Hospital Visit (2)
The Helbridge Ducal House.
One of the four great pillars supporting the Latia Empire, and a mighty house that ruled the vast western territories of the realm.
In the finest sickroom at the heart of the Helbridge ducal estate, two girls were locked in a peculiar argument.
"Aria, isn't it about time you headed back?"
Celia said, her eyes curving into a languid, alluring smile.
"Shouldn't you be the one leaving, Lady Celia? You've been here longer than I have."
Aria's lips curved into a sweet smile, but her eyes had gone ice-cold.
"This is my house, so it hardly matters. And the patient needs rest — having someone constantly glued to his side is a problem."
"Master is more comfortable with me beside him, you know. If anything, you're the one making him uncomfortable..."
"I'm a patient too, so I suppose I'll just have to keep resting right here. Conveniently, the spot next to him is free."
"In a castle this enormous, you insist on sharing the same room. How strange."
"So what? We're 'together' now. You heard what was said earlier."
A haughty light settled over Celia's expression.
Aria ground her teeth, recalling the story that had passed between Leon and Celia. It was uncomfortably similar to how she herself had first met Leon in Hevilon. She wanted to drag that memory out and seize the upper hand then and there — but she didn't.
It wasn't only because the subject of Hevilon would come up. She simply had no desire to share those secrets, those precious memories, with anyone else.
That's right. Master trusts me most, anyway.
In the end, the experiences and memories she and Celia had each built with Leon were completely different. Aria decided to take it easy.
Meanwhile, utterly oblivious to whatever the two girls were discussing and not particularly interested either, Leon was skimming through the letters that had arrived for him.
Most of them were short notes scribbled by Class B and Class A cadets who'd come and gone; there were also messages of concern from Headmaster Alcion and Instructor Cheren.
Nothing much here.
The most practical thing they'd sent along was his missing spatial pouch. Leon gathered the letters into a pile, set them aside, and opened his mouth.
"By the way, Aria. What about the midterms?"
"Ah — they said they'll combine them with the finals and hold everything later."
Just as in the original story. Leon nodded.
Cleaning up this incident would take time, and all three classes would be out for a while due to injuries and the like. The Tower of Illusions was also going into a full inspection for the foreseeable future. With so many reasons stacking up, running the midterms that had been only three weeks away was simply impossible — so they'd cleanly pushed everything back.
Celia let out a low whistle.
"That's going to be brutal."
"Yeah."
With an entire semester's grades riding on a single exam, the competition would burn even hotter. Of course, Class A — with Leon in it — would still take first place, but still.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Silence settled over the room. With the conversation dried up, Leon started to feel restless. Being stuck in bed was boring. Irritation was rising toward a body that refused to move — and that was when Aria, quick to read his mood, acted.
"Master, try this."
"Hm?"
Before he knew what it was, something was stuffed into his mouth. Leon chewed a few times, then let out a sound of genuine admiration.
"Oh? That's good."
Chocolate, marshmallow, and a subtle orange fragrance woven together with cunning precision. His taste buds applauded the sweetness of a dessert he'd never tried before.
"Would you like another?"
"Yeah."
One after another. Like tossing chunks of meat to a furious beast, Aria handled him with practiced skill.
"..."
Watching from the side, Celia's eyes narrowed. She slipped out on a current of wind, and in the blink of an eye she was back with an enormous box in her arms.
"Leon, try this."
"...?"
He took a bite. Chewed.
"...!"
Leon turned to Celia with eyes gone wide. A taste that conjured fresh wind, lush greenery, and vibrant life all at once — a sensation of pure freshness he had never experienced in his life.
Seeing his reaction, Celia laughed with smug satisfaction.
"Want more?"
He nodded. The hand feeding him switched from Aria's to Celia's.
"..."
A crack ran through Aria's smile.
...So that's how you want to play it?
She opened her spatial storage and began pulling out specialty desserts prepared specifically for Leon's palate.
"Master, this is from the seventy-year-old P&L confectionery—"
Celia refused to yield, presenting western specialties of her own.
"This is made from Flampe flowers and Mangrode fruit that only grow in the Great Forest—"
Hands competed to reach his mouth. Gold coins dissolved by the handful inside Leon's jaws. Eventually food was arriving faster than he could chew and swallow, and their overlapping explanations had become a discordant mess.
"Master, mine first—"
"Leon, my arm's going to fall off."
Perhaps that was why neither of them heard the unmistakable presence outside — or the knocks.
Knock, knock.
Knock-knock-knock.
After two rounds of knocking, the visitors stopped waiting and opened the door.
"Leon—"
And then they saw the scene inside, and froze where they stood.
"..."
"..."
Leon, reclining comfortably with his mouth open. Two beautiful girls pressed tight against either side of him, taking turns feeding him.
"..."
"..."
Aria and Celia went rigid the moment they noticed the visitors. Leon, on the other hand—
"Munch munch. Oh — Father? Mother?"
—greeted them with perfect nonchalance, as if wondering what had brought them here.
"..."
"..."
Rock and Elliot squeezed their eyes shut.
Leon was rather surprised. He hadn't expected the ducal couple to travel all the way out here to the Helbridge estate — practically the opposite end of the empire.
