213: Chapter 115: Leisurely Days as Usual 213: Chapter 115: Leisurely Days as Usual Back at his own residence, Sir Leon saw Kovis meticulously folding the Sword Wing Square Flag in the hall as soon as he entered the house.
At the long table, still drinking, Azeryan and Lokhak saw their companion enter and immediately set down their cups with utmost seriousness, stood up from the table, and made a chest-touching salute.
“Congratulations on your promotion, Mr.
Leon,” the two mocked in perfect unison.
It was appropriate for a lower-ranked knight to pay respects to a higher-ranked knight.
It was just that the honorific “Mr.” was obviously a bit exaggerated, so Leon stepped forward and, amused, punched each of them in the shoulder: “Did you two conspire to tease me?”
“What are you talking about, Sir Leon?
Things going smoothly, it wouldn’t be odd for you to become a Baron in a year or two.
I am merely teaching Lokhak in advance how to greet a high-ranking noble,” Azeryan joked with a waving finger.
“Cut it out, you’ve forgotten how you disliked sappiness initially, and now here you are being sappy with me.
Baron or Knight, to me, it’s just a useful title; I’m still a true-blue country bumpkin at heart,” said Leon as he sat down among his friends and looked toward Kovis lightly smoothing the flag.
Following his gaze, Azeryan couldn’t help but remark, “However, Lord Eriv, just like initially, is exceptionally generous.”
“Of course he’s generous.
He gained a city and a family’s future without deploying a single soldier.
A vassal as profitable as me cannot be found anywhere else on the Western Continent,” said Leon, completely relaxed in front of his brothers, sparing himself no modesty.
Unlike the commonplace knightly titles which are thresholds of the noble class.
A Square Banner Knight could be considered a true noble.
Generally, knights who held this title were either already Barons or soon to be.
In fact, when Leon first learned that Eriv promised to bestow upon him the Square Banner, he thought the formal ceremony would occur after his campaign to conquer Glade County, when he would actually possess the Earldom, and rewards would be distributed for merits.
Otherwise, according to the traditions of the Northern Kingdom he had learned about from Balfe, a Baron wishing to bestow a Square Banner upon his knight.
At least required a special authorization from the King to comply with Orland’s legal principles.
However, considering today’s conversation with Baron Eriv, perhaps the Thorns Flower family’s past involved more than just possessing the current Baron Farolis title, leading Eriv to have no concerns at all about the formalities of bestowing a Square Banner.
“With this title comes greater obligations and responsibilities, but it also means I can legally establish an army on this land.
We’re a step closer to the day when we can muster the strength to reclaim our homeland,” sighed Leon.
“Homeland…” Lokhak murmured, his expression slightly darkening as he lifted his drink for a hearty swig of wheat beer: “When I have a powerful army someday, I will find those villains who started it all and make them pay.
I still remember each of their faces!”
Though he was not the original owner of the body, he didn’t feel as strong an obsession for the original owner’s parents, but since he promised Miss Lora to return to the Holy City, he naturally would also try to find the bodies of the original owner’s parents…
and those mercenaries who committed atrocities on the day the city fell.
The former was a slim hope; the bodies of those who died in Rolannar had likely been buried in disorder or burned, making them difficult to locate.
But the latter, the evil mercenary Kantadar and Urian, if one were dedicated enough to investigate, there was still hope of finding which units they belonged to.
Thinking of this, Leon felt a mix of emotions.
He hoped those inhuman scoundrels wouldn’t die too soon in Seryan’s battlefield, so he and his companions could settle their feud personally.
But he also felt letting those beasts live too long might lead them to commit more murders.
Now powerless to act, he could only leave the fate of those thugs to destiny.
“Saint Illaril bless you and me to have survived so far; the day of reckoning for blood debts will come,” Azeryan said, placing a comforting hand on Lokhak’s shoulder.
Leon’s brow furrowed, feeling unexpectedly weighty and struggling to maintain his composure, but his friend was right: Illaril had indeed always kept them safe.
Seeing Kovis pour an extra glass of drink for him, Leon picked it up and took a swig.
He, a person from a past life who never drank, was growing increasingly accustomed to this very mild “wheat juice.”
“Do you still have nightmares?” Leon asked Lokhak.
“Now that I can see my sister every day, I sleep much more soundly,” Lokhak shook his head, yet he tapped his muscular arm somewhat puzzledly: “But not to mention nightmares, I feel like there’s something abnormal with my body.
Look how quickly I’ve grown in height and muscle.
The strength too; before when I used to wrestle with Olivia, I couldn’t last a moment without falling over, but now at least when I’m pinned against the wall, I can fight back for a few moves.
Could this also be a price for being possessed by a demon?
I have no memory of what happened initially, but looking at it now, it almost feels like I’ve been blessed by a deity instead?”
“Only heaven knows that; for now, it seems to be a good thing for you,” said Leon reassuringly.
He guessed it might be some lingering effect from the demons incessantly tormenting Lokhak’s body in the past.
That day, Lokhak’s flesh had taken brutal injuries and then been unnaturally healed repeatedly by the demon’s bizarre powers; perhaps this stimulated the Magic Element cycle in Lokhak’s bodily growth?
But since Miss Lola, after the Demon Exorcism, never cared about such trivial matters, it probably posed no harm to Lokhak.