RSTUM 119

119: Nightingale (1)

As the night passed and the morning's sun lit the sky, Leon was back in the empty training yard, working hard all by himself. Only his butler, Maximilien, was present in this place with a few towels and a fresh white shirt.

The young butler had two black rings around his eyes. Usually, people around the palace would go to sleep at 10pm and wake up at 6 a.m. Not Leon, though.

He would go to sleep at 12 p.m. and wake up at 4 a.m., and on top of that, he doesn't need any more sleep than this.

Four hours a day's worth of sleep are insufficient for most humans, but for the Black Cobra, he can't waste one third of his life in bed. He was trained to live that way, and as soon as he started proper training in the Dark Duchy, he managed to get this routine back in order.

More than a week has passed since his arrival, and this calm before the storm was a feeling he was most familiar with. When life gives you peace, war is bound to follow soon after. That's why he kept his mind on his training.

< Your Strength has increased by 1 >

< Your Wisdom has increased by 1 >

————————————————————

[ Leon Dark ]

Level: 22

Race: Human

STR: 35 (13)

END: 34 (12)

AGI: 36 (14)

WIS: 36 (14)

INT: 38 (16)

————————————————————

According to Lance, his base attributes must stop growing when they reach the closest possible number to his level. After that, he would go to the wilderness to level up once in order to allow more room for his growth before returning to training.

This training formula was used by nobles worldwide. The attribute cap of humans is around double their level, and reaching it means they are maximizing their potential.

For that, Leon was training with a Longbow, a tool that requires both muscle strength and sensory focus. This makes the longbow very effective at building up the attributes of Strength and Wisdom.

With every arrow he shot, Leon could feel the muscles of his arm, shoulder, and back being exerted, tempered with the burning pain of training. He would avoid training injuries by Healing himself with magic, but this heat must be maintained to allow him more growth.

While he was doing this training, his mind was wandering about what happened yesterday.

He got that feeling again—this dark and dreadful feeling—but surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as the last few times.

It was triggered when Alice told him that the world would fall on its knees for him.

As ridiculous as it felt, Leon never understood why his mind was so easily tempted by that image of tyranny.

Conquer the World!

Why? Is he Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great?

Nope, he actually thought that conquering other nations was nothing but a waste of time. Each culture has its own traits, and conquest destroys the cultures and their people.

As a Medjay, he knew how the Ancient Egyptian civilization was erased by the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Byzantines. Nothing was left of it before even the Arabs came along, and what remained were monuments of ancient times with a language written on them that even their descendants never spoke, and it would take even more foreign conquerors to translate it for them.

If armies were to enter another land, they would corrupt it and render the honored of its people humbled.

"Master Leon!"

Disturbing the tranquility of his focus on the war-grade longbow, Maximilian interrupted him from the side.

"Yes."

"A message has arrived for you. A craftsman by the name of Boris says you have commissioned something from his shop."

"Oh!"

Leon was immediately overjoyed to hear this news and shot the arrow he was notching right away, regardless if it hit or missed, and walked towards Maximillian while handing him the longbow.

"Put that away and prepare a horse for me."

Leon wasn't going to waste time now, and he headed directly to his chambers in order to change. On his way, he was interrupted by Alice, who stood waiting for him in front of his door.

"You're going out?" She asked as he walked in his commoner clothes.

"Just a quick errand." Leon replied as he passed her immediately.

"Can I tag along?"

"You'll slow me down."

"What direction are you taking?"

"Outside the palace."

Seeing as how Leon was being impatient, she immediately ran up to him and held his shoulder.

"What do you want?" Leon asked as he turned to her with an annoyed face.

"Outside the palace, you said?" She asked, but her eyes were looking past him and fixated on something.

Before he could even respond, he felt a little bit dizzy, then disoriented, then as if his guts were turning up against him and churning as if they were trying to get outside of him.

His eyes became watery, and he saw the world spin around before it started to settle down once again.

