Leon found himself staring up at the sky once again after another one of his 'training' sessions with Angus, he had started to realize Angus was getting a bit too much of a kick out of 'training' Leon which was more akin to a beatdown than anything else.

Not to say Leon hadn't learned anything, he'd come leaps and bounds from his first session a couple of weeks ago but had still yet to land a hit on Angus, who for a retired mountain of a man, moved alarmingly quickly.

"The master twenty-six the student zero," Angus said with a goofy grin.

Leon groaned in response, his adoptive father's mocking tone not helping as he wallowed in his self-pity.

"Well, that's enough for today, you're finally starting to kick your old habits and I can see you're reacting to my moves but failing to execute counter-actions in time," commented Angus on Leon's improving performance.

Leon picked himself up from the cold ground and dusted himself off before giving Angus a half-smile.

Back inside the cabin Leon ran himself a bath to begin the second half of his daily routine training.

Lowering himself into the water, he instantly felt the connection as natural water-affiliated mana ignited the red-core and he relaxed, sitting back as he focused on the feeling of it running through his body into the core. For whatever reason, the only time he ever felt the connection was when he was in the bath.

'Angus said that Elementals were able to intake the ambient mana into their cores, but how come I can only do it in this bath?' Leon thought with a frown.

Leon knew he wasn't an elemental, just like how he wasn't a physical ability user, but he would have thought there would have been close similarities otherwise things like his unnatural strength or able to 'control' mana to some degree wouldn't be possible... right?

Putting the question to the back of his mind to figure out later, Leon prompted his mana to flow to his hands and the water in the bath followed suit as it rolled up out of the bath to coalesce in his palms.

"I've gotten better at controlling the mana in my body, the flow feels more fluid than it did a week ago but I still can't release it..." Leon sighed.

He tried thrusting his arms out as to project the water, waving his arms around frantically and even tried shouting out in order to will the water to release which after failing only caused Leon's cheeks to go red in embarrassment.

'Why can't I relea-' Leon thought before his eyes widened with an idea.

Holding his palm out to the wall he closed his eyes, focusing on the feeling of the mana running through his body from the core to his hands, he saw the deep-red core pulsing as it pushed out red tendrils of mana.

Concentrating on the core, he gave it a sudden push, and the tendril of mana reacted by suddenly igniting as if it had caught a spark and the ball of water that had collected on his palm shot out before splashing against the wall harmlessly.

Leon punched the air with a smile, even though the ball of water couldn't really be classified as an 'attack' as he intended it to be, he had succeeded for the first time in releasing his mana in a physical impact.

Feeling the high from his success, Leon felt it was a good time to end his daily training and promptly got out of the bath, dried himself off, and put on a fresh set of clothes before exiting the bathroom.

"Leon, Viola and I are heading into Grendel tomorrow as I've got to meet a potential client and she has some errands to run, you've never actually been into town before so we thought you could come with us, if you wanted to?"

Leon stopped to think about the sudden proposal for a second, public spaces weren't really his forte as lingering memories from Pavos made his expression turn grim. Then again, things had changed back then and he was more worried about being recognized than anything else, but that said, who would notice an ex-orphan boy from a backwater town hundreds of miles away from three years prior who looked nothing like he did now.

Leon changed his mind to think it would be a half-decent idea, after all, he wouldn't live his life in fear of the past otherwise those people would have won, and Leon wouldn't ever give them that satisfaction.

"Okay"

---

The trio walked into town as Leon lagged behind taking in his surroundings, it had been a while since he had been in any sort of built-up civilization and it felt truly foreign to him.

The village of Grendel could hardly be called prosperous, the muddy streets and overall lack of cleanliness giving off an impoverished vibe.

They continued on before they reached the town square where on the far side the local branch church of The Order was located.

Leon grimaced as long-buried memories started to bubble to the surface and he fidgeted where he stood uncomfortably.

On the other sides of the town square, merchants had set up stalls and were peddling their wares.

"I'm going to see what the merchants have in stock, I could do with some more ingredients," Viola said, "I'll meet you back here when you're done."

"See you later honey," Angus replied before turning to Leon.

"As I said, I've got a meeting with a potential client over in that house there," Angus said whilst pointing to a slightly more luxurious looking house compared to its surrounding counterparts, "I shouldn't be longer than an hour so feel free to explore until then and meet me back here."

Leon replied with a nod, to which Angus smiled before turning towards the house in question and walking off.

Leon stood by himself in the middle of the square, not entirely sure what to do, he soaked in more of his surroundings and looked at the people walking around the square.

On his way around the village, he had noticed people staring at him as he went past, some of the adults looked at him with curiosity whilst others seemed to feel uncomfortable and avoided his gaze. The children closer to his age confused him more though, the girls seemed to go slightly red, with some even turning to their friends and giggling whilst the boys glared at him challengingly.

Both responses caused Leon to tilt his head in confusion, unable to realize what had caused them to act like this.

'I'm sure I've never seen any of them before...' Leon thought, trying to think of something he had done to elicit such a response.

Leon shook his head, trying to think nothing more of it as his attention moved back to the church. He felt a weird emotion when looking at the structure that looked out of place amongst the impoverished town. Leon felt an unbridled rage bubbling up in his stomach, but Leon, despite having a strong grudge against the church, didn't feel like his anger actually ran this deep, however when he focused on the emotion inside him his eyes widened in shock.

The normally silent red-core that lay dormant whenever he wasn't in the bath was convulsing uncontrollably.

