"Say, Leal," I said as I breathed. "I don't really know about Summons," I added. "How you acted seemed like you knew a lot about my kind."
Leal sipped his tea before looking at me.
"Summons were the hybrid of Demons and otherworlders' offspring, if not probably one of the strongest. The common Summons were the horn-types, and the rare were the opaque-eyed Summons. They were the race that the Witch Sora Magestus led during the rebellion," Leal replied.
"Rebellion?"
"Yes. Sora was a brave witch who opposed the Grandmaster's order, leading to a conflict between the royals and citizens. With the help of Summons," Leal made another sip in his teacup. "According to the book I read, Summons was Azrael's bloodline. There was a myth about him leading all the races against the Ancient Serpent puppet, the Great Sage. He slaughtered the Sage and freed everyone from tyranny. But the Ancient Serpent cursed him and his bloodline. It was said Azrael knew about the curse and disappeared, leaving his bloodline vulnerable to the curse even though a Dark Elf sealed the curse and kept it at bay. Their existence was almost unknown until Sora lifted the curse, releasing it so she could use it against the rebellion. Although it was a myth, their strength was too much for the knights," he added. "They were like rampaging beasts all over Orion. It was their nature; Sora must have realized her mistake disturbing these demons and unleashing their sealed curse because not only have they killed thousands of innocents, they have also brought destruction to any place they go."
I was speechless at first.
"So that's why you judge me as soon as you see me without knowing me, right?"
"Well, you can't blame me."
I shook my head as I looked beneath the terrace I was standing on. The people beneath cheered as they chugged the cup of booze being served for everyone while taking some food from the tables covered in white clothes scattered around the plain grassland in the middle of a huge garden full of different kinds of flowers that I could see thanks to the lamp post spread throughout the area.
In some parts of the garden, several decorative-shaped bushes were acting as mini mazes; however, none of the visitors even dared to step inside them.
I mean, who would? Nobody wants to get wrecked by whoever owns this garden.
This place looks beautiful, which says a lot because it feels out of place compared to the other places in this town as if I was no longer inside the lawless town of Levaerûn.
"Boss!"
I stared at Leo sitting on one of the tables with Xin while waving the comically large bottle in his hand.
Sheesh, just by thinking about the booze he made me drink last night, I can already feel my hangover coming back.
On the other hand, I found Rafaela hanging out with Shan and the gang, who gathered around the white metal table at the garden's edge.
This place couldn't accommodate all the guests, so the people inside the garden were the only ones who were picked, and the rest were celebrating outside the road in front of the headquarters of the Marionette faction, and there were many of them.
"I'm sorry if I judge you. Some of those innocent lives that have been destroyed were my kin," Leal said.
"It's fine. I guess I have to show the world that we do not like what they portrayed us."
Leal smiled.
"I guess you should do."
I looked back and found Leal leaning at the frame of the terrace door I was in.
"This place feels incompatible with the overall theme of this town. Whoever made this garden did a very good job taking care of this place."
He chuckled and stood up beside me while looking at the garden with a smile on his face. "Kuro planted it all. Since the day we established the Marionette faction, she decided to make this place her garden."
So that girl Kuro loves gardening.
"By the way, I'm just wondering, who made up the idea of accepting challengers and risking your hard-earned power every time someone is going to challenge you? No matter how hard I think about it, you already have an army of your own; you can deny anyone if you want to. Is there a reason why?"
"Who would want to risk their leadership by accepting a fair one-on-one duel? We're doing this not because we want to; it's because we have to."
"You have to? Why?"
"It's part of our agreement with her."
"Her?"
He exhaled and turned his eyes on me.
"With the Shadow fairy, Raiden Latora. In exchange for the right to acquire half of the area of Levaerûn that Xin and I split into two factions, we agreed on her condition to take challenges from anyone who would challenge us and risk our leadership. At least I've managed to maintain up to this point until you showed up and took it from me."
Wow, that made me feel bad about it.
"We can't say no to her condition for several reasons. But the two main reasons are, first, is the one controlling most of the supplies of the entire town. Most of the goods were coming from her faction." He pointed his hand at the people beneath us. "Commodities, building materials, and even the temporary truce and treaty between the nearby towns all of it, it's all because of her."
The hell? Is she that influential?
"And secondly, she's extremely powerful. Even if the two factions join together to fight her, Xin, and Leo, she could easily defeat us without even trying. Maybe there are still people who are more powerful than her, but she's one of the most powerful mages I have ever met; I saw it firsthand during the war. The main reason this place never fell within the entirety of thirty years of war was mainly because of her and Sora.
Now I'm starting to get nervous about what's waiting for me at the
Spriggan faction tomorrow!
"I see."
"You are planning to challenge her, right?"
"Yes."
"Then, I will suggest that you prepare yourself and set your expectations to the highest; I can assure you that she will easily exceed it."
"Master Leal and Mister Troy."
Both of us looked back and found Kuro bowing her head on us. She raised her head and stared at us with her sharp black eyes.
"Mister Xin asked me to fetch two of you."
"We're going now." Both of us answered while walking towards the door.
Prepare for the worst, huh?