章 22: The Duel's Result
"A draw!"
Reina shouted it again for emphasis. But even then, her voice almost echoed it was so silent.
Marco and Leo had nothing else to do but get up. When he did, Marco looked around in bewilderment. He saw Reina, who wore an odd mix of criticism and surprise on her face, and the crowd, who wore nothing but blank looks on theirs.
He absentmindedly picked up his saber and buckler. Nearby, he could see Leo's sword, the Light Blade. It was the heirloom of the great Baldew family, with its golden hilt and jewel-encrusted blade as dazzling as the light magic it could produce. Now, however, patches of dirt stained some of the jewels.
Leo quickly scooped up the sword and turned away from Marco, as if to hide it from his view as he wiped it clean.
The whole time the men gathered and tended to their weapons, the crowd just watched.
It was Leo who ended the tense quiet.
"Princess Reina." He strode over to her intently. "What was the purpose of this fight?"
"Were you not the one who challenged Marco?" she asked with perfectly practiced innocence. Or at least Marco could tell it was.
"I did so on your behalf. You told me he was manipulating you."
"Do you doubt my claim, Sir Leo?"
His eyes darted away before he responded. "I would never question a princess of my kingdom. I just...merely noticed that you seemed invested in Marco's performance. And I wonder why you would assist him by giving him a specially-made weapon? Why do you not simply have him arrested?"
"As a Hero yourself, you should know that Marco holds higher rank than any soldier in the entire kingdom. As long as he holds that Hero Seal, the only person that can take action against him…"
"Is another Hero!"
She nodded.
Leo turned away from her to face Marco, who was still standing in the middle of the training field. "Then it falls to me to bring him to justice."
"Can you?"
He turned back to respond, only to find the princess holding out a handkerchief. He took it, puzzled. Then she tapped her nose. Realizing what she meant, he hastily wiped the blood from his nose
"Hey! Hey! Make way!"
A section of the crowd was forced out of their stupor when a small young woman with curly brown hair shoved past them. When some of them didn't part quickly enough, she summoned a chilly wind to push them out of her way.
"What's all this? I heard Leo was sparring, but you people don't need to make such a scene of it! Who could even give Leo a challenge anyway?"
Soon she was making her way onto the training field. As Marco was standing all by himself, he immediately attracted her attention.
"You! What's going on? Where is Leo?"
Her blue robes were still flowing with the force of the wind she produced. Marco felt a chill. Not just because of her breeze, but because he recognized her.
"Nissa?"
This made her pause and look him up and down. "Do I know you?"
"Nissa!" Leo called out as he jogged over to them.
"There you are! We have a quest. I–What happened to you!?" Nissa actually did a double take when she noticed that Leo was wiping blood off of himself. Then she turned to Marco. "Did you do this? Who are you?"
"It's me, Marco."
She took in the name, then her eyes narrowed. She then gave Leo a quick glance, to which he nodded. "Marco…"
She gazed at Marco intently.
"I don't who that is."
Marco's jaw quite literally dropped. "Marco Flores. From the Dyon Academy. We sat next to each other for potions lessons!"
Nissa's looked up as though thinking before shrugging dismissively. "I have no memory of that. It doesn't matter. Did you hurt Leo?"
"Nissa," Leo said heavily. "You said we have a quest?"
"Yes! The prince wants to see us right now. But what about this–"
"Our prince comes first. I'll explain him later."
Nissa's eyes darted rapidly between Marco and Leo, but she ultimately turned away. "Alright."
Leo followed her back towards the part she made in the crowd. Marco watched them leave, still stunned that Nissa didn't even remember him.
Then, just when he reached the edge of the makeshift battlefield and was about to go through the crowd, Leo turned and bellowed loudly enough for all to hear.
"Heroes of Irelios! As fellows in justice I must ask something of you! Watch this man, Marco Flores. Should you ever witness him committing any acts of deceit or abuse, take him down immediately. I promise that my Patron, First Prince Benjamin, will handsomely reward any Hero who brings a traitor in to answer for his crimes."
After that, he turned and made his exit.
But Marco didn't watch him leave. Instead, he became acutely aware of the myriad of Heroes surrounding him. All of them imbued with the same Everlasting Flame abilities as him, and all of them beginning to look at him quite hungrily.
He couldn't help but grip the hilt of his sword. The more intelligent part of him asked what exactly he planned to do with it, but there was no good answer to that question.
