Chapter 369
Leon split into two and took Matt a short distance away from Liz.
At first, Matt felt profoundly awkward about talking to Leon about the Soerilia incident. If he hadn’t come in spells blazing, Matt might have felt a little better about talking to his father-in-law as an understanding ear. But the serious King Leon was someone he wasn’t used to, and he didn’t want to explain a massive failure to him.
Still, he did it.
“I fucked up. It's as simple as that. I made assumptions, didn’t look deep enough, and then flew off the handle like a typical Ascender.”
Leon grinned at that, but shook his head. “You know, while you did fuck up, that’s probably one of the most Ascender things you’ve done? I’m teasing, but it's true. But in the end… yeah, you fucked up, but that’s not the end of the world. Soerilia’s boat might have been rocked, but you didn’t just leave them to pick up the pieces. Yo—”
Leon shook his head, stopping Matt from interrupting him. “You didn’t. I’m not trying to say you didn’t create a mess, but you stayed until the baron arrived and you did your best to keep things under control and moving along. That said, your issue isn’t that you acted like an Ascender, it's that you acted like a mortal. That's a problem a lot of young Ascenders have, which is part of the reason they all have bad reputations.”
Matt’s disbelief must have been obvious, because Leon nodded. “Seriously, go look at some Ascenders' histories. Most of the incidents where they are known for flying off the handle are from before they were a thousand years old. Not all of them– Ascenders are known for punching first– but the main issue is with just how fast you all advance. You never have a chance to just sit still and watch a century or five pass by. Soerilia might have been slow, but did that really matter?”
Matt considered his words, but rejected Leon's statement. “It did for the people who were being denied the Empire standard of living. The poor and the destitute. Th—” Seeing Leon's look, Matt stopped and asked testily, “What?”
“Did things get better when the world was unveiled?”