2
The sun filtered through the luxurious curtain and into the room, making it dimly lit whilst a lone individual slept on, enjoying the incredible touch of the bed that he laid on. His eyes were yet to open but his mind was starting to wake up, and in its sleepy state it simply acknowledged the incredible comfortable sensation that was the bed he lay upon.
But at the same time, it was all the comfort that it gave him that made him feel uncomfortable at the same time. It was a foreign feeling, something that he wasn't used to. His bed wasn't bad but it also wasn't this good and as enjoyable as it was beginning to throw him off.
Leo's eyes fluttered open as he gradually began to wake up more, taking in his surroundings momentarily becoming puzzled and confused as his whereabouts until his memories all struck him at once.
"Right… I was brought to another world, and that girl gave… did that to me…" he thought out loud, putting a hand to his chest, remembering the sensation that had filled him when it had happened. "And then I walked around a bit and ran into Reinhard… and then there was everything at the loot house…" he finished recapping as he sat upright in his bed before noting the clothing that he was currently wearing, being some bed robes of some kind, something that Reinhard had allowed him to use yesterday…
When Reinhard, who was carrying Felt's unconscious body, and Leo had arrived at the Astrea mansion, Leo was taken in complete surprise for what he was walking into.
"Ok, I know you are a guard and apparently known as some sword saint but, I never expected you to be this rich!" Leo exclaimed as he realised that they very much were heading where he thought they were.
"My wealth isn't as much as you are thinking, my family just happen to be an important part of Lugnica." Reinhard calmly responded.
"You said that about your strength and it turns out that you were beyond being humble…" Leo quipped as they walked through the gates, quickly approaching the main doors of the building. When he had thought about Reinhard's house and occupation as a knight, he had thought that he was likely someone well off, living in some luxury with him being a sword saint for whatever prestigious role that was but this was nothing short of full blow nobility.
"And you're perfectly happy with just housing and training me here?" Leo asked again.
"But of course, my opinion has not changed on that and nor will it. But do you perhaps feel a little overwhelmed?" Reinhard replied, worrying over the apparent reaction of his newly acquired friend.
"Just a tad… but I can adjust," Leo responded, giving some relief to Reinhard as they entered.
The moment they did so they were greeted to the decor that was also most certainly worthy of a noble. Everything was posh and classy, while many things like the walls were nicely lined with golden patterns that began to give the impression of nobility, there were small tables with vases of flowers that helped fill the large space which the first room alone was.
"Welcome back, Sir Reinhard." A servant said as she and another quickly yet politely approached the pair, quick to attend to her returning master before noting the guest that was beside him and the girl that was in his arms.
"Sir, may we ask who these guests are? Shall we prepare rooms for their stay?" the other of the little servants asked.
"This is Leo, a good friend of mine who shall be staying with us. This girl is called Felt, and there is important business surrounding her. Before you go and prepare the rooms, is father still up?" Reinhard spoke while Leo politely remained quiet, allowing the man to speak with his servants but all the while he couldn't help but take note of their appearances.
The pair of them were pretty similar looking, easily twins with the way their facial features and white and pink clothes were nearly the same, alongside their peach coloured hair and soft voices befitting of their likely young age. The only real difference that was immediate to Leo was their fringes, being that one of them had a lateral fringe while the other of the pair had a straight one.
Seeing the cute pair made Leo begin to wonder just what were the kinds of laws that the place currently had. He wasn't brilliant at telling just how old people were at a glance, but they were easily younger than Felt, and she had said she was fifteen…
'Well at the very least, they're a sight for sore eyes. Can't complain if they will be the main servants that I see a lot.' Leo thought to himself
"The lord has recently finished his meal and I believe has returned to his room, but whether he is asleep or not is unknown." The first servants promptly answered in her gentle voice.
"I see, I shall pay him a small visit and hope. But in the meantime, could you please take care of Leo and show him to a room for him to use?"
"Of course, sir." one of the servants said with a small bow before turning to Leo. "Esteemed guest, would you be willing to follow me please?"
"Right," Leo replied before turning to Reinhard, but he was one step ahead.
"I'm sure that you may have some questions but there are some things that I need to see to urgently. Would it be possible for us to talk in the morning? I'll be sure to have a servant come and get you when you wake up and are ready." Reinhard said with a friendly smile while his voice suggested that there was something else serious that he couldn't look away from.
"That's alright then, but about Felt at least?" Leo tried asking until Reinhard shook his head.
"You don't need to worry about her, she will be treated courteously, but I can only hope that she reacts calmly when she wakes…" Reinhard answered before trailing off in worry.
"Perhaps I can check on her in the morning? I think I would gain the best reaction from her considering, well… everything." Leo suggested, making Reinhard think for a few moments before he nodded in agreement.
"That might just be for the best, I hope that you will be able to keep her calm." He replied. "I wish you a pleasant night," he added, marking the end of their talk.
"Night," Leo casually responded before allowing the servant before them to lead him away, making their way through the large corridors of the Astea household, occasionally stopping as some necessity rooms were explained to him before they finally arrived at what would be Leo's room.
"I shall come to get you to bring you to Miss Felt in the morning, goodnight sir." the servant said with a bow before she left, leaving Leo to enter his room and finally rest for the day…
"The servant will be coming soon, I guess. I wonder just how poorly Felt will be taking this? Maybe she'll even try to escape? But she seemed fully aware that there was no getting away from Reinhard…" Leo pondered to himself before he shook off the thoughts as he got out of bed, starting to get changed back into his own clothes yet again, ready for whenever he would be fetched.
"But also, that power that I used yesterday…" he said as the memory came back to him of how he had attacked Elsa, how he touched her and managed to energise himself, and even heal himself while seemingly at the price of Elsa's vitality.
Subaru had mentioned draining away her life for himself, while Emilia mentioned that he was manipulating the od of others. Not that he knew what od was, perhaps it was all just another word for life force?
"Was that the power that the girl was looking forward to? But is that really something that I was desiring?" Leo continued to ponder to himself. 'If I use it by touching people, then how well can I control it? I gotta have some sort of safety lock on it right?' he pondered knowing that it was at the very least something that made him a highly dangerous person to come in contact with, no matter who he was facing otherwise.
'But the only way I would know would be if I tested it… but I can't risk it going wrong on someone…' he continued to think before he went interrupted by the sound of knocking at his door, grabbing his attention.
"Hello?" Leo asked as he quickly opened the door, guessing who was there to see him, his guess being correct the moment he beheld the sight of one of the servants from yesterday.
"Good morning sir, as of yesterday you spoke with Sir Reinhard about meeting with Miss Felt this morning before breakfast. Would it be troublesome to ask you to accompany me now?" The servant replied, her formal speech perfectly befitting her job.
"Ah, yes, please," Leo said, stepping out of his room, closing the door behind him ready to follow after the servant who simply and quietly turned around, beginning to walk further down the corridor heading straight to their destination. "Is Felt already awake then?" Leo asked as they walked along.
"Yes, Miss Felt awoke not too long ago, however she is proving to be a little tricky for us. You mentioned yesterday that you and sir Reinhard expected this and you would calm her down, I am sorry to ask but the staff were hoping that you would be able to help us on that promise." The servant answered, admitting to the partial other reason that she held in fetching him, his words something that Leo couldn't help but nod slightly to, having completely expected this kind of outcome.
