Chapter 62: The Routine

Chapter 62: The Routine

Finally, Helen, wiping her tears, wrote about the bad things she had done with the little foxes while lying on the fireplace coffee table. She curiously watched her ‘big sisters’ perform ball juggling until lunchtime.

To be exact, it was twenty minutes before lunch.

Today’s cafeteria lunch had ‘Padar Giant Lobster,’ which could not be missed.

Helen was there pondering hard as she wrote her letter of self-criticism. Meanwhile, in the changing room next door, there were sobs and the faint sounds of clothes being taken off—they had worn costumes over their clothes and had just rehearsed something called ‘Crazy Witch Something-or-Other.’

As for the money the little foxes had previously swindled from Helen, it was all returned to her. Those who had mocked Ocris also apologized to Helen, Ocris’s sister, while riding unicycles and juggling balls.

After adjusting his costume, Louis walked to the sofa and took out the stack of IOUs Miss Lilith had produced earlier. He then looked for the blank IOUs that no one had signed yet—he intended to have Lilith and the others sign them today and then show them to Yingling.

Using his proper identity, he would make this local boss of Blackhorn Alley properly recognize who he was.

The name Louis VI should be known to everyone.

After finding the IOUs, Louis saw Lilith still sitting at the desk crying. He couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Stop crying. Look, your little follower over there is staring and watching you all with curiosity (Lilith cried even harder). It’s as if I did something terrible to you.” Louis tapped his hand with the IOUs. “Aren’t these all the performances you prepared for today? Making me dance, ride a tricycle, juggle balls. Oh, so when you make me do it, it’s a prank, but when I make you do it, it’s being a bully?”

He lifted Lilith’s small chin and smiled. “Your Majesty Queen Lilith, isn’t that right?”

Lilith turned her pretty face away, wiping her tears as she scolded, “You damned demon (‘Hmm?’)… Wuwuwu…”

If it was just dancing, fine. Sis has been in the Red Fox Den. Whether I’ve eaten pork or not, what kind of scene haven’t I seen?

—Thought it was some kind of dance, huh.

But it was indeed a bit vulgar… cough.

However, riding tricycles and juggling balls, plus having little follower Helen watch, left a deep shadow in Lilith and the others’ hearts—clearly, in the end, everyone took a turn. The nimble ones rode unicycles and juggled balls; the clumsy ones rode tricycles and juggled balls.

Every big sister had to perform a trick in front of the little follower before it was over.

Seeing little follower Helen sneak another glance, the big sisters couldn’t help but cry even harder.

From now on, forget about bullying Helen. Probably even meeting her, they’d have to cover their faces and avoid her.

“Hmm… a total of six porcelain dolls… cough, six high-level substitute dolls, one carpet, two unicycles… three thousand, five hundred, six hundred, two…” Louis sat at the desk, frowning seriously as he calculated.

Sure enough, this was the most effective way to comfort people—as he read out those strings of numbers, the little delinquent girls all stopped crying.

They woodenly raised their heads, looking at the demon in disbelief, unable to believe what they were hearing.

Helen’s jaw dropped. She realized Louis was much tougher than her big sisters!

Soon, the number had already reached 50,000!

Two little foxes who had just been scared into submission heard Louis say 50,000 and still increasing. They nearly fainted on the spot.

“This, this, my dolls are all court antiques from the era of the Isolda Witch King—I think everyone knows their value, right?” Louis smiled and looked at Lilith and the others. “Let’s not count the rest; just compensate for these… Let me see.”

Louis finally quoted a number the little foxes had mentioned earlier: “—five thousand Gold Galleons.”

The little foxes, who had just been scared stiff, breathed a huge sigh of relief. But Lilith’s face turned pale—the 50,000 was probably just to scare them.

But 5,000 might be real!

[Clearly, Lilith was still too young…]

Seeing Louis actually take out those IOUs, Miss Lilith felt dizzy. She pointed at Louis for a long time without saying a word: “You, you, you…”

“No need to doubt it, Miss Lilith. Today, if you dare write it,” Louis smiled. “I dare come to collect tomorrow.”

As he spoke, Louis casually pinched the tail of a little fox beside him: “Otherwise, why write it, right?”

“Don’t touch my tai—(‘Hmm?’)… Wuwuwu…”

“Good, come on, sign it. It’s almost time to eat. After signing, I’ll treat everyone to the cafeteria (Helen: Yay yay).” Louis comforted everyone gently.

“Who wants to wuwuwu go to the cafeteria with you…”

“I’m not going… wuwuwu… I want to go home…”

“Stop crying, all of you!” Lilith gritted her teeth, wiped her tears, and fiercely snatched the pen from Louis’s hand. “We’ll sign, but first, agree to return the dance recording to us. Otherwise, we’ll never let you off, even in death!”

“No problem,” Louis said with a smile.

Several little foxes signed their names. This stack of IOUs had amounts like ten or a hundred. They were things the Red Fox Den specifically used to extort others. The paper used was also that kind of magical parchment on which magic spells couldn’t take effect.

So it couldn’t be altered. That’s why writing IOUs required using this specialized paper.

The little foxes all signed on it. Then Lilith took a seal from her pocket and stamped it.

After that, Louis returned everything to them as promised—even the crystal ball in Helen’s hand was given back.

