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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 became clear Anzu had just glanced at her and wasn’t staring when he went back to trying to get Leon up and about.

“Arrgh! Ok, I’ll get up!” Leon cried as he struggled out of the sheets.

As Elise’s heart steadied, she quipped, “I think that’s another reason to love that little guy, if he’s so good at getting you up…”

Leon grumbled a bit, knowing that Elise enjoyed sleep just as much as he did, but he didn’t waste time and quickly threw some clothes on. “I need to get him outside, any place I should take him?” he asked.

“Just out back should be fine,” Elise replied as she lay back against the pillows. “It doesn’t matter if he makes a mess, we pay people to keep the grounds clean.”

“Got it,” Leon said, feeling a little sorry for whoever would now have to clean up after his rapidly growing griffin. He quickly took Anzu outside and let him do his business, and when he came back, Elise had managed to struggle out of bed and Alix had started her morning training. With a couple hours until he and Alix had to make their way to the palace, Leon joined his former squire in training, and Elise did likewise a few minutes later.

During their breakfast after training, Elise said to Leon, “I can have a beastmaster come over from the Heaven’s Eye stables and have him take a look at Anzu, just in case. He can also bring over some food for him.”

Leon glanced at Anzu who was busy joyously tearing into a couple of small roasted chickens which Elise had her servants bring him for his breakfast. While Leon was sure the chickens were delicious, they weren’t quite as nutritious as the specially prepared meals that he had been giving Anzu back at the Bull’s Horns.

“I’d appreciate that,” he responded. “I was planning on visiting a Legion beastmaster later today, anyway, this’ll save me some time.”

Elise giggled and said, “Not to disparage the Legion beastmasters, but I’m sure my people are better.”

Alix frowned a bit at that statement, but Leon didn’t have the same attachment to the Legion that she did, so he just shrugged and said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. That being said, the beastmasters at the Horns were pretty good.”

“We should probably get going, Sir,” Alix said as she glanced at the clock.

“Feel free to drop the ‘Sir’, We’re the same rank now,” Leon said, eliciting a smile of pride from Alix.

It took a bit of wrangling, but Leon managed to get Anzu into the stables to wait for the beastmaster. It hurt more than he expected to leave the griffin again, but he knew that it was good for Anzu to learn to be away from him a bit more. He was going to get much bigger than he was now, and Leon wasn’t going to be able to take him everywhere like he’d been doing for the past year and a half. It was time to let Anzu get used to not being around Leon all the time.

Besides, the griffin’s staring had been awkward enough that he hadn’t been able to make love to Elise the night before, and both he and Elise had come to the conclusion that that situation would need to change, at least until Anzu got used to Elise’s presence.

About an hour after leaving Elise’s estate, Leon and Alix arrived at the Royal Palace. Elise had offered to lend them her carriage, but they decided to jog there instead as part of their training. They had been a bit apprehensive about where to go, but since all two thousand of Prince Trajan’s knights and men-at-arms had been given the same instructions, they weren’t alone; most of Trajan’s retinue had gathered in the courtyard in front of the main palace building where the triumph had ended the day before.

Lapis was also there, waiting where the road met the courtyard in front of the palace. Leon had almost forgotten the stone giant in his joy of reuniting with Elise, who was far less furious with him than he had feared. Lapis had been staying on the palatial island since the triumph and had decided to wait for Leon at the courtyard. Leon quickly walked over to say hello.

As Leon and Lapis exchanged some pleasantries, a fifth-tier junior seneschal exited the palace, approached the former and asked, “Are you able to understand this thing’s speech?”

“I am, and Lapis can understand you, too,” Leon said with a chilly glare. He didn’t like the guard’s tone, though he could understand it somewhat given the stone giants had been dangerous enemies of the Bull Kingdom for as long as anyone could remember. The fifth-tier guard didn’t show any outward sign of fear of offending the giant, but Leon did notice that his next statement was much less dismissive of it, and the guard straightened up a bit.

