“Sir Leon!” called out a voice from behind as Leon left Roland’s tent. “Just the man I was looking for!”

Leon couldn’t help but roll his eyes and wonder, ‘What now?!’

Turning, he saw Gaius swiftly walking towards him, a look of purpose in his eyes that caught Leon off guard. He wasn’t sure why the young nobleman would be calling out to him, but his talk with Roland had left him with a lot to consider. Hells, it just stacked onto everything else that had been dropped on him over the past day, so what Leon wanted right now more than anything was to just be by himself.

But he also couldn’t just disregard everything that Roland and the Thunderbird had been trying to tell him, so he put on his best polite face and waited for the nobleman to approach.

“Sir Gaius,” Leon lightly replied as Gaius drew closer, letting one of his hands rest on the back of Anzu to keep him from getting too territorial about Gaius walking up on them from behind—the griffin had diligently waited for him outside of Roland’s tent, and was now happily trotting along beside Leon. Gaius disrupted his good mood when he called out, necessitating Leon’s conciliatory contact.

“I was hoping to share a few words with you,” Gaius imperiously said, already testing Leon’s patience and seeming to ignore Anzu’s presence entirely.

Leon considered the wisdom of simply denying Gaius. However, it didn’t seem like Gaius was going to take no for an answer, as he jumped right in without waiting for Leon to respond.

“What is your relationship with Dame Valeria?!”

Leon blinked and cocked his head in confusion; this was not a question that he expected to fall from Gaius’ mouth. Instead, he figured it would’ve been something more relevant to the state of the war… though as Leon thought more about it, he could understand why Gaius might be a bit concerned. He had just seen Leon emerge from Valeria’s room not too long ago, and Leon knew that the young nobleman was romantically interested in Valeria.

“She’s my subordinate, one of my knights,” Leon replied.

“That’s not all, though, is it?!” Gaius demanded.

“That’s hardly your business to know, is it?” Leon countered, his tone turning a few shades sharper and more accusatory.

That question, even backed up by Leon’s powerful aura, wasn’t too oppressive, but it shut Gaius up long enough for the nobleman to think before he spoke. He straightened himself up and, for a moment, seemed to be about to lay into Leon, to say that Leon wasn’t worthy of Valeria. Or, at least that’s how it seemed to Leon. Instead, right before he spoke, Gaius seemed to relax back down into a more neutral stance.

“Sir Leon. Could we speak somewhere a little more private?”

Gaius’ tone had softened and taken on a significantly softer edge, which Leon noted. They were close to the center of the camp and quite a few high-ranking knights were giving them strange looks after Gaius’ loud outburst, so given Gaius’ change in attitude, Leon agreed.

A few minutes later, they entered Gaius’ tent, with Leon leaving Anzu outside again—the griffin wasn’t too happy about it, but he did as Leon wanted.

Much like Roland’s tent, Gaius’ tent was sparsely decorated, but given what Leon knew about Gaius, he figured this was mostly because the nobleman had to travel light or there simply hadn’t been enough time for his servants to set everything up rather than any preferences Gaius had for spartan furnishings. However, one thing that struck out to Leon was a small collection of four board games on the table, all of which were typically used by the nobility to practice their tactical or strategic skills, or simply to show off their cultural abilities. Not all of the games were so high-brow, however, for Leon also saw a pack of cards and some dice hidden amongst them.

“Nice collection,” Leon said appreciatively as they took their seats at the table, trying to maintain a measure of cordiality after the trying day, “though I’d guess you didn’t bring me here to challenge me to a game of keeps?”

Of all the games that could be played with what Gaius had, keeps was Leon’s favorite, though he’d played not very much. Both sides would use sixty game pieces each to try and take their opponent’s keep, moving and attacking in turns. The first to move either five of their pieces into the heart of their opponent’s keep or took all of their opponent’s pieces would win. The pieces were also divided into five separate types, each with their own strengths and weaknesses that could move or attack around the large game board in different ways. It was a game from the Central Empires that had been designed to hone the tactical mind and had made its way into the Bull Kingdom thousands of years ago.

“No,” Gaius simply replied. “Sir Leon, I suppose at this point you know how I feel about Dame Valeria?”

‘Bit of an arrogant assumption…’ Leon thought, though he kept that unsaid.

“I have some idea,” Leon replied out loud.

“To ensure that we’re on the same page here, I love her. Always have, ever since the first time I saw her in Calabria when my father brought me to visit when the two of us were about seven years old or so. She was the strongest, smartest, most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, and I swore then that I’d do everything I could to marry her one day. She… doesn’t seem to share my feelings, but I still love her with all my heart. I think my dream of being with her is dead, but I can’t help my feelings. So, even if she and I will never be, I want to impress upon you that if you ever do anything to harm her, I will do everything in my power to make you an enemy of my family.”