Rock looked mildly puzzled.
"There's a warp gate, isn't there?"
"There's still the matter of distance."
Elliot took Leon's hand firmly in both of hers.
"My son nearly died and came back. What does a little distance matter?"
"..."
At her gentle words and gaze, Leon fell silent for a moment. Maternal affection was a feeling far too foreign, far too unfamiliar to him.
"Anyway. You look fine enough. Good."
Having heard what had happened to his son, Rock began wrapping up the conversation. A brief look at the boy's face had been enough. He had plenty of work waiting, and while he was here he also had matters to discuss with Duke Ervion. This hadn't been a pure social call.
"...Though you do seem to be living rather luxuriously."
Elliot regarded Leon with a peculiar look.
"The duke here has been treating me very well."
Completely missing her meaning, Leon just grinned.
"Hmm. But looking closer..."
Rock, who had been about to rise, suddenly swept a sharp gaze over Leon's body.
Did he notice?
Leon tensed. The foundation of the Crusif Ducal House was martial. Rock, as its head, was a Master-rank swordsman — and a Master's senses operated on an entirely different level. Simply scanning the internal injuries in Leon's body might be enough for him to realize Leon had used a forbidden sword technique.
"..."
Rock's brow furrowed ever so slightly.
"...Dear?"
Elliot called to him in a startled voice. Leon had already prepared about five excuses when—
"Until you've recovered, cut back on the cigarettes."
Having caught the faint lingering smell in the room, Rock clicked his tongue and scolded him.
"..."
"Leon, how can you smoke when you're already unwell?"
"Haha."
Leon smiled brightly and waved a hand.
Guess I can use that excuse again next time.
A refined drawing room thick with the fragrance of fine tea. On the table lay pens, a seal, and several documents already stamped with official marks.
Seated across from each other at that table were Rock and Ervion — friends of twenty years, and close ones at that.
"Ahem. So then, Rock."
Clink.
Ervion set down his teacup, eyes gleaming as he called his old friend's name. From that expression alone, Rock immediately understood that the official business was finished and the personal talk had begun.
"They're both of age."
"..."
"They have a great deal in common, and my daughter is completely smitten."
"..."
"I rather like the boy myself — that straightforward temperament of his is properly manly. Well? What do you think?"
Rock said nothing, gaze lowered to his teacup.
"And neither of them has a fiancée at the moment, do they? I can't imagine a better match for either of them. Hm? Even thinking of both houses' futures—"
"Ervion."
Rock lifted his eyes and slowly shook his head.
"That sort of matter should be left for the children to decide."
"..."
At the deep weight in Rock's voice, Ervion's cheerfully running mouth came to an abrupt halt.
"Marriage is one of the few truly grave decisions in a life. If their hearts align, they'll come to us on their own."
Spoken quietly — and Ervion realized his friend was turning over memories of the past. Regret, lingering attachment, remorse, self-reproach, grief. A host of painful emotions flickered rapidly through Rock's eyes.
"...I misspoke. I thought you'd put it all behind you."
Ervion looked apologetic as he refilled Rock's empty cup. Rock answered with a bitter smile.
"I shouldn't forget. And I couldn't, even if I tried."
A conference chamber where cold and searing energies mixed and flowed together. Floor and walls of dark crimson stone. Outside the windows, a reddish light beat down.
Crack! Boom! Crunch!
Sounds of shattering, crushing, bursting. The wreckage of pulverized chairs and tables scattered through the air.
"Does this make any sense to you?"
"..."
Not a single piece of furniture around Valcansus remained intact.
"A strike force that can't even bring back one little human brat?"
"..."
Cryptos's hollow black eyes grew darker still.
"How many did we send?"
"Five! And one of them was a high-ranking demon!"
"Hmph... You might have sent a Demon Eye unit. Then at least we'd know what happened."
Demon Eye soldiers — capable of transmitting visual records of whatever they witnessed firsthand. Had they been dispatched, the events in the Siruntel Demonic Realm would have been clear. But Valcansus had never once imagined the strike force might fail, and so the inconvenience of such measures had never even crossed his mind.
"Damn it all!"
Crash!
The last halfway-intact chair exploded into powder.
Cryptos continued in the same unperturbed tone.
"Valcansus — as you say... there are parts of this that are rather difficult to understand."
"Rather?"
Valcansus snorted. That black-haired boy's trail of deeds was bizarre from start to finish. That he had shaken off the strike force's pursuit alone was already absurd. That not a single member had returned was stranger still.
Valcansus muttered with a simmering undercurrent of rage.
"There's something about that one. At a time this critical, a variable like him cannot be tolerated. Sooner or later he'll ruin something — and he's already managed a little of that."
"..."
After a moment's thought, Cryptos pressed his pale, slender fingers together.
"If he truly bothers you that much... I'll deal with the human myself."
"...You mean to use those 'insects' of yours?"
Recalling what Cryptos had set in motion across Middle Earth, Valcansus wore a peculiar expression. Until now he had privately considered the whole enterprise a waste of effort.
"Yes. At present, they're the pieces best positioned to move within the Empire."
Cryptos's voice thinned as his body began to dissolve into smoke.
"They're useful enough, in their way."