THE RISE OF THE KNIGHTS OF SINNERS

#22# LICIA'S DISAPPOINTMENT

On the second day, Leo decided to go to the place of the Zaxin chieftain to give a stimulant drug that the chieftain ordered. He was traumatized to see the drug because the entire night was made sleepless by the strange behavior of Licia who was still affected by the drug. Despite being shaken, Licia regained consciousness 5 minutes later and continued hugging Leo due to the influence of stimulants that have not disappeared until finally Leo was forced to bind Licia's body on the apple tree. In the morning he left Licia who was still asleep alone in the cave.

When he arrived at the Zaxin village hall, Leo was immediately welcomed in by the chief's first wife. Before long, the Zaxin chieftain came out of his room. The big old man and the thick white beard came staggering towards Leo.

" Why is it necessary until this early morning young master comes to my house? " said the chief of the Zaxin tribe named Yaro.

Leo then thrust out a small box of stimulant pills at Yaro. " This is your pill. Because I forgot to give it, made me sleepless all night, "

" Ha!? Master took the pill!? " shock Yaro rubbed both of his eyeballs.

" Not me, but Licia's daughter accidentally drank it, "

Yaro immediately approached Leo when he heard Licia take the pill.

" L-then what happened!? Did you guys do it? " ask Yaro holding Leo's shoulder.

" I'm not a man who easily tarnishes a woman without marriage. I tried to resist his desire until forced to tie him to an apple tree in a cave, " said Leo, keeping Yaro's hand off his shoulder.

A little disappointed, Yaro sat down next to Leo. " Hhhhh this young master. They get a good opportunity but are not used. When else could she do it with a woman as beautiful as princess Licia, "

" I'm not like you who are bawdy until you have a wife of five, " said Leo with a cynical look.

" Haha! But we did it out of liking and I was also responsible for marrying them, "

" Hhhhh it's up to you, I want to go back to the cave. Oh yeah, I heard that the Zaxin tribe's wine production is starting to increase, right? "

" Yes, thanks to the help of the young master, our vineyards bear three times the fruit of last year, "

" The supply of red wine in the city is thinning as shipments of fruit from the Aru region begin to dwindle. Can you increase the production of that drink? "

" Hmh of course! Leave it to the chief of this tribe! " reply Yaro confidently while patting his chest.

" I'm counting on you, old man. See you around. " Lo put the medicine box on Yaro's desk and went back to the cave.

***

Arriving at the cave, he saw Licia who was still asleep even though she was in a bound state. Leo felt pity and could not bear to keep binding the girl. He removed the tie and brought the princess back into the tent. While waiting for him to wake up, Leo took the time to practice the sword and cooked grilled corn for breakfast.

" Hh Leo is it morning? " said Licia who came out of the tent and only wore a cape belonging to Leo.

" Are you awake? Wash your face and eat right away, "reply to Leo while blowing a bonfire.

Licia who was still half sleepy rubbed her eyes. He walked towards the ditch near the tree and washed his face. After her drowsiness disappeared, the girl was shocked by herself who was completely naked and only dressed in a cape belonging to Leo.

His face turned red. He remembered last night when hugging Leo. " Leo-leo, ki-we didn't do that, did we? "

" Do that? Whatchu mean? "

" That's what we didn't do, right? " Licia glanced at her slightly open chest.

Leo understood what Licia meant, he smiled slightly and replied, "Let's just relax I didn't do anything to you. But maybe it would have been different if I hadn't immediately covered your body with my robe. Really troublesome, "

" Also why not say that it's a stimulant!? " sad Licia.

" I've tried to prevent you but instead you take the medicine directly. Next time ask first so that this kind of incident does not happen again. Now come here, eat this! " Leo thrusting the grilled corn from a distance.

Licia walked up to Leo and took the corn and ate it. The girl was made startled as a few corn seeds entered her mouth. He felt a different delicacy from his usual grilled corn.

" E-happy! How can corn burn so well? " ask Licia who can't stop eating her corn.

" I used spice powder, "

" Spice powder? Isn't spice very rare in our continent? "

" In Valdia there was a spice shop owned by a merchant from Singaraja kingdom. He turned all the raw spices into powder in a bottle. After all the delicious cuisine you ate at the palace of Valdia was also thanks to that spice, "

" Can I buy it too? "

" Why not? You can ask Melina or Thalia's sister to accompany you to the store, " said Leo while laying on the grass.