Fortunately, Reina stepped onto the field.
"Well, Marco, I think you made quite a showing, fighting Leo Baldew to a draw. Won't you escort your Patron back to the castle now?"
She offered him her arm and he gladly took it. "Of course, milady."
Many pairs of eyes watched them leave. Marco had a feeling that they would be watching him a lot in the future.
****
Once they were back in the palace, Reina instructed Terri to go on ahead to Marco's room and put away all his new things. Then she bid Marco follow her to the apothecary for a healing potion.
As they climbed stairs and went through all sorts of twisting hallways, she asked him to explain everything he felt during the fight with Leo. So he told her how his anger over the abuses of power and elitism he experienced from the nobility gave him strength. And how Leo's dedication to serving the kingdom gave him similar, if not greater strength. Of course, he also went into detail about the perfectly clear memory he had of a sword-fighting manual he read years ago.
"It was like my mind became masterfully strategic but only in that moment. Or more like, I had a flash of perfect memory? Or both, I guess."
"How odd…"
For some reason, she had a very far off look in her eyes.
"Uh...Reina?"
"Yes?"
"I thought you'd be more interested in this, considering you asked."
She shook her head. "This is not what I had planned."
"Can you tell me what your plan is now?"
"That man, Silas, who performed the ceremony to make you a Hero. He gave me a scroll detailing what I am to expect as a Patron. It described the effects of the Everlasting Flame. As you have already discovered, it responds to a person's sense of justice. If you truly believe you are doing the right thing, it will lend you strength untold. But nowhere did it mention this...perfect memory."
"You knew all of this?" he threw his hands up. "Then why did you make me fight Leo like that?"
"I needed to know what exactly your notion of justice is. You told me before how slighted you felt by Sir Leo and the other Heroes of Monument Tower. I thought that seeing him again would dredge up some of those old feelings. When he challenged you, that was all the better. I could see in person what effect the flame had on you. But I never imagined it would lead to this."
"Oh, you mean Leo putting a price on my head?"
"How unfortunate," she said with a sigh. "This will make our investigation into my brother more difficult."
He stopped. "That's what you care about? What about the fact that every Hero in the kingdom will be after me?"
Waving her hand dismissively, she said, "You've been an outcast for years, I think you can handle it."
"Hey!"
His shout was enough to make Reina realize he had stopped walking. She turned to face him.
"If I get thrown in the dungeon you won't get any more Shaping Potion!"
She crossed her arms and pursed her lips. "You won't get arrested, Marco. You heard Leo's words yourself: the other Heroes can only capture you if they catch you in the act of doing something illegal. So just don't blackmail any more princesses and you'll be fine."
Without waiting for him, she continued down the hallway they had stopped in. He had no choice but to follow.
"Is this investigation into your brother really the only thing you care about?"
"It is of the utmost priority," she replied.
"What role am I supposed to play in that?"
"You're my enforcer, naturally. If my investigation does reveal that Bartholomew is actually a traitor, he won't submit himself quietly. He will employ mercenaries, try to have me killed, even force his Heroes to defend him. With you at my command, he'll think twice about starting a fight. If one good thing came out of your duel with Leo, it's that every Hero now knows you are a force to be reckoned with."
"Reina!" She kept walking, so he ran in front and blocked her way. "I thought that I'd be saving people. Slaying monsters, finding lost children. But you have me fighting other Heroes and getting mixed up in your family drama. I'm a Hero, not your private soldier."
"Actually, you are exactly that. Did you forget the part where I'm your Patron? Now move, before I make you."
Marco braced himself, calling his beliefs to mind. Reina was making it easy to think about his desire for justice. The fire in his chest flickered to life. He felt a very slight heat, not at the same level as he did against Leo but enough to stand his ground if Reina came at him.
Instead of moving, however, she simply smirked and said "Yield."
In response, Marco's knees buckled. He didn't want them to, but without his permission his body bent down and knelt in front of Reina!
"There were some things in that scroll I neglected to mention. For instance, a Patron has the ability to command their Hero to take a knee. It's meant as a way to curb Heroes should they have rebellious thoughts that threaten to become rebellious actions. Remember Marco, you vowed to serve me the night you became a Hero."
He put every ounce of energy he had into his legs but they wouldn't budge. All he could do was grit his teeth and bow his head.
"Good." Reina moved around him and down the hall. "Now let's get you patched up and in fighting shape. I may have need of you very soon."
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