Knowledge Thief

Good Morning, Champion!

As a new day dawned, the sun rose up and lightened the city of Azaria. For these few minutes of the day, Azaria would bathe in the golden showers of the sun and look like a magical land right out of a storybook. Lee was admiring this magical view standing on the shrine mountain.

A little earlier in the morning, Lee and Mana had woken up and had their early morning tea. During the discussion, Lee had only one thought in his mind and that was 'Money.' He understood that he needed to have sufficient money to ensure that he stays free. So his first enquiry to Mana was about money.

'We actually have enough money to rent the inn for tomorrow.' Mana said sheepishly.

Lee was shocked to hear that their financial situation was this bad.

'Actually, it is all on you. I thought you would first go and see your power, and then meet the grand elder or priests. If you had done that you could have had free lodging and food' Mana added.

Lee understood what she meant. He failed to look at his experiments from her point of view.

'Mana, don't hold back from stating your views from now on.'

'Anyways, first let's figure out how to make some money' Lee added.

'There aren't that many respectful jobs in the city, and the menial ones have more competition. We also don't have any merchandise we could sell. So, I think the only way is to announce you are champion' said Mana.

Lee couldn't help but agree with the first part. As far as he knew, there weren't that many jobs here. However, he also didn't want to publicize himself and constrict his freedom.

'Actually, let's take a walk. I want some time to think' said Lee.

And that's how they ended upon the mountain shrine. As they were both admiring the sunrise, a voice called out to Mana, 'Mana, Is that you?'

They both turned to see an older lady in a silver robe. She had a warm smile on her face. She didn't wear any accessories except a golden chain wrapped around her hand. Lee was surprised by the fact that her attire mimicked the nuns of Earth.

'Auntie Esther, you are stationed here? I never thought I would see you here?' answered a surprised Mana. She then went and hugged her while Esther patted her head.

'So, what brings you into the city?'

Mana gave the exact same reply that she gave Elvie, 'Actually, this here is Mr. Lee. I found him near granny's place. Since he had lost his memories, granny asked me to show him the city to see if something jogs his memory.'

The priestess shifted her focus towards Lee. He bowed his head to greet her while she studied him. She then smiled back to acknowledge his greeting.

'Anyways, I am leaving home now. If you both need anything, feel free to reach out. I am staying at the same old place.' said Auntie Esther and waved them goodbye.

Both Lee and Mana watched her travel halfway down the mountain before they themselves started to descend.

'Auntie Esther? Isn't Esther the ruling family?' asked Lee.

Mana was surprised that Lee learnt that information, but she didn't outwardly show anything when she answered, 'Yeah! Auntie's name is May Esther and she was from the ruling family. She became a priestess just after Sheila became a tyrant.'

'Oh! You do know that Sheila became a tyrant right?' added Mana.

'Yeah. Samus died. Sheila became a tyrant and the city is in the gutter right now. Anything else?' answered Lee confidently.

'Good. Seems you did gather some intelligence about the city. Seems the champion title is not just for show' commented Mana and started to laugh.

Lee couldn't help but feel a little angry but didn't mind it. He just understood that she was still a kid. As they neared the bottom of the mountain, they could see the Auntie surrounded by few hooligans. Both Lee and Mana sped down after seeing them surround her.

Since the hooligans were concentrating on harassing May, they didn’t see Lee and Mana inching towards them. As they neared them, Lee clenched his fist to prepare for a fight but Mana stopped him.

She took a few steps in front of him, stomped down her foot and took a deep breath. She then transformed herself into a bear. As soon as they saw the bear, the group quickly turned tail and left.

Mana changed back and went to check on May, 'Are you OK, auntie?'

'Yeah, they were just normal robbers. They didn't do anything serious.' assured May.

'Oh that's a relief, but I wished that I could have at least hit one of them' said Mana as she clenched her fist. 

'You just haven't changed, have you?' asked May with a smile on her face. She then added, 'Anyways, you guys go on, I'll take care.'

Lee interjected, 'No issues ma'am, we will accompany you. We don't have any urgent work.'

May wanted to protest but Mana's intent stare made her relent. The three of them made their way down the mountain.

'So, is robbery a regular happening in the city?' asked Lee.

'Yeah. It has become a frequent happening in the past year or so. Since the jobs have gone down, the lowest level resorted to robbery and such to survive.' answered May.

'What are the guards doing auntie? When I was here the guards would patrol vigorously and catch any criminal' asked a confused Mana.

'Times have changed Mana. The guards have changed too. Elda has come out, and several honest guards deserted. The new ones worry only about themselves. Money comes before duty nowadays.' said May.

Lee nodded and murmured, 'Seems this city is going down the drain.' 

Even though Mana and May heard it, they didn't particularly react to the comment.

As they reached the end of the path, May and the duo split ways with each other. Mana looked at Lee and saw that he was deep in thought.

'What are you thinking?'

'If I had known about the robbers yesterday, I could have given a realistic reason to Elda.' murmured Lee.

'Seriously? That's the first thought that came to your mind?'

'Actually, that's not the important thing, the important thing is that I found out a way for us to make some money.'

'Oh, very good. What's that?'

'Why don't you take a guess?' asked Lee and then added, 'Let's make it interesting. If you don't guess correctly, the breakfast is on you.'

'The breakfast is anyway on me' thought Mana. She then looked back at the recent events to guess Lee's plan.

'We encountered robbers… He asked about robberies... So... No... No, no, no. He couldn't have decided that. He is a champion, why would he choose to do that?'

She was having an internal argument within her mind when Lee informed her, 'Time's up!'

'Did you, by any chance, choose robbery?'

'Yeah! Very sharp, Mana'

'Thank God! I thought you did... What? You did?'

'We will be thieves. Like the great phantom thieves' said Lee with a wild grin on his face.

'God, is he your best choice for champion?' cursed Mana internally.

.......................................................................

Meanwhile, after getting rebuked by Elda and Elvie, Gin made her way to the inn to take some rest. She wanted to start the search tomorrow with a fresh mind. As fate would have it, she rented a room in the exact same inn that both Mana and Lee had stayed. 

When she woke up in the morning, the time was around 11 and the sun was burning bright. She cursed to herself 'Why the f*** did I sleep so long?'

Gin then made her way back to the slums to stake out Bees. Just as she was about to enter the street, she saw Mana coming out of Bees. She thanked her lucky star and sprinted towards her. As she neared the inn, she saw a stout man beside Mana and determined that he is the champion.

She stood in front of him and bent a knee and greeted him with a, 'Good Morning, Champion.'