Chapter 66: Leo escapes

“Leo! Leo…!”

Lena rushed over to Leo, who was lying on the ground, her face pale with fear. She pushed the unconscious man off of Leo, but then hesitated. She should have checked his pulse or called out to him, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. What if she moved closer and he wasn’t breathing? What if there was no pulse? What was she supposed to do?

Her heart raced loudly in her ears. She couldn’t bear to look at Leo’s closed eyes and lifeless limbs.

Bruno joined her, standing beside her, his face just as tense with disbelief.

“Leo… why…?”

Lena’s mind drifted as she echoed Bruno’s whispered words. Yes, why? Why was he here? Why was he in such a state?

“Why… holding onto pig organs like that…?”

Why the pig organs—?

“What…?”

Lena turned to Bruno, confusion etched on her face. What had he just said?

Bruno exhaled, a rare sign of irritation, and crouched beside Leo.

“Come on, cut it out. Wake up,” he demanded in his usual blunt Weitz language, roughly shaking Leo by the shoulders.

“Uh? Huh? What’s going on?”

Lena, baffled, murmured as she watched the rough shaking, worrying that Bruno might be harming Leo.

“Wait, he’s in critical condition…”

She rushed over to kneel by Leo, trying to stop Bruno’s rough handling.

But then…

“Mmm… dissection… the highlight of the tour…”

Leo’s lips, which shouldn’t have been moving, whispered these strange words. Lena’s eyes widened.

“What…?”

“Fresh… barbecue… B-grade yet gourmet…”

The muttering was accompanied by a half-smile, less like a dying man’s last words and more like sleep talk.

Bruno leaned in closer to Leo and whispered, “Purify.” Lena gasped as Leo suddenly jumped up, shouting incomprehensible words.

Bruno watched as Leo blinked at them, and then said, “I’ve dispelled the darkness clouding his consciousness.” It seemed he had used the opposite power of what he had used on the other men earlier.

Lena’s mind raced as she tried to understand the situation. What had she just witnessed?

From Leo’s stomach, what appeared to be internal organs fell with a wet thud as he got up. Upon closer inspection, the organs were not connected to Leo; they were from another animal. Leo’s blood-soaked clothes were not torn but just covered in blood.

Seeing Lena and Bruno, Leo’s face lit up.

“Bruno! Lena! You’re here… just in time!”

He greeted them with joy, as though they had arrived at a surprise party rather than a dangerous situation.

Leo glanced around at the scene, his brow furrowed in confusion.

“Why is everyone unconscious? Mass fainting?”

He sounded puzzled as he surveyed the situation. Lena felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.

(What is this…?)

Leo was alive. He hadn’t been in danger at all—just unconscious or asleep?

“Ah…”

A faint snapping sound echoed in Lena’s head.

“Y—”

She almost shouted at Leo, but her throat burned, so she kicked the floor instead, frustrated.

“Why! Why! Why…”

Lena tried to express her outrage in the Elrandic language, but it wasn’t enough to capture her complex emotions.

(What had just happened? Why had Leo been holding onto bloody pig organs? How could he have known how worried they had been?)

Lost for words due to her anger, Lena watched as Bruno, exasperated, questioned Leo.

“What is with that carefree attitude?”

“Ah, I’m sorry, you guys rushed over to check on me, didn’t you? Did you knock these guys out, Bruno?”

“What else would it be?”

“No, no, these guys aren’t enemies! They were just business partners!”

Leo explained fluently in Elrandic, leaving Lena and Bruno baffled.

“Wait, what?”

Leo sat down cross-legged and looked apologetically at the unconscious men around him.

He began to explain the events leading up to their arrival. According to Leo, after being captured by Alir Ad, he was bound to a shrine. The men had been sent to kill him, but through his persuasive speech and earnestness, he managed to win them over. 

The men had untied him, but then, affected by a strange scent, they became overenthusiastic and tried to attack him. Just when Leo thought all hope was lost, a miracle occurred. 

A spirit of gold protected him by concealing him within gold coins. 

“What?”

“A spirit of gold…?”

Leo spoke confidently about the spirit, which is rarely recognized officially. Lena and Bruno exchanged suspicious glances. Had Leo confused dreams with reality?

However, there were indeed blood-stained gold coins on the shrine. The most surprising part of the story came next.

“The spirit of gold did exist! It wasn’t just a dream! The spirit was similar to the spirit of light; it glowed when it concealed me, causing the men to believe I was the avatar or chosen one of the light spirit.”

