Chapter 52
In a dark space around him, Leo stood in the centre. In front of him came a small flame. He slowly approached it. He bent down, reaching for the warm flame. He heard a familiar but unknown voice. It said,
“Leo Legion, wake up.”
At that moment Leo woke up startled from his bed, his forehead sweating. He whispered,
“Leo Legion…”
Lily, seeing this, got near him and asked,
“A nightmare?”
Leo replied,
“Something like that.”
Getting up from the bed, he continued,
“Why are you here so early?”
“I came here to remind my sleepy head brother that it’s time to go to work,” she said.
Leo looked out his window. The twin suns had gone past the time of comfort for Leo.
“Oh no, I am late,” sighed Leo.
He urgently got ready and headed downstairs. Lily got him his lunch. Leo greeted farewell to the children and Granny Hilda and headed to work.
In the academy, the knights gathered before the ground. Leo took his weapons of cleansing and started his work. Today his job was in the training ground.
The new students were being taught the basics of the sword. The instructor, a veteran imperial knight, Loid, started his lecture,
“Today you are starting a new journey. Forget all you knew about the sword. Everything was wrong. Now you are going to learn again.”
The students said,
“Yes, sir.”
He swung his sword, tracing a path. He continued,
“Remember, this is the right way — the imperial sword.”
Leo, with the mop in his hands, was sweeping the dried leaves. Unknowingly, the path of the mop moved, mimicking the path of the sword the knight drew. Unknowingly, he broomed all day long in the same space until a voice disturbed his trance.
“Seems like you are too busy, mister.”
He flashed back to reality. The moonlit beauty from last night stood before him with her hands tied to her back.
“Forgive me, miss, for not noticing you,” he asked.
She smiled and spoke,
“Thanks for the meal yesterday. Here.”
She took out a box from her back. Leo received it.
“What is this, miss?” he asked.
“I have a name, you know,” she said, pouting.
“Forgive me. Where are my manners? I am Leo, the ground keeper of this academy.”
She replied,
“I go by Maria.”
He continued,
“It’s an honor to meet such a beauty.”
She blushed and said,
“Quite the talker. Well, why don’t you open it?”
Leo eagerly opened it. It was baked bread.
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“I baked it myself,” she said.
Leo smiled.
“I am honored to receive such a gift crafted by such delicate hands,” he said.
She blushed.
Leo continued,
“Well, it’s quite rude to not give anything back. Here, have this, miss.”
He took out the brooch she dropped yesterday. She looked at it and started to tear up.
“Miss, forgive me if I did something wrong. Please don’t cry,” Leo panicked.
She shook her head.
“No…” she cried and continued,
“It was the last thing my mother left me. I… I thought I lost it. Thank you so much, Leo.”
As Leo gave it to her, a smile filled her face. Wind blew. She sneezed. Leo took a cloth out of his bag and spoke,
“If you don’t mind the cloth of a commoner…”
He looked at her. She spoke,
“I don’t mind at all.”
Then he proceeded to place the sheet of fabric over her.
“Thanks, Leo,” she whispered.
Leo, for the first time in his life, felt a weird tingle in his chest. As she turned around and left, he could see a tinge of pink in the white canvas of her face.
He turned around, packed up, and returned home.
At night, under the light of the blue moon, an old demon walked the courtyard. He came near the same tree under which Leo had his first tingle. He looked down on the ground where Leo swept.
“Interesting…” he whispered before he vanished from the grounds.
In the night, Leo finally arrived home. The family had gathered in the hall where they all had dinner. Lily got Leo’s baggage and welcomed him home.
“Just on time, brother. Come join us for dinner,” she said.
“I will be there,” he said.
He went and refreshed, then came to the common hall. The children were waiting for him. Hilda spoke,
“Come join us, Leo.”
Leo walked and sat next to her.
“How was your day?” asked Hilda.
Leo started to explain his day, of course leaving out the part about Maria.
The family had dinner and all finally left for bed. Lily asked,
“Brother, where did you leave your coat?”
Another young boy in the orphanage, Brad, spoke,
“Did you give it to some girl?”
Lily said,
“No way this blockhead will have such tact,” while looking at him.
Hearing this, he started to blush. Lily looked at him, her eyes widened.
“Really, you, brother? A girl? Now this is news.”
She turned around and shouted,
“Granny—”
Before her mouth was shut by Leo’s hands.
“Stop it. It’s nothing like that. I met someone, but that’s all. Let me confirm it myself before we tell Granny.”
She nodded before he finally let go of her mouth.
“Fine, but tell me everything,” she said.
The two went to Leo’s bedroom where he started narrating their meeting.
“Is she beautiful?” she asked finally.
He replied,
“She is an art of nature, daughter of moon, her eyes the stars that shine in the night sky, her lips rivaling that of the unripe demonic cherry, her voice the melody sung by the swans of the crystal lake.”
Hearing this, Lily’s mouth widened.
“I never knew you were such a romanticist, brother.”
“Oh, shut up. Now it’s time. Go to sleep,” he said.
Lily giggled and went out his door. He lay on his cot, thinking of Maria.
At the same time, in the girls’ dorm of the academy, the moonlight illuminated the room of the first years. On the double-deck bed lay Maria in the upper bunk. She lay with the brooch in one hand, in the other holding the coat Leo gave her. She smiled as she stared at the coat, remembering the face of the young demon she met in the morning.
Suddenly a figure sprung up on her from below. Maria was startled.
“What are you grinning at like an idiot?” asked the shadow.
“Pearl, stop that. How many times do I tell you not to jump up unannounced?”
Pearl, a demoness with short hair, mushroom cut, cute face, said,
“Leave all that. Tell me, who does that ragged coat belong to?”
Maria replied,
“Nobody. Just a sensible ground keeper I met.”
Pearl’s pupils constricted.
“Ooh, a man. Who is it? Tell me, tell me.”
Maria replied,
“Alright, it was the young demon I met yesterday.”
“The one whose lunch you mercilessly devoured?” said Pearl.
Maria blushed. Seeing her blush, Pearl smiled and continued,
“Don’t tell me he won your heart with a box of meal.”
“Oh, shut up. I am going to sleep. I am not going to listen to this nonsense,” she said as she pulled over the bed sheet and covered herself completely.
Pearl got down as she whispered,
“Someone’s in love.”
The next day on the academy ground, Maria was on her way back from class. On the corridor, few demons started whispering,
“She is the bastard child,”
“She is the fake, filthy commoner.”
Maria heard this. Her black eyes started to get wet. She ran from there.
