The Princess sat upon her throne, the seat wrought of plain gray stone that lacked any real ornamentation. The thing looked as if it were just several slabs of stone thrown together. The Imperial Princess herself cut a much more impressive figure, and one that stood in stark contrast to the rest of the delegation from the Sacred Golden Empire.

Most of the delegates were women, Leon noticed, and they dressed in the style he was becoming more familiar with: a lot of gold, green, and white, fairly form-fitting, with bare arms and legs. Sandals adorned their feet, while those that seemed of higher rank wore as much gold jewelry as they could fit onto their bodies. This style continued for what few men were present, as well.

Princess Cassandra, on the other hand, was dressed in ornamental armor that covered her entire body from foot to collar. A fitted cuirass that emphasized her sizable bust; interlocking plates along her arms; an armored skirt; greaves that covered her from knee to foot. All of it was shining, polished white, and trimmed with what Leon could only guess was actual gold.

The Princess’ hair was rather noteworthy, too; the sides of her head were cut into a fairly short chin-length bob. The rest of her hair was incredibly long and had been pulled into a tight ponytail that hung down her back. Most eye-catching was the color: her hair was a vivid purple, right down to her roots.

She was quite beautiful, Leon had to admit. Her blood red eyes were striking, and she had long, sharply-defined features that gave her an aggressive look—Leon could tell that she was a warrior, not a Princess that was used to sitting around doing nothing more than looking pretty. Her eighth-tier aura only served as confirmation of this impression. From Talal’s short brief on her family, Leon knew that Cassandra was younger than him, and he had nothing but respect for someone who could reach that amount of power so young. He’d done so, too, of course, but he knew that he’d had a lot of help in that regard, and he couldn’t ascribe all of his progress to himself alone.

What he found most interesting, though, was the fact that Cassandra had Sunlight at her hip, the weapon utterly unmistakable to Leon’s eyes—he’d labored for a month designing and forging the thing, he knew his work when he saw it, even when it was almost stashed away almost out of sight.

It took him several long moments, but he was eventually able to pry his eyes away from Princess Cassandra and better take in the chamber built within the canopy of Cassandra’s palace-tree. Immediately, he found himself frowning, for while she wasn’t on the pyramidical platform upon which Cassandra’s throne sat, Penelope still stood at its base in what was clearly about as prestigious a position as anyone from Heaven’s Eye could reasonably accept, surrounded by a number of high-ranking matrons from the Sacred Golden Empire.

For a moment, Leon and Penelope made eye contact, and he could swear that he saw her smirk as if she’d won some competition between them that he wasn’t aware of, but then she turned away and focused back on the delegates around her.

As they approached the throne platform, Talal hurried in front of Leon’s group and, after the Princess’ crier gave him a quick nod of her head, he hurriedly introduced Leon’s party.

As he did, Leon turned his attention back to Cassandra and found that her ruby eyes hadn’t seemed to have wavered at all after they made eye contact on his approach; she still stared at him so intently that he almost felt like she was about to bore holes into his skull.

He stared right back, feeling rather competitive despite the Princess’ aura remaining calm, unperturbed, and devoid of any killing intent. He barely even registered it when Talal finished with their introductions and the rest of his party quickly bowed. He and Maia were the only ones that paused, but Elise seemed to know they were going to do so and had grabbed one of their hands each and jerked them downward, forcing them to bend just enough at the waist to satisfy decorum.

Leon guessed they looked quite comical.

Once his party straightened up, the Princess began to speak, and everyone else in the fairly noisy chamber immediately fell silent.

“It pleases me,” she began, her voice loud and authoritative, yet somehow still soft and pleasant, “to see two of my Empire’s citizens doing so well within the arms of Heaven’s Eye.” She was clearly speaking to Helen and Anna, but her eyes didn’t once drift from Leon.

“The pleasure is ours, Your Highness,” Anna replied without a moment’s hesitation, “to receive your regard.”