"Here we are." The servant said, coming to a stop, politely standing just beside the door beside the other servant who was likely her sister, allowing and waiting for Leo to enter the room.
"Felt? Can I come in? It's Leo." he called out, knocking at the door.
"Leo?! You're here as well?!" Felt's voice immediately cried out the instant he finished his sentence.
"That's right, I can come in right?" He answered, his hand already moving to twist the doorknob before entering the room.
"Hey, I didn't say you could!" Felt yelled at him as he closed the door behind him, whilst he noted the room to be just like his own, highly spacious while still being very well decorated with the general theme of the building.
"Tough luck kid, I'm already in here," Leo answered as he walked into the room, sitting down on a nearby chair as he looked over to the blond girl. "I don't see what's wrong with me entering now anyway."
"I don't want to be seen like this, damn it!" Felt yelled back as she mostly hid under the covers of her bed in a sense of embarrassment. The reasoning for her embarrassment mainly being from the clothing that she currently wore, instead of her usual thief's attire she was instead wearing a nightdress, sleepwear that she must have been dressed with by the maids while she was still unconscious the previous night.
"Then why didn't you get changed into your other stuff?" Leo asked before he started looking around the room.
"The moment I woke up there was a maid in this room and they wanted to put in a dress! My own clothes aren't in here as well! Why do you get your clothes?!" Felt snapped back. "I want to get out of here! I was freaking kidnapped! Did he take you as well for some reason? What about Rom?"
"Well, first of all Reinhard had already agreed to take me in and let me train under him before I had met you so I'm a willing guest." Leo started to explain.
"I'm not! Why am I even being treated like this?!"
"Well putting aside how you were effectively kidnapped yet not because 'charges'" Leo said, doing air quotes when he mentioned charges. "It seems that Reinhard has noticed something really important when it comes to you that he wanted to house you here. I have no idea what though, but you will be treated well."
"When was forcing people into dresses treating someone well?!" Felt shot back.
"When it's high society, something I guess you're not well acquainted with," Leo replied.
"And why aren't you being forced into something like a suit?"
"Because I took myself to bed, not needing a maid from being unconscious."
At this all Felt could do was grumble again, simply wanting to be let out from where she was being held. As long as no one was looking then it would be easy to jump out the window and run away back to wherever Rom happened to be.
Except that she would be running away from the Astrea's, the one family of knights that were incredibly famous and with the all incredible sword saint, she would surely be caught again and then who knows what would happen. In fact, there was every chance that she wouldn't even be able to get out of the grounds.
"Are you thinking about how to escape?" Leo asked, making her look up again.
"Of course I am! I don't wanna stay here!" Felt yelled. "But I know I'm not getting away from the sword saint, there's no need to tell me," she mentioned settling back down again.
"I get that you don't like what's happening, preferring your old life, however, maybe at least you could put on a dress just long enough to have breakfast and ask Reinhard why he's doing these things?" Leo suggested, hoping that somehow Felt would agree. "Didn't you say you would be happy if food came to you for free?"
"I didn't think that it would come with such a bothersome lifestyle as well!" Felt yelled before releasing a heavy, annoyed sigh, glaring at the wardrobe that happened to be near Leo, inside it was a wide range of dresses that the maids had previously tried forcing her into.
"You're thinking about it?" Leo noted.
"I have no choice!" Felt replied before going calm and quiet again making Leo wonder what was on her mind before she looked back up at him with worried eyes. "Um, big bro, you won't leave me right?" she asked to Leo's complete shock.
"You might be a kid but I am not comfortable with standing in a room while you change!" Leo shot back, alarmed at the request that had been made while Felt's face turned scarlet.
"That's not what I mean! Like hell I would let you see my body!" Felt shot back, "I meant that you're not going to leave me alone in this mansion by myself! I don't like anything here, you're the only person I'm even slightly comfortable with right now!"
"Oh, oh…" Leo said, calming back down. "Well, sure. I don't know how long I'll be here but Reinhard said he would be training me and generally helping me get started with life here so I'm not sure I can stay here forever but I'll definitely be here for a while."
"Just for as long as I'm here," Felt replied, to which Leo nodded in response.
"But wait one thing." Leo then said, "Big bro?" he questioned.
"Yeah, big bro. You saved my life and everything. You should be honoured!" Felt replied with a grin, the first that she likely had all day. "But you can stop calling me kid! Didn't you hear I was fifteen yesterday?" she pointed out.
"Still three years younger than me, an adult. But sure." Leo replied with a smile, "Anyways, I'll be waiting outside then for you to change and then we can see if we can get the maids to bring us to Reinhard, yeah?"
"Right." Felt agreed, allowing Leo to leave the room and close the door, signalling for her to get out of bed and move towards the wardrobe until the door suddenly opened again as the two maids entered the room again much to her dread.
"I can get dressed by myself!" she cried out in vain.
After a short while of standing around in the corridor did Felt's door finally open again, prompting Leo to turn and face the arrivals. "About time, I knew girls took a while to change but come on."
"I would've been faster if the maid didn't feel the need to help me!" Felt pointed out as she left her room, making Leo's eyes widen slightly at the sight of Felt wearing a proper dress. "Don't stare!" she snapped with a glare.
"And I was going to say not half bad," Leo replied before something potted into his head. "My lady," he added with a grin, knowing the reaction that it would trigger.
"Don't call me that! Why do you always have to have some annoying name for me like that?!" Felt exclaimed immediately as she stomped over to him before kicking him in the shins, making him quickly fall down to the ground, clutching his foot.
"Did you have to go that far?!" Leo exclaimed as he looked back up at the smirking girl.
"That's what you get big bro!" Felt cheerily replied until the pair of them noticed someone else just before them making them stop in their antics as they looked up to whoever they were, immediately noting them to be the two maids again.
"Excuse me, Miss Felt, Mr Leo. If you follow me to the dining hall, Sir Reinhard awaits you both." One of the maids gently explained with a courteous bow, making Felt remember just what her situation was again after having briefly forgotten thanks to Leo.
"I see, please," Leo answered for them, allowing the two to turn around and lead them on before he noticed Felt's bad mood returning, and she had a fair reason to have it in the first place. "I know it's unlikely but just maybe there might be some really good reason for this."
She merely huffed as she followed after the maid, making Leo release a small sigh before following after, hurrying to stay by her side.
It wasn't a terribly long walk to get to the dining hall, where the maids opened the doors for Leo and Felt, holding them wide open for their entrance, and allowing them to see the lone person who was sitting at the head of the table waiting for them.
"Morning Reinhard." Leo immediately said as he walked into the room with Felt, allowing the maids to close the doors behind them, before taking a position by them, remaining perfectly quiet and tranquil so as to not make any interference.
"Good morning Leo, I hope that you had a pleasant sleep." Reinhard greeted with a smile before turning his attention to Felt beside him as Leo did so too.
To Leo's surprise, Felt didn't immediately get upset, instead, she wore a smile as she calmly walked through the room, making her way to Reinhard before standing before him while he smiled back at her, albeit with a tilt to his head as he pondered what the girl was up to.
But that was as long as the calm demeanour lasted as in the next moment she quickly turned to a scowl as she lifted her dress a little bit allowing her to swing a high kick aiming for the knight's head. But naturally, it was a futile attempt as Reinhard caught the kick with ease, simply frowning in response while he held Felt's foot.