“What?”

Lena and Bruno were taken aback. Leo, who was notoriously greedy, being seen as the chosen one of the spirit of light?

The situation was beyond belief, and their expressions showed it.

Leo continued, “While I was in the coins, the men were worshiping me, believing I was the light spirit’s chosen one. They repeatedly apologized for their actions and promised to do anything to make amends.”

Given the strong belief in spirits among Elrand’s people, Leo explained how he had taken advantage of the situation.

“I persuaded them to teach me their amazing pig dissection techniques for my own benefit, but mostly for business purposes.”

“B-grade gourmet tour… tourism business?”

“Yes! The dissection skills are valuable for both tourism and other uses. I couldn’t leave without learning them. I explained that I wanted to experience their world, and they seemed touched by my earnestness.”

Leo’s words mirrored those of the light spirit in the legends, which was why the men were deeply moved.

“So, they started the dissection demonstration. I was eager to learn their techniques.”

Leo had insisted on trying the dissection himself, observing every detail.

“Then… I slipped on a blood puddle and hit my head on the shrine. That’s the whole story.”

Lena and Bruno stared at each other, lost for words.

What was Leo doing? They thought he was in danger, but he had been engrossed in learning about pig dissection. 

As Leo recounted the scene with the men surrounding him, Lena and Bruno exchanged knowing glances. 

“Was he in trouble? No, he must have just been unconscious.”

Many, many retorts rose within Lena, but something—a mix of anger and resignation—suppressed them all.

There was a silence that lasted about five breaths.

Eventually, Lena crumpled to the ground, collapsing heavily. “I can’t do this anymore,” she murmured in a deeply sad voice.

(What had all our desperation been for? What had been the point of our resolve? I had even prayed to the spirits, asking them to save his life, promising to apologize and make amends for anything. What was it all for?)

(Oh, right. The prince was still in that state…)

The thought of a prince rushing to their aid with such intense determination felt almost too tragic to bear. It seemed comical, but it was also heartbreaking.

Lena, who hated men and nobles, found herself wanting to comfort Albert, almost wanting to pat him on the back and say, “There, there.”

“Leo, you should apologize to Prince Albert. No, scratch that. You should apologize to all of us. Right now.”

“That’s unsettling! Wait, the prince? Why?”

Yet, Leo seemed utterly confused by this.

When Lena briefly explained the situation, Leo turned pale.

“Wait, so you’re saying he noticed I was trying to escape and rushed here with all his might?”

It seemed that was how Leo interpreted the situation.

There was no need for Lena to explain the prince’s feelings, but she found herself growing irritated. Leo’s indifference to the urgency and seriousness of the situation made her angry.

“Come on, you need to stop being so careless.”

“Huh?”

Leo’s clothes were soaked in blood. Men were strewn about, unconscious. It was infuriating how Leo managed to save himself, considering the peril he had been in. Though he seemed unbothered, Lena couldn’t overlook the fact that he could have lost his life.

Despite being so nonchalant and even refusing their help, Leo treated the rescue as if it hardly mattered.

“What do you think? Don’t you realize how much we—me, Albert, all of us—have been worried about you? How can you not understand that?”

Albert’s unrequited affection, which had seemed almost comical before, now struck Lena as deeply frustrating and saddening.

She, too, shared that worry and urgency, and she knew the pain of having a helping hand brushed away as if it were nothing.

“Is it because you’re an orphan? A boy? Do you think no one will reach out to help you? This is absurd!”

Lena felt a strong urge to shake Leo’s shoulders, and the words began pouring out.

“Listen up. Prince Albert isn’t trying to execute you. He likes you. He gave you the gold coins because he wants to marry you. He’s worried about you. He’s been riding through the night to get to Elrand because he’s so concerned for your safety!”

Lena’s voice echoed through the room, cutting through the silence except for the faint sizzle of a candle.

Leo was speechless.

“Wait… the prince likes me?”

He wore a perplexed expression, like someone who had expected a stew and bitten into burnt flour.

“Uh… but I’m a guy…”

“Right now, you look like the most beautiful girl in the world! Just accept it!”

“Uh… oh, I guess… but even if he was fooled by my appearance—would he really be fooled? I mean, I took gold coins from him twice and kept being rude…”

Leo seemed genuinely perplexed.

“I haven’t done anything to make the prince like me. Why would he care without me doing anything in return?”

“Return?” Lena was incensed by the word.

“It’s not about returning!”

