Kapitel 20: Leon meets Devon (2)
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Leon jumped off the roof without even a slight hint of imbalance and the Chameleon Cloak fluttered as he landed. Devon saw this and readied himself for a hairy fight but Leon was already ahead of him. He saw a loaded crossbow reinforced with [Wind Reinforcement] as it was aimed at the Knights standing outside the dark alley.
"You will be slower than a crossbow bolt no matter how fast you attack." Leon spoke.
"Yeah?" Devon didn't feel well about the challenge.
"You were also slower than me last time we raced."
The cloak's hood was covering most of Leon's features but he soon raised his head for a faint gleam of moonlight to shine on his face.
"Lord Leon!"
"Not a step closer."
And the two men finally met face to face. Devon was composed at the start but he slowly started to become nervous. He wasn't dumb enough to intimidate Leon at the moment and cause their contact to break after 10 days of a long search.
"I didn't think that throwing a few flyers around the inns would draw you out, Your Highness." Devon spoke.
"Highness my ass!" Leon replied, "Remove your helmet."
Devon wasn't shocked by the uncivilized behavior of a young lord since most of them young lords were rotten bastards but Leon was a special case… a debt that has been paid with a bitter payment. For the sake of approaching Leon, Devon took off his helm.
He seemed young, younger than what Leon expected. Short brown hair, a bit stylish and neat despite the helmet. Devon's face wasn't bad at all, he was handsome but to Leon, he was a bit familiar.
"The Warning Knight?"
"The who?
"Hehe!"
The difference between the animation and the reality was to be noted but the similarities were striking. From the Game, there was this character who would always pop-up in any warning message if the Prince trespassed somewhere or did some wild actions. This handsome knight was always there to bust his ass and moreover, there was a chunk of the fanbase that wanted this knight to be available in the store as a companion or a player skin. Leon couldn't help but laugh at the coincidence in front of him but he went straight to the serious subject.
"It seems that your Prince is desperate to find me." Leon spoke.
"Lord Leon, the Prince has nothing to do with this search. We are the Knights of Duke Godfrey." Devon said.
"And?" Leon asked.
"Duke Godfrey…" Devon was baffled as Leon didn't seem to be recognizing the name.
"I don't know who your Lord is!" Leon said straight away.
"But…"
Devon was trying to approach Leon through the name Godfrey which Leon should know well but he wasn't in any way responsive to it. This, in a matter of fact, was disturbingly an annoying development.
Devon thought as he tried to take a closer look at Leon.
"Don't tempt me to shoot." Leon said.
"I apologize." Devon gazed away but he then looked at the crossbow in Leon's hand and then to Leon, "As far as I am aware, Lord Leon isn't capable of using Magic… or as strong as you are."
"Yes. Because I am not him." Leon replied indifferently.
"But you are the one I chased that night, I am sure of it. There is no denying the fact that you were seen clearly when you escaped. Dean Dark, Lena Hart, and those who could recognize Leon Dark were all after you." Devon spoke.
"Are you trying to irritate me or are you going to answer my question?" Leon changed his tone.
Devon felt the seriousness in Leon's voice. This person in front of him is fundamentally different from Leon Dark that he used to know, this one is a killer and someone who is very cornered at the moment because of their search. If he is not the real Leon, he would be afraid because he is a killer and looks like someone with a target on his back. Also, this Leon was able to identify him which should be impossible for an outsider unless they are sort of deep spy or something. This didn't feel right at all.
" … I am just trying to figure out who I am talking to and what kind of situation they are in?" Devon spoke.
"Great." Leon replied, "Let me answer that for you. I am not a missing person and I don't want to be found. The situation I am in is none of your business but since you keep making it that way, I am starting to get annoyed."
"Then come with me and prove it!" Devon said, "Prove that you are not Leon Dark."
The look on Leon's face changed.
"Are you taking me for some sort of fucking half-wit?" Leon asked.
"No!" Devon raised his hands, "Lord Leon can't use magic but you can. This is enough proof."
"I am not interested in proving any shit to anyone." Leon kept his standing clear.
"Then what do you want? Why are we having this meeting?" Devon asked.
"I want this search to stop. If you don't call it off, I will start by killing all those you send after me, your little juniors over there, the guards, the brats from the academy…"
"This would be a terrible move." Devon said.
"Oh! Enlighten me why."
"When Archduchess Eleanor sent me on the search…" Devon said but Leon cut him.
"Duchess Eleanor? The Headmistress?"
"Yes, the Archduchess wants…"
"So you were sent by the shitface Prince after all." Leon aimed his crossbow at Devon this time.
"No!" Devon denied it immediately.
"The Headmistress is the Prince's Aunt. She let her motherfucker of a nephew turn the academy into his brothel. Why should I give two fucks about what this woman wants now?" Leon walked towards Devon holding him at a very close range.
"How…"
On the other hand, Devon was baffled and out of answers.
How could Leon say this about his supposedly Mother-in-Law?
But on another note, he may have been confused by the Dark family with whom he lived for six years. They may have caused him to hate those people who were trying to get in contact with him for six years but…
It doesn't look good.
