For two days, Leon stayed in bed resting and recovering. There was little else to do except train, so that’s how he spent his time. His brief foray into his soul realm brought on by his extreme injury spurred him onward even when he grew tired and bored from the long hours of staying in bed.
Plus, focusing on finishing his magic body kept his mind occupied and off the fact that he was missing his arm, keeping all the anxiety and terror that came with losing a limb at bay. For all intents and purposes, it was working, though it helped that Leon only had to wait a little while longer before he got his chance to regain his arm.
During this time, a Heaven’s Eye beastmaster was called in to take care of Anzu in Leon’s absence, though Elise helped in this area where she could. As a result, Leon noticed that Anzu was becoming far more comfortable around Elise than he was when they first met. In fact, in just the week or so since he’d come back to the capital, Anzu was already on much better terms with Elise than he had been with Alix—he barely tolerated it when Alix wanted to shower him with attention, but he was at least now indifferent to Elise.
This, of course, frustrated Alix to no end when she visited the morning after Leon awoke. She spent some time with Leon and hung out a bit with Elise, but then had to leave to attend to some business with Minerva.
Alix wasn’t the only visitor who came to check up on Leon, though, Prince Trajan also stopped by.
“Leon!” he shouted when he walked into Leon’s recovery room.
“Your Highness!” Leon responded as he sat up in his bed and stopped focusing on his training.
“Please, relax,” Trajan said when he saw Leon struggling a bit to push himself up without his left arm. The Prince took a seat by the bed and said, “All things considered, you’re looking well.”
Trajan wasn’t lying, for how injured Leon was when he was brought back to the capital, he looked almost completely healed, left arm notwithstanding.
“I’ve been well taken care of,” Leon said.
After a brief moment of silence, Trajan sighed and said, “I’m sorry I sent you out there. I never thought it would be such a dangerous mission, I just wanted you out of the city for a while.”
“No apologies needed, Trajan,” Leon replied. “As you said, you couldn’t have known.”
Trajan nodded, then said, “Well, at the very least, I’ll be able to stop lying to Lapis that you’re all right. That giant approached me at once and asked after your status. I don’t know how it became suspicious, but I had to get quite insistent that you were fine so that it wouldn’t leave the Royal Palace and rampage around the capital.”
Leon smiled. “Lapis is a good guy,” he softly said. “I think that I might just bring him along the next time I do something violent. He’s always trying to get me to do so, anyway.”
“That might not be the best idea at the current moment…” Trajan hesitantly said. “It would be best not to let on that you’re anything but an unusually young knight.”
“Why?”
“Justin Isynos is in the capital.”
“He’s here?!” Leon asked in surprise.
“He arrived a couple days before I sent you out. In fact, his presence here is the reason why I sent you away. I didn’t want you and him in the same place, just in case.”
Leon nodded in agreement, though his heart was racing with the news. The man who he suspected of playing a major part in the fall of his family was no longer in Calabria but was now in the capital.
“What is he doing here so soon?” Leon asked as he forced himself to calm down. He knew about August’s offer to the man, but he, like Trajan, wasn’t expecting Justin to arrive in the capital for at least a month.
“I’m not sure, we haven’t spoken much. As he’s one of August’s stewards, he’s mostly interacting with my nephew and pushing papers. His role doesn’t intersect with mine. But that isn’t to say I don’t have my eye on him, I’ve arranged to have him under constant surveillance.”
Trajan pulled out about a dozen papers or so and handed them to Leon.
“This is everything he’s been doing since he arrived in the capital. Given how soon he arrived, I wasn’t able to prepare my people fast enough. As a result, I’ve had to rely on the Royal Spymaster for most of this.”
“Can he be trusted?” Leon asked.
“I think so,” Trajan said, and Leon accepted the Prince’s word.
Leon quickly flipped through the pages that Trajan handed to him. Inside were detailed records of where Justin went during these past few days, who he spoke to, and for how long. Justin had purchased a small villa on the edge of the noble district, a place that would fit his position, but there was also a note about how expensive his yacht and the horses he brought with him were, indicating some possible hidden wealth.
