The sun slipped below the horizon, and Leon, Valeria, and Anzu prepared to leave Leon’s villa. There was a sense of dread and anticipation within them, and Leon, at least, was of the mind that he could very well never see his home again. Still, he’d said his goodbyes to Elise, and there was no other reason for him to look back.

For her part, Valeria took the time to pull a pitch-black sleeved tabard over her brand-new shiny plate armor to stand out less in the dark. Leon’s black armor, which appeared over him from his soul realm, didn’t have this problem, and if it did, he still had his invisibility ring.

Once Anzu was saddled and ready, Leon hopped up, then extended a hand back down for Valeria. Her face reddened a few shades, but she didn’t hesitate to take his hand and pull herself up behind him. There wasn’t much to hold onto back there, so she had little alternative than to wrap her arms around Leon’s waist, which she did with some trepidation and hesitation. Leon, however, said nothing, and quietly allowed it to happen.

“Let’s go,” he whispered, and Anzu began to run as wind began to gather beneath his outstretched wings.

Fortunately, Anzu was large, strong, and powerful, and Valeria, while fit, athletic, and covered from head to toe in steel armor, wasn’t nearly heavy enough for her presence to bother the albino griffin. The three lifted off the ground without difficulty and began soaring through the skies of the capital.

Anzu flew fast, and it was only a few scant minutes later that they were touching down on a massive lakeside estate, near the private docks where a huge yacht was moored. Leon and Valeria quickly dismounted and took off running for the yacht, Anzu close at their heels. Their chosen method of leaving Leon’s villa was faster than just about anything else they could’ve chosen, but it was not subtle in the slightest, even in the early evening darkness. If there had been anyone watching the villa from afar, they would’ve seen the three leaving by air.

In other words, there was a damn good chance that they had little time before news of their unusual departure reached the Royal Palace.

Fortunately, Minerva, Brimstone, Roland, and the rest of their combined retinues were probably already in position. Their job was far more difficult, while Leon’s was comparatively easy. He and Valeria had to smuggle Princess Cristina and her mother out of the Royal harem and then rendezvous with the others on the southern tip of the palatial island. Minerva’s job was to break August out of wherever he was being kept, which would undoubtedly involve far more violence than Leon’s mission.

The owner of the yacht was waiting for them on deck as they charge up the gangplank.

“You… three? Are you three ready?” she asked good-naturedly as she held out a hand to stroke Anzu’s feathers. Anzu jerked back a bit in response and tried to hide his massive body behind Leon, glaring at the ship’s owner with no small amount of wariness and antipathy.

“As we’ll ever be,” Leon said, silently urging them onward.

—

The Royal Palace was dark and quiet. Most people had gone home, but Leon couldn’t easily verify that; all he could do was scan the shore and the tree line with his eyes. Even if he wanted to risk projecting his magic senses as far as he could—which he did not—most of the buildings on the island, even those that didn’t see regular use, were warded against such surveillance.

He counted them lucky that the yacht wasn’t stopped as it slowly cut through the waves moving north along the island’s western side. Of course, the sigil of the golden bull on a green field emblazoned unmistakably on the side of the yacht was probably why, but Leon was hopeful that the reason they hadn’t seemed to attract any attention yet was that they simply had yet to be seen.

The yacht soon came to a stop about two hundred feet from the shore, near a small private dock tucked away in a rocky inlet about halfway up the western side of the island.

“This is as far as we’re going to go. You’re on your own until you return,” the yacht’s owner said, giving Leon and Valeria a glowing smile. “I’ll wait for you here, but please be quick.”

In the back of the yacht, several members of the crew were unloading a dinghy with practiced ease. This small boat was the main method that the yacht’s passengers used to come to and from the ship when it wasn’t moored, and now it would ferry Leon and his small group to the private dock.

“We’re on it,” Leon replied, waving Valeria and Anzu over to the dinghy. It was enchanted with small water jets on the bottom that would propel it through the water, so they were the only three to board it, which was for the best since Anzu was large enough that the dinghy started to rock unsteadily.

