"Can you two drink red wine?"
Ron picked up three glasses from beneath the piano and placed them onto the instrument. He stood up, giving up his seat for the boy wearing the oversized fedora to sit.
"Give me a glass of Macroctuly wine along with a few lemon slices, adding a little sugar would be even better. As for this kid... give him a few glasses of any kind of juice."
The large man spoke then casually sat on the chair. The petite wooden chair suddenly had to endure the crushing weight of a massive two point two meter frame, showing signs of going on strike.
Seeing this, Ron could only nod. Then he walked toward the boy, his hand holding a glass cup shimmering with moonlight and raising it in front of the child.
"Watch closely, one, two..."
Following the countdown from Ron, a strange gleam suddenly lit up within the young boy's eyes.
For upon the cup that Ron was swinging, smooth orange droplets of liquid suddenly manifested.
"Here is yours."
Ron placed the glass of orange juice into the boy's hands amid a gaze filled with tiny speckles of admiration. He then gently extended his hand behind the boy's ear and pulled out a playing card from there.
"Look closely."
Ron snapped his fingers, instantly causing the card in his hand to transform. It seemed to grow a pair of wings and turned into a ribbon of pure white color.
That white ribbon coiled itself into a sphere and then spread its wings, revealing a pair of snowy white bird wings in the night.
The pigeon that had just hatched from the ribbon sphere soared high up and landed on the piano, right next to the hand of the large man.
All of a sudden, the pigeon coiled itself up again, only to reveal from its body two cut slices of passion fruit.
It was truly bizarre that the entire process carried absolutely no trace of magic at all.
"Truly..."
"Interesting, isn't it?"
Ron patted the boy's head, then he took his hand and led him up to the piano.
"...So where is my Macroctuly glass?"
At this moment, the bulky man finally pressed for the glass of wine he requested, but Ron seemed to pay no heed to that.
He guided the boy to look at the piano and let him try touching the musical notes so the boy could slowly perceive the sound and rhythm.
Seeing that, the man knitted his brows slightly and spoke clearly to the boy wearing the fedora.
"What did I tell you? Be careful around strangers, kid. Do not let him bewitch you, he is a criminal."
Hearing the last phrase, the young boy suddenly froze. He looked up at Ron's smile, then looked back toward that grumpy fellow, concluding it was still better to stay by Ron's side.
Seeing this, Ron smiled. He lifted this young boy up high then placed him onto the large man's shoulders. He did it very gently for the boy's sake, and also for the glass of orange juice in his hand.
"Tsk, suit yourself."
The tall, bulky man ignored the kid then reached his hand into his trousers and pulled out a shimmering silver object.
"This is the item you requested, the Demon Mirror. So you owe me two favors."
"It is one. The case of discovering the young master's corpse was reported to you by me."
Ron smiled then sat on the ledge of the piano. He touched the face down mirror and used the ribbon to tie the mirror up amid the words of the other man.
"Weren't you the one who killed that corpse? You even disguised it so that another person would take the blame for you."
Hearing this, the boy startled inside. Murder? He had heard about it but had never encountered a killer in real life before.
"Admit it, you only said that because of your responsibility. When that fellow died, his family was probably even happier. Let me guess, after finding his corpse, that marquis family did not want you to touch the body for an autopsy to find the cause, but quickly buried it instead, right?"
"To hell with their family, having a lot of money to bother society is all they do."
Ron smiled and stood up. He gently stroked his hand across the musical keys and asked the man.
"So, what do you want me to pay our debt with?"
That entity pondered for a long while. He looked into Ron's eyes then gently touched the leg of the boy on his shoulders.
"His name is Moris, his dream is to be a guard hound. He is currently a bit young, but that is not a big issue. What matters is time and the person guiding him.
You are young, but aren't your 'disciples' highly excellent? Come on, this kid is a rough diamond that needs polishing."
The old bulky man was pushing the responsibility onto Ron, but what about him?
"But what is there to being a guard hound? Fighting, obeying orders, protecting, fighting?
I am tired of teaching geniuses how to fight, alright? Look at me. My muscles are like a shriveled dried lemon, my body is gaunt, I only know three or four spells, and I have not even gone to school.
If you give me someone with a good mind, I will accept."
The bulky man looked at Ron like an 'infatuated' person, like a drowning man watching a boat sailing away into the distance.
"...To tell the truth, someone of your caliber not being allowed to go to school is just to balance the playing field.
Is there anything normal about that brain of yours? Attending class and either finishing a book in a day, or twisting the words of the teachers. Who knows?"
Ron looked back suspiciously at the young boy. It seemed the child was feeling a bit sad, slighted, and was trying to pull the hat down to conceal his face.
"...But you know, I recently found a new disciple. Actually no, it is hard to call it that, this situation is truly hard to explain. This makes it necessary for me to spend a lot of time by her side and with my own social disguises.
If I want to take on one more disciple, it is not that I cannot manage, but I am afraid this young boy will be a bit overwhelmed.
You know? Work."
"Last time you requested a large amount of gunpowder, right? I just met with the officials at the police station to apply for a permit to purchase a massive amount of gunpowder sacks. It is quite expensive, about the price of this boy."
Ron was slightly surprised about that matter. He looked up at Moris, then looked into the eyes of the fellow in front of him.
"Well, that sounds just like human traffickers. Why are you so persistent? Detective?
I am just a criminal after all??"
That man, the bulky figure, looked back at Ron with a helpless, weary gaze.
"It is just that everything will either last long, or be short. It could be that within a single night everything will end, or an entire month. We are always uncertain about the future, so why not..."
Saying that, the fellow picked up a lemon slice and threw it into his mouth to chew the whole piece, disregarding its bitter, sour harshness.
"...Well, perhaps I can try a bit harder too. However, young Moris, from now on you shall follow me, alright? Tomorrow, we will meet my other disciple."
Ron spoke, then he stood up and lifted the boy off the man's shoulders. It was unclear what the boy's face looked like because the darkness had long since shrouded him.
"But... that other disciple you mentioned, who is it? The boy who likes criminals?"
Ron smiled upon hearing those words, then he covered the boy's ears.
"You won't believe it, it is..."