When morning rolled around, Leon was already awake. As an Undead, he did not truly need sleep in the first place, but his habits as a human was what made him keep at it. He sat up in bed and looked out of the open window where Nedra was seated. She too, did not need sleep, so she had kept watch overnight.
“How was your night?” Nedra asked from her perch on the window sill.
“It went well, how was yours?” Leon asked, cracking his neck. He had not dreamt of anything in his sleep. He had not been able to dream ever since he became an undead.
“Mm, eventful enough.” She shrugged in reply. “A few brutes came by the window, but when they saw me, they ran off.” She hummed and swung her legs happily.
“Robert’s grunts?” Leon asked as he made his way into the bathroom that was part of his accommodation. A few minutes later, he came out, with a small cloud of steam wafting out of the door behind him.
“I think they were here for revenge. A bit dumb if you ask me.” She laughed, continuing from where they had stopped in their discussion.
“True.” Leon concurred.
Knock knock.
As Leon was pulling on his cloak, a firm knock sounded against the door. He quickly straightened up his clothes before walking over to the door and pulling it open. On the other side stood Curtis.
“Oh, Sir- Ahem, Leon. I just came over to ask if you wanted to follow us to the Mercenary Association’s branch here to register as a mercenary.” The blond boy beamed.
“Oh, sure.” Leon’s eyes widened. He had not expected them to come to call him, and so he was prepared to spend the entire day looking for the branch. “Nedra, are you ready?” He turned back to find the white haired girl already looming behind him.
“Hi Curtis.” She smiled and waved at Curtis, causing him to freeze for a moment. Leon could feel the mischief brewing in her through their bond.
“H-hey, Nedra. How was your night?” Curtis returned the formality.
“Oh, it was pretty boring.” Nedra shrugged and slipped by Leon to step out of their room. She made her way down the hallway without waiting for either boy. Leon and Curtis simply shared a look before following after her to where the rest of Curtis’ group was waiting. After they had greeted each other, the group set out under the attentive gazes of the many mercenaries present in Green Gate.
As the carriage rattled as it was being pulled forward by the horses, Leon held the second book in the satchel. This one was all about water magic. Leon had picked it because he figured that since he already had fire magic, it would be pretty nice to have the opposite. There were also journals of earth and wind magic in there, as well as a couple other theory books.
After browsing through the various books, Leon guessed that Michael had chosen these books so that he could use all four basic elements. The reasoning behind that, Leon had no idea.
“What is that you are reading, Leon?” Curtis noticed how concentrated Leon was on the book, and could not help voicing his thoughts.
“Oh, this? It’s just a book on water magic.” Leon replied casually, holding up the book so the others could see the cover.
“Oh- Hold on!” Curtis was just about to dismiss the book when something shocking on the book cover. A very conspicuous signature was signed in the bottom left corner of the cover. He quickly reached over and plucked the book from Leon’s hands, and staring at the signature with a strange look.
“What’s wrong?” Leon was startled and immediately asked.
“This book…” Curtis gulped. “Whose is it? Who did you get this from, Leon?” He demanded.
“I-I got this from some old man I helped some time before I met you. It was his.” Leon quickly spun a tale. He was getting more and more proficient at lying these days. Was he destined to walk the path of a scammer?
“An old man? Are you joking? This priceless possession in the hands of some old man? Come on, man! Don’t lie to us like we are fools!” Damon suddenly burst out. His eyes were wide and red, unable to believe Leon’s story.
“I’m being serious! What is so important about this book, anyway?” Leon folded his arms defensively.
“This book… This book is the only copy of its kind. The original copy that was written by an ancient mage before ascending to Godhood. It is said that reading this book can grant superior understanding of water magic to the reader, but this book was lost hundreds of years ago!” Curtis exclaimed, holding the book up.
Whoosh!
With a small gust of wind, the book was snatched out of his grasp. Nedra held the book in her hands, looking at it with surprise.
“If what you say is true, then I believe Leon should keep it, as it was given to him, not you.” She handed the book back to Leon with a challenging smirk shot at Damon who looked like he was about to lash out.
“Whoa, whoa… Calm down.” Curtis placed a hand on Damon’s shoulder while Corey held back the lean man. The blond boy looked carefully at Leon, Leon’s standing going up more than just a few notches in their hearts. He did not know whether to believe Leon’s story or not, but before that, he needed to make sure no one killed someone else in his carriage.
“Sir Leon, please forgive my friend.” Curtis spoke to Leon in a very respectful tone of voice. His body language was also much stiffer than before. He even suspected Leon of being some high noble of some very powerful nation now that this had happened. After all, who else would be in possession of such a legendary book.