Anastasios’ attention weighed upon Leon like it had physical force, though the man’s aura seemed quite calm and serene, and his face was split by an easygoing smile.  However, it still took Leon a moment to collect himself from the shock of the Lord Protector himself coming over and staring at him, and even then, he didn’t answer right away.

Instead, he turned back toward his retainers.  The ambassador had given Anna something, and it seemed that she’d been speaking quite intensely with his two newest retainers.  When he looked at Helen and Anna again, though, their expressions had largely returned to normal, and they were standing by each other, neither speaking or interacting with anyone around.

It was clear that whatever the ambassador had shared with them was important, and greatly affected their moods, but with Anna’s restraining of her killing intent, it seemed that it wasn’t an immediate or time-sensitive problem.  Leon sighed with a small measure of relief, made a mental note to speak with Anna before they left, and then turned his attention back to the Lord Protector.

Anastasios, if he were in any way aggrieved at Leon’s apparent distraction, didn’t let on in the slightest, merely continuing to stare at Leon with that friendly smile plastered across his handsome face.

But before Leon could respond to Anastasios’ arrival, Elise quickly said, “You’re always welcome with us, Lord Protector.”

Despite it seeming almost impossible, Anastasios’ countenance brightened even further, and he replied, “You’re too kind, Lady Elise, too kind for a poor old man who struggles to fill his days.”

“Not at all, it’s a pleasure beyond words to meet you,” Elise responded as she briefly squeezed Leon’s arm in a silent signal for him to participate.

“I-Indeed,” Leon sputtered as he forced his mind to stop focusing on his retainers and instead zero in on the here and now.  “To have one of the most powerful mages in all of Aeterna come and speak with us is an honor.”

“Please, please, relax,” Anastasios seemed to plead as the others who’d been politely chatting with Elise and Leon quickly gave them some room, none seemingly wanting to spend much time around the Lord Protector, for some reason.  Instead, they began to congregate around Emilie and the others from Heaven’s Eye, and a couple moved toward Princess Cristina, though a few threw rather nervous glances back in their direction.

“Is it possible to relax when everyone’s behaving so strangely?” Leon bluntly asked as he meaningfully nodded his head toward the largest group of people who’d just abandoned them.

“It’s a hazard of the position,” Anastasios replied with a tired sigh, his cheery expression slipping for a moment.  “Mine is not a position that’s conducive to having friends, unfortunately.  People are too terrified of me to risk getting close.”

“Or maybe they just respect you too much,” Elise said with a smile.  She sounded confident and in control as ever, but Leon could detect some slight wavering in her voice that betrayed to him just how nervous she was with Anastasios right there with them, for reasons yet to be revealed.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but I doubt that’s the case,” Anastasios sadly replied.  “My political position isn’t the sort that people want to get close to.  My grandson can do them favors, and isn’t so old or powerful that he seems inhuman to my people.  That’s why I tend to welcome foreigners like you two as warmly as I can—you haven’t heard much about me, have you?”

“I’m afraid not,” Leon said.  “We come from the Bull Kingdom, if you haven’t heard, and there’s not much news of the Central Empires that can make it past the Screeching Desert or the Ilumerian Wetlands to reach the Northwestern Kingdoms.  This place has been little more than a vague idea to me until just last week when we finally arrived in Ancon.”

“And how are you liking my Empire so far?” Anastasios asked, his good cheer returning.  “Has it been a disappointment, yet?  Or has it been living up to the vague idea you’ve had in your head for a while?”

“It’s impressive beyond measure,” Leon honestly answered.  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a place so urbanized or so magically advanced.  Higher end homes in the Bull Kingdom don’t compare too unfavorably with those here, but the sheer ubiquity of magic I’ve seen since arriving kind of boggles my mind—and we certainly didn’t have anything quite like the ark I saw on the way here, or those things your people use to cultivate their fields…”

Anastasios smiled even wider as Leon continued to compliment the Ilian Empire, his heavily-built chest swelling with pride.

“You do my Empire much honor speaking of it in such terms,” he said to Leon.  “If it’s not too personal a thing to ask about, might I know why, despite your positive attitude towards my Empire, you did not wish to join it, and make it that much greater?”