Gaius spoke passionately and with grim seriousness. There wasn’t an ounce of levity to be found in his tone or expression, so Leon knew that he would follow through with his threat. But there was a bit of a problem with that…

Leon grimaced and began glancing around the room as he searched for the right words. But none came, so he decided to lean into that. “I’m going to be blunt here, Sir Tullius. I’m not clever enough in the ways of talking to really be anything but. But I think you can take it, you’re certainly strong enough for it, and I think it’s something that you need to hear.”

“Go ahead…” Gaius apprehensively responded as he leaned forward in his chair, waiting for Leon’s proper response. He didn’t have long to wait, and Leon didn’t have that grand a statement to make.

“What makes you think I care about your family?”

Gaius looked taken aback, his eyebrow rising as he tried to parse what Leon had just said. As the relative of a Duke, it wasn’t something he’d ever heard before. “What do you mean?” he demanded, his tone both confused and angry.

“I don’t care about you. I don’t care about your family. Well, that’s not entirely true, we’re currently allies, so I’ll do what I can to keep you alive when in battle, but beyond that… after this war, we’ll have no ties, no relationship. Given our history, I’m not even sure if having ties with you is something that I want. You can’t harm me and you’re not a friend of mine. So, quite frankly, I have no strong feelings about you one way or the other.”

Gaius’ expression changed from one of seriousness and that of projecting authority to one that looked almost hurt, though it was quickly covered up by noble stoicism.

“Don’t bother threatening me,” Leon continued. “I have no plans currently to bring harm to my own knight, anyway. She’s the only knight I actually have on my payroll, and doing something to hurt her would be a bit counter-intuitive, you know?”

“And yet, you were in her room…” Gaius said.

“Don’t mistake that, everyone else made a big deal out of it, but there was nothing sexual going on in there. I simply had some business to discuss with her. Besides, I had my griffin in there, you think I’d want to have sex with him watching?”

“People have weird tastes,” Gaius said with an almost relieved shrug, though he still stared at Leon with suspicion. “But, to get back to my point, I suppose you can take what I’m going to say however you please, but I have to say it anyway. At this point, I’m aware that Valeria doesn’t feel about me the same way that she feels about you, no matter how she feels about you. She and I will never be, and I can make my peace with that. What I can’t make my peace with, however, is the idea that she’ll be with someone who might abuse her, or might not respect her, or might bring her to harm. I cannot abide that! I will not let that be!”

“You say that like you have any choice in the matter,” Leon replied.

“I don’t, not really,” Gaius admitted. “However, that doesn’t mean I won’t hear of it sooner or later. You could unite the entire plane under your banner, but if you were to make Valeria cry, I would still strive with all my being to bring an end to you. Do you understand that?”

Leon smiled and nodded. The conviction that Gaius spoke with was admirable in his eyes, even if the content of the declaration was kind of laughable—Valeria hardly needed such protection, at least under normal conditions. Besides, something told Leon that Valeria wouldn’t take too kindly to Gaius inserting himself into their private affairs. Maybe that was just an assumption he was making, but he was certain in that belief, given how distantly she generally treated him.

“Sir Tullius,” Leon said calmly and carefully, enunciating every syllable in a clear attempt to stay even and light-hearted, “I have just lost every knight, every nobleman, every single person, including my giants, only a few hours ago. The last thing I need is you getting into my face and telling me how to lead my people and that I need to keep those few who are left alive. Do you understand that?”

Leon’s voice was steady and strong, each word hitting Gaius like a sack of bricks. There wasn’t a trace of killing intent in Leon’s aura, but still, Gaius could feel how sincerely Leon spoke. He meant every word.

“I-I understand that, Sir Leon,” Gaius said, suddenly becoming very aware that he was alone with a man that he considered an enemy not that long ago, a man who had his fifth-tier war beast waiting just outside the tent. And then he steadied himself, using every ounce of etiquette training he’d ever received to maintain a noble stoicism, even in the face of an irate sixth-tier mage. “I will not be taking back what I said, though. Keep that in mind.”

Leon only smiled, a thin-lipped thing that spoke far more of his anger and lack of patience than it did of any amusement he may have felt.

“I suppose that’s where we stand, then,” Leon stated. “Just know that I don’t hate you, Sir Tullius. Even with our disagreements in the past, I don’t hate you.”

Gaius visibly cringed in his seat as he remembered the arrogance with which he’d accosted Leon when they’d first met, and the one-sided rivalry he’d declared with the other man. It had only been a few years, but already the things that Gaius had said to Leon brought him nothing but shame, let alone the actions that he’d taken during their time at the Knight Academy.

