Leonidas fell down from a meter above the ground, landing heavily on his tail. He couldn’t even get his bearings before a large tome and his mother’s letter fell from the skies and crashed into his chest, leaving him feeling as though all the air in his lungs had been knocked out.
It was so heavy he almost didn’t notice the chalice that fell along with it.
‘What…?’
Leonidas suddenly remembered that the spirit had said he would have a present for him at the end. Could this be it?
The book itself was as heavy as both of Leonidas’ sabers. It was three-quarters of a meter tall and had two palm-widths’ worth of thickness. It was an obscene size for a book and definitely the largest Leonidas had ever seen.
Was he really supposed to carry this thing around?
Just before Leonidas could even think of looking into the tome, the sounds of a battle made his ears twitch.
‘That breathing, that rhythmic movement… That’s definitely Lady Eve fighting against more Lower Ogres.’
Leonidas’ pupils constricted. Why would that spirit send him out to a place within earshot of such a battle. Even though his hearing was good enough to pick up such loud sounds from over 300 meters away, such a distance was nothing if she realized he was here!
Leonidas immediately calmed himself and looked around. What he saw left him pleasantly surprised.
‘The horses.’
He hadn’t expected that the spirit would send him right back to this place. This was an excellent opportunity.
Pushing himself up to his feet, Leonidas immediately cut all of the horses loose but a single one, sending them sprinting away in every direction but the one Lady Eve was in.
Then, Leonidas walked up to Manfroi’s steed. Even now, the arrogant horse seemed to want to eat him alive. But, the Leonidas of now was a man who had awoken both Berserk and War Cry, though he was still ignorant of the abilities of the latter. The pressure he exuded was even more substantial than in the past.
Before him, the wild horse suddenly became exceptionally obedient.
Leonidas cut it loose and hopped onto its back, jetting off into the distance through the forest.
He wasn’t a fool. He knew that keeping this horse, no matter how great it was, was impossible. It had obviously been given to Manfroi by the Bruthers family and was too easy to spot at a glance.
However, it was the fastest and strongest of the horses. With it, Leonidas could be certain that he would make it back to Violet Waters before Lady Eve and that was all that mattered.
Maybe if he was lucky, she would die in her battle and he would be the only one aware of the secrets of how this mission ended…
But, logic told him that such a conniving woman wouldn’t die so easily…
***
Leonidas rode through the night, not hesitating to pop a Fatigue Potion.
Before setting off, he had learned everything he could about navigation. He had learned to use the time of day and the position of the sun as a reference, to map out important landmarks in his mind, and to use the stars at night.
Using these tips, Leonidas reverse-engineered the route back to Violet Waters without a thought for how impressive it really was.
The only failure on Leonidas’ part was that he entered the range of the small town while the sun was rising. Without the cover of night, it would be impossible for him to sneak in as he wanted. For the poor of this town, the rising sun wasn’t an alarm to wake, it was a sign that you were already late.
However, Leonidas didn’t have the luxury to worry about this. There was nothing more important to him than reaching the Church before Lady Eve. Nothing else mattered.
The moment he could see the town, Leonidas abandoned Manfroi’s steed. No matter how good the horse, it wasn’t worth his life. He simply had no land to keep it and the Bruthers family wasn’t one he could afford to offend right now. Then, he ran toward the town, the tome and chalice in hand.
Leonidas made it through the entrance of the small town not even ten minutes later. Luckily he was able to take advantage of the guards being inattentive to slip through.
Like most towns in this era, Violet Waters did indeed have guards. It was impossible to survive for long in this kind of world without some kind of lookout. Lady Eve had likely had her own methods of dealing with them, so leaving that night hadn’t been a problem.
However, the current Leonidas was beaten and ragged. His torso was only covered by a flexible armor, his tunic having been torn by Lady Eve. As for his grey pants, large blotches of blood covered them. Coupling this with the large tome and chalice he was carrying, not to mention the twin sabers strapped to his back…
He screamed suspicion.
Making it through this phase allowed Leonidas the ability to breathe. Even if some people gave him weird looks, as long as he made it to the Church, he would truly be at ease.
However, what Leonidas never expected was that just halfway through his journey, as he was running along the dirt roads of the shopping district, his path would be blocked by an open carriage rumbling toward him as it was pulled along by two steeds.
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Without a roof, it was all too easy to see the passengers seated behind the coachman.
One was a man with an ice-cold expression. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest, his eyes faintly closed. Yet, he still gave off the aura of a beast prepared to pounce at any given moment.
To his side, there was a woman. However, she had none of the attractive characteristics one should have.
She was obese to the point she took up three quarters of the wide carriage seats herself. But, seemingly oblivious to this, she wore tight clothing that had her skin and flub spilling out in all sorts of directions.
Her face was powdered like layers of cake and her body was pampered with an unflattering amount of perfume, and with Leonidas’ nose, even from this distance, he could pick out that this fog of fragrance was only there to try and fail to cover up a large amount of stomach-churning body odor. How the man sat beside her without a word or expression of disgust was beyond Leonidas.
Still, even after all of this, as though the woman wasn’t satisfied with her ridiculous appearance, the dress she wore which was several sizes too small for her was the most unflattering shade of green imaginable.
If there was ever the antithesis of what a woman should be, it was definitely this.
And yet, when Leonidas saw this person, what he felt wasn’t disgust, it was a rage that dug down to the very depths of his soul. This obese woman was none other than the House Lady of the only brothel in Violet Waters.
