He watched the familiar intro video, devoid of any excitement, a cold draft brushing against his cheek.
He was Leo Dexter once more, standing there like an idiot, gripping a wooden sword.
“Leo! Why did you do that?”
Lena Einar stood before him, wooden sword raised.
He had yearned to see her again, the girl who had died on the battlefield, but now he felt nothing but emptiness.
The information he’d received as a reward for his failed scenario had laid bare his own stupidity and naivety.
“...I’m going in early today.”
Leaving Lena scratching her head in confusion, Leo turned and headed back to the house.
Back in the familiar room he had shared with Lena for months before her death, he threw himself onto the bed.
Burying his face in the cold sheets, he went over the {Rules of Back Alley}, dissecting each point.
It had all started to unravel back when Hans introduced them to that merchant.
Hans had sold them out in that large town.
Well,not exactly sold them out. He had simply pointed them in the direction of a good opportunity.
Applying the {Rules of Back Alley} to Hans’s actions, it was clear what had happened.
Hans had essentially told the merchant: “These kids won’t cause any trouble if they’re caught, and they’re heading straight to the biggest slave market in the world of their own free will. You can make a profit off their transportation fees and then sell them off for a commission.”
Leo clenched his fists, imagining them crushing a pillow.
They hadn’t received kindness in the last scenario. They had been lured into a trap disguised as good intentions.
Transporting slaves was a risky business.
Slaves were fragile goods that easily lost their value during transport. Depending on the distance, roughly one in three died along the way.
So, how delighted must that merchant have been to find two kids willing to pay to be transported to the slave market!
And he, like a fool, had walked right into the inn recommended by that merchant. He remembered the merchant looking around for something, some kind of sign.
There it was: a deep groove carved into the doorframe of the inn. It wasn’t a mark left by rot or decay; it was a sign that this establishment received people to be sold.
The merchant and the innkeeper probably hadn’t even known each other.
Leo punched the pillow in frustration.
He hadn’t just been naive; he had been a complete idiot.
* * *
“You’re different.”
The next morning, Leo sparred with Lena, who immediately noticed the change in him.
“Just now, back there. Why did you move like that?”
“If I move like this here, then next time, I can do this.”
Leo demonstrated his earlier move, explaining it step by step. Lena watched with a bewildered expression.
“Huh? That’s… creative, but what am I supposed to do? Just stand here?”
“Let’s try it again.”
Unlike the previous time, he adapted quickly.
Before, he’d been beaten senseless by his father on the very first day. But this time, the {Swordsmanship} skill he’d acquired and the memories of training with Lena until her death seemed to have paid off. He was reacting differently.
Lena was intrigued by Leo’s new swordsmanship, and while his father wasn’t exactly pleased, he seemed to accept it as his son trying something new out of curiosity.
Leo’s mood had improved significantly overnight.
Leo Dexter’s strong physique not only allowed him to wield a sword with ease but also restored his confidence.
During the fight with the thugs at the inn, the previous Leo had only managed to kill one of them. But this Leo Dexter, even if he ultimately lost, would have sent most of those bastards to their graves.
After an intense sparring session with Lena, both drenched in sweat, Leo collapsed onto the frost-covered ground. Lena, equally exhausted, flopped down beside him.
‘What about the war?’
The {War}, a major event in the Engagement scenario, would break out at the end of winter.
He had spent the entire previous night racking his brain, but he couldn’t find a way to avoid it.
Lena and Leo would come of age in a few days. Once she was an adult, Lena would join her father in the hunts, becoming a warrior herself. And as a warrior, she would take her father’s place in the war.
He could try to prevent Lena from going on the hunts, but that would be no easy task.
Lena dreamed of becoming a warrior. And when it came to these things, she was stubborn as an ox.
Even if he told her about the war breaking out in a few months, she would brush it aside, believing it was irrelevant.
She was the kind of girl who would charge headfirst into battle, boasting about returning as a knight.