" I-I want you to accompany me, "shame Licia.

" It may be, but it may be next week. Better now you clean the body in the trench and then continue the meditation, "reply Leo tilted at Licia.

" And what about you? "

" I'm going to sleep. Because of your uncontrolled self, I can't sleep all night, "

" all right. Don't peek into the trenches or I'll kill you! " threaten Licia with cynical eyes but her cheeks still look red blushing because the memory of last night is still ringing.

" Cih! I'm so underworked I peeked at you. "reprove Leo while closing my eyes to try to sleep.

While Licia took her clothes and headed to the trench to clean the body. A few moments later, after putting on clothes, he continued his meditation.

***

As the twilight begins to dawn, Leo awakens. He saw Licia still meditating in front of the apple tree. This time around, Licia's meditation went on longer than before. The girl was starting to be slightly able to control the natural energy that entered the body.

Tired of just sitting quietly observing Licia, Leo decided to clean up. After he finished, he also took the cave out to train his ice element magic. As he coolly practiced, suddenly the cave shook. Leo rushed back inside. Just like yesterday, He witnessed a surge of natural energy within Licia's body. Without a second thought, the blonde youth retraced Licia's stomach to let out natural energy in the red-eyed girl's body.

" Ugh! Ugh! " Licia regained her senses and groaned a little in pain while holding her stomach.

" This is the second time" concluded Leo.

" It can! I can still! " chuckles Licia.he went back cross-legged trying to meditate again.

" Stop Licia! Don't do it again! That's very dangerous! " sela Leo held onto Licia's right shoulder.

" why? I've sensed his natural energy! I'm sure a little more can control it! " licia said confidently.

" I forgot to tell you. The energy of nature is like a wild animal roaming the universe. The wild animal itself will be tame if it finds its captive, as well as natural energy. They will be docile and can be controlled by anyone they want. But if not, it would only be a torment for the one who forced the absorbing of natural energy. There were only three times the chance to absorb the natural energy, if the three failed occasions meant that the natural energy refused to fuse in the body. And if forced, that energy will continue to enter the body and explode ", Leo explained.

" I still have one chance, don't I? I'll try it! " saw Licia back.

" Well, if this last meditation fails, never do it again. Got it? "

" Have you eaten? " ask Leo.

Licia exhaled her breathing to cancel her meditation and replied, "I ate the apple I saved yesterday. I also ate one more apple. "

" Okay, please continue your meditation. I'm looking for firewood, "Lo walked out of the cave to find firewood before the sky started to darken.

***

Just 2 hours he went out looking for firewood while looking around, again the cave shook. Leo ran back to the cave. The vibration this time was not just once but 3 times in a row.

When he had just entered a few steps from the mouth of the cave, Leo was immediately startled by a lightning strike that fortunately he was swift using wind shield magic. When glancing at Licia, the young man was immediately surprised to see Licia who had been lying down and gave off a magic aura interspersed with small lightning sparks.

" It's terrible! " said Leo who saw Licia.

Licia herself was in an unconscious state. His body was overwhelmed by the natural energy that had exceeded the limit of entering the body to make the girl's consciousness temporarily disappear. Leo slowly approached her. Although the lightning strikes continued to lead to him, but thanks to the magic of the wind shield he could neutralize the lightning and continue to walk forward.

" Liaa...! Lichsia...! " cried Leo trying to resuscitate the silver-white-haired girl. Leo's shout actually makes the lightning strike stronger. The natural energy that Licia absorbed was getting out of control.

After trying to hold back the swipe after the stroke, Leo finally reached near Licia. The blonde haired youth let out an aura of his magic energy in order to suppress the natural energy that Licia had absorbed.

" I'm sorry, Licia, but this is the only way, "Lo leaned Licia's body against the tree and bit her neck.

He absorbed the natural energy from Licia's body. So much natural energy is sucked, making the aura of Leo magic energy enlarged. Slowly the air temperature in the cave decreased. The grasses and water in the ditch gradually began to freeze. But the apple tree was unaffected because it contained magic energy that protected the tree.

Leo's own body also began to be covered in ice. That layer of ice began to envelop both his hands and the periphery of his face. In addition, a pair of ice wings appeared on the young man's back.

Feeling that the natural energy in Licia's body had been absorbed, he released his teeth. Before long, Licia also woke up in a limp state.