Leon blinked in confusion, the abrupt change in subject almost giving him whiplash.  And then he remembered the governor of Ancon, Apollodorus’, attempt to headhunt him away from Heaven’s Eye.

“Ah, I, uh, so Apollodorus kept you informed, did he?” Leon awkwardly replied as he did his best to hide his shock.  He wasn’t exactly surprised that Anastasios knew about that, more shocked that he was bringing it up like this, so blatantly and without preamble or concealment.

“My governors keep my grandson—and me, by extension—up to date about all the comings and goings of the most powerful people in my Empire,” Anastasios shamelessly replied.  “Men like you, with powers great enough to cause widescale death, must be monitored, wouldn’t you agree?”

Leon hesitated in his answer, the ruthless individualist in him almost forcing him to shout in indignation.  But… “I… suppose I can see your point,” Leon admitted.  “The safety of your people has to come first, doesn’t it?”

“Indeed,” Anastasios replied, his smile appearing completely genuine—if he were lying, Leon couldn’t tell.  “But, Leon Raime, you sound quite begrudging when you say that, do you not truly believe it?”

Leon shrugged and lightly smiled.  “I don’t like it when people snoop on me like that.  I’d much prefer to just fade into the background and be left alone to my own business.  But I know that that’s not really possible at my level, so…”

“I understand,” Anastasios said.  “Most states on this plane top out at the seventh-tier, so anyone above the eighth are automatically people that are worthy of notice.  Not everyone wants that attention, but people of our power simply cannot be ignored in a safe society.”

 Leon nodded.

“But, Leon Raime, you didn’t answer my question before: why did you turn down the recruitment offer when you seem to have such a high opinion of my Empire?”

Leon flushed a little with both anger and embarrassment—the former for having his decision questioned, and the latter for being asked this in public when he was neither expecting nor prepared to answer.  He scowled slightly, and answered, “I’m not one who gives up his freedom that easily.  I also try not to take half-measures.  As far as I’m concerned, I’ve already committed to at least giving Heaven’s Eye a shot, and if they don’t work out, then I suppose I’ll just spend some time here thinking over my next steps.  But I’ve come off a long time in the service of the Bull King, and I’m not looking to exchange a Royal master for an Imperial one.  At least in Heaven’s Eye, I can more readily trust that I’ll be able to walk away when I need to.”

It was Anastasios’ turn to nod.  “So, it’s mostly just a matter of trust, is it?  That we’ll give you the autonomy you desire?  Then I suppose we’ll just have to get to know each other better, and let trust come with familiarity!”

Anastasios stepped forward, his arms outstretched as if he were about to pull Leon into a hug, but Leon instinctively held up his hand to try and stop the Lord Protector, who graciously stopped.

“If you don’t mind me asking, might you tell me why you’re trying to recruit me?” Leon asked, his eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion.  After the week he’d had, from learning more about his Clan’s downfall on Aeterna, and gaining some insight into how the people in the Central Empires viewed his Clan eighty-thousand years after that fall, he couldn’t help but be suspicious about the most powerful mage in the most powerful Empire trying to recruit him while they shared a room with a statue commemorating and celebrating the fall of his Clan.

An eighth-tier mage was powerful no matter where they went—as far as he knew, there were less than a hundred in each of the Empires, and Heaven’s Eye only possessed a few dozen at most.  They were hardly common, but relatively speaking, a single eighth-tier mage wasn’t someone who could really upset the balance of power here in the Empires.  As a result, he couldn’t believe that the Lord Protector himself was now trying to recruit him after Apollodorus failed.

“I don’t mind you asking,” Anastasios generously replied.  “And the reason is quite simple: you’re an eighth-tier mage, and you’re barely over twenty years old.  That’s… honestly quite staggering.  Not even the Sacred Golden Empire’s young genius can hold a candle to that kind of growth.”

Leon raised his eyebrow in a silent question, not wanting to derail the Lord Protector’s explanation, but hearing about a ‘young genius’ in the north definitely had him curious.

