wardenraime

Chapter 399 - Southern Hills

The Bull Kingdom’s maps were very well made. There was hardly a single place in the entirety of the Kingdom that wasn’t marked on one map or another, and often with extreme accuracy. However, it was one thing to analyze a map to get the lay of the land and another thing entirely to see it from above.

Leon found himself happier than he had been for a while—probably since before Trajan had been killed and Naiad left—as he rode Anzu through the clouds above the Eastern Territories. Bel...

Chapter 398 - Old Nemesis

“You’re not coming with us,” Minerva said to Leon, almost petrifying the young man with confusion, frustration, and surprise.

“Huh…?” Leon asked, unable to form any more coherent words.

The two were surrounded by thousands of knights all gearing up for war. The forces from the capital had arrived at the entrance to the Eastern Territories, and they were heading out to reinforce Roland and the newly-returned Brimstone. They would leave in two groups, with those who possessed ...

Chapter 397 - Iron Road

A great cheer rose up from Brimstone’s knights and men-art-arms as he appeared in front of the pass, where most of them were working either on the trench or the glass and stone wall blocking the Iron Road. He’d been missing for days, long enough for more than a few of his subordinate knights to have begun murmuring about whether or not continuing to follow Roland and August was the correct course of action.

Behind the Paladin, however, were the tell-tale signs of advancing Legions. Th...

Chapter 396 - A Few Moments to Breathe

Everyone in the room gave August and Isabelle some space to reconnect. Given how long it had been since August had last seen his mother, everyone understood that he needed some time with her without their presence. There were no judgments at his minor breakdown, either.

Instead, Stefania led Leon and Minerva into another room while the guards respectfully stood outside the doors to give August and his mother some privacy.

“So, how did your escape go?” Stefania asked once she and...

Chapter 395 - Ironford

The way to Ironford was open, and the bridge completed. Knights streamed across it as quickly as they were able while maintaining enough discipline to secure the opposite bank. Those farther north broke out bows to provide those knights who continued to fight the 1st Legion with ranged support, as they had been doing before the bridge was finished. Those to the south, however, maintained the uneasy truce between themselves and the 2nd Legion, which had stopped at the shallow trench that had s...

Chapter 394 - A Thunderous Duel

Decided to change the title of this and the last chapter to more closely reflect their content. Just FYI.

---

Sertor scowled at his attack’s inability to harm Leon. The lightning he’d ejected from his body would’ve been enough to severely injure even another sixth-tier mage, but Leon had blocked it with seemingly little effort. The magic had been hastily cast, but powerful.

“For such power to dwell within a villain of your caliber…” the Legion knight muttered, his kill...

Chapter 393 - Sertor Arellius

Never in Leon’s life did he think that the construction of a simple bridge could be so infuriating. He wasn’t an earth mage, but it didn’t seem that difficult to him, at least until the group finally reached a good place to cross the Naga River.

They had likely been followed, it was essentially impossible for them to have not been seen—though it was a possibility, it wasn’t one that anyone was willing to entertain. They had hours at the most before the 1st Legion would be bearing d...

Chapter 392 - Escape

The trip across the lake was harrowing, to say the least. The water wasn’t as calm as it could’ve been, and there were quite a few boats to keep track of, but it was the possibility of being caught by a Legion war galley while they were still vulnerable that caused everyone the most stress.

From his vantage point above the boats, however, Leon could see from the back of Anzu not only that they were clear of any other ships—there weren’t that many out to begin with since nearly all h...

Chapter 391 - To the Boats

Minerva’s group charged through the light forest of the southeastern part of the capitol island. Here and there, they passed smaller, more remote parts of the palace complex, like an isolated guest house, an unused amphitheater, or a small deserted park, but no one stopped even for a moment; the Earthshaker Paladin’s subordinate knights were still hot on their tail.

Earthshaker had brought ten sixth-tier and twenty fifth-tier knights with him in addition to the battalion of soldiers t...

Chapter 390 - The Hard Part II

Minerva stared at the challenge ahead of her. Earthshaker had at least a full battalion behind him from what she could see with her magic senses. Many of their auras were powerful, indicating a higher than usual percentage of fifth and sixth-tier mages, too. Usually, there were only a handful of fifth-tier mages in a single battalion, with a fifth-tier Tribune acting as its commander, plus two more to act as logistical and bureaucratic leaders. Here, though, she could sense the presence of at...

