Leon and his friends briefly grasped wrists in greeting, smiles on all their faces. It had been a little less than five months since they had last seen each other, but it was still a joy to see each other again.
“Good to see you, my friend,” Charles said.
“And you,” Leon replied.
“Indeed, it’s been too long,” Henry added. “We were talking about trying to find you or Alix while we were here, but we only got into town a few days ago so we figured we could just wait until the ceremony and see if you were going to be here.”
“Maybe next time we get separated, we should exchange contact information,” Alain suggested.
“Sounds like a plan,” Leon agreed.
“It’s better than hoping you were going to be at a ceremony you didn’t necessarily have to go to,” Charles stated.
“Yeah, since you were a knight already, we weren’t sure if you were going to show up,” Henry said. “In fact, I thought it more likely that you would skip it.”
“I was personally invited by Sir Aeneas,” Leon said, referring to the Legate of the Knight Academy. “Though, it was through Prince Trajan that the invitation was made, not to me directly… Regardless, it wasn’t something I could easily skip. And for the record, it’s ‘Dame’ Alix now, she was knighted after we arrived in the capital.”
“That’s wonderful!” Alain said with a joyful smile on his face, and Henry and Charles expressed similar sentiments.
“Heyyy, Leon!” Asiya said, drawing Leon’s attention to both her and Valeria, both of whom had pushed their way through the crowd of new knights waiting to be dismissed. They’d actually come over at the same time as Leon’s friends, but Leon had yet to acknowledge their presence.
“Dame Asiya,” Leon replied, smiling at the bubbly Samarid girl. His eyes then turned to Valeria. As much as he didn’t want to spend time with her given her familial connections, he couldn’t just ignore her, especially since she was such good friends with Elise. “Dame Valeria,” he said in greeting, keeping it simple. He didn’t want to encourage Elise to get them together, as she’d suggested after they slept with Naiad.
“Sir Leon,” Valeria stoically replied, though Asiya could see Valeria’s eyes narrow and dart around in the tell-tale sign that she was struggling not to smile. “Still keeping up on your studies into enchantment?” she asked.
The two had interacted a couple times since Leon’s arrival in the capital, but it was only now, when so many people were around, that Valeria was able to ask him a question. Even then, it was out of her mouth before she could think about stopping it.
“I am,” Leon tersely admitted. The two had shared an enchanting class in the Knight Academy, and both knew that the other was quite skilled in the art, at least compared to others their age.
An awkward silence followed as the onlookers stared at the two who didn’t quite know what to say to each other. Leon’s friends watched in fascination as he interacted with someone as quiet as he was, Asiya fought off a fit of giggles as her own silver-haired friend floundered a bit in trying to talk to Leon, while the others that Leon knew from the Knight Academy stared at the two in disbelief that the two strongest members of their year were so hopeless in this situation.
Marcus was unable to stand the silence for more than a few seconds.
“Didn’t know the two of you were so friendly,” the young nobleman said. However, he didn’t give either Leon or Valeria the chance to respond, as he immediately asked, “Maybe you could tell us, Dame Valeria, how true my uncle’s claims about Sir Leon’s record are?”
Marcus, of course, knew that at least what the Legate claimed Leon had done after his transfer to the Bull’s Horns was accurate, but he didn’t know the finer details about Leon’s actions.
When Marcus asked this, many others around fell silent, even those who didn’t know Leon and were simply observing out of curiosity. The Legate called him out, indicating just how young Leon was despite his accomplishments, and they all wanted to know more about what he’d done to earn such praise, power, and high station.
“Far as I know,” Asiya said, helping her taciturn friend out by speaking up first, “what was told about Leon was all true.”
“Indeed, we were there at the Horns at the same time as him,” Henry added, completely disregarding the fact that most of the others were nobility and didn’t appreciate him speaking up in their conversation—he was a knight now, and technically, he was noble as well.
“I, for one, would love to hear about some of it,” Alcander said with an almost challenging smile directed toward Leon. The last time they had fought, Alcander had come away from it the loser. He, Tiberias, and Gaius had all engaged Leon in the tunnels that the Snow Lions had fortified during the Knight Academy’s FTX, and while Leon had eventually been forced to flee, Alcander had still been left stunned.
For two years, Alcander had been training. For two years, he had been looking forward to returning to the Knight Academy and challenging Leon to a duel. Unfortunately for him, Leon was somehow now a sixth-tier mage, effectively putting him far beyond Alcander’s own abilities. The young nobleman doubted he’d ever get a chance to redeem himself through fighting Leon again.
“Yes, Leon, why don’t we all head over to my estate after we’ve been dismissed, and we can catch up properly?” Marcus suggested, making it clear through eye contact that all of them, including Leon’s common-born friends and the other newly made knights, were invited.
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Most of them agreed instantly, as partying with a nobleman wasn’t just going to guarantee the quality of the party, it could also bring them closer to someone who would inherit lands and titles—though most of them were more interested in the former rather than the latter.
The only two who hesitated were Leon and Valeria. If Leon had agreed, then Valeria would, as well. However, Leon wasn’t the partying sort, and it took him a long few seconds of thought before he could respond.
“… Would it be all right if I brought my girlfriend?” he asked.
“No problem at all, bring anyone you like… within reason,” Marcus answered.
“Very good, then I’ll be there,” Leon said. He was a quiet misanthrope through and through, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t attend a party for a few hours when it was being thrown by someone he held some respect for. Besides, Elise was far more social than he was, and he was sure she would be quite happy to attend the party with him.
Not to mention there was the good chance that Tiberias would be present, and that meant Leon had an opportunity.
He just hoped it wouldn’t be too big. Unfortunately for him, what Marcus said next dashed those hopes upon the rocks.
