บท 320: W
C420 - Reason
After Leonel was settled in, he became shocked by this sudden change. The Empire was attacking Camelot?
No, maybe he wasn't so surprised about this much. This was the way of The Empire, ever since they had taken power, they had never allowed any true threats to their sovereignty to survive. Maybe only the Slayer Legion could accomplish such a feat, but even then, they had only been able to do so by hiding away and tucking their tails for decades on end.
However, compared to the Slayer Legion, Camelot's location was laid bare for all to see. There was no chance to hide or be covert, and maybe even they weren't aware of why they had to do so either.
As far as citizens of Camelot were concerned, they were in the same location as they'd always been. As for their rulers, many of them might have an inkling, but only Mordred knew exactly what was happening thanks to the trial grounds she shared with Leonel.
So, what Leonel was maybe truly surprised about was the fact Mordred had reached out to him at all. Though it couldn't be said that they were enemies, a few months ago all of Leonel's thoughts were filled with how to kill this woman. It was only after seeing her backstory and sympathizing with her that he couldn't bear to do so any longer.
Leonel couldn't help but hesitate.
The Empire was attacking Camelot… was this really something he should be interfering in? What could he even do?
He felt that Mordred overestimated him due to his talent. Let alone the fact that Leonel had yet to meet the other talents of Earth and wasn't exactly certain how he stacked up to them, even if he was far beyond what they could match it simply wouldn't matter.
None of them even knew his name. And, by the time he proved he had strength and should be listened to, he'd likely be an enemy of them all. This was The Empire they were talking about, they weren't exactly great listeners.
On top of that, Leonel didn't owe Camelot anything. If anything, he had saved them. What reason did he have to protect them?
If Leonel placed his bias against The Empire aside and looked at the bigger picture, if the people of Camelot were under the rulership of the Ascension Empire, they'd be much safer…
'Ha, did I really just think that? How safe were the people of the Fort when the nobles decided to abandon them…?'
Leonel sighed and shook his head. 'Whatever, it doesn't matter. It wasn't Camelot that asked me for help but the Demon Empire…'
That was right, most of the reasons Camelot was such a bad place to live in, in the first place was because of the existence of the Demon Empire. It would be quite ridiculous if he went to save the demons that made their lives a living hell to begin with.
Aina watched from the side, her expression far less playful now. She could almost see the struggle on Leonel's face as he wrestled with whether to do something rational or foolish.
"… How do you feel about The Empire?" Aina suddenly said.
"I don't like it." Leonel replied absentmindedly.
"And why is that?"
"They don't value lives. They treat their citizens like they can be plugged into risk assessment equations and deleted whenever they've overstayed their welcome. They don't keep tabs on the corruption of their nobles, letting them do as they please. They monitor the every movement of their people as though they were cattle rather than human beings --."
Leonel rattled off his thoughts almost like a machine.
Compared to people who didn't normally understand what they were feeling and why, Leonel's ability practically didn't allow him to do this. His every thought had a very logical reason behind it, at least logical to himself.
This was why his feelings for Aina were so incomprehensible. They were the one thing about himself that he truly couldn't explain. And, it was ironically the one thing that he didn't try too hard to explain either.
"Isn't the answer simple, then?" Aina said with a smile. "Who cares about anything else as long as you're standing in their way?"
Leonel snapped out of his rant, his eyes brightening as he shot a glance toward Aina.
"You're right." Leonel grinned.
The bird in Leonel's palm had an amulet around its neck. Leonel didn't need to think much about it to understand what it was.
On the amulet, there was a key of some sort. Of course, this key wasn't physical but was rather drawn as an Art. This key represented the location coordinates of a teleportation reception pad.
If Leonel used this key as the core of a large scale teleportation array, he would be able to go directly toward where Mordred was.
'It will take me quite a few hours to finish drawing this array, let's find a secluded place.'
Aina followed after Leonel quietly.
Though Leonel's reasons for doing this were quite simple and pure, Aina's couldn't be categorized as such. In her mind, the more chaos her world was in, the more battles she would be able to participate in and the faster she would be able to strengthen herself. This was what she cared about the very most.
Plus… she was absolutely certain that if The Empire was making such big moves, it was impossible for the hidden families to not be involved.
**
Earth's second moon, dubbed Camelot, was still the very same mess of torrential rain it had been when Leonel left it. However, this time, it had been splintered in a large scale war the likes of which it had not seen in a very long time.
After scouting out the moon, The Empire concluded that the best target would be the Demon Empire. From their understanding, Camelot's Kingdom had greatly weakened after losing six Knights of the Round Table and two Three Star Magi.
In such a vulnerable position, if The Empire swooped in and eliminated the threat that had been plaguing them for centuries… how many would willingly choose to leave the rulership of King Arthur?
Gazing toward the no-man's land of Camelot, a familiar young man with white-gold hair and shimmering emerald eyes stood amidst the heavy rain. However, every drop that approached him rebounded off of a golden barrier, becoming sparkling motes of light as they scattered.
Compared to when he was in the presence of his grandfather, Noah's demeanor was far more level headed and peaceful. Though he lacked the arrogance one would expect from a prince between his brow, he had a natural air of superiority about him, one ingrained down to his very bones.
"The meeting is beginning, Your Highness."
Noah nodded and made his way to an elaborate tent covered in soft, black bear fur.. It too seemed unblemished by the rain.
To be continued
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