'The fuck?' Leon thought as he struggled to control the core inside him.

It took Leon a good five minutes of deep breathing in the square, which earned him some more weird looks from the townspeople before he finally got it under control and it returned back to its dormant state, the feeling of rage going with it.

Leon looked back at the church in confusion, his intrigue piqued, he decided to walk to the church and pushed open the ornate door, and stepped inside.

However, upon entry, Leon froze in place as an aura washed over him. The dormant core in his chest exploded into life and sent Leon to his knees clutching his chest in pain. The aura continued to press into him and he began to feel his skin burning as every sense in his body screamed at him to get out of the church.

A woman in the church looked over at the boy who was kneeling on the ground, panting heavily as he clutched his chest and hurried over.

"A-Are you okay?" asked the woman with concern.

Leon shot up from the ground and looked at the woman directly in the eyes, who scuttled back in alarm before he turned and ran out of the church.

"Did that boy have golden eyes or was it just me?" The woman asked herself but then shook her head with a chuckle, "I must be seeing things..."

Leon ran until he found himself in a dark alley where he slumped against a wall, breathing heavily as he tried to calm himself down. The aura he felt in that church was unlike anything he'd ever experienced, it felt completely suppressive and insurmountable, the only thing standing in its way was the red-core that had exploded into action seeming to futilely oppose the aura.

"W-What was that?" Leon said to himself between heavy breaths.

However, Leon's train of thought was broken when two pairs of footsteps suddenly began approaching the alley he was in. Leon scuttled into a dark corner of the alley out of the main line of sight, he hadn't had the best experience with dark alleys in the past, and in his current state wasn't in the best frame of mind to interact with anyone.

"Can you believe the gall of that peasant?" said one of the voices.

"You would think any idiot in this backwater shithole would know better than to oppose Dawson in business," chuckled the other voice.

"Aye, if that half-baked brute had any sense about him, he'd hightail out of here before the weeks end." replied the first voice with a laugh.

"Ha! He's already ruined, as soon as Dawson found out someone had the balls to go up against him he sent out George and Lawrence to the fucker's house to 'teach him a lesson," laughed the first voice, leaking with malice

The two men roared with laughter as they left.

'Poor guy...' thought Leon in the dark corner, wondering which unlucky soul had pissed off this Dawson guy.

---

"Despite the allures of Mr. Dawson's offer, I must say, Angus, if you can deliver with your promises I'm inclined to give the contract to you." said a portly man who sat back in a large wooden chair.

"But Mr. Standish, that man has no prior experience to filling orders of this magnitude before, I think you would be mu-" said another man.

"That's more than enough, I didn't ask you here for your advice Dawson," said Clarence Standish, one of the few 'aristocrats' of Grendel.

Dawson backed down before turning to Angus with a scowl on his face. Angus completely ignored the killing intent emanating from the man next to him and with a smile gave a curt bow to Clarence.

"I assure you, Mr. Standish, you will not be disappointed."

"That settles this then, Gentlemen, thank you for your time. I'll have my butler here show you the door," said Clarence with a clap.

The two men were escorted out of the house by the butler and wished safe travels before the door to Clarence's house closed behind them.

"You'll regret this," said Dawson, wheeling around to look at Angus with malice.

"Oh, what's wrong Dawson?" mocked Angus with a smile on his face, "Afraid of a little competition?"

"We'll see about that..." muttered Dawson darkly before turning and walking away.

Angus chuckled to himself before pumping the air with his fist. The contract he'd just secured was his biggest catch yet.

He walked back to the square where he found Leon standing in a bit of a daze.

"You alright kid?" asked Angus with concern.

"Huh?" Leon replied snapping out of it, "Oh yeah, sorry, I'm fine how did the meeting go?"

Angus puffed his chest out with pride whilst giving Leon a goofy grin.

"That old coot couldn't resist my charms of course and immediately gave me the contract."

Leon and Angus both had a laugh just as Viola walked back into the square and found the two chuckling away.

"What's so funny?" asked Viola confused.

Angus pulled his wife into a kiss whilst Leon almost choked before turning away in embarrassment. Viola quickly pushed him off, her cheeks going a bit red.

"Your devilishly handsome husband secured his biggest catch yet," said Angus with a big smile on his face, "sometimes I wonder how lucky you were to marry me."

Viola and Leon both groaned in unison before they turned away together and began walking back home leaving Angus behind in the square.

"Oh come on!" said Angus in exasperation.

---

As they walked back Leon found himself lost in his thoughts thinking about what had transpired back in the church. It wasn't his first time in a church, the orphanage visited the local branch back in Pavos regularly, and he had definitely never felt something like that before.

'More mysteries, I feel like whenever I find an answer, two more questions pop up...' Leon lamented.

However, Leon was stopped in his tracks when the couple froze infront of him.

"W-What the fuck?" Angus said wide-eyed.

Leon looked up in horror as his eyes set on the scene that was unfolding infront of him.

The cabin, the house he had come to call home was engulfed in an inferno, the light from the red-hot flames melting in with the dying sunlight.

"No.... No no no!" Angus screamed, running towards the burning fire.

Viola dropped her groceries to the floor before dropping to her knees, sobbing.

Leon just stood in shock at the incomprehensible scene unfolding infront of him.

'Why would-' Leon thought before coming to a realization.

His jaw clenched and his expression hardened as the flames reflected off his golden eyes.

'Dawson.'

That feeling bubbled up in his stomach for the second time that day.

Rage.

But this time, that feeling was entirely his own.