The griffin, channeling his lion half, began to quake and shiver in fear of the water beneath him, and only calmed down when Leon held out a hand and rested it upon his head. Valeria, meanwhile, took the wheel of the dinghy and began to steer it toward the shore. She tried to strike a balance between speed and stability since the dinghy still rocked enough to make the ride harrowing for all occupants.

But they made it to the docks safe and sound and found the place relaxingly deserted. This made some degree of sense to Leon, since the dungeons were on the eastern side of the island, about as far away from the harem as it could reasonably be on the inhabited side of the island. The harem itself was quite secluded, though heavily guarded. Much like the King’s private villa, it was surrounded by a forest, but it wasn’t that dense and had more than enough room for a number of expansive gardens and even a hedge maze.

It was also guarded by several thousand highly trained knightesses, nearly all hailing from noble backgrounds with plenty of resources to throw behind their training.

Leon thought he had a good chance if he were to fight one of these women in a fair duel since as Royal Guards, most didn’t see much combat and had little in the way of practical experience—though there were always exceptions. Additionally, they were well-equipped, and judging by what he saw from Valeria during the past two weeks, more than skilled in the arts of war.

In other words, he wasn’t in a hurry to test his confidence, and he stepped lightly once his feet hit the dock.

“What do you know about the wards on the island preventing intrusion by flight?” Leon quietly asked Valeria, whispering despite their apparent isolation.

“Not much,” she whispered back as she secured the dinghy to the docks, her voice taking on a slightly resonant quality as it passed through her helmet.

“Do you know if there’s anything preventing our exit by air?”

Valeria shook her head in the negative, eliciting a scowl from Leon. The ride on the dinghy had been terrible, and if there were going to be a few more bodies added to their dinghy, he was all-but-certain that they’d need multiple trips. He couldn’t fly to the palace island, but if he could fly away from it, then it might solve that problem.

“There are other boats,” Valeria said, calming his mind somewhat as she pointed to a small shack-like structure sitting over the water.

“How many?”

“Not sure about the total, but there’s enough.”

Leon nodded, taking her at her word for the sake of expediency.

“Then let’s be off,” he said. Under normal conditions, he’d take the time to secure their exit by confirming that there were enough boats and then getting them out of storage, but things were going to kick off as soon as Minerva began her own part of the operation, and he wanted to be done by then. Besides, there would be more hands when they returned, making the work go much faster.

The surrounding region of the island was hilly, and the rocky inlet that the dock had been built into was at the foot of these hills. The forest surrounding the harem began at the top and was not guarded. At the furthest end of the dock was an artfully rugged stone path that led further into the forest toward the harem.

“We’re not taking the path, I take it?” Leon asked.

“No, this end isn’t guarded around the block, but there are checkpoints further in,” Valeria answered. “This place is only secured if a member of the Royal Family is visiting, or if the ladies of the harem want to spend some time at the beach, and even then, it’s incredibly rare. Given what’s happening right now, there’s no way any of the King’s concubines are outside, so we’re probably not going to have to worry about running into any guards since we’re not going too far into the forest.”

“Good,” Leon said. It did seem a bit strange to him that this place wasn’t more heavily guarded, but with how they had gotten in and with how little these docks were apparently used, he supposed it made some sense why there wasn’t a more permanent Royal Guard presence here.

The three moved further into the forest, with Anzu staying low to the ground so his bright white fur and feathers didn’t stick out too much. If the guard situation had been less in their favor, he might’ve left Anzu back at the docks. If things went to **, though, then he wanted his griffin with him, just in case, both to fight and to escape.

Leon, Valeria, and Anzu crept further into the forest, shadowing the path but staying far from it. Just as Valeria said, there was a checkpoint further in, but it was only guarded a pair of lady knights who were far more concerned with their own conversation than with paying attention to the surrounding forest. After all, their role was largely ceremonial, no one would be suicidal enough to try and infiltrate the Royal Palace.