“Good to hear!” Marcus said, and as he looked to Valeria, she, too, nodded her assent. She would also go. “I have some more invitations to hand out, but I’ll see you there!”
---
Among the many thousands of people who had gathered in the Knight Academy’s parade grounds, the vast majority were there for the Princes. However, several thousand were friends and family of those who were graduating or moving on to squireships.
Naturally, both Tiberias’ father, Duke Euphemius Decimius, and Valeria’s father, Justin Isynos were in attendance.
For their part, both men were stunned at the announcement of Leon’s power and the inference of his age. Since the Knight Academy would only accept people aged sixteen to twenty, that meant after three years he was, at most, twenty-three; even for Justin, achieving sixth-tier strength was an incredible feat for someone so young.
However, Justin already knew who Leon was, at least on the surface. He was a nineteen-year-old knight serving Prince Trajan, and quite possibly the Leon Raime he was searching for. He wasn’t about to make any moves against Leon without knowing more about him, though, since one of his most powerful mages was killed when he was sent to check up on Leon following the vampire’s attack on his villa.
Euphemius, on the other hand, had little knowledge of Leon, and the Legate revealing his name didn’t jog his memory. The assassins he’d sent after Leon had been coordinated by his son, and afterward, Euphemius hadn’t been updated at all; not that he’d been waiting for an update for such a trivial matter—not to mention Elise’s sanctions coming down upon his House several weeks later taking up the majority of his time and attention for the past couple of years. All he knew about Leon was what the Legate had just exposited for the entire Kingdom to hear.
The Duke was tempted to try and reach out to Leon and attempt to bring him over to Aurelianorum, but he doubted it would work. Leon was serving a Prince, and that was a far more prestigious post than serving a ‘mere’ Duke.
Euphemius had almost completely put Leon out of his mind by the time the new knights were dismissed and spilled out back into the parade grounds. In fact, it had been long enough that he had tried to make his way over to Elise and Emilie; they had done serious economic harm to him, and he wanted to know why. He was unable to get close, though, thanks to the heavy Heaven’s Eye escort that were with both ladies preventing the many people trying to get close to them from doing so.
When he and Tiberias met up again, he was in a foul mood, though he did his best to conceal it.
“What’s wrong, Father?” Tiberias asked after the two men embraced. Becoming a knight was expected of their family, and so such a small achievement on Tiberias’ part passed without comment from either of them.
“Nothing,” Euphemius curtly replied. “Let’s be on our way, too many damned peasants walking around here…”
Tiberias had to agree, there had been far more commoners who were knight today than nobles, and so with the departure of the nobles who were there for the Princes, the parade grounds were mostly filled with commoner families.
“Yes, let’s go home,” Tiberias replied, though he paused for a moment when he spotted Elise. He made no moves toward her, but his eyes narrowed as he thought about the best way to get closer to her, especially after the sanctions levied against them by Heaven’s Eye. “By the way, Father, I’ll be heading over to the Aeneas estate in a couple of hours, there’s going to be a party there to celebrate our graduation, and there’s someone who will be going there who I thought long dead.”
“Who?” his father asked, Euphemius’ eyebrow cocking in curiosity.
“Leon Ursus…” Tiberias answered, his mask of affability and noble dignity giving way to hate and anger as they stepped into Euphemius’ wheelless carriage.
---
“How’s it going, kiddo?” Justin asked his daughter once Valeria and the rest of the new knights had been dismissed.
“Well enough,” she answered. She quickly informed her father about the party that Marcus was throwing to celebrate their graduation.
“And you want to go?” Justin asked. She was an adult and had been for three years now. He had no place to tell her she couldn’t, and he knew that, but he was curious after what he’d learned since the triumphal games.
“I do,” she said.
“Are there going to be boys there?” Justin asked in a teasing voice, though his intent was anything but. He wanted to know if Leon was going to be there. He wanted to know more about the nature of Valeria’s relationship with Leon, but he wanted to step lightly around the issue to keep his daughter from being unnecessarily hurt.
“A few,” Valeria admitted.
“Anyone I should know about, as your father?” Justin asked, his tone growing ever more teasing as he tried to steer the conversation in the direction he wanted.
“No,” Valeria tersely responded.
“How about any of your other friends?” Justin inquired.
“Asiya and Elise,” Valeria said, her short replies not deterring her father in any way from pressing on.
“Ah, Elise,” he said. “That was her boyfriend who was sent into the arena a couple months ago by Prince Trajan, wasn’t it?”
“It was,” Valeria confirmed. “He’s a… he’s a friend, too. I trust him.”
“Do you?” Justin said, his tone taking on a more thoughtful quality, but before Valeria could give him a strange look, he quickly added, “I guess there is a boy there that I need to be worried about!”
“Dad!” Valeria shouted in anger and embarrassment; they were still out on the parade grounds, leisurely making their way back to Justin’s own carriage.
“Oh, don’t worry, little one,” Justin said, his face breaking out into a wide smile. Despite all the suspicions he had about Leon, despite the death of the tall man in Emilie’s home, he was still Valeria’s father and he couldn’t help but have a bit of fun at her expense, especially since she was now out on her own. “If you do get to know this boy better, please be sure to bring him around and introduce him, I think I’d love to meet him if you think so highly of him…”
“Will do…” Valeria noncommittally said. That was the last she intended to speak with Justin about Leon, and she quickly changed the subject to the current state of affairs in the Royal Palace, which Justin, as one of August’s stewards, was privy to.
In the end, though, it wasn’t Valeria who was left still thinking about Leon when the conversation was over, it was Justin. After he dropped his daughter off at the barracks for the Princess’ Guard, he quickly returned to his home and canceled all his other plans for the day, foisting his official duties that he was responsible for onto his assistants.
He had a much more important duty to attend to: observing this party.