Chapter 157 Chapter 157 You really don’t take me seriously...
Elio squatted there, pinching his face in confusion, trying to see if what Leopold said was true. Did his face get rounder? Elio wondered uncertainly, was that true?
"You seem to be doing much better than before," Leopold added, probably sensing Elio's confusion.
That was true. Elio let go and asked him, "How are you?"
As Elio asked this, he was also studying Leopold. It had been thirty years since he last saw his friend. So long, so long that Leopold's image had almost morphed into a shadow in the Bludhaven University cafeteria—the aroma of caramel, the turning of pages, the golden sunset—but when Leopold stood here, before Elio's eyes, he suddenly became vivid again.
Of course, Leopold was no longer the warm-toned college roommate he remembered. But he was still Leopold. Wrapped in a coat as white as the moon and as fluffy as a sheep, he looked up at Elio.
"It's not so bad," Leopold said modestly. Elio breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he was doing well; if Leopold dared to say that he was "all right," it would have been terrible. He was like that. Elio smiled too, and slid down from the ancient auditorium where he was squatting—the height difference forced him to roll to release the force—and landed right in front of Leopold.
Leopold then took his right hand out of his pocket and handed it to him.
Elio didn't need to be pulled up, but he thankfully shook Leopold's hand. Perhaps during that brief moment, the rings on the Assassin's fingers rubbed against the Templar's. Puzzled, Leopold glanced down at Elio's hand, which hadn't been able to retract. His right hand subconsciously grasped it, then retracted, reacting. "I remember you didn't like wearing these things before."
Elio silently shoved his hands into his pockets. He really didn't like wearing rings, or any jewelry at all; they were cumbersome and cold. But weapons were another matter. He didn't know how to explain this to Leopold, so he offered him an awkward smile, hoping Leopold would understand.
"Oh," Leopold understood. "You can't tell me that?"
"It's hard to say," Elio said, "but if you like it, I'll give you one."
Leopold laughed. "As long as you don't get married secretly."
Elio scratched his hair, "How is that possible..."
"You must invite me to your wedding," Leopold said.
Now it was Elio's turn to laugh. One of them was an Assassin, the other a Templar, and they were actually discussing getting married and inviting each other in this secluded place. Telling anyone about it would probably shock their colleagues worldwide. But it was also completely true. After all, they were so close in their dorm back then, they even agreed to be best men together.
"Invite me to your wedding too," Elio said honestly, "though I probably won't come."
"Then I shall have no choice but to not get married."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
They exchanged some more ramblings and slowly made their way along the circle of seats. The Italian night was a bit cool, and the clamor of the arena gradually faded, sinking to the bottom like the thick grenadine in a red, white, and blue cocktail; they walked upwards, talking and laughing, into the silence of the night, like blue Curacao liqueur.
"There's something you might want to know," Leopold later mentioned. "HAO has been making new moves recently. They sent a team to the Pakistani border to set up a medical camp, and they're probably currently promoting vaccinations in Kashmir. I've investigated their leaders, and they appear to be a hired couple of doctors, and I can't find anything wrong."
As he spoke, he covered his mouth with his palms and exhaled. The higher they climbed, the colder Leopold felt. But Elio, who was clearly wearing less than him, didn't seem to mind and simply looked at him in confusion.
"What's the matter?" Leopold asked him. "Aren't you interested?"
"I'm interested," Elio said vaguely. "I just...it took me a moment to react. Okay, I know about it. I'll look into it."
Elio was genuinely a bit taken aback. Although if he thought about it carefully, he would have remembered that Leopold was a Templar, and that Farhad Amir, the head of HAO whom Elio had previously assassinated, was also a Templar. As a colleague, it was perfectly normal for Leopold to be concerned about or investigating HAO's subsequent situation.
But as Elio had just thought, sometimes he actually needed to think about it before he could remember that Leopold was also a Templar.
He rarely thought about it, because it only complicated things. Now things were getting complicated. Elio really wondered why Leopold had told him about HAO—of course, Leopold had told him directly because he thought Elio would be interested—but didn't the Templars know that this might lead them to reveal other things, under this beautiful moonlight?
"But you look puzzled," Leopold said. He winked at the assassin when Elio looked at him.