“Well, then, Lapis, I’m going to have to ask you to remain here for the time being. Your presence in the city could cause some problems with the people, and our Regents would like an audience with you sometime in the next few days.”

The giant looked to Leon for guidance, asking, “What should I do, Leon?”

Leon smiled at the giant’s use of his name, then nodded.

“Then I agree.”

“It agrees,” Leon relayed.

“And may I ask your name?” the guard asked.

“Leon Ursus.”

“Sir Leon Ursus…” the guard repeated as he scrawled it on a form he pulled out of his pocket, making the accurate assumption from Leon’s aura that Leon was a knight. “You may be called upon to interpret Lapis’ words, Sir Leon. Expect a summons within the next few days to appear in before the Royal Court with your giant friend.”

Leon grimaced, but the guard left before he was able to refuse.

“That sucks,” Alix muttered. “You’d think in a city this size, there would be at least one other person who could speak the giants’ language, but apparently they have to rely on a knight they found by chance.”

“Such… is life…” Leon said through clenched teeth as he fought to contain his anger and distaste for what had just happened. To go before the entire Royal Court was not something he wanted to do, but he quickly did his best to suppress his scowl.

Noticing that they were done with that bit of business, Minerva waved Leon and Alix over to her, nodding to them both in greeting while Lapis went back to standing by the road, looking like a massive statue as it froze in place. To Leon’s understanding, the giant was perfectly happy just standing around, as he had never picked up on any resentment or desire for anything else to do other than protecting him in the year and change the giant had been at the Bull’s Horns.

“His Highness has some business with you, Ursus,” the Minerva said once her greetings were over. “He’ll be out in a few minutes. As for you, Dame Alix, you’re going to be reporting to me from now on, understand?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Alix replied, though she looked a bit conflicted with her new assignment. On the one hand, she had just been called ‘Dame’ Alix, but on the other, she had grown used to following Leon around as his squire and thought that she would be doing the same thing as his official subordinate, but since Leon had lost his rank as Tribune, that was no longer an option. Now she was being formally placed within Trajan’s retinue with Minerva as her direct superior rather than Leon.

Leon gave Alix a nod of solidarity, hoping to silently communicate his support for her. Once the nod was returned, he turned to Minerva and asked, “Anything of note on the schedule for today?”

“I’m not sure what His Highness wants you for, but he did tell me that you’re not going to be accompanying the rest of us as we get settled in here in the capital. All the rest of us have to get our accommodations sorted out so that we’re not resorting to staying in inns or the Legion’s guest barracks.”

“Sounds like fun,” Leon said sarcastically. He felt a sudden surge of gratitude toward Trajan for saving him from what was sure to be a day of hellish paperwork for the rest of the retinue. Besides, he already had a place to stay, so it wasn’t like he was going to miss out on anything if he wasn’t assigned a room in the Legion barracks.

It was only a few minutes later that Trajan emerged from the palace and found almost his entire retinue assembled in the palace’s vast front courtyard. He looked a bit haggard, with tired eyes, wrinkled clothing, and maybe even a little bit more salt in his salt-and-pepper colored hair. He hadn’t left the palace the entire night, and it showed.

“Minerva, get them on their way!” Trajan shouted, wasting no time whatsoever.

“Yes, Your Highness!” Minerva responded, and she instantly started getting the retinue organized and moving toward the Legion headquarters.

“Ursus, on me,” Trajan ordered as he started walking further into the palace complex, but away from the main building.

Leon quickly fell in beside the Prince. “Rough night?” he asked once they were alone—Trajan had even left his usually omnipresent assistants and secretaries behind. Leon decided not to bring up his imminent day in the throne room translating for Lapis given how rough Trajan looked; he didn’t want to add any more stress to the Prince than he was under already, at least for the time being.

“Long night,” Trajan responded. “There were more problems that needed addressing than I expected, many of them obscure legal issues or related to the Kingdom’s finances. Dealing with these damn things is exhausting.”

