The Storm King

Two months had passed since Leon returned to the capital and a couple weeks since his ascension to the sixth-tier. Events in the capital continued to unfold in the same vein that they had been, and Leon was more than happy to remain apart from them. In fact, the more he stayed with Elise filling his days with little else but training, the more he realized that that was what he should’ve done in the first place. The longer he stayed away from the Legion, the less he wanted to go back.

But he was still a knight, he’d have to go back at some point, whenever Trajan called on him. Fortunately, though, it seemed to Leon that that point was still far in the future.

During that time, Leon finished building the vault in his soul realm, a huge metal container with many long rows of shelves. It was simple, and he could always build something else later, so for now, he considered the job finished. As he built the vault, he wondered if he could take the things he made in his soul realm out into the physical world, since they seemed no different from the objects he’d stored in there. It didn’t work, though. He made a rock the size of his fist in his soul realm, but when he attempted to bring it out of his soul realm, the only thing that appeared was a bit of mist which instantly disappeared into the air.

A disappointment, but one that Leon wasn’t too surprised by. If other sixth-tier mages could perform such a feat as bringing their creations out of their soul realm, then there would be no such thing as resource scarcity in the world; it would be an incredibly widely known power. Still, experimentation with his new powers brought Leon no small amount of joy.

But he eventually had to stop for a while, for a day that he had been eagerly waiting for arrived: his and Elise’s realtor found them a place that satisfied their requirements. When Leon and Elise went to check the place out, they found that it was about as perfect as they could’ve ever asked for without building a place of their own.

The villa itself was relatively small compared to the rest of the villas in the noble district, but more than comfortable. It had a nice stable next to the main entrance for Anzu, and its accompanying land was more than large enough both for Leon and Elise to do some landscaping and achieve some modicum of privacy with trees and large bushes, and for Leon to train Anzu into becoming a suitable war mount. There was also plenty of land for any renovations or additions they might want to do to the property.

The entire villa was roughly U-shaped, with an eastern, northern, and western wing. In the center was a courtyard that had a wall on the south side with a large gate, and a peristyle running around the main building. The master bed and bathrooms were in the west, while the guest quarters were in the eastern wing. A large living room was in the center of the main villa building in the north. In one corner was a kitchen and a dining room, while in the other was a private dojo that was already quite heavily enchanted to withstand typical training behavior. Along the entire northern side was a covered porch, surrounded by intricately carved columns. The property bordered a small curve along the Naga River, and the spacious backyard ended at the banks of the river, where a private dock had been built.

They bought it on the spot. If it had unseen flaws, then it wouldn’t be that big of a deal for the two to fix the place up. It also didn’t matter that most people, nobles included, who bought land in the capital had to wait a few weeks for the paperwork to be processed and approved, since Heaven’s Eye always got what it wanted in a timely fashion.

And so, a week after buying the villa and squaring away the paperwork and payment, Leon and Elise moved into their new villa. Rather, Elise’s servants moved their stuff over to the new villa in an afternoon, which was to say they moved Elise’s possessions, as just about all of what Leon owned was within his soul realm. Regardless, they quickly had their own place.

“So, what now?” was the first question that Leon asked his lady once they were finally alone. There would be no permanent servants, with only a chef at mealtimes, a beastmaster to tend to Anzu when the need required, and landscapers during the day—at least until their new property was as private as Leon wanted it to be.

“Hmm, what room should we break in first?” Elise asked with a coquettish smile.

Leon wasted no more time. He swept Elise off her feet and carried her directly to the bedroom, much to her delight.

In a happy twist of fate, the next day was Elise’s birthday. Perhaps after being affected by Leon’s general misanthropy or her own general weariness with the endless ceremonies of nobility, Elise decided to not only have a very limited guest list for her party, but she also decided to have it at the same time as their house-warming party, killing two birds with one stone.

Typically, the birthday of most high nobles was an extremely serious affair for the rest of the noble class—most nobles didn’t need an excuse to ingratiate themselves with their peers, but when they had one, like a birthday, it was treated with grave severity, especially since it was also a way for the family holding the party to show off their wealth and power. Commoners didn’t celebrate their birthdays much, but most nobles who were concerned with appearances never forgot a date.

Those that gave gifts chose them with extreme care, and when a party was had, thousands of servants would be required to fit all the noble lords and ladies into their party attire, arrange travel, and to deliver gifts. The entire day would be treated like a national holiday to those who received invitations, taking time off from whatever usually occupied their time so they could prepare. Many of those who weren’t invited would send gifts anyway, hoping to better relations between them and the recipient enough to be invited next year.

It came as no surprise, then, that when the announcement was made that Elise wasn’t going to have an extravagant party, most of the nobles in the city were beyond shocked. These parties, after all, weren’t just a way for them to get closer to the Tower Lord and her family, but also for Emilie and Elise to maintain good relations with the rest of the nobles. Never before had a birthday party been so low-key in Elise’s family, not even in the two years that Elise spent in Teira before meeting Leon. Most nobles were already used to not receiving invitations to such functions unless they were important enough, but to not have a spectacular party at all was quite unusual.

This last bit took Leon by surprise, as he had known Elise for years now and had never once heard about these parties. To be fair, though, during that time he was either training in the Knight Academy or stationed at the Bull’s Horns, and Elise had never given him too many details.

But regardless of the surprise any of the nobles felt and the confused messages they sent Emilie asking if they had been misinformed, Elise wasn’t going to change her plans. The only people invited were her parents and her friends—those who could take off work, at least. There were a few people who worked for her mother that she wanted to invite, but they had other duties and didn’t want to push their work or foist it off on other people. Elise understood, but was disappointed.

