"But what exactly should we do?", The man beside Rebecca asked.
Leon looked in the direction of the voice and then slightly narrowed his eyes.
He felt this person looked familiar.
After staring at him for a while, Nacho finally introduced himself, "Nacho Salaman, formerly the field assistant to Elanti, the Chief of the Dragon-Slaying Corps."
'Nacho...'
Memories surged in Leon's mind. He remembered. In that world 'twenty years after Leon's nonexistence,' Nacho rose to power and succeeded Elanti as the future Chief of the Dragon-Slaying Corps.
The Sharp Blade trio were Nacho's subordinates in the future.
It was also from Nacho's mouth that Leon obtained information about the Heart Protecting Dragon Scale in the future.
Seeing the Captain silent for so long, Rebecca thought he didn't trust Nacho, so she explained, "Captain, a few years ago Nacho's father was framed by the empire and died miserably in prison, that's why he joined our Lionheart Society."
Rebecca didn't go into detail, so Nacho added, "My father was forced by the empire to cook the books. If he didn't do it, our whole family would be implicated; but as time went on, the false accounts grew larger and couldn't be hidden anymore. Eventually, the truth came out, and they pushed my father out as the scapegoat."
"Elanti once promised me that if I took the dragon kings and got rid of you, he'd spare my father."
"But after the battle at the spatial rift in Ravi, Elanti completely lost faith in me and had my assistant Scott replace me."
"And when I went to visit my father in prison, I learned he had died at the hands of a few death-row inmates."
"But who would believe that? My father knew the inside story of some bigshots cooking the books. As long as he lived, those bigshots would never let him go."
When Nacho said all this, his tone was flat.
It was like he had been soaked in grief and sadness for so long that he had gone numb.
After hearing Nacho's account, Leon had a rough idea of how things had unfolded.
In the "twenty years after Leon's nonexistence" timeline, Nacho had successfully caused Leon to fall into a spatial rift and disappear from that world. So he perfectly completed the mission Elanti gave him, and his political career flourished. His father also survived;
But Leon had returned to the present through the future Little Light's reversal magic, altering the cause and effect, and bringing the whole matter to a new development.
His father being framed made Nacho see the darkness and corruption of the empire, so he joined the Lionheart Society, either for revenge, or to find purpose in this world.
But there was still one crucial contradiction.
"You said Elanti's mission to you back then was to take the dragon kings and eliminate me, and my counterattack caused your mission to fail. So fundamentally... we were real enemies, Nacho."
With just that one simple sentence, Leon clearly stated the grudge and contradiction between him and Nacho.
Unlike the others in the Lionheart Society, he and Nacho had truly fought on the battlefield.
And Leon wasn't questioning Nacho's loyalty to the Lionheart Society. He just wanted to hear what this former enemy thought now.
Just like Constantine, crazy as he was, after understanding him, they could still fight together.
Nacho paused briefly in thought and slowly replied,
"I never thought joining the Lionheart Society could wash away all the mistakes I made in the past. I just want to ask you for a chance, a chance to get revenge on the empire. Once I've avenged my father, you can send me to prison if you like."
He paused, then said, "I mean... a prison in the new empire, not this one."
Leon silently stared into his eyes.
He realized that Nacho was actually quite different from Constantine.
Constantine could now fight alongside Leon not because he had been redeemed or had a sudden awakening, but because Constantine had always been that kind of dragon.
The empire gave him benefits, so he cooperated. The empire backstabbed him, so he retaliated, reasonable and fair.
So what about Nacho?
He knew that by abandoning the empire now and joining the Lionheart Society, some people might see him as "a man awakened, turning to the light," but that wasn't his true intent.
Because for his crimes and mistakes, he never intended to run from them.
He was willing to go to jail for them, but not now.
The ones to judge him should not be a corrupt and degenerate nation; but rather a more reasonable system and fairer laws.
Rossweise stood quietly nearby, not intending to intervene.
Rebecca, on the other hand, lifted her little head and looked at Nacho, then at Leon.
The two men stared at each other, neither speaking.
The crazy girl grew anxious.
She thought Nacho was a pretty good guy. Though he once helped the bad guys, it was out of necessity.
Now that he saw the empire's true face, it wasn't too late.
'Surely the captain wouldn't kick him out just because they once fought?'
"You really are quite suited for prison," Leon suddenly spoke.
Hearing this, Nacho was slightly stunned, though it seemed like a response he'd expected.
Rebecca, however, was startled.
'Wha-wha-what, he really is goin g to throw Nacho in jail?'
'No way, Captain!'
"So after we overthrow that dog emperor, I'll talk to the new king and have you appointed as warden of the prison. What do you think?", Leon said with a smile.
Rebecca was dazed for a second. Her mind looped a few times before she understood the captain's words.
"Ha~ Captain, can't you just finish a sentence in one go?", the crazy girl complained.