"Why the hell did you bring me here?!" Felt exclaimed as she eventually brought down her foot while Leo walked over, wondering if there was anything that he could do to calm down Felt's feisty nature despite what was happening.
"Miss Felt…" Reinhard said as Felt lowered her foot to stand on it again all the while continuing to effectively growl at him.
"Well…" Leo said, trying to think of a way to improve the situation. "Don't you think that she's rather justified to be upset? I don't know too many people that would be ok with being suddenly abducted and never told the reason why." He said while remaining wary that Felt wouldn't try to do something again.
"I suppose that you are right about that," Reinhard replied.
"You suppose?!" Felt yelled, almost exploding. "I wanna go back to old man Rom, why the hell do I have to be here?!"
"I am sorry to say but I cannot allow you to leave, I hope that you do understand that I have my reasons but for other reasons, I cannot disclose why." Reinhard tried to answer with a troubled expression that made it clear that he himself was finding it hard to keep it from her.
"What do you mean?!" Felt cried out, outraged at what she had heard.
"As I said, I'm afraid that I cannot say, Miss Felt. But while you're here I assure you will be treated utmost courteously and given whatever education that you may need or desire." Reinhard replied, hoping that the young girl would be accepting of the offer that was bestowed on her.
"I don't care about any of that!" Felt yelled, fuming at the news. To hell with it, if she wasn't even going to get an answer then she would have to try everything to get back to Rom!
'She's important enough that he would take her in and give her an education… then again this is the guy nice enough to take in a stranger and promise to train him to be knight…; Leo thought to himself.
"Well, Felt, why don't we eat something first. At least you're getting your free food." Leo said, trying to usher her to sit down in a seat two down from Reinhard, making sure that he was sat between the pair in the hopes that it would keep the conflict to a minimum.
Needless to say that Felt kept rather to herself in her mood, simply shovelling the posh presented breakfast into her mouth with little to no manners, completely betraying the regal appearance that she held in her dress with her hair done up with a ribbon.
"Well, Leo." Reinhard then said, getting his attention, "Today I was hoping to give you your first lesson with the sword this morning, and then we should be able to join Miss Felt in her lessons after having a break. Once they are done you can consider yourself free for the rest of the day." He explained with a bit of his normal smile returning to him, as Felt gave a small jolt.
"Can I take this to roughly be my daily life from now on?" Leo asked until Felt spoke up again.
"What do you mean that I'm having lessons?!" Felt exclaimed, interrupting the two as she stood up slamming her hands to the table.
"As I said before Miss Felt, we will make sure that you will live as comfortably as possible, but also that you also get all necessary education that you may require." Reinhard formally replied as he faced the exasperated teenager.
"I'll try to make it entertaining," Leo mentioned in the attempt to help keep her calm, his words making her glare at him instead until she soon settled down enough to resume eating their breakfast, putting a faint smile on Leo's face.
"Well, back to what you asked, that is likely to be the basis of your day for the foreseeable future. However, there may be times where I will be asked to do my knightley duty that might take me away for a few days." Reinhard then answered Leo after seeing Felt being content again, getting him to nod in understanding.
And then, as if on cue did the doors open wide as a red-haired man strode into the room with confidence, his face and body making him seem like a rougher and muscular Reinhard, and his deeper voice helped with it too.
But what really caught Leo's attention was the sense of animosity that he felt from the man, despite the smile on his face he couldn't help but give off bad vibes to him, a bad feeling which only grew significantly worse as the man glared at Reinhard in disgust before moving on.
"So here are our esteemed guests? And one of which you have been seeking?" he said before bowing in mostly Felt's direction, sparking both her curiosity and agitation. "I am Heinkel Astrea, at your service! Please feel free to move throughout the estate as if it were your own!
"Then!" Felt started to argue before Leo abruptly covered her mouth to her shock, muffling the rest of her words as he stood up in her place.
"Then I thank you very much, sir Heinkel. We greatly appreciate your offer!" Leo replied to the bowing man, fighting through the sudden pain that he felt as Felt bit his hand covering her mouth, trying to peel his hand away.
"If you could excuse us father, neither Leo nor Miss Felt is in the best condition after their confrontation with the Bowel Hunter yesterday, not to mention that they are still getting used to their new environment." Reinhard stepped in as he stood up to talk to the bowing man that was now confirmed to be his father.
But the news only became something shocking as both Leo and Felt noted that it was the first time that they had actually heard a notable difference in his voice as he spoke with the faintest sense of disdain. Something that Heinkel immediately returned in kind as he looked at his son bitterly.
"If you'll excuse me," Heinkel said as he turned sharply on his heels quickly leaving the room, the moment the two maids closed the door behind him did Leo finally release his hand from Felt's mouth, clutching it as he looked at the bite marks on it.
"What the hell did you do that for?!" Felt exclaimed in irritation at Leo.
"Because I thought you were going to light a fire, the man gave me horrible vibes." Leo curtly answered, quickly wiping his hands on his trousers to remove the bit of spit that had ended up on it.
"Well, I didn't like him either. Reinhard, that guy's your father?" Felt said turning to Reinhard, partially shocked that of all people that man had been his father. She still hated Reinhard plenty but, she couldn't help but feel slightly sorry for his family situation.
"Yes, he is," Reinhard answered with a hard voice and expression, the previous mood having been shattered and replaced with a significantly heavier one.
"We won't pry but, if you want to talk to someone then I'll be willing to listen," Leo mentioned, helping to improve his mood slightly.
"No I couldn't possibly bother you like that, there's no need for you to feel drawn into our family matters," Reinhard said as he shook his head.
"It's not about that. I get that if you don't want me to do something then that's fine, but people need vent at times and you can't be any different." Leo replied, "I'm your friend remember? I am perfectly happy to at least listen."
"I see…" Reinhard said with a genuine smile again. "Then I thank you, and hope that I can come to you if I happen to need it."
"Sure thing," Leo said with a smile of his own while Felt just huffed at the situation, soon returning to the rest of her breakfast…
Soon after the three had finished with their meal a new lot of maids and butlers entered the room, swiftly cleaning up after them all before two particularly elderly servants walked into the room who at the order of Reinhard took Felt away to begin her lessons much against her struggling.
Meanwhile, Reinhard took Leo to the expansive garden of the estate with the two-child maids following attentively behind where they watched the two clash with wooden blades.
"I must applaud your ability to learn, despite it being your first training session you are already improving rapidly." Reinhard praised as he continued to casually block and dodge the swings of Leo who had, much unlike Reinhard, worked up quite the sweat.
"You make an excellent teacher," Leo replied with a grin, not stopping his assault. "How long have we even been going at it?" he asked, his eyes darting about, trying to spot any obvious flaws in his opponent's defence, however, Reinhard never made any, not really.
Spotting a potential weakness did Leo swing his blade horizontally to the sky, clashing with Reinhard's own knocking it out of the way slightly, before he barely managed to twirl the sword in his hand to swing back down, guiding the already existent momentum of his blade.
But like every 'weakness' that Reinhard had, he immediately countered in response as he tried kicking in response. But unlike the many times before where Leo had taken the hit, he predicted it, managing to spin aside of it as he readied yet another counter of his own.
But he didn't get to make it, instead, receiving a tap to the stomach from Reinhard's sword as it sharply rushed down stopping just before he hit Leo with his full force.
