Leonel sat atop of a lion beast from the Lio family. Their size wasn't all the substantial, especially not compared to what he had seen in the Cataclysm Zone, but it was still more than substantial enough for three or even four people to be seated upon it, and definitely large enough for him to be able to take Aina with him so that he wouldn't be bored on the journey.
Aina could only be speechless. The Leonel of the last few months and this Leonel were far too different. She couldn't even count the number of times Leonel had smiled in the last few months because it had basically never happened. Now he was in the mood to tease her all the time.
It made it all the more embarrassing that she knew that his parents were likely watching, and probably even her father. The projections went all across the Human Domain, so even if they weren't physically present, it would only take a little effort to watch.
Knowing this, she felt a bit embarrassed about what had happened before. She had actually kissed him in front of so many people, and now he wouldn't leave her alone.
Aina suddenly pinched Leonel's thigh fiercely, causing him to yelp. This time, Leonel didn't have to fake it, this woman truly had a strong enough grip.
This time, it was Leonel's turn to be speechless. What had he done this time? He couldn't even tease his wife? Where was the humanity? In the end, he could only pout.
"Be obedient! Be serious! Look at them, how can you lead people like this?!"
The various soldiers were doing their best to hold back their laughter. Did they look down on the current Leonel? Of course not. The Skies family only knew the smiling Leonel to begin with, he had crushed their family's Patriarch while hardly lifting a finger. As for the Oryx, they knew Leonel from before he even had the conviction to become King in the first place, all that Leonel knew how to do was goof around.
After so many tense weeks, watching this scene made a weight on their chests lower.
ραndαsΝοvεl.cοm Because Leonel was always so perfect, everyone around him had the pressure to be perfect as well. Since Leonel never made mistakes, they couldn't make mistakes. Since even their leader was always working so hard, how could they be the ones to slack off?
Leonel had never been cruel, and his demands had never been excessive, but that only made the burden the rest of them carried even heavier. No one wanted to be the one who disappointed Leonel. Even though they still had such feelings now, for some reason it didn't feel as burdensome.
The relaxed Leonel gave off the illusion that everything would be fine. Even if they made one or two mistakes here and there, he would be there to cover for them. Even while marching into enemy territory like this, he was still in the mood to have fun.
The respect they had for Aina was no less deep. While others had only just learned of Aina's skills, that was only because they had only just begun paying attention. All of them had already been beneficiaries of Aina's skill, and they were quite aware of battle plans that Leonel had in place that no one in the outside world was yet privy too, so they were all well aware of how much of it was contingent on Aina.
So, seeing her reprimand Leonel like this, they felt like laughing in their hearts. Neither of them was inferior to the other, this was how things should be.
The Oryx had grown used to following the Oryx King and the Skies family had obviously grown used to their own form of governance. But after just a few months with Leonel, they couldn't help but think that it would be so bad to follow such a King and Queen.
Smiles bloomed on their faces as they watched Leonel apologize like a wronged child.
...
The ground rumbled, an army moving forward like a swiftly shifting tide. They were akin to a sea of dark green, crushing the greenery in their path as though they couldn't be bothered to march around it.
In the territory of the Pyius family, they had on solemn expressions. They knew that this moment would be coming soon, but they hadn't expected that the sea of people would be this great. They had already known that Xavnik had the largest armies, but it was only now that they were seeing it themselves that they knew how truly exaggerated it was.
Xavnik's army, or at the very least the one marching toward them, was easily numbering at a hundred million. This sort of monstrous number was enough to build its own Heir-Grade upgrade challenge, but now it was coming toward their city.
If they had the strength to challenge the Heir-Grade, they would have done it already.
Within the core of the city, Simona's brows furrowed. This wasn't a part of the plan.
According to her original thoughts, the fact they had survived to this point likely meant that they would make it to the end point.
Given their special characteristics and ability to use poison, not to mention their numbers, anyone targeting them would be sure to suffer greatly. No one in the end game would be willing to take them on until the very final moment... or so she had thought.
But now, Xavnik's armies were rushing toward her, and clearly willing to go all out.
Simona sighed and came to an understanding. Xavnik definitely wanted to attack the Suiard and Spiritual Religion alliance, but was afraid of their taking advantage of the situation. So, he wanted to take them out first regardless of the cost. At the very least, even if things went poorly, he still had a lane of retreat back to his own territory.
Simona's expression became a bit bitter. They had made it so far just to make a mistake at this step.
'... I'm sorry Leonel, looks like things won't work out.'
Indeed... It seemed that Xavnik's conjecture had been correct.
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