To the little foxes’ surprise, the camera they themselves had prepared hadn’t recorded anything at all. This both astonished and relieved them.

When the little foxes were about to leave, they secretly took a few of Louis’s things—including hair, fingernails, a used water cup, a used pen, and such.

Louis pretended not to see.

After the little foxes left, Louis organized the IOUs. With a magic spell, the positions of Party A and Party B swapped—the magical parchment that should nullify magic spells seemed to have no effect in his hands.

After finishing, Louis wrote: The Mystery Office owes the Red Fox Den five thousand Gold Galleons.

Then he also stamped a seal.

The debtor section even had Director Trif’s signature—it looked exactly the same.

Some debtors also had Louis’s signature—identical to Lilith’s handwriting!

Upon closer inspection, one would find that the dates matched perfectly with those on the ‘Director Trif signed IOUs’ that Lilith had used to show off—these were stolen goods! And it had nothing to do with Louis.

Because he only arrived this month.

As for those signed by Louis—just as Helen’s jaw dropped and she looked at Louis as if he were a fool, Louis lifted the covered crystal ball on the table.

Inside this crystal ball was a few minutes of recording—starting from when Lilith and the others entered, including their extortion, Louis’s righteous and stern scolding, up to Louis slamming the table.

The rest was audio. Louis casually used magic to interfere, preserving the parts where Zinnia and the others recited the Dark Curse—aside from Louis, probably few wizards could ‘edit’ a crystal ball.

And Louis edited it very skillfully.

If someone wasn’t present, they would definitely think this wizard ultimately rolled up his sleeves and used an Ocris Magic Mirror, plus his fists, to deal with the little foxes.

Therefore, this recording was clean and could be reported to the Ministry of Magic.

After playing this recording, Louis tapped his palm with that stack of IOUs. Looking at Helen, who still had a clueless expression, he explained: “Five thousand Gold Galleons? Hah, how much funding can a tiny little office have in a year?”

“They embezzled all of it!”

“You say they didn’t embezzle? But this seal is real, the date and Director Trif’s signature are real—most importantly, there really was such a matter between them!”

“If I report it to the Ministry of Magic to prove my own innocence, do you think they’ll come investigate?”

“This signature isn’t written by me, come investigate!”

“But Trif’s signatures are real!”

“The Foxes’ signatures are also real!”

“True, Director Trif and the little foxes’ monthly income and expenses are only about two hundred Gold Galleons. But a five thousand Gold Galleon IOU is written right here. Do you think the Ministry of Magic would first have to investigate?”

“A big case!”

“As long as they investigate, would Director Trif be afraid? Would the Foxes be afraid?”

“You say you didn’t collude to cheat the Ministry of Magic out of funds, didn’t extort professors—who would believe that?”

“You say you didn’t take kickbacks—who would believe that?”

“The Foxes have plenty of dirty deeds.”

“Investigate and you’ll know~”

With both witnesses and evidence, no one’s words would matter—with such a large sum, reporting it to the regulatory department would definitely trigger an investigation. Everyone involved in this matter would be in deep trouble.

But the key point is, in this recording, Louis was separated from it—he looked like a silly, justice-upholding temp worker.

As for Helen, she was the one who rescued the handsome guy.

So if this thing really got reported, the two temp workers might end up praised in the newspapers.

Therefore, as long as Louis was unhappy, then Yingling and all the Foxes connected to the Red Fox Den would be in deep trouble.

So, if some real big boss came tomorrow to seek revenge, there would be quite a show to watch.

After Louis fully explained this to Helen, Helen slowly raised her head and cautiously looked at Louis. She suddenly realized that her extortionist, loan-sharking, utterly wicked big sisters, compared to Louis, were simply a bunch of innocent little kittens.

Who said big bad guy Louis was a bookworm?

Who said he went crazy from reading?

He was so bad it was dripping out!

“Learn something, you brat. Hanging around behind those ‘big sisters’ all day has no future.” Louis put away the IOUs. “Still following your big sisters to see the world? The world is right under your nose (Louis pointed at the tip of his own nose). See?”

“Sorry, Lilith, wuwuwu, I got you all into trouble (‘Hmm?~’) Mmm, ah, wuwu (‘Call me Big Brother!’). Big Brother, I was wrong~ (‘Will you follow me from now on?’) I won’t follow you (‘Hmm?~’)… Wuwuwu, I’ll follow you from now on, okay?… Louis, Louis, you won’t really report this stuff, right?”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to bother with them to the point of ruining them completely. These things are just to teach them a lesson, to let the Foxes and all the professors know the name of the new person in the office and what he does! To reacquaint everyone with what kind of place this Mystery Office is!”

“As for you recognizing a boss, that depends on your performance.” Louis smiled and stuffed the stack of IOUs into his pocket. “To seek shelter under someone, you first need to present a pledge of allegiance.”

“I already said I don’t want to follow (‘Hmm?’) Wuwuwu… So if I follow you from now on, what good is it? Lilith promised me a lot of good stuff.”

“Just wait to see the world!”

That very noon, Louis took his little underling Helen to see such a grand scene.

Looking at the Goblins and little Yordles who came to queue up punctually at the cafeteria entrance and kept greeting Louis, Helen was stunned.

“Louis, last time you said ‘fight for the cafeteria, knock out front teeth,’ was that true?”

“…”