Chapter 389 - The Hard Part I

Anzu landed on the top deck of the yacht that had ferried Valeria and Leon to the capitol island. The rest of the group got onto the boat the same way that the three of them had left: via a small platform at the back that led to a storage area for the first dinghy and had a staircase leading back up to the deck. The ten knights and their two charges left the dinghies with the yacht’s crew to handle and ascended to meet with Leon and the woman who owned the yacht.

As soon as the group r...

Chapter 388 - The Easy Part

The sun slipped below the horizon, and Leon, Valeria, and Anzu prepared to leave Leon’s villa. There was a sense of dread and anticipation within them, and Leon, at least, was of the mind that he could very well never see his home again. Still, he’d said his goodbyes to Elise, and there was no other reason for him to look back.

For her part, Valeria took the time to pull a pitch-black sleeved tabard over her brand-new shiny plate armor to stand out less in the dark. Leon’s black armo...

Chapter 387 - The Last Moments of Peace

As the pronouncement of August’s sentence rang out through the chamber, many sat in stunned silence, others smiled with the glee of victory, while still others looked on in horror and dread. The death of a Prince was never something to be taken lightly, no matter who that Prince was or what they had done.

Leon and Minerva’s reactions, though, were significantly more muted than many others in the chamber. They weren’t surprised at the outcome and managed to carefully control their rea...

Chapter 386 - The Trial III

Proximus’ first witness was a young assistant to August. He was a timid-seeming man, barely even a first-tier mage, and his eyes were practically bulging out of his skull as they whirled around in primal panic at so many powerful people staring at him.

“Tell us what you found,” Proximus ordered, barely acknowledging the young man.

“I-I was going th-through His Highness’ letters, S-Sir,” he said, trying and failing to keep his voice stable when he felt like he was about to be...

Chapter 385 - The Trial II

“Proceed,” August said, his voice weak enough that those in the back of the Assembly chamber struggled to hear. Fortunately, all of the actual decision-makers in the Assembly could hear him, though the Prince’s weakness was obvious.

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Proximus said without a hint of actual gratitude. He spared a moment to preen before the Assembly, standing up straight, puffing out his chest, and practically making a show of getting serious. “Prince August,” Proximus sai...

Chapter 384 - The Trial I

The High Arbiter was concerned about August’s appearance, and understandably so since the Prince could charitably be called haggard. If the person describing him were less than charitable, though, they might’ve called him obviously abused. However, by long tradition, she couldn’t simply ask the Prince what was wrong, so she resolved to get the trial started as soon as she could so that she could ask August questions about his state of being.

She rose from her seat and glared around t...

Chapter 383 - The Assembly

The morning that August’s trial was set to begin was dour, cloudy, and cold. Leon wasn’t too personally bothered by it, but it was hard not to take it as a sign of bad luck. He was suddenly grateful that he and the other ‘conspirators’ had amassed what force they could, for he felt surer than ever before that it would be needed.

Leon made his preparations quickly, showering, dressing in modest blacks and greys, and said his goodbyes to Elise. Valeria would be accompanying him to the...

Chapter 382 - Last Preparations

“This is a damned shitshow,” Roland muttered as he and Brimstone arrived at Leon’s villa.

“Tell me about it,” his fellow Paladin said, no trace of any of the usual scorn in Brimstone’s voice or attitude that Roland usually received due to being a Paladin both beneath the seventh-tier and unconfirmed by the King. “How’s your family doing, by the way?” Brimstone asked as the two waited for Leon to open the gates and let them inside.

“Well enough,” Roland said. “My son is...

Chapter 381 - Allies

“So, how should we do this? What are your expectations?” Leon asked as he looked at Valeria from across the table. They had only exchanged a few blows during their sparring session, and since they were clearly not going to continue, they had put their weapons away and went back out into the living room to continue their discussion.

“I… suppose I don’t really have any,” Valeria admitted.

“So your offer to become my knight was made out of a sense of obligation?” Leon asked, ...

