 was not only to slowly chop the user's body with the blade light, but also to affect the user's mind. Leonard only had more than 1 seconds left, and the time he could wear 42- was almost at its limit. It was not impossible for him to make a misjudgment under the double negative effects of the mind and body, but it was very reasonable.

After all, Leonard's behavior had always been very calm and casual, and his outburst of emotion at that time even scared Soster.

It would be normal if it was affected by negative effects.

"So, Captain Soest, is there nothing else?"

Leonard wanted to talk more with the old man, and complain a little about why his memory was stolen after he begged so much, so he started to see the guest off.

Soest thought that the wounded had not recovered and needed to rest, so he didn't care and went straight to the part about work injury compensation. He pulled out a document with the emblem of the goddess from his handbag. Seeing that Leonard's arm was not in good condition, he considerately chose the most important few sentences to read:
"Work injury compensation is 200 pounds, and the church will reimburse the medical expenses. Unfortunately, the merit of 'killing Jason Belia once' was offset because of your recklessness, and it is not counted as merit. But you don't need to be too sad. Archbishop Anthony has always cared about you and praised you in the file submitted to the church. If you perform well in the future, you will soon accumulate enough merit for promotion."

Leonard's eyes lit up when he heard 200 pounds, and the final promotion was the icing on the cake. However, as a single man whose food and lodging were provided by the church, the 200 pounds would most likely be deposited directly into the bank. The church also paid for the potion, so he didn't have to look for recipes and buy materials. In normal times, apart from eating, there was not much to spend, and a few pounds was enough for at least a week, so Leonard had no specific concept of large sums of money.

It’s about the level of “I can go to my favorite restaurant for three meals a day for the next six months.”

After Soest showed the document to Leonard, he took it back and said that he would put it at Leonard's residence later.

Then he pushed the door open and left. Leonard got down to stretch his muscles and bones. He felt that his internal injuries were almost healed, with only some flesh wounds caused by 1-42 left on his body.

Seeing that he was almost fine, Leonard finally felt relieved. He thought that the hospital was not a good place to talk to the old man, so he put on his hospital gown, limped out of the ward, and went to go through the discharge procedures. The discharge procedures went smoothly, and the church subsidy arrived in time, solving the dilemma of not having a wallet with him when he was injured and hospitalized.

It was winter now, and food could be stored for a long time. Leonard bought enough for two or three days at a time and rested peacefully in the dormitory.

315
Back to the present, Leonard turned around in front of the mirror a few times, tightened his shoelaces, and said uncertainly:
"Wouldn't it be weird if I suddenly changed my style?"

"You also know that it's sloppy if you can't button your clothes properly?"

Pales complained for no reason: "Have some self-awareness, kid. I'm doing this to help you live a few more days."

"When we were fighting the demon that day, why did you rush forward in a fit of rage? Not only did you almost die, but you also forced me to save your life. If He hadn't been in a hurry to do something else, you, me, and your fellow children would not have survived, and you didn't even have time to pray." "I know, I know. You've been saying this for two days."

Leonard posed, having quickly accepted his new look: "Do I look like Her Excellency the Sword of the Goddess?"

"Lord Cecima's signature look is to pull the collar and look straight ahead. It's very oppressive, and I find that I am quite suitable for it."

"Look, old man, am I handsome?"

Pales: “Haha.”

Pales: "I finally understand. You don't understand the seriousness of the situation. You are just playing dress-up games here."

Leonard looked sideways in the mirror to check the effect, roughly pulled his hair back, and said in a normal tone: "After all, there's nothing I can do except not talking in public, old man."

"Just like you said, I am too weak, so weak that I can't even control my emotions. I almost lost control when I met Him. Only if I don't know Him can I save my life without knowing anything."

Leonard recalled the day when he was hunting down Jason Belia. He saw that the target he swung his sword at was a blurry gray shadow, and he couldn't accurately determine its gender, height and body shape.

And when recalling "He" speaking to Captain Soest, the voice was also processed by Pales. Every word was picked out from the words spoken by other people in Leonard's memory and pieced together. Sometimes it was male, sometimes female, sometimes loud, sometimes soft, and it was weird and hoarse, giving people goose bumps when they heard it. It was extremely effective in making Leonard unable to judge what he had heard.

The parasite wiped out all possible traces, and Leonard only knew that he was almost killed by that "Him" again - no, if it weren't for the old man, he would have died twice.

