"I met her by chance in New York..." Leon said. "Perhaps if you help me, I will lead to where she is... Anyway, you know what you need to do."

After that, Leon ended the call. Before confirming Lennart"s ident.i.ty, he had to deal with Seiji"s spies. He was a traitor, but he was a warrior too. So, it took quite a while before he finally gave up and decided to obey Leon"s orders. Leon didn"t feel pleasure in torturing someone, but he had to do the dirty work. He couldn"t let the princess of j.a.pan do such a thing.

After "persuading" Seiji to cooperate, he made him give the order to all his spies reunite in their hideout in two days. Their shelter was located in the extreme north of j.a.pan, very close to where the Frozen Dire Wolves" dungeon was.

"Do you know a way to contact, Ren?" Leon asked.

"No..." Yuki said with her head down, still unable to get rid of the memories of the past few days.

Makoto probably put some way to contact his spies or Ren in the magic box, fortunately, since it was on Leon"s back, it survived the railgun"s attack. Inside of it, he found a radio. When Leon turned it on, he heard the voice of a j.a.panese man. He didn"t understand anything, but then Yuki stepped forward and pa.s.saged the message.

"Do you know the guy you just talked to?" Leon asked.

"Yes, he is the commander of my father"s spies..." Yuki said. "I also already pa.s.sed the message that my father died..."

"I guess we just need to wait until morning now..." Leon said and then sat down to concentrate.

"... I wonder how you can meditate at a time like this." Yuki sighed.

"I"m not meditating, I"m trying to heal my wounds," Leon explained.

"I can do that for you," Yuki said.

"Is your skill that convenient?" Leon frowned.

"Yes, it can dispel poison, curses, sickness, and even cancel effects like burn and paralysis," Yuki explained.

"I see... well, I"m going to refuse," Leon said. "I think If I manage how to heal those burns, I will be able to find a clue of what to do to reach my goal."

"You are insane..." Yuki sighed again. "Why did you help my father on this crazy plan?"

"Because he was an ally and because he was a friend… but mostly because he made me remember of my father." Leon looked toward the starry sky. "He was a bit older than Makoto, but they were kind of similar. Harsh and direct man, but when the family was the center of the question, he would become a bit unreasonable, just like Makoto was when he decided to rescue you with only my help."

"Is that so…" Yuki said.

"It looked like you and your father were quite close… I noticed that, so I decided to obey Makoto instead of convincing him to recruit more people to help." Leon said. "Knowing that Seiji left spies behind and that he couldn"t trust in many people, he decided to go with the only person he was sure it wouldn"t betray him. I was jealous of him; he had the chance and the courage to face an entire army to rescue his daughter… while I didn"t have the chance nor the courage to be with my parents when they needed me."

"It couldn"t be helped, right?" Yuki said. "You were alone on an island…"

"Yeah, but if I weren"t so stupid, they could have survived…" Leon smiled weakly. "Although my father and I were logical persons, he was a bit overprotective, and like your father, he was quite hot-blooded about family. We head-b.u.t.ted a few times, but we were a normal family. However, when I decided to study abroad, he clearly said no. He said that I was too immature to live alone in another country, but I ignored him. We fought, and then I left America without saying a word. For the next four years, I didn"t talk with my father a single time, he was right… I was too immature. When I graduated, I decided to surprise them and rub on my father"s face that what I did wanted to do and accomplished many things, but then the monsters came… If I weren"t so stupid, I could have said to them that I was returning and they would be waiting for me at the airport and escaped the dragons" attack. But because I was a moron, my parents died… I guess helping Makoto was my selfish way to make amends for my past."

"You are too harsh on yourself…" Yuki said. "But at least I can see now why you are so determined and willing to go to such lengths to achieve your goals. I would be creeped out if you were trying to be some knight in s.h.i.+ning armor trying to help everyone."

"If I can lend a hand, I will, but I won"t lose time with those that don"t deserve to live," Leon said. " I don"t want to become a leader; I just want to make allies and work together to make our planet safe again… because I don"t want to see, my sister, niece, and my friends struggling to survive every day."

"I guess my father saw that on you…" Yuki said. "I wish I could help you, but I can"t…"

Why not?" Leon asked. "All the people who caused you pain died and will die, no one knows but you and me what suffered here. Forgetting what happened is impossible, but you can"t just give up. Your people need you, if not your name; they need your skills."

"Your persuasive skill sucks…" Yuki forced a smile. "All right… I will help you; I don"t want to embarra.s.s my family by choosing death. However, I will only help you as long as you carry my father"s katana on your back."