Leon quickly opened his room door, only to find the same servant who had guided him earlier standing there once again, inviting him to dinner.
"Well, I am indeed hungry," Leon whispered to himself. "Let's see what the food of the nobles in this world looks like."
With that said, Leon followed the servant down the corridor and descended the stairs. They arrived at a breathtakingly beautiful hall, in the center of which sat an elegant table with a few people gathered around it.
Among the seated guests, Helmud waved his hand to catch Leon's attention and called out loudly, "Leon, come closer! The food here is absolutely delicious. Look, they've cooked this mutton to absolute perfection!"
Leon's mouth watered for a moment as his stomach let out strange growls—a clear message from his body urging him to eat. Without a moment's hesitation, Leon answered his stomach's call. He hurried over to Helmud, taking the seat next to him without so much as a glance at the other guests, and began devouring the food with unprecedented voracity.
A closer look at the table revealed several other figures besides Helmud and Leon. Among them was Christine, the Commander of the City Knights and Albert's assistant. Alicia, the daughter of the City Lord Albert, sat near her father's assistant. There was another individual who also appeared important but was a stranger, marking his first appearance. Next to him sat a woman dressed in attire that, at first glance, was undeniably lavish and exorbitantly expensive.
The atmosphere was already somewhat tense, but it grew noticeably heavier with Leon's arrival. Everyone at the table could feel it—except, of course, for Leon, who was likely just ignoring the tension entirely, preferring to focus all his attention on the food in front of him.
At this point, the others could no longer tolerate Leon's obliviousness. He appeared ridiculous to some and outright repulsive to others. Hoping to prevent the situation from escalating, Helmud tried giving Leon subtle signals to mind his table manners and stop acting like a peasant. However, Leon paid absolutely no heed to him.
Suddenly, a pair of strong hands slammed onto the table with enough force to rattle all the plates. The owner of those hands didn't stop there; she shouted loudly, "Hey, you! Why are you acting so indifferently? And what exactly did you do to earn special treatment over the rest of the recruits?"
The girl spoke with a highly emotional tone, as if she were merely lashing out to vent her own frustrations. This underlying sentiment was not lost on Leon. He swallowed the food in his mouth before speaking up: "You are Albert's daughter, aren't you? How are his wounds?"
The girl's sharp expression softened slightly before she replied, "My father is in a coma, and we don't even know if he will ever wake up. Yet here you are, enjoying a meal in his own home as if nothing has happened."
Leon let out a sigh before responding. "So, what more do you want me to do? You served delicious food, and I, in turn, enjoyed it. My mission was to bring your father back home alive, and I did exactly that. If it weren't for me, he would have perished long ago. I was also tasked with crushing the Golem army heading your way, which I fully intend to do. So, little girl, why don't you just sit down and enjoy your food?"
Leon's words were incredibly provocative to Alicia. Clearly displeased, she shot back, "You are so arrogant! You don't even comprehend what a thousand ancient Golems means, so how can you speak so casually?"
As Leon listened to her reprimand, he continued eating with his eyes closed, savoring the sheer deliciousness of the meal. But the moment Alicia finished speaking, he opened his eyes, glanced up at her slightly, and said, "Hmm. All I know is that I know a lot more about those Golems than you do, anyway."
Alicia gritted her teeth hard, preparing to retort, but Christine interrupted her. "Alright, that is enough. It is clear you two don't get along, and I am not asking you to. However, I am certain that you need each other right now."
Alicia was not pleased by his words at all. Acting with the arrogance of a main protagonist, she coldly replied to Christine, "Hmph, I don't think so. Once the reinforcements arrive from the Royal Capital, there will be no need for the likes of him."
At first glance, Alicia's remark might have seemed like a passing comment, but it struck a nerve with someone present. His mood instantly soured, viewing her words as a blatant violation of the agreement between Albert and Leon.
"Hey, you. What does this child mean when she says you won't need someone like me once the reinforcements arrive?"
Leon's tone was incredibly dark, revealing his deep displeasure with Alicia's latest declaration.
Hearing this, Christine immediately tried to salvage the situation and correct Alicia's blunder. "Please, do not take it to heart. Your agreement with Lord Albert still stands, and no one has the authority to terminate it except you or Lord Albert himself. We are in desperate need of your services, so please do not let the words of a young girl tarnish our good relationship."
With Christine reaffirming his intention not to abandon Leon's services, Leon returned to his usual demeanor and happily resumed his meal.
However, across from him, Alicia was entirely dissatisfied with Christine's words. She stood up from her seat once more, but this time, it wasn't to argue or complain. She had an entirely different motive.
The sharp sound of a sword being drawn from its scabbard rang in Leon's ears. Tilting his head up slightly, he saw the blade pointed directly at him. The sword was overflowing with a dangerous, magical aura—a static yet pulsating energy that enveloped the blade like a second sheath.
It was a clear and explicit challenge from Alicia. "Get up," she declared. "We are going to fight, and I will prove to you that we do not need you."
Christine attempted to intervene. "Alicia, cease this foolishness! Sir Leon is your father's honored guest. I will not tolerate such a breach of conduct, even from his own daughter. Do you hear me?"
Ironically, both parties—Alicia and Leon—completely ignored Christine's warning. One possessed eyes brimming with a burning, unquenchable resolve, while the other's gaze was defined by absolute stillness and icy indifference.
"I accept. But I need to set a few conditions first." Alicia was taken aback. She hadn't actually expected Leon to accept the challenge, but his insistence on setting conditions made the situation even stranger. Recovering, she asked, "Alright then, what is your condition?"
Leon raised his clenched right hand, slowly uncurling his fingers one by one. For every condition he laid out, a finger went up. "Well, the first condition is that my reward gets doubled."
"Double the reward?" Alicia had no idea what price her father had originally agreed to pay to recruit Leon. Not taking the demand too seriously, she assumed her father had only promised a few dozen or perhaps a hundred gold coins at most. Therefore, she readily agreed to his first term. "Agreed. I accept doubling your pay."
Christine's jaw dropped. He quickly tried to step in to explain the reality of the situation to Alicia, but she cut him off before he could even begin. "And what is your second condition?" she demanded.
Leon replied, "I want another serving of this soup and some extra meat." In that moment, Alicia's eyes nearly bugged out of her head as she replied with rough, arrogant exasperation, "Do you even consider that a condition?"
"I certainly do. If you don't like it, you can back out right now." Alicia fumed, utterly convinced that Leon was making a mockery of her, which only soured her mood further.
Once the duo settled the terms, they left the guest hall and headed outside, followed closely by everyone else who had been in the room.
Alicia led Leon to a beautiful, grassy clearing within the palace courtyard. The radiant light of the full moon bathed the area, its brilliant reflection shimmering on the surface of a nearby pond just steps away from where Leon now stood.
"Oh, the moon is full tonight. It reminds me of the first time I fought the Night Wolf in the past." While Leon was lost in his nostalgic reverie, Alicia had already raised her drawn sword, pointing it dead at him before saying: "Come on, draw your weapon! We are in the middle of a battle!"
Leon calmly replied, "I don't need a weapon to discipline children who haven't been properly raised by their parents."