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"Are you here specifically to pick me up?"
Hearing these words full of "tactical confidence," seeing Leonard's expression, which seemed incredible, a bit embarrassed, but in all senses full of the self-confidence of a true protagonist, Lin Ruo's lips curled up slightly, and he instantly denied it three times in his heart:
No, you're overthinking it, we're just passing by!
However, although he denied it three times in his heart, Lin Ruo still stepped forward and said with a smile, "Leonard, you finally look like a true protagonist."
"Ah?" Leonard was clearly a bit confused, and instinctively felt embarrassed by Lin Ruo's "true protagonist" remark, when he heard Pallez Zoroast's slightly teasing voice in his ear:
"Kid, do you know what one of the most important qualities of a protagonist is?"
"What is it?" Leonard subconsciously whispered.
"It's confidence."
Pallez Zoroast gave the answer without playing coy, his tone even more obviously teasing.
Leonard was stunned for a moment, then he probably reacted, looking at Lin Ruo and then at Leonard, his face instantly turned red, clearly realizing that he had made a big blunder.
Although he was often teased as one of the Tarot Club's three idiots of the sun and moon, and in the original plot, his IQ only soared when it came to matters related to Klein, even achieving the effect of almost ignoring the Fool's "blind idiocy" at the end of the original work—because he was often confused normally—Leonard's IQ was truly not low.
He was just too lazy to use his brain. Before confirming that Pallez Zoroast was harmless, Leonard would at least use his little brain on that, but after confirming that the old man was basically harmless, Leonard basically handed over the thinking to Pallez, the old man, as his external brain.
But even so, it cannot be denied that Leonard's own IQ is high, so he can still react to such things.
—To be honest, it's fortunate that Pallez Zoroast is the conscience of the Marauder pathway, and Leonard himself is lucky to have Klein and the Church of the Evernight Goddess as his backing. Otherwise, with Leonard's laziness, Lin Ruo really suspects he would be sold and even count the money for the seller.
"Cough... Leonard, have you become a Red Gloves member?" Seeing Leonard so embarrassed that he wished he could dig a hole and crawl into it, Klein, who was beside him, cleared his throat lightly and began to change the subject to help Leonard out.
After all, for Leonard, his former teammate, Klein still had a strong sense of camaraderie and truly regarded him as a friend. He couldn't bear to see him continue to be persecuted by Lin Ruo.
"Ah... Mm, yes, yes." Leonard immediately reacted. He gratefully glanced at Klein, nodded, and while suppressing his embarrassment, he couldn't help but smile proudly, "I'm already a Red Gloves, and I should be stationed in Backlund from now on."
"Congratulations." Klein said sincerely.
"Congratulations." Lin Ruo also congratulated him smoothly. He then said with a smile, "But after becoming a Red Gloves, you can't be as Salted Fish as before. Are you ready to work hard?"
"I'm ready." Leonard said seriously.
"Very good, that's more like a true protagonist." Lin Ruo nodded, and before Leonard could get embarrassed again by his teasing, he said, "Leonard, work hard to advance. In a while, I might have a special task for you."
"A special task?" Leonard was a little confused and curious, but he still said solemnly, "Okay, I understand."
Lin Ruo smiled again when he saw his solemn appearance. The special task he mentioned, of course, referred to Leonard joining the Tarot Club as Mr. Star, as a representative of the Evernight Goddess and Old Man Pallez, and socializing with the Church of the Fool.
At the same time, Lin Ruo had already discussed this matter with Klein before.
Although there was no hatred as motivation, Poet Teammate still had an old man attached to him, which meant he was destined to be extraordinary from the very beginning. Moreover, he was one of the friends recognized and cherished by Klein, and his relationship with Lin Ruo was also good.
Whether from the perspective of future cooperation with Old Man Pallez Zoroast, or simply from the perspective of helping a friend, or from the perspective of adding an anchor to Klein to make his humanity more stable in the future, Lin Ruo intended to have Leonard join the Tarot Club.
As for how to get Leonard to join the club now that Ince, the catalyst, is gone?
Understand the oracle of the Evernight Goddess!
Although the Evernight Goddess would most likely not specifically issue an oracle for this, Lin Ruo was confident that if he used this reason to coax Leonard into joining the club, telling him that the Evernight Goddess and Mr. Fool were allies, and therefore he and Klein needed to act as intermediaries between the Church of the Evernight Goddess and the Church of the Fool, becoming a symbol of the friendship between the two True Gods, Leonard would not suspect it.
Who made Lin Ruo's identity as a God's Favor a sure thing? The Church of the Evernight Goddess itself is not without allies, and there is a lot of communication with allies on weekdays. This kind of "diplomatic Ambassador" role itself exists.
Or, even if Leonard suspected it and went to the Evernight Goddess for confirmation, the Evernight Goddess would most likely tacitly approve it.
After all, this is not a bad thing; it's even a win-win situation.
Klein's smile next to him was more subtle. He naturally knew what Lin Ruo meant by the special task, after all, this was the result of their discussion, and he also strongly agreed with Poet Teammate joining the Tarot Club in the future.
But... just thinking about having to play both the Fool and the World under the nose of Poet Teammate, a familiar person, and also having to deal with Lin Ruo's mischievous behavior, Klein inevitably felt a headache.
I just hope Lin Ruo doesn't mess around then, if I get exposed, I'll be socially dead... Klein sighed silently, only feeling that he was too difficult.
Ever since he met Lin Ruo, Klein truly felt that his psychological endurance was skyrocketing. But even so, Klein still felt that he would bury himself out of embarrassment sooner or later.
Alas!
#Cat Sigh.jpg#
Lin Ruo, whose attention was mostly on Leonard, didn't know Klein's complex mental journey, but even if he did, he wouldn't care.
He just smiled at Leonard and said, "Although we didn't come specifically to pick you up, but... let's go, Leonard, where's your residence? We can give you a ride and talk about what's happened recently. Perhaps you still need a welcome party?"
"No need for a welcome party." Leonard quickly shook his head, but he didn't refuse Lin Ruo's offer to give him a ride. After all, Leonard was happy to see familiar faces and wanted to share his recent experiences with his friends.
He then gave an address, which was his residence in the original work, clearly Leonard had already rented a house.
Lin Ruo then led the two out of the station. He didn't travel, but called a trolleybus, and the three went to Leonard's new home.
The place was clearly cleaned regularly, so it wasn't dirty, but since no one had lived there before, it lacked some Life.
After Leonard put his luggage down in the house, he quickly motioned for Lin Ruo and Klein to sit on the sofa in the living room, poured them black tea, and then sat on the sofa himself, starting to chat.
It was mainly Leonard and Klein, these old friends, chatting, while Lin Ruo was leisurely eating melon on the side, occasionally interjecting and sharing a few of his own observations. For a while, the atmosphere in the living room was very harmonious.
After chatting about recent trivial matters and interesting things for a while, Lin Ruo seemed to think of something, picked up the black tea in his hand, took a sip, and asked:
"Speaking of which, regarding that matter, is Old Man Pallez ready?"
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