"I predicted the counter but you predicted the dodge…" Leo said in exhaustion.
"You have learned to wield the sword but you need to practice the art of swordplay," Reinhard noted with a smile. "And perhaps a little more physical training as well."
"Finally dropping the formalness a bit?" Leo asked, lowering his sword to take a rest, while Reinhard noticed doing the same with a slight chuckle before a thought seemed to pop into his mind.
"I just remembered something that I've been meaning to ask," Reinhard spoke up, getting Leo's curiosity. "Yesterday you mentioned that you had experienced a wound from the Bowel Hunter, and I detected no lie from your words as well. I've been meaning to ask if you are truly alright surrounding that. The cut through your shirt was also concerning…"
"Oh! Yeah, that was a thing…" Leo quietly mumbled as he moved a hand to his belly, remembering the pain that he went through, despite how brief it had been. He couldn't even let himself scream about it lest he gave himself away to Elsa before he had the chance to do anything…
"I'm really fine about that, apparently the way I recovered was an irregularity but…"
"You got injured, big bro?!" A voice suddenly exclaimed, getting the two men to spin around to the familiar voice, being none other than Felt who was running towards them. "But you looked fine before! That bitch actually cut you?!"
"I'm fine Felt, I'm really not lying about it. I was just about to explain how I even recovered." Leo replied with a natural smile as she slowed down to his side, in the distance one of the two elderly servants walked out from the manor, likely having come to keep a watch on Felt.
"Miss Felt, what about your lesson?" Reinhard interjected at the arrival of the young maiden.
"It was boring as hell in there! I didn't even ask to be taught everything and yet they're giving me history lessons about the kingdom and everything!" Felt snapped. "I hate this stupid kingdom, I would never want to learn anything about it!"
"But what about know thy enemy?" Leo brought to the confusion of Felt and Reinhard.
"Where the hell does that saying come from? I've never heard anything like it before." Felt said perplexed.
"Is it perhaps something from your homeland, Leo? Reinhard asked.
"Uh, yeah. One should always know their enemy, that way they are less likely to surprise you and you can better plan accordingly." Leo answered with underlying surprise that such a saying didn't exist within this world yet.
"I see, that is indeed good advice, something any good tactician would bear in mind," Reinhard replied, nodding in approval.
"Anyways, I don't care about any of that." Felt interjected, "What about your injury? Do you know water magic?" she then inquired, seemingly interested in the rest of Leo's abilities.
"Not really," Leo admitted, "I was telling Reinhard that the way of which I recovered was abnormal, according to Emilia at least."
"Then how did you recover?" Reinhard asked.
"Well… I guess the best way of putting it would be that I stole some of Elsa's life, or at least it seemed that way. After she cut me, I grabbed hold of her frozen foot, not really knowing what I was doing myself until my wound started to heal while Elsa's leg withered." Leo answered, slowing down occasionally as he thought about the best way to describe what he had done, hoping that it wasn't something that would throw either of the two off.
"Wait, you're the reason that the Bowel Hunter's leg turned out that way?" Reinhard inquired.
"That's right." Leo nodded.
"That's amazing! Does that mean you can also heal others, what about old man Rom? Did you heal him as well?!" Felt asked in excitement, amazed at the ability that Leo had to reveal, while Reinhard continued to ponder over possibilities.
"No, it was Emilia who did that. She said that playing with people's od wasn't something to be done likely and I agree." Leo replied, bringing Felt's mood down a little until she perked up again.
"That means that I need to go see big sis and bro as well!" Felt declared as if her mind was made up, determination filling her voice.
"Then you can come with me when I go, I've already agreed to meet with Emilia sometime soon," Leo said with a smile while Felt grinned back. That was until someone else decided to talk.
"I'm sorry to say it, but Miss Felt I cannot allow you to go to Miss Emilia's place of residence. In fact, until the end of the week, I cannot let you off these grounds unless you go accompanied either by myself or Grimm or Carol." Reinhard interjected, immediately bringing down the mood and igniting Felt once again.
"What do you mean that I can't leave?! I need to see Big Sis and check on Bro!" Felt shouted in irritation.
"It is just as I said," Reinhard replied with a frown, internally pleading that she would soon start to learn some basic decorum. It would very much help her be prepared for her introduction. Perhaps he should request Carol to try and teach her that as well?
"Grimm and Carol…" Leo pondered, "Are they?"
"They are two of the more elderly servants to the Astra family and have been serving for a long time now," Reinhard answered as he gestured to the two elderly that were watching them alongside the two kids. "Flam and Grassis beside them also happen to be their grandchildren," he added.
"Really?" Leo said with some shock as he looked at the four. "Does that mean their whole family has served you for some time then?"
"It would," Reinhard answered. "But I would like to think about your ability. I haven't heard anything like it and I've even looked for Od Lagna but there was nothing like it there."
"Od Lagna?" Leo questioned.
"Yes, if you don't know it is the source of all magic and divine blessing in the world. One could think of it as the will of the world as well."
"You didn't know something like that?" Felt questioned, slightly shocked that she had actually run across someone who didn't know the basics of the world.
"No," Leo admitted bitterly, "I just happen to come from somewhere incredibly far away is all…"
"Then that explains your weird clothing and bro's, I seriously didn't know what to make of you when I first saw you." Felt commented, "You and bro come from the same place right? Where is it?"
"I assume you're talking about Subaru, but I don't know anything about him. The only thing I can say is that I come from a place known as Japan, not that anyone really would have heard of it." Leo mentioned, seemingly confusing Felt with the name as it was clearly unlike any other that she had heard of before.
"Either way, Leo, would it be possible for you to demonstrate your ability for us?" Reinhard asked, much to the alarm of Leo.
"Hold on, I'm not certain of the fundamentals but if I am really draining the life from things then surely that would be extremely dangerous to test right? At the very least I would be shortening your lifespan…" Leo hurriedly pointed out.
"But couldn't you just use it on the grass? Plants are alive right?" Felt suggested, stomping on the greenery below them a few times directing the guy's attention downwards, her words instantly calming Leo down as he realised the harmless possibility.
"I could try," Leo replied before crouching down, placing his hand on the grass. And almost intuitively did he manage to begin using his ability one again, the grass beneath his hand wilting almost instantly as it was drained of all vitality.
"Ohhh!" Felt cried out in amazement at what she had witnessed while Reinhard was stunned yet intrigued at the phenomena.
"I guess grass doesn't have much of a life," Leo noted, seeing the rapid rate that the grass had died.
"Can you bring it back? Try to bring it back!" Felt cheered in excitement, acting just like a kid.
"I can try," Leo replied with uncertainty, once again putting his hand to the dead grass, focusing on it as he tried willing it back to life. And on cue did he feel a strange sense of weakness fill his body while the grass beneath his hand regained its colour, even going as far as to grow a little more than it had before.
"That is simply incredible!" Reinhard marvelled. "Even the Blue can't perform healing on such a level, and to bring back something that had died…" Despite having witnessed it all firsthand, Reinhard still struggled to believe that Leo and somehow successfully manipulated life right before him, draining it and reviving it in no time at all.
"The Blue?" Leo asked, not knowing the reference.
