Ten minutes later...
"My lord, that's... fifty million Valis in total."
"Oh~~~?"
Rose let her voice lilt up at the end.
"As I recall, you take a cut of every commission and every completed deal here, don't you?"
Cold sweat instantly beaded on the employee's bruised and swollen face. He hurriedly wiped it with his sleeve and forced an even deeper smile.
"M-my lord, you, you must be joking..."
"This time there's no need, no need for a cut at all..."
Rose let out a noncommittal little laugh.
"So, the handover's complete? Nothing else?"
"N-nothing else."
"Heh..."
She rose to her feet, then, as if suddenly remembering something, glanced at the ashen-faced bearded man on the floor.
"Oh, right. This one still owes me a little money. I'll be taking him with me. You don't mind, do you?"
Owes money? What money?
The employee blanked for a second, then it dawned on him.
Ah, the price of his life!
In that case, no problem at all.
...
...
By evening, the sky had gone completely dark.
A thick layer of gray cloud blanketed the heavens, not a single star to be seen, the whole sky black as a stretched curtain.
A light snow drifted down, and the dim magic-stone street lamps spread pools of warm light through the cold air.
The warm yellow glow stretched the sparse figures into long, thin shapes cast across the snow-covered flagstones. The pines along the road wore a soft layer of snow too, their branches drooping slightly, trembling in the occasional gust and shaking loose a few fine flecks of silver-white.
The little street in the night was deeply, deeply quiet.
Footsteps sounded on the snow.
Crunch, crunch, slow and clear, each step pressing a gentle mark into the stillness of the winter night.
This particular winter air, cold and serene, drew a person in despite themselves.
"Phew..."
Leon tightened his coat, watching his breath condense into white mist against the warm yellow lights already glowing not far ahead, an easy smile crossing his face.
"Almost home, finally."
As he spoke, he glanced to his side.
Everyone there, himself included, was carrying packages of all sizes, and on closer look... these packages were stuck with all manner of Familia Crests.
These things were the holiday gifts and small tokens from the various Familias, which Demeter had received on their behalf when they regrouped with her after wrapping up their "real business."
There had been a tiny bit of trouble in the middle of this Christmas Festival, but life in Orario still had to go on. Everyone ran into each other constantly, so naturally you had to put care into maintaining good relations, and exchanging holiday gifts was clearly an essential part of that.
On top of that, the Demeter Familia's rapid rise in just this past year had made it impossible for the patron gods of other Familias to ignore them.
"The lights are on at the house. Rose and Kureha must've gotten back early, huh?"
"Do you two know what they went off to do?"
Leon breathed out a puff of white and, thinking of the two companions who'd vanished the moment the fighting started, looked over at Jeanne and Persephone with mild curiosity.
The way he figured it, even if Rose meant to keep it from him, she surely wouldn't have kept it from these two as well.
This time, though, he'd guessed wrong.
Jeanne, Persephone, Aura, and Laurier all shook their heads almost in unison.
"Big sister Rose didn't mention anything..."
Leon arched an eyebrow and turned his gaze to Margaret and Irisviel.
Before he could open his mouth, Margaret answered softly:
"We don't know either."
"..."
"Well, never mind," Leon said with a smile, his tone lightening. "Maybe... she's planning a Christmas surprise for us?"
"Mm, that's not a bad idea!"
With that, he took a deep breath and set off walking again.
The crunch, crunch of footsteps in the snow carried on through the snowy night, steady and drawing nearer to that window glowing with warm light.
...
"Bang, bang, bang!"
"Rose, Kureha! We're home!"
Leon pushed open the front gate, stepped briskly into the yard, and called out toward the house.
"Creeeak..."
A moment later, the door swung open in answer.
"Welcome home."
Leon looked at the elegant, unfamiliar beauty before him, and his smile first froze, then shifted into confusion.
"Huh? Did I walk into the wrong house?"
He muttered to himself, backed up a few steps out the gate, checked the house number and street sign on the wall, then looked back at the figure standing quietly in the yard, utterly bewildered.
"That's not right, this is definitely my house..."
"You..."
Before he'd finished, another figure walked out of the house and came to stand lightly beside the unfamiliar woman.
The newcomer wore a black, form-fitting turtleneck sweater, with denim hot pants mostly hidden beneath it and her signature flesh-colored stockings, her water-blue long hair gathered at the back into a soft, loose braid by a white bow hairclip.
She padded along in fuzzy bunny slippers, hands folded against her stomach, and gave everyone a graceful, beaming smile.
"Welcome home, everyone."
Leon: "..."
Everyone: "..."
...
...
The usual spot, the sitting room.
Leon's household once again convened a full meeting.
Fresh firewood crackled in the fireplace, the dancing flames lighting up the whole room. The warmth from the fire seeped gradually into everyone's bodies, finally letting minds and bodies that had been tense all day out in the field relax at last.
"H-hello, everyone. Nice to meet you all."
"M-my name is Lydia Melaelsiorelu Chulz, from the Kingdom of Chulz."
"P-please take care of me from now on!"
The golden-haired princess stood up, looking a little nervous, her small hands gripping the hem of her dress. After finishing her brief self-introduction, she gave everyone a slight bow.
Her every movement, even with that faint trace of nervousness, came across overall as entirely natural and smooth. Her bearing, her manners, her presence, all of it was pitched just right. It wasn't some affectation copied for show, but a nobility and refinement that came from deep in her bones, long ingrained.
"Leon Hart, captain of the Familia. Just call me Leon."
After Leon answered, Rose smilingly picked up the thread and began introducing everyone present to Lydia, one by one.
"This is Jeanne d'Arc. Like me, she's Lv. 3, and she's the Familia's commander."
"This is Kureha Clyret..."
...
Once the introductions were done, the meeting got down to the main subject: Lydia's background and her situation.
"I think I'd better be the one to explain this."
Rose spoke softly, her gaze sweeping over everyone before settling on the princess beside her, who had her head bowed slightly.
"Some of this might be too heavy for Lydia to tell herself."
As her account went on, the mood in the warm, relaxed sitting room quietly began to shift.
The firelight flickered across every face. Apart from a few silent, faintly meaningful looks exchanged among the "grown-ups," Laurier acted as if none of it concerned her. She'd long since kicked off her fuzzy slippers, curled up, and sunk deep into the sofa. Turned on her side toward the fire, she lazily narrowed her eyes, but her ears were quietly pricked, listening to Rose tell the whole story of Princess Lydia.
Attentive as she was, though, she noticed that when Rose mentioned the princess had nowhere left to go, and that returning to her kingdom would very likely mean an unspeakable fate, Mr. Leon's eyes suddenly lit up.
Laurier blinked, then reached over and gave her good friend a light tug.
"Aura, Aura," she leaned in close to her ear and whispered under her breath, "is Princess Lydia... about to join our Familia?"
Aura shot her a look and said nothing, giving an affirmative answer with only the faintest flick of her eyes.
"Ohh..."
It dawned on Laurier, and she dropped her voice even lower, a little hint of excitement in it:
"So that's how it is..."
While the two little elves murmured and whispered off to the side, Leon, seated in the single armchair, had already turned his gaze toward the princess sitting bolt upright, studying her closely.
From the delicate tips of her toes wrapped in white thigh-high stockings, to the lovely lines of her calves, to the supple, slender waist beneath her gown... his eyes traveled slowly upward, passing over the impressive curves rising at her chest, the exquisite, alluring collarbone, and finally came to rest on that lowered face, which still couldn't hide its nobility and perfection.
And Lydia's body, as if able to sense the "scrutiny" of the one behind that gaze, shifted almost imperceