Leon was fully taking advantage of the couch, he removed his boots before stretching all over it. His bed was a cheap one that often made his back ache, he had been dreaming of getting something comfortable to sleep on since he was a child and this thing was exactly what he had wished for.
The flowery smell of the couch was also oddly calming, slowly causing him to relax as he soon forgot where he was.
He had unknowingly started to take a nap, only to be interrupted by the doors opening a few minutes later. He had expected the guard to be there however he was met with an elegant woman that had a gigantic blue hat decorated with overly colorful accessories that looked almost silly.
Her light brown hair were tied into an elegant bun as the smug smile on her face looked stiff at the situation. Her blue eyes showed an hint of contained anger.
" Greeting sir Lionheart, I am duchess Fary Lamfest. I heard that you could use magic?"
Leon stood up in a hurry, making sure to put his boots back on. He lightly cleared his throat, clearly feeling ashamed as he gave the duchess a polite bow.
" It is a pleasure to meet the duchess Lamfest, I heard that you were as beautiful as you were smart and now that I have seen you I can safely say that it wasn't an insult to your intellect."
Leon had only wanted to praise her a bit to cover his mistake however the words had came out of his mouth by themselves. His plan had certainly worked because the duchess's smug smile suddenly into a more friendly one, the anger in her eyes now gone.
" I see that magic is not the only thing that you studied sir Lionheart. Sir Ghel, the knight you met at the gate, assured me that he saw you use magic so I have no reason to question you. If you came here it must be because you heard a bit about what is happening in our kingdom, correct?"
Leon didn't take the time to look into anything so naturally he knew very little about the situation. There was no need to hide this, it was better to try and get as much free information as he could.
" The moment I arrived I met two guards that called you the only hope of the commoners. He implored me to come and help you. I saw no reason to refuse considering all the praise they had for you so I came straight here. I am afraid I am unaware of the situation."
The duchess kept her friendly smile as she went to sit on a chair, signaling for him to sit back down on the couch. The maids behind her quickly started to move and soon enough two cups of tea along with biscuits were spread of the wooden table. Leon did as he was instructed, sitting in front of her.
" I will try to keep it brief. Recently the gap between nobles and commoners has been growing, the last year's winter was especially harsh so there is currently a food shortage in the kingdom. There was already rumors of rebellion floating around for a while now."
It was a common situation for medieval kingdoms which only made Leon more confused as to why she needed a mage so badly. It's not like magic could brainwash an entire kingdom.
" In response I started to increase the demand in bone-crafts, exporting our works to other kingdoms in exchange for some food. The situation had stabilized for a moment but the fact that the king himself did nothing to help with the food shortage kept the commoners warry of nobles.
Things became even worst when commoners around the capital started to disappear without leaving a trace. The common folk started to spread an 'obviously' fake rumor that the king became scared of a rebellion and in his fear he had started to sacrifice his own people to reawaken the royal family's magic.
While most commoners still aren't ready to throw their lives away for a rebellion some individual has started to play hero by killing nobles. He has been doing a lot of damage for someone acting alone."
Once the duchess was done speaking she took a small sip of tea, as if this had nothing to do with her. She made it clear that she didn't want any part in spreading the rumor, whether it was true or not.
Leon decided to take a sip of tea to think for a moment. He didn't want to say the wrong thing and leave a bad impression.
" I assume the reason you wanted the help of a mage wasn't simply to hire an expensive bodyguard. From the way you speak and from the reactions I saw I don't think there is any magicians in these lands, do you want me to teach magic?"
The duchess's eyes seemed to flash with greed for an instant however her facial expression showed no change.
" Perhaps after you are done with my task I might take you on that offer but no. The noble killer is anything but my problem, my reputation among the commoners is quite high so unless it is someone that wishes to throw away his life for no reason I do not think he will target me.
As you guessed, magic has been forgotten by the people of this kingdom, or really by the people of this entire continent but it once existed. Our ancestors fought the giant beasts that serve as our houses, bringing them to extinction by using magic.
With no more threat to our lives magic slowly disappeared however now the problem of the commoners disappearing is real and so I wish to reactivate some old magical formation to protect the people.
Your job is to go inside of a natural labyrinth that formed inside of the body of a dead dragon. The ancestors of the royal family made it into a trial ground to test the future generations, placing deep inside the proof of bravery which serve as a key to activate the magical formations. You are to bring it to me."
The duchess took another sip of tea but this time she looked at him, clearly waiting for his answer.
" I doubt someone as capable as the duchess doesn't have a single talented knight under her service that can go through a simple labyrinth. I want to remind you that you are the one in need of my services, not the other way around. I have yet to see a reason to help you yet you keep playing games."
Leon imitated her as he started to sip tea as if none of this was his problem. The duchess let out a small laugh before snapping her fingers. A maid came in while holding a silk clothe in her hand, something was clearly wrapped in there.
" This is an ancient artifact that was once owned by a forgotten hero. The reason why I needed a mage is simple. No weapon or armor can enter the labyrinth, apart from this artifact. From the limited information that came with it we believe it can let you use magic in there."
The maid slowly unwrapped the silk, revealing a broken sword handle that, while it looked fancy, was incredibly rusted. There was no trace of the blade left. Only the guard, the grip and the pommel was there.
" Knights cannot fight using only a sword handle, so that is why we need a mage. If you wish to recruit people to come with you I will also give you three other artifacts that can similarly let you use magic in the labyrinth, all of which were owned by the hero's partners. You can consider these artifacts as an advance payment if you accept the task.
Within the magical formations there is supposed to be magical items stored, as your payment you will be able to choose exactly 4 magic item from there. I believe that is more than enough to pick your interest, in total there will be 8 magic items, all of which possess millenniums of history."
Some more maids came in to show the other three artifacts. One looked like a broken and rusty necklace, one seemed like a part of a shield and the last one looked like a straight piece of wood that was in surprisingly good condition yet seemed to have no apparent use.
The 4 artifacts weren't very enticing and if they were anything to judge the other 4 possible magic items that he could get it honestly didn't seem like a good deal. Despite that Leon wasn't disappointed, he had no doubt that the hero's artifact was related to the tale's name, 'the tale of a broken sword'.