Elio forced himself to stop thinking about it. "I thought that organization was disbanded," the assassin muttered.
"Do you really think so?" The Templar laughed. "If the leader suddenly dies, will his huge organization automatically disband?"
Elio was speechless.
Going back in time, when Cassandra needed to assassinate the leader of a country, she had to first find ways to weaken the strength of their entire country; going back more recently, when Jacob recklessly assassinated several Templars, they happened to be in charge of London's medical system, financial system, and transportation system. One can imagine the chaos London was in at the time.
Order! The Assassins had to destroy the Templars' order and reputation first, exposing their crimes to the world, before they could finally kill them. But after that—after all, Templars were usually in high positions—someone had to clean up the mess.
And these people who restore order are often not assassins.
Let me say something that shouldn't be said. Assassins only need to consider how to kill people, but Templars have to consider a lot more.
Just as Elio was silently depressed, Leopold reached out and patted his shoulder.
"Don't overthink it, Elio," he said gently. "You're doing the right thing. At least that's what I think."
Elio was momentarily bewildered by Leopold's gentleness. The assassin opened his mouth, then closed it again, his hesitation easily caught the Templar's eye. Leopold blinked again and asked Elio, "What's wrong?"
Suspicion is easy, but trust is hard. Elio thought for a moment, then asked directly, "Is the current head of HAO a Templar?"
He observed Leopold's expression, not missing the Templar's initial bafflement. Leopold's eyebrow rose, then within a second or two, the natural doubt faded, replaced by a thoughtful expression. His beautiful blue-eyed eyes slid quickly to the upper left, and Elio heard Leopold, having finished his words, ask, "Do you think its former leader was a Templar?"
"Isn't it?" Elio was even more puzzled.
"It's half and half," Leopold told him. "We Templars collaborate with many international organizations. In these collaborations, leaders or senior officials of these organizations often join our cause." He paused before adding, "However, they sometimes betray our cause. Generally speaking, HAO and the Syndicate were our partners back then."
Elio didn't respond, but just wondered, is Moriarty also a partner of your Templars?
"So you could say Farhad Amir was a Templar," Leopold said, "or you could say he wasn't. He was a classic Templar who joined for the sake of profit, but that's all in the past. It's sometimes hard to understand the inner workings of partners like these, so I have no idea what HAO has become since his death. The only thing I can tell you is that I don't know who's running it now."
Elio pondered silently for a moment. This time, his brow furrowed, but before he could come up with a conclusion, his phone vibrated silently, alerting him to a new message. It was Willow, telling him where to meet them.
Elio smiled silently at the phone screen. Leopold looked at him silently.
"I have to go," Elio told him, "I have something to do."
Leopold nodded, "Keep in touch."
Elio, who had just taken a few steps, suddenly stopped. Leopold raised his eyebrows again, questioning him. Elio paused awkwardly for a moment, then stepped back in front of him, holding out the dial interface with both hands.
Leopold looked puzzledly at the screen handed to him, then looked at Elio, who had his head lowered. "What do you mean?"
"I changed my phone again," Elio admitted, "and lost your contact information. Could you please leave it for a moment?"
Leopold was stunned for a moment, then smiled. He left his personal number on the screen and teased Elio, "You really don't take me seriously."
"I'm sorry," Elio whispered.
"That's okay. I'd rather you didn't change your phone." Leopold called his own, leaving a call log before quickly hanging up. "If you weren't constantly getting into trouble, you probably wouldn't be breaking it so often."
Elio agreed with his guess. Leopold tapped the back of Elio's hand, signaling that he could put the phone away. Elio did so, but instead of leaving immediately, he hugged Leopold and patted him on the back.
"Bring more bodyguards next time," Elio told him. "You won't have enough bullets to fight me."
Leopold frowned, "Against you?"
Elio amended his words, "An assassin like me." He gave Leopold a final smile and backed away, into the darkness, out of sight of the Templars. Leopold vaguely saw Elio wave at him, and then nothing more could be seen.
But he still stared at that direction for a while, imagining how Elio might have left and how he would rush to his next journey.
Then the Templar sighed, gathered his coat, and looked up at the moon.
"It's so cold at night in Italy," he murmured to himself.
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