The Darkness Hidden by the Returner-2
Originally, he had already given up on the idea of enlisting Leonardo.
It was because he was so sure the moment he was immediately rejected at the tea house.
He was completely on the side of Reinhardt.
The knight in his early teens had never been more loyal to the organization than any other talented person he had met, or even any subordinate working in his own family with such a strong heart.
In particular, the more people who came to see the bottom of society, such as mercenaries, and those who came up with an honest effort, I learned that trust and loyalty are nothing more than an illusion.
Favor and trust are merely probabilities that are formed because of the right calculation of interests. After all, there is no necessity for such feelings.
Therefore, the loyalty and loyalty that the knights usually shouted was hard to see.
After all, they were only human beings who were driven by profit. Loyalty and recognition are just hypocrisy for self-consolation.
I believed so.
But what about that boy?
Whatever temptation offers, he will not betray.
In addition to himself, each wizard and organization has already reached out to recruit him.
But all of them were rejected by Leo.
Without hesitation, with a single knife.
He did not succumb to danger.
In fact, even though he was wounded by holding Main Jehad short.
His own Moshi even threw himself for this.
How many of your subordinates will be like that?
beyond that
Why is that boy pouring everything into the family?
For a wizard named Eileen Temperius, that was completely unacceptable and unacceptable behavior.
Because it was overly and extremely ideal.
***
“…you look very surprised?”
Eileen said while sipping the beer he ordered at the bar. Externally, she is known to enjoy wine and champagne, but in fact, to her, alcohol was just edible alcohol. At first, she wasn’t even a big fan of alcohol.
The reason was that drunkenness slowed the brain’s rotation. Even now, he just opened and closed his mouth, and the amount he drank would not have been even a sip.
The reason I came to this bar was simply that, in the midst of a large crowd and noise, installing soundproofing magic around the table did not create a sense of incongruity.
“…because it’s a story that’s hard to believe.”
It was hard to believe that Chris also drank the beer he had ordered. He unconsciously drank the drink to relax, but as soon as he felt the astringent taste of the drink, he had to endure the distortion of his face.
Although he pretended to be strong in drinking with a bluff to his colleagues and juniors, Chris was not very strong in drinking. Even though it is quite resistant to poison.
It was because Chris had not yet realized that alcohol was influenced by the atmosphere, unlike poison.
“If you can’t believe it, I’ll make a copy of the records and show you.”
“You break the promise you made with Leo fairly easily?”
“Aren’t secrets and promises originally meant to be used in places like this?”
At Eileen’s eloquent words, Chris clicked his tongue.
Again, the wizard was his own way of expressing his displeasure.
“Why? Did the beer without a single ingredient get stuck in your teeth?”
“Is it so pleasant to offend others?”
“No way. I was just asking.”
With a puck, Chris looked at Eileen.
“So, now do you understand what I am saying?”
At Eileen’s words, Chris fell into trouble again.
As she said, members of the family, including herself, were unaware of Leonardo’s struggle behind the scenes, and neither rewarded him nor praised his honor.
This is a fact that cannot be denied even if criticized. Because there is no fault as incompetent as ignorance.
“Yes, I understand the motive. However…”
However.
“There’s no reason to insult you for that. Leonardo himself may not know it, but in the end, you also hid that fact in order to take the lead in the conversation now, and now you have brought it up.”
Eileen kept a detached expression, but in fact, she was hiding a look of surprise and bewilderment.
There is a fact that everyone always forgets because of his pretentiousness and pretentiousness, but as the commander of the 1st Division of the Executioner, Chris was the judge who executed not only basic knight duties, but also treachery within the family and attacks from outside.
Therefore, the way of thinking with reason and logic was excellent even within the Knights Templar, and his reasoning and judgment were not inferior to that of Leo. Rather, he had taught Leo before his return.
It was just a very beautiful nonsensical idea, and her mind was so deeply entrenched that it was only slightly behind common sense.
“…Yes, you think so?”
But it wasn’t entirely unpredictable.
“good night. I concede a few steps and admit it.”
“You make recognition quite unlucky.”
It was a boring provocation, but Eileen drank the beer again as if it worked. This time, one sip was definitely passed.