“Please stay for a while,” the Princess continued, her stony expression not changing in the slightest, her ruby eyes still locked upon Leon. “Avail yourselves of my hospitality. Speak with my attendants, let us know how our people are treated in lands far from our borders.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Anna replied, punctuating her acceptance with another slight bow.

“I’m also pleased that so many representatives of Heaven’s Eye have chosen to accept my invitation,” the Princess continued, her eyes narrowing slightly as she leaned forward a little bit. “The relationship between my Empire and your guild is long and storied. It will be an honor to hunt at your sides in the coming weeks.”

Elise squeezed Leon’s hand, but he didn’t need that to know that it was his turn to respond. He could even sense Penelope’s eyes upon him, perhaps hoping that he was going to make a fool of himself. He didn’t spare her even a casual glance, instead keeping his attention squarely focused upon Cassandra.

“We are honored, in turn,” Leon replied. “To hunt dangerous creatures is one of the greatest pleasures I’ve found, and to have such illustrious hunting partners is a joy without compare.”

He smiled and spoke the expected platitudes, and it seemed his words were received well enough, no one looked offended. Penelope’s eyes had narrowed, but it was Cassandra that Leon was still focusing on.

“I’ve heard,” the Princess said, “that you and Lady Penelope have a wager going on…”

Leon cocked an eyebrow in surprise, and replied, “Yes, I suppose we do.”

He finally pried his gaze away from the Princess and spared Penelope a quick glance. He found that she seemed just a little confused. He assumed that she told the Princess about their wager, but he guessed she didn’t know why Cassandra was bringing it up now.

That confusion was put to rest when Cassandra continued, “I’m intrigued by the terms of your wager—Lady Penelope has indicated that your bet was an enchanted gemstone, yes?”

Leon nodded and pulled his enchanted agate out of his soul realm for the Princess to see. He held it out, putting it on display, and the Princess leaned forward again, her ruby eyes glittering as she took in the clearly enchanted stone.

“A beautiful piece,” she eventually remarked. “The enchanter who made it must be quite skilled.”

Leon shrugged and didn’t say that he’d made it himself. He wasn’t so much interested in hiding that information as he was in not wanting to appear like he was bragging here in the Princess’ court.

“And Lady Penelope?” Cassandra firmly inquired as she turned her imperious gaze in the direction of the Director’s daughter. It was obvious what she wanted to see, and it was just as obvious that she wasn’t merely asking.

With only a moment’s hesitation, Penelope retrieved her massive diamond from her soul realm, and much of the court was filled with the sounds of audible gasps. Leon hadn’t quite gotten around to asking Elise about that diamond, yet, but this served as proof more than anything else that the seemingly mundane piece was more than a shiny rock.

“The Bright Heart of Promise?” Cassandra said in wonder, and Leon’s surprise and confusion grew.

‘Apparently I’m the only one who doesn’t know what this thing is?’ he thought in frustration as more gasps rippled through the court.

“I’m surprised,” Cassandra said, “I certainly wouldn’t be wagering such a rare piece like this…”

“It’s hardly a wager, Your Highness,” Penelope confidently stated. “I have no doubt who’ll be winning this bet…” Her eyes flitted back toward Leon for just a moment, but long enough for her to flash him a confident smile.

“Still,” Cassandra continued as she stared down at the glittering blue diamond in Penelope’s hand, “I must admit to some curiosity: is this wager open for anyone to participate in?”

Leon was surprised, but if Penelope was as well, she hid it behind a stony mask. She replied, “I wouldn’t say anyone, Your Highness, this is just a personal competition…”

“I want in,” Cassandra demanded, her tone brokering no argument. However, while that may have worked with anyone who might’ve been from the Sacred Golden Empire, neither Penelope nor Leon were her subjects.

“To join a wager, Your Highness, would mean wagering something,” Penelope whispered, though her words carried as far as they needed to.