Additionally, the last three pages were information on Justin’s background, from his time spent as a noble in a city called Isynia far to the south. In fact, his country of origin, the Most Serene Republic of Siracusa, was completely unknown to Leon.
“Where is this ‘Most Serene Republic’?” Leon asked.
“I think it’s on the far side of the continent, in the south-eastern corner of Aeterna,” Trajan said. “It’s far outside the Bull Kingdom’s sphere of influence, so we don’t generally get too much information on it.”
“That’s a mighty far way to have come,” Leon observed.
“Indeed, far enough that it would be impossible in every practical sense to verify his identity,” Trajan said.
Leon frowned, then looked over the papers again. There was a great deal of mundane information, such as the personal details of most of his servants, his daily schedule, and what he was buying to furnish his new villa—in other words, there was essentially nothing of consequence, especially not the one thing he was looking for, the one piece of information that he considered the most important given his belief that he and Justin Isynos were enemies.
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“I would’ve thought his magical tier would be here, but it isn’t,” Leon said as his frown grew deeper.
“I have no idea how strong he is, but he’s definitely stronger than me. He hides it well, but I’d say that he’s at least equal to the strongest of the Paladins,” Trajan said in a grave tone. He ran his hands through his graying hair with a complicated expression. “What’s more, he has three subordinates that seem to be seventh-tier as well, though again, it’s almost impossible to tell for sure without getting a Paladin to check them out, and the Paladins are far too busy for such a trivial job.”
Leon put the papers down and looked at the Prince, a look of determination and muted anger in his golden eyes, and asked, “So, what’s our next move?”
“‘Our’?” Trajan asked with a cocked eyebrow. “My next move is to continue looking into what I can, maybe even try and get some spies into the Isynos household. Your next move is to heal and wait for your lady to regrow your arm!”
“That won’t take long…” Leon impulsively stated, but once he realized how much he was tempting fate, he quickly added, “… Or at least, I don’t think it will… I should be fine in a few days…”
“We can cross that bridge when we come to it,” Trajan said, but that answer didn’t satisfy Leon.
“This guy may have had my family destroyed. He’s certainly connected to at least one person who had a hand in murdering my father. I’m not leaving the capital again, not with him here as well.”
“That’s bold of you, to so blatantly argue against a Prince’s orders,” Trajan said, but the smile on his face betrayed his own amusement and ensured that Leon didn’t feel a single ounce of fear.
Leon met Trajan’s gaze and showed nothing but determination. Trajan figured that if ordered to, Leon would eventually leave, but the Prince was also concerned about Leon’s reckless streak. If he didn’t at least involve the younger man in his surveillance of Justin Isynos, then Leon might do something stupid. Again.
“I won’t insist that you leave the city again,” Trajan said. “I will also trust that you have the self-control not to do something as asinine as attacking the Talfar camp was. You will make no moves against Isynos without my express permission. Understand?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Leon said with as much dignity and formality as he could muster from his bed.
“Good.” Trajan stood up and walked to the door. He opened it and waved, calling in someone who was waiting outside. “I’ve been given the report of what happened, but I’d like to hear about this vampire from you.”
After several seconds, the elderly Legate Caelestius and several of his adjutants walked in. “Sir Ursus, it’s… good to see you awake.”
Leon nodded in acknowledgment, but he thought he detected some slight disdain in the old knight’s tone when he said Leon’s name, which instantly lost him any goodwill Leon may have had for him. Leon wasn’t surprised given his experiences so far in the Bull Kingdom, but after being at the much more tolerant Bull’s Horns for a year and a half, he needed to readjust to this attitude.
“I asked Sir Caelestius to accompany me here to hear your report,” Trajan explained. If he picked up on the old knight’s derision toward Leon, he didn’t show it. “This way, you won’t need to submit your report later.”
“Thank you, Your Highness,” Leon said gratefully, but before he launched into his own explanation, he asked, “How are Sir Adalgrim and the others?”
