A little over a month later, Leon and Rossweise traveled to the border between human and dragon territories to meet with Leon's master and Rebecca for a routine intelligence exchange.
This time, Leon came thoroughly prepared. He carried paper, pens, and even a memory stone to record the conversation with his master. He was certain this meeting would yield a large volume of critical information.
The situation had escalated significantly since their last meeting. The destruction of the Heart Scales and Constantine's failed resurrection had caused major problems for the Empire. Leon's retaliation had been substantial, enough to leave a lasting mark.
Given the intensity of the clash, Leon had no doubt the Empire would soon take even more drastic measures. If they made a move, there would inevitably be signs or rumors.
Leon needed to discern the Empire's next plan, or at least their general direction, to prepare accordingly. Constantine's surprise attack on the Red Dragon Sanctuary had caught him completely off guard.
If Leon and Rossweise hadn't been visiting Isha at that exact time, the Empire's assault—whatever its goal—might have succeeded.
He needed to adjust his strategy to avoid always being a step behind the Empire. Otherwise, disaster was only a matter of time.
A few hours later, Leon and Rossweise arrived at the familiar mountain cave. Passing through the cascading waterfall and walking deeper into the cavern, they hadn't taken many steps when a familiar, teasing voice echoed through the space.
"Well, well, Captain, still alive, I see. I thought you might have been sucked into another spatial rift by now~."
Rebecca, the girl with the lively twin-tails, sat perched atop an old wooden table. One shapely leg was lifted onto its edge, and a sleek pistol was strapped to the outside of her thigh.
Leon, however, didn't respond to her greeting. Instead, he strode forward purposefully, grabbed Rebecca by the collar, and lifted her off the table as if she were a misbehaving puppy.
"What the hell, Captain?! Let's talk this out!" Rebecca flailed a bit, but with her hands and feet off the ground, she couldn't muster any real leverage.
Leon stood there, one hand on his hip, the other still holding her aloft, staring down at her without a word.
Rebecca looked at her captain's stern face.
Judging by his expression, she had done something to seriously annoy him, and he wasn't going to let it slide. But that didn't make sense! They only saw each other every three months, and everything had been fine during their last meeting. Why did it feel like he wanted to skin her alive this time?
She hadn't done anything wrong, had she?
Rebecca swallowed nervously and glanced over at Tiger, silently pleading for help.
"Dad! Dad! Your disciple is about to hit me! Aren't you going to stop him?"
Tiger, busy meticulously polishing his greatsword, didn't even lift his head. "Go ahead and hit her, just don't break your hand. We'll still need her to drive the carriage on the way back."
"I'm only worth driving the carriage to you, old man?!"
Tiger paused for a moment, then nodded seriously. "Yes."
"Arrrgh!!" Rebecca turned her desperate gaze toward the silver-haired beauty behind Leon, seeking another ally.
"Sis! Sis, save me! Your husband is about to use violence against me! He's giving me the same look he had when he was slaughtering dragons!"
Rossweise merely smirked. "Darling, you're not a dragon, so relax. He won't slaughter you."
Rebecca: ?
Fine. It seemed outside help was useless.
In the end, she had to rely on herself.
Rebecca looked at Leon with a determined, almost heroic expression and said, "Before you punish me, Captain, can I at least know what my crime is?"
"You told Rossweise about my embarrassing past, didn't you?"
Rebecca froze. "Sis! You backstabbed me!!"
Rossweise blinked, about to explain, but Leon cut in first.
"It's got nothing to do with her. She didn't say a word."
He paused, then mumbled under his breath, "Although she did nag me about the graduation ball for an entire week…"
Rebecca blinked her large, innocent eyes. "What?"
"Nothing. Only you and Martin know about my school days. Martin hasn't met Rossweise, so it had to be you. And considering how long you were alone with her last time… it's pretty easy to connect the dots."
"Captain, I swear I only wanted you and sis to understand each other better! Do you believe me?"
"I don't."
"You should! Captain, why don't you believe me?!"
Seeing that he had scared her enough, Leon glanced sideways at Rossweise. Seeing she showed no sign of intervening, he leaned in and whispered into Rebecca's ear, "What else did you tell her?"
Rebecca's mind raced, sifting through the memory of their conversation. Finally, she shook her head. "I only mentioned that you can't swim."
Can't swim.
Oh… that was relatively harmless, as long as she hadn't revealed anything else that Rossweise could use to tease him mercilessly.
"Anything else?"
"No, Captain, I swear." She held up three fingers, her face a mask of sincerity.
"I'll believe you this once."
With that, Leon set Rebecca down. The moment her feet touched the ground, she immediately scurried over to Rossweise's side, stomping her foot and looking up at the taller woman as if lodging a formal complaint.
Rossweise simply gave her a knowing smile, watching Rebecca with an almost motherly expression.