Cassandra’s eyes flitted between Leon and Penelope again, but for once, Leon agreed with Penelope. If the Imperial Princess was going to try and force herself to join this bet, then she’d need to bet something equally as valuable as what was already on the table.

However, he had to admit that after seeing the reaction Penelope’s diamond elicited compared to his agate, he had to admit to feeling some amount of inferiority already. He didn’t think Cassandra was going to just let this matter go—her ruby eyes were burning with a familiar competitive spirit that he’d felt himself many times—but he also hoped that she didn’t pull something out that blew his offering even further out of the water.

His certainty that she’d join the bet regardless was vindicated not even a second later when Cassandra lifted her hand and, with a flash of light, pulled something from her soul realm.

It was a mask. It was made of polished gray metal—some kind of steel-ish alloy as far as Leon could tell, though with a little something extra mixed in to give it an odd silvery shine—and shaped into the image of a serene androgynous face. There weren’t many other details, though, as the face was smooth and without prominent features. It was as if someone had set out to make the most neutral face possible and succeeded quite handily.

However, Leon’s eyes narrowed as his eighth-tier eyes picked out the presence of runes inscribed upon the inner surface of the mask. He couldn’t quite tell what they did from this angle, but he could tell that there was much more about that mask than was immediately apparent.

“How about this?” Cassandra asked as she held up the mask for the entire court to see.

Leon felt Elise’s hand in his tighten slightly, and when he glanced at his wife, she quietly whispered to him, “That’s an enchanted mask that’s supposed to help one focus on their tasks. Very valuable, very expensive. Heaven’s Eye can’t make them as well as the enchanters in the Sacred Golden Empire can, and the northern Imperials don’t usually let them out of their control…”

Leon’s was certainly intrigued, but if all the mask did was aid in focus, then he didn’t think it would be quite that valuable. Still, if he were pressed, he would have no problem accepting it as a match for his agate.

“What do you say?” the Princess asked with a smug smirk.

Penelope responded with a welcoming smile, though one without much warmth. “If Your Highness wishes to join this wager, then I have no arguments.”

Cassandra turned her gaze toward Leon.

“Neither do I,” Leon replied. “May the best of us win.”

“Indeed,” Cassandra drawled with pride and anticipation.

The three of them then worked out the same details that Leon and Penelope had hammered out on the ark. Cassandra had nothing to change, but she demurred at handing the mask over to anyone else.

“We’re all honorable people, and this wager is now public,” she said. “None of us would be so gauche as to renege if we lose, would we?”

Leon and Penelope agreed, and the three dispensed with the need for an impartial handler.

Once all of that was finished, Leon didn’t stick around for much longer. He took his family and retinue and left after only about an hour of mingling with the court. There was food present, validating the gathering as a banquet, but there just wasn’t much to do there except mingle with dignitaries from the Sacred Golden Empire. Not a waste of time by any means, as Elise reminded Leon, but it just wasn’t what Leon was interested in right now.

What was captivating his attention more was the upcoming hunt, the wager, and his untested gear.

Just as he was leaving, though, Leon felt someone’s attention fall upon him, and at the edge of the stone courtyard, as the rest of his retinue and family were walking ahead of him, he paused for a moment and glanced backward.

His golden eyes met Cassandra’s ruby gaze. She gave him an intense look, her lips pulling upward in a mysterious smile, and then the moment was broken; she turned away. Leon, slightly unnerved, wondered what that was about, but didn’t stick around to find out. He hurried after his people.

—

“So,” Leon said as he cleared a bit of space in the courtyard of his modular villa, “what in the hells is that ‘Promise of the Heart’ or whatever that diamond is?”

Sitting nearby were Elise and Valeria. Maia was nearby, as well, but her nose was buried in a book, and she wasn’t paying much attention to their conversation. The rest of Leon’s retinue were getting some rest in while they could—once the hunt began, they’d be moving fast and quick, and there wouldn’t be much time to stop and catch their breath until the hunt was over.

