The hours and days after consuming Hesperidic Apples were always physically hard. Leon pushed his people to find their new limits and to grow comfortable with them, so as to know how to fight if they were to be attacked at any point. Fortunately, their caution hadn’t been all that needed in the past five years, but Leon wasn’t going to get complacent. He’d been attacked enough times in his own home to keep his eye on the ball.

This didn’t change following his ascension to the ninth-tier. If anything, he doubled down, wanting to show his people that even though he’d grown substantially in power, he wasn’t going to ignore his people in favor of solo training. He trained often on his own, of course, but he pushed himself hard to see to his official duties, fulfill his obligations to his retainers, and to see to his own needs.

Fortunately, after several years, his people knew the drill and didn’t really need him there constantly pushing them forward. Consequently, Leon spent quite a bit of time with Anzu, helping the griffin learn to walk and talk. Anzu seemed quite taken with the idea of Leon being his older brother, and Leon had to admit that he enjoyed the idea. Anzu was as much his family as any other blood sibling would be, as far as he was concerned, regardless of the label they put on it.

In this endeavor, he roped Red in to help. She was the only one there who had experience as a nonhuman who suddenly gained human form. Her aid was questionable in the end, but only because Anzu, being now eighth-tier, was more than intelligent enough to learn quickly. It hadn’t taken Leon long to learn how to move and fly in his Thunderbird form, and he guessed that it took Anzu about as long to learn to walk.

Talking, however, needed some more time.

But, with such a leap in power, Elise and Valeria both cornered Leon to bring up something apparently of the utmost importance.

“We need to throw a party,” Elise declared.

“Huh?” Leon asked, looking up from his work. He wasn’t in his workshop, but in his study, dealing with procurement issues some of his labs were having—nothing unusual, just some overeager researchers not focusing their resources where they needed to go, even after said resources had been allocated.

It was here that Elise and Valeria had found him, head buried in a short stack of papers all needing him to read through and sign in several places.

“We need to celebrate!” Elise insisted as Valeria nodded her agreement.

“It’s not every day that someone reaches the ninth-tier,” Valeria said. “It’s good to let loose once in a while, and I’m sure the others would love an excuse to drink.”

“They don’t need an excuse, though, do they?” Leon muttered.

“No, but one is always appreciated.”

“Your birthday’s also coming up, husband,” Elise reminded him, and he felt his stomach drop a little at the reminder.

Thirty-eight. A momentous age in his mind, the very mention of which brought to mind thoughts of his father and his childhood home.

“What of it?” Leon gruffly replied. “I’ve never celebrated my birthday with a party yet, why start now?”

“To make a statement,” Elise insisted, largely brushing aside his reluctant attitude—such was par for the course as far as he went, after all. “Having Chiefs of the other branches, the Director himself, Emperors and tenth-tier mages, all coming here for your birthday, to celebrate you reaching the ninth-tier! It’s an opportunity we can’t afford to miss!”

“I was thinking the exact opposite,” Leon responded. “I didn’t want to draw too much attention to my rising power.”

“It’s not like it’s gone unnoticed, Leon,” Valeria countered. “Anastasios and the Grand Druid have been here enough times in the past few years to know that you’ve been rising in power quite dramatically. Have they said anything about it?”

“A few questions, nothing more. I haven’t told them that I have Hesperidic Apple trees.”

“They might’ve guessed,” Valeria said. “However, even if they haven’t, it’s not like your growth has been invisible. And they haven’t made a big deal out of it, have they?”

“… No,” Leon reluctantly admitted.

Over the past five years, Leon had worked fairly closely with Anastasios and the Grand Druid, though given the fact that he refused to leave Occulara—both of them agreeing with his desire to stay—the amount of use they could get out of him was limited to what they could bring him. Big things like any arks or massive weapons they might possess were out, but they brought him many more manuscripts and smaller magical items that he’d activated for them. They rarely gave him much time to really examine them before moving onto the next item.

