(This a quick chapter I made about Lilliana's perspective and her assessment of Leo. Mainly to lay down the details for the character. Next chapter I will make real progress on Leo's goal aand action.)
Today, Leo went to work as usual. He will enter Godou's class during the final period and he noticed only Godou is present. Erica and Yuri are absent.
After school, Leo stayed in the office until 5 pm, getting his job done. Mostly preparing notes, evaluating the homework, etc.
On his way out after that, Leo found Liliana waiting for him at the front gate which garnered some attention. Thankfully most students already left and those remaining are students that attended their club activities like baseball, soccer and other sports clubs.
Since Leo is a foreigner teacher, the students didn't think much of it compared to Leo being a local Japanese.
"Liliana… What are you doing here?" Leo asked with a sigh as his body and mind already knew this would be tiring to deal with.
"Ah! Milord, I await to escort you back." Liliana jumped when hearing Leo's voice and quickly turned to him.
"That is unnecessary. I am perfectly capable of returning on my own. Please don't do this anymore from now on." Leo said with a beg at the end because of the stare people throw at him.
It's not surprising when Liliana suddenly pulls a 90 degree bow and basically looks like she is begging him or something.
"But! As a Knight my duty dictate me t-"
Leo didn't give her the opportunity to finish her words before he pulled her along and walked away. He doubts most Japanese understand English. But there is a chance some might and they would understand what Liliana is saying.
"Milord?!" Liliana sounded surprised and confused by Leo's action but didn't resist as she walked along.
"It's Leo. Call me Leo instead. The History Compilation Committee has their ears all around Japan and I would rather keep my identity secret for now."
Liliana was surprised but quickly nodded. She didn't understand why he would keep his identity a secret but if that is what he wished. She can only comply.
After a while, Leo stops pulling her arm and they walk normally. Leo is feeling hungry and so is Liliana when her stomach suddenly growls which makes the girl blush and try to hide her face in embarrassment.
"Hold on a second. Have you eaten anything since morning?" Leo suddenly stopped and asked.
Leo didn't have many ingredients at home because he rarely cooked for himself and would prefer to dine out for most of his meal. He forgot to leave her any food or money to spend on food.
Liliana didn't answer but from the look on her expression, she didn't but didn't want to trouble Leo either.
'Great.' Leo sighed and whispered in his mind as he headed towards the restaurant he always went to for food.
Somehow, Leo can see a parallel between Mittelt and Liliana. Both would rather keep their trouble to themselves rather than troubling him. One because she thinks Leo is God. Another is afraid because Leo is a God Slayer. He finds this similarity funny and nostalgic.
But speaking of Mittelt, she said she realized Leo isn't her father. But since when?
Leo remembers she was quite reserved at first and always acts like she is treading on a thin glass whenever she is with him. But Leo didn't notice her act changed somewhere down the line. She probably realized at that moment, that's why she changed the way she acted and became more open to him.
———
Liliana Kranjcar, a prodigious knight the level of Erica Blandelli. But was outshone by the former. She resented Erica for bagging the Seventh Campione which caused her grandfather to be inspired and ordered Lilica to serve the most feared and oldest Campione, Duke Voban.
However, everything changed in such a short span of time that she thought she was dreaming.
A Campione strength is measured by the authorities they held and usually, the older a Campione is, the more authority they obtained.
Duke Voban being the oldest Campione, can also be called the strongest in terms of authorities, was defeated by an unknown Campione.
Duke Voban called him as the Eighth Campione which means her new lord is the youngest and theoretically the weakest Campione but he defeated the Oldest Campione in a fair fight.
Liliana wonders what authority he has because his authority is too abnormal.
A Campione will only obtain one authority upon killing a god. Godou being an exception because his authority is an authority with 8 different authorities within it. However, her lord clearly didn't have only one authority.
He can create mist with unknown effect, create a bloody mist that turns Duke Voban's Legion of Hungry Wolves into a hideous monster and turn against Duke Voban himself and finally, he can empower himself when the moon turns red like blood and also heal himself from all kind of injury by ingesting blood.
Liliana tried to guess what god her lord slayed based on the power he showed. But she found herself stumped. Blood is a very rare power very few gods have. In fact, there is no deity that specifically holds the divinity of blood. They are only at most, associated with blood like Ares the God of War and Slaughter.
So, a god with divinity of Moon and Blood is nonexistent. Perhaps it's not a god and instead a demon or other supernatural creatures. But she didn't have the resources in hand to conduct such thorough research.
His authority aside, her new lord is also very powerful. If she were to fight against him with technique alone. She would be defeated very easily because she saw and analyzed his fighting style. It's not a style used by any existing school. It's a technique that can be learned through training, it's a technique that learned through constant battle, honing it at the cost of his life because there is no room for error in a real battle. Any slip means death.
A brutal yet effective style because he exploits his opponent's weaknesses to achieve victory just like a real predator would.
Once Leo grasped Duke Voban's weaknesses, Leo didn't hold back and fought like a rabid wolf that night, ignoring all injury he received and focused only to draw out more blood from his opponent and use it to heal himself. An accurate word to describe him that night would be a berserker.