"The Blue is the title given to the best user of water magic, meaning that they would also be the best healer in the kingdom. My friend Felix would happen to be that very person, but even he is incapable of healing at such a rate, or even reviving dead things like that." Reinhard explained with a smile as Leo stood up again.
"Well, he's using magic when I'm using… something different…" Leo replied, trying to think about whatever the hell he was using consider that even people who were native to the world seeming knew nothing about his ability. 'Just what did that girl give me then?' He thought as his mind travelled back to how he likely gained the ability.
"Once again, I must admit that I don't know how you are doing it but you truly seem able to manipulate the od of the things that you touch if you so desire," Reinhard said as he slipped into more of an evaluative mode. "Such an ability could be truly powerful, and something that you must be mindful of."
"Yeah, it's a double-edged blade as well. When I give life to something else, I'm literally giving my own." Leo noted, confirming Reinhard's suspicions.
"At the very least, I trust that you will do no bad with that ability. But perhaps it is something best not shared, at least until you find out the nature of it." Reinhard said, "Perhaps the Margrave would know something about it." he continued lapsing into thought.
"Are they some sort of magic know it all?" Felt quipped in.
"Margrave Roswall L Mathers is known as the greatest magic user in the whole kingdom, having an affinity for all magic attributes and carrying titles in most of them, and he also happens to be the one taking care of Miss Emilia," Reinhard explained to the two.
"Then there's all the more reason for paying her a visit then," Leo replied with a smile, glad for having yet another reason for heading over to her.
"Indeed, however, you will find the Margrave to be quite… the oddity. He is known as a rather eccentric man and dresses rather uniquely as well…" Reinhard added on, stirring up curiosity in Leo about just what kind of man that he would be soon paying a visit to. "However, if you wish to see Miss Emilia and the Margrave then I can send a message ahead and you can leave in a few days' time." Reinhard then offered.
"Really? Please, I would like to check on Emilia and Subaru regardless of the Margrave." Leo replied, Reinhard, nodding in agreement.
"Very well then, I will make sure to send a message first. We can also consider training for today done with. Until your lessons later today you can consider yourself free." Reinhard replied with his usual formal smile and behaviour before he turned to Felt, the simple action being enough to ruin her mood as she already knew that he was going to say something that she was not going to appreciate.
"I would also like to ask that you continue your lessons later alongside Leo with basic literacy, Miss Felt," Reinhard asked, his words being just like she expected as she suddenly bore her fangs in irritation.
"You still expect me to go through that?!" Felt snapped while Reinhard remained slightly awkward, still not knowing how to handle the irritated girl.
"Just think of it as an investment into the future or something. Frankly, I can't stand being unable to read like the rest…" Leo quipped in, hoping that it would be enough to soothe the girl even slightly yet again.
"I would have thought that someone like you would be able to read no problem…" she quipped with a cheeky smirk, clearly aiming to tease him.
"I simply only learned the language before I came here, dam it…" Leo attempted to counter in frustration that he was going to have to be learning alongside someone who happened to be three years below him.
"Well, I shall leave it at that. While I ready the message and until lunch is prepared, you are free to do as you please." Reinhard mentioned as he started to leave before suddenly turning around as if he happened to have remembered something.
"Also, Leo, for the duration of your stay you can consider Flam and Grassis at your service, as can you expect Grimm and Karol at yours, Miss Felt. Please ask them if you have need of anything." Reinhard mentioned with a smile, to the slight shock of Leo.
"Alongside everything else, you're also giving me the service of the girls?" Leo asked in slight shock.
"That is right, unless, you have something against them?" Reinhard asked worriedly, hoping that it wasn't the case. "If that is so, then I can." he started.
"No! It's fine! It's just, for a moment I somehow forgot just how kind you are… or maybe generous would be the word?" Leo pondered as he cut in, interrupting Reinhard before he could say any more, easing a smile onto his face yet again. "Either way, thanks for everything." Leo finished with a wide smile.
"Your welcome," Reinhard said, smiling back before turning around and leaving for real, back into the manor.
"Well, aren't you happy?" Felt smirked as she glanced up at Leo.
"What are you thinking?" Leo asked with a smile of his own as he turned to face the troublesome girl
"Nothing!" She beamed.
"Miss Felt." A voice called out to them from behind, making the two turn around, finding out that the person in question was Karol, one of the two elderly servants. "Can you please come with us? We haven't quite finished that lesson before you ran out."
"No way!" Felt yelled back in a huff, had it been Reinhard she likely would have kicked him from constantly experiencing the same kind of treatment all day.
"I'm sorry but Sir Reinhard insisted that this lesson should be finished before anything," the elderly woman said before taking Felt's hand with a surprising amount of force, enough that Felt couldn't actually resist her despite expectation. "Once we finish this lesson then you can feel free until lunch has passed. Mr Leo, I hope that you will join us then," she said, the last of her words being directed to Leo before she gave a small bow as she left, towing a struggling Felt away.
"Well… that happened…" Leo thought aloud. 'I might try paying her a visit in her free time…' Leo thought to himself. At least he would try if she didn't end up coming to him first, or attempting to escape, but then again her attendants were surprisingly capable despite their age…
"Excuse me, Sir Leo, would you like this?" another voice spoke out breaking his thoughts, the soft sound of it already being familiar as one of the two child maids that Reinhard had just left with him.
"Ah, thank you." Leo thanked as he grabbed the presented object from the twins, a towel with which to wipe away his sweat.
"Sir, would you like a drink as well?" the other maid asked as she lifted up some water to him after he had made use of his towel to wipe his face with.
"Thank you very much," Leo replied, accepting the glass in exchange for the towel before clearing the whole thing with a single gulp, releasing a content gasp afterwards. "So, before anything, which one of you is Flam and who's Grassis?" Leo asked as he looked down at the twins, somewhat struggling to tell the two apart, something that their fringes did wonders for.
"I'm Flam, sir" the lateral fringed twin replied.
"I'm Grassis, sir." said the straight fringed twin.
'Sir…. sir… I'm not sure how comfortable I am with them calling me that…' Leo pondered to himself, 'Would it be better to be more relaxed with them?'
"Is there something wrong sir?" Flam asked as she noticed Leo lapsing into thought over something.
"Oh, it's nothing, it's just something that I can think about later." Leo said in dismissal, "Aside from that… there is the question about what to do with my spare time… Aside from roaming around town, is there anything, in particular, to do around here?"
"Miss Felt will be occupied with her lessons while Sir Reinhard is also otherwise occupied, but if you desire anything or wish to go somewhere we will be willing to accompany you if you wish," Grassis replied, her response not being something spectacularly helpful to Leo, but nonetheless he appreciated it.
"I guess I might just go and get more familiar with the area." Leo eventually said as he cast his gaze towards the fencing of the Astrea manor, to which the rest of the capital city was. Of course, they were currently within the noble district so there was little commotion or anything noteworthy going on, but that hardly applied to the majority of the city.
"Shall I come with you, sir? If you say you are new to the area then maybe you would appreciate a guide?" Flam asked as she stood forwards from her sister. "Also, if you happen to stay out for longer than expected then we can keep in contact to make sure you aren't late to lunch."
"Really? How do you keep in contact?" Leo couldn't help but ask, wondering if this word happened to have anything in replacement to mobile phones.
"Me and my sister share the divine blessing of mindspeak. No matter where we are, for once a day for a limited amount of time, we can communicate telepathically." Grassis curtly answered.
