The Storm King

Chapter 378: An Open Mind

After the heated discussion with Valeria was over, Elise took her silver-haired friend over to one of the guest rooms to let her sleep off the drink that still had a weak hold over her mind. Leon was left alone in the main living room, his mind constantly switching between thoughts of Artorias and Trajan, leaving Leon feeling deeply uncomfortable and unable to focus on anything other than his current problems.

August had been imprisoned, and that made more legal routes to revenge terribly unlikely. If things went far enough, then Leon would simply deal with the situation as he did with Tiberias, regardless of the consequences. He’d been sitting around amassing power for too long, and he was sick of the steady additions of new enemies that never seemed to stop. The Earthshaker Paladin had to die. Octavius had to die. It didn’t matter how, their lives had to end, and Leon wanted nothing more than to do the honors with his own blade.

The Valeria problem, however, was one that Leon had no earthly idea how to deal with. He didn’t pick up on any deceit when Valeria told him that she didn’t know what her father was doing, though he figured she definitely knew more about the situation than she was letting on. Still, she had never done anything to him, at least as far as he knew, and she was one of Elise’s best friends. He couldn’t just slit her throat in the night even if he wanted to.

He couldn’t stifle a groan, and his face fell into his hands. Things were only made worse when he remembered that Xaphan had been watching, and he could still feel the demon’s attention.

[Got something to add, demon?] Leon bitterly asked.

Xaphan was silent for long enough that Leon wasn’t sure he’d respond, but he did.

[… No. I understand what you’re feeling. It’s never easy, having a close personal connection with someone who should be your enemy. You can’t just kill people like that, even though your life would be so much easier if you did.] Xaphan’s tone was soft and soothing, and it took Leon completely by surprise. There wasn’t so much as a hint of mockery or sarcasm in the demon’s voice at all, and it struck Leon completely speechless.

[I’m not sure I believe her when she said she didn’t know why Adrianos was up there. It’s clear to me that they were there to kill me and my father, but…]

[Play it by ear. Keep her close, keep an eye on her. Her father will come for her, I think, so prepare for when he does. Even if she isn’t directly involved, she can still be useful.]

Leon frowned in distaste. He could confront his enemy face-to-face, but there was something about what Xaphan suggested—keeping Valeria close like she was a hostage—that he wanted nothing to do with. Still, there wasn’t much risk in keeping her close, so long as he took the proper precautions. Wards, armor, perhaps even a magically binding oath of the sort that Naiad imposed upon him if he were feeling particularly nasty…

‘Actually, fuck that last option…’ Leon thought to himself. He reveled in his personal freedoms, and he didn’t think he could impose such restrictions upon anyone else, even if he had undeniable proof that they had murdered his father. He’d rather face them in battle than control them in such a way. Naïve? Perhaps. Stupid? The case for that could be made. Risky? Absolutely.

But he still didn’t think he could do it.

‘Well, at the very least, if she’s around more, maybe she’ll let something slip that I can use. Or I can build her trust enough that she tells me the truth of her own volition…’

A few minutes passed in silence as Leon contemplated these things, and Elise came back into the room. She slowly walked over to him, her expression grave and her aura heavy.

“Let’s talk,” she said to Leon, and she gestured toward their bedroom.

Leon nodded, rose from his seat, and followed her to the more private setting.

Once in their bedroom, Elise sat down on the edge of the bed and said, “You told me that you didn’t know who the assassins who killed your father were… What’s more, the story you told Val of your father’s death doesn’t match what you told me at all…”

Leon sighed, sat next to his lady, and said, “It does, to a certain extent.”

Elise sat in silence, quietly waiting for Leon to continue his explanation. She didn’t appreciate lies and falsehoods, and she didn’t want to think that Leon had lied to one of her best friends just a few moments ago.

Before he continued, however, Leon projected his magic senses just to check on Valeria. She was lying down in the guest bed with a complicated expression on her face, one that he felt was likely mirrored on his own. He’d given her quite a bit more to think about in telling her that Adrianos had killed Artorias, and that was on top of her missing father and being fired in all but name from the Royal Legions.

But he didn’t think she was listening in. It was always possible that she could hear them from the other side of the villa, but he doubted it. Thus, feeling confident that their conversation would be truly private, Leon continued.

