No longer keeping it inside, Leon just made it absolute clear.

"Just so you know, I have no such feeling for Rinna."

"Why are you telling me this?" Eula stated, without glancing at him.

"Because you have been giving me that suspicious look, like I would elope with her any moment."

Eula smirked and added. "Heh, you are over thinking it."

"Right."

Both went silent again. Leon looked at Layla who was asking several questions to Rinna, which was making her awkward from time to time.

'I don't want to know what they are talking about.'

After saying that, Leon glanced at the surroundings.

There are several locals including nobles gathered at the town circle today.

'Huh… today is busier than usual.'

Suddenly, Eula said. "I have never seen her talk to her like this."

"Hm?" Leon glanced at the subject.

She was talking about Rinna.

"I guess it's Layla's influence. She is a bit too extrovertish."

"Extro… what?"

"Nothing." He said.

As they made a turn at the Tiara town's central region, Eula suddenly muttered to herself.

"Two days are enough for everything to flip upside down."

Leon heard her. 'Two days huh… I guess it's moving faster than we expected.'

Leon was almost done with his arrangement. Everything was going exactly as he had expected it to be. Nothing major had changed, and there's still no news of house Vallahail either.

"What are you two chatting about?"

Rinna asked, glancing back.

Eula and Leon said at the same time, "Nothing."

They adjusted their pace and wrecked closer to them.

Layla blinked and whispered in his ear.

"Leon, your old crush is so sweet. I am having fun teasing her."

"Ugh, please stop bothering her."

"Haha.. relax, I am just telling her how cool you actually are."

"No need."

As they walked further, Leon saw a crowd gathered at the center of the town.

"Hey what's that?"

His attention snapped by a sudden call.

Both Eula and Leon stopped, and glanced at the source who was pointing in a certain direction. To where the crowd gathered.

Adjusting his glasses, Leon zoomed it to take a proper look.

He saw a women in a jester costume.

"A street show?" Eula muttered.

"Looks interesting." Layla said to Leon, pointing, "shall we take a look."

Leon saw no harm in it, and walked closer to the crowd along with others.

The jester stood at the center of the wooden platform.

She wore a tight red and black bodysuit with diamond patterns on her legs. Her hat was a classic jester cap with two long floppy ends, each tipped with a small bell. A round fake tomato nose sat at the center of her face. Her outfit was revealing, very revealing to the point that several men in the crowd were not even pretending to look away.

"Uhh, no wonder she is attracting attention," Layla muttered, staring at her outfit.

The jester lifted both her arms high and flashed a wide smile at the crowd.

"Now for the next trick," she announced. "I want a helper. Who would be willing to help me today?"

Her eyes scanned the audience slowly and seductively.

"You there. The one with the saggy robe. Come over here," she said, pointing at someone in the front row.

Leon turned to look.

It was the same child from earlier, the boy who had jumped in front of their carriage. He was wearing the same loose ragged red robe, and his body visibly bruised.

"Hey, isn't he the one who jumped in front of our carriage?" Layla asked.

Leon narrowed his eyes. "Yes."

Something about the boy felt wrong. Very wrong. His expression was empty. He was not even blinking. And his small mouth was parted slightly as he breathed out shallowly.

Leon focused on the marks on his legs and arms. He zoomed his vision further through the specs.

'Wait…'

Every bruise had a small needle hole at the center. Several needle points lined up like someone repeatedly stabbed him in the same places.

The child did not resist the jester. He quietly followed the jester's order and climbed onto the stage.

The jester smiled at him. "Very good. Such a good kid you are~"

She placed him at the center of the platform, facing the crowd.

Leon kept his eyes locked on the child.

"What is she doing?" Eula muttered.

Rinna replied, "Maybe it is a new trick…"

The jester waved at the crowd. "Now, for this trick to work, I want all of you to look at the eyes of this child. Just the eyes, alright? Don't blink a single second~"

The crowd cheered loudly.

"You bet we will, sweetheart!"

Leon ignored the noise. He activated his [Mana sense] skill.

The world shifted slightly. His focus locked on the child's small frame.

"What the—" Leon's breath caught.

Layla and Rinna heard the shock in his voice.

"Leon?" Rinna asked.

Eula leaned slightly towards him. "What do you see?"

Leon did not take his eyes off the child. His voice came out short and alarming.

"That boy has a white mana core."

Rinna blinked. "White?"

Eula's face tightened. "Is it unstable?"

"Barely," Leon replied.

"Tsk." Eula clicked her tongue. She understood exactly what that meant.

Rinna and Layla exchanged confused looks seeing this casual exchange bettwn the two.

"Sister?" Rinna asked quietly.

Before Eula could answer, the jester spoke again.

"Now then—"

Snap—!

She snapped her fingers.

The moment the sound hit Leon's ears, his eyes widened in terror.

He saw it clearly through his mana sense.

The boy's mana core shifted violently. A crack formed across the surface of his white mana core. Dark corruption spread through it like fast leaking ink.

"Fuck!"

Leon did not have a single second to spare.

He grabbed Layla's arm with one hand and Rinna's arm with the other, pulling both of them toward him. At the same time he shouted at Eula.

"EULA GRAB ME!!"

Eula reacted instantly. She reached out and wrapped her arm around him without a second thought.

Leon felt a wave of intense mana burst out from the stage. The air shook, and he ground vibrated under his feet. The pressure from the mana felt heavy enough to crush everything around them.

But before the wave could reach them, Leon activated Alice's short teleportation skill combined it with Blind Blade and made several teleportation jumps. A sharp flash passed through his vision as the space around them twisted.

They vanished from the center of Tiara town.

In the next moment they landed several kilometers away, at the far end of the town near the outer district. Leon barely had time to steady himself.

But even so, before their feet could even touch the ground properly, a violent heat swept across the distance. A deafening sonic boom followed right after, ripping through buildings like paper.

The enormous blast reached them within seconds. The shockwave rolled through the air, tearing chunks of rooftops apart. The sky behind them turned bright orange for a brief moment as the explosion swallowed the central region.

The sound was ear piercing, loud enough that the ground itself shook beneath them.

Layla stumbled and grabbed Leon's sleeve tightly.

Rinna fell to her knees, shocked by the sight behind them.

Eula's eyes widened as she stared at the rising cloud of dust and flames.

Leon turned around slowly to get a final look.

"No…"

His chest tightened.

On this day forth, more than half of the Tiara town had been wiped out of the map of Liora.

.

.

[A/N: Weekly goal, 600 PS for 3 extra chapters! Hurry we got few days left!] (_why do I sound like a salesperson_)

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.