Leon wasn’t sure how much he was actually giving them access to, but they seemed happy with his work so far, so he didn’t rock the boat.

“Husband,” Elise said, “do you really not want us to throw a party?” She stared at him with the biggest puppy-dog eyes that he’d ever seen her make, and he felt his heart skip a beat in response.

Sighing, Leon replied, “You really want to throw that party, don’t you?”

“It’ll be incredible!” Elise insisted, her expression shifting in just a moment to something more greedy or ambitious. “If it goes well, it’ll show the entire plane that you’re no one’s subordinate, but are actually the equal of some of the most powerful men and women in the land! It’ll mean a huge leap forward for our family! Enormous gains can be made from the Lord Protector and Grand Druid alone agreeing to attend!”

“That’s assuming they will,” Leon said as he tried to keep a level head and not lose himself in potential delusions of grandeur. He was ninth-tier, but that didn’t make him invincible, and the Keeper could still ambush him somewhere and end everything in a matter of seconds. “They have many duties that demand their attention. Thank the Ancestors for that, because otherwise I think they’d have moved in with us years ago!”

As Elise laughed, Valeria hesitantly asked, “… If we’re doing this, are there any limits on people we can invite?”

“Is there someone you wanted to attend?” Elise asked, confusion lacing her tone as she looked to the silver-haired woman.

“Kind of,” Valeria said, growing a little bashful as both Elise and Leon started staring at her rather intensely. Leon himself wondered just who she was asking about and where she’d met this person, until it suddenly struck him as Valeria studiously avoided looking him in the eye. “My… father…” Valeria whispered. “I was hoping… he might come, too…”

Any joy in the room vanished in an instant.

“Your father…” Leon muttered as he furrowed his brow.

“He’s…” Valeria hesitantly began before cutting herself off. It was a while before she spoke again, but neither Leon nor Elise interrupted her thoughts. Eventually, she closed her eyes and quickly said, “I know that you and he can never be on good terms and that he’s done things that can’t ever be forgiven but I love you and I want you and him to be at peace!”

Valeria went quiet and looked almost like a mouse caught in the hungry gaze of a lion as Leon stared back at her.

He loved Valeria quiet deeply. Anything she could ask for, he would do in a heartbeat. But this…

“… Are we not at peace already?” Leon quietly asked. “Why should he come and visit on that day of all days…?”

Elise gave Leon a strange look, but Valeria continued, “He’s been wallowing in remorse, Leon. I think… I think it would be good for him and good for us if you were to see each other. I don’t… I don’t want us to always be on edge about this. I want my father back in my life, but I… It’s hard. I understand if you say no. You have every right to.”

“No,” Leon said without hesitation, but his heart almost broke in two as a look of anguish momentarily appeared on Valeria’s face.

“All… All right,” she sputtered, tears already pooling in her eyes.

“Val—” Leon began, but Valeria just turned around and bolted for the door. Leon heard a sob as the door slammed shut behind her.

Silence fell upon Leon’s study as he and Elise stared at the door. It felt like an eternity, but it was probably only a few seconds before Elise moved behind his desk, then behind his chair and laid her hands against his shoulder. Without a word, she began to knead at the steely tightness that Leon could feel.

Despite his wife’s attentions, that tension remained.

Justin, while not carrying out the deed himself, had murdered his father. Leon had thought that he’d largely put that behind him when he decided not kill Justin when he had the chance, but had allowed the man to come down to the Empires with him and his people. He loved Valeria, and Valeria loved Justin, and he didn’t think it that great of a sacrifice to bring her father with them to make her happy.

But he still hated the man. The less thought he gave him, the happier he was. The less Leon saw him, the happier he was. He paid for the man’s healthcare, making sure that the deep injuries he’d taken in Nestor’s lab were treated, but apart from that, he paid the man as little mind as possible, and his mental health was all the better for it.

Now, however, on that birthday, on his thirty-eighth…

“It’s all right,” Elise whispered. “Whatever you decide, it’s all right.”