Pales sensed Leonard's thoughts and emotional changes, and unusually remained silent.

Leonard exhaled: "Old man, I am very grateful to you. Even if you did it to protect yourself, you did save me twice."

"I thought about it carefully. Since you said He is face-blind and recognizes people by voice, and that He can avoid me as long as I don't speak or change my voice, then I suspect that He didn't really remember who I was from beginning to end. He only remembered you and used you to identify me."

The Nighthawks uniforms were tailor-made and fit the body very well, but Leonard still felt that the buttons were a little tight. He placed his hands on the buttons, paused for a long time, then slowly put them down and let them hang by his side.

"That is to say... old man."

"In His eyes, there is no such person as 'Leonard'. He only knows you, and He thinks that the person carrying you is me."

Leonard's voice trembled a little: "Old man, you can continue to parasitize on me. It doesn't matter if you steal a few years of my life."

"Because if you go to someone else, whoever you go to will be 'Leonard', and he will die in my place... It was my impulsiveness that made the situation worse. In this case, you stay on my body. I will definitely remember your words this time and will not speak carelessly again."

"...Wow, it's rare to see you say so many useful things. Do you finally know that the thing on your neck is useful?"

The atmosphere was heavy. Pales made a forced joke to ease Leonard's heavy heart. He was ready to steal the haze in his heart, but the hand he extended turned into a pat on the shoulder. Leonard felt one of his shoulders become heavier and subconsciously turned sideways.

"It's good that you know. Since you said so, I will reluctantly trust you again. After all, it's good for me if you're alive."

Leonard nodded and smiled coolly.

"It just so happens that you were injured in the demon incident, so you should act like you are frustrated because you are not strong enough. Then, your change of clothing and behavior will be considered as imitating the Sword of the Goddess..."

"Old man, you are so nagging. I know all these things."

"Huh, you're talking back as soon as you grow a brain?"

Leonard chuckled twice: "Let's not talk about this anymore. The sick leave approved by the church only lasts for one day tomorrow. I'm going to go out early to report and see if there is any situation with Captain Soster."

As he spoke, he opened the door, went outside, and took a deep breath of the relatively fresh air near the Church of Night. He felt very comfortable.

From the dormitory to the church, you have to cross a small road and then a short commercial street. It is noon now, and the restaurants are open. People are coming and going on the road. Leonard walks forward leisurely, seeing people walking or jogging forward, full of energy, and he can't help but smile.

When passing by the bakery he often visited, Leonard habitually took a few more glances inside. The owner inside happened to look up in the direction of the store door, and the two of them looked at each other. The owner smiled and greeted him:
"Mr. Mitchell!"

"Would you like a hot dog bun fresh from the oven?"

Leonard subconsciously leaned forward, his mouth, which was blocked by his raised collar, opened, and he almost spoke. His throat vibrated slightly, and the "OK!" that reached his throat died down.

He calmed down instantly as if a bucket of cold water was poured over his head, and his expression became slightly lonely. Facing the expectant gaze of his boss, Leonard nodded vigorously and raised a finger and shook it.

The boss smiled: "Okay!"

Leonard looked calm, and this calmness lasted until he walked into the store and picked up the bread that the boss had packed. When paying, the boss looked at the regular customer who was usually free and easy and didn't say a word with doubt, and asked with concern whether he had a cold and his voice was hoarse, but Leonard just smiled and shook his head.

As he left the bakery, he bit his lip, slowly clenched his fist, and tightly grasped a corner of his clothes in his palm.

TBC
------

Double update finished.

As an aside, regarding the fact that Aurora will be poor... How should I put it, they are definitely not short of money, but if Zhenzao wants to gradually transform his image and believers into a great and glorious one, then there must be many channels that must be abandoned.

(See the chapter about Mr. Z robbing his fellow thieves. Look how skilled he is.)

As a cult, these channels that must be abandoned may be the main source of income. Therefore, because of the Lord's requirements → channels are reduced → the reserved funds are sharply reduced, many financial difficulties will occur.

As for the rent, even if Aurora has hundreds of millions of operating funds a year, it may not be willing to pay tens of millions of pounds at a time to rent a house. Although the final decision is 7 pounds, it is possible to negotiate a discount for cooperation between the two parties.

(End of this chapter)