“I… know that you said you don’t care about me, Sir Leon,” Gaius quietly murmured, his voice shaking with shame, and his eyes wandering around the tent, “but I would like to apologize to you. I wasn’t fair to you back in the Knight Academy, and for that I’m sorry. I would not do any of that over again if I were given the chance. I’m embarrassed by my actions, and I understand completely your responses to them.”

Leon awkwardly smiled, most of his obvious irritation and lack of patience vanishing with Gaius’ sincerity.

“I accept your apology, Sir Tullius, and I’d like to apologize to you, too,” Leon replied, surprising no one more than himself with how much he meant it, though Gaius came in a close second as his eyes turned back to Leon in abject shock. “Whatever you said to me didn’t matter then and it doesn’t matter now. My response should’ve been more measured and restrained. I regret humiliating you like I did. Just as you said you wouldn’t do the same thing if given another chance, I would say the same.”

“Thank you…” Gaius replied, unsure how to feel now. He’d come to find Leon with righteous fire in his heart, and now here they were apologizing to each other. It was a turn he hadn’t expected.

The two sat there at his table for a long, awkward moment, unsure how to respond. It took an almost embarrassing amount of time for Leon to find something else, anything else, to talk about to relieve the tension and move on.

“On a side note, Sir Tullius, mind telling me why your older brother isn’t here? I have to admit that finding you in charge of the Lentian retinue, someone so young and relatively magically weak compared to his immediate subordinates, was… surprising.”

“My brother already told you he was sending me to join his army,” Gaius reminded Leon, getting some life back into his voice again.

“That doesn’t explain why he didn’t want to come personally. I can’t imagine he was too cowardly to come and desert Duke Duronius’ camp himself, the impression I got of him back when we met was actually the exact opposite.”

“Sir Leon, if our magical power weren’t so different, I think I would’ve challenged you to a duel for those comments despite our previous conversation,” Gaius said, his mouth turning up into a thin smile. Both of them were staring at the other as if daring the other to make the first move, to attack the other and let them fight it out.

But Gaius knew he’d lose that fight. He’d never won when fighting Leon, and now that the difference in their power levels was so profound, he didn’t for a second believe that that would change.

“I wouldn’t blame you for that, though I’ll also say that I didn’t mean any offense and I apologize if you felt any,” Leon said, trying to put what the Thunderbird and Roland had been trying to tell him only a few minutes before into practice. He found it surprisingly nice, even as he realized that he’d probably need to get some coaching to say things more diplomatically. “I would, however, like an explanation.”

“My brother has other duties to perform at the moment,” Gaius said. “He was called to the capital to help Prince Octavius form part of the new government now that so many bureaucrats have been fired from the administration. My brother felt like it was best not to tip off Duke Duronius by showing up here instead. He’s not too far away, maybe a hundred miles or so—close enough to give strategic orders, though not close enough to take tactical command. He’ll show up to take personal command of the Lentian army soon, though. In fact, if we weren’t going to launch this attack tonight, he might’ve joined us before then.”

Leon nodded. It wasn’t a decision he would’ve made, but it was one he understood. “I’ve been told that delegation is the key to effective leadership,” he murmured. “I guess it’s a sure sign that you’re trusted back in Lentia if you’re able to take your brother’s place.”

“Hardly,” Gaius whispered. “I’m a Tullius, it was my duty to stand in for my brother, not a sign of trust or ability. As a matter of fact, I’m mostly a figurehead. It’s one of my brother’s top knights that’s actually making most of the decisions in the Lentian army.”

“A shame,” Leon replied with a wry smile. “Not going to lie, I was kind of hoping to see what you could do.”

“Really?” Gaius skeptically asked.

Leon nodded, he meant every word. He wasn’t particularly fond of Gaius by any means, but he knew the man and had figuratively crossed blades enough that he held a certain amount of respect for him.

“As I recall, you already got a taste of my abilities back in the east and thoroughly trounced me, despite being almost painfully outnumbered,” Gaius pointed out.

“But we never really fought,” Leon pointed out. “I harassed you, you had other things on your mind than a set-piece battle.”

Gaius’ eyes strayed to the game of keeps nearby.

“Well, there is a way to have that, if you’re willing.”

Leon followed Gaius’ pointed gaze. He found that he quite liked the idea. It sounded like a great way to get his mind off everything that had happened during the day, or at least to let him process a bit. Before agreeing, though, he spared only a second to send a pulse of magic senses to locate Valeria. He was trying to trust her, but he hadn’t seen in her in a while and wanted to make sure that his trust was well-placed.

It seemed that it was, for he quickly located her training with Alix down in the underground camp.

He smiled and said, “I’ve never seriously played before, but I’m certainly willing.”

“We have a few hours, why not?” Gaius said as he broke out the game and started setting things up. A predatory smile started spreading across his face as he started sorting the pieces. Leon had beaten him so many times in their time that Gaius was looking forward to beating him badly enough to salvage at least a little bit of his dignity.

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