It's terrifying. She isn't surprised that Duke Voban lost that night. Duke Voban himself was also surprised and terrified by Leo.
Try to imagine fighting an opponent that would disregard his own safety and life as he attacks you rabidly. Using his weird contraption of a weapon that combines a saw and a large cleaver to bleed you dry to heal himself. The more blood he ingested, the crazier he became and more fierce he attacked. Even after you die, he keeps cleaving your corpse like a rabid beast.
In such a situation, not even the Oldest Campione can stay calm and die.
This is the reason why Liliana feared her new lord that much. But thankfully, his personality outside of battle isn't the same. Because of this, she is convinced the madness she saw in him that night was induced by the authorities.
But she still has difficulty looking at her lord's face without flinching and she doesn't know why. Whenever he gazes at her, she just gets this feeling like she is a small bunny cowering in front of a very angry and starved lion.
Although, when she interacted with him after a while. She found that his personality is totally different than she expected. He is a man of little words, always looking dazed but Liliana knew he just liked to talk in his mind to himself?
Anyway, what happened in the past is the past. What matters now is the fact she will be serving a new lord. A handsome one too, she might add. If only she could gloat it on Erica's face, her day would have been complete.
After she spends most of the morning researching about her new lord's authority, she remembers that it's almost time he finished his work.
Liliana quickly went to the academy and waited for him to leave. She has to appeal to her new lord in hope he would allow her to serve as his knight because she isn't that dumb to not notice that he didn't accept her yet.
In fact, he seems to find her presence uncomfortable… She wonders why that is the case.
She waited for almost half an hour awkwardly in front of the gate as students exiting the academy were interested by her presence and wondered who she was waiting for.
Oddly enough, most of the students were cursing the Seventh Campione's name and telling him to go explode or something. Liliana ignores that as she waits a bit longer before she sees her lord walk toward the gate and notices her.
The students were surprised at first but soon left after learned who she was waiting for. They still express some jealousy but not as bad as toward the Seventh Campione.
"Liliana… What are you doing here?" Her lord states with a sigh and somewhat guilty look which Liliana didn't miss.
Liliana pretended to just notice him and said, "Ah! Milord, I await to escort you back."
"That is unnecessary. I am perfectly capable of returning on my own. Please don't do this anymore from now on." He replied instantly while his eyes were looking at the students around him while trying to hide his embarrassment as if he was being picked up from work by his mother or something.
Ignoring his embarrassment, Liliana bowed down and begged him not to relieve her from her duty. This is very important to her as she finally landed with a decent lord. If she were to return back to the Bronze Black Cross after Duke Voban was slayed, she would definitely be offered to another Campione.
With that in mind, she quickly begs him. Although, before she could finish her sentence, she felt her arm were pulled away and she saw her lord were dragging her away while trying to avoid the gaze of the little crowd gathered around them.
"Milord?" Liliana called, confused by his action.
It's unimaginable that a man who transcended humanity after slaying a god would be embarrassed by such a trivial matter. But little did she knew, that was indeed the case.
"It's Leo. Call me Leo instead." Her lord said while keeping his face on the front as he pulled her along.
Liliana was surprised that her lord would allow her to address him casually but quickly nodded. Would this mean he acknowledged her presence? She isn't quite sure but he is definitely more open now compared to this morning.
But suddenly, her stomach growled.
"Hold on a second. Have you eaten anything since morning?" Leo suddenly stopped and turned to her before asking.
Inside her mind, Liliana was already screaming hysterically. Why? Why now of all time!
Liliana is too embarrassed to even look at his face to answer that question. But surprisingly, he didn't pursue the question. Instead he just kept walking, trying to lead her somewhere.
He is surprisingly gentlemanly too. He understands that she was embarrassed and instead of asking a question that answers he already knew. He stays quiet and probably leads her to a place they can eat.
After a few minutes of walking, her guess was indeed true. They arrived at a restaurant that serves classic Japanese cuisine.
They walk up to a vending machine to get tickets for their food. Her lord even helped her navigate through the vending machine out, assuming she didn't know how to use it when she actually did but she didn't correct his error either.
Instead, she is very happy thinking about how she just won the lottery on him. Such a compassionate, caring and gentlemanly lord. Those are qualities most Campione lack because of the way they are. Fools or generally people with loose screws in their head to even dare opposing the gods.
After that, they silently have their meal and then her lord suggests they visit the nearby mall after finding out she lacks all basic needs and clothes. They went for a shopping which somehow felt like a date. But her mind didn't dare thinking of such thoughts.
He is just looking out for her. Nothing more, nothing less. That's all, she insisted in her mind while she tried to hide the blush on her face imagining herself romantically with her lord.
'No, you mustn't, Liliana!' She slaps her cheeks while trying to banish the thoughts from her head while they are walking back to his home.
At least, the walk back home is quiet and uneventful. It give her plenty of time to sort her mind.
—————
If you readers feel generous or want to appreciate my work and effort, feel free to tip me here.
https://ko-fi.com/lazy_kat_aoi