"You start a rebellion," Leo calmly said as though he was oblivious to the weight of the words he'd just dropped.

How was Ryan ever going to lead a rebellion? In what realm was that going to be feasible?

"Impossible," Ryan said after organizing his thoughts.

"That's just what you think. We haven't even gotten to think about how many people have been screwed over by the Looter's Heaven."

Sure, Ryan knew innately that he probably wasn't the only one to have been screwed over in recent times by the Looter's Heaven. Still, that didn't mean that he'd just randomly go out and try to recruit anyone into the rebellion if such a thing was ever going to happen.

Ryan himself couldn't even fathom doing such a thing, as the Looter's Heaven had a lot of feelers on the ground, and they'd definitely not take too lightly to having a rebellion on their hands. Ryan, who was already a thorn in their side, would now become one that was to be taken out as soon as possible.

"That's going to put me in a worse position than I currently am," Ryan echoed out.

"Maybe, but if you have carefully considered your options, you'd know that you don't have any good ones," Leo said, clearly unperturbed by Ryan's expression.

And there it was: Ryan didn't have any good options at the moment. He didn't have any safe bets on any path that was straightforward without perils involved.

Perhaps this was the time to grow a spine and take a stand for himself because if he didn't, no one else would. At least Leo shouldn't, because they'd still come after him even if the big man tried to protect him.

"True," Ryan said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Thanks for earlier."

Ryan was glad that his friend had turned up for him. After all, it was Ryan himself who'd declined the help that was offered to him—harshly, if he was being honest—but Leo hadn't held it to heart and had still butted in when the time came.

"Don't worry about it. You'd have done the same for me," Leo said dismissively.

He was right. Ryan would've, because if he didn't do it for Leo, then he couldn't do it for any other person.

Ryan looked out of his shop. The sparse crowd at the Eastern gates had begun to fade into a trickle as Ursula began to creep up to replace Arson on shift duty.

The blue and red were probably warring somewhere his eyes could not track, but that wasn't even a problem as he already knew which of the two would come out victorious between them.

Soon it'd be time to pack up and head back to the inn. No doubt the day had been very eventful for one such as Ryan, who didn't have that much excitement every day.

He turned to face Leo, gratitude showing on his face, but the big man only let out a snort which made Ryan chuckle. Sometimes there was no need for words in situations like these. Their conversations could go a long way without either of the two even bothering to speak to each other.

A thought came unbidden to Ryan's head, one that had formed during the conversation with the guildsman but one that he wasn't too bothered about as the time was not right for the conversation at such a moment.

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"How do you know Mr. Coman?" Ryan asked.

Watching the big man clearly, he could see how Leo seemed to almost squirm at the question. No doubt Ryan's query was an uncomfortable one.

However, that was a reasonable question, as Ryan hadn't even known the guildsman prior to their first meeting of him serving the tax and deadline papers. Leo, on the other hand, seemed to have had real relations with the tax man, judging by the opening words of their exchange.

"Don't worry about it," Leo said calmly.

Don't worry about it? That wasn't suspicious—wasn't suspicious at all. What was really going on with Leo? Why did he always seem to be in the right place and right time with the right people and expect Ryan to believe that it was just a coincidence?

"Really?" Ryan asked, not wanting to let this opportunity slip by him.

"He comes by where I work to meet my employer often," Leo said. "And before you ask, no, I cannot tell you who my employer is or what they discussed, as I wasn't privy to that information."

Huh, often... That was the word that kept ringing in Ryan's head. Often. How many times had Leo crossed paths with the guildsman to even have the beginning of a relationship with the man? More than Ryan, probably.

More important though was who Leo worked for. Whoever was Leo's employer had to be swimming in gold to have the guildsman going back and forth. Considering the fact that Leo hadn't been in town for too long, that meant that they had sufficient influence as well, which narrowed Ryan's guesses to a few upper district residents—but who?

"Fine, can't you at least give me a name or a nickname of your employer at the very least?" Ryan asked.

Almost all, if not all, the wealthy and influential people had nicknames attached to them. For some, they were good names, and for others, not so good, but at the end of the day, the influential people never really cared about such random things.

There were more things that were interesting than that, like adding more gold to their coffers, and so it was left up to people like Ryan and Leo to give them nicknames. A phase that Leo seemed to have outgrown.

"Ryan, drop it," Leo said.

"You have more important things to worry about. I think today has been one hell of a day. Better to close now than get any more surprises, aye?"

Ryan nodded in agreement. The day had certainly been very eventful, and he supposed that it was almost time to begin locking up shop, judging by Ursula's position up in the sky. Arson's silhouette was already disappearing back into wherever it rested, and Ryan thought it best to do so as well.

"Yeah," Ryan said as he began packing up his wares, with Leo handing him different items as often as he could, speeding up the process as best as they could.

Soon enough, the pair were standing outside a properly locked shop—or as locked as it could be.

With a nod, the duo began their walk back to the Messy Inn, both lost in their own thoughts. Ryan was lost thinking about how he'd start preparing and equipping himself to go against an institution such as the Looter's Heaven, and Leo was probably thinking about whatever he considered important at the moment.

Maybe he'd be lucky enough to escape the wrath of Looter's Heaven that was sure to come. Maybe he wouldn't. Either way, he most definitely wouldn't be going down without a fight.

Ryan raised his hand and ran it through his hair, lost in thought.

As usual, the raucous laughter and noise in the late night were the only indicators he needed to remind him that he was approaching the Messy Inn. No doubt the patrons in there were in the middle of one mischief or another, and that brought a smile to his face and also allowed him to release the tension currently in him.

By the looks of it, even Leo seemed to have let go of whatever was bothering him at that moment. As though having a single mind, they walked through the open doors to familiar sights, smells, and sounds, and for Ryan, they walked into home.

None of his troubles could get him here. They walked straight to the bar where Carl was currently dealing drinks to a couple of patrons and having an animated conversation, no doubt the bartender telling them one of his outrageous stories. He turned around only to face the duo when Leo let out a loud cough.

"Aye, you rascals are back!" Carl said with glee. "Hope you had a fair-ry good day!"

Ah, Carl was never going to let that pun die out, was he? Ryan thought, even as a blush crept up his face at the unbidden mental image of who the pun was about.

"Yes, we did," Leo answered as Ryan was clearly indisposed.

"Fantastic, fantastic. Aye, Ryan," Carl called out to Ryan, snapping him out of his reverie. "Your lady friend dropped by and left an envelope for you."

The bartender slid the closed envelope over to Ryan as he turned and resumed his conversation with his other patrons.