After the lackluster testing of his new lightning weapon, Leon was much more gratified to find that his armor was in far better condition—for the most part, at least.  Nearly all of the enchantments that he’d placed upon the armor that were self-contained functioned exactly as he needed them to, strengthening and quickening him immensely.  The modular gems designed for his gauntlets and his tau pearl were a little iffier, but for the most part, he was well-pleased at their performance during his testing.

The tau pearl was a curious thing, he’d found.  He’d tested its power before, but not with these enchantments, and while he’d noticed how peculiar its power was, it wasn’t until he began putting its functions through their paces that he started to get a good enough idea of it that he could start to put it into words.

The pearl’s power was extremely gentle, something that wasn’t suited for dealing death.  Despite light magic being suited well enough for offensive magics, the tau pearl didn’t seem capable of it; the shield that his armor could project was about the extent of its combat capabilities, while its healing effect was far more profound and powerful than Leon had ever given it credit for.  The tau pearl was a potent defensive item, and as he tested it, Leon found that it seemed to be almost reluctant to give up its power when he called upon his armor’s shield.

He couldn’t help but wonder if the pearl had some kind of will within it, if not outright intelligence.  The shield did come when he called it, but the healing power came much more readily.

He resolved never to try and weaponize the pearl.  That wasn’t something he wanted to poke too hard, for fear that the pearl would simply break or cease supplying him with power.

Most of his other new enchantments worked much better and much more reliably.  His flight belt ensured that he’d be able to fly with great speed even when he called upon his other magic powers, while most of his other modular weapons worked as he’d intended.

The only one that was giving him much trouble was the black opal.  He was able to use it to shroud himself in darkness, rendering him invisible, but the opal continually failed to make his body as intangible as he’d been hoping for.  It might be enough to aid him in travel—especially over rougher terrain—but in combat, the opal’s enchantments wouldn’t be able to help him in avoiding damage.

Once his testing was done, Leon turned his attention back to his Lightning Lance.  To say that he was disappointed in its performance was to greatly understate his feelings, but there wasn’t much he could do about it at the moment—though it was certainly destined for more vigorous evaluations over the next few weeks.  He supposed before any tinkering could be done, he could crank up the power and see how it performed, but he didn’t feel comfortable doing that within Vyrias.  That would have to wait until the hunt began and his retinue could get out into the Scorched Fields where there’d be fewer people around who could potentially be hurt.

For the time being, Leon did some calculations with Nestor, testing the Lance by firing it at its lowest power setting a couple more times, and trying to figure out where its limits lay without really approaching those limits, while also keeping his magic senses trained upon the weapon, doing his best through observation to try and figure out where the enchantments were failing him, or where any inefficiencies lay that might be responsible for its poor performance.  He wasn’t able to find much that he could immediately adjust, unfortunately.

Once all of his testing was completed, Leon put all of it away to spend some time with his family.  Elise and Valeria had stayed with him during the testing process, boosting his ego a bit by fawning over his armor, but neither were in much of a mood to do a lot of complicated math or analyze enchantment schemes, and so had tuned out well before he was finished.

However, once he was finally done, he found that they’d not spent their time idly chatting about nothing in particular; they were both just as electrified as Leon about their bet with Cassandra and Penelope.

The specific words that Elise spoke were, “We can’t lose this competition under any circumstances.”

Valeria agreed, and they had poured over a map of the Scorched Fields, searching for any potential advantage that could be found.

“Find anything useful?” Leon asked once they finished explaining what they’d occupied themselves with.

“Nothing of much promise,” Valeria admitted.  “We’re working with publicly available information, anyway, so it’s not like staring at a map of typical wyvern haunts will do much to help us win.  We’re working with the same information as everyone else…”

“We should definitely head west with all haste,” Elise said.  “I can’t imagine we’re going to stumble upon some great advantage without taking some risks, so we should just head straight for the aeries.  Better to find wyverns by getting closer to their homes, right?”

“Also much more dangerous,” Valeria pointed out.  “Wyverns are tough monsters, a typical team will only bring down one or two during the hunt.”

“A team as well-equipped as ours will bring in four or five,” Elise countered, looking to Leon for some confirmation.

Leon nodded in agreement.  His retinue had brought down four wyverns during the previous hunt, and to his knowledge, that was fairly typical for a team from Heaven’s Eye or one of the Empires.  Wyverns were powerful, but the sheer size of the Scorched Fields were the main reason for such numbers, as even with thousands of wyverns descending from their aeries in the west, they’d be quite spread out after even a single day. 

‘With fewer Imperials participating, though, then there may be less competition…’ Leon mused.

“It won’t be enough for the bet, though,” Leon said aloud as he focused on the map.

“Then we—” Valeria began before Maia’s voice resounded through their minds.

[There’s an easier way to get information…] the river nymph said as she approached, looking like she’d just woken up from a refreshing nap.  She didn’t pull up a chair around their table, instead choosing to collapse right into Leon’s lap, laying her head across his shoulder and draping her long legs over his arm rest.