He then felt cold, and something in his stomach pushed out.

Turning down, he saw himself on a stone-paved road in front of a large gate, and on his left and right were gardens and many statues and stone formations.

He was outside the palace and at the front gate of the gardens. Still, he was now puking out all that was in his guts.

"Whoopsie!" Alice panicked and covered her mouth as she saw him like that, "That was your first teleport?"

"Oh, no!"

Witnessing this whole situation was Maximilian, who was bringing a regular horse for his master. He immediately rushed at Leon and started to pat his back before cleaning his mouth with a handkerchief.

"Are you alright, Master Leon?"

"God No!"

"Lady Alice, that was brutally irresponsible of you!" Maximilian was very disappointed in Alice as he took out a flask of water and opened it. He then used the motions of his fingers to call out the water from the flask and make it fly like a bubble before contacting it on Leon's stomach.

The water then started to glow in a calm white light, and Leon steadily recovered from his nauseous state. He saw the water Maximilian had conjured from the bottle and left him through the fabrics of his clothes without leaving them wet, as Maximilian discarded it right away.

"Max, you're a saint." Leon said so while patting Maximilian's shoulder.

"Anytime, my Lord." Max stood back behind Leon while looking fiercely at Alice.

Leon turned to Alice and raised a finger to her face.

"As cool as teleporting is, you killed my insides." He said.

"Relax! It only happens if you teleport for the first time." She said while avoiding eye contact, "Also, I could have healed you right away."

"My Lady, I suggest that you refrain from using magic around Lord Leon from now on. None of us wants any… accidents to occur." Maximilian said right away, "Had you attempted to heal him, we don't know if he would have grown another arm or an extra set of fingers."

"WOW!" Leon jumped away from Alice.

"HEY!" Alice shouted, "It wouldn't be that bad!"

"Apologies, Master Leon, but you need to be extremely careful around Lady Alice, especially when she uses magic. It is always bound to be no less than chaos." Maximilian spilled the beans on Alice.

"That bad?" Leon asked while wiping the side of his mouth and looking at her.

"Don't believe him!" Alice shouted and dragged Leon by his sleeve, "Let's go."

"Be careful, Master Leon." Maximilian said with a foreboding tone, even though his lips were twitching in a slight grin, "Be… very… careful!"

"The hell?" Leon felt goosebumps as he was dragged away by Alice.

Looking back at Maximilian, who disappeared behind the gate that opens and closes itself, this was rather an unnerving moment for Leon.

"Hehehe! We're all alone now!" Alice said as she giggled in glee.

She turned to Leon, who was nervously holding the straps of the bag on his shoulder while looking at her with wariness.

"We are in the middle of the street! Don't do anything stupid now." He said it with a warning tone.

"Yes, captain!" Replying with a serious yet childish act, Alice made the same salute as yesterday.

Leon looked at that girl and couldn't help but feel how troublesome she was going to be. He got a feeling of her personality last night as they spoke during his evening training, which was about Magic, and he discovered how fickle and unstable her mind is.

According to those who know her, she is a genius, and a troublesome one at that. Someone who has both power and talent but doesn't put an inch of hard work into them. She is deeply involved in the business of her family and has a very good understanding of the world, to the point where it is unfair to compare her to any of her peers.

Leon didn't know that control freak Eleanor wasn't putting a leash on a daughter like that since he was certain it was what she wanted to do with him, but for now, he can test out the waters a bit with Alice. If she is as serious as she says about bringing the world to its knees in front of him, that would be quite nice to hear.

But what world is she talking about? The underworld of crime? The blackmarket? Some sort of fantasy she and Leon had?

He couldn't help but play along and act crazier than that crazy bitch. At least he could set up some hierarchy.

But now that he thinks about it, he has been running on rooftops across the city and she was keeping up with him quite easily, as if she were...

"Flying? Huh?"

