With an astute gaze, Leon scrutinized the young man kneeling before him. He left the man some bodily privacy, but otherwise, nearly all of his secrets were bared to Leon’s tenth-tier senses.
He was weak, by Leon’s standards—only the third-tier. However, his aura was stable and dense enough that Leon could see he was close to ascending to the fourth. The young man was only around twenty-three years old, so reaching that level of power in a place like the Bull Kingdom was a feat unto itself. Leon could tell that his power wasn’t a result of potions that flooded the body with magic, which spoke volumes about the man’s dedication to training.
“Rise,” Leon commanded, and the man stood up.
He was tall and handsome, though not overly so in either category. He was clean-shaven, putting his sharp and chiseled features on display, while his brown hair was cut short in the style favored by the Bull Kingdom. He wore a black tunic with dark green trousers and plain brown boots. His clothes weren’t particularly shape-conforming, but Leon could still tell that his body was well-built, with muscles in all the right places to tell him that this was a man who trained hard and often.
But one could train as hard and as often as they wanted, that didn’t mean that they had any skill.
With a nod to Marcus, Leon’s retainer stepped forward and drew a training blade.
“Let’s test those skills, kid,” Marcus said with a wide grin and tossed him another training sword.
The young man looked for a moment like a deer staring at a flare as he caught the weapon, but once the moment passed, he assumed a defensive posture. Leon’s lips twitched downward in dissatisfaction; the young man was right to understand that he wasn’t going to be able to so much as touch the eighth-tier Marcus, but Leon had hoped he’d at least try. Adopting a defensive posture wasn’t encouraging.
“Begin,” Leon declared.
Marcus immediately moved, his light magic providing him with incredible speed second only to a lightning mage of equal power. However, he still held back tremendously, graciously moving at a speed that the young man, still yet to develop any elemental magic at all, could reasonably respond to.
Leon’s frown grew more pronounced as the young man tried to block Marcus’ opening strike, leading to Marcus slapping the training weapon out of the young man’s hands, dislocating a few fingers in the process.
To his credit, the young man made no more than a surprised whimper but still held his fingers close to his chest from the pain.
Marcus chuckled good-naturedly and used his light magic to heal the young man’s fingers. He then used elementless power to lift the dropped weapon and return it to the young man.
Not too far from Leon, among the small crowd of spectators, Roland whispered with a combination of fatherly concern and frustration, “Don’t just wait…! Get in there!”
Leon didn’t think the young man heard Roland, but as Marcus made to strike again, he at least learned from their first clash that Marcus wasn’t holding back enough to be met head-on. He dodged backward, in the exact opposite direction that Roland had urged him to move.
Marcus pursued with little mercy save for what he’d already shown, his confidence and experience with the blade put on display as he manipulated it like it was an extension of his arm. The young man, however, did everything he could to dodge and deflect. Every time their weapons clashed, he managed to keep a hold on his, but it was clear that he was only just barely.
Adding further reason for concern, Leon could see that Marcus was deliberately leaving openings for the young man to exploit if he only tried. But the young man was so taken with defending himself that he either didn’t see these openings or couldn’t bring himself to use them.
“Come on, kid!” Marcus said with some frustration as he slapped the training blade out of the young man’s hand again, though this time without causing injury. “You’re not going to win any fight just dancing around!”
The young man frowned slightly as he retrieved the weapon, but as Marcus readied himself to continue, Leon called out, “Wait one!” Marcus immediately stood down while the young man, a look of deep shame on his face, turned to face Leon.
Leon curled a finger, wordlessly ordering the young man to approach him. He was sitting on the edge of a fountain in a courtyard in the Bull Kingdom’s palace, with the Bull King himself next to him, his ladies on his other side, and Anzu on their other side. His retainers were watching, as was August, Roland, two of the new Paladins replacing the losses sustained during the civil war, and a dozen more high-ranking knights of the Bull Kingdom’s bureaucracy.
