Chapter 127 Chapter 127 The Assassin Mentor is now certain that there is...
If Elio had used his eagle vision, he would have noticed that the revelers downstairs seemed to have dwindled. Giotto's words had spread quickly among the assassins, who had shifted positions and were now huddling together, mumbling about the feasibility of the idea.
If Elio had used his eagle eyes, he would have noticed that a few assassins had quietly separated from the group that was discussing heatedly, and were crossing rooftops, climbing up tree branches, and scaling walls...
But he didn't.
He was just staring at the glass of grappa in his hand that he had picked up by mistake, and was worried about it; Elio had thought it was just an ordinary glass of wine, but when he took a sip and almost spit it out, he found that the wine was extremely strong and was not something he could drink at all.
To be honest, Elio was already planning to pour it out quietly. He could do it quickly. As long as no one noticed and no one was paying attention to him, it would be fine. But as Elio carefully chose where to pour the wine, he suddenly noticed the lush tree in front of the terrace sway suspiciously.
Elio narrowed his eyes.
The tree stopped moving.
"What are you doing there?" Elio said.
A sound of frustration suddenly echoed from the tree. The first assassin eliminated quickly leaped down from the tree and scurried back into the crowd on the first floor. Elio watched in wonder as he "disappeared." Then he leaned down again and locked eyes with the assassin who was about to climb back up. "What do you want?"
The assassin screamed and fell down.
Elio was even more puzzled. He turned around and was about to go back inside when he came face to face with another assassin. The guy was sliding down from the roof silently. He was probably the one who came closest to success among the others who had attempted it, but unfortunately, luck was often part of the "assassination" process.
"you……"
This time, before Elio could finish his words, the assassin slipped and rushed out of the terrace, tumbling out with a thud.
There was a burst of laughter from the audience.
Elio was no longer puzzled. As the saying goes, three times out of ten, the Assassin's Master was now certain that a conspiracy was unfolding around him.
"Listen, assassins," Elio said from the terrace. "I know what you're doing. The one who fails the most will have to drink this glass of grappa from me."
He didn't actually know what they were doing. But that didn't stop him from getting rid of the wine. After all, Elio really couldn't drink it. And the assassins who were plotting to "attack" Elio obviously didn't mind this little punishment, and were even more cheerful. After all, this represented the mentor's tacit approval!
The straw cart in the courtyard jeered, "He drank it all in one breath!"
"Drink it all in one gulp." Elio raised his glass towards the place. "I can pretend I didn't notice you two. Now let's move to another place."
The two assassins tumbled out of the straw cart in frustration. Just as he'd promised, Elio turned his head, deliberately giving them space to find their next hiding spot. Just then, several deliberate stomping sounds echoed on the roof.
"Teacher," Maria called to him, "what's the reward for success?"
Luigi appeared from behind her, looking rather disconsolate, perhaps thinking this was their chance to sneak up on Elio. Elio, on the terrace, looked up and saw them squatting there, as if time had slipped backwards. He smiled, then said, "What reward do you want?"
"How about an open-ended prize?" Maria immediately responded, as if she had already thought of it. "The winner can make you a reasonable request, and you can't refuse!"
Elio raised an eyebrow. On the rooftops, in the leaves, in the courtyard, in the hall, almost all the assassins held their breath for this moment. That was a bold request! Would the Master agree?
"…a 'reasonable' request," Elio said slowly. "Everyone must agree that this request is reasonable, otherwise I will use my veto."
Suddenly, the assassins erupted in cheers. Just as Maria stood up and bowed to Elio, Elio raised his hand again.
"I'm not finished yet," he said. "Now that we've gotten this far, I need to make a few things clear to you. First, this game must not affect other unrelated people."
"certainly!"
"When I say 'not to disturb others,'" Elio drawled, "it means you shouldn't disturb others celebrating, but you shouldn't run too fast through the crowd and push them out of the way. Do you understand? That would be dangerous."
The assassins agreed to this.
"Secondly," Elio looked around, "whose idea was this?"
There was a burst of snickering. Elio frowned in surprise, because if this idea had come from an assassin, they would most likely have remained silent and tried not to betray their companions. Something even stranger happened. When he turned his gaze toward the rooftop, Elio saw Maria seemed to be staring at the gorse flowers in the courtyard, and Luigi was busy fiddling with the gold button on his coat.
"Ah." Elio understood.
Luigi stopped fiddling with his buttons. Maria stopped pretending to stare at the beautiful golden flower and smiled at Elio. They greeted their mentor and quickly retreated, disappearing from the rooftop.
"So, the game begins?" Elio shook his head and walked downstairs.
It took him no effort at all to find the golden hair in the crowd. Elio walked through the crowd, pushing away several hands that were reaching for his shoulders, and also deflecting several hands that were reaching for his waist. Finally, he hooked his arm around Giotto's neck from behind, "Giotto! Is there anything you want to tell me?"
Giotto, who was already a little dizzy from drinking, was still laughing. He turned his head to look at Elio and actually put his face close to Elio. Elio was caught off guard and was so frightened that he spilled most of the wine in his hand. "Giotto Vongola!"