Chapter 380, Leon and Valeria

Leon stood in the center of his villa, not entirely sure how to proceed. Valeria was still in his guest room, but he could tell that she was awake; she was staring at the ceiling, eyes wide open, clearly thinking about something important. Given everything that had happened to her over the past few days, Leon couldn’t blame her for being a bit sleepless. She’d at least gotten some sleep for a couple of hours after their previous conversation, though.

But even though she was awake, Leo...

Chapter 379 - Two Weeks

“Dame Minerva,” Leon said without the slightest trace of levity as he showed his guests inside. Since this was obviously a Kingdom matter, Elise decided to leave and make her way back to the Heaven’s Eye Tower. With August arrested, there would be a great deal of upheaval in the Kingdom, and as a representative of Heaven’s Eye, she had to make sure the guild was ready to deal with the repercussions.

“Sir Leon,” Minerva responded just as seriously as Leon’s greeting.

Roland ...

Chapter 378 - An Open Mind

If you haven't yet, please head over to Royal Road and leave a rating or review! It would help me out immensely! =)

---

After the heated discussion with Valeria was over, Elise took her silver-haired friend over to one of the guest rooms to let her sleep off the drink that still had a weak hold over her mind. Leon was left alone in the main living room, his mind constantly switching betw...

Chapter 377 - The Suspended Guard

When Leon heard that Elise had left the Heaven’s Eye Tower with Valeria, he immediately turned around and left. He’d gone there to speak with his lady and with Emilie, but the news of Elise being with Valeria instantly superseded that business. It’s not like he was expecting any assistance from Heaven’s Eye regarding the current politics of the Bull Kingdom, anyway, but the idea of Elise spending time alone with Justin Isynos’ daughter mere days after he disappeared greatly troubled him....

Chapter 376 - Fallout

The entire office was quiet as the grave as they processed what the messenger had just relayed to them: Prince August had been arrested.

After a beat, Minerva rose to her feet and said half with anger and half with disbelief, “WHAT?!”

Her sixth-tier aura crashed down upon the second-tier messenger, and he almost found himself kissing the floor from its weight, and the auras of the rest of the knights in the room weren’t helping. However, he was one of Trajan’s own knights, and...

Chapter 375 - A Prince's Arrest

Bonus chapter 3 of 3

As always, ratings and reviews on Royal Road are greatly appreciated! =D

---

August couldn’t keep the scowl off his face as he leaned back in his chair and stared out of his window. Behind him in his office sat Roland, the Brimstone Paladin, and about half a dozen others in his retinue. Everyone was silent as they waited on August to speak.

After waiting...

Chapter 374 - Arrests

Bonus chapter 2 of 3

---

Things returned to some semblance of normal for Leon in the days following his questioning by Lucius, though that didn’t mean that his life was without stress. After those questions about Tiberias, Leon fully expected there to be some follow-ups, because, at least in his mind, they shouldn’t have asked those questions without having some suspicions about his role in the nobleman’s death.

Fortunately for Leon, nothing came down for him, but after a...

Chapter 373 - Octavius' Plans

Bonus chapter 1 of 3

---

Octavius smiled as he sat back in his chair in his office, thinking about the future. Victory was sweet, and the taste of it following Trajan’s killing only made Octavius thirst for more. There were so many people to punish, so many things that only he could do to return the Bull Kingdom to what it should be, and he wanted to get started right away.

But he suppressed that urge to get started working on things right away. Trajan had only jus...

Chapter 372 - The Support of Your House

Ya'll are outstanding. 3 bonus chapters will be released today! ;)

---

August led Leon and the rest of his entourage back to his office, chatting with Roland the entire way. Leon did his best to pay attention to what they were saying, but the combination of knowing that they were in public and likely weren’t going to talk to each other about anything of note and the veritable interrogation he’d just gone through weighed on his mind too much for him to pay too much attention.

3 Bonus Chapters Tomorrow!

Ya'll did it. Ya really fackin' did it. Reached another goal.

Bonus chapters incoming.

Chapter 371 - Interrogation II

“Thank you,” Lucius said, turning a couple pages in his thick stack of papers. “Let’s continue with something else…”

For a moment, Leon contemplated making some kind of quip about how many papers the man had, but he decided that after the questions he’d just gotten about Tiberias he wasn’t going to press his luck.

“If possible, I’d like to discuss a few things in your military record,” Lucius said.

“The Legions are outside of the Arbiter’s jurisdiction,” Leon r...