wardenraime

Chapter 312 - Unseemly Display II

“What exactly is the meaning of this unseemly display?” Trajan demanded as he glared at Octavius and August, both at least having the self-awareness to look a little chastised.

Octavius’ expression quickly turned combative and he spat, “My brother has seen fit to come to my office and scream his bastard lungs out because I made a sensible call!”

“There was no sense to what you did, only blatant corruption!” August retorted, though he had at least ...

Chapter 311 - Unseemly Display I

“… and that’s how it is, that’s what we know,” Antonius said as he finished his explanation.

“I see…” Trajan replied as he propped up his chin in thought.

Trajan and Leon had immediately gone back to Antonius’ office in the Royal Archives after Leon delivered Antonius’ letter to Trajan, and Antonius quickly explained what he and Leon had found. What was more, after Leon left, Antonius skimmed through the reports again and found that the rate of vampire attacks had been s...

Chapter 310 - Antonius' Report II

“What are you hoping to find within the records of vampire attacks?” Antonius asked Leon, his brown eyes slightly narrowing in muted frustration. Being around Leon made him more than a little nervous, like being around someone with a sword hanging over their head; he didn’t want to be in the splash zone if Leon’s identity was made public and the sword over him finally fell.

“I went on a hunt a few days ago to deal with a werewolf…” Leon began, quickly giving a condensed version o...

Chapter 309 - Antonius' Report I

About an hour or so after Leon’s arm was regrown, Leon and Elise parted ways to see to their own respective business. Despite their agreement to find a house separate from Emilie’s estate, they still had other, more immediate things to attend to.

For his part, Leon’s first concern was to find Anzu. After the fight with Lewis, the griffin had accompanied the unconscious Leon back to the capital, but he had largely been left alone after Leon had woken up. The Heaven’s Eye beastmaster ...

Chapter 308 - Greater an Arm

Surprise double-length chapter today!

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Leon stared at the brown liquid in the vial and was unable to hide the profound disgust on his face.

“Don’t be such a baby!” Elise chided. “Drink it!”

This was the potion that would help Leon regrow his arm, so despite his face twisting into such an ugly grimace that it felt like it would never return to normal, Leon still tossed the vial back and swallowed its contents. He tried his best not to taste the thick sludge-like...

Chapter 307 - Trajan's Visit

For two days, Leon stayed in bed resting and recovering. There was little else to do except train, so he that’s how he spent his time. His brief foray into his soul realm brought on by his extreme injury spurred him onward even when he grew tired and bored from the long hours of staying in bed.

Plus, focusing on finishing his magic body kept his mind occupied and off the fact that he was missing his arm, keeping all the anxiety and terror that came with losing a limb at bay. For all in...

Chapter 306 - Less an Arm

From the shoulder down, Leon’s left arm was gone.

For a moment, Leon wasn’t quite sure what he was seeing. There were so many healing spells and painkilling spells attached to his torso that he wasn’t quite able to process what he was before his eyes. However, as he gradually shook the fog out of his head from his two-day coma, the horror of his situation began to sink in.

Leon sat up, his sudden spike of adrenaline banishing his fatigue for the time being, and he began to tear...

Chapter 305 - A Glimpse of Power

Visiting Royal Road and leaving a rating or review would be most appreciated! I've had a lot of people dropping the story early on over the past few months and making sure I know that they were't happy by leaving reviews, so my rating's slipped quite a bit since April. So if you've got a few seconds and haven't yet, please consider leaving a rating or review. =)

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Fire. That was all Le...

Chapter 304 - Familiar Eyes

“Let’s kill this monster!” Grim shouted. He couldn’t give away the demonic core, but he also knew just from his inability to understand Lewis’ aura that the vampire was much stronger and likely much faster than any of the knights; he didn’t think they’d get away if they ran, and that left one option. Given the vampire’s obvious reticence to fight them, Grim was betting that he wasn’t that skilled of a fighter and that he had nothing more than raw strength, so he was confident that th...

Chapter 303 - A Reasonable Request

Grim, Leon, and the knights returned to the village as quickly as they could. They were so quick, in fact, that they even beat Clodio on their return. The old knight and the villagers he had taken with him had turned around to go home once Grim’s team had gone off into the forest in search of the werewolf, but with most of the villagers being mortals, they took far longer to return to the village than Leon’s team.

Upon returning home, Clodio dismissed his villagers, sending a few off ...

