Fortunately, that guess didn't come true.
Once Finn found Loki and Riveria and carefully questioned them about exactly what had happened on the battlefield, he let out a quiet breath of relief, even as a chill ran through him at how the Demeter Familia had performed during this attack.
What shocked him wasn't the combat strength of Leon and the others, though that power did genuinely exceed his expectations somewhat.
Finn propped his chin on his uninjured right arm, his face thoughtful.
"Riveria, don't you think... they've been growing too fast?"
Riveria glanced into the distance. Jeanne's group had already linked up with Demeter, Leon, and Persephone, and several of the ladies were fixing an icy stare on a certain scumbag who'd just finished "taking care of" Persephone until her eyes were hazy and her breath came in soft little gasps. Riveria opened her mouth, then found she had no idea what to say about it.
Just then, Loki's big hand suddenly clamped down on Finn's head, ruffling that blond hair hard, and she cut him off with a grin:
"Alright, alright, Finn~ don't be so curious..."
"?"
Finn was full of question marks.
"Hold on... Loki? Did you change your stripes? Normally you'd be the first one to go barging into something this interesting..."
Loki slapped a hand over Finn's mouth, smiling sheepishly while she carefully snuck a glance at Demeter, who stood not far off wearing a tender, loving smile. Only then did she lower her voice:
"Finn, if you don't want to pile more onto the familia's debt..."
"Then shut your mouth for me!"
"Uh..."
Finn was instantly at a loss for words.
...
A little over an hour later.
The uninvolved civilians had all been evacuated under the soothing and guidance of the various factions, and in no time at all, the chaos that had engulfed Adventurers' Plaza gave way to a quick, desolate quiet. All that Evilus had left behind was a stretch of appalling wreckage.
As far as the eye could see: mangled corpses, ground pocked and cracked, ice and snow stained dark red with blood, buildings collapsed and half-ruined, stalls overturned, and all the goods, vegetables, fruits, and food that had been prepared for the Christmas festival now scattered everywhere, mixed in with the snow and the filth of blood, all of it ruined.
Leon and Jeanne's group were patrolling the plaza. He walked up to a smashed stall, bent down, and from an overturned basket and a pile of fruit strewn across the ground he picked up a still-intact red apple, wiped it off with his glove, took a hard bite, and said with regret:
"Aw, such a good apple... what a waste."
"..."
No one answered.
Behind him, everyone tacitly kept their distance.
It was simply because the low-pressure aura radiating off both Jeanne and Persephone was, frankly, a little terrifying.
Leon: "..."
Helplessly, he turned around and, without giving either of them a say, pulled the two of them into his arms, one on each side. Then, almost roughly, he pressed a hard kiss to each of their lips and put on a fierce act:
"You two are just asking for it, aren't you."
Jeanne shot him a glance and let out a cold little laugh:
"Heh..."
Persephone didn't so much as look at him, just turned her face away.
Leon's expression froze, and his anger curdled into a laugh:
"Fine, fine, fine, you two just wait!"
"..."
Not far off, Aura, who'd been patrolling while jotting down battle losses in a notebook, caught sight of the exchange over here and let out a soft little "heh":
"Sister Margaret, Sister Irisviel, you two aren't upset?"
The two women, taking part in a melee on this scale for the first time and having put on quite a show, were still riding high on adrenaline. Where would they have found the spare attention to get tangled up in that little battlefield of jealousy over there?
They were huddled together, chattering away as they compared the details and takeaways from the fight just now.
As for that bit of romantic friction...
"Mm... upset? Nope."
Irisviel blinked:
"Leon's right there anyway, it's not like he's going to run off."
"We'll talk about it once we get home..."
Margaret added in a small voice, a faint, lingering flush still on her face.
Aura: "..."
...How is the wiring in your two heads so different from Jeanne and the others'?
Just then, Laurier, who was rummaging through the rubble on the other side, suddenly let out a startled cry:
"Whoa! So shiny...!"
"What is this?"
"It feels kind of familiar somehow..."
"Hm?"
"Holy shit... an unexpected bonus?!"
A gorgeous great treasure chest, glittering with a dazzling golden light, lay there in plain sight in a corner at the edge of the "ice-and-snow paradise."
The instant they saw that thing, the expressions of Leon and Jeanne and the rest changed sharply.
Except that the shift in Leon's expression came purely from excitement;
while the strange looks on Jeanne and Persephone came entirely from the hand that had quietly settled at their waists, fingertips familiarly gathering up the soft flesh and giving it a squeeze, neither too light nor too hard.
The waist was a sensitive spot to begin with, and on top of that the presence of that hand was so familiar...
In an instant, a tingling numbness, a faint ache, and a light itch wove together into a complicated current that shot straight up. The two of them ran through several changes of expression before it finally turned into a soft, irrepressible moan slipping past their lips:
"...nngh!"
Aura: (...?...)
Margaret and Irisviel: "..."
Laurier: "?"
Feeling everyone's gazes converge on them, Jeanne and Persephone hurriedly dropped their heads and, legs gone weak and steps stumbling, tore themselves free of Leon and retreated to the side as if fleeing.
They were truly scared now.
Both Jeanne and Persephone had the same premonition...
That if Leon toyed with them a few more times like this, they probably wouldn't be able to hold on to that last shred of dignity. He'd breach their defenses completely, and in the end they'd fall entirely, becoming dolls for him to do with as he pleased.
No way did they want that!
Especially not in front of others. No! Absolutely not!
"Aura, Aura, look!"
"Jeanne and Persephone's ears... they're so incredibly red. Mm... why do they keep their heads down like that?"
Aura, who'd been watching this side the whole time, had already caught in that hurried glance the two ladies' bashful faces flushed nearly red enough to bleed.
"Ahem, who knows."
She answered quietly.
Setting aside that little episode over here for now, and never mind Jeanne and Persephone, who'd fled to the corner with their arms crossed and their backs to everyone, wariness and embarrassment written all over them...
At this moment, Leon was feeling a little regretful.
He'd wanted to strike while the iron was hot and invite them to "discuss tonight's lesson plan together," ideally with both "students" sitting in on the same class... but unfortunately, this glittering golden treasure chest right in front of him had completely thrown off his plans.
A shame... that golden, glittering great chest had thoroughly thrown off his whole arrangement.
He rubbed his chin and slowly paced a circle around the chest.
"Tsk tsk, so taking on Evilus can drop a treasure chest too... looks like those line-filling babies are worth more than I thought. Not bad."
"Mm, and... this Cheat's drop mechanics are a bit more complicated than I figured, too."
He scanned his surroundings and found that, aside from his own people, the nearest military police were a good hundred meters off.
Leon hesitated no longer and opened the chest right then and there.
"Open up for me!"
A flash of golden light...
"Hm? Why is there only one bubble?"
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