Roland himself looked embarrassed as the young man approached Leon. The young man was his son, whom he’d asked Leon to take into his service.
“Tell me your name,” Leon said as the young man came within a few paces. They’d already been introduced, so it wasn’t like he didn’t know his name, but he wanted the young man to say it aloud.
“Lucianus,” he replied.
“Your full name,” Leon said with some mild irritation.
“Lucianus Magnus,” he said, jumping slightly in his haste to answer Leon.
“Lucianus Magnus,” Leon stated. “You have quite the name to live up to. Your father is an honorable man.” Leon paused a moment to nod to Roland, who smiled and nodded in gratitude, though his eyes still spoke volumes about the anxiety he now felt. “I believe him when he says that you’re a skilled fighter. Your power at your age is proof enough that you have dedication.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Lucianus said when Leon paused again, his voice trembling moderately.
“If you want to vindicate the recommendation I’ve been given, you’re going to have to do more than defend,” Leon continued. “Have you ever been in a real fight?”
“No, Your Majesty…”
“Then you won’t know from personal experience… A real enemy, one who means to kill you, will not hold back. I’ve fought many people in my time, but I’ve never seen a fighting style that wins without its user attacking at least once.”
Lucianus held his head in shame for a moment and didn’t argue with Leon.
“Tell me: why are you holding back?” Leon asked. “I can’t imagine Sir Roland teaching you to hold back like this…”
Lucianus paled slightly as Leon focused on him, so Leon consciously restrained his aura even more than he already was. As a tenth-tier mage, his power was great enough that even its aura could be strangling to a third-tier mage if it wasn’t held back. He’d already been holding back, of course, but he restrained himself even more.
“I’m… just nervous, Your Majesty,” Lucianus eventually said.
“Ha!” Julianus belted out next to Leon. “You have nothing to be nervous about, boy! No one here’s judging you!”
Leon knew that wasn’t true, but anything to get the young man to loosen up was good. He could sympathize a lot with his anxiety.
“Try it again,” Leon said, nodding to Marcus. “And don’t just stand there hoping Marcus will go easy on you. Fight like this is a real fight.”
Lucianus replied, “Yes, Your Majesty!” and turned to face Marcus.
Marcus smiled and prepared, but he gave Lucianus a few seconds to get ready. In those seconds, Leon was gratified to see him take a deep, steady breath, and then assume a more aggressive posture. When Marcus moved, Lucianus dodged and then struck at the older and stronger man.
He didn’t land a hit, but as the fight proceeded, Leon’s smile grew as he saw Lucianus start to overcome his anxiety and strike out at Marcus here and there. As Marcus dragged the fight out, Lucianus’ comfort level seemed to go up and he participated more and more actively, putting his skills on display.
And he was skilled, Leon could see that, even though he wasn’t landing anything on Marcus. Roland had taught him well, it seemed, and after several minutes, he called the fight to another halt.
“I’ve seen enough,” Leon said, and Lucianus paled slightly as a fearful look graced his features for a moment. Leon drew the moment out, enjoying playing with the young man a little bit, and then said, “You need some work, but I’ll happily take you into my service. Don’t be discouraged, Lucianus Magnus: you have a lot of potential. We’re just going to have to work on that killing intent of yours. If we bring that up, with the skills you’re already showing, you’ll be a real terror on the battlefield.”
Lucianus fell to a knee, tears of gratitude pooling in his eyes. “Thank you, Your Majesty! I won’t let you down!”
“Don’t promise that to me,” Leon responded as he waved at Marcus. “You’re going to squire for Marcus until he thinks you’re ready for a knightship in my service. He’ll teach you everything you need to know.”
Marcus grinned and helped the young man to his feet as everyone watching politely applauded. Leon then made eye contact with a grateful Roland. It wasn’t quite what the Paladin had asked for, but it was far from a flat refusal. Leon wasn’t going to let just anyone into his retinue or the Tempest Knights, after all, but he trusted Marcus implicitly, and his friend had already agreed to take Lucianus under his wing. He’d get Lucianus sorted out, and once he did, Leon was sure that the young man would more than meet his standards.
