Seducing the Conqueror

015: They Better Entertain Me

IT was already dark when LJ got back to Laugh Tale [1]. The customers of the restobar multiplied to at least three to four times its number from this afternoon. Because of this, every staff is busy, including the boss.

The boss was mixing liquor when LJ appeared at the counter.

“I thought you run away. It took you ages to finish one task,” the boss reprimanded as he coldly checks the wines he brought.

“Flint!” the boss called out and the old man came running to his side. He was the same old man LJ met this afternoon.

The boss turned to LJ, “Move this to the cellar. Old Flint will show you the way.”

LJ hurriedly executed his task and followed Flint to the restricted area.

As they walk towards the long corridor, Flint can’t help himself from clicking his tongue. “Tsk tsk tsk. That is a demerit for you, lad. If you continue on getting demerits, you will never graduate from Laugh Tale,” Flint said as he shook his head.

“You have a grading system?” LJ can’t believe how systematic this organization is. He thought that this place is a simple meeting place for the Black Heart Rebels.

Who would have thought that Laugh Tale would be like an academy for its members?

“Of course, we have! If we don’t, this place will be flooded by fools,” the old man said.

Heh, so even the lower ranked rebels are not only all brawn and no brain, LJ thought.

“Wait here. I will get the keys.”

While waiting for Flint to return, LJ leaned against the wall while carrying the wines.

"Did you deliver the weapons?"

LJ heard faint noises coming from the empty hallway. He is in an area that only employees could access and everybody is busy with entertaining the customers, so no people other than LJ and Flint should be in there, right?

In that corridor, LJ discovered that there is no other room or path to take in that empty space. There are only two staircases up ahead. One is where Flint went off to, and the other is leading to the cellar.

But it doesn't sound like the voices came from these two directions, he thought.

LJ heard faint noises again. But this time, it is inaudible --- too faint to make out the words.

He listened carefully as the faint voices kept on talking. Little by little, the voices grew clearer as his ears close in the wall he has been leaning to.

A few steps from his original position, he found a button-sized cracked in the wall. He peeked into it but he could only see a back of a man.

"We maybe just an insignificant team compared to your main force but I assure you, I don't let mistakes slip on my team," the man said.

"You have never been insignificant in our eyes. Without your support, we won't be able to start a fight in the first place. Needless to say, without you, we will be toothless cubs trying to fight the almighty king of the pride."

The man's ears turned red. He felt they were not worthy of such praise but was still overjoyed by it --- especially because the words came from the lips of one of the elite commanders of the Black Heart Rebels.

A wind blew behind the commander and in that short moment, LJ saw strands of emerald-colored hair fluttered in the air.

"Without you guys, there would be no Black Heart Rebels."

LJ's heart stopped.

This confirms it! This place is really associated with the rebels. Now, I just have to know what does their commander looked like.

LJ squinted his eyes --- trying to have a glimpse of the commander --- but unfortunately, the man in front of her moved a step backward, covering a larger portion of LJ's view.

"Come on, man! Move!" he whispered.

"I have the keys now!"

LJ immediately stood straight and faced Old Flint. Luckily, LJ reacted quickly so Flint didn't saw him peeping.

"It is this way!" Flint led the way downstairs.

LJ could only sigh. It is a missed chance to know the identity of a Black Heart commander. But knowing that this place is related to the rebels, he could still consider this as a big discovery.

He then recalled the strands of hair he briefly saw through that hole.

“Ha! That’s impossible. My girl can’t be her,” he muttered as he laughed at his own thoughts.

“What are you blabbering about? Hurry up will ‘ya?” Flint scolded.

LJ smiled and run to him.

After LJ's tasks, the boss offered him to stay in the restobar's employee ward but he politely refused, together with the job at the restobar. Now that his objective has been fulfilled, there is no reason for him to stay. It is too risky for him to stay anyways.

So, after leaving Laugh Tale, he stealthily returned to the palace --- using the same path he took this afternoon.

"Did you have fun?"

LJ didn't have to look to know whose voice it is. Zack is the only person who could talk to him as soon as he leapt from the vines. He knows that this friend of his will be quietly waiting for him behind the room's veranda all this time. And he is right.

Despite being too late at night, Zack is still wearing his uniform as the prince's high ranking personal soldier. His white full suit with gold and black lining gave him a sophisticated and elegant look. While his royal blue cape embroidered with gold-colored threads make him look powerful and regal.

"Raftel [1] is real," LJ said as he walks towards his walk-in closet. "It is a training ground for the Black Heart Rebels and is under the cover of a shabby restobar called Laugh Tale."

Zack poured a glass of LJ's favorite cold wine. "What is your next plan then? Is it time for us to attack them directly?"

LJ took the glass and sat at his Victorian chair. The chair has a black and white unusual metal frame and silky black upholstery [2] with grayish-black pattern of a sword at the midst of opposite waves --- the royal insignia of the Kingdom of Belmoure.

"Not yet. I am just starting with our game of cat-and-mouse. We should take this card to good use. Send a spy from our team inside Laugh Tale. Have him train under them and report everything he learns directly to you. Be discreet in this mission. No one, other than the three of us, should know about this. Let us see what tricks these rebels have," LJ instructed.

He took a sip from his glass and had a grin on his face.

"They should better entertain me."

The sky is still moonless but the wolves are already on the move…

And LJ is the biggest and hungriest wolf of them all.

[1] Laugh Tale is a term I got from One Piece Stampede movie. Since I really loved the movie, I used the term for the name of the restobar.

[2] https://foter.com/victorian-chair-styles