Leon smiled, "For some special reasons, Nacho and I had contact outside the battlefield."
He was referring to the future twenty years from now.
Nacho looked confused, "How come I don't remember?"
"Well, it's complicated, but I know you're actually quite capable, especially in management. The fact that the Lionheart Society has grown to this size probably has something to do with you, right?"
Nacho gave a snort and couldn't hide a bit of pride on his face, "Mostly it's old man Tiger who did the heavy lifting. I'm just the helper."
"Then… about your father, I'm sorry. But you mentioned getting revenge on the empire—"
Leon held out his hand, "I can absolutely help you."
Nacho looked at Leon's palm and grabbed it without hesitation.
"Let's end this farce together."
———
After finishing the discussion about Nacho, the group returned to the topic of the Lantern Festival.
"So Captain, what's your exact plan?", Rebecca asked.
"The operation is simple. We already have a memory stone that records a conversation between King Kant and Queen Elizabeth. This conversation is key evidence exposing their corrupt rule, so all we need is for the citizens of the empire to see it."
Leon said, "My idea is to gather enough memory stones, then place them inside the paper lanterns on the night of the Lantern Festival. Once everyone releases thousands of paper lanterns, we'll use the memory stones' resonance effect to project the footage into the night sky."
Upon hearing this, Rebecca suddenly realized, "Oh~ that way, the people of the entire country can see it."
Nacho added from the side, "And not just the commoners, some in the imperial army and even the royal family haven't yet sided with King Kant. They're just keeping their heads down in the shadows of politics, waiting for a new leader to change everything."
"So, if our Lantern Festival memory-stone stunt succeeds, we won't just gain the people's support, some of the military and royals might side with us too?", Leon asked.
Nacho nodded, "But don't get excited too early. Only a few can stand up to resist the empire openly. We still have to face the empire's diehards and countless monsters, like the Sharp Blade Trio and fusion beasts."
"Yeah, I understand. I figured the empire probably still has trump cards we don't know about. That's why I brought in a few reinforcements for this operation."
Nacho blinked, "A few reinforcements? I only see the Silver Dragon Queen right now, where are the others?"
Hearing this, Leon finally realized something and turned to Rebecca.
"Where's Claudia? Didn't she come with you?"
"Oh, your aunt said—"
"Hold up!"
Before Rebecca could finish, Nacho quickly interrupted.
He wasn't normally rude and interrupting wasn't his style.
But the term "Leon's aunt" was such a heavyweight label that even the normally unflappable Nacho had to interject and ask, "I read your profile, you grew up in an orphanage. Where'd this aunt come from?"
This time, Leon didn't have to explain. Rebecca raised her hand and answered excitedly, "Captain's aunt is Aunt Charlotte's sister, they're both dragons, you know!"
"..."
"Aunt Claudia is even the next Sea Dragon Queen!"
"...", Nacho scratched his temple, emotions mixed.
'Who researched this kid Leon, anyway?'
'Marrying a dragon queen is already something, but now even his relatives were all dragon royalty?'
This level of connection, just calling it "strong" wasn't enough. Nacho's vocabulary didn't have words big enough to describe General Leon's absurd and dazzling family background.
Leon smacked Rebecca on the face and pushed her over to stand beside Rossweise.
"Adults are talking, kids don't interrupt."
The twin-tailed girl hid behind her sister-in-law and stuck out her tongue at the Captain.
Leon withdrew his gaze and looked at Nacho, "She's exaggerating. It's not that extreme. I only learned a few days ago that my master's wife is a dragon."
Nacho shrugged.
It was hard to say if that shrug meant "I don't care" or "I'm numb from hearing all this explosive stuff."
Seriously, whether enemies or allies, Leon always made Nacho's mind go blank.
"So… this mysterious helper Claudia, where is she?", Nacho turned slightly and looked toward Rebecca behind Rossweise.
"Oh right! Aunt Claudia said she's very interested in human culture, so she's been soaking in the library in the Central District these past two days."
The empire was divided into five zones:
The Imperial City, the Upper District, the Central District, the Lower District, and the Slums where Leon and others were currently located.
The wealth level decreased with each zone.
And of course, this pattern of decreasing wealth was due to the empire's layers of exploitation.
The Imperial City leeches off the Upper District, the Upper District leeches off the Central, and so on.
So the most comfortable lives were lived in the Imperial City and Upper District, home to the empire's richest resources, completely outclassing the Central and lower areas.
"The library? If a dragon's walking around openly in the empire and gets discovered, that'd be big trouble," Leon said.
"Mm... but it's fine. With the frontlines in constant war, the empire's short on manpower. Patrol intensity isn't as high as before."
Rebecca added, "Plus, we have informants in every district. Even as a wanted man, Captain, if you disguise yourself at specific times and stay low-key, you can walk the streets, just don't attract too much attention."
Leon was slightly shocked, "You guys have completely infiltrated the whole empire, haven't you…"
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