"Wow, you’ve been through a lot."
Leona muttered, looking at Damon.
He nodded slowly. Leona sighed, shaking her head.
"No wonder this city suddenly felt more chaotic these past days after you ca here."
Damon narrowed his eyes, then rolled them, annoyed.
"What are you insinuating, I’m a troublemaker."
She nodded.
"Yes, yes, you are."
He hugged her, then let go. Still, he was curious about Leona’s situation. She was living in a nice house, she seed to have a lot of furniture, and the sll of good food lingered in the air, which was a good sign. Leona was a bit of a foodie after all.
Though she had a tendency to make other people cook for her.
"So what’s your story?" Evangeline asked.
"I an, you’ve been here a while, right."
Leona nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I guess I was first dropped off in one of those slave fighting coliseums. So guys tried to get handsy with , so I ripped off their arms. I t a familiar face there, so we decided to break free from the slave fighting arena and killed the guy who claid to own us. It was a whole thing."
Damon nodded. That did sound like Leona.
She crossed her arms, annoyed.
"I an, I didn’t mind being a slave or fighting all day. What I couldn’t stand was the fact that those bastards didn’t feed us. I was so pissed off I popped the head of that guy."
Her teeth grated audibly.
"After we destroyed the place, the chained knights were sent in to enforce order, so I used rune magic to give them the slip. After that we fell into the pleasure district, and so guy tried to sell us for so at. After that we destroyed the pleasure district."
She crossed her arms over her chest, her ascendant armor letting out a few sparks as Damon watched with a flat expression.
"After that, we retreated back to the Grinding Gate."
She paused when she said that. Her expression beca somber.
"We didn’t really know where to go. The won we freed from a life of comrcial sex decided to follow us, though they didn’t really stop. It was sort of the only life they knew."
She squeezed her cup, lowering her head.
"I really didn’t have a plan or anything. I thought if we found you, you’d figure things out like you always did. Leading people is hard. You have to worry about everything, and when soone following you dies, it really hurts and makes you feel so helpless."
Damon reached out and patted her head, rubbing her beastkin ears slightly.
"Don’t let it get to you. So what happened next."
Leona nodded, shaking her head slowly.
"When we got to the Grinding Gate, the people there were surprisingly nice to us. They helped us get acclimated, gave us a place to stay, and well, we shared our food with them."
She smiled softly.
"We found a whole community of people who were really nice. They were kind and gave us free stuff."
Damon’s expression turned suspicious. As far as he knew, the Grinding Gate didn’t have a single good person, much less a helpful one. Yet here Leona was, telling him otherwise.
This reminded him of what Carn Vale once said to him.
If you look for monsters in people, that’s all you’ll ever see.
Leona was a pure girl with pure intentions. Perhaps that was why she only attracted the good in others. Even human scum like Damon was moved to kindness by her. That was why she was his best friend. She didn’t give him much of a choice.
Leona gritted her teeth.
"Everyone was so kind to us, but now most of them are dead."
She lowered her head.
"Even the children."
Damon raised his head, his expression tightening.
"When did this happen? Did you get attacked."
Leona shook her head slowly, wiping off a tear.
"No. We moved to the inner city. I thought if we ca here we could find you, and we kept searching. But just yesterday the chained knights slaughtered a few million people in the Grinding Gate."
Damon paused, his face still like calm water.
Yesterday.
Wasn’t that a part of his plan? He knew the chained knights would do that. It was what he called collateral damage.
She lowered her gaze, dazed.
"Mrs. Slytack and her children, the old greedy butcher, One-Eyed Pete who’s always drunk, Grandpa Broker who only likes mana cores. All of them are dead."
Damon took a deep breath as Leona listed off the people who had helped her in the past. He didn’t want to hear it.
To him, their deaths were statistics. Cogs in a plan that would inevitably lead to all out war.
This was a necessary evil.
"Leona, I’m sorry about your friends."
Damon reached out and touched her head, slowly stroking her hair.
She sniffed like a child who had found comfort, then began to cry, hugging Damon tightly as she wailed.
He continued stroking her head.
"It’s okay. It’ll be alright."
In the end, Damon wondered what really bothered him more. Was it the fact that millions had died, or that his friend was hurt by it.
The answer was plain to see.
After the Trial of Sin, Damon didn’t need to take guilt that wasn’t his. Everyone made their own choices. He didn’t kill these people. The chained knights did.
If he had slaughtered them himself, he would gladly accept it as his sin.
If anything, his only cri here was being complicit, and that was the sin of sloth.
"Don’t worry, Leona. I promise their deaths will not be in vain. We’ll destroy this twisted city together."
She nodded, leaning her head against his chest, crying silently.
Evangeline closed her eyes, looking out through the window without saying anything.
Damon was the best person to get through to Leona. If he couldn’t comfort her, no one could.
After a few minutes, Damon wiped her tears and smiled.
"Hey, speaking of that, you said you t a familiar face. Who was it."
Anything to change the topic.
She lifted her head, her ears twitching.
"Oh, it’s..."
Bang.
The door slamd open.
Damon didn’t turn around. His skin crawled. He knew that gaze.
’I know that shadow.’
He turned around in horror.
"It’s you."
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