Chapter 10: Leon the Slayer | 3

"Huh...? Where am I?" Leon muttered to himself.
Was I dreaming?
Leon just woke up and was lying down on a mattress that was luxurious for his standards. The pillow was silky and soft and a white cotton blanket was covering him. Compared to his now incinerated straw bed in Barvada, this was like heaven. As comfortable as it was though, Leon would rather be in his old bed. Even though it wasn't as nice, it had the charm of good memories attached to it. That's what truly matters.
A glass of water was placed next to a stool next to him. He picked it up and drank the whole thing. He was incredibly thirsty after that bloodbath of a fight. He didn't remember too much of that though. His memory was foggy. It was as if something else was controlling his body at that time.

A nurse and a military general opened the door to the room Leon was in and walked in.
"H-Hey, where is this?" He tried to get up but the nurse quickly took a hold of him and instructed him to continue lying down. His body was weak, even though he couldn't tell.
"What is your name son?" The general said in a voice that seemed too calm for a man like him.
"Leon.. Leon Thaleus sir."
"You have done well, Leon. If it wasn't for you, our forces in Barvada would have been decimated." He held up a small black box he was holding, and opened it in front of Leon. A golden medal revealed itself. The material was so shiny that made Leon squint his eyes.
"W-...Why is this for."
"Do you not remember what you did before you were here?" The nurse suspected amnesia.
"I... I slaughtered the... mages?"
"Correct, and you did a phenomenal job. But you will need to learn not to push yourself like that. We can't have such a talented young man like you faint in the middle of the battlefield again."
A single pair of tears dropped from his eyes, as his memories were starting to come back.
Leon accepted the medallion humbly.
"Leon, I need to give you a choice now."
"What is it sir?"
"You can either leave this hospital and start a new life from the start, with nothing to your name, or, you can join the military. You will be placed in a training program along with other daemons, and you will learn how to better control yourself in that state and how to make the best use out of it. After that, of course you will need to help with the current war. You will also have a place to stay and meals to eat every day."
"..." Leon felt a great anxiety.
"I know this is a tough choice for a man your age, and also considering the circumstances, so I will give you a whole day to think about it. Until tomorrow, you can stay in this hospital room and also walk around the capital. I will be back."
The general and the nurse left the room, and Leon was left alone.

***

When the strangers had left the room, Leon cried himself to sleep. After that he woke up, feeling more tired than before.

 It was now afternoon in Khulast, the capital city of the Holy Khulast Empire. Leon decided to walk around this place. He had never been to the capital, only read stories about it from relatives and newspapers.
Speaking of newspapers, everyone on the street was reading one. They were all talking about the war. The Empire was under attack from all fronts, all the other nations in the continent had signed an alliance. For now it was able to defend its lands, thanks to daemons, and the advanced technology the Empire had developed.
Naturally, the capital was nothing like Leon's hometown. There were tall brick buildings everywhere.
The streets were all perfectly even.
Bright yellow lamps littered the sides of the street.
People wore clothes which seemed peculiar to Leon.
There were a lot more cars here.
All of that was truly marvelous, but one thing stood out to Leon.
What are all these people doing?
There were hundreds of people in the streets but yet no one was talking to each other. They were all minding their business. To a bumpkin like Leon that was definitely strange.
He decided to talk to a group of people siting in a round table in front of a cafe.
"Hey, what's life like here in the city?"
The men looked at him weirdly, with expressionless faces which for some reason seemed hostile to Leon. Everyone in Barvada was smiling when they spoke to others. A neutral facial expression doesn't mean anything, it might not mean that the person with a neutral facial expression is happy to see you, but it definitely doesn't mean that they hate you. That concept was, however, unkown to a young man who grew up in a countryside (and to most people today.)
"What can I tell ya kid... its pretty normal to me." One of the men gave him a useless answer. He didn't know how to answer a question like this.
"If you work hard you should be fine." A more beneficial answer.
"It can be pretty fast sometimes, especially if you are not from around here." Said a tired looking man with bags under his eyes.
"Okay, thank you." Leon decided that he would go back to the hospital.
The constant noise of this place was making him dizzy.

***

Leon was lying in the comfortable hospital bed once again, holding and eyeing his medallion. He didn't think much of it. It only reminded him of a terrible memory.
"What do I do now, mom? Dad?"

***

It was morning. Leon was having his breakfast. The food was terribly bland.
The door to his hospital room opened and the general from yesterday came in, with a serious but slightly warm expression on his face.
"Good morning Leon."
"Morning, sir."
"What will you do?"

"I want to kill them all."