“Tell me, Leon Raime, are you so surprised that we’re trying to recruit you?”  Anastasios gave Elise a quick smile, as if wordlessly asking her if Leon were worthy of the attempt.  Just as wordlessly, Elise tightened her grip on Leon’s arm and gave him an adoring look, and any temptations that Leon had to argue the point died on his lips.  “Apollodorus wasn’t just a token effort.  My Empire is serious, and we think you more than worthy enough to join us—and not for free, I can assure you.  Young Raime, let me tell you, my Empire is fully willing and prepared to help you with your own growth in the magical arts, so long as you’re willing to help us with problems that could benefit from your skills.  And I hope you trust me when I say that that support would be substantial…”

“…  As would be the support you’d expect in turn, I’m sure,” Leon replied with a bitter smile.  “I have no doubt that you’d be a generous Lord, but a Lord you’d still be, and even if it slows me down, I’d rather walk my own path.  At least for the time being.”

Anastasios sighed deeply.  “The offer will remain open, Leon Raime,” he said.  “Should you ever change your mind, please don’t hesitate to send me a message.  We can discuss details then.”

Leon nodded, and softly added, “You’ve honored me with the recruitment attempt.  I’m sure that serving the Ilian Empire would be a fine way to spend one’s life, it’s just not for me.  I hope I’ve caused no offense…”

“None taken!” Anastasios cried out, clapping Leon on the shoulder so hard that Leon almost lost his balance and fell over Elise.  Anastasios, appearing to pretend that that didn’t happen, continued, “Now, I believe that we’ve a quick exhibition for our entertainment, why don’t you join me to watch?”

Leon suppressed the urge to scowl—only really able to do so after sharing a look with Elise, who silently told him to go along with it.  Being around Anastasios was making him nervous since he couldn’t figure out what exactly the man wanted other than what was on the surface, or why he wanted it, but he could hardly just walk away at this point.  Creating animosity between them would only be self-destructive, and accompanying the man for a few hours was hardly the worst thing ever.

With a mildly tired tone, Leon asked, “What kind of exhibition?”

Anastasios replied, “Our friends down in the southeast will be joining us, and a traditional greeting for them—”

Before the Lord Protector could finish speaking, the doors that Leon had entered the ballroom opened again, and in trooped about half a dozen people of striking physical features.  Their hair were various extremely pale shades of pink, golden and platinum blond, and blue.  Their skin color was dark—not a shade of brown as Leon was more familiar with, but various shades of purple—and they seemed to shine in the light of the hovering chandelier rings like their skin was smoother than normal.  The man in front wore flowing robes of various natural materials—some kind of silk and plant fibers—dyed pitch black, while the others all wore pale colors that matched their hair color.  All of their eyes were black orbs that lacked any definable pupils, but the leader’s were flecked with silver, leaving his eyes to resemble the night sky. 

“Forest Watchers,” Elise murmured.

“Yes,” the Lord Protector replied.  “They’ve graced us with their presence.  Normally quite aloof, but good people when you get to know them.  Their usual formal greetings involve ritual combat—generally to first blood these days, but we tend to go a little harder when they come here.  They just bring out our competitiveness, you know?”

Leon watched as the troop of Forest Watchers practically marched over to the Emperor, giving no one else so much as a single glance.  Their leader was seventh-tier, as were two of his comrades; two more sixth, and the last one was only fifth-tier.

“Have you ever seen their people before, Leon Raime?” Anastasios asked.

“I haven’t,” Leon admitted.  “I’ve barely even heard of ‘Forest Watchers’ before…”

Elise added, “And I’ve only heard the barest minimum; they’re an incredibly mysterious people, especially when they’re from the opposite side of the plane from where we’re from…”

“That makes sense,” Anastasios replied.  “They mostly stick to their lands, only leaving on rare occasions.  But even though the Sunlit Empire and the Sentinels, among several other small states, lie between us and them, we still have more contact with the Forest Watchers than we do with the Northwestern Kingdoms.  Do you know why that is, Leon Raime?”

