Leon let out a heavy exhale as he finished another lap around the winter training ground of the Middle Barony. His journey here had taken about a week, after he had spent another month in the capital of Storm, receiving belated news from the capital—such as the negotiations with other countries and their outcomes, the death of the second princess, and other matters he listened to with interest. But now, all thoughts of what was happening there, far to the south, had fled from his mind. Sweat streamed down his body from the grueling training, his breathing was ragged as he tried to find any crumbs of air—air that, while not as bitingly cold as in the duchy's capital, was still far from warm enough for someone accustomed to the regions of his hometown and the capital of Crow.
But what surprised him even more, and even irritated him somewhat, was how easily Adrian handled everything that was so unbearably difficult for Leon. The young man understood that compared to the Count's heir, he was not in the best physical shape, but he hadn't thought the difference between them would be so vast. When the Baron finished his second lap around this huge training ground, where a small group of other soldiers trained, Adrian was already running his fourth, equally covered in sweat as Leon himself, but without a single hint that he was even tired from this endless training that seemed like torture to the Baron.
The young man sat down on the damp ground, where not a trace of snow was visible—snow that had already tormented him. That white vista, visible every morning and blinding him while they were in the capital of Storm, had already worn him down. He had been extremely happy when, halfway to the Middle Barony, the snow began to melt, evoking truly warm feelings in him amidst the cold that also strategically receded as they moved away from the snow-covered city. Although it still wasn't as warm here as he was used to, it was no longer so cold that he lost all desire to leave a room with a warm fireplace. But these dreams of his were shattered each time when one of the offspring of Baron Axe, who was also training with them, would begin to gather everyone like clockwork and, with his bass voice, force the young lads from the capital to rise from their heated beds to go for a morning run in the cold. Baron Starr was also amazed that the Duke of Storm himself would come out and watch as young and not-so-young nobles trained under the guidance of one of his officers, who wasn't even of noble blood! But no one could contradict him, realizing that he was here by the Duke's own order, and his authority was unquestionable in this military province.
Leon exhaled again, filled with physical exhaustion, watching as Adrian finished another lap, running past him. He continued to recall how he had spent this month away from home. He was even struck by how the capital of the Duchy of Storm was merely an overgrown village filled with only a bunch of wooden houses without any coherent infrastructure, which greatly distinguished it from the magnificent capital of the kingdom or his hometown of Star, filled with stone houses and a wall that protected the city from attacks. It was somewhat paradoxical for the young man, for now in the small town of Middle, which more resembled a military base, they were literally near the wall that protected them from barbarian raids. As Leon had learned, the locals called it the Ancestors' Wall, erected even before the founding of the Kingdom of Storm. This was interesting information for someone who had left the cozy walls of the Duchy of Celestial for the first time. Although until recently, Leon had complained endlessly about the frozen water, which Adrian for some reason wildly admired, regressing to childhood and sometimes throwing snowballs at his friend. This was also one of the reasons he was glad to no longer see snowdrifts, unlike Adrian, who for the first time during their trip had become downcast about this, albeit briefly.
He also continued to be amazed that people here believed in fairy tales about the Duke of Storm. He had even heard stories a couple of times himself, while eating the unappetizing gruel made for the soldiers, that each Duke was not just a man, but a majestic mountain guarding their peace. Moreover, all these tales came only from the common people; other soldiers who were nobles simply noted that the Duke was a good commander, and apparently this knowledge was simply passed down from generation to generation. Leon himself had seen how Lord Ryo dealt with the barbarians while they were heading to the capital of Storm, and it had been impressive. He hadn't seen a single confirmation of these tales, only the long and persistent labor of a man striving to protect his land. This was how simple people devalued the labor of such a great man.
"Stop slacking, get up and train," he heard again the voice that terrified him to his core, whispering from where his shadow fell.
Leon shuddered and, with an effort of will, forced himself to rise, again starting to run across the vast training ground, continuing to listen to Molly's lectures, who was in his shadow.
"Come on, soldier, you can handle this little run, temper your spirit!" the girl smirked sardonically, whom he couldn't even see, continuing to taunt the young man picking up speed. "You haven't even completed your daily norm, and you've already plopped your rear on the ground. You'll thank me later that your commander didn't notice you lazing around."
At these words, Leon shuddered again but tried to recover as quickly as possible and quickened his running pace to lose himself in his thoughts. He knew that Baron Middle was not of noble blood, and that all three baronies in the Row Margraviate received their title not by inheritance, as was customary throughout the kingdom, but by their achievements in defending this stretch of land from the barbarians who periodically raided. Because of the length of this enormous wall, there weren't enough people to control it entirely, so some savages simply climbed the walls and entered the kingdom, beginning to wreak absolute hell. Therefore, from the town where Leon was to the other baronies along the entire wall, advance posts were set up, which were sometimes found dead, merely confirming that the barbarians had broken through. Lord Ryo's words about them being just animals were etched into the young man's memory, but one thing still made him doubt.
