Chapter 34 - Offending The Grey Family
Leon had never made much progress in comprehending the Laws before but even then, he could tell that as a 1st step awakener, the power of the Laws he could wield was probably not even a millionth fraction of its true might.
His newly acquired fire ability was very useful. It only required his mental will to interact with the energy of heaven and earth to conjure his flame and did not require being powered by his own energy. Using his own energy to conjure the flames was very wasteful as the energy could not be recovered and his cultivation would be lowered instead. Unless he reaches Energy Condensation state, he wouldn't be so extravagant in using his energy.
Leon could freely control the form his fire takes with his strong visualization. Control is dependent on good visualization. If the person could not form a clear image of what they wanted their fire to look like in their mind, then the fire would just stay in its most naturally form. Leon had practiced visualization techniques to master his control over fire in his past life. Although there was some difference in using energy and using his will, it did not affect his control over fire too much.
Leon conjured a decent size fireball and threw it at Snake's corpse after tossing the body to stone floor first. The fire spread quickly until it swallowed the whole corpse in flame. He was testing the intensity of his flame, but the temperature of the flame was not great. It wasn't much different to regular fire and obviously wasn't enough to incinerate the body into ashes. All he got out of the experiment was a blackened body.
The sight was sickening but it didn't affect him much. He had long graduated from throwing up over gory scenes. He had treated all sorts of terrible wounds and illnesses before, building up a high mental resilience to such ugly sights.
"You two can come in." Leon called for Arlo, and Gower.
"You can just call us Arlo and Gower, Boss. What do you need us for?" Arlo took the initiative to talk first when they were called in.
"I need one of you to get rid of the body." Leon said bluntly, while gesturing to them what was left of Snake's body.
Despite being in the underworld for so long and experienced many blood and violence, the duo still could not help gasping in cold air and shiver in fear at the sight.
'What grudge did you have against him to torture him to such a state? This kid… no… our Boss looks pretty innocent, but his heart is so cruel.'
The duo secretly swore that they would do their job wholeheartedly and try their best not to get on Leon's bad side. They didn't want to end up like Snake.
"Y-Yes, boss." Arlo answered. He proceeded to getting a black plastic bag to dump the body in. The body was still scalding hot, but Arlo had thick leather gloves for the job. When he was picking up the body, a part of it snapped off and a corner of his face twitched.
"What do you need me to do, Boss?" Gower asked after Arlo left.
"Fix the floor for now." Leon thought for a bit before saying.
"Right away, Boss."
Part of the floor was broken apart when Snake was using his ability to escape. Gower tried to put the stones back in place with his ability but the whole place started shaking instead.
"STOP! Do it manually."
"Sorry, Boss." Gower quickly apologized. Clearly his control over his ability was atrocious and wasn't focused enough. He would've teared the place down instead, had he continued. Leon wasn't going to instruct him on how to improve his control though. He had just taken over the gang and required a period of time to observe the characters of its members. He would reward and punish them accordingly.
"Boss, the Grey family has a job for us." Manager Doug came down and reported with another person following behind him. The person was a servant of the Grey family. He was taken aback when he heard manager Doug addressing a 17-year old kid as the boss. What happen to the previous boss?
Although he had doubts, he did not voice them as it was not important. The internal affairs of the gang did not concern them as long as they can continue to complete the tasks given to them.
"What is the content of the job?" Leon frowned.
"The Grey family wants your gang to secretly sabotage the construction project of the Cromwell's family. Here is the payment in advance." The servant said arrogantly, as if he already knew that they would accept the job.
The Cromwell family was a giant in the real estate business. The Grey family wanted to take advantage of the project failure to sling mud on their reputation and make it easier for their Grey family to enter the real estate business. The real estate was a lucrative business and they wanted a piece of the pie.
"You're just another dog of the Grey family. What are you acting all arrogantly for?" Leon was displeased with the servant's arrogant behavior.
"W-What did you say?" The servant was dumbfounded. He thought he heard wrong.
