The Sword and The Shadow

Prank

After hearing what Annelotte said, Leguna drew Lighteater in tandem and glared at the magi while emitting killer intent. They were all magically bound and unless they were insanely powerful dual trainers like Saron, they wouldn’t be any more threatening than normal men. The magi also understood that magic was their strong point and there was no room for them to resist now that that had been sealed.

Leguna wanted to make them feel fear. Since he had already killed two of them already, he wouldn’t mind playing the bad guy till the end. Annelotte could play the good cop as far as he was concerned, since she would be working with them in the future, anyway.

He coldly swept his gaze through them with ‘mess with me and I’ll cut you down’ spelled out on his face. Under the threat of death, the magi finally caved. They understood that now that they were captives, they ought to cast away their pride as Stokian magi for good.

“If nobody has any objections, that will be all for today,” Annelotte said with a satisfied nod.

……

After that, Leguna dealt with the magi captives. If they were merely ten normals or low-order warriors, it would be much easier. But these captives were all magi and Perelia was a mid-order familiar with the construction of the magic cannons. They were too important to risk allowing someone else to take them away.

Leguna spent the good part of the day dealing with it. He also had Annelotte go back to Kurdak’s camp to rest early.

By the time he returned, Leguna found that Kurdak and Vera had come back too. Not only that, there was a beautiful woman around 25 years of age seated within the tent. Initially, Leguna didn’t know who she was, but he roughly guessed it when he saw her priestess robes.

“Oh, you’re back?” Kurdak cracked a smile, “I’ve been looking all over for you! I didn’t think you’d be so busy!”

“Well, Annie made sure to see to that, didn’t she?” Leguna said happily.

“Don’t spout nonsense. I didn’t arrange for anything!” she said awkwardly.

“Hehe, lil’ Annie, you have quite a good relationship with this young gentleman here, I see!” the woman said. She shot Leguna a glance and tapped her lips with her finger. “Let me guess, short, black hair and slender build… Might you be the famous head of the bureau, Leguna Dark Requiem?”

Leguna merely giggled.

“Come! Let me introduce you!” Kurdak said as he pulled him over. Leguna smelled the scent of alcohol on him. He had apparently been drinking before he came. It was hardly surprising, considering how Kurdak enjoyed the company of the three beautiful women there. He had a habit of drinking when he was happy.

“This is the granddaughter of the spirit of our army, General Manhattan, Miss Lamir!” Kurdak said, before he pointed at Leguna, “This, Lamir, is Leguna! your guess was right, but don’t think of him as some amazing person or something. Just get along with him casually!”

“Oh? Then I’ll take your word for it!” Lamir smiled. “I hope you aren’t mad at me calling you a young gentleman.”

“I’m not, feel free!” Leguna waved casually.

“Hmph!” Annelotte and Vera snapped in conjunction.

That sound caused the two men to freeze. Those two that feared almost nothing were terrified of causing the women any dissatisfaction.

Lamir looked at Vera and Annelotte and shook his head, “Forget it, I don’t want to risk making these two young ladies here mad.”

“If you really think so, the smartest thing to do now is to leave,” Annelotte said coldly. While Kurdak and Vera might fear antagonizing her for her status, Annelotte didn’t care. Her father was just as amazing as Lamir’s, in terms of personal power of course.

So she didn’t hold anything back. But the reason Annelotte even bothered with it was she had quite a few glasses to drink. The influence of alcohol made her far more direct. Usually, she would go about something like this in a far more roundabout manner.

Leguna, Kurdak and even the displeased Vera didn’t think that Annelotte would actually beckon for Lamir to leave. But would she really listen?

That was quite improbable, as it turned out. Lamir looked a little stunned, but she soon regained her cool. The high-order priestess took a large swig of wine and took a deep breath. “I know I’m not welcome here.”

“Then why are you still here?” Annelotte snapped back. Since she had made her declaration, she no longer cared if Lamir would be angered. She didn’t really mind offending Manhattan either, mainly because she was certain that he wasn’t a man to hold grudges over such petty matters. And while Manhattan was an important figure in the empire, Annelotte didn’t think he’d be central in the long run.

So his support wasn’t that integral for Leguna. Comparatively, ‘Sis Vera’ was much more important to Annelotte. While it was a vain way to look at things, Annelotte didn’t really mind. She didn’t care about the thoughts of others as long as those she cared about was there for her.

Lamir smiled before an obvious red flush appeared on her face. However, she didn’t shriek back. She looked seriously at Kurdak and said, “Because Kurdak is here! And he’s… he’s the man I like!”

Everyone froze. They didn’t think she could express her feelings so clearly like that. That kind of courage wasn’t something most people had.

Vera stood up and turned her head to Kurdak.

“Hey… girl…” Kurdak’s smile was uglier than his crying face. He thought that Vera would curse and beat him with full force, but she reacted completely differently this time.

“I’ll be leaving this matter in your hands,” she said with a sudden smile.

“Huh?”

Vera stroked Kurdak’s head. “You asked me to trust you, so that’s what I’m doing. I only ask that you don’t disappoint me, it’s that simple.”

He wanted to say something, but she stopped him. “Alright, I’ll leave this to you. I’ll leave for now and come back later for the result.”

“Pfffft!” Lamir clutched her mouth and chuckled. “Alright, I was just messing with you! It’s just a prank.”

“What did you say?!” Leguna felt his vein popped. She dared joke around with Kurdak and Vera’s relationship! Leguna didn’t know why Lamir made that kind of joke, but he abhorred it. It felt like she was trying to pry them apart.

Lamir also felt the anger of those around her and stopped smiling. She seriously said, “I know that the joke was going a little too far. I apologize for it.”

“Don’t think this is something you can shrug away with just an apology!” Leguna said, trying hard to suppress his feelings.

“Ley, calm down!” Kurdak said as he held him tight.

Leguna looked at Kurdak and managed to calm down. He knew that Lamir was still immature and childlike despite being someone over twenty years of age. Given that she was Manhattan’s precious granddaughter, people usually let her have her way. It was already quite a miracle that she didn’t become totally spoiled after years of that treatment. Understanding that, Leguna managed to calm his anger.

“Miss Lamir, you must have a reason for making a joke like that, right?”

“You do seem to understand me quite well. How are you so certain?”

“Because sometimes, I feel that even though you underestimate the importance of certain things sometimes, you aren’t someone who completely disregards people’s feelings. I doubt you’d pull a stunt like that without a good reason.”

She furrowed her brows and said, “What kind of circular reasoning is that? You’re basically saying that I won’t do that because you think I won’t.”

“That’s not the point!”

“Fine!” She looked at the rest and said, “That’s right, there is indeed a reason. My grandfather is considering you as a possible suitor.