"That's convenient. One time a day is a bit of a restriction though..." Leo noted, "But sure, I'll be glad if one of you could come with then, if you don't mind." he said with a smile towards the two maids.
"Then I shall come with you," Flam said as she moved to be attentively by his side.
"I shall inform Sir Reinhard that you have gone for a walk then, and inform you when you might like to return depending on the length of your walk sir. Please enjoy yourself." Grassis said with a courteous bow before walking away into the manor leaving Leo with Flam in her new search for Reinhard.
"Well, shall we go?" Leo asked, turning to face his small companion.
"Yes sir," Flam replied, to the slight disappointment of Leo.
'Maybe I really should ask them to not be so formal, at least when there's no need to be…' Leo thought to himself as he began to walk towards the gate of the estate with Flam beside him. 'At the very least kids should be allowed to enjoy themselves a bit…'
It was a little bit later as Leo and Flam were continuing to walk throughout the capital with no particular destination in mind, making their way through the crowds and noting the interesting things that stuck out to them.
'Honestly… it's depressing that I can't read any of this…' Leo thought to himself as he walked along glancing at the labels for the products of various stores.
"Is something wrong sir?" Flam asked as she glanced up at Leo.
"It's nothing, just a slightly sad thought passed through my mind," he replied as he shook the previous thought off. "You know, this town is always bustling but I've only ever seen places to go shopping, and a few bars of the sort as well… I would have thought that there would have been at least a few more places for people to go and…" he said before he trailed off, a strange sensation filling him before he noticed a small figure peeking at him from around a corner to an ally.
The moment that they realised that they had been noticed did they suddenly dip into the alley, which only stirred up Leo's curiosity more.
"Did you see that?" Leo asked, making Flam look around curiously.
"I felt that there was someone watching us but I couldn't see who, my apologies…" Flam meekly answered, seemingly disheartened at her failure to do so.
"Hey what's wrong?" Leo asked, noticing the change in mood for the young girl.
"Um, sorry sir, please don't worry about me." Flam quickly replied after pulling herself together, as if trying to hide that there had been any weakness before.
"I'm not that heartless, you actually were thrown out of your calmness there and were disheartened. Why was that?" Leo asked again, gently pressing the girl for answers. His words managed to make her hesitate slightly as she considered what to say before yet again recomposing herself.
"It is my job as your maid to also look out for your safety, it can't be acceptable for me to sense when someone is paying attention but not spot them when my master can." Flam calmly answered, in her usual gentle demeanour, no longer giving any outside sign of anything affecting her, but it was too late for it as she had already exposed at least slightly how she truly thought about it.
"There's nothing wrong with that, as long as you're trying your best. Honestly, I think that it's impressive for someone your age to notice something like that." Leo said as he moved to stand in front of the maid, kneeling to better match their heights as she peered into his eyes. "I don't know how long you have been serving but, people can't become perfect in a short amount of time. It'll likely take a few years but… just no one starts at the top."
Flam didn't respond immediately as she silently stared at Leo, his words sinking in making a faint, yet determined smile appear. "Yes sir, thank you," Flam said with a bow, allowing Leo to smile back in content.
"Now then, why don't we try to see who was spying on us and why," Leo said, turning back to the alley where once again a head was slightly poking about before it hurriedly dipped in again.
"Yes sir." Flam agreed, regaining herself more as she got serious again as she and Leo walked towards the ally.
The moment that they turned the corner did they see a fleeing figure who momentarily turned around to look at them with a happy, excited smile before she continued running.
"Sir, it seems that she is trying to lead us into something now," Flam observed.
"I don't see her being someone terribly bad but looks can be deceiving…" Leo noted, "Call me stupid but somethings telling me to follow her, but I'm not letting down my guard and nor should you." he instructed as he began to follow after the figure while Flam was quick to follow, hurrying to stay in his footsteps.
"Is there a reason why sir? Do you want me to contact my sister about this?" Flam asked as she ran alongside Leo as the pair of them focused on the running person ahead of them, soon breaking out of the alley and making their way through the crowds of the capital, confusing people as they saw the three people run past them all.
"Not yet, we'll contact her if things start going south and we'll abort if this is clearing, getting very risky," Leo replied, quickly grabbing Flam's hand at the same time to her slight shock. "I don't want to lose you in the crowd now, do I?" Leo said as he noticed her slight shock from his contact, getting Flam to simply nod in response.
'I can't exactly say why but… there's something compelling about this person…' Leo thought to himself as he ran along, trying to find the exact reason as to why he was feeling that way. Normally he would simply be off-put and as long as they did nothing then he would paid it no attention, but this person…
They couldn't help but feel different to him…
For a while Leo and Flam continued to run through the city, quickly making their way to the outskirts of the two, the number of buildings beginning to fall in favour of various trees. "Sir Leo, don't you think that we are heading too far out? I've even lost sight of her…" Flam mentioned as they started to slow to a stop, quickly looking around the place trying to spot where their target had gone.
"When did she even manage to get out of sight?" Leo questioned as he peered around the tree's hoping that something would stand out to him.
"Sir, since we've lost sight of them I advise that we make our way back to the Astrea manor." Flam continued to advise, hoping that Leo would listen to her.
"I get you but… I think that they're still here somewhere…" Leo replied as he cautiously surveyed the area, prompting Flam to do the same, determined to try and spot their apparent stalker.
"You can still tell that I'm here?" A young girls voice rang out,
"It came from there!" Flam exclaimed as she pointed out a branch of a tree, leading Leo's direction to it as he hurriedly looked to try and find the person, only for nothing to be where Flam was pointed. "But nothing is there…" She murmured as she noticed the distinct lack of a person.
"Nope, you got it right!" The voice cheerfully responded from the same place before the same place began to shimmer as something began to come into view, quickly revealing to be another girl sitting in the tree, happily swinging her legs.
While she had a short stature she had long golden hair going down to her knees that practically almost sparkled, with deep blue eyes that shone with the boundless, excited energy of a child. She wore a simple yet at the same time extravagant white frilly dress that was lined with gold and golden flower patterns while wearing little heeled boots.
"Playing chase was fun! And you're good at hide and seek despite me turning invisible!" The girl excitedly said.
"Who are you?" Leo asked as he walked towards the tree the girl was sitting in, "And why were you watching us?"
"I'm Cecily, I was only watching you because you were interesting! I was bored but then you came along!" Cecily immediately answered as she hopped down, falling right for Leo until caught her princess style at the last moment. "Yay!" She cried out in joy, happily flailing about in his arms.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Leo enquired, not at all understanding what the girl was saying about him. "Aside from my clothes, I'm not that interesting of a person so I don't see what about me caught your attention."
"Only at a first glance!" Cecily energetically said, "But there are plenty of things interesting about you, you're so unique! For example, you could sense me despite me being invisible, how did you do that?"
"I have no idea, honestly I think it was nothing more than a fluke," Leo answered as he slowly put the girl down onto her feet while Flam moved to be by his side again.
"Really?" Cecily said with a tilt of her head. "Then what about your od, you look human but you have a slightly unusual amount. It's to do with that ability of yours right?"
"You know about that?" Leo asked as his face hardened, seriousness beginning to enter his voice again. "Just how long have you been watching me?"