" W-what happened? " licia concluded trying to focus her blurry eyes.

" Thank God you didn't explode. It's really troublesome, "leo grumbled.

Licia rubbed her eyes and was surprised to see Leo covered in ice and with a pair of ice wings on her back.

" The Le-Leo? What the hell is going on? "

" Natural energy rules your body. It almost exploded, but I managed to absorb all of that natural energy from your body, " Leo explained as he took out a magic circle that sucked up the ice on his body.

Licia felt pain in her neck and touched her neck, "Ah! why is my neck hurting? "

" I'm sorry. I was forced to bite your neck to absorb the natural energy, "Lo took his broom and cleaned the blood in his bite marks on Licia's neck.

" How can you absorb it in such a way? " ask Licia.

" That's my talent since childhood. I can indeed absorb other people's magic energy by biting it, " Leo replied. Licia fell silent and was once again envied by Leo. He could hardly believe that there was such a talent in humans.

" Stop this meditation! The natural energy rejects you. You better rest. "

Licia was silent. He was so disappointed not to be able to do the thing that Leo had done that inadvertently the disappointment made his tears drop.

" Lician? " ask Leo to see Licia crying.

Licia lowered her head. Her tears were dripping over the fallen leaves of the apple tree.

" Why can't I? "

" Hey, you don't have to be sad, you're strong anyway. Being able to achieve emperor-level elemental magic was already a great achievement" Leo said trying to console Licia's heart.

" I just want to be like you. We always practiced together as children, but why are you the only one who can do this? " tanya Licia rubbed her eyes.

" One day you will pass me. But you have to fight harder. Even if you can't get past me in terms of strength, it's better to pass me in terms of thinking or other things. One day you'll be queen and I'm sure you'll pass anyone including myself. Don't be disappointed and give up just because you failed at this meditation. This is hard meditation anyway. In the eastern continent alone out of the millions of people who tried this meditation, only less than ten people succeeded. It was only their magic energy capacity that increased instead of evolving magic elements, " explains Leo.

Leo's explanation made Licia a little calm. He then cleans his face and returns to the tent to help Leo light the bonfire.

" Want to eat something? " grab Leo on Licia.

Licia shook her head, "The apple I ate has filled me up until now. I don't want to eat anything tonight. "

" Well naturally, the apple on the tree could indeed satiate the stomach due to the effect of the magic energy within. But it's a pity that the magic energy in the apple can only satiate instead of adding magic energy in the human body, " said Leo who managed to light a bonfire.Licia only fell silent for a while while observing the bonfire. Disappointment still enveloped his mind.

" Rest. Tomorrow morning we go back to the city, " said Leo.

Licia glanced at Leo. " Hey Leo, "

" What's up? "

" Why did you agree to our matchmaking? And what reason did you give my grandfather? " Licia suddenly asked something that Leo did not want.

Leo was a little surprised but he had to rack his brain looking for another reason to answer that question

" Why silence? " ask Licia once again this time her tone was a little pushy.

" The reason may be the same as the person you were once betrothed to, "the Leo replied spontaneously because he could not think of any other reason.

" Is that so? You also want my grandfather's throne too huh? "

" It might be said so, " replied Leo while scratching his head.

Leo's answer changed the way Licia looked. He thought Leo was just like any other noble who approached just to take the throne of Gerelia. The princess thought about moving away a little and cut down on interaction with Leo when she returned to the city. In his heart he was very upset and disappointed to once again be reunited with the person who only approached him because the throne was not because of love.

" I'll go to sleep first. " Licia returned to the tent while revealing her gloomy face.

Leo only nodded his head and thought Licia's gloomy face was due to her disappointment after failing to meditate. He also decided to sleep because tomorrow morning he had to go back to the city.

***

After morning arrived, the two of them left the cave to return to the city. On the way, Leo is made curious by Licia's drastically changed nature. Where Licia just fell silent and seemed to keep a distance from Leo.

Leo occasionally offered him food and had time to talk, but Licia only answered briefly and slightly indifferently. Leo still thought it was all because of the girl's failure in the cave without realizing that what made Licia like that was the result of her spontaneous answer last night.

Arriving in the city, not a word was thrown from the girl's sweet lips to Leo. He just drove his horse towards the palace and left Leo at the city gate.

^^^To be Continue.^^^