“As a result of observing where Reinhardt puts Leonardo in a position and how he uses it, it was also quite deplorable.”
“…what do you mean? If you say that a warrior’s exclusive knight is a trivial job, you will have to take responsibility for blaspheming it.”
Chris grabbed the handle of his sword, revealing his sincerity. This could be a blasphemy beyond Reinhardt and a blasphemy against his nephew, Arya.
“Honour… yes, that noble, noble honor could be so important.”
Eileen thought those words were too typical and, on the contrary, unpleasant.
“…are you saying that honor is insignificant?”
“The honor is insignificant…”
Eileen was silent for a moment. Perhaps it was because he remembered the words he had heard from Leo, and he changed the contents of the words immediately.
“At least, honor that does not pursue profit is insignificant. Very disgusting.”
This was also a way of speaking that came out because she had developed and refined a lot in her lines.
“As an added bonus, I want you to know that the practicality you pursue after abandoning your honor and morality is inferior.”
As Chris sarcastic sarcastically, Eileen smirked.
“…Yes, I admit it. When I see that man, I have no choice but to admit it.”
“…Leonardo?”
Eileen was attracted to Leonardo not only because of her insane mentality and loyalty.
While hunting warlocks and demons at night, he continued his life as an extremely honorable student during the day.
Even if there was an insulting misunderstanding throughout the tower because of Platus, the daughter of the Blue Tower.
Keeping his promise to himself, Leonardo continued to do what he had to do.
One day, Eileen asked.
-You know, there were some bad rumors about you on campus.
It was also a question of courage in its own right. Leo was willing to cooperate if he wanted to.
-Are you talking about Senior Platus? You don’t have to worry about that.
Leonardo just said so in such a situation. It wasn’t that he was forcing himself to hide his heart, he answered indifferently as if he were watching a sudden rain shower.
-Can I ask why…?
Eileen then asked with genuine concern. After all, Leo got his hands bloodied in the afterlife to help people, including them.
Not only was he stained with blood, but he also accumulated fatigue on his own body and slaughtered his enemies.
‘…the mental shock will be severe.’
Even if such efforts were kept secret, if they were insulted in this way and driven into harm, there was a possibility that they would lose their mind and derail.
– I’ve already explained it. Even so, not believing you just needs a reason to hate me. I don’t want to try to be understood by a person who tries to hate me.
Then Leo smiled brightly on the spot.
“He said, ‘It’s more enjoyable to be recognized and to help someone who did for me at that time.’”
Eileen was sure that he would not be able to see such words and smiles if he had not attained some level of liberation or enlightenment in life.
Eventually, some time passed, and Leonardo quickly and naturally recovered and grew his popularity, and soon earned the nickname of ‘Small Thapju’, also semi-officially or nicknamed “Small magician”.
Coincidentally, it must have been at that time that he had perfected his unique magic, which was all marvelous except for his naming ability, ‘Aria of Martial Arts and Magic’.
“…why did you contact the family…”
“Have you not learned the story from the judgment against Ain yet?”
What Leonardo does with his family, what he hides, and how he solves problems.
“It must have been an advantage to have an article called Leonardo in Reinhardt. However…”
Eileen was unaware of the complex causal relationship with Leonardo, Ariaspil, and Reinhardt. He did not know the bond of contradiction that transcended even the time period.
“Did Leonardo really benefit from meeting Reinhardt?”
She was just very commonsense and ignorant.
“…Things like this may be off-putting, but the family and us are working hard to help Leo in our line. It’s just that we’re still dependent on Leo…”
As Chris spoke, he felt his own guilt. As a result, the current family was not very helpful to Leo. On the contrary, if Leo were to become independent, the family would falter.
“I refused the professorship that I could take immediately, the position of the mage master that was already guaranteed, and even the position of captain in the reorganized mage executioner was rejected.”
He was busy drawing a line and not accepting even his own engagement proposal or various gifts and expressions.
One of the reasons was ‘to return to Reinhardt and assist Ariaspil’.
“Yeah, from Leonardo’s attitude, he wouldn’t be forming a Knights Templar or being an educator formally.”
Even in the tower, it was close to informally cooperating with wizards.
And that the eternal first priority in Leonardo’s priorities is the warrior Ariaspil Reinhardt,
It was unpleasant and I knew it well enough to make me cringe.