“Three of the knights were killed, Sirs Lothar, Cyricus, and Clovis—not the Consul, obviously. Dames Fara and Olympia, and Sirs Adalgrim and Karloman all survived, though all four are currently resting in a Legion hospital. Karloman is still unconscious, but he’ll make a full recovery eventually, while the other three are largely healed but are being held until tomorrow when the healers can verify that their injuries are gone.”
“And the vampire was killed?” Leon inquired.
“There was very little left of that one,” Trajan said with a look of muted anger. “I was hoping you could tell me more of what happened, everything that happened after the other knights were incapacitated.”
Leon nodded, then launched into his explanation. He left out his use of demonic power for obvious reasons, saying that he’d instead managed to score a lucky shot by raising his sword just in time for a charging Lewis to impale himself upon it, after which his demonic Lord incinerated him. He did, however, make sure to tell Trajan and Caelestius it had been a demon he’d encountered before in his prior mission to kill a vampire, though framed as only his suspicion based on what he could sense.
“I see…” Caelestius said once Leon was finished. After he glanced back at his adjutants to make sure everything was written down, he said, “I highly doubt it was the same demon. From what I know, and I know a great deal as a former specialist on demonology, the possibility that this vampire’s contracted demon was the same as that of a vampire you encountered previously is ludicrous.”
“I have told you what I know, Sir, what you make of it is not for me to decide,” Leon stated slightly dismissively, not taking well to Caelestius’ dismissive tone.
“Ursus…” Trajan said in warning. For all Leon’s recklessness, the Prince had never seen Leon be insubordinate to a higher-ranked knight in person before. Usually, Leon simply kept his concerns to himself.
Leon looked suitably chastised, and Caelestius didn’t say another word. The older knight glared at Leon out of the corner of his eye as he turned to Trajan and bowed. “I have what I came for, Your Highness, so if there’s nothing else, I would like to take my leave.”
“You’re dismissed,” Trajan said, and Caelestius departed.
Trajan and Leon sat in silence for several seconds as they waited for Caelestius to leave earshot before they spoke again.
“Your Highness, it was the same demon, I know it,” Leon quietly insisted.
“I… Caelestius seems to have a bit of an attitude problem, but I’m with him on this one, I can’t imagine that it was the same demon,” Trajan said with an almost apologetic look, an expression that he would show only to Leon and Minerva.
Leon nodded again, but it wasn’t in agreement. He wasn’t going to let this matter go, but he also wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it since his only real concrete source of information to go on was another demon. That left only one option: to look into this matter himself so that he could bring solid evidence to the Prince of Amon’s presence in the Kingdom—if there was even any to be found.
At the very least, he felt like he could leave the investigation in Justin Isynos to Trajan while he looked into these vampires. Given that he’d now had two encounters with Amon’s vampires in less than three months, he felt like it was at least as imperative to get more information on them as it was to look into Justin’s affairs.
“Listen, kid,” Trajan said as he got to his feet, “the triumphal games are going to start in a few days. As a Prince, I must attend. Lady Elise has indicated to me that your arm should be healed by then, so I want you there as well. You don’t have to be with me in the Royal Box, but as one of the knights who participated in the triumph, you’re expected to attend.”
Leon frowned. He hated the spotlight and he saw more benefit in staying out of it, he had no desire for fame. Still, gaining rank and power within the Bull Kingdom was part of his plans to find those who ordered his father’s death, and there was likely to be more expected of him in line with these games.
“I understand,” Leon said through clenched teeth.
“Thank you,” Trajan said. “Hurry up and recover. If you’re going to be involved with this thing with Justin Isynos, then you’ve got to be in peak condition. I’ll send someone in a few days to check up on you, so I want you to stay here in the meantime. The person I send will come with further instructions depending on what they find.”
With that, Trajan said his goodbyes and left. His duties left him with little time to spend with his injured knight, so as much as he might have wanted to stay with Leon a bit longer, it was time for him to go.
Meanwhile, the only things on Leon’s mind after the Prince’s departure were more training and a quick visit to the Royal Archives as soon as he could manage.