"Since about midday yesterday until you went into that big house, and then when you were fighting that super-strong red-haired guy! You even demonstrated manipulating od, no one can do that!" Cecily cheerfully answered, stars in her eyes, but it didn't last long before a semblance of calmness began to show.
"And you don't act anything else like those with the witches scent," she said with a small smile. "I think you're a good guy, but did something unfortunate happen to you?" she asked, her smile now having gone completely as she was frowning instead, seemingly worried for him not that Leo understood anything that she had meant.
Flam however very much did, instantly stepping forward. "How could you accuse Mr Leo of being affiliated with the witch!" She defended him in a slightly heated voice, which was not only a first but a clear indication that Cecily had just said something of great significance.
"I just said he had the scent… Were you attacked by a witch before?" Cecily innocently continued to press, not caring much for the heated little maid that stood before her and Leo.
"To be honest, I don't know anything about this witch you're referring to…" Leo slowly admitted much to the shock of both the girls who stared at him with wide eyes. "And I don't know why I would have their scent… all I can say is that it's something bad but even then that's only thanks to you two."
"Mr Leo, having the witches scent typically means that you are in alliance with the witch…" Flam began to answer worriedly, whilst simultaneously perplexed how there was even a single person in the land that didn't know anything about the witch.
"There were multiple witches in the past but the only one left is the witch of envy, but that's because she was the most dangerous one!" Cecily joined in, some of her cheerfulness returning to her. "She killed all the others, and took half of the world! The ultimate villain! She's scary!"
"Isn't the world a little too peaceful when you have someone like that roaming around?!" Leo exclaimed, not quite knowing how to take the fact that he apparently smelled like her marking some kind of affiliation.
"The witch was confronted by the hero, the sage and the dragon, and together they managed to seal her away, where she no longer can affect the world," Flam answered, the uneasiness of the face not having left yet, making a small painful bead of worry begin to piece Leo's heart.
"Are you scared of me then…" Leo hesitantly asked as he slowly turned to the girl, his words giving her yet another small shock.
"Not at all, Sir Reinhard believes you to be a good person and you yourself have earned my trust. Neither I nor my sister would think you a cultist." Flam immediately answered with a determined expression, "I was more worried for you, don't you understand how dangerous your situation could be…"
"Flam," Leo said as he once again lowered himself to her level earnestly looking her in the eyes. "I'm aware that I don't exactly look good to other people now, and that I do see the danger even if it doesn't quite feel real. But this is either a situation where everything will either work out or… there's no point worrying about it."
"While we serve the house of Astrea, Sir Reinhard has ordered us to your service and protection, your order and safety are one of the highest to us, even if it's the witch." Flam started to say until Leo hurriedly hushed her, putting a finger to her lips preventing her from saying anymore.
"I think I know where that is going. I'm not so horrible of a person to make children fight for me, I feel as if I should be protecting you…" Leo sighed, thinking for a moment before regaining himself. "I'm not saying that I'm as powerful as a hero, sage and dragon but, do remember that I have a trump card on me unlike any other." He continued, showing an open hand which he closed his fingers over for clear indication of what he was talking about.
"We shall still be by your side," Flam replied in a manner of duty, her little hand clenching a little from how she held them both in front of her respectfully.
"I'm glad to hear your loyalty," Leo noted as he stood up again
"See, you really are a nice guy for having that scent!" Cecily perked up after having remained quiet for the whole duration of the short chat, something that Leo was actually mildly surprised that she was capable of. "Anyway, you don't have to worry about everyone judging you, just those that can smell the scent."
"I still wouldn't have taken someone like you to have a good enough nose or so much magical skill… who taught you by the way? Your parents?" Leo asked back, his question making Cecily look at him completely confused.
"Teaching me? Parents?" She repeated as they were foreign words. "You really are an interesting guy! Hey, Hey, what're your affinities?" Cecily asked back, disregarding the questions that had been thrown her way.
This time it was Leo's turn to repeat the question, "Affinities?" he asked, more to the interest of Cecily and shock to Flam.
"Yeah, magical affinities, therle what kinds of magic you can use out of the six types. Do you not know yours?" Cecily answered him, energetically closing towards him as she gestured to him to lower himself again.
"What is it?" Leo asked as he complied, kneeling down for the energetic little girl only for her to press a finger against his head and after a few moments, her smile widened greatly.
"We match, we match!" She cheered, jumping on the spot in celebration.
"What do you mean we match?" Leo asked, beginning to get more and more tired from dealing with the child. 'If this keeps up then I won't have any energy to deal with Felt later, but even she isn't like this…'
"I just checked your gate for your affinities!" Cecily happily responded, "You can use water, wind and yang! I have Yang too! And some fire!"
"Yang, light…. You seem to really know your stuff…" Leo noted, before feeling a slight pull on his sleeve, getting him to notice Flam again. "What's up?"
"Sir, my sister just contacted me telling me that lunch will be ready soon. Even if we leave one from where we are we will be a little bit late but I have already told her." Flam answered, having completely returned to her proper and respectful state.
"I see, so time is up then," Leo said before looking back to Cecily one more time.
"Are you going now? Already?" Cecily asked with a frown at the two, tilting her head slightly in disappointment.
"Sorry kid but yeah, at the very least through, do you know where your parents are? Or how to get home?" Leo asked, hoping that the task would be a straightforward one. 'Someone like her shouldn't have anything bad happen to them… the twins as well…'
"Yeah, I know where home is!" Cecily answered with a cheeky grin, "But goodbye!" she hurriedly waved before she began to shimmer, fading from sight just like that.
"Goodbye kiddo," Leo replied in amusement before he turned back the way they had come with Flam by his side, pleasantly amused with how their outing had turned out, moving aside the potential problem that loomed over him…
"Sorry, I'm late," Leo said as he entered the dining room with Flam to see Reinhard at the head of the table while a fussy Felt abruptly turned away from her meal with a bit of a glare.
"It's alright." "Where the hell were you?! Why do you get to go roaming the city?!" Felt shouted out in response the moment she realised just who had entered the room, interrupting Reinhard in no time at all while Flam remained in silence and once again joined her sister, standing by her side remaining quiet and tranquil as to not interrupt.
"I just wanted to get more used to the place is all… were you lonely?" Leo replied with a sly smile making Felt look like she just wanted to kick him in the shin again.
"Like hell I was, it's unfair that you get to leave!" Felt shouted back before settling into her chair again.
"Everything left you sour again huh?" Leo noted as he moved to sit down at the table where there was still a spare seat with a platter served just before it, politely taking the cutlery to begin eating at a hastened pace to catch up with the others.
"There's no need to rush Leo, you can take your time. I'd like to know if there was anything interesting that had you gone for so long, Flam simply informed us that you had ended up a fair distance away." Reinhard asked, taking the opportunity of Felt returning to her food, hoping to hear the ongoings of his friend.
"Well, turns out I had a stalker," Leo immediately started, getting both Reinhard and Felt to look at him in shock.
"Someone's been following you Big Bro?! Were they related to that psycho from yesterday?!" Felt cried out in completely different tones, worry filling the whole of her voice at the horrible thought of him still being targeted.
"This is something that I must report to the knights!" Reinhard began to say until Leo stopped him.
"Hold on! You're overreacting! It was just some kid that thought I was interesting!" Leo hurriedly said, calming the knight down whilst stripping Felt of all of her worry.