Leon briefly wondered just why Anastasios was asking him so many questions like this, and it certainly did nothing to help him relax.  It was both incredibly suspicious, like the Lord Protector was trying to get him to say something incriminating, and rather patronizing, like the Lord Protector was taking some kind of pleasure in lecturing Leon about the wider world.

“Not a clue,” Leon tersely answered.

“It’s quite simple, really: they help us to watch out for the Sky Devils that live in their little Hell far to the southeast, across the Argonaut Sea.  Argos is where we enter the Argonaut Sea, but the Strait of Keraunos on the north side of the Sky Devil’s Hell is on the south side of the territory of the Forest Watchers, with only the mountains we call The Shield separating them from the Sky Devils.  Their cooperation ensures that we can keep the Sky Devils confined to their box.”  Anastasios paused for a moment, then leaned in a little bit to emphasize his seriousness.  “If those Sky Devils ever got loose, then Aeterna as we know it would change forever, and not for the better.”

A smile slowly spread across Leon’s face as a possibility occurred to him.  ‘Does he know my connection to the Thunderbird Clan?  Is that why he’s being so… friendly to me?  Why he’s trying so hard to recruit me?’

Out loud, though, Leon said in an even tone, “I think I’ve heard about these ‘Sky Devils’ before, but the few myths of yours that I’ve heard them in seem rather… overblown, to me.  I can’t imagine that they’d be as bad as you claim…”

Anastasios chuckled rather condescendingly.  “If only that were true…” he murmured.  “Hell, it might’ve even been true at one point, but we’ve been fighting for too long, we have too much bad blood between us.  It’s just better for everyone if those creatures stay on their side of the Argonaut Sea.  If they ever managed to cross to the mainland, the streets would run red with the blood of innocents.”

“Mm,” Leon hummed noncommittally.  “I’ll have to take your word for it.”

As the Forest Watchers continued to converse with the Emperor, Leon, Elise, and Anastasios fell into a long silence that only ended once several servants arrived in the ballroom and began setting up a makeshift arena.  It wasn’t anything particularly special, but they roped off a circular area, and laid down about a dozen light spells across the rope.  Then, they set up several huge chairs facing the roped off area.  The largest and most elaborately decorated one the Emperor immediately took, with the leader of the Forest Watchers taking the one to his left.  Anastasios gave his apologies to Leon and Elise for leaving, and then went to take the seat on Emperor Adam’s right.  That left only two more seats open, one of which was immediately given to Princess Cristina.  She was hardly the most powerful mage present, but she was still Royalty.

The final chair, to the Anastasios’ right, was offered to Emilie, but she refused.  Leon’s heart sank when he saw Anastasios’ gaze drift in his direction, and he closed his eyes and braced for what seemed to be coming.

“Leon Raime, why don’t you come and sit with me, then?” Anastasios called out, drawing the gaze of every person in the room over to Leon.

Such a blatant invitation couldn’t be refused by him quite yet—a fact that was emphasized when Leon glanced at Emilie, who nodded to show that she wasn’t upset at his departure—so Leon gave Elise a quick kiss on the cheek, and she released his arm so that he could go and join the Lord Protector.

From there, the fifth-tier Forest Watcher entered the ring, removing his shirt as he did to reveal flowing silver vine-like markings that covered his torso that looked like they were actual silver infused into his wine-colored skin.  He donned no armor, and brought from his soul realm a handle of a sword, sans blade, that seemed to radiate light magic.

Leon’s eyes widened, recognizing this weapon as something much like the bladeless swords that the angels had used back at the Serpentine Isles.  His suffering mood immediately plummeted further, and his grip on the armrests of his seat almost broke them clean off the chair.  Fortunately, the weapon in the Forest Watcher’s hand didn’t seem nearly as potent as the angelic weapons that Leon had seen so far, but the reminder of that time was hardly appreciated.

A fifth-tier warrior that Leon presumed was loyal to the Ilian Empire then entered the ring, also taking off his shirt and leaving him just as unprotected as the Watcher, though making much less of an impression given his rather standard, if impressive, physique.

“Very well!” Emperor Adam called out.  “Let’s begin our friendly competition!”

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