"This bag of cash, we accept, however we will not carry out the job." Leon said coolly, he wasn't going to repeat himself. Who did the servant think he was to make him do what he says? Leon also have zero intention on accepting the job. The Cromwell family was his ally and business partner. The Old Fox was a stubborn but trustworthy person but as for the Grey family? He couldn't bring himself to trust a family that involves itself in the underworld.
"Y-You take the money yet dare to refuse!? Do you understand what you are doing, brat!?" The servant understood he wasn't mishearing things and was quickly enraged.
"Your intelligence must be really lacking to ask me that. I do what I do because I understand what I do. Only dogs would happily wag their tail when their owner toss them a bone. I'm not a dog like you. Our gang will not see you out." Leon said very quickly that left the servant confused.
'What is this I do what I do nonsense?' The servant couldn't comprehend Leon's words all at once. The first half was almost like a tongue twister, which left him confused. By the time he digested the second half, his anger reached a new peak.
"Who are you calling a dog, brat!? It seems I need to teach you some manners on how to respect your elders!" The servant had his own pride as a servant of the Grey family and a 3rd step awakener. He couldn't stomach Leon's continuous insults.
But before he could act, Leon's image in front of him blurred for a split second and the next thing he knew, he was slapped into the ground so hard he couldn't tell left from right by the concussive blow.
"Which dog is barking?" Leon hit his acupoints and immobilized him.
"This dog is barking!" The servant said, while suffering from a concussion but his anger did not diminished. However, his face turns green after he realized what he said in the spur of the moment.
"Pftt." Gower and manager Doug were breaking out into cold sweat when Leon offended the Grey family's servant, but they could not help but laugh when Leon showed his strength and played the servant like a fool. They felt their past dozen years of frustration being vented. In the past, they had to put up with the Grey family's arrogance and lower their heads but perhaps they no longer need to, under Leon's leadership.
"Exactly. The Golden Lion gang is not your Black Snake gang of yesterday and will not continue being the pawns of the Grey family." Leon placed his hand on the servant's head.
"W-What are you d-doing… AHHHHH!" The servant cried out in pain.
Leon formed a condensed needle of fire with his ability and drilled it directly into the servant's spiritual sea and burn his earth seed, destroying his connection to the Earth Laws, effectively crippling his ability. His soul core was also not spared, and he was turned into an idiot by the damages. Leon didn't want outsiders to know he was the new boss of the Golden Lion gang. He could have silenced the servant, but he needed the servant to bring a message back to the Grey family.
Leon went to Snake's old desk and wrote a letter before sealing it and handed it to Gower.
"Send the letter and the servant back to the Grey family's doorstep."
"Yes, Boss." Gower accepted without complaint. He was just dropping the baggage off at the front gates There wouldn't be any real danger unless he was an idiot, staying at their front gates and waiting for the Grey family to finish reading the letter. He wasn't sure what the content of the letter was, but it probably wasn't something good. Most likely a warning or a threat for the Grey family to tuck their tails between their legs.
If the Grey family do not know their place then Leon wouldn't mind making their family suffer. He had already marked Edric Grey on his list of suspect for the poisoning event. It would be like killing two birds with one stone if Edric was truly the culprit.
Leon continue sitting at the desk and started drawing up a blueprint on a blank piece of paper.
"Manager Doug."
"Yes, Boss."
"Arrange for people to come and renovate this floor according to this blueprint."
"Right away, Boss." Manager Doug complied.
Leon planned for the underground floor to have the same format as an adventurer's guild and open it to all the members of the gang. It would become a gathering place to accept jobs and gather information. He plans to slowly transition the gang into a guild. Although they would still be connected to the underworld, their businesses would become legitimate. As to the types of jobs the guild would take on, Leon hadn't planned for it yet. He only had an idea of the framework and still needed time to work on it. After all, Rome wasn't built in one night.
After settling all the matters for the gang, Leon stretched his limbs and headed home.. He had previously told his parents that they didn't have to wait for him to come home for dinner, but they would probably still be worried sick if he doesn't come home at all.