“Adrianos Isynos was one of the five assassins that attacked my home the day my father was mortally wounded,” he said. “My father managed to kill all of them, but he was poisoned in the process and died the next day. I had to bury him with my own hands…”

Elise rubbed his shoulder and pulled him in closer as he said this. She knew most of these details, but that one of Valeria’s clan members had been involved was not something she had heard before. Leon had never told her that particular tidbit, afraid as he was of forcing her to choose between him and Valeria. Now, though, the secret was out—for Elise, at least, since he was certain that Valeria had been successfully misled into thinking that Adrianos hadn’t been targeting Artorias even if he was responsible for Artorias’ death—and he could no longer kick this can down the road.

“Is this why you’ve been so against the idea of you and Val getting together?” she quietly asked. “It’s been pretty obvious that you haven’t wanted to be around her much, though you’ve never said why…”

“I think that her family is responsible for the fall of House Raime,” Leon stated, his voice quivering a bit with anxiety as he finally laid bare his suspicions to his lady about the family of one of her closest friends. “The timeline fits, they arrived here not long after Argent Palace was destroyed and my uncle and grandfather were killed, and Justin would fit the description of the man that Naiad fought after we took care of Tiberias.”

Elise frowned, not quite ready to believe it but not refuting Leon’s suspicions either. She had to admit that it made some sense absent anything other than Leon’s word, and she didn’t think Leon was a liar when he said that Adrianos Isynos was involved in his father’s death, but she just couldn’t believe that Valeria was a part of any of it.

“Would you say that there’s… a possibility that her family as a whole isn’t involved… that it was just Adrianos who was to blame?” Elise hesitantly asked. When Leon gave her a questioning look, she elaborated, “At the very least, it should be clear enough that Val herself had no part in this, right?”

Leon stared at Elise for a long few seconds before admitting, “I suppose anything’s possible. I can’t say for certain whether her family is the enemy I seek or not, and neither can I definitively say that she had no part in what happened. However, I will admit that I don’t think she was personally involved.”

Elise nodded, knowing that that was all she was going to get out of him. Before she let the topic go, however, she still had one thing left to say.

“She likes you, you know that, right?”

Leon raised a skeptical eyebrow at his lady. “Given our circumstances, I’ll take that kind of information with a grain of salt.”

Elise frowned again. “I can’t stop you from doing that but I would hope that you trusted me enough to believe me when I say that she really likes you. I would personally prefer it if you kept an open mind regarding her situation and that of her father. You don’t know if you’re right, and you don’t want to alienate them if you aren’t..”

Leon almost rolled his eyes in disbelief, but he managed to restrain himself and ask, “Are you saying that you still want me to get together with Valeria?”

“While I can’t deny that that would be my ideal outcome,” Elise shamelessly admitted, “I think in this case I can forgive you if you don’t want to try. But, as I said, I just want you to keep an open mind. I don’t think she means you any harm.”

Leon’s face twisted in doubt, but he could see from Elise’s deadly serious expression that this was going to be a sticking point for her.

“I make no promises for the future,” Leon said. “I’ll keep an open mind and I won’t make assumptions, but I’m not going to trust her or her family just like that. No promises.”

“That’s all I ask,” Elise said as she took his hand into hers. “I don’t have many friends, and I cherish those that I do have. So, I don’t want to see the man I love in conflict with someone else that I love. I think that would just about kill me…”

Leon didn’t respond out loud, but he squeezed her hand in comfort. There was nothing he wanted less than to cause Elise any kind of pain.

They sat there on the bed for a long while, neither keeping much track of the time. They didn’t speak, they didn’t get sexual, they simply kept hold of each other’s hand and made sure the other knew that they at least had someone.

Leon especially needed this right now, and he struggled not to tear up. He had even fewer people in his life that he trusted and liked than Elise, and he’d lost a good many of them—first Artorias, then Trajan, and then Naiad, or so it seemed in the latter case. He couldn’t lose Elise, too.

Finally, after a significant but undetermined time later, Elise broke their silence.

“How was your ride with Anzu?”

“… Better than I could’ve hoped for,” Leon murmured. He’d barely even thought about his terrible equestrian skills that entire day since so much had happened. Leon had been somewhat apprehensive about riding Anzu into battle, but now he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Anzu trusted him completely. He had no more reservations about Anzu’s abilities as a mount, only about what he might do if the griffin were to be injured.

Leon and Elise fell into an awkward silence, with Leon’s stressed mind almost gleefully jumping on the excuse to think about anything than what had just happened. He lost himself into almost juvenile images of himself and Anzu charging into battle, each with glittering armor that he’d enchanted to be completely untouchable. However, he was jerked back to reality a few moments later when Elise spoke up again.

“So… Prince August has been arrested?”

Leon sighed, knowing that business this important shouldn’t be put off for something as asinine as childish fantasies.