When Leonidas spotted this rumbling carriage, he too seemed to be noticed. Compared to the normal-sized, brown-haired people around him, he was simply too tall and his hair was too red. Even if he didn’t look so ridiculous, he would stand out like a sore thumb.
And as expected… the House Lady’s gaze locked onto him.
The House Lady was stunned for a moment. For an individual in her position, what she was most useful for was her excellent memory and management skills. Obviously, with the former trait, she was able to recognize Leonidas. But, the issue was how long it had taken her to do so.
The changes Leonidas had undergone since last she saw him left her stunned. But, more than anything else, it left her feeling apprehensive. How could a single person undergo such a large transformation in such a short period of time?
When she looked toward the tome and chalice in Leonidas’ hands, her eyes narrowed further.
The chalice was simply too large for Leonidas to hide. It was a foot tall and had a cup that was almost the size of a head. Even if Leonidas tried, there was no way he would be able to place it into his bags.
One might be able to ignore the book, especially since it looked old and dilapidated. But, the chalice was plated in gold and covered in gems. Even a fool could tell it was valuable at a simple glance had Leonidas not made several changes to it.
When Leonidas first realized the spirit had sent him out such a thing, he had thought that it was either a mistake or he had been meant to use it to exchange for money. But, when he thought about it, even the wealthiest in this town wouldn’t have such an extravagant cup in their possession. It was then he understood.
How was he supposed to earn his spot as a Missionary? News of the male Apostle’s death wouldn’t have spread just yet. But, Leonidas would still need something to exchange for this position.
Coming to this point, Leonidas understood that the chalice was an Offering. The spirit likely felt that he could exchange this for a spot as an Apostle.
The good news was that Leonidas had realized this and had covered the chalice in dirt, grime and mud long before he entered the city. Yet, for some reason, the House Lady was still staring at it as though it was all that mattered in the world.
Leonidas continued to walk forward. But as expected, with a single wave of her hand, the House Lady had her open carriage grind to a halt before him.
Leonidas frowned inwardly. The Church was at the very center of the town. This meant that all the roads that led to it were main roads.
From his understanding, there were exactly three of these roads. If he wanted to take another path to it, he would have to double back and approach from a completely different direction.
But, he had a feeling that this carriage would most definitely not allow him to do this.
His dead eyes gazed toward the House Lady.
Even to this day, Leonidas had never truly thought about what he would do to those who wronged his mother. Maybe it was because he felt such a future was too far away. Maybe, despite what he said, he subconsciously didn’t believe he would ever reach this point. Or, maybe he was so focused on surviving and seeing the rise of the next sun that he didn’t have the luxury of fantasizing about revenge.
This town had done him wrong so many times. If he thought about getting revenge on each and every one of them, he would no longer have time remaining in the day.
However, seeing this woman here and now, despite the fact Leonidas’ face gave way to no emotion, a bestial desire for murder bubbled up deep within him.
As though the looming shadow of a beast was enveloping him, the atmosphere grew heavier.
In that very instant, the cold man beside the House Lady’s side opened his eyes, his gaze sharpening as it locked onto Leonidas.
“Ah, Little Fox! It’s been so long since auntie has seen you.”
The small crowd of individuals moving about this early morning turned their heads with interest. But, seeing the she-devil that was involved, only those who couldn’t hold in their curiosity still stuck around.
“My name is Leonidas.” Leonidas replied plainly, the deep baritone of his voice rumbling through the cool morning air.
“Hoho, Little Fox, I’ve told you about that temper of yours already. It’s not good to be so rigid. But, that chalice in your hands, it looks familiar. I haven’t seen you in several months, it can’t be that you stole from me?”
The coachman began to get fidgety as the horses which stood before Leonidas began to become more and more restless. As the seconds ticked by, they only became harder to control.
Leonidas didn’t respond to the House Lady, his blood still slowly boiling.
The beating of his heart was slow and forceful. Despite the fact the other three were sealed, Leonidas’ body threatened to break into the Berserk state.
Leonidas pushed the feeling down, but he almost couldn’t stop his claws from lengthening. Luckily, the spirit’s tome seemed almost indestructible and didn’t even take a single scratch.
“Say what you want to say clearly,” Leonidas replied evenly.
The House Lady’s gaze narrowed, her smile becoming wider.
“Little Fox, don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”
Greed? This was at the bottom of the House Lady’s list of concerns. There was definitely something special about the chalice, but what was more important was who held such a special thing and how much he had changed to reach the point of having such a thing in his possession.
Simply put… Leonidas was a threat. She didn’t want to have to sleep with one eye open.
“Say what you want to say clearly,” Leonidas repeated.
The two horses began to fight harder, their agitation growing and their nostrils billowing with smoke in the cool morning. It felt as though they might snap at any moment.
Still, somehow, the House Lady felt that the beast pulling against its chains weren’t the two steeds at all, but rather the young man with the wild red hair before her.
The House Lady’s smile faded, her painted eyebrows rising in an arch.
“A little shit like you actually has the balls to speak to me this way now? Balian, bring this brat down. He’s stolen my property and I want him dealt with. Now.”
“I understand. So, you’re accusing a servant of Her Holiness Yves of stealing your property?”
The House Lady’s rage-fueled tirade was halted, her pupils constricted as a certain pin on Leonidas became strikingly obvious.