Chapter 302 - Swift End to the Hunt

Bonus chapter 3 of 3 ;)

As always, sparing a few seconds to leave a rating or review on Royal Road is always appreciated. And if you liked these chapters, hit the like button!

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The werewolf tore through the underbrush in its wild attempts to get away from those who were hunting it. It could hear its pursuers closing in on it, which only increased its frenzied attempts to escape. Any intelligence it once had long since vanished from the ravages of lycanthropy and from its ...

Chapter 301 - An Easy Hunt

Bonus chapter 2 of 3

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“So, what’s the situation?” Grim asked as the group of knights entered the guardhouse with Odulf, the third-tier guard captain.

“About two weeks ago, a pig went missing from one of our farmer’s pens,” Odulf explained. “We didn’t think too much of it at the time, it was only a single pig, right? There was a hole in his fence, so everyone just assumed that the pig ran off. But then more pigs went missing, and then chickens, and then four days a...

Chapter 300 - A Relaxing Mission

Bonus chapter 1 of 3

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Leon and Grim’s group of knights rode north along a road so small and untraveled that it wasn’t even paved after leaving the capital. It would’ve been paved if it were more well-traveled, but most people would take the much bigger road toward Teira when heading north, but that went north-east, whereas their group wanted to go roughly north-west.

It was just the eight of them, as those that had squires or men-at-arms didn’t bring them, but none of...

Chapter 299 - A New Mission

Thanks to all of you, there will be 3 bonus chapters accompanying this release!

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Several days after his and Lapis’ introduction to the court, Leon found himself heading toward the Royal Palace once again. He hadn’t been there since the audience, as Trajan had sent him a message to stay away for a little while, after which Leon hadn’t heard anything from the Prince. But just that morning, the Prince unexpectedly summoned him back without explanation, so Leon set out from Elis...

3 Bonus Chapters on Monday!

The goal has just been reached! That means Monday's release will be accompanied by 3 bonus chapters!

Chapter 298 - Spymaster

Trajan hated the feeling of powerlessness that he felt when thinking about Justin Isynos and his absurdly powerful companions. It would be nigh-impossible to have all of them tailed, not to mention extraordinarily dangerous. A seventh-tier mage could easily detect someone following them if they were attentive and observant enough, and they would then be able to kill those following them with ease. They might not be able to do so in public, but Trajan wasn’t going to risk sending his knights ...

Chapter 297 - Invitation

The Royal Court remained in session taking care of miscellaneous business like minor property disputes between landed nobles and other civil suits between members of the nobility for several hours after Leon and Lapis left. It was so boring that by the time Trajan walked out of the throne room, he could barely remember even half of what had just happened.

‘This should be the business of Arbiters, not Princes!’ he silently complained while he maintained as stoic an expression ...

Chapter 296 - Facing the Court

Made a small canon error back in chapter 292, I said that Octavius hadn't awakened his blood yet, conflicting with an earlier chapter where it was said that he did. This has been changed, he has awakened his blood, and the chapter has been edited to fix this mistake.

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“Mm, yes, but don’t feel like you have to bow all the way to the ground,” Trajan said as he watched Leon practicing his genuflection. “You’re not a slave, you’re a fifth-tier knight.”

Leon di...

Chapter 295 - Official Summons

“I suppose I give those Legion beastmasters too little credit,” the Heaven’s Eye beastmaster muttered as he took his leave. Anzu was perfectly healthy and growing quite well, the beastmaster assigned to him at the Bull’s Horns had clearly done her job well. Still, there was always room for improvement, especially when the vast resources available to the family of a Heaven’s Eye Tower Lord were brought to bear. To that end, Anzu had been given a new, higher-quality diet than he had at the...

Chapter 294 - Demonic Consultation

Leon’s entire body was covered in sweat from training. He’d been back from the Royal Archives for several hours, and he’d spent just about that entire time in hard training. From the events surrounding the vampire Bran to everything he’d learned from Antonius, Leon had more than enough motivation to completely immerse himself in training and reach with all he had for the sixth-tier.

To that end, he’d been filling his body with lightning magic and trapping all of it within his bones...

Chapter 293 - Justin's Arrival

If you haven't, yet, I would be most appreciate if you could visit Royal Road and leave a rating or review! =)

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An enormous smile bloomed on Justin’s face, something which hadn’t happened much since seeing his daughter off when she decided to join the Knight Academy. Now, he had to fight to maintain his dignity and not sprint off his yacht when he saw Valeria waiting for him on the ...