The Crown Prince has ruined that chance by going around the Academy and raising all sorts of mayhem especially with Leon involved. The Archduchess wasn't even able to stop him because of the interference of the Crowns Faction. Leon may have had the illusion that he no longer has any allies.
"None of this makes any sense." Devon admitted that he was utterly lacking all information, "We came to look for you without knowing anything about you."
"Come again?" Leon was taken aback by Devon's monologue and kept a safe distance.
"Lady Alice said she would try to come and communicate with you if…"
"Just… stop." Leon was completely fed up with this nonsense, "I don't know any of the people you're talking about! I don't care about them! Leave! Me! Be!"
It was at this moment when Devon understood.
"Right!" He swallowed his saliva and nodded, "I as well agree that we should stop the search."
"… Meaning?" Leon wasn't completely trusting at this point.
"I will send my knights back and make them remove all the drawings we distributed and apologize that we were looking for the wrong person… is that good for you?" Devon said.
"No!" Leon didn't seem satisfied, "I want your knights to look apologetic for the good people of this district they looked down on. I kill people for lesser offenses."
"I understand."
"And make them say that they were looking for a missing person, not a fugitive."
"Loud and clear." Devon said.
"Then this concludes our meeting." Leon said, "Now let's get down to business."
Devon seemed to understand as he nodded casually but then he furrowed his brows and looked at Leon.
"Business?"
"Hand over your purse." Leon said
"Wait… what?"
The situation turned very bizarre at one instant.
"Your purse… your money… the coins!" Leon said.
"Wha… you need any money?"
"Oh dear!" Leon looked with disappointment at the Knight, "You walk into an alley, at night, with a weapon pointed at your face?"
"…"
"Welcome to the Northern District, Sir Knight! You are being mugged!"
***
"…" Eleanor looked at Devon, silent and calm.
"Your Highness, he…"
"And you did what he asked?" She cut his words.
"Yes, I… I gave him my purse."
"I was speaking about stopping the search." Eleanor said.
"Oh!" Devon felt a little bit emotionally damaged and nodded, "It is the best course of action."
"Why is that?"
"Your Highness… I believe that Leon can't remember anything." He said.
Eleanor massaged her temples with her two hands and looked at him.
"Just because he doesn't feel like his usual self or claimed that he doesn't know who we are?" She asked.
"Yes… but I have a feeling…"
"A feeling?" Eleanor widened her expressions with surprise and nodded, "Alright, tell us how you feel?"
"He can use Magic, he is not remembering who we are. It all points out that he is a different person altogether but he knows the situation he is in. He thinks that the Crown Prince is out to get him. He is also violent and ready to kill at any given moment."
"Meaning?"
"I am not an expert but people who go through harsh experiences such as wars or accidents develop their psyches in ways that make them survive. He has been through something that we are oblivious to and we can't understand. Many factors are at play here; the time he spent with the Dark family here in Karanberg, the fact that he was harshly mistreated by most of his peers, and that poison we found in his vomit… that poison had a very powerful impact I think."
Devon was thinking so fast and trying to prove a point.
"I know it doesn't look normal but hear me out at this point, Your Highness." Devon thought, "He is the son of Lord William Dark and Lady Annabelle Dark, two of the Kingdom's most exceptional talents. He was born with a unique status which rendered him as a disabled but what if that he is no longer that way."
"Alright, stop there." Eleanor raised a hand, "A Status is determined since birth. It depends on the parents and bloodline but mostly on luck and it is part of the Soul. The Soul itself. Only Soul Magic can impact something like the Proficiency and barely by a small margin for a limited amount of time. A psyche can't impact the soul."
"Then why is he still alive?" Devon asked, "After the poison, I mean. He couldn't have known that he drank the poison that day and there is no evidence that he took an antidote."
Eleanor was dismissive at the start but all these questions were logical. So far, the only one who interacted with Leon was Knight Devon on two different occasions and each one ended with Leon doing something completely absurd. Devon is trustworthy despite his young age and has a lot of experience on the battlefield and in the shadows. If he judged Leon to be a loose cannon, then there is something he must have sensed even instinctually.
"There is only one person I can turn to in these times and she is currently here in the capital." Eleanor said, "The thing is… I don't want those people to notice her or else they will start snooping around. She is the only one who can determine the truth about him."
"But your Highness, can you get out of the Academy with Miss Alice being watched around by those hyenas?" Devon asked.
"Alice can handle the situation but we will get her out of the Academy at the right moment." Eleanor held a document in front of her and tossed it over to Devon, "What do you think?"
Devon looked at it, widened his eyes, and nodded.
"I can get that arranged." He said.
"Good. On the pretext of handling this affair, go to the Mercenary Hall and pay a visit to Vadim." Eleanor said.
"Vadim… Like the Vadim? Master Vadim?"
"Yes, that pervert." She nodded, "Tell him I will drop by. I will also use this outing as a pretext to take Alice away and be able to move freely and find out where Leon is."
"I will put all my effort into it." Devon saluted and was about to turn but hesitated, "Eeeh!"
"What?"
"I… don't have any money on me at the moment."
"…"
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