A True Knight

Don Quixote turned his head and gave Jose a complicated look. In the end, he chose to keep quiet instead of lecturing him.

Jose and his wife were both undocumented immigrants. They had been unable to make ends meet in Mexico, so they had crossed the border illegally and eventually made their way to New York.

During the day, Jose mixed cement at a construction site. At night, his wife went out to work the streets. When business was good, they could save nearly $300 a week.

But after Jose's wife unexpectedly became pregnant and her belly started growing day by day, their weekly savings dwindled.

For Jose and his wife, it didn't matter who the baby's father was. They did this kind of work, after all, and neither of them cared.

What mattered was that the child would automatically gain American citizenship at birth, allowing them to shed their status as undocumented immigrants.

If Jose couldn't get the money today, they wouldn't have next week's rent. His wife would have no choice but to go back out with her belly swollen, something neither of them wanted to see happen again.

As the two spoke in low voices, Li Wei and Leto came out of the sheet-metal shack, one after the other.

"Come on over," Li Wei said to Don Quixote. "Mr. Leto has been very generous. He's decided to pay everyone's wages out of his own pocket this week."

"How did you do it, Li Wei?" Don Quixote stared in disbelief at Leto as he sent a security guard to get money from the safe. "Getting cash out of that miser's hands is harder than taking his mother's life, as far as he's concerned."

"I'll tell you in a bit." Li Wei stood beside Don Quixote. "Let's wait until the workers have their money."

After all, he hadn't tested how long [Eloquent Speaker] could distort someone's perception, and he was feeling a little uneasy.

Back when the skill was still at the [Clumsy Eloquence] level, its effect on Leon didn't seem to last indefinitely. Otherwise, Leon wouldn't have seen through him when Li Wei sold the gold coins last time.

Fortunately, though, it seemed that as long as nobody challenged it, the effect of [Eloquent Speaker] would last. That put Li Wei somewhat at ease.

Only after Don Quixote and the workers had collected their wages and left the construction site did Li Wei suddenly see the quest panel pop up again.

[Quest: Upholding Justice completed]

[You successfully got the farmers the justice they deserved and avoided any violence or bloodshed.]

[Reward: 0.1 free attribute points awarded]

[No one was hurt in this incident. Your clever solution deserves a reward.]

[Bonus: +0.1 free attribute points]

[Quest reward: 0.2 attribute points awarded]

[Free attribute points: 0.2]

Li Wei's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected to receive a bonus reward again after the first quest! It brought him one step closer to raising a single attribute to 3.0.

But now wasn't the time to spend his points. After walking with everyone for a while, Li Wei finally told Don Quixote how he had "persuaded" Leto.

"...That's about it." Li Wei spread his hands. "I told him that if he paid the wages himself, it would resolve a crisis for the company, and he could get reimbursed afterward. So he agreed."

"Damn, I didn't think that miser Leto would actually pay us upfront," one worker said excitedly. "I finally won't have to test drugs."

Li Wei smiled and nodded.

Leto had indeed paid the money upfront. Whether the company behind him would reimburse him was something Li Wei neither knew nor cared about.

"Everyone," Don Quixote said, clearing his throat. "I have an announcement to make."

Jose, who knew Don Quixote had escaped his troubles that very day, looked at him enviously and patted him on the shoulder.

"I found a new job, and I'm moving over to Bay Ridge," Don Quixote said, looking around at his fellow workers. "My nephew's about to start school, too. How about I treat everyone to a drink?"

With Don Quixote celebrating such happy news by picking up the tab, most of them agreed. A crowd of more than ten people headed to the cheapest bar they could find.

It was 3:45 p.m., and happy hour, when beer was discounted, ran from 4:00 to 7:00. So they had to wait outside the bar for fifteen minutes before they could go in and order.

More than ten of them ordered mozzarella sticks, Buffalo wings, and cheap Bud Light, then split across three tables to drink, chat, and swap stories.

"Everyone, listen up!" Don Quixote stood, his sun-blackened face glowing red with the help of the alcohol. "After this week, I'm moving to Bay Ridge! I found a new job!"

The workers burst into cheers. Bay Ridge wasn't somewhere as expensive as Manhattan, but it was still the kind of neighborhood most blue-collar workers and poor souls living paycheck to paycheck could only dream of—a place that came close to the middle class.

"My bitch of an ex-wife couldn't break me! That bastard Leto couldn't kill me in a cement mixer!" Don Quixote shouted. "And he couldn't even withhold our wages! And today, it's all thanks to my nephew, Li Wei!"

Don Quixote then threw an arm around Li Wei, who was sitting beside him. His voice grew louder and louder.

"Do you see that? He got our hard-earned money back from a miser like Leto!" His eyes reddened as he looked down at his fellow workers. "He's a true genius! You half-literate fools probably don't know this, but ha! He's going to Yale! And he's definitely going to Yale! One day, he'll make it to Washington and give orders from an office there!"

"And I couldn't have moved away without my nephew's help, either." He quickly wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "Nephew, I'm proud of you!"

"To Li Wei!" shouted a stubbly worker, raising his glass.

"To today's wages!"

"To giving orders from an office!"

Li Wei smiled and raised his glass in reply, joining the workers in their drinking contest.

Jose sat in the corner, watching Li Wei with a flash of envy in his eyes. He lowered his head and took a drink, calculating how long the money he had could keep him and his wife going.

A weekly wage of $1,000 had eased his immediate troubles, but it still only meant they could barely scrape by.

Suddenly, the sofa beside him sank. Don Quixote sat down, picked up his glass, and clinked it against Jose's.

"How much longer until your wife gives birth?" Don Quixote asked. "Have you seen a doctor?"

"By my calculations, it should be next month, but... we haven't seen a doctor yet."

Jose shook his head. He and his wife were undocumented immigrants, and their English was poor. They didn't dare go to a hospital, afraid immigration officers would catch them and deport them.

"I see..."

Don Quixote set his glass on the table and pondered for a moment before taking out the wages he had just received.

He was white and had legal status, so he earned an extra $200 a week.

First he counted out $300, then added another $300.

After hesitating, he rolled up the entire $1,200 and pressed it into Jose's hand.

"Take it. Don't let anyone know," Don Quixote said in a low voice. "Buy your wife some nutritious food. Don't make her keep putting her body through this."

"You're still young." He patted Jose on the head. "You're only twenty-two. You'll make it through."