“What way might that be?” Leon asked as he wrapped his arms around her.

[My people live in this area,] Maia explained.  [Under another Pleione, with other Naiads.  We don’t typically get along or interact all that much, but I’m sure they know quite a bit about the wyverns.  We just need to ask.]

“And they’d just give up that information?” Valeria asked skeptically.

Maia smiled.  [We have some leverage.]  She snuggled a little further into Leon’s embrace as she said this, giving him a glowing look.  Leon could feel a few hotter and more intense emotions coming through their connection simmering just under the surface, and he knew exactly where this conversation was going to end, but it seemed that Maia wasn’t quite ready to head for the bedroom, yet.

“I hope you’re not talking about Leon,” Elise said with a hint of warning in her voice.  “I love you now, but that won’t hold true for any of your people who might want to take Leon away from us.”

“Yeah,” Leon agreed a little distractedly, as Maia’s hands were wandering over his body a bit.  “I’m not all that keen on being just… given to anyone…”

[Then it’s good that’s not what I’m suggesting,] Maia replied as her hands paused on Leon’s chest.  [The cure for Gorgonism.  It should work even without your blood so long as they find a proper catalyst.  We can give the cure to them, and in return ask for any information on wyverns.]

A smile crossed Leon’s face, reflected in the faces of Valeria and Elise across the table.

“Where are your people?” Leon asked.

Maia leaned up a bit, freeing herself from Leon’s embrace as she did, and marked several locations on the map.  [They might be hard to find, but there are a few lakes in the area that we can check, first.  There’s quite an extensive network of underground rivers and tunnels below these fields, and somewhere down there are my people.  They still need humans, so these lakes where all that water comes to the surface will be our best bets for finding them.]

“Then we should visit these lakes,” Elise said with only a hint of reluctance.

[We should,] Maia said.  [But first, I need Leon for a while.]  She stood up, taking Leon’s hand and pulling him to his feet.

Leon knew that this was the result of those emotions that Maia was concealing, so he threw Valeria and Elise an apologetic shrug and let Maia pull him toward the bedroom.

For their part, Valeria just smiled and waved as they left, while Elise looked like she was tempted to join them, but decided to just give them some alone time.  The two ladies turned their attention back to the map, plotting out more concrete details about visiting the lakes that Maia had marked, while Leon focused all of his attention on his river nymph, ensuring that she received all the pleasure she craved, and more.

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Leon and his retinue didn’t wait around once morning came.  He left behind the camp that he’d set up, knowing that there was still enough time for them to come back before the hunt began.  Besides, equipped with various generations of his flight gear, his retinue could travel quite quickly, and the lakes that Maia had pointed out were located relatively nearby—the river nymphs still needed some access to humans for procreation purposes, so they weren’t that deep into the Scorched Fields.

So, when dawn broke, Leon assembled everyone, had them check their flight gear, and took off from his camp’s courtyard, leaving only Talal and Elise behind to keep an eye on things.  The two weren’t particularly skilled in combat, and there were some bureaucratic things with Heaven’s Eye they could help deal with here.

Leon himself wore his armor as he led the way, followed first by Anzu, and then Valeria and Maia, and then the rest of his retinue.  They drew some attention, as anyone might expect taking off so blatantly in such a crowded and busy camp, but with Leon in the lead, no one challenged them.

They made good time, flying above the grassy fields and between the massive native trees.  There were predators and other wildlife in the Scorched Fields, but none of the creatures that were large enough to harm them had the temperament to do so.  There were huge, fat, tusked creatures with mottled gray fire-resistant skin, but despite being large enough to destroy a carriage by themselves, they were skittish by nature and tended to run when confronted by things they didn’t recognize.  These things were the only creatures that Leon considered even remotely a threat, but they couldn’t fly, so his retinue with their flight gear had the run of the Scorched Fields.

They reached the first lake by late morning.  Once they touched down, Leon and the rest set up on the lakefront while Maia dove into the lake and vanished.  She was looking for her people, Leon knew, and as a Naiad herself, there was little for her to fear except from perhaps another Naiad.

He couldn’t help but feel some anxiety seeing her vanish beneath the sea-green waves, but their connection was strong, and he could check up on her whenever he needed some reassurance.  He never needed to, though, and about an hour later, Maia resurfaced with the unfortunate news that she couldn’t find any river nymphs in the lake.

“Are you sure that your people are around here?” Anna had asked as they prepared themselves to take back to the sky.

[Without a doubt,] Maia replied.  [My mother has told me many stories about my cousins to the south.  There are a few other places where my people live, too.  It’s just that I’ve only ever heard stories, so I don’t know their exact locations.]

“That… makes sense,” Anna replied.

There weren’t many other questions from his people, so Leon and his party took off again, and by midafternoon, they’d reached another of Maia’s lakes.

Again, Leon’s party got settled in on the lakefront while Maia dove into the water.