Gatlin coughed awkwardly, his voice drowned out by the boisterous crowd. "He..."
Elio had to raise his voice, "What's wrong with him?"
Gatlin closed his eyes, "He has kissed all of us!"
Elio was dumbfounded. Just as he was scrutinizing Gatlin, trying to find any sign of deception on his face, Giotto suddenly fell back and leaned on him. Elio no longer cared about the glass of grappa in his hand. He casually put it on the table next to him and quickly confronted Giotto with Gatlin. "Why is he so drunk?"
"He and Cozart had a drinking contest," Gatlin motioned for Elio to help him carry Giotto upstairs. "By the way, the first person he kissed was Cozart."
Elio reluctantly turned his head and looked around the crowd. "Where's Cozart?"
"He's drunk."
"What's next?"
"What next?"
"Of course he'll be the next one to be kissed!" Elio exclaimed. "How could I miss this story?"
Gatlin's expression changed several times, but he couldn't help laughing as he told Elio the whole story.
As soon as Giotto and Cozart started their drinking contest, the Vongola and Simon people got wind of it and started to boo. Gatlin had been trying to get them to drink less, but now he was forced to scowl and prepare honey water nearby. They drank the strongest grappa in the room, one glass after another, swaying and refusing to admit defeat (Gatlin believed the families on both sides, who were shouting louder and louder, were fully responsible). In the end, Giotto threw down his glass and, taking advantage of the crowd's shock, hugged Cozart.
"We haven't kissed yet, so don't make that expression," Gatlin said.
"Hurry up!"
Giotto hugged Cozart and began to cry about how much he missed him, how much he missed the days when they used to watch the stars from the rooftops, sneak into the orange orchards to steal fruit, sleep together at night and get scolded by adults for talking, and work together to sack the bad guys in the alleys... Gatlin pretended not to be the one on the lookout or preparing the sacks, and looked away as if nothing had happened. But at that moment, the crowd suddenly erupted in screams of shock, as if the roof had been blown off.
"Where did you kiss?!" Elio asked.
"Where else could it be!" Gatlin quickly clarified, "It was just a kiss on the cheek! —Why do you have that regretful expression?!"
“Tsk.”
Elio didn't bother to hide his disappointment. Gatlin glared at him for a moment, but didn't dare to ask any further questions. He supported Giotto, who was about to slip, with his hand and continued talking.
After being kissed on the cheek by Giotto (emphasis added), Cozart, not sure if he was pretending or actually fainting, was carried away by the Simon family, laughing and laughing. Gatlin breathed a sigh of relief and handed him the honey water. He was about to say something about Giotto, but the drunk cat's eyes suddenly lit up when he saw him...
"What happened next," Gatlin said sadly, "you can probably guess."
Elio nearly dropped Giotto with laughter. Perhaps because the news was so shocking, the assassins didn't bother him. Elio felt certain they would be caught. Together, they carried Giotto up to the second floor, where there were several rooms. They passed a half-open door, and someone from the Simon family sat inside, grinning at them.
According to Gatlin's account, Giotto then captured Rambo, and this young man was probably the only one who calmly accepted Giotto's kiss on the cheek. Then there was Nakel, who graciously accepted Giotto's kiss of friendship and generously returned it on the spot, nearly catching Gatlin. Ugetsu was, of course, taken aback and wanted to run away, but unfortunately...
Now that things have come to this, Gatlin certainly can't let him get away with it.
And there was Spedo, whom Giotto had also caught. He was probably somewhere crying while hugging Elena.
"Where's Alaudi?" Elio asked.
"You're really just trying to keep things from getting out of hand," Gatlin said. "Of course Giotto didn't kiss him. He was just drunk, not stupid."
Elio felt deeply sorry that Giotto hadn't kissed Alaudi. But then again, if he had, he would have spent the entire day, or even three days, trying to escape Alaudi's pursuit.
But no matter what, they had successfully carried the whining Giotto into the room and thrown him onto the bed. Gatlin, clearly exhausted, collapsed onto the bed, burying his face in the pillow. "Leave us alone... let us..."
He must have been very tired, as he fell silent before he could finish his words. Elio shook his head in amusement and pulled his hand away, wanting to find something to cover them, but at that moment, Giotto grabbed his wrist.
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The author has something to say: And then there was nothing else.jpg The emotional connections between the characters in this chapter are all friendship (only Spedo and Elena are love!), but you can pick whatever you like [hahaha]
(I don't think I need to explain the cheek kiss in detail. It is indeed a very common etiquette in Europe...)
By the way, let me play a very appropriate background music here and share the single "There! Right There!" by Amber Efe/Kate Shindle/Laura Bell Bundy/'Legally Blonde' Ensemble/Manuel Herrera/Matthew Risch:
"But you know, the way Europeans raise boys is different from ours. There's a clear cultural distinction!"
(But they bring their boys up different there. It's culturally diverse.)
"They'll say 'Goodbye, beautiful lady' and kiss you on both cheeks."
(They will say things like 'ciao bella' while they kiss you on both cheeks.)
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