"My beautiful swordswoman, I am Leo, a berserker from the south!" Leonidas declared, having simplified his name.
"The mighty Leo missed this morningâs rising sun, and he missed the sweetest juice in the east side of the city."
"My beautiful swordswoman, your beauty has moved Leo."
"Leo has discovered that you, and only you, are the most beautiful scenery I cannot afford to miss!"
This performance left not only the members of the Dragonslayerâs Lance Mercenary Corps completely dumbfounded, but even Orion was momentarily stunned.
He has a thing for young girls? This is Leonidasâs taste?
An unknown amount of time passed as Orion, Borg, Neil, Aiden, Yala, and Alilien all stared blankly at one another. Finally, Orion hurried to hand over their letter of recommendation and mission certificate.
"Hello, my name is Orion. This is my big brother, Leo. Weâre here to accept the quest," he said, his eyes sharp enough to tell from their positioning that the man with the greatsword was the leader. "Here is our letter of recommendation from the Mercenariesâ Guild."
"Hello. We are the Dragonslayerâs Lance Mercenary Corps. I am the commander, Borg," the man said, then glanced at Leonidas, who was completely oblivious.
Lost in his role-playing, Leonidas was now standing directly in front of Alilien, a lecherous grin plastered on his face. The normally lively Alilien was so frightened she had hidden herself behind the cat-woman, Yala.
"My apologies," Orion said, stepping forward to pull Leonidas back to his side, giving his shoulder a firm squeeze. "My brother has no resistance when it to comes to pretty young ladies."
Snapping back to reality, Leonidas finally tore his gaze away from Alilien and looked at the other members of the corps.
"I am Leo, the strongest berserker from the City of Steel! I am Leo, I am the strongest! I am Leo, and I like this girl!"
As he spoke, he released his peak Alpha-level aura, pressing down on the members of the Dragonslayerâs Lanceâexcept, of course, for the little human swordswoman.
It was a bizarre scene. Everything Leonidas said made him sound like a lunatic. But his peak Alpha-level aura was undeniably, immensely powerful.
This contradictory existenceâfoolish yet strongâleft a deep impression on the mercenaries.
"I am Orion, a powerful spear thrower," Orion added, releasing his own peak Alpha-level aura to join Leonidasâs in pressuring the group.
The message was simple: we two brothers are extremely strong.
"We welcome you to our ranks," Commander Borg said, stepping forward and releasing his own peak Alpha-level aura to meet theirs. "With you two joining us, we can definitely accomplish the great feat of slaying a dragon."
Orion reached out and shook Borgâs hand. At the same time, he and Leonidas retracted their auras.
Leonidas, however, merely glanced at Borg without any intention of shaking his hand. His attention had already drifted back to the girl, Alilien.
Orion just shook his head and offered the others an awkward smile. They had officially joined the Dragonslayerâs Lance.
The next morning, the group gathered at the Mercenariesâ Guild, preparing to set out.
"Bro, can we please be normal?" Orion asked.
He and Leonidas were sitting at a two-person table, each with a glass of fruit wine and a hard breadstick to chew on. In a remote border town like this, the guildâs breakfast was nothing but cheap fare.
Fortunately, both Orion and Leonidas had strong teeth and werenât picky. A sip of bland fruit wine, a loud, crunchy bite of breadstickâit was oddly satisfying.
"You change too fast, you get too deep into your character. Your pupil canât keep up," Orion grumbled.
"Bro, this is life. We are here to enjoy life," Leonidas said sagely. "Listen to your bro. You have to blend in, become one of them. It makes doing the mission easier, you know."
Before Orion could retort, Alexanderâs voice echoed from behind Leonidas. "They are not as sleazy as you, nor as shameless. Was it the musky scent in the air that affected you? Or has your dragon avatar influenced you and made you a lecher?"
His tone was filled with disgust, sarcasm, disdain, and contempt.
"Tch, what does a sullen block of wood like you know?" Leonidas shot back. "This is my nature. Releasing my nature, expressing what I loveâis there anything wrong with that? I love young swordswomen, I love Alilien, and I will protect her! This is my nature!"
He wanted to continue, but seeing that neither Orion nor Alexander was refuting him, he felt a bit deflated. Orion, in particular, was wearing a strange smile that made Leonidas very uncomfortable.
"Bro, do you agree with my thinking? Oneâs nature should be released. If you like someone, you should express it. If you keep it bottled up inside, who will ever know? Who will care? Am I right?"
The strange smile on Orionâs face deepened. Just as Leonidas was about to speak again, Alilienâs timid voice sounded from behind him.
"Sir, Alilien doesnât like your type."
Leonidasâs hand, reaching for his breadstick, froze mid-air. He shot a venomous glare at Orion.
Damn it,
he cursed internally.
Another dog who doesnât care about brotherhood and enjoys watching people fall into pits!
He realized that Alexander and Orion must have seen Yala and Alilien approaching and deliberately concealed their presence from him.
Slowly, Leonidas turned around, a confident and charming smile on his face. "Darling Alilien, you not liking me now doesnât mean you wonât like me in the future. When you like someone, you must confess bravely. Just like me. Me liking you, and you not liking me, are not in conflict at all."
Orion felt as if he were hallucinating. He was watching Leonidas, in front of everyone, personally force-feed himself three large bowls of his own brand of poisoned motivational garbage.
"Sir, thank you. Youâre a nice person, but Alilien doesnât like your."
Orion wanted to laugh. He felt that this little girl, Alilien, had the potential to be a master of throwing knives. Every single one she had just thrown had landed squarely in Leonidasâs heart.
"Sirs Orion and Leo," the gentle voice of the cat-woman Yala interjected. She seemed unable to watch any longer.
She pulled the naive Alilien back slightly and, with a professional smile, got down to business. "The mercenary corps is preparing to depart. The commander sent me to arrange a carriage for you and to brief you on the relevant details."