It was a good place to relax, and Leon’s retinue took the opportunity to do so.  Rolling, grassy hills surrounded them, and the gigantic trees added quite a bit of charm and texture to the environment.  Moreover, the sky was clear, the sun was shining, and there was a pleasant breeze in the air.  Leon didn’t blame his retainers for getting comfortable.

It took Maia a little longer to return this time, but when she did, she was smiling.  She hadn’t gotten the information that they wanted, but she had contacted some lesser nymphs.  They weren’t her subordinates, though, so they could only relay her message to their Naiad.  Leon’s group would have to wait for the response.

“Looks like we’ll be spending the night here!” Leon called out to his people.

“Oh no!” Alcander cried out, his voice thick with sarcasm.  “What a terrible turn of events!”  His sarcasm perfectly complimented him as he reclined on the slope of a hill, his hair blowing in the breeze, Marcus, Alix, and Gaius in similar poses nearby.  Leon might’ve taken a bit more umbrage with their incaution, but he knew that now that they were all fifth-tier mages, they could be ready for violence at a moment’s notice.

“Yes!” Marcus agreed.  “How unfortunate we are to have to spend more time in such a place as this!”

Leon laughed, and joined in their banter, willingly playing the villain.  “Stay vigilant!” he called out, the smile on his face showing his lack of seriousness.  “If our enemies successfully creep up on us, then I’ll have all of you scouring this countryside clean by hand!”

“Won’t someone save us from our vicious taskmaster?” Alix called out.  Her head turned slightly toward Anshu, who was standing near the water’s edge.  “How about you, sailor?  Care to help a helpless damsel facing down death at the hands of this vicious wrongdoer?”

Anshu, while not sneering or outright refusing to engage with Alix, simply shook his head, clearly not in the mood to partake in their game.

“Oh well,” Alix sighed.  “How about you two?  There’s a damsel over here in distress!”

Anna and Helen, the targets of her shout, shrugged.

“You’re on your own!” Anna helpfully called out.

“There’re some herbs over here that I need to see to, sorry!” Helen added, the two colorful ladies waving to Alix.

“Damn,” Alix whispered.  “I guess I need to work on my damsel act.”

“I don’t think any acting will be convincing unless you lose some muscle-weight,” Gaius said as he poked Alix in her shoulder, well-toned by daily physical training.

“Oh!” Alix cried out.  “Woe is me!  I have been felled by the worst villain of all!”  She dramatically collapsed back onto the grass, and the group of four continued their banter.

Leon, however, turned back to the lake, and waited with Valeria and Maia for whatever would come next.  Anzu, meanwhile, spent some time frolicking around the lake, scaring off some of the smaller animals that had come to drink.  After about an hour, he returned to the group, his face and claws bloody, with the reason why clutched in his beak: a huge rodent the size of a housecat.

Without much care, Anzu dropped to the grass near Leon and his lovers and began to tear into his kill.  However, he’d only gotten started when Valeria pulled away, looking just a little sickened.

“Come on, Anzu,” she chided the fourteen-year-old griffin.  “You should know better, by now: don’t eat where you’re going to rest!  It makes a mess!”

Anzu, clearly understanding her words, looked sufficiently scolded as he rather sheepishly took his kill several dozen feet away to finish in peace.

“Don’t blame him too much,” Leon said as Valeria returned to his side.  “He’s just excited to get out and hunt for a bit.”

“Don’t spoil him,” Valeria replied.  “You do that too much.  He’s going to develop bad habits.”

Leon just smiled, unable to argue since he knew that he did give far too many allowances when it came to Anzu.

And so, his party settled in around the lake until an hour or two before sunset, when Leon started to feel a welling of power surging up from the lake.  He looked to Maia, who nodded and rose to her feet.  Leon was only a moment behind her, and the rest of his party got themselves ready, too, sensing the same outpouring of magic power.

The water of the lake began to bubble and churn, and Leon couldn’t help but summon his armor and prepare himself for battle.  However, Maia took a few steps forward, and a moment later, heads began to poke out of the water, followed by the familiarly nude bodies of lesser river nymphs.  Unlike most northern nymphs—Maia excluded—that he’d seen, though, Leon noticed that these nymphs were generally much darker skinned.

At the head of their group rose a more powerful nymph, gorgeous and self-assured as she stepped out of the lake and onto the grass, her lack of clothing not all a concern.  She strode toward Maia, the two eighth-tier equivalent beings smiling and not saying a word aloud.

It was a rather surreal meeting, in Leon’s mind.  The two Naiad’s barely even looked away from each other, and Leon kept his party at a reasonable distance, about as far away from Maia as the other Naiad’s nymphs were from her.  Not a single audible word was spoken between the two, but Leon did notice their auras flickering a bit and subtly coiling around each other, acting almost like body language to complement their mental communication.

After about ten minutes, the other nymphs retreated to the water, and Maia turned back toward them, her smile now even bigger.

[I have a lead,] she said.  [If it pans out, then that bet will be won, without a doubt!]

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