Leon’s small group kept infiltrating further. There would be a point where they would have to stop, where enchantments on the forest would give them away or they’d be seen by the guard patrols, but Leon was banking on Valeria’s familiarity with the area to avoid them as best as they could.

“Not too much farther, now,” Valeria whispered.

Sure enough, after only another minute or two, Leon spotted a small gazebo in the forest, surrounded by flowers of all colors and even a small decorative stream. It was also occupied by about a dozen young-seeming women, most armed and armored.

“Wait here a moment,” Valeria said as she quickly removed her helmet. Leon frowned a bit but decided that since he’d trusted her this far, he could trust her a bit further. Still, he kept his eyes locked on the group of women in the gazebo; at least two of them appeared to be sixth-tier, and he was willing to bet that all were skilled in the use of their weapons of choice.

Leon and Anzu hung back, hidden fairly well behind a tree, some nearby bushes, and the early evening darkness. Valeria, meanwhile, confidently strode toward the gazebo, her glaive strapped to her back and her helmet in her hands, revealing her face and distinctive hair. Leon calmed himself down as much as he could, reducing the amount of noise he made as much as he could in an attempt to listen in to the encounter she was about to have. Anzu took his cues from Leon, retracting his wings and settling in on the forest floor looking like he was ready to pounce on unsuspecting prey.

“Halt!” Leon heard one of the sixth-tier knightesses call out once they’d notice Valeria.

Valeria complied, coming to a stop and spreading her arms to show that she had no weapons at the ready. That wasn’t strictly necessary, though, as another voice rang out as the rest of the knightesses turned and noticed her.

“Val!” cried Asiya’s familiar voice.

Leon saw Asiya, armed and armored in a similar fashion to the rest of the knightesses, rush out of the gazebo and practically tackle Valeria to the ground in a tight, passionate hug. Unfortunately, as hard as Leon tried to listen in, the rest of the conversation between Valeria, Asiya, and the other knightesses was too quiet for him to hear. However, about five minutes later, Valeria turned around and started leading the group back in his direction.

It took every ounce of restraint that Leon possessed to allow them to close distance with him and not reach for his sword or summon his bow from his soul realm, but most of the lady knights were clearly jumpy and understandably nervous, and he didn’t want to provoke a confrontation. Still, it almost looked like one was about to break out once the group drew close enough to see him, with several of the knightesses drawing their blades.

“Hold!” one of the sixth-tier ladies ordered, immediately putting an end to any thoughts of fighting. “You, are you Sir Leon Ursus?” she asked.

“I am,” Leon confirmed.

The lady nodded, her eyes drifting over to Anzu, who was low to the ground and ready for a fight. “Is your war beast safe?”

“He won’t attack unless I do,” Leon said, resting a hand on the griffin’s head and calming him down a bit.

“In that case, might my charges ride him?”

There were thirteen ladies in the group, including Valeria. Eleven of them were armored, but the last two wore flowing black robes with hoods pulled over their heads, concealing their faces from Leon unless he wanted to be rude and use his magic senses. However, even without his magic senses, he could tell that these two were relatively weak in terms of magical ability, with one in the second-tier and the other barely even a first-tier mage. All the other knightesses were at least of the third-tier.

Leon nodded, understanding the need to move fast.

The sixth-tier knightess who appeared to be in charge nodded to the other, who quickly helped both of the robed women up onto Anzu’s back. Anzu was a bit nervous with so many unfamiliar people so close to him, and Leon had to stand right next to him so that he would sit still enough to allow both the Princess and her mother onto his back.

As Leon was doing this, he happened to glance up at the ladies as Anzu straightened himself out after allowing them onto his back. The first was exceptionally pretty, from what he could see under her hood. She had softer features and a heart-shaped face, long black hair, and bright blue eyes. She was clearly terrified, though, and kept looking back in direction of the harem. The other—Princess Cristina, Leon presumed—looked much like her mother, with the same black hair and heart-shaped face, though she was a bit taller, and her demeanor was completely different. Instead of fearfully looking back, she kept alternating her gaze between Leon, Anzu, and the way forward. Even more notably, her face was split with a wide smile, and her body shook with nervous excitement.