The diary.
Or something resembling a diary. In it, Leon had found strange entries he didn't understand at all. One evening when he was alone, Molly, having emerged from his shadow completely naked and unashamed, had looked closely at the strange book the young man held for the first time and said that these writings seemed strangely familiar to her, even somewhat close, but she remembered nothing about it at all, as if all this knowledge had been lost to her long ago. But at that moment, the young man noticed that the girl was smiling dreamily, as if recalling something pleasant. Besides that, on the pages of this book, the young man found beautiful drawings of houses unknown to him, rising upward like pillars; strange animals he couldn't describe; and people whose faces, he suspected, belonged to those barbarians the Duke of Storm had killed. Although one drawing amazed him, for it was vaguely reminiscent of the Duke of Wood with his long, pointed ears, even slightly matching facial features. Thinking about this, he had wanted to show it to the Duke of Storm, but then Molly had stopped him from that idea, saying that she would later pass the diary on to whomever needed to see it, and Leon just needed to keep it for now. The young man had merely nodded and continued studying it, amazed that the entries were made with strange ink he had never seen, and the handwriting was so neat that even old Howard with his pedantic approach to documents might have envied it, as were the drawings themselves, not resembling something made by some madmen, more like works of art, although some of them were in sketch form.
Leon was jolted from his memories by a sharp pain he felt in his forehead. Blinking his eyes, the young man realized he was lying on the ground. Trying to get up, he realized he had no strength even to lift his body. At first, on the periphery of his hearing, the Baron sensed that Molly was quietly saying something to him, Adrian was shouting indistinctly, and someone else was trying to raise their voice, but he couldn't understand what they were all trying to tell him. Soon, the sounds disappeared altogether, as did the thin edge of the world before him.
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When Leon came to, he felt someone's warmth gently pressed against him. The young man turned his head and saw a mass of black hair lying on his chest. He tried to sit up but felt the one clinging to him preventing it. Molly raised her head, and Leon felt the infinite power of time as he looked into her black eyes, which seemed to suck everything that looked into them inside.
"How are you?" she asked quietly, still holding the Baron's body in her embrace. For the first time in a long while, he felt the girl speaking to him not in a commanding tone, but calmly, even slightly worried.
"What happened?" the young man asked, feeling utterly exhausted.
"You collapsed, unconscious. Now you're in the infirmary," Molly said in a slightly worried tone, continuing to look directly at Leon with her all-consuming pools.
"Why?" the young man said quietly, realizing that even speaking was somehow difficult for him. As if seeing this, the girl only hugged him tighter, continuing to warm him with her warmth, not answering this question.
Leon tilted his head back and completely lost track of what was happening. What was he doing here? To reclaim his inheritance, which should rightfully be his anyway? To build this stupid railway that had cost the lives of his father, mother, brother, and sister? To rule the Starr lands? He wasn't ready for this.
Not ready to be Baron Starr.
Right now, he wanted only to be Leon, away from all this service that had worn out his weak body, away from this strange creature he didn't understand at all. Was Molly human? Then why could she disappear into shadows and emerge from them? Were all these myths and superstitions that people once told about kings, and now about the kingdom's Dukes—were they true? If so, then why had they submitted to Arthur I? Why had each of them lost or sworn allegiance to the then-conqueror Crow? Why had this stupid Kingdom of Crow, in which Leon had to suffer, even appeared? If they were all so powerful, why did he have to lose his family?
The young man wanted to cry but held back his tears, so as not to receive another reproach from Molly, who continued to lie on his chest, embracing him. Why didn't he resist her, anyway? So many times she had rested and slept near him during their journey and life in the capital that he could have tried to kill her at any moment. Free himself from the yoke of the invisible puppeteer who had decided to take control of his life.
But he hadn't.
Every time he looked at Molly, Leon felt doubt. Doubt that killing her was the right thing to do. If he killed her, would it be the murder of a person, or would it be the same kind of cleansing that Lord Ryo carried out on the barbarians from the Wild Lands? But he could feel her now—her naked body, her breast warming him now. And he had always felt it when she was near. Even the sex with her he couldn't call inhuman—it was everything he had experienced before with other girls, for then, as with all others, pressing them to him, he felt the beating of a heart within her chest.
What if they were the same? What if they weren't just murderers, but trying to survive in this terrible world, just like Leon? Simply stumbling against a wall of misunderstanding called language. But hadn't Leon's ancestors once spoken the ancient language of Celestial, until the Free Cities introduced their common language for all states, thereby unifying the disparate continent? And hadn't these poor souls, with whom the Kingdom of Storm had always warred—had they simply been unlucky? Unlucky because Lord Ryo, like all generations before him, didn't consider them human?
