practice makes perfect
Leonel left the final targets to them as per request from Blaidd. now back in the mansion he spent some time resting and catching up with Ana. apparently, she had begun to set up a mercenary faction which worked in liurnia helping all she could against bandits and slavers barely making profit. lady song and knight Bram where awfully proud, thanks to their combined teachings she was finally coming out of her shell slowly but surely developing into a beautiful and intelligent rose. " And I was planning to name them the crimson rose company although lady song told me it was quite a long name, what do you think?" she asked. " Well, you are their founder, name them whatever you think fits best ana, tell me, how do you like the city so far?" he asked as he sat in her study.
"it's nice, the people are very kind to me and the neighbors across the street are super nice, their son is training to be a storm veiled knight did you know? they say they are as strong as the enchanted knights is that true?" she asked enthusiastically. "Well, I wouldn't know I haven't encountered a storm veiled knight much less see them clash with an enchanted knight, have you made any friends yet?" he asked. "Oh yes! I have to introduce you to Shaylin... speaking of her Leo can i ask you a favor?" she asked. "Anything ana just say it" he said with a kind smile. "Well... a lot of people have been going missing even her father disappeared yesterday, do you think you could keep an eye out for him out in your travels? here's a drawing of him" she said as she handed a parchment to him.
he barely glanced over it instantly recognizing the dead man before softly nodding to her earning himself a smile. " I'll see what I can do, Bram tells me you are absolutely dangerous in hand-to-hand combat, want to spar with me?" he asked. she bushed a bit in embarrassment but ultimately agreed. sometime later Leonel lay flat on his ass tasting dirt as a worried ana fussed over him. the large knight Bram kept laughing uproariously at his predicament. "Haha boy I can't believe my offhanded teachings could best an enchanted knight in training" Bram said holding his gut.
' Hes right cub, without mana or enhancements you really do loose plenty of power, you should practice without it until you master your Gundyr style, it'll do you well cub" Sarabi spoke form her resting point atop the roof overlooking the open courtyard. "haaah you're right, knight Bram, would you train me?" he asked getting a happy nod from the old knight. he tried to fight with nothing but his bodies strength and agility. head round left him beaten and bruised yet he kept going constantly worrying ana who watched from the benches. he didn't feel like he was improving at first until he started pulling combos together more fluidly sometimes finding his body reacting by itself.
a week passed quickly, during that time he never used a single drop of mana. each day he pushed himself to the limit. if he wasn't sparring with Bram he was lifting as much weight as possible. near the end of the week Blaidd finally showed up. the half wolf simply knocked on the door giving the servants quite the scare. " thanks to you the underground organization has been dealt with and many smuggled items and people have been returned to their original owners, six billion golden coins have been deposited into your account within the Carian Hall as recompence alongside plenty of lunar coins totaling in the thousands, not much but this is what we could pick up from their associates in liurnia, I thank your young knight" the half wolf said as they sat in the living room.
Leonel sat there utterly astonished over the large monetary reward. "don't be so surprised, their operations have been going on for some time and that amount is close to a small sized noble house in value, we already split up our share and that's just your part, the duke remains untouchable for now until we finish dealing with the golden order and their meddling but Tiche the black knife you met is currently in an audience with queen Marika in order to give us the green light to strike him down" the half wolf explained.
"Who would replace the duke then?" Leonel asked. "Naturally his daughter which means soon enough you will be in secret control of storm hill city, lady Ranni commends you in your resourcefulness, now then I must be off, I have many things to do, may we meet again young knight" the half wolf said before leaving. "Olani, you know what to do, all I ask is that you improve the lives of those within the city" he said to the caramel skinned woman sitting awfully close to his liking. the next day the duke was publicly hanged, and Olani took the title of duchess. what followed where weeks of training for Leonel and during that time slavery within the city was all but abolished, poverty as well was properly dealt with and now it was rare to see someone sleeping in the streets.
Ana had fully set up her company and they were doing the moons work in liurnia exterminating bandit camps left and right selling all that they found. Leonel felt like he had a good grasp on his style now that he had refined it to an acceptable level thanks to Bram. his mana reserves had grown exponentially during that month as well. "Must you truly deal with a dragon?" a worried ana asked him as they sat in her study. " Hopefully I won't even meet the thing, but Bram says I can handle a juvenile one at my level if it does turn out to be a wondering dragon that strayed too far from Greyroll's dragon barrow" he said as he stood up. Ana approached him and hugged him tightly, he hugged her back and kissed the top of her head. "Please be safe Leonel, if you have to retreat then do so, your life is far more valuable than glory" she said with worry evident in her tone and eyes.
