The distant howling of wolves was all Leona could hear inside the quiet inn room, it was too quiet to the point she could hear her own breathing at times. Being unable to sleep made her anxious enough to warrant her to leave the room for a bit, stepping as silently as she could manage, she left the room and went downstairs, the lively restaurant was now just a dark empty room with only the dim light of a gas candle near the entrance where Jano was sitting beside it on a sturdy stool. The chef’s large body was leaned against the wall while his legs were supported by the desk in front of him.

Leona quietly made her way over to him and inspected his face from a distance.

‘Sleeping.’

She gently held the door knob and turned as slow as she could, but the cold metal alongside the wooden door began to creak ever so slightly, prompting her to stop, breathe deeply and try again. That kept repeating until she made enough room for her body to slip through the doorway, however the moment she stepped outside she felt her whole body stiffen from the freezing cold temperature.

“Brrr…”

Upon managing to close the door somewhat silently, she went around to the back of the inn, where there was a lone street near the tall walls of the city bereft of any citizen or guard. Her eyes darted around before walking to the middle of the evenly tiled street.

After taking a deep breath, she began to focus her mind in her body from the sensation of the cold spreading throughout her exposed fingertips to the numbness of her lower body before exhaling a puff of hot air as she chanted.

“Flames of destruction heed my call, bring upon my foes the fires of justice, Great Flame Sword!”

She grasped the blue fiery blade with both hands. The handle seemed to envelop her hands slightly as the continuous blaze emitted light and heat to its surroundings, melting the snow and boiling the water away. Upon sharpening her senses, she managed to encapsulate the blade in mana to keep the heat from igniting nearby flammable objects and with it she began to train a series of vertical strikes aimed directly in front of her as if there was a foe standing there.

She bent her legs slightly and swung the sword down as she stepped forward, creating a slight gust of wind with the elemental weapon. That was her daily training after what happened with Krieg, she would train everyday without fault alongside Phoebe who taught the core basics of swordsmanship, upon closing her eyes she could see the first training session she had with only the high elf teaching her.

While by the campfire amidst the snow forest, Phoebe held both of Leona’s arms as she motioned an overhead swing with the longsword on the tactician’s hands.

“Be diligent and never forget to train each and every swing at least a hundred times per day. Your arms may scream of pain, your body may want to give up, but once you build the foundation that will serve to protect and guide yourself, everything will become easier.”

“But, is just swinging a sword considered training? I thought you’d need to fight an opponent to improve.”

“While that is true, much of the swordsmanship you have seen before you is simply automatic reflexes of the body, a memory of the muscle if you will. How we assassins can kill an opponent swiftly is not mostly because we kill a lot, no, it’s from arduous training to target the right part of the body in order to finish the fight before it even begins.”

“I see… I never thought of it this way.” She looked at the dull steel blade between her hands. “Very well, teach me everything you can. I’ll follow it through so I won’t be a burden anymore.”

The high elf nodded as she began to instruct her, from her stance, to how swing the blade, even if those basics concepts were nothing for a full fledged knight, a noble whose environment was a safe and calm mansion far away from the battlefield was hardly classified as competent to wield a weapon.

“That I will Princess, but bear with me, I’m no kind teacher. Knowing that, will you still train under me?”

Leona nodded with conviction before she began their training. To her it felt like a distant memory already, after saving Athena she didn’t have the time to properly do her training routine which left her anxious and without being able to sleep.

‘Such a fool that I am.’ She thought to herself as the shimmering blade emitted a faint blue light that reflected off her pale complexion. ‘I was so focused on doing things that were out of my reach by relying on others that I lost one of my only allies in this distant land. Nevertheless if I am to continue forward I have to rely on my own power to shape my future. Not only Arcadia, but the whole world will be in danger if we don’t solve this death angel problem.’

She glanced at the darkened sky bereft of stars. It was a lonely sight, the dark clouds looming over as a neverending veil of despair, changing and shifting as if to imitate the constant dread that plagued the city.

Instead of letting those dark thoughts take hold, Leona raised her blade over her right shoulder and swung diagonally downwards to the left, she repeated the same movement a hundred times, changed stances, putting her right foot forward and swinging the blade diagonally downwards to the right this time and also repeated a hundred times taking extra care to keep the blade aligned with each strike. After finishing her practice swings, she was breathing puffs of warm air as she kneeled down to rest for a bit with the elemental blade supporting some of her weight by holding onto it by each side of the guard.

“I think… I’m getting used to this…”

She muttered while breathing deeply. Both of her arms ached but it was a good kind of ache, it felt like she was making progress in becoming an independent fighter.

“That’s some good form.” The moment she heard an unfamiliar female voice she jumped up using the hilt of the blade as leverage and turned around into a long point stance. However the woman behind her didn’t seem fazed by her reflex. “Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

The pale slightly wrinkled skin contrasted greatly with the long straight gray hair and dark brown eyes, by her unsurprised facial expression she seemed to be used to having people point weapons at her, since all she could do was to smile and tilt her head slightly to the side.

“Ah- I’m the one who should be apologizing.”

Leona quickly put the weapon to her right side which made a small puddle of snow turn into water and start to quiet sizzle. The woman noticed the phenomenon and unceremoniously approached the tactician and pointed to the glowing elemental sword.

“Now this is an interesting weapon,is it enchanted?”

She almost could see sparkles in the woman’s eyes as she inspected the spell, but to prevent further questioning she decided to simply dispel the sword with a flick of her wrist and raise both hands saying.

“You see, it’s actually a spell not a real weapon.”

“Huh…” The woman seemed intrigued as she leaned back and chuckled to herself before muttering under her breath. “I must be becoming senile after all these years.”

“Pardon?”