"You could have said that sooner! I thought you were in danger, dammit!" Felt exclaimed, falling back into her chair again in frustration.
"You two both reacted before I could say anything!" Leo yelled back in counter.
"Now please calm down," Reinhard interjected as he returned to his seat as well after having risen out of it, "But Leo, what about this child that you ran across? Was she the reason that you ended up being late to lunch?"
"Yeah, after I had noticed her I wanted to see why she was watching me. Luckily she was as innocent as I felt she was and despite looking roughly as old as Flam and she acted far more childish." Leo answered, "She kept calling me interesting and was constantly excitable, and then she even checked my gate for my affinities."
"I'm sorry, did you say she checked your gate?" Reinhard asked, stopping Leo from saying any more.
"Yeah she did, she also went invisible as well for her idea of hide and seek." Leo replied, "Why is there something wrong with that?"
"Had she been an adult then it would make sense in the idea that she was a capable magical user to be able to check other peoples gates but…" Reinhard mumbled out loud as he pondered the possibilities.
"So I take it while being able to do that is normal, a child being able to do so is not?" Leo inquired, taking a guess at what was throwing the sword saint off.
"Typically so, yes. It wouldn't be impossible but I wouldn't count that child as normal just yet." Reinhard replied looking Leo in the eye, silently telling that caution would still be needed when dealing with the girl.
"Well, what were your affinities then?" Felt spoke up, blandly looking across the table at him in interest.
"She said that I could use water, wind and yang magic," Leo replied normally, but yet again his words managed to surprise Reinhard again.
"I guess water magic makes sense for someone like you doesn't it!" Felt smirked before she also took note of Reinhard. "Is there something wrong with you?" she quipped in a somewhat harsh voice.
"Not at all, it's just that having either yin or yang magic is rare," Reinhard replied, pulling himself together again. "But I must concur that having water magic is rather fitting for Leo, as for having three affinities is most certainly helpful."
"Really? You know the girl was rather cheerful when she found out, she mentioned we matched before saying that she also used yang and fire magic." Leo replied to the increased interest from Reinhard.
'She said that they matched from sharing the yang affinity… is she possibly?' Reinhard thought to himself.
"Reinhard, is something wrong again?" Leo asked, snapping the knight out of his thoughts before he slipped further and further from the conversation.
"Not at all Leo, I was merely occupied in a bit of thought. Forgive me for zoning out." Reinhard quickly apologised.
"It's not that bad, there was a bit of curiosity though, was there something else shocking about what I said?"
"Not really, but I was thinking that if you know your affinities for magic, then perhaps you will be wanting to train in that alongside swordplay?"
"Does that mean you can teach me?" Leo asked, "What affinities do you have?"
"Sadly, I don't possess any affinities, so I can't use magic at all, however, I would still be willing to help assist you in training it and advising you with what I do know. I'm sure that my divine protection of training mastery would be of help to you."
"How many of those things do you even have?! And why are they all so convenient?" Leo couldn't help but ask as he heard Reinhard announce having yet another blessing.
"He has multiple? Practically no one has multiple!" Felt cried out as soon as she heard Leo making his attention dart to her both shocked yet puzzled at the same time. "It's rare for a person to get even the most useless of blessings, and significantly rarer the blessing, but basically no one gets more than one!" Felt elaborated seeing Leo's reaction, helping further his shock at Reinhard.
"You seem to be one hell of an outlier if that's the case, or your luck seriously couldn't get any better…" Leo quipped at Reinhard who seemingly got disheartened in response. "Oh, don't take that seriously! Frankly it's amazing that you're so lucky!" Leo quickly added on, seeing the impact of his words.
"I'm simply blessed by the world," Reinhard replied with a faint smile, seemingly not all that pleased with his situation for whatever reason.
"It's that why they're called divine blessings?" Leo asked with a grin
"I suppose you're right." Reinhard almost chuckled in response to how easily he had set himself up. "Either way, perhaps you might also wish for someone to try teaching you the magic that you know what affinities you can use."
"Didn't you say that margrave guy before was the best at magic? If big bro's going to him, he may as well as him about magic." Felt mentioned, putting down her cutlery roughly upon finishing her meal.
"I suppose that I could ask the Margrave on your behalf." Reinhard pondered, "But bear in mind he is the court magician. He has his fair share of responsibilities, it wouldn't be something to press him for."
"No need, I should ask him myself really, and at least asking is better than never trying, right?" Leo mentioned, finishing off the last of his lunch
"I suppose so, then I shall leave it to you then," Reinhard said before getting to his feet, signalling his departure. "I'm sorry but I have things to attend to. Leo, I hope you don't mind joining in with Miss Felt's lessons,"
"It's fine, although somewhat irking, that I have to learn alongside a fifteen-year-old…" Leo sighed in reconciliation, knowing that despite how much his pride disliked it, he would be far more humiliated if he didn't learn it now.
"What's irking about learning something alongside me?!" Felt snapped as this time she got up to hurry around to Leo, quickly beginning to grapple with him.
"Because I don't like the idea of having to learn things I should have known years ago!" Leo argued back as he tried to fight back against Felt from his chair, the pair of them unknowingly earning a slight smile from Reinhard before he took his leave, allowing for Karol and Grimm to enter the room, ready to take the pair away to their lessons...
For the rest of the day, Felt and Leo found themselves trapped in lessons with the elderly servants, the pair of them being taught how to properly read and write, alongside being forced to attempt to read various basic stories.
All along Leo knew that it was all something he was going to have to do to learn, but every last bit of it felt like it was something that kids were supposed to experience, not something an adult should be having to go through.
Felt didn't help much either, having been in just a bad situation but it didn't stop her from taking jabs at Leo whenever she could and rubbing in any small victories that she had over him, making him eventually respond likewise in kind, the two quickly moving to some kind of rivalry attempting to outdo the other.
But before long their companion which had simply been aiming to outdo the other and gloating in their victories slowly began to gradually get more and more physical as their motivation to do any kind of learning declined.
"It seems this will be all for today…" Grimm noted as he and Karol looked over at the two to see Leo easily holding Felt in a tight headlock, struggling against him while he had an easy smile upon seeing her vain attempts of escape.
"You didn't stand a chance, kid." Leo calmly said to the struggling Felt.
"Didn't I tell you to stop calling me that?!" Felt yelled as she started kicking against Leo, hoping that it would be enough. But despite her actions and loud voice, the wide grin on her face gave away the true feelings that she held at the moment.
"Well I tried 'my lady', but that didn't go down too well," Leo replied
"Being like that would make you even worse than Reinhard!" Felt shot back.
"Please excuse us," Two voices simultaneously sounded getting everyone's attention, the owner of the voices being none other than Flam and . "Dinner is soon to be ready," they announced.
"Already?!" Felt exclaimed.
"Seems I kept you entertained for long enough," Leo said with a sigh.
"Kept me entertained? All you did was keep losing to me!" Felt cheekily quipped, soon resulting in the headlock around her getting a little bit tighter.
"You think I'm losing?" Leo challenged back with a grin before he suddenly let her go, allowing her to stand by herself again. "If you want, I'll continue to humour you after dinner, maybe I'll even tell you some stories from my home that you might like."
"They better be interesting!" Felt replied before she started walking off, being in the best mood that she had for the whole day, an amused Leo followed after her with a smile as they followed Flam and to their final meal for the day…