As he looked back at her, she seemed to have grown a pair of blue fairy wings and kept jumping after him as he ran from one roof to another. And as she noticed him look at her, she smiled vividly and looked at him, waiting for something… a complement, maybe?

"Don't go around with those wings!" Leon spoke while pointing at them, saying, "I'm not trying to attract attention."

"Oh! My bad!"

Immediately, she retracted those Arcane Wings, and they returned to being part of her clothes that resembled a cape on her back.

The magical technology in this world is indeed wild when it comes to those who possess a lot of money. Flying with wings and having many magical abilities can tip the scale of power in fights towards the richer combatant, which is something Leon is not. He may now have the support of a rich mother, but he can't have all that he wants easily.

He needs his own resources eventually, and that is what led him back to the doorstep of the workshop he visited a few days ago, the shop of the half-dwarf twins, Boris and Katarina.

While being followed by Alice, Leon touched the door in order to push inside, but at that moment, the door was opened by someone from inside. A tall woman emerged from inside wearing what can be called a plate cuirass over a leather skirt, with plated bracers and shin guards on her forearms and legs.

Meeting Leon's eyes, that Amazonian woman exerted a little bit of dangerous aura, seemingly asserting her dominance as a senior Mercenary over what seemed to be a junior. Still, the look in Leon's eyes was natural and patient, as if he was waiting for her to just buzz off so that he could enter.

That was what it looked like, but Leon wasn't actually staring at the woman intensively or anything, he was rather mesmerized by her appearance for a second there.

The exposed arms from her sleeveless armor made it clear how tough of a person she is, and Leon had a thing for that. While she appeared taller than most, but not obviously as tall as Annabelle, she had the charm of a warrior woman.

As he watched her pass, Alice was sulking at him with displeased eyes.

"What?" Leon noticed her.

"You kept gawking at that girl. Don't try to deny it since I saw you!" Alice said.

"Is it wrong to look at some lovely lady walking by?" Leon asked.

"You have me; am I not woman enough?" Alice asked while making sure her feminine features were a bit more obvious.

Leon let out a long sigh.

"There is something you're mistaken about." Leon said intending to lecture her, "You are indeed a lovely little girl, but that's right there, that's what men mean when they say a woman."

"Huh? What are you trying to say?"

"You won't understand… Actually, forget about it."

While the two argued in front of the store, Katarina came out running from the shop.

"Leo! Thank the light, it's you!"

Katarina looked out of breath and seriously frustrated. Still, this couldn't stop Leon from continuing his lecture.

"As you can see, a woman." Leon spoke to Alice while pointing at Katarina.

Alice couldn't figure out what he was trying to say, but she was already categorizing Katarina with that other mercenary lady from earlier.

"Your crossbow was taken!" Katarina spoke immediately.

"Some heads are going to roll, huh?" Leon turned to Katarina with a murderous glare and asked, "Your brother, where is he?"

"I swear to you, Leo, it is not his fault. He was taken too. The debt collectors from the Iron alley came and made a mess out of the shop."

"Do I look like I care?" Leon asked with a serious, angry face.

"The Knight that came after you has connections, right? Please. You can resolve this, sir. You must be from a great background, so please help my brother just this once." Katarina said.

"For the Light's sake, all you peasants do is nag." Alice became infuriated with Katarina all of a sudden, but Leon simply muffled her mouth.

"I will naturally have to resolve this situation, but I need to know more. When and where was he taken, and how can this situation be solved without making too big of a scene?"

"Yes, yes. I'll tell you all I know." Katarin bowed and invited Leon in, who was followed by the sulking Alice.

On the street, the tall figure of the female mercenary stood behind a wall not too far away, and she seemed to be shaking her head.

"Boris, this oaf!" She sighed as she seemed to have been watching the situation that was going on with Katarina and Leon.

She put on her spartan helm and jumped from the street to the roof with a single leap, as if gravity wasn't constraining her a single bit. Her aim was Iron Alley.