Leo looked puzzled, his purple eyes clear of malice, which made Lena want to cry.

“It’s not about return. Affection—feelings aren’t like money, where you give back the same value. Sometimes, your smallest words or actions, ones you might not even remember, can move someone deeply.”

Lena recalled the words exchanged in the orphanage corridor. When he spoke about having parents, she felt a shock that left her momentarily speechless.

It was the same with Bruno, Emilio, Marcel, and probably with Albert and their academy friends too. This boy, with his thoughtlessness and naivety, had touched everyone’s hearts.

Lena glared at Leo with a mix of emotions.

“You are not just some ‘orphan who can’t even be loved by parents.’ You are loved by many from all directions. You need to realize that, you foolish charmer!”

“Uh… what?”

“Answer me!!”

“Yes!!”

Lena yelled in exasperation, and Leo responded with a straight back and obedient reply like a child scolded by his caretaker.

Satisfied, Lena turned away, not wanting the boy to see her eyes moist with a strange emotion she couldn’t quite place.

However…

“What are you doing, Bruno?” 

When Lena shifted her gaze, she noticed Bruno tying up the men and organizing goat heads and pig corpses, making her narrow her eyes suspiciously.

What was he up to? She had thought he was unusually quiet earlier.

“Well, I saw all this and thought I could make use of it to calm the dark spirits.”

Bruno’s response was brief.

Lena could guess what came after that statement: he planned to use these to appease the dark spirits in a ritual.

“…”

Lena’s mouth twitched. She understood why he’d think about doing it—it would save time and effort in preparing a ceremony—but…

“Not a chance.”

Lena held her head in her hands.

“You two are far too opportunistic!”

Lena tried to scold them, but Bruno tilted his head in confusion, and Leo, for some reason, blushed.

Lena felt hopeless.

(Spirits, is this my penance?)

As she grappled with her sense of injustice, Bruno gave Lena pointed looks, signaling her to take Leo and leave.

He clearly didn’t want her watching him pray as a child of the dark spirits.

Given the escalating situation, it was necessary to alter their initial plan and leave the scene immediately.

Still…

(Why can’t I shake this feeling of dissatisfaction?)

Lena felt the frustrations of human relationships keenly.

“Hey, Lena. Are you alright? You look like you’re about to explode. Sorry for worrying you. I’ll cook some of these innards as an apology—”

“Leo, we’re leaving now.”

Despite her inner conflict, Lena took action.

She couldn’t waste time on Leo’s antics. Staying here would only make matters worse.

Cutting off Leo’s enthusiasm for cooking, Lena firmly stated, “Albert and the imperial army he has summoned are heading toward Elrand. We can’t afford to wait for a chance to leave when the sun rises. We must leave now, head for the border before dawn.”

“Uh… okay!”

Leo, initially startled, nodded earnestly at her determined words.

“Got it. Oh, and Bruno, you should come with us—”

“No. I’ll leave later.”

“Huh?”

Leo tilted his head at Bruno’s immediate refusal.

“Why?”

“Well, I need to stay and tend to the people I’ve hurt. I can’t just leave them here.”

Bruno’s words, simple and direct, made sense to Leo, who had often played the caretaker at the orphanage.

“Right. Oh, but maybe I should be the one to help them—”

“Don’t be foolish. As Lena said, your situation is dangerous. If you linger, you’ll be detained as a kidnapping victim and lose your freedom for good. Get going.”

Bruno cut him off sharply.

Leo nodded and turned back to the unconscious men.

“Okay, please take care of them—wait, what?”

Leo blinked.

“Four? There were supposed to be five…”

“What about that?”

“Wait, Tarim’s gone! Tarim! He’s not here!”

Leo explained that Tarim was a boy from the slums he had met during his trials. Tarim had grown attached to Leo and had joined the job to earn some money, later aiding Leo when he realized who he was.

“That’s strange… we were the closest, and—ah.”

Leo’s face stiffened.

“I think I heard him say he’d go for help right before I passed out…”

Hearing this, Lena turned pale.

In other circumstances, Tarim’s actions could have been beneficial, but given Leo’s terrible luck, it could spell disaster.

What if Tarim mentioned the “Child of the Light Spirit, Leonora von Harkenberg”? What if he led the prince here?

“Let’s get out of here before trouble comes!”

Lena steeled herself and clenched her fists.

The prince, once an ally, now seemed like impending trouble. Grabbing Leo’s arm, Lena began to run.