Immortal Kingdoms

Leonardo and company made it through the busy afternoon streets and into the open plaza where countless carriages hooked into massive magical beasts of burden lay in wait.

Other than the vocal advertisements and recruitments for protection and protectors respectively, many people were fervently discussing the heinous massacre of three royal divisions. Everyone began to refer to the incident and the location as the ravine of demise, and numerous ridiculous rumours spread like wildfire as truths and lies coexisted.

The mind sure is a miraculous thing when someone invests into their imagination.

As the group made their way around the plaza, Leonardo led them towards the section where they could hire personal protectors as no one would hire bodyguards walking around with two children.

Leonardo didn't wish to act like a stubborn novel protagonist who couldn't put his ego down and enjoy playing the secondary or supporting character role once in a while. Furthermore, he needed capable subordinates, and the experienced veterans who travel back and forth across kingdoms and the various realms would stand out as potential candidates.

However, for some odd reason, most local groups either eyed them from a distance or outright avoided them. Leonardo assumed it had something to do with the Regalia Household, so he kept strolling around patiently.

"Hey! The big family of five over there!"

A skinny young pair, a man and a woman who seemed like siblings based on their similarities; wavy green hair and dark eyes,. They were dressed in tight black fitting clothes under gray robes.

"Come over! We'll protect you guys!" The young man smiled wide, and the woman skipped over and crouched down next to Leona before rubbing her head aggressively yet gently at the same time.

Leona's little head bobbed and swayed from left to right, back and forth, but she was oddly laughing and having fun from the young woman's techniques that didn't strain her neck or muscles.

The woman's eyelashes were thick with mascara, reminding Leonardo of those gothic girls and the hype around them. However, since Leona wasn't detecting any ill will from the pair, Leonardo assumed such playful behaviour would be fine.

The young man seemed surprised that the group simply watched as a stranger got within such close proximity, even laying hands on the child, and they simply let it be without putting up any shred of resistance or caution.

How can they be so relaxed and casual when the royal family is on their heels? Or could the information have been wrong?

The young man scratched the back of his head with a steel dagger, his expression betraying his disbelief as he spoke, "You guys… Sigh… Aren't you too relaxed around strangers?"

"Miko! Shut up!" The kind big sister glared at her younger brother, seemingly afraid that he'd ruin her fun time with Leona.

Miko could understand the feelings of someone who loves children but doesn't seem to find any child courageous enough to reciprocate. However, this child was acting so normally it in itself was a bit abnormal!

She's definitely no ordinary child!

"Misaka, I'm serious though! Shouldn't the normal reaction be something… Something… Ugh, something other than this? Kid, aren't you scared or something?" Miko seemed unconvinced that a child who didn't fear his sister's face existed on this planet.

"Scared? Why?" Leona asked, her head already stopped spinning but she could feel Misaka's gentle hand pressing down on her.

"I can tell big sis is a good person!" Leona looked at Miko as though he was a bit abnormal, causing Misaka to burst out laughing while hugging her stomach. This was the first time a child favoured her over her little brother in a long time!

Miko shrugged and pointed at an ordinary carriage in the rear section of the plaza while talking, "Anyway! You guys need protection, right? We will calculate the fee based on the distance and the amount of people we kill- ahem! I mean block from antagonising your little family until we've reached the destination!"

"My code name is Miko Grim, and she's Misaka Reaper," Miko pointed at himself then at his sister, then pointed back at a group of twelve similarly clothed individuals, though their identities were concealed nigh perfectly under their robes.

Not even their general gender could be easily discerned based on visual judgement.

"You're not going to take payment upfront?" Juvia asked, somewhat surprised by the offer as she added, "What if we don't have enough money to pay you afterwards?"

Miko was stunned. That's right, he simply made this proposal with the idea in mind that these are rich investors from Valdmor, being led by a soon to be crowned Foreign Prince, how could they have no money?

But he can't simply tell them that he had one or two bold speculations about them, right?

"Is this your first time doing this?" Juvia asked with a dubiously cautious expression.

"Of course not!" Miko was quick to deny, adding up, "The thought that you might not pay never crossed my mind, honestly! I mean, if you don't have money, what are you doing here?"

Miko spoke his honest reasoning in a manner which didn't expose his inner thoughts, he knew they had at least two saints, and just because he enjoyed the backing of a saint, that didn't mean he could blatantly lie to one in the face.

"Godfather Leo is rich! Don't worry!" Juvia was about to say something when Leona suddenly interrupted, comforting Miko and Misaka with a kind smile. Then, she looked up at Leonardo with a smile while inquiring, "Right?"

Juvia almost tripped over, feeling exasperated by the antics of this child.

Sometimes she wished she was just as introverted as her big brother.

Juvia looked down at Kieran who was simply watching with interest, her eyes overflowing with warm affection for the child who was willing to silently put everything aside and suffer for his little sister.

If only that sense of kinship was common in the royal palace, Juvia sighed.

Of course, no one noticed this short episode.

"You're right, money is no problem," Leonardo smiled flatly at Leona before eyeing the yet crouching Misaka with interest, though the only impression the lady got from his dull eyes was the same as any other.

She couldn't fathom what sort of life has this young man gone through to have such deep seeded melancholy to the point where it was borderline captivating, but she had the mental fortitude to not sink in this depthless sea of emotions before she snapped back to her senses, back drenched in cold sweat.

For someone with her profession, a moment of distraction could translate to a free ticket straight for the afterlife. She couldn't believe that one glance from a normal human youth would cause her to trance about.

She quickly stood up and awkwardly dusted off the sweat from her palms before walking back to her brother's side, gesturing for the group to follow.

"Alright then! Consider Grim and Reaper as your employees from this moment onwards! Oh right, where do you want to go?" Misaka stopped and turned her head to inquire for their destination.

Pandora rolled her eyes, "Here I thought you'd never ask!"

The siblings coughed awkwardly, but Leonardo simply waved it off before taking out a skin parchment from his spatial ring, on it was displayed the modern landscape of the Sylvia Kingdom.

There were tens of cities and even hundreds of towns marked in the royal crest of House Sylvia, but there were also those marked in gray, presentable plots of land for the accomplished subordinates.

Leonardo pointed at a massive plot of land on the map, it was a massive lake in the shadow of a distant mountain peak, surrounded by five towns in the formation of an inverted pentagram, highlighting the lake at the centre.

The region was an overlap of borders between the three ruling powers, but it had ultimately fallen in Queen Adeline's hands. Individually, the energy vein of such a remote location wasn't something to speak of. However, the overlapping energy veins of three different regions suffused the area in worldly energy, hence the high value of the region.

One can tell how invested Queen Adeline was in forming good relations with Leonardo, and after the ravine of demise incident, no one would jeer at what an extravagant price the pacifist Queen had paid just for this one mysterious friend.

Looking at the map, Miko's mouth hung open and he blurted out, "You truly are that upstart Prince!"

Smack!

Misaka slapped Miko over the back of his head before cursing his ancestors, then she nervously looked back to see Leonardo's reaction, but he simply smiled at her with no intentions of denying it or making a scene whatsoever.

"What? Not willing to take the job?" Leonardo raised an eyebrow.

"Of course we're willing! Of course!" Misaka replied, bullshit they wouldn't be willing, this is a chance to change their future for the better! They simply needed an opportune moment to request this Prince for a position as his Royal Guards after they've proven their worth!

"Did you have to be so heavy handed?!" Miko groaned as he got back up to his feet, grumbling…