Again, Leon sighed. “Valeria wants her father here for this party. All the more reason not to throw one.” He didn’t particularly mean the second sentence, and his tone reflected that sentiment, but he’d said they could throw one and he wasn’t going to back out of it just because of this.

“She’ll understand,” Elise replied, and Leon knew that she knew he wasn’t being serious about going back on his word.

“She’ll still be upset.”

“She’s not so emotional that she’ll let that tarnish our relationship.”

“I still don’t like seeing her upset.”

“But she’s asking for the impossible.” Elise’s hands paused for just a second, and Leon could feel rather than hear the second part of that statement: ‘Isn’t she?’

“She…” Leon began, but he trailed off. Thoughts of Artorias, Valeria, and Justin rushed through his mind faster and faster, and he found it hard to concentrate on anything. Out of frustration, he extended his hand and pulled all of the requisitions forms he’d been going over into his soul realm. He wasn’t going to be doing much more work on them with his head like this. “Give me some time to think,” he finally said as he reached up and stopped Elise’s hands.

Elise gave him a radiant smile, one free of judgment and full of nothing but support for whatever he decided.

“I’ll get started on preparations,” she said. “Next month should be both soon enough to not be out of season, but far enough in advance for everyone to arrive. I’ll have my thoughts for the guest list ready tomorrow. It’s your party, though, so don’t worry about me if you need to make changes…”

She leaned down and kissed him lightly on the lips. It wasn’t full of heat and passion, but Leon could still feel every spark of love he felt for her and that she felt for him. He smiled as she pulled away and began walking towards the door.

“I don’t deserve you,” he whispered as she reached the door. “I don’t deserve any of you.”

Elise turned back toward him, her smile growing slightly wider. “That’s not for you to decide, husband,” she stated. “It’s up to us who is worthy of our time. We’ve all decided to be with you. That means we all consider you more than worthy. Every day we wake up and decide to stay is another day that we decide you’re worthy. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Leon said as she walked out the door, closing it with a little more grace than Valeria had on her way out. Leon was left in stark silence, but that was exactly what he wanted right now.

‘Justin…’

Elise would undoubtedly give him quite the guest list. All of the highest names in Heaven’s Eye, with plenty of plus-one’s for them to fill out with dates, spouses, and high-ranking subordinates. A birthday party for a Chief of Heaven’s Eye was not going to be a small thing, and Leon knew that Elise was going to make sure it was no small thing, regardless of what he’d rather have.

He could grin and bear it, but the question of allowing Justin to attend wasn’t one he could easily make. He stayed in his study for a while longer mulling the issue over. However, even after an hour, he hadn’t been able to change his mind, despite his desire to see Valeria happy. His enmity with Justin ran too deeply to stand the man’s presence. The more distance between them, Leon thought, the better.

To try and distract himself from his musings, he pulled his work back out and threw himself into it, but not even ten minutes later, he heard another knock at his door, this one a little more timid than any that his family members might make. He cast his magic senses out and saw that it was Anna at his door.

He took a moment to school his expression, ensuring that he was stoic and professional, as befitting a man of his station, and called out, “Come in!”

Without too much fanfare, Anna entered the room and closed the door behind her. She looked a little anxious, and Leon half-expected her to ask about Valeria, but he was pleasantly surprised when she spoke.

“Leon, I need your help with something.”

“What is it?”

“Are you familiar with the war beast acquisitions department?”

Leon nodded. “That’s one of the departments under Lady Emilie. All of Heaven’s Eye’s beastmasters—as well as all logistics required to see to their war beasts’ needs—are organized by that department. Do you need them for something?”

“Kind of,” Anna hesitantly murmured.

“… Is this a sensitive topic?”

“No, no, I just don’t want to bother you with something that might be far beneath you…”

Leon dismissively waved his hand with a deep scowl. “You’re my retainer. Whatever you need, feel free to bring it up with me and I’ll see what I can do.”