“Yes,” he replied. “Trajan’s murder is being pinned on him.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Elise asked.

“Probably kill some people,” Leon honestly answered. “This involved Octavius and the Earthshaker Paladin, though, so I have to choose my moment.”

“What does Dame Minerva want you to do?”

“Wait,” Leon bitterly replied. “Were it up to me, I’d already have Earthshaker’s head on a spike.”

“You’d have tried to put his head on a spike, you mean,” Elise countered. “He’s rich and powerful, to attack him would be foolish beyond belief. Remember that he’s seventh-tier and has the money and resources to turn his estate into a fortress.”

“… I know,” Leon reluctantly replied. “We were going to stick with August and have him bring us justice, but now that seems to be off the table…”

“I don’t want you taking unnecessary risks!” Elise’s tone was practically commanding; she knew what Leon was like. She went along with Tiberias’ assassination because she wanted the nobleman gone and in the grand scheme of things, he was essentially insignificant. The Earthshaker Paladin was anything but, and killing him would have deadly repercussions, assuming Leon could even pull it off, which, without Naiad, she didn’t honestly think he could do.

“What would you suggest I do, then?” Leon asked.

“Stick with Dame Minerva. She’s smart, Trajan trusted her for a reason. Do what you need to do, but don’t do anything reckless that isn’t needed!” Elise pulled her hand out from Leon’s, put both of her hands on his cheeks, and pulled his head around to face her. “No matter what happens, I want you to come back to me!”

That one last demand almost broke Leon. He had to clear his throat a few times and blink away the moisture in his eyes before he could respond.

“No power in the universe could take me from you,” he whispered. “No matter how far apart we are, I’m yours, and you’re mine.”

“Good,” she whispered. “That’s the way it ought to be.”

“On another topic,” Leon said, taking both of Elise’s hands back into his own, “I’m fairly sure I know the answer to this, but is there anything Heaven’s Eye can do to help out?”

“No,” Elise immediately responded. “Our hands are tied, this will be an internal matter. We can’t do anything.”

“A shame,” Leon said, thoroughly unsurprised. “That’s fine, I suppose. We’ll just do what we have to ourselves.”

“Do you have any specific ideas?” Elise asked.

“I’d have to consult with Minerva first, but I do have… an idea that I could use your input on…”

“What is it?”

“I told you that August requested my help, do you remember that?”

Elise nodded.

“Well, he also told me that the primary reason why he hadn’t renounced his claim to avoid conflict with Octavius was because of both his mother and Princess Cristina. He’s worried that they would suffer if he were to lose the struggle for the throne.”

Again, Elise frowned. She wasn’t familiar with August’s mother, but she knew Cristina, and she was quite fond of the young Princess. Cristina wanted nothing more than to leave the harem and see the outside world, which Elise could sympathize with.

“In that vein,” Leon continued, “I had an idea while we were sitting here. We have Valeria here, and we know Asiya very well. That means that we have eyes and ears in the Royal Harem, and if necessary, we could probably get those two out of the capital. If we could spring August, then we could have some leverage over him.”

“I don’t want to see Cristina used as a pawn!” Elise objected.

“Nor would I ever want to use her as such,” Leon responded. “Perhaps my language was a bit too callous. What I meant was that we could do a favor for August, and in turn, he’s indebted to us enough to follow through on his promise of justice, or at least to stay out of our way while we pursued it.”

“You’d have to talk to Valeria and Asiya if you want to pull something like that off,” Elise said, emphasizing that it would be Leon who would have to speak with her, “but other than that, I’m not entirely sure how practical that would be. How much would you gain if you did do that?”

“I’m not sure,” Leon said. “Not much point in getting August in debt to us if he’s in prison, though, but it was all I could come up with.”

“If you spring him, it could technically be considered treason, especially with the security August will be held under,” Elise mentioned, her hands tightening in Leon’s grip. “Octavius wouldn’t let him go, not after going so far to seize power. It would start a war.”

“This war’s been coming for years,” Leon said almost dismissively. “I haven’t cared much about it so far, but if it gave me the power to take on Octavius and Earthshaker, then I would start a thousand wars.”

“Hmmm, would you really?” Elise asked doubtfully.

“… Well, maybe not a thousand, but I would do what I needed to do,” Leon replied.

Elise sighed, but before she could say anything more, the villa’s doorbell rang. Leon projected his magic senses and saw Minerva at the front gate with about a dozen other knights, not all of them from the retinue, accompanied by Roland and the Brimstone Paladin.