Chapter 329: The Liora Palace Incident [1]
"Alice, do tell me. Why exactly are you calling my sister as yours?"
"Hm? Can I not? Does it make you uncomfortable or something?"
It did not, to be honest, but Leon was genuinely curious about what got them this close in the first place.
Alice blinked, then added.
"It was her who told me to call her that, though? And we do not really mind it."
Looks like Alice understood exactly what he was trying to ask.
"After you went off to the Merlin Kingdom, I spent quite a lot of time holed up inside her office. You could say we became pretty close, spending all that time together."
’Huh... that is new.’
So she was there for a reason and he was right.
"I heard that the Blood Tower had a teleportation gate, so I went there to request her to let me use it, to gather some of my materials for your weapon."
"Wait, you actually used the teleportation gate? Where exactly did you go?"
Alice smirked.
"Not telling."
"What?"
"Consider this a little payback for hiding stuff from me all this time."
She stuck out her tongue and mocked him openly.
Leon’s eye twitched at the expression she was making.
It was insanely annoying.
"Fine, don’t tell me then. It is not like I was dying to know anyway."
"Heh."
She giggled at his reaction.
"Oh my, you two have gotten real close so soon it just melted my dying old heart."
Both of them turned toward the voice at the exact same time, and noticed Raizen, Alice’s own grandfather, walking toward them.
He was dressed in red and white noble attire with the Nightson crest embroidered on it.
Leon slightly bowed to show his respect.
"Good evening, Headmaster."
"Good evening, good evening."
He waved his hand casually and stopped right in front of the two of them.
Alice, standing beside him, shot Raizen a sharp glare.
"Old man. Why the fuck are you drinking again."
Alice hissed, snatching the glass right out of his hand.
"Hey now, at least let me have this one drink."
"No."
She said it once and for all.
"Just one."
"Alright, fine. Try drinking some, and I will stop talking to you for a whole week."
"Ghaaaaa!"
Leon watched how much that single threat affected Raizen.
He soon gave up on drinking entirely, slumping his shoulders in defeat.
Coughing once to recover his dignity, he looked back at Leon.
"I always thought my granddaughter would end up angry and alone. So it is good to finally see she made herself a really good friend."
"Good friend?" Alice scoffed, waving her hand dismissively. "do not go around promoting him like that. He is more of a... nuisance I have grudgingly gotten used to."
"Wow." Leon said flatly. "And after everything I have done for you."
"Hmph! everything you have done for me has given me three sleepless nights and a permanent eye twitch, thank you very much."
Raizen chuckled, stroking his long beard as he watched the two of them bicker.
"Well then you two carry on just like this, I have to go meet some guests."
After seeing Raizen heading back to the direction where he came from, Leon glanced at Alice and asked.
"When was the last time you talked with your grandfather?"
"...Hm? I think it was two weeks ago. Ah, now that you asked me he actually stopped visiting me at Eclipse after my classes. I think he is busy with something."
When Alice just started Eclipse, her grandfather used to come see her every now and then. At some point they even had dinner together.
But after the Tiara incident, when Raizen rejoined ’Authories’, the visits became irregular and now he rarely even comes to her.
It was clear to Leon of what might have made Raizen busy all this time.
’Oh well, that’s Ayaka’s problem now.’
While chatting with Alice, Leon had taken note of every invitee who was supposed to be here today. And his guess was correct, there indeed were people here who were never in the list which Eula gave him.
Leon took a sip, and mentally counted the people he found strange.
’One, Two, Three.... Fifty-Seven.’
There were a total of Fifty Seven of them roaming around the hall.
They were all nobles from both Merlin and Liora Kingdom, but they were never in the invitee list which Eula gave.
His eyes settled on a particular person.
He was of Viscount rank noble.
Slightly peeking toward his side, Leon opened his status window. He skipped over all the other information, and simply looked at his Mana Core.
[Mana Core: Yellow (Corrupted)]
Right next to the Viscount, there was yet another man, Leon did the exact same thing to him.
[Mana Core: Bright Red (Corrupted)]
Then Leon took a sip of his wine and turned his face back toward Alice.
He kept talking to her casually, but had his eyes locked on a woman standing at the corner, mingling with the other noble ladies.
[Mana Core: Orange (Corrupted)]
He kept on checking, one after another.
And every single one of the fifty seven uninvited guests, the ones who were never on the list, all had their Mana Cores corrupted.
At this point, they were no longer humans.
They were Ghouls.
And there was only one Demon in existence capable of doing something on this massive of a scale.
The Calamity ranked Demon, Zenith.
The very same one who had turned Shin into a Ghoul.
"...Oh! Leon, look!"
Alice tugged at his sleeve and pointed toward the staircase.
Leon spotted Lillian there, wearing a rather authentic Liora outfit, gracefully walking down the steps.
Beside her were Vivy in Evana’s white military uniform.
The knights raised their horns and lifted their swords in perfect unison as the three of them descended.
"Presenting Her Highness, Princess Lillian Bluemoon of the Kingdom of Evana!"
Every single eye in the hall turned toward her.
They were all left in awe at the sight of her, for an Elf in this era was an extremely rare thing to behold.
"...Hm?"
Leon’s eyes blinked as they settled beside Vivy.
There was a small girl there, holding onto her hand and walking closely beside her.
’What the heck is she doing here?’
Rumi clicked her tongue inside his head and spoke up with clear irritation.
’That damn lizard brat. What is she doing all the way out here?’
"Ah..."
Leon got it now. It was that dragon hatchling from before.
’Hm... she really does look just like a real human now. Wait—’
Even Vivy looked completely human, the horns that usually sat above her head were now gone.
And then, seeing all of them, Leon’s eyes locked directly onto Irene’s.
Her golden eyes widened the moment she found him in the crowd, and she locked her gaze right onto his.
Her platinum hair was tied up neatly into a high ponytail, a few loose strands framing the sides of her face and a soft shade of tinted lipstick rested on her lips. And that white military uniform hugged her figure in a way that made her look sharp, elegant, and honestly, dangerously beautiful all at once.
She was mesmerizing to the point of looking dashing.
And even, if Leon had to admit it out loud... she looked hot right now.
"Woah."
Leon said it out loud without even realising.