Chapter 29: In one day

"Yes I did, she is my friend." Leon replied, doing his best to keep calm.

"Your friend you say. Tch, do you know the history of the vampires? A race second only to demons in savagery.

A race that feeds on the blood of all those around them, that’s the person that you have chosen to bring into my town and home." His father stared dead into his eyes. The best route now was for him to bow his head and behave like he did not know the depth of the issue.

"I know, sir." Leon replied calmly, no hesitation behind his eyes.

Slam!

His father slammed onto the table hard, his eyes burning right into the soul of Leon.

"Do you know the risk that you have put everyone here by harbouring that monster?" His father asked.

"She is not a monster," Leon replied, "her name is Snow and I vouch for her with my very life. She would never hurt anyone here," Leon said while looking his father in the eye.

"You would place your life on this vampire, do you understand what you are saying?" His father asked.

"Yes, I do. I’ll not back down on my word ever. Snow is under my watch and I’ll ensure that nothing goes wrong, and if she does, I’ll bear the full brunt of it."

His father looked at him for a solid minute and then finally spoke.

"Fine, let it be as you have spoken. You may leave now," his father said.

Leon gave a bow and walked out. He shut the door behind him.

’Shit, that man is absolutely terrifying, I have to admit.’

He grabbed his chest and took deep breaths. He walked off from there, the last time he would see his own father in a while.

[.....]

Leon and Snow threw themselves into the adventuring job following the next few years of their life. They became known around the entire town as the deadly duo. Any mission they took always came back completed, not having even a single failed mission under their belt.

Leon got better in Magic. He was not yet ranked by any official means yet, but he had mastered a numerous one-star spells and two-star spells. He could cast them without thinking.

Those were not his greatest abilities, though, as he managed to steal many abilities from many monsters along the way. He even managed to get some from adventurers, a few that had tried to attack the deadly duo.

Leon knew that a few that attacked him did so of their own choice, but a massive amount of them were paid by his stepmother and he very much knew this. After all, he and Snow had proper means to gather information from unwilling people.

In the blink of an eye, five years went by and the both of them had now grown, ten years old both of them. They had grown faster than their age and looked well older than anyone in their age.

They had risen from wood-ranked all the way to one-star silver-ranked in the span of that time, reaching a level high many adventurers consider their peak.

———

The both of them sat down on a roof in town under the soft light of night. They both held cakes that they had gotten from a bakery, eating calmly as they stared at the moon.

Snow was in different clothing. She no longer wore gowns but now dresses similar to Leon. She had on pants, a sleeveless shirt and a long cloak, very similar to the dressing that Leon had on.

She had her loose clothes over her shoulder. It caught the light of the moon beautifully, her pale white skin making it even better.

Leon took a bite into his cake and let out a sigh.

"So it’s tomorrow." He muttered.

"We have watched the timer for so long that it became normal." She muttered.

"I still get the nightmares, though. Those never became normal, they only caused more fear in me," Leon said and bit into his cake.

"You are scared of what might come from it, right?" She asked.

"Well, yeah. What if something life-changing comes from it? What if the timer hits zero and our entire home stops existing?

There is a lot to think about and the more I think about it, the more I get scared. The nightmares don’t help as well.

And everyone just seemed to forget that we have this massive rock here and all around the empire as well. In only five years, they have given up on chasing the truth fully," Leon complained.

"Not everyone can see what we see, Leon, and so not everyone can understand your fear." She scooted a bit closer and proceeded to lean her head onto his shoulder. She let out a warm smile like this position was very cozy.

"And whatever happens when that timer hits zero, I want you to understand that we will handle it together. You will not be alone. I’ll be right beside you as I have always been."

"Haha, if not for you, I would have died a ton of times. It’s crazy how many times you have saved me in five years," Leon responded.

"Tch, stop trying to get yourself killed, though. I know you can heal almost as good as me, but that doesn’t mean you keep throwing yourself into shitty situations. It worries me," she said.

"I’ll try. I can’t promise, though. Some sacrifices are needed to get stronger and sometimes it might hurt." Leon said, he moved his hand and wrapped it around her shoulder.

"And no matter what I do, sis, how bad it gets, I have you to pick me up and help me out, the same way you have me to stand by you always."

"Always," she replied.

They stayed like that looking at the moon and the scene, knowing fully well that in only a few hours the timer would hit zero and they would have to face what comes next.