“I can’t say I’m envious of your position right now…” Leon said with a muted look of pity. He couldn’t imagine a worse hell than being in charge of such a large bureaucracy as the Bull Kingdom possessed. He knew that many people would—and did—kill to gain that kind of power, but it sounded to him more like a way to get gray hair and die young than anything worth striving for.

“Don’t get too comfortable thinking you’re not going to have similar responsibilities one day,” Trajan warned the younger knight. “A man like you may not have much choice once he gains a little more fame and his name is more widely known.”

That statement brought a deep frown to Leon’s face. Trajan phrased it carefully, making it seem more like he would gain responsibility with fame, but he was actually saying that once his identity as the last scion of House Raime was widely known, then people would be trying to give him administrative and political power. He’d almost be forced into dealing with similar problems that Trajan was now submerged in.

“Well… here’s to hoping that day never comes,” Leon muttered. Unfortunately, he knew that it was only a matter of time before his real name got out. Too many people knew now, despite the fact that he had never actually told it to anyone—some people guessed correctly, and it simply spread from there. The only thing he could do was prepare for the time when the secret came out.

“Anyway,” Trajan continued, “there’s someone I want you to meet. He works in the Royal Archives and was the main analyst who compiled all the information we have on the attack on your father’s villa and on your family’s palace in Teira.”

Leon almost stopped walking in surprise. He knew that Trajan was going to start looking into these matters once they had reached the capital, but he didn’t think it would happen so soon. Once his brain processed what Trajan had just said, Leon quickly caught back up to the Prince and fought to calm himself down as quickly as he could.

The Royal Archives was as titanic a building as a Kingdom that had lasted for five thousand years deserved. It was built in a cylindrical shape, with granite pillars and arches making up the façade, and capped with a shallow dome. Flanking the arched entryway were a pair of bronze bulls posed like they were preparing to charge, each large enough to tower over Leon and Trajan.

As the two approached the big two-story oak doors, Leon sensed them tripping some kind of enchantment, causing the doors to open by themselves. This seemed a bit wasteful to Leon, but he supposed it was the sort of extravagance expected of a state with the Bull Kingdom’s resources.

On the other side of the door was a long colonnaded hall that ran the entire distance of the archives’ perimeter, while most of the rooms were concentrated in the center. A few spiral staircases afforded access to the upper floors. On the opposite side of the hall from the door was a reception desk with some secretaries waiting to help anyone who showed up, but Trajan waved them back into their seats as they rose to greet him. He led Leon past them with barely a word.

Their destination was an office on the first floor, but around the back of the building rather than higher up. The lighting was fairly dim and the muted bustle that Leon could hear closer to the front door was gone. It was clear to him that this was a much less traveled part of the building, despite being on the ground floor.

Trajan knocked on the door of the office they were going to and after waiting a second or two, pushed it open.

On the other side was a large, roughly pie-shaped room with more than a dozen huge tables covered in various documents and artifacts. Ancient weapons and armor, stone tablets, tools fragments, and broken pieces of pottery were the majority, but there were a few items of gold and silver among them. Lining the walls were dozens of large bookshelves containing thousands of books, some of which appeared as old as some of the artifacts on the tables.

At the far end of the room tucked away in a corner was a desk covered in more stacks of books, and when Leon and Trajan stepped into the office, a thin, pale, scholarly man leaned to the side and peered out from behind these barriers of paper and leather.

“Uncle!” he shouted as he sprang up from behind the desk and hurried forward to greet Trajan.

“Ah, there you are!” Trajan responded as he met the man—who Leon now assumed was a Prince—halfway and pulled him into a strong bear hug. Leon was well aware of how strong Trajan was, and it didn’t seem like he was being particularly gentle with the man, but despite the man’s slender body, he didn’t seem at all affected by Trajan’s strength. In fact, he hugged Trajan back seemingly just as hard. Upon further inspection, Leon realized that he was a fifth-tier mage, not just someone who devoted themselves to more erudite pursuits.

“Sir Leon,” Trajan said as he released the man and turned back to Leon, “I would like you to meet Prince Antonius, my Royal Brother’s third son.”