“Urgh... I suppose leaving these kids to their fate would make me a disgrace of a man... I’d never be able to look Carina in the eye again.”
He chose to stand his ground with a decidedly undependable air, making incomprehensible excuses to himself all the while. Only his words carried any dignity. He demanded that the men unhand us.
It turned out he was much tougher than appearances would suggest, and he beat the bad guys in the blink of an eye, leaving us kids reeling from the sudden appearance of a hero on the scene... Not. He was beaten to a pulp along with the rest of us, and we shot him a withering look when it was all said and done.
“What did you think you were doing, man?”
I was in full agreement with the exasperated mutterings of my friends. Thanks to this weirdo’s intervention, I’d taken more of a beating than I otherwise would’ve—and my face happened to be one of the tools of my trade, thank you very much.
When I cast the unreliable, golden-haired young man a suspicious glance, he laughed uncomfortably. His face was battered and bruised, and he apologized for his shameful appearance. “I thought maybe I could take them... But those men sure were tough.”
The fact that he didn’t have a guard suggested he was the son of a rich family, not a noble. I got the sense that he was hopelessly good-natured, but his inability to recognize such an obvious difference in strength made him an idiot, plain and simple.
My gang turned their anger on the blond. “It’s your fault they took Alan’s silver coin! How are you going to make it up to us?!”
He’d been robbed of all the money he had on hand as well, but kids like us were always looking to make a quick profit. Guido had made a big show of pocketing the silver coin along with our earnings for the day, sneering that it was too extravagant for brats like us. My friends cursed under their breaths in chagrin, while the young man stumbled awkwardly over his words. I sighed and said it was fine.
“Alan...”
That one silver coin could have kept us fed for the next month without us having to work. The loss was a blow. We should have held onto it at all costs.
While the other boys were stewing in their regrets and rekindling their fury toward Guido, I burst out laughing despite myself. Maurie, who was just shy of ten years old, asked me what was wrong. As I checked to make sure he wasn’t too badly hurt, I couldn’t suppress the delight bubbling up inside me.
“Guido’s finished.”
Everyone was taken aback by the unexpected declaration. “Huh? What do you mean?”
Maurie shot me a confused look, so I explained myself with a little chuckle. Guido had run off with the silver coin I’d been given. That silver coin had been a gift from the master of the mansion to which I’d been invited. Maurie nodded along, not quite following, and I went on like an old man recounting tales of yesteryear.
First, the messenger hadn’t been sent by the Master of Luwak Street. Second, silver coins were common among the rich...yet that one had sounded wrong. What’s more, I’d been hearing a lot of copper coins that didn’t have quite the right ring to them recently. Guido had taken those too. I asked if anyone understood what I was getting at it. The boys all looked lost—except for the young man with hair the color of sunshine.
I giggled before flashing the biggest smile I could muster. “That was fake money.” The ensuing gasps of surprise made me laugh even harder. “Now then, shall I head straight to the police station to submit an anonymous tip? ‘I saw people talking about counterfeiting coins. If you think I’m lying, go catch a man named Guido and pat him down. He had something none of us ever see on the backstreets: a silver coin!’”
In contrast to the way Maurie’s face lit up, another friend of mine objected. His voice was tinged with fear. “But if we frame Guido, the Master won’t take it lying down...”
My voice came out loud and confident enough to echo through the sky. “Are you sure? We were just robbed of our profits, like always. Who could have guessed that counterfeit coins were mixed in? No matter what excuses Guido makes, his benefactor will start to look suspicious. The Master will come out looking a hundred times more sketchy than us kids. At that point, I’m sure they won’t hesitate to cut Guido loose. They wouldn’t want anyone thinking they’re the main source of the counterfeiting. If the mayor or guild president found out, their own position would be in jeopardy. Do you think the Master would risk upsetting the very balance of this city?”
Despite my attempts to swallow it down, a gleeful laugh escaped my lips. “Anyone want to bet? Do you think Guido and his thugs will be exiled to a land far from Kelk, or do you think they’ll end up serving the maximum sentence in a prison cell?!”
This was a fitting revenge for all the times they’d extorted us. I crowed that it served them right, and my friends erupted into cheers, heaping lavish praise upon me.
Tossing and catching one of the light-sounding coppers I’d kept hidden just in case, I made arrangements to tip off the officials using said coin as evidence. Of course, I found an adult to do all the talking, so it wouldn’t be written off as a child’s prank.
With all that done, it was finally time to return to my initial objective. I was about to bring it up to my crew, but I changed my mind. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air as we walked down the usual alleyway to the shack where we lived.
“Any reason you’re tagging along, mister?”
Before we knew it, the golden-haired boy was bringing up our rear with a genial smile.
“Because this seems like fun.”
He asked us to let him in on it, a carefree look on his face.