Anna smiled, but hesitated again before saying, “I’ve heard… something about some kind of auction going on with regards to that department. Happens every four years or so, as far as I’m aware. Those wyvern eggs that we captured back during the last hunt? Sold during the last auction—along with a host of other beasts, besides.”

Leon nodded, grateful that he wasn’t going on this year’s hunt. With the arms build-up down in the south to try and protect the Pegasi States from the Sky Devils, there were going to be plenty of Imperial and Heaven’s Eye fighters down there that no new delegations would need to be sent to contain the wyverns.

“There’s an auction soon, isn’t there?”

“There is,” Anna confirmed. “Auctions happen all the time with Heaven’s Eye, of course, but these ones with the best war beasts are very exclusive. They only cater to the richest of the rich, allowing them to buy just about any prestigious, extremely rare creature that they might have a fancy for. This year, I’ve heard that there’s going to be a manticore cub.”

“Mmm, and you want this cub, don’t you?”

Anna nodded vigorously.

Leon leaned back in his chair, fully ready to agree, but he had some questions first.

“How did you learn of this auction? If it’s supposed to be so exclusive and private, then how’d word get out?”

“It’s still an event catering to those of great position,” Anna explained. “It’s not publicized, but it’s still a fairly massive undertaking to ensure that the event itself is as exclusive and luxurious as possible. A lot of Heaven’s Eye beastmasters are involved in its organization, and… well, I’ve kind of… been seeing one of them…” Anna flushed red, and Leon couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows in surprise. He’d had little idea that she’d been seeing anyone at all; her usual behavior and routines hadn’t changed, so there’d been damn near no sign at all of such a change in her personal life.

“And this ‘good friend’ of yours let you in on what was going to be at the auction?” Leon asked.

Anna nodded again.

“All right,” Leon said with a teasing smile. “We can go and see what we can do to get this manticore. How’re your other beasts, by the way?”

“Ladon is doing well,” Anna said, referring to her Attican Snapper. “Nidar and Astar are both growing pretty fast, though their magical power isn’t growing as quickly as I would like…” Her other two beasts were a pair of wyvernlings captured during the last wyvern hunt that they’d participated in. Leon had seen the two several times in the past couple of months alone, and they’d both grown to be larger than carriages—still dwarfed by Red, but quite large regardless.

Ladon’s growth had slowed, though, and seemed to have peaked at the sixth-tier. He hadn’t achieved sapience, though he seemed at least as intelligent as a dog. Nidar and Astar had both reached the third-tier, as well, and while their magical growth wasn’t particularly swift, it hadn’t seemed to have slowed.

“Have they been giving you any trouble?” Leon asked.

“None at all,” Anna quickly replied. “This thing is really quite something, it ensures that my boys are perfectly behaved!” She flashed the onyx bracelet that Leon had looted from the transformation cave—left there by Jormun, he presumed.

“Good,” Leon said. “Now, tell me about this person you’ve been seeing. I had no idea! How did you keep something like this under wraps for so long? Especially with people like Alix and Alcander around?”

“Like a pair of old women, aren’t they?” Anna quipped. “I’ve been seeing her for about a year. The facilities you helped to set up for my boys were great, but I had to ask for a bit of help with some beastmaster friends of mine, and they pointed me to her, and she’s been helping me keep my boys in good health since then…”

“You should’ve come to me if you needed help,” Leon lightly chastised. “You know I wouldn’t have let that stand…”

“I had it in hand,” Anna brushed off.

“What’s this lucky lady’s name?”

“Eirene.”

“Lovely name. I look forward to meeting her. In the meantime, let’s get on the same page about this auction. When’s it happening?”

“Next week,” Anna replied, and together, the two made a plan for that day.

By the time Anna left, Leon was in much better spirits, but as he was left alone once again with naught but his own thoughts for company, his mood soured. It seemed that regardless of who came, ‘his’ party wasn’t going to be one where everyone was happy.