“Can we go, now?” Leon heard her whispering into her mother’s ear after a few moments of waiting for the rest of the group to get organized again.

Hearing the Princess, too, the knightess in charge quickly said, “Dame Valeria, fall in. You should know where to go. Sir Leon, if you could walk with me, I would appreciate it.”

Valeria almost moved automatically, but she was now Leon’s knight, not a Royal Guard. She looked first to him for confirmation. Not wanting to make a scene, Leon nodded, and Valeria quickly made for the end of a wide, shallow wedge that the knightesses fell into, with Leon and Anzu in the center, flanked by both sixth-tier knightesses.

“By the way,” the lady in charge said to Leon, “I’m Dame Maxima Aquileia, the head of Princess Cristina’s personal guard.”

“Good to meet you,” Leon whispered back, not wanting to say more until they were away from the island. Maxima, though, had other ideas; it seemed she was far more confident that they weren’t going to be caught than Leon was.

“So, where are we going, Sir Leon? Dame Asiya and my former squire weren’t clear on the details.”

Leon’s face momentarily warped in surprise, though it was hidden by his helmet.

“A ship not far from the nearby docks. From there, we’re going to head south to the southern tip of the capitol island and meet up with Dame Minerva, and the Paladins Roland and Brimstone. Once we make that rendezvous, we’re going to continue south along the Naga River.”

Leon could’ve gotten more detailed, but he didn’t trust Maxima quite yet, and if she were a double agent, then he’d already said too much.

“Got it,” Maxima replied. “Anything to get Her Highness away from this city as soon as we can, though I’d prefer if we weren’t waiting around for the others.”

“We don’t technically have to,” Leon softly suggested. “I mean, you can just drop me off and then head south afterward. Depends on the situation-“

As Leon was speaking, a distant explosion echoed through the forest, startling the entire group and causing everyone to draw their weapons. A few more explosions could be heard in the distance, but the group remained unassailed. Whatever was happening with Minerva and August was clearly kicking off, but it didn’t seem to be spilling over to the western side of the island.

“We should hurry,” Maxima said, saying out loud what everyone was thinking.

There was no more talk; the group moved through the forest as fast as they could without completely abandoning stealth, and they managed to make it back to the docks without incident. Four of the knightesses entered the shack by the docks and had another dinghy a little bit bigger than Leon and Valeria’s in the water in a matter of minutes, and the group began to pile in, with half going in that dinghy and the other half packing into Leon and Valeria’s. Leon, Valeria, and Anzu, however, remained on the shore, while both Princess Cristina and her mother were split up and put into different boats.

Without waiting, the boats set off, making straight for the yacht that was still waiting a couple hundred feet from the shore. Meanwhile, Leon and Valeria quickly mounted Anzu without hesitation; the explosions they could still occasionally hear in the distance meant that neither was wasting time with feelings of embarrassment right now. As soon as they were both on, Leon bent down to whisper into Anzu’s ear.

“Get to that ship as fast as you can.”

Anzu was a smart beast, and Leon could get by with verbal commands almost more than he needed the reins, so as soon as the words entered Anzu’s ear, the griffin took off running, taking flight just before reaching the waterline.

From the air, Leon could see bright orange flashes in the distance, concentrated on the eastern side of the island, and now that the forest wasn’t in the way, he could hear the clashing of blades and the shouting of hundreds of people fighting miles away on the eastern side of the island.

He pointedly did not hear any alarms going off from Anzu’s takeoff, but that didn’t mean that none had been tripped. Anzu kept moving for the yacht, and Leon didn’t stop him. For the moment, at least, it seemed like he and Valeria had pulled off their part of the mission.