Elise, as the one most knowledgeable in these sorts of matters, replied, “The Bright Heart of Promise was a gem that was said to have come from a huge trove of treasure from the Isle of Empty Promise.”

“What’s that place?” Leon asked, recognizing the name from having seen it on maps before, but having little idea of what else it was supposed to be. There didn’t seem to be any human settlements there, at least.

“No one really knows,” Elise replied with a shrug and a laugh. “The place is constantly shrouded in fog, and everyone who goes in always finds themselves coming back out without any memory of what transpired within. No one knows what’s on that island, and many people have tried. A Sunlit Emperor even tried to scout the place out before, using both his own power and the power of his Empire, and we still know nothing.”

“Then what’s this Bright Heart thing supposed to be?” Valeria wondered.

“Some souvenir from the island,” Elise said, shrugging again. “It’s a valuable piece, for sure, but its origins are uncertain and shrouded in myth. Some say a sage found his way through the fog, had some adventures with island natives, and managed to steal the diamond from them. Some say an island native escaped and tried to use the diamond as a bribe to anyone who would follow him back to wreak vengeance upon his enemies. Ultimately, it’s just a famous diamond that a lot of people tell stories about. It’s pretty and has a well-known name, but that’s about it.”

Leon scowled slightly as he judged the cleared space in his courtyard to be sufficient for his testing purposes.

“That’s… kind of anticlimactic,” Valeria observed.

“Not everything is some long lost treasure,” Elise replied with resignation. “The diamond is very pretty, but it’s just a diamond. Probably made by a Heaven’s Eye jeweler millennia ago or something.”

“I think it would look good around one of our necks,” Valeria said with a smile as she stared pointedly at Leon.

“Help me kill wyverns, then,” Leon replied, his interest in the diamond fading rapidly as it became clear enough that it was mundane.

“Did you bring that weapon you were working on?” Valeria asked.

“That’s the first thing I was going to test,” Leon responded, a smile of his own spreading across his face. He waved his hand, and the weapon appeared, this time without the sheet covering it to protect it from dust. At the same time, he reached out with what little mastery over earth magic he possessed and caused much of the soil in the courtyard to rise, forming a narrow half-oval around the weapon.

Valeria’s sapphire eyes glittered as the weapon appeared, but Elise’s response was more subdued.

“It almost looks like a small Flame Lance,” she said.

Indeed, it did. It was essentially the skeleton of a Flame Lance barrel—two parallel steel rods, each one longer than Leon was tall. They were connected to each other with half a dozen heavily enchanted copper rings. Its base was fairly large, but not nearly as large as that of a Bull Kingdom Flame Lance, being large enough that Anzu could’ve curled up on it if the barrel were to be taken off. Tracks, levers, and rails had been attached to the base, allowing the barrel to be aimed in just about any desired direction. Long lines of densely-packed runes spiraled around the base, and it was covered in copper and silver wire. Near the back of the base was a slot filled right now with a small glowing emerald, packed full of magic power.

If Leon’s calculations were correct, and he had legitimate cause to think they weren’t, the weapon he’d designed should be capable of firing an iron projectile about the size of his finger at tremendous speeds, perhaps even enough to knock a wyvern out of the sky. The emerald in the back had sufficient magic stored within it to power five shots at full power if all went well.

It worked with an incredibly complex series of enchantments woven together as best as Leon could manage, and while lightning was the primary magical element used, it also incorporated many earth enchantments, which exacerbated Leon’s uncertainty in the weapon’s capabilities.

“How likely is this thing to explode in our faces?” Elise asked with obvious caution, looking like she wanted to do nothing but shield herself from the activation of this thing.

