To Leo, life in this era was remarkably dull.
People had few forms of entertainment. Most men devoted themselves to drinking, while most women seized every opportunity to show off.
At night, the only illumination came from torches and candles, and candles cost money. As a result, people's nightlife was either remarkably rich and vigorous or nonexistent.
Yet everyone needed spiritual fulfillment, and the people here possessed a fervor Leo could not yet understand.
They imbued every event in their lives with a sense of ceremony. Sometimes, the rituals were so elaborate that Leo struggled to adapt.
Take the present occasion.
The Military Academy had given everyone three days off. Blackport City was holding a memorial for holy Archmage Hilquins with the same honors accorded to a deceased king.
One part of the observance was an endless procession.
People dressed in black and walked barefoot, their arms spread, fingers pointed toward the sky, and faces stricken with grief.
The procession continued from morning until sunset. Whenever it passed through a reasonably spacious area, a poet would declaim the deeds of holy Archmage Hilquins in ringing, rhythmic tones.
Poets were the brightest stars of popular entertainment.
No matter where a poet actually came from, every one of them claimed to be a bard. Each declared that he had traveled to countless places and sampled countless fiery women, though no one ever tried to verify either his adventures or the truth of his ballads.
In the bard's songs, the life of holy Archmage Hilquins had been glorious beyond compare.
As a boy, he had single-handedly hunted white bears in the north and lions in the desert. No one knew why the holy Archmage, while still so young, had appeared in places more than a thousand kilometers apart.
As a young man, he became a knight, won fief after fief through feats of arms, and became Grand Duke Hilquins.
Then war erupted between the fallen mages and the entire continent.
Holy Archmage Hilquins seemed to become an S-grade mage overnight. He was given command of the Order War and drove the fallen mages back in defeat after defeat.
The insatiably greedy Westrians were driven into the sea and drifted away to parts unknown.
Only a handful of the Heimidu, who ate human flesh raw, escaped. All the rest were slaughtered.
After the war was won, the holy Archmage donated the lands of his grand duchy to the Superstring School. He used the territory's revenue to fund mages' research into spells and became the leader of all mages.
The Grand Duchy of Hilquins was now known as Academy Territory. Independent of every kingdom, it was the land mages yearned for above all others.
Any mage could declare himself free of his kingdom and lord and depart for Academy Territory. No lord was permitted to stop him.
After the war, the holy Archmage himself had lived in Citadel, the capital of Academy Territory and sacred ground to all mages.
As Leo followed the crowd in the procession, he gained a general understanding of Archmage Hilquins's deeds.
Once the daytime procession ended, there would be a bonfire gathering in the square that evening, where people would continue circling the flames.
It was a crazed contest of virtue.
Bloodstains from feet rubbed raw could be seen here and there on Blackport City's stone-paved streets, but the procession showed no sign of stopping.
Anyone who tried to slack off faced murderous glares from everyone around them.
No one had ever met holy Archmage Hilquins, yet their devotion could not have been more sincere.
At the center of Blackport City stood a square large enough to hold several thousand people, known as Toronia Square.
The gallows stood at one end and the ceremonial platform at the other.
Three dignitaries of Blackport County, all clad in red robes, now stood upon that platform.
At the center was Count Leopold, a man in his seventies with silver hair and a resolute face.
To his left stood Bishop Notte Bonet of the Church of Radiant Prayer. To his right stood Matthew Escusi, the Academy's scholar in Blackport City.
Throughout Blackport City, only these three men were permitted to wear red robes that day. Everyone else could wear only black.
The hierarchy was absolute.
It did not even require the count's troops to enforce it. In this atmosphere, everyone strictly observed the conduct appropriate to their station.
Leo noticed Scholar Matthew and became lost in thought about his own situation.
He was already a D-grade mage. By rights, he should go to the Academy in Blackport City to have his mage grade certified. Whether at the Academy or in the legion, that would earn him better benefits.
But now was not the time.
He needed an opportunity to provide a reasonable explanation for his advancement, preferably one connected to Kozmo's death.
For now, E-grade would do. He simply had to be patient. His path as a mage had only just begun.
When the evening's bonfire procession finally ended, Leo was at last free to go home.
He ought to visit. The Military Academy kept its students on campus, and he had not been home in a long time.
As the mourners dispersed, Leo walked in the direction where his memories told him home lay.
Outside the apartment his family rented, Leo paced back and forth nervously.
Now and then, he stepped on a manhole cover, producing a clear, hollow thunk in the night. There should have been a municipal drainage channel beneath it.
The apartment building was three stories tall, and his family's apartment was on the second floor.
He slowly climbed the stairs. When he reached the door, apprehension gripped him.
He did not know whether he could behave naturally around the family here or whether they would notice something different about him.
After all, they were strangers to him.
At last, Leo collected himself and knocked on the door to his own home.
Only his mother and sister were home, and the door was bolted from the inside. Even a key would have been useless.
A candle flared to life within, followed by the patter of light footsteps.
“Who is it? What do you need at this hour?”
“Olina, it's me, Leo!”
“Big brother? It's my brother!”
The bolt slid back, and the door opened from within. A slight figure flew into Leo's arms.
Leo's body stiffened, but he made himself wrap his arms around thirteen-year-old Olina East and hug her tightly for a moment.
The two went inside, and Leo's mother, Martha East, emerged from the bedroom as well.
Indeed, the East family's circumstances were much better now. Their apartment had several rooms.
As a cadet officer, Leo received a salary from the 3rd Regiment of Count Leopold's Unicorn Legion. It was not much, only three hundred copper pennies a month, but it was enough for his mother and sister to live free from want.
Leo himself had virtually no expenses at the Military Academy.
Thanks to the Unicorn Legion and Count Leopold, the East family had escaped the fate of being driven outside the city.
Their current apartment was also rented with Leo's salary. At one hundred copper pennies a month, the rent consumed a third of his pay.
“Mother, I'm home!”
Leo chatted casually with his mother and sister. His sister Olina did most of the talking, recounting all the little events of daily life, while Leo listened with a smile.
He found it all fascinating.
Which vegetable stall always sold stale produce, which bakery put out freshly baked soft bread, and at what hour...
His mother, Martha, thought that life at the Military Academy had made Leo increasingly composed.
Meanwhile, Leo silently thought:
I will take care of your mother and your sister, just as I would take care of my own family...
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