---
Leon’s stay in the Bull Kingdom’s capital ended after only a couple days. He and his family stayed with Ajax in the Tower Lord’s estate. Elise and Emilie were quite ecstatic to be back in the home that they’d spent so much of their life in and were a little heartbroken when it came time to leave. As much as Leon wanted to give them more time, he doubted the Grave Warden was going to wait around.
They’d return, he promised them. This wasn’t going to be their last visit, not by a long shot.
Within a week of their departure, he and his people found themselves back in Ariminium, escorted still by the Bull King and his family and retinue. Along the way back, Maia had reached out to Leon informing him that she was also on her way back, and she wasn’t coming alone.
Leon had initially thought that Pleione, Maia’s mother, was on her way, but the immediate anxiety he felt at that prospect was immediately quelled by his river nymph mate. What she told him instead, however, had him feeling more than a little tense.
Less than a day after arriving back in Ariminium, Maia arrived, allowing him and his people to confront the problem head-on.
So now he sat in another private courtyard, this time without anyone from the Bull Kingdom to witness, for he had no doubt it would be his word and only his word that would prevent violence from breaking out.
Accompanying Maia were twenty seraphically beautiful women, each one fairly pale with dark hair of varying hues. None wore clothing or were stronger than the fifth-tier. None seemed particularly curious about where they were and were mostly staring at the men in Leon’s retinue with hungry looks.
Maia had brought with her twenty lesser river nymphs from Saron. From what he knew about them, Leon knew that the lesser nymphs were intelligent enough to be roughly on par with humanity, though one of the key sticking points in that regard was a markedly lower inhibition. Still, they were more capable of growth than more monstrous beasts, and possessed a strong capacity to learn, if one was patient enough and the nymph was strong enough.
Once all of the nymphs were assembled and after giving everyone a few seconds to stare in shock and surprise, with some of Leon's retainers even going so far as to channel their power slightly or subtly start reaching for their weapons, Maia explained the unstated question.
[My mother was… overjoyed to see how much I’ve grown. She also maintained my girls in their pod, refusing to let any other nymph claim them. Now that I’m an Empress myself, she insisted that I take my girls back, as it’s ‘only proper’ for an Empress to have her attendants.]
“Naiad…” Elise said a little uncertainly, “river nymphs… are not known for being peaceful…”
Maia pursed her lips slightly as her eyes narrowed in muted anger. [I will deal with that,] she declared. [I… reluctantly took them back in. As they are my responsibility, I will take responsibility for them.]
Leon softly snorted in amusement. Twenty river nymphs were hardly a threat, and besides, he wasn’t averse to taking in strange creatures if they could strengthen his Kingdom.
“If you say that,” he said before anyone else could cut in, “then that’s that. They can come with us.”
Maia gave him a glowing smile.
Elise tugged at Leon’s sleeve a bit in concern. “Is this such a good idea?” she whispered into his ear.
“I’m aware of what they do to humans,” Leon assured her. A river nymph had to mate with human men to have young, and they more often than not ate their chosen mate after the act was done. Given the beauty that the entire race seemed to share, it wasn’t that hard to see why, despite the threat they posed to humanity, hunting them to extinction had always failed.
And that wasn’t even touching on the possibility of a Gorgon rising from their number.
As far as Leon knew, river nymphs were absent from Kataigida, and it was a risk to introduce them down there. However, he was also confident in Maia’s ability to control and teach them, as well as his people’s ability to deal with them should they prove uncontrollable.
“We’ve let Tikos take in all of the tree sprites on the island,” he further explained. “We can handle twenty river nymphs easily.”
There was some reluctance, but everyone wound up agreeing. Maia was more than happy with his decision, and quickly set about finding her girls a place to reside until it came time for them to depart the Bull Kingdom.