Chapter 292 - Octavius and the Paladins

“We should’ve hurried back to the capital sooner,” the Earthshaker Paladin grumbled.

“The war was supposed to last longer,” the Sapphire Paladin shot back. “Who could’ve guessed that those horse lovers were going to lose so quickly? I mean, they were always going to die upon the Horns, especially once we arrived with the nobles and the Legions of the Central Territories, but to lose so quickly?”

“What’s done is done,” Octavius growled. He was obviously as upset...

Chapter 291 - Other Business

Nothing. That was what Leon managed to find relating to Justin Isynos within the records of the attack on Argent Palace. There wasn’t a single hint as to who killed Kyros Raime, not even a drop of blood for the blood priests to analyze, and the palace had been scoured looking for just such a clue.

This, of course, greatly disturbed Leon, as by all accounts Kyros and Alexander were formidable warriors, as were the knights who served them. For their murderers to kill them with what seeme...

Chapter 290 - The Bull's Investigation

“So, this is what I have,” Antonius said as he led Leon over to a table covered in wooden boxes of various sizes and stacks of official documents. “All the physical evidence our investigators were able to collect and copies of sworn statements from every witness we were able to find, though to be fair, we weren’t able to find many. Other than that, I’ve procured everything from birth records to extensive reports of the damage inflicted on Lord Artorias’ villa and upon Argent Palace.” 2019-07-01 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 289 - Prince Antonius

“Antonius, this is Sir Leon Ursus, one of my knights,” Trajan introduced Leon to Prince Antonius. “With the duties I’ve taken on with the advisory council, I won’t have enough time to conduct my investigation personally. Thus, I’ve placed Sir Leon, one of my most trusted knights in charge of this matter.”

“It’s good to meet you, Sir Leon,” Antonius said with a bright smile on his pale face. His features weren’t as chiseled and defined as Trajan’s, with his round, flat face a...

Chapter 288 - The Third Prince

Leon and Elise were woken up early the next morning by a hungry and rather cranky Anzu, who jumped up on the bed and began trying to push Leon out of bed with his beak—and to separate Elise and Leon, who had been sleeping snuggled up against each other. Elise groaned in surprise as she was so suddenly woken up, and then she almost screamed when she opened her eyes and found Anzu barely an inch from her face staring at her with his big red eyes.

The fright was momentary, though, as it b...

Chapter 287 - Leon's Ring

After Leon and Elise’s chat about polygamy, they stayed in her bedroom for a few more minutes until it was time to have dinner. It was fairly late, but the chefs on Emilie’s payroll still prepared a small feast just for Leon, Elise, and Alix, and laid it all out in Elise’s private living room. The chefs hadn’t expected Anzu to be there, however, so Leon tossed the griffin a few turkey legs, which he happily devoured whole.

“He’s so cute!” Elise gushed at seeing the griffin stretc...

Chapter 286 - An Inevitable Talk

When Trajan gave Leon the signal for him to leave, he did so as quickly as he could. The middle of the Royal Palace surrounded by curious nobles staring at him due to his obvious intimacy with Elise was exactly the place he didn’t want to be, after all. However, as he, Elise, Alix, and Anzu stepped outside of the palace and began to make their way toward the bridge back to the city proper, Leon heard a voice call out to him.

“Sir Leon! Please wait a moment!”

Leon recognized the...

Chapter 285 - Knighting Ceremony

On the other side of the huge column-filled atrium from the main doors of the palace was the throne room, a magnificently appointed room, long and filled with green marble columns that supported the hundred-foot-tall vaulted ceiling, a floor of polished white marble mostly covered by thick dark green carpet, and white stone walls overlaid with murals of black, red, and gold depicting the Bull Kingdom’s most famous triumphs. Interspersed around the murals were tall, thin windows that augmente...

Chapter 284 - Triumph

Triumphs were rare in the Bull Kingdom, the last happening after the Penitent Paladin returned from his expedition to the Serpentine Isles to bring an end to their raiding more than fifty years ago. They were long affairs, starting with a parade by the victorious soldiers, followed by lavish spending by the Crown on food for the public and games in the arena, the knighting of those who had earned it, rewards of silver and other prizes for the Legion commanders, and ending with a great feast i...