The young man wanted to look at the diary again, to study it, but he didn't even have the strength to push the small body of Molly off himself, let alone get up. He heard the sound of footsteps hurriedly approaching his room. Leon looked with horror at the naked girl lying next to him and wanted to move to warn her, but couldn't.
But at that moment, when the door swung open with a loud sound, Adrian immediately entered his room, heading straight for him. At that moment, the Baron felt a chill envelop his body, as if signaling that Molly had evaporated, merging again with his shadow, leaving the young man alone in this vast world.
"Leon!" his friend cried out in his booming voice, immediately coming to stand by his bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Honestly? Lousy," the Baron replied in a weak voice, realizing it was still difficult for him to speak.
"Damn it, buddy, this is totally unlike you. Weren't you our marathon champion when it came to sex? Did a few laps around some training ground really wear you out that much?" Adrian pressed Leon, looking with his slightly golden eyes directly into his face.
"I'm just tired," the young man said with difficulty, looking at his friend and realizing how much he missed the tactfulness Molly had shown him. She had simply forbidden him from speaking so he could feel better, unlike the son of Count Cloud.
"That's still..." Adrian began, but was immediately interrupted.
"Lord Adrian, I understand you're worried about your friend, but asking unnecessary questions only strains his body more," said a female voice that Leon recognized by its barely perceptible intonations.
Lyubov Rose, from the family of Barons Rose, who were vassals of Root County in the lands of the Duchy of Wood, and a future candidate for the title of Baron Middle, or rather Baroness. As far as Leon knew, this girl had an outstanding record in clearing barbarians within the barony's walls, and she had graduated from the Royal Academy of Crow from the military faculty, then immediately came here to use her acquired skills to defend the borders of the Kingdom of Crow. One of the few people in Leon's memory who was patriotic not towards their duchy, but towards the entire kingdom, although many said that natives of the Duchy of Wood were more loyal to the crown than to the ducal family.
Leon's gaze caught on her slightly long, pointed ears—a feature shared by almost all aristocrats from the Duchy of Wood, and even some commoners. And Leon thought to himself, how were these people different from the barbarians they were fighting? They too differed from ordinary people, and as far as the Baron knew, they even lived longer than ordinary people, yet no one sought to wipe them off the face of the earth, even though they were as unlike Leon as Lyubov herself.
After a few moments, the Baron realized he wasn't listening at all to the exchange between Adrian and Lyubov, who were actively arguing about something in his presence. The Baron finally decided to tune into their conversation.
"You're not the commander of this fortress! Don't you dare order me around," Adrian said as loudly as ever, but without any malice, simply stating a fact.
"I'm the future commander, so show a little respect!" the girl said, standing opposite him, hands on her hips.
"And I'm the future Count Cloud, so what of it?" Adrian parried her statement, replying just as loudly, but without showing a gram of personal emotion. Still, Leon marveled at his friend. Even in such a situation, he remained calm with someone who outranked him here, but Adrian seemed not to care, as if he was simply pushing through all the hardships that had befallen them here by sheer force of will, firmly moving forward, shielding Leon from potential blows with his back, unaware that the one he should be protecting the Baron from was always in his shadow.
"County titles mean little in a military situation, and you know it!" Lyubov said, continuing to glare angrily at Adrian.
Unlike Leon, he was a true aristocrat. Proud, strong, ready to go and make difficult decisions. Meanwhile, Leon hadn't made a single decision he could be proud of, simply continuing to drift along the current he'd been caught up in since his parents' death.
"Oh, shut up, both of you," said a rough, elderly male voice.
An old man entered his room, with a small scar on his face, who continued to hold his posture straight. At his appearance, Adrian and Lyubov immediately stood at attention, ceasing all conversation. Leon also wanted to jump out of bed for this man's sake, but catching the man's gaze, he immediately thought better of it.
Lord Hoshi, Baron Middle.
He had been defending this border for many years, and according to other officers who served under him, he did so with exceptional precision. But it was also rumored that his health was failing him, and that the fortress needed a new baron who would inherit his spirit and determination, and everyone thought that would be Lyubov. The man approached Leon's bed, still demonstrating perfect posture, and the young man couldn't believe that such a person could be losing his edge. Perhaps he deliberately wanted to give up his post to finally enjoy peace and quiet.
"Are you feeling better, Baron Starr?" Lord Hoshi simply asked. Leon nodded, ignoring any notion of etiquette from this man. He was a soldier meant to defend his land, not to engage in social conversation, and Baron Starr understood this.
"Lord Hoshi!!!" shouted one of the soldiers, who immediately ran into his room, ignoring all subordination.
"What happened? If it's not a barbarian attack, it can wait. I'm currently busy visiting a wounded officer," Baron Middle waved dismissively, continuing to examine Leon.
"Alert, Lord Hoshi!!! To the north, from the direction of the Wild Lands, an airship is visible on the horizon!!!" the young man cried out, and an icy silence fell over the room. A slight chill ran down Baron Starr's spine.