" I'll be fine Ana, I have Sarabi with me and you saw how hard I trained this month, I'll be back in a week at most, when I come back promise me that you'll show me that flower garden you refuse me to enter?" he said as he distanced himself from her. she nodded with a soft smile then pushed him out of the office and closed the door, she sent a soft prayer to the moon for his safety and dived right back into her paperwork. He suited up and hopped atop Sarabi as they began their trip to fort strong iron. half a day letter they approached the imposing fort.
fort strong iron was a beast of architectural wonder, at the center of a lake the bastion stood strong with high walls and even higher towers. a boat was the only way to enter the place thus he approached the outpost at the lakes shore. " HALT, you approach fort strong iron lakeside outpost, state the reason for the visit" a guard said atop the rampart of the decently sized outpost. " I am Leonel the mercenary requested for the dragon inspection and possible extermination" he yelled back. the guard turned away from the rampart and some moments later the gate rose allowing entry. he entered and handed the scroll detailing his information and mission to the guard who read it then passed it back.
" you'll have to head to the fort and meet with commander Gus for more information on the dragon, me and the boys here are fresh straight out of castle storm veil so we don't know about any dragon" the guard said. Leonel nodded and rode Sarabi atop one of their large steel rafts, soon after they took off towards the distant fort. upon arriving they were greeted by a mountain of a man," welcome to my cozy rock mercenary, I take it you are after the dragon, no?" the giant of a man covered in heavy armor asked. Leonel handed him the scroll which he quickly read through and handed back. "Truthfully I could do this myself, but I can't leave the fort without command thus you were hired, come follow me" he said as he turned around and got on the elevator connecting the water's edge to the surface of the fort.
they ascended swiftly and Leonel was blown away over the size of the place, each soldier equipped with expensive yet powerful gear and weapons. the place seemed true to its name, strong men of iron atop a strong iron fort. "Beautiful, isn't it? here the elites of limgrave are trained day and knight, we get them as nothing, but farmers and they return as elite knights" the commander explained as they walked towards the observatory of the fort. another elevator ride and they were at the top overlooking the entire lake and even able to see many villages as well as storm veil castle.
" This observatory helps us keep track of the comings and goings in limgrave, no large group goes unnoticed up here which means no army could catch us off-guard, the dragon was sighted last month, and it incinerated that village you see to east" the commander pointed out towards a still burning village, he handed Leonel a spy glass allowing for better sight. what remained of the village was nothing but smoldering ashes. " I suggest you start your search at the village, some people survived and are currently trying to rebuild from the ashes, ask them all you want, good hunting kid" he said. half a day later and he reached the village although it was in the dead of night.
a bit of persuasion and Sarabi convinced him to rest for the night at the village outskirts before going in during the morning. 'Hey Sarabi, do you think we could fight a dragon?' he asked. 'We can most definitely fight one now as for slaying a dragon, that i do not know, we would need to plan things properly and make sure we strike it down swiftly before it takes to the sky, let me teach you a healing spell you could use before you go to sleep' she said. 'Healing? aren't those inherently only capable by incantations?" he asked. 'Normally yes but your spirit tuning abilities allows you to meld spiritual energy to heal practically any wound no matter how severe although it's not as fast as incantations' she explained.
' it's simple really, your body is a copy of the image of your soul therefore if it is damaged the energy of your soul should be able to bring it back into the perfect image of your soul, I will slice your palm with my claw, and you will pump the wound full of spiritual energy while imagining it closing' she said before her tail left a nasty gash upon his hand. he winced but ultimately began the process, with the naked eye he could see the wound almost going back in time as it closed up rather quickly. 'Although not instantaneous like an incantation it will save your life should you get injured, get used to the feeling cub, let's try it a couple more times' she said before running her sharp tail all over his body opening several wounds. he gritted his teeth and began the process again.
this time they took a bit longer to close due to the large amount of them, but they closed either way.' good job cub, well practice some more before going to sleep' she said, and he could swear he saw her actually enjoying this. what followed was a pain filled night as he pumped his body full of spiritual energy closing wound after wound. the next day came too quick for his opinion as he woke up in a rather grumpy mood which was replaced by excitement and dread. after all, today marks his first day as a dragon hunter.