"To sum it up," Tiger spoke in a low, gravelly voice, "losing all of their Heartscales is a massive blow to the Empire, but it's also completely enraged them."
Tiger continued, the lines on his face deepening with concern. "Since the explosion at the lab, the Empire has intensified the hunt for Rebecca and me. Even Martin has been pulled in for questioning several times."
Leon's brow furrowed. "They went after Martin?"
Martin had been the youngest of Leon's former comrades, joining the Empire's dragon-slaying army purely out of admiration for Leon. When Martin discovered that the Empire and Victor intended to frame Leon, he had immediately chosen to side with his captain without a second thought.
Unlike Rebecca, who operated more like a lone wolf, Martin came from a family of royal ministers. He could have easily distanced himself from the chaos, lived a quiet, privileged life as a noble. While rising to great power wasn't guaranteed, he could have certainly lived out his days in comfort.
Yet, Martin had chosen to act as Leon's informant within the very heart of the Empire, risking his life and his family's standing to gather intelligence.
If anything happened to the young man because of this loyalty, Leon would never forgive himself.
"With his father's political cover, the royal investigators didn't dare go too far. They just subjected him to several intense questioning sessions," Tiger explained, and some of the tension visibly eased from Leon's shoulders.
"You know how it is. Ever since the Empire issued bounties for all of us, their first step has been to investigate anyone connected to our old unit. Since Martin was your teammate during your service, he was an obvious person of interest. The only thing that held them back all this time was his family's political influence."
"But after losing the Heartscales, the Empire is so furious they're willing to overlook a lot of those formalities. Even so, Martin's a clever one; he hasn't left behind any tangible evidence. The Empire's interrogators couldn't get anything concrete out of him."
"Still... gathering intelligence from here on out will be significantly more difficult for him."
Leon gave a firm nod. "It's fine, Master. What's more important than any piece of information is staying alive. Tell Martin not to push himself too hard. He should do only what he safely can, nothing more."
"Understood. I'll pass that along."
Tiger exhaled slowly, a weary sound, and tapped his finger thoughtfully against the scabbard of his greatsword. "The Empire isn't going to abandon this hybrid monster project. You can tell from their recent, large-scale capture of dangerous creatures. I'll keep a close eye on their movements and do my best to ensure we stop them before they create the next abomination."
Leon's eyes flickered with unease, but he didn't immediately agree with his master's plan. "Master, it's not just Martin who needs to be careful. You and Rebecca need to be extra cautious too. Like I said before, staying alive is paramount. If something happens to you, how am I going to explain it to my mistress? She'd curse my name for eternity."
Tiger paused, his graying eyebrows lifting in surprise before he let out a short, gruff laugh. "She's ten thousand miles away from you, kid. Don't worry, her curses won't reach you all the way out here."
"Then... when do I finally get to meet her?"
"Patience, boy." Tiger pulled out a simple, sturdy camera, pointed it at Leon, and said, "Now, smile."
Click!
Leon blinked, momentarily stunned by the flash. "What... was that for?"
Tiger looked down at the small preview screen on the camera and nodded with satisfaction. "Your mistress specifically told me not to bring back just photos of the granddaughters this time, but to bring one of you too. Tsk, kid, you've gotten skinny."
How could he not lose weight, Leon thought wryly, living in the Silver Dragon Sanctuary with Rossweise, engaging in relentless, shameless post-marital activities?
Ahem.
But that was only a small part of the reason.
The truth was, after witnessing the terrifying strength of Constantine, the super-hybrid zombie dragon, Leon had been deeply shaken. If the Empire could create such a monstrous creature once, who knew what other horrors they might concoct next?
Leon wasn't a man who was often afraid, so he wasn't quite sure how to process this simmering anxiety. It had subtly affected his appetite, which explained the weight loss.
"Now, seriously, Master, you and Rebecca really need to—"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. Safety first." Tiger cut him off, carefully tucking the camera back into his inner pocket. "There's one more thing. About those three people you asked me to look into."
Leon's mind quickly snapped to the subject: the Blade Trio. In the future, these three had been unstoppable on the battlefield, essentially becoming a nightmarish version of "Leon Cosmodeous 2.0." However, the power they wielded didn't come from themselves, nor from any conventional human magic. It was something else entirely, something unnatural.
Regardless of its source, if the Empire continued to cultivate them, it would create three incredibly powerful and troublesome enemies down the road. That was precisely why Leon had asked his master to investigate them during their last intelligence exchange.
"Do you have any news about them?"
"Yeah. The Empire has been secretly running a project called 'Blade,' aimed at producing a new generation of dragon-slaying weapons."
Tiger paused for a long moment, his lips pressing into a thin, tight line as if he were recalling something deeply unpleasant.
Leon gently probed, "Master?"
"Ah... it's nothing." Tiger took a sharp, deep breath before continuing. "The Empire is raising them the same way they raised me, and later, you. But this time, they've learned their lesson from past... insubordinations."
Tiger's gaze fell heavily upon the greatsword lying on the table between them.
"The sharper the blade, the stronger the sheath needs to be, to ensure it doesn't end up cutting its wielder."
"The resources the Empire has invested in this Blade Trio far surpass what they ever poured into you, Leon. And they've also implemented enough control mechanisms and 'safety measures' to make sure these sharp sabers never, ever turn against them."
"In other words... in addition to facing monstrous hybrids like Constantine, we may also have to deal with the Empire's most loyal, most vicious hunting dogs in the near future."
Leon listened quietly, his expression grim as he processed the information.
Tiger had just spoken of the future, but Leon was the only one in the room who had actually lived in one—a terrible one.
In that "World Without Leon" twenty years from now, the human Empire had controlled the lifeblood of all conflicts, their methods growing ever more brutal and unscrupulous.
Externally, they crushed all opposition with the overwhelming, unnatural power of the Blade Trio.
Internally, they solidified public support through a relentless string of military victories and propaganda.
So, instead of calling it "a world without Leon," it would be more accurate to call it "a world utterly dominated by a corrupt and ruthless Empire."
And clearly, such a future... was a profound disaster.
People lived in a false, manufactured peace, paying taxes to corrupt rulers and even cheering for them, completely oblivious to the rot festering beneath the surface.
The Empire waged wars not for the sake of humanity's prosperity, but for its own power and expansion.
Leon had promised Future Noah that he would rewrite that doomed timeline, that he would find a path through the chaos and forge a better outcome.
He had given his word, and he was a man who would not, could not, break it.
"Whether it's a super zombie dragon or the Blade Trio, no matter what monsters the Empire creates, we have only one choice, Master."
The two men locked eyes, their resolve mirroring each other's, and in unison, they declared,
"A fight to the death."