Leon couldn’t blame her, it looked incredibly haphazard and jury-rigged. It was incredibly haphazard and jury-rigged, he had to admit. He’d always wanted to build something like the Flame Lances for himself, and when he read a book from his family’s archives that went into some detail explaining the strange relationship lightning had with iron, copper, and several other metals, he’d figured that building something like this was starting to come within reach.

The weapon before him now was the result of many man-hours spent pouring over books, notes, and consulting with Nestor and the Thunderbird. But in response to Elise’s question, Nestor said from Leon’s soul realm, Pretty high, really. That thing will not perform well under pressure.

“I kind of figured that,” Leon replied, tapping his chest and making an irritated face to Elise and Valeria, telling them that he was speaking with Nestor.

“Please aim that thing away from the house,” Elise pleaded, not comforted at all with the idea that Nestor was now speaking with Leon.

Leon replied, “That’s what the dirt’s for,” and pushed the cumbersome weapon into position, aiming the weapon right down the center of his dirt oval.

It took him several minutes to ensure everything was properly aimed and the base was set, and while Nestor didn’t say anything, Leon could feel the dead man’s embarrassment and mortification. Several times during the construction, he’d decried what Leon had made as a profane mix of something reasonable by his standards and unconscionably primitive, but Leon soldiered on anyway.

He’d never learn if all he did was imitate, anyway.

He then retrieved from his soul realm a single piece of iron and loaded it into the weapon. He took several seconds to ensure that it was aimed at his target and that the weapon had been tuned to its lowest power setting, and then paused to look back at his lovers.

“Anyone want to press the button first?” he asked with a wild and almost mad grin on his face, his heart thumping in his chest with excitement at finally, finally, getting to test his creations.

Valeria looked like she was about to jump up and rush forward to fire the thing herself, but Elise stopped her with a hand on her arm, and with an almost apologetic look to Leon, pulled Valeria behind their chairs and channeled a bit of her own earth magic to create stone that not only gave them some cover, but also reinforced Leon’s dirt wall.

“Be careful!” Elise cautioned Leon. She then whispered more to herself than anyone else, “This is a really bad idea…”

“It’s fine,” Leon said with more confidence than he felt. “Should be fine. Should be safe.”

“You’re not very convincing,” Elise quipped.

“It’s on the lowest power setting,” Leon explained. “Wouldn’t even penetrate the walls around us, let alone wyvern scales or something more robust. Ten feet of dirt should be more than enough to stop the bolt.”

“Really bad idea,” Elise repeated.

That statement broke through Leon’s enthusiasm, and he paused a moment. The enchantments he’d worked into this modular house were robust, and he was certain no one outside was in any danger. The projectile fired from his Lance couldn’t penetrate the walls of this place, not with his safeguards in place.

Still, he ran through the power calculations in his head again, just to be certain. When he was, he leaned down and triggered the Lance.

There was a quiet whine as the stored magic was drained from the emerald, and then a flash of magic power. The weapon sputtered and sparks of lightning arced across the barrel. The runes that covered the weapon glowed with light for one brief moment, the weapon shook, and with a loud crack, fired.

And then snapped as most of the magic that ran through the weapon overwhelmed the enchantments and bled into the environment. The iron bolt was flung from the barrel, but only went about thirty feet, hitting the dirt mound with a rather unimpressive splash and only sinking an inch or two in.

“Damn,” Leon muttered in disappointment.

“Was that it?” Valeria asked in disbelief.

Hah, knew it wouldn’t work! Nestor gloated.

Ignoring the dead man, Leon just replied, “I guess… Damn. Looks like there’s still quite a bit of work to do to get this thing to a usable state, but at least it worked… kind of?” Leon’s statement was punctuated with a groan, but he wasn’t too surprised if he was honest with himself. Too many unknowns involved with this thing, too much earth magic. At the very least, he was glad to see that the bolt had left the barrel.

He had many other things to test, though, and those tests, he thought, were much likelier to be successful. And so, eager to move on from this relative failure, Leon began to test his brand new armor.