Leon shook his head with a quiet chuckle and walked over to sit down next to Tiger.
Tiger had finished cleaning his sword and was sliding it back into its sheath. "Kid, it seems you've really pissed off the Empire this time."
Leon smiled wryly. "What now?"
He could guess what his master was referring to—the incident where Constantine, resurrected as a grotesque hybrid, had attacked the Red Dragon Sanctuary, and Leon had detonated the Heart Scale powering the abomination from within.
Of course, Leon's detonation magic wasn't refined enough to target a single scale selectively. When activated, it was an all-or-nothing blast.
"The Empire's laboratory storing those Heart Scales exploded a couple of months ago, right?" Tiger continued. "Rebecca and I heard the blast and rushed over, only to find out that all the Heart Scales inside were destroyed."
"The Royal Sorcerers confirmed the scales were completely obliterated. Not a single one survived."
"At first, I thought maybe some rogue hero had taken it upon themselves to blow up the lab as a statement against the Empire's corruption."
"But later, I realized the Empire hadn't issued any wanted notices. Meaning, they knew exactly who did it, and that person wasn't even within the Empire's borders."
Tiger glanced pointedly at Leon. "So, you're the one who dared to stir up such trouble right under the Empire's nose, aren't you?"
Leon scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "It wasn't exactly voluntary…"
Tiger furrowed his brow. "How is it that everything you do after you turned twenty seems 'involuntary'? Getting married, having kids, wanting a fourth child, and now even blowing up the Empire's treasure—it's all 'involuntary.'"
"Hey!"
"You got married against your will, had kids against your will, were forced to have a third one… and now you're telling me you were forced to blow up the Empire's Heart Scales?" Tiger counted on his fingers, highlighting the absurd and "glorious" trajectory of Leon's twenty-four-year life.
Leon chuckled awkwardly before explaining the full story behind Constantine's resurrection and the subsequent Heart Scale explosion.
After hearing the account, Tiger nodded thoughtfully. "Reckless but careful at the same time. That's definitely your style."
Leon's face stiffened. "Reckless but careful? I've always been just careful!"
"Does your wife know that?"
"Of course my wife—wait, we're talking about my combat style here, not… other things, right?"
Tiger waved a dismissive hand before his expression grew serious again. "Anyway, your little explosion caused quite a bit of damage. The Empire lost years' worth of collected Heart Scales. That's a significant loss for them."
Leon caught an interesting detail in his master's words. "Wait, 'years' worth of collected Heart Scales'? Are you saying the Empire has been gathering them for a long time?"
Leon had only learned about the Empire's Heart Scale collection after traveling twenty years into the future. But his master seemed to have known about it from much earlier.
"How do you know?"
Tiger paused, thinking for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, I noticed about thirty years ago that the Empire had started taking certain things from dragons. I didn't know they were Heart Scales at the time."
"After… certain events, I had to leave the Dragon Slayer army. I haven't kept up with the Empire's movements since."
Leon narrowed his eyes. "Certain events…?"
"That has nothing to do with what we're talking about right now, Leon."
The short, definitive answer was a clear signal to drop the subject.
Leon understood and didn't push further. He'd long realized there were things his master hadn't told him. But from Tiger's reaction, it wasn't that he didn't intend to share; it just wasn't the right time yet.
Leon didn't know when that time would come, but until then, he chose to trust his master implicitly.
"What about now? What's the Empire's next plan after losing all the Heart Scales?"
"After the explosion, we've observed large convoys of carriages moving in and out of the Empire's core territories."
Tiger explained, "Rebecca and I managed to get close enough to see that these carriages are loaded with enchanted cages. Inside are dangerous creatures—high-risk monsters."
"Monsters?"
"Yes. While the Empire has always hunted harmful beasts, they've never done so on this scale or with this level of coordinated efficiency."
"And they've been transporting them almost exclusively under the cover of night, avoiding public notice."
"That's suspicious, isn't it?"
Leon nodded in firm agreement. "Definitely. The Empire usually flaunts its victories over monsters to boost public morale and support. But if they're quietly capturing dangerous creatures like this… maybe they still haven't given up on the concept behind Constantine."
Tiger's brows furrowed deeply. "You mean, even after losing the Heart Scales, the Empire is still trying to create another hybrid monster like Constantine?"
"Exactly. That seems more in line with their stubborn methods, doesn't it?"
The kid made a good point.
Most sensible people wouldn't keep ramming their heads into a wall after hitting it once.
But the Empire? They'd ram into it a second time just to see if it was made of concrete or brittle brick.
Tiger couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that if the Empire continued recklessly down this path, they might end up creating a power so monstrous it would ultimately ensnare and destroy them.
After all, they always had a notorious tendency to pursue forces they could never hope to fully control.