Before long, that "royal guardian" led Finn into the pavilion.
As the man sat down across from him, Leon finally noticed that this leader of the Pallum people, the Lv. 6 "Braver" himself, hadn't been having quite as glamorous a time lately as the surface suggested.
The heavy dark circles under his eyes made it plain... our Lord Finn was almost certainly running on a serious sleep deficit.
"Hey, Leon, you made it."
"Yeah, and you look like...?"
Finn caught his meaning and gave a helpless shrug.
"There's just way too much to deal with. Riveria and Gareth shoulder a good chunk of the familia work for me, but the coordination and scheduling within Orario itself is piling up sky-high. The Christmas Festival's almost here, you know how it is... every time there's a big celebration like this, there's no end to the deployments and contingency plans to draw up. And the single most important, most critical, top-priority one of all is still guarding against an attack the Evilus might launch."
"My guess is, you don't believe they'll just sit quietly hunkered down somewhere having themselves a peaceful Christmas either, right?"
Faced with Finn's grim little joke, Leon mused to himself:
Pretty clear-eyed about it, isn't he. Tch... no one's actually dumb enough to think the Evilus would behave over the holiday, right? Even if they really did want to "celebrate," it'd probably be a celebration of mass slaughter for the deranged.
He kept it off his face and just nodded along.
"True enough. You can never be too careful with lunatics like that."
At that, Finn rubbed the corner of his temple, which ached with a phantom throb from the long hours of work, and sighed.
"That's the situation, and it's a real headache..."
...
After that, the two of them chatted a while longer about the movements of the various familias around the city, and then Finn exchanged a glance with Riveria, laid two envelopes gently on the stone table, and pushed them across to Leon.
"Leon, this is the payment for the Monster Hunter Special we borrowed from you on the last Expedition, along with the purchase cost for this batch."
"Sorry it took so long. I hope you don't mind."
Something stirred in Leon's chest, and he was secretly delighted.
And here I thought you'd weaseled out of paying for those several dozen portions of Monster Hunter Special. So this is where it was waiting for me.
He smoothly picked up the envelopes, rubbing his fingertips over them to gauge the thickness, then caught sight of the exact figure inside, and the smile on his face grew a few degrees more genuine.
"The Loki Familia, as expected. This is exactly the kind of no-nonsense client I love doing business with!"
Hearing that, Finn and Riveria exchanged a glance, their expressions subtle.
Back when we were pouring everything into preparing for the Expedition, who was it that kept insisting he didn't think we'd make it?
This guy really is...
But before either of them could say anything more, Leon had calmly risen to his feet, ready to take his leave.
"Since the goods are delivered, I won't trouble you any longer."
"Ah... right. You're welcome to drop by anytime."
"I'll do that."
With that, he wasted no more time, pushing his flatbed cart and heading out.
Just as Leon was crossing the front courtyard in good spirits, he abruptly sensed a burning gaze.
He turned his head, sensing something.
Sure enough, at the edge of the third-floor gallery, a swollen little face peeking out from a mess of golden hair was fixed intently on his back. Those eyes blazed with undisguised fighting spirit, as if to scorch right through him.
Leon: "..."
Miss Ais, a wise person knows when to read the situation!
...
...
At the very moment Leon's true body stepped out of the Loki Familia headquarters...
In front of the Astraea Familia headquarters just one street over, under Kaguya's gaze, tangled with complicated emotions, and Alise's radiant smile of farewell, another "Leon" was also turning to leave.
His figure was steady, his pace unhurried, until he vanished completely around the street corner.
And the instant he slipped out of the two women's sight, the once lively expression on "Leon's" face froze over, swiftly going wooden and hollow like a painting drained of all its color.
"Huh?"
A startled woman's voice came from the far end of the alley.
The girl Adi had come looking for Ryuu at just the wrong moment, and now she stared in utter bewilderment as that figure transformed in an instant from a living person into a crystalline ice sculpture, which then let out a string of crisp cracking sounds, splintering apart against the ground piece by piece until it dissolved away into nothing.
The whole thing took less than three seconds.
Set against the white blanket of the snowy day, the sight was unbelievably eerie.
"Wh-what was that thing?!"
Adi's eyes went wide, brimming with disbelief, her face looking like she'd just seen a ghost.
...
Of course, Leon naturally had no way of knowing his ice clone's dissolution had happened to be witnessed by Adi. Even if he had known, though, he wouldn't have cared.
The ice clones created by White Art existed precisely to be used, and someone noticing them was only a matter of time.
Besides, this wasn't some secret that had to be guarded closely. Even if some shameless thing tried to dig down to the bottom of the mystery, it would first have to ask whether the goddess Demeter would allow it. Did they really take him for some Lv. 1 or Lv. 2 small fry out of one of those minor familias, the kind anyone could push around at will?
Standing behind him was the Demeter Familia!
Did they ever want to eat again?
See if he wouldn't make the price of grain and ingredients across Orario double overnight!
...
Back to Leon's true self.
The moment the clone was dismissed, his steps faltered slightly, and he looked thoughtfully toward the direction of the Astraea Familia.
The goddess of justice, truly worthy of the name. Just a brief little contact with "me," and she already picked up on something off about that ice clone.
Then again, it stands to reason. A clone is, in the end, still a clone, and at my current level of control, it's far from perfect. The expressions and mannerisms during conversation are bound to give something away under close, careful observation. With her keen eye, spotting the tell is only natural.
Those justice-apostle young ladies, on the other hand, not a single one of them caught anything wrong with my ice clone.
Reaching that conclusion, a smile tugged unconsciously at the corner of Leon's mouth.
Good. My grasp of the ice clones seems to be coming along nicely now.
...
The Astraea Familia.
The goddess sat poised on the sofa, watching with a smile as the girls chattered away, debating topics about Leon, Jeanne, Rose, and the others, along with the Monster Hunter Special. And of course... what they discussed most was that abnormal growth speed of theirs, and the terrifying combat strength they'd shown in the Monster Rex subjugation battle, the kind that let them fight across levels.
"Eh? But if that's the case, then whether it's Miss Jeanne, or Miss Rose, or Miss Kureha, doesn't that make every one of them just as strong as our Alise?"
Ryuu looked at the slow-on-the-uptake werewolf girl, speechless, and let out a helpless sigh.
"Neze, your reactions really are too slow."
As she spoke, she looked toward the goddess.
"Why else do you think Astraea places so much importance on the Demeter Familia?"
"That's it, isn't it, Lady Astraea?"
At that, the goddess of justice smiled faintly.
"Who's to say?"
"Though... I do think that Mr. Leon just now was rather interesting."
[Read 60+ chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/NiaXD]