After a moment, Leonel regained his serious expression. Once he did, his senses quickly picked up on a few things.
First, the small squad of four riding war horses toward them was led by a man with billowing blond hair and blue eyes that held a complex light within them.
Secondly, according to what he knew about Lionus, it was impossible for him not to take the helm in greeting these knights. This wasn't because the Prince felt the need to take control of everything, but rather because Leonel felt that Lionus was a man who placed emphasis on relationships and respect, not much unlike Leonel himself.
For a man like Lionus, as the leader of their squad, he would of course observe proper etiquette and greet these knights of Camelot. After all, in the future when he was named King, these men would be the backbone of the Kingdom. And, even now, they were putting their lives on the line, fighting day in and day out In the most dangerous border regions.
Yet, not only had Lionus not stepped forward, he even seemed reluctant to do so. It wasn't that he hadn't thought of doing so, but that he was reluctant to do so.
.
After reaching this conclusion, Leonel observed the man coming toward them once again and immediately noticed something else. This man's strength… even faintly surpassed Lamorak's!
At that moment, noticing his looks, Leonel had a faint inkling of something.
'Please don't tell me he's Lancelot…'
Leonel felt another headache coming on.
Leonel shook his head. 'Things still shouldn't be so simple. I don't believe that even if things are as I think they are that Lionus would be so unable to hide his emotions. This is even doubly so for a Knight of the Round Table like Lancelot.'
When Leonel had this thought, he began to calmly observe everything else.
Two of the knights who followed Lancelot out had deadpan expression, but the third had a gaze that reminded Leonel of a snake. He calmly looked Lionus up and down as though he was measuring up goods in a flea market.
It was difficult to tell anything else from his gaze, but for some reason, he didn't have eyes for anyone else. Even the two beauties — Elys and Mary — had no ability to catch his attention.
There was something off about his gaze, but Leonel couldn't put his finger on it. Could the oddity be related to this man?
He had long, black hair that shimmered as though coated in a thin gel. His eyes were the very same deep black, reflecting an indifferent light. To his hips, two swords hung. But, they were obscenely long to the point they almost dragged along the ground even while he road his tall horse.
The longer Leonel looked at him, but louder his primitive instincts screamed. This man…
He was dangerous.
As though feeling a gaze on him, the young man finally shifted his gaze from Lionus, locking eyes with Leonel. In that moment, Leonel felt as though his body had been dunked into a vat of ice water. His blood vessels involuntarily constricted even as his eyes narrowed.
Leonel's heartbeat slowed to a crawl. Though their gazes only met for a split second, it felt like an eternity.
The man seemed surprised that Leonel didn't try his best to look away as soon as possible. It made him give Leonel a once over, trying to see whether there was something special about the young man before him.
Unfortunately, at that moment, their silent clash had to come to an end.
"Crown Prince, you've come."
Lancelot, heading the small squad, took the initiative to hop down from his horse, kneeling down to a single knee in greeting.
'Maybe I shouldn't keep subconsciously thinking he's Lancelot. Who knows, I might get lucky and dodge this mess…'
"Please don't do this, Sir Lancelot. I'm not worthy of such respect."
'Or not…' Leonel smiled bitterly.
Lancelot stood with an amiable smile, looking over the rest of the group.
"Oh, is this Official Mage Leonel? I've heard a lot about you. That old fogie Lamorak suffered at your hands, huh?"
The man with snake-like eyes narrowed his gaze at these words. It seemed he was only now learning of Leonel's identity.
Leonel smiled, a bit embarrassed.
"I guess you could say his mace was a bit dirtied by my blood."
Lancelot was a bit stunned by Leonel's response for a moment before he erupted into a boisterous laughter.
It was quite an odd sight to see. Lancelot, with his looks, could play the part of arrogant and pretty playboy perfectly. Yet, he erupted with the same laughter one would expect from a man with wild facial hair and a massive gut.
'Damn, his charisma is affecting even me. No wonder Queen Guinevere fell for him…'
If others knew what Leonel was thinking, he'd probably get sentenced to death where he stood.
Lancelot heavily patted Leonel's shoulder. "I like you, kid."
Clearly, he wasn't as reserved toward Leonel as he was toward Lionus.
"Sir Lancelot, is this base experiencing some issues? I noticed that the security was especially high?"
Lionus finally asked the question that had been bothering him. Of course, these weren't at the forefront of his mind, but he could only toss other things to the back.
"Mm, yes." Lancelot grew serious. "The Demon Lords have been on the move."
Lionus grew serious.
The Demon Lords. They were Modred's most trusted subordinates. There were 66 of them in total.
It wasn't that Modred didn't add more, but that Demon Lords would rather slaughter one another to claim their positions. As a result, new Demon Lords would always kill another Demon Lord upon being conferred their title, or die trying. In the end, the number would always be 66.
But, even then, these were many more top experts than Camelot had. If it wasn't for the fact the top experts of Camelot out stripped those of this demonic land by a measure, Camelot would have long since been wiped out.
Lionus frowned. "What happened?"
Lancelot took a deep breath. "A new Demon Lord has been appointed. However, this one didn't follow the normal tradition of killing another, causing some unrest within Modred's lands. Now there are 67 Demon Lords, but Modred seems to have taken a liking to this new appointee and is protecting them.
"There's unrest in their ranks now. But, Demons don't display their disatisfaction in the same way we humans do. Rather than pointing their spears toward Modred, they're ignoring the status quo and attacking on their own whim.
"Modred has yet to step in to regain the balance and it's possible that she wants this sort of unrest. Due to this, we've been dealing with constant attacks toward all the border forts. News has already been sent back to Camelot. It's likely that the other big players will be making a move now…"
Just when Lancelot wanted to say more, the ground suddenly began to quake.