On that front, they weren’t going to stay for much longer. Leon was more and more conscious about how much time they were burning and how much work remained to do back in his Kingdom. He was in constant contact with his ministers, keeping informed of the work they were doing, but he still wanted to be back on the island handling much of it himself.
So, as much as he might have wanted to stick around in the Bull Kingdom for a while yet, their time had already drawn to a close. Now that Maia was back, their party had been completely reformed; they would leave the following morning…
---
In a grand ceremony, Leon and his people met with King Julius and his family north of Ariminium’s outskirts, where the arks were waiting. Rakos had already been helped aboard Cassandra’s ark, with Leon having to swallow his discomfort and bring the stone giant back into his soul realm for a few minutes to bring it into the largest room within. Fortunately, it wasn’t prone to human discomfort, so it was able to curl up somewhat and keep itself fairly compact, with the assurance that it would remain that way as long as Leon needed it to.
Maia’s new servants were also packed inside in a similar manner, with Maia forming a small pool aboard Silver Spear for them to merge with. Thankfully, when merged with water, river nymphs could be quite compact, though Maia claimed that it was fairly uncomfortable if done for too long. The couple weeks it would take to return to Kataigida would be pushing it, but they’d have another break once they reached Occulara, so Leon wasn’t too worried.
As part of the departure ceremony, Leon and King Julius, along with their respective family members, said their goodbyes. Cristina, Asiya, and a number of her knights, plus a few diplomats to take over her position as ambassador in Occulara, would be flying in Cassandra’s ark again, and Leon knew that Elise and Valeria were thrilled about having their old friends join them on Kataigida once again. Cristina had left her father a comm lotus so that they could keep in more regular contact, and Leon understood that there would be a small fleet assembled that would be making its way down to the Sword with additional staff for Cristina’s embassy. Once at the Sword, they’d be ferried to Kataigida by Tribal ships, and the Bull fleet would return home, with the promise that ships would occasionally make the long journey south, and Leon would encourage some trade with the Bull Kingdom among his own private sailors.
But all too soon, it came time for their final goodbyes. Leon had to get back home and make his preparations for the Grave Warden’s request, which he felt was going to take him away from home again for a while.
“Never forget, Leon,” Julius said as he and Leon clasped wrists again, “you and your House will always be welcome in my Kingdom. This is as much your Ancestors’ land as it is mine.”
“You honor me,” Leon replied with a smile. “I’ll certainly be returning at some point, and I’ll be sure to drag your daughter home for a visit or two.”
“If she doesn’t I might just come down there to visit her!” Julius exclaimed with a laugh, drawing a not-too-serious look of reproach from the woman in question.
“To… the Thunder Kingdom,” Leon muttered.
“What was that?” Julius said, returning his attention to Leon.
“You’ll be visiting… the Thunder Kingdom,” Leon repeated, the name flowing as smoothly as a gentle river.
Julius’ smile widened. “A fine name. One worthy of being taken up again.”
Leon returned his smile. The Thunder Kingdom was established and ruled by House Raime in the wake of the Thunderbird Clan’s fall, centered on Teira on the Bull Kingdom’s Great Plateau in the north. The Kingdom had ceased to be when the last Thunder King, upon realizing that his sons couldn’t keep up the fight for independence, and that even if they could they’d still be completely blocked in by mountains and the Bull Kingdom, surrendered to the first Bull King. Being a semi-autonomous Archduchy ruling half of the Northern Territories was a better deal than being a completely isolated independent Kingdom, it seemed.
But now that Leon was ruling his own Kingdom, he felt it was time for that name to return. If he could return his Clan to its former glory, then he might consider a name change, but for the moment, the Thunder Kingdom was going to be it.
With their goodbyes said, Leon boarded Silver Spear, followed by his family, retainers—including Lucianus, who had spent the last few days with his father and mother—and Tempest Knights. Once everyone was aboard, Leon gave Anshu the order to take off.
It was time to go home.
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