“So it’s a human honor to at least treat you properly… isn’t it?”
Perhaps because of drunkenness, Eileen said in a slightly startled voice.
“…Aren’t you worse than us when you say that? In the end, the existence of Leonardo was useful, so he decided to leave it as his own limb…”
“…okay!!”
There was no intention of provocation in what Chris said now. It was merely pointed out as a counterargument because Eileen’s attitude was contradictory, and there was no intention to ridicule it.
But those words really touched Eileen’s wrath.
“It may not be…! However…! me too…! I didn’t understand it enough to pass out of blood pressure…!”
I really didn’t understand.
If you think about it, the reason was obvious.
When the wizards he cut with the Inspectorate of the Tower tried to assassinate himself by poisoning his car for revenge.
There was no one to help him in that situation. The tea house she ran was a private space that only a few knew, and even she had overlooked that one of her acquaintances would betray her.
-Didn’t you learn that if you hate food, you’ll be beaten until you go mad? Oh, did you get kicked out because you didn’t learn?
He mocked them like that and subdued them in an instant. Even though she was paralyzed by her injuries, she felt that her soul was truly enchanted by such a graceful craftsmanship.
– Can it happen?
Giving himself a potion, Leonardo asked.
-…Thank you… How did you know about this place…?
Leo calmly explained the reasoning method.
-It was strange that Eileen-senpai, who normally would not tolerate being even one minute late, was 14 minutes late, and it was strange that the number 1 was written with only 1 stroke, not 2 strokes, in the handwriting notice of the meeting time change that day. So I came here just in case… I think you came right.
-…Did you remember all that?
Leo noticed the habit that even Eileen was not aware of. He even saved himself with it.
-sure. I just remembered that I was treated to good tea here.
Saying that, Leonardo looked at the net for a moment to see if there were any enemies nearby, just in case.
Even though it doesn’t do much for you.
In the meantime, Eileen, who had been paralyzed, picked up the potion bottle and drank it directly.
And in her eyes, she saw the name of the medicine written on the potion bottle.
[Elixir of the Phoenix]
The elixir that grinded the heart of the phoenix he gave as a gift, he used the best elixir on himself again without hesitation.
For some reason, every time I saw Leo after that, my heart beat faster.
Although Eileen herself had some sense of what that feeling was.
Eileen was not completely convinced that it was because he had truly felt such a hot feeling for the first time.
“…me too…! any…”
I wanted to be in sight.
Eileen herself wanted to be on the priority list.
“…but… eventually gave up. Do you know who Leo really gave his body and his heart to…!”
Ariaspil had a lot of things to be jealous of.
Even that Leo was very jealous of her.
But there was only one thing Eileen was jealous of.
“But, what was the reward for Leo…!?”
“…uh…”
Chris had an instinctive intuition that something was seriously out of focus.
“If you Reinhardt sincerely wished for Leo’s happiness…! Shouldn’t we at least show our efforts to connect with that handsome hero!?”
A sight similar to what Arya misunderstood as obsession and jealousy.
“…here, there’s something misunderstood…”
“Oh yeah…!! That obsessive hero wouldn’t have pushed him away…! Then, of course, isn’t it unreasonable to doubt you!? Did you want to use the wedding of the hero as a road to success?! Leo will still be in the family, even if it’s just because of his loyalty!?”
…Chris took a deep breath with a sigh, grasping the back of his neck and his forehead to see if he had high blood pressure that didn’t exist.
“…I’m going to say it as many times as I can because there’s a lot of misunderstanding, so please listen to me properly at least once.”
After breathing, Chris discusses with Eileen what kind of relationship the current family will have with Ariaspil and Leonardo in the future.
Leonardo explained in a very detailed and delicate way how ignorant he was about dating.
The consideration was as wide as hahahahae, and it was a gentle explanation as if wine was transferred to a glass and aged.
Leo’s mental state had almost crossed the bottom and vomited up what he had been feeding.
Not long after hearing the explanation, Eileen wanted to deny it, so she protested a few times, then despaired at the shocking reversal and drank too much.
Eventually, the alcohol-soaked brain lost the power of reason and the memory was cut off.