The entire guest list ended up being five people, in the end: Emilie and Jordan—Elise’s father—Alix, Asiya, and Valeria. Elise had also wanted to invite Princess Cristina but doing so would exclude both Leon and Jordan from the party, as it would be incredibly inappropriate to have a member of the Royal Family around members of the opposite sex when they hadn’t yet been formally presented to the court. She wanted Leon and Jordan there with her, so she was forced to compromise; she’d visit Cristina later to make up her lack of invitation.

So, when the day came, it was an extremely modest affair. Or at least, the party was, the day itself ended quite spectacularly.

Emilie and Jordan were the first to arrive. Elise hadn’t seen her father in a while, and they joyfully caught up with each other. Emilie smiled at Leon, any animosity she felt towards him for Elise giving up her right to have a harem gone after seeing how happy Elise was.

Asiya and Valeria arrived next. Asiya was her normal cheerful and teasing self, while Valeria spoke very little and tried to look anywhere but at Leon.

Alix arrived last, her work with Minerva keeping her fairly late.

Not one of them noticed the pale figures in the distance watching the villa extremely closely.

---

“This place looks amazing!” Alix said as Leon and Elise opened the gate for her.

“Thank you!” Elise gratefully exclaimed as she excitedly brought Alix inside to show her around.

Leon stayed outside with Anzu, though. He’d just about exhausted all of his social skills already, and he craved some time alone to recharge. He could hear Elise inside happily discussing with everyone else what she and he were planning to do to the property, focusing mostly on the garden she’d practice nature magic on, and the workshop Leon wanted for his enchanting practice. There were already some gardens and privacy trees around the villa, but it still needed plenty of work before Leon or Elise would feel satisfied.

Hearing his lady talking so excitedly with her friends put Leon in a good mood, despite his desire to be alone, but knowing that Valeria was in there as well was just one more reason that Leon needed a breather.

Sensing his human’s mild distress, Anzu nuzzled up against Leon’s shoulder, almost knocking Leon over as he did so.

“Thanks, buddy,” Leon muttered, grateful for the griffin’s presence. “I’ll go back in there in a few minutes. Just need a bit of space…”

Anzu pushed his head against Leon’s hand, all-but forcing Leon to give him some head pats and eliciting a few chuckles from the young man.

He couldn’t stay outside for long, and he quickly put Anzu back in the stable and went back inside. As it so happened, he walked in during a brief lull in the conversation, and Elise waved him over.

Jordan and the ladies were sitting in a rough circle around the living room table, which had the bouquet of Sun Lotuses that Leon had bought Elise proudly displayed upon it. The one place left to sit was next to Elise, which Leon normally wouldn’t mind, but it also just so happened to feature Valeria on the other side.

He didn’t see it, but as he sat down, Elise shot Valeria a subtle wink, and the latter instantly went red as a rose. Elise then leaned against Leon as if she just wanted to be closer to him, and while that was true, her true intent was to push him slightly closer to her silver-haired friend.

Silence followed that, to Leon, felt like an eternity. In reality, it was barely even five seconds before Asiya began to animatedly talk to Elise about her own training and how much Valeria was forcing her to do in that regard.

“Don’t blame me when you fall behind,” Valeria responded after quickly regaining her composure. She still didn’t once look in Leon’s direction, though, and kept her eyes fixed firmly on Asiya.

“Indeed, at this point, Alix is going to pass you up in a matter of months and then you’ll be the only third-tier mage left here!” Elise said with a teasing smile.

Asiya frowned, but it was more like a pout and no one took it that seriously. “I won’t be left behind…” she muttered.

“By the way, you two,” Jordan said as he looked to Leon and Elise, “congratulations to you both on your ascension!”

“Hmm?” Asiya wondered out loud, Jordan’s statement at first only sounding a bit strange before sending shockwaves rippling through her mind. From the way Valeria’s head whipped around to stare at the man, she, too, was shocked beyond words.

“You ascended again, Sir?” Alix asked with a knowing smile. Everyone already knew that Elise had made it to the fourth-tier, and the ladies had celebrated quite a bit. It seemed that news of Leon’s ascension hadn’t made it to their ears before now, though.

Leon simply nodded. He didn’t want to make such a fuss about this matter, especially not on Elise’s birthday when she should be given the focus. He didn’t want to say anything, even when Elise smiled at him and briefly hugged his arm. She hadn’t told her friends about him, believing that it was his news to spread, and she didn’t mind if he did it right now. She enjoyed attention and could certainly act that way when she wanted to—Leon was well aware of that given how she had acted to catch his attention before he had enrolled in the Knight Academy—but she wasn’t so conceited that she had to make everything about her, even on her own birthday. Of course, part of that was because she knew Leon hated the attention, and she took no small amount of pleasure in making him feel awkward over things that he should’ve, by all rights, been shouting loudly for all the world to hear.

Leon still felt awkward despite being well aware that Elise was having so much fun at his expense and let his eyes wander around the room, and they eventually landed on the window. He would’ve seriously considered making some retort if it weren’t her birthday, but now all he could do was-

Something moved outside. It was dark, but Leon could still see perfectly fine, and he knew that wasn’t a natural movement from the bushes outside. As Leon’s focus went from the living room to just outside, he started picking up on sounds he wasn’t hearing before. He could hear Anzu frantically scratching at the walls of his stable, footsteps outside, and some hushed whispering.

With a growing sense of alarm, he released his magic senses and perceived the entire estate in an instant. The villa was surrounded by fourteen dark figures, and all of them had swords drawn.