“Ah no, nothing, where are my manners?” She raised her right arm perpendicular in front of her stomach and bowed. “Minerva Eduhainaust. At your service.”

“Leona, Leona Cr-” She thought for a split second and realized it would be a mistake to reveal her true name to a complete stranger and instead decided to use her mother’s name. “Frostleaf, Leona Frostleaf. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Minerva.”

“The pleasure is all mine, young lady Leona.” Her kind smile reminded Leona a bit of her mother. She turned towards the inn’s entrance before looking at the tactician once again. “If you excuse me I shall head inside. Take care to not overexert yourself.”

After bowing once more she headed inside the establishment, leaving Leona once again by herself.

‘That was one peculiar woman…’ She slowly turned away from the inn’s entrance to look at her own right palm, closing and opening whilst concentrating on feeling the mana inside her body. ‘Almost low huh…? I suppose I should try doing it before I head inside.’

She flicked her left wrist, creating a small azure flame in the middle of her palm. A few seconds passed, then a minute as she stared at the spell with a certain anticipation as she was about to test a theory about absorption of mana.

‘Here goes nothing.’

She slowly closed her hand imagining the fire snuffing out to its basic components; however upon closing her hand entirely, she felt a jolt of painful heat course through her left arm and instantly clenched her teeth as the pain spread throughout her body. The sudden shock was enough to send her down to her knees while she sunk her entire left arm inside an untouched snow pile near the inn’s doorway.

“Dammit…” She cursed quietly between each deep breath. “This shouldn’t be difficult and yet…”

She had been attempting to reutilize the mana spent to create the fire spell through reabsorption of the raw magic component in order to transform into another element but putting the theory in practice was proving far more difficult than she imagined. Without any leads on how to make it work she decided to simply sigh and give up for the day once again and head back inside the inn.

‘If I can’t exactly break it down to the basic components, then what other option is there?’

Upon opening the door, she noticed Jano was nowhere near the entrance and instead was standing near a table from the restaurant area with the gas lamp still on, looking closely, she noticed the woman she had just met was sitting on the opposite side of the table, sharing a very late night meal with the oversized chef.

“Ah, see? I told you she would come in sooner or later.” Minerva waved to her. “If you don’t mind making company to a weary traveler.”

Finding it hard to avoid the invitation, Leona awkwardly made her way to the table on the opposite side to her. After sitting down, Jano served her a cup of warm barley tea which made her feel a bit nauseous at first glance since it made her remember the day where it all began. The silent war room inside the mansion back in Arcadia, she was drinking the very same tea.

“T-thank you Jano.”

She gave a short bow as the chef nodded before walking away to give the two more space.

“Me and Jano go way back when the war was still going.” Minerva commented as she took a big bite out of the stroganov she was having. “I’d like to hear your opinion, what is a ruler supposed to be like?”

Leona tilted her head slightly.

“What kind of question is that?”

Minerva smiled warmly while shaking her hand to keep a carefree impression going as she spoke.

“Oh nothing special really, I’m just trying to start a conversation here, food’s better over a good talk after all.”

The tactician folded her arms and lowered her head slightly, thinking deeply before coming to the conclusion that there was no harm in answering it.

“Well…” She breathed deeply before answering. “A ruler must be righteous, just and be a beacon for everyone else to follow, someone without those traits can hardly be called a ruler.”

“Then, what if a person was to make their subjects believe they have such traits?” She put her fork down, took a sip of her water and continued. “Let’s say they play the role of a perfect ruler, how would anyone else know their true nature?”

Minerva began to eat again, apparently amused by how serious Leona was taking their conversation.

“Deception and lies can only take them so far. Even the slightest crack in their act will make everything else fall apart in time.”

“In time you say…” She muttered quietly to herself before finishing her plate of food. After she was done, Jano came to pick up the dish and place a cup of warm tea in front of her. “Thank you Jano.”

He nodded before heading off to the kitchen. After taking a sip and leaving the teacup on the table, Minerva smiled and leaned back against her chair before continuing.

“But then young lady Leona, wouldn’t you say that believing in a lie is also a possible outcome from the point of view of a simple subject of the kingdom?”

That struck surprisingly close to home when the tactician heard those words, after all, unless one were of royalty, they wouldn’t know what exactly happened back in the war. Demons were portrayed as the scorn of the world while queen Eleonora rose to power and reclaimed the wasted lands corrupted by demonic miasma with her righteous holy blade. However the queen’s most trusted ally was none other than the demon prince Reinhardt, as he wished to end his father’s mindless bloody path to conquest. Nobody knew the actual truth, rumors began to take root within the populace and only fragments of what actually happened became known history for those outside the battlefield.

“I-” Leona was obviously conflicted. Being presented with such a realistic question of whether or not people would follow a truthful ruler over one that offered dreams come to reality made her conviction waver. “But wouldn’t they be-”

“Wrong? Maybe, but isn’t justice and righteousness just as fiddle as truth or lie? What may be just for one may not be for another. What seems to be the truth can be a lie. Deception is an art of its own after all.” She drank the rest of the tea and stood up before the tactician even gave an answer. “Well don’t mind my ramblings. I’m just an old lady with a knack for politics after all. Jano I’m heading upstairs, leave the food, drink as well as Leona’s drink on my tab.”

“That shall be done. Have a good rest, my lady.”

“That I will, my friend.”

She was beginning to climb the stairs before Leona quickly stood up, still a bit shaken by the possible reality presented to her.

“Wait. Lady Minerva.” The tactician felt her chest tighten from the thoughts assaulting her mind. “Just, who are you?”

The woman giggled.

“An old lady that knows a thing or two about rulership. That is all.”

She turned her back to her and kept going up the stairs until her footsteps disappeared in the dark staircase, leaving Leona to think by herself.

‘I… I’m on the right path, right?’