‘And she never came back…’
Leo gently took Lena’s hand, lying beside him. She flinched slightly but didn’t pull away.
He had even considered pushing her down the stairs.
He had been desperate, willing to do anything to injure her and prevent her from going on the hunts. But that wouldn’t work.
Winter was the perfect season for hunting.
The cold forced animals into smaller territories, making them easier to track. The lack of foliage provided less cover,and their blood left a clear trail in the snow. It was also easier to transport the carcasses back to the village using sleds.
Most importantly, the village warriors had nothing better to do during winter, so hunting parties went out almost every day. He could probably pull off something drastic a few times to keep Lena from joining them, but he couldn’t keep it up forever.
Lena would become a warrior before the war even began.
‘What about the Noguhwaho?’
He had also considered the {Event} where they could hunt the monstrous beast.
If Lena achieved the feat of slaying the Noguhwaho but sustained injuries that forced her to stay behind, Dehorman might use it as an excuse to keep his daughter from the battlefield.
But hunting a Noguhwaho together was impossible. At least, not yet. He had no desire to become monster food trying to avoid a war.
He felt Lena’s fingers twitch in his grasp. He turned to see her fiddling with his hand playfully.
His beloved Lena.
Leo made up his mind. This time, he would protect her, no matter what.
He sat up, pulling Lena along with him. It was time to train.
As he picked up his sword once more, a thought crossed his mind.
A princess… he didn’t know about that.
He still hadn’t found any clues about how to make Lena a princess in this Engagement scenario.
Maybe there was a way to achieve that through the war?
He would go to the battlefield with Lena. He had decided.
* * *
“It’s going to be freezing out there. Take this and share it with Leo.”
Lena accepted the canteen her mother handed her.
It was filled to the brim with Odur tea, sloshing gently as she held it.
The tea, made by lightly fermenting Odur leaves, was a lifesaver in the cold. It warmed you from the inside out.
She grabbed two cups and headed out to the backyard, where she found Leo still swinging his sword.
Feeling bad about interrupting his intense training session, Lena settled down on a chair and took a sip of her tea, watching Leo practice.
He looked amazing, his silhouette striking against the backdrop of falling snow.
‘What’s gotten into him lately?’
He had been training more than usual.
Leo had always been diligent, but for the past few days, he had been like a man possessed.
She had met Leo for the first time three years ago. Her father had invited a retired knight to their home, and that was where she met the boy who would become her first love. He was gentle and soft-spoken, unlike anyone she had met before.
Compared to the other kids in the tribe, he seemed almost… timid. She was used to roughhousing with the other tribe children, so meeting someone her age who was so polite and well-spoken felt strange at first.
‘Back then, I never imagined I’d be engaged to him.’
Lena, who had considered herself quite skilled with weapons for her age, had been defeated by the gentle boy that day.
They had trained together under Old Man Noel, their constant sparring sessions blossoming into a friendship that eventually led to their engagement a year ago. She was proud to call the boy practicing his swordsmanship her fiancé.
Lena’s dream was to become a knight. Or at least, it had been. She wanted to be a warrior like those in her tribe, but more than that, she wanted to be a knight like Old Man Noel, protecting her home, her people.
But after getting engaged to Leo, her dream had changed. Now, she wanted to become a knight alongside him.
“Leo! Come take a break and have some of this!”
She called out to him as his training session seemed to come to an end. He waved back from a distance and started walking towards her.
He looked even more impressive up close, clad in full armor, steam rising from his body. As he removed his helmet, beads of sweat dripped from his forehead.
“Thanks, Lena. I was just getting thirsty.”
“Hey! Don’t drink it like that, you’ll get drunk!”
Leo ignored her warning, lifting the canteen to his lips and taking a long gulp.
He slammed the empty canteen down with a loud clang and patted Lena’s head before walking away.
Lena stared after him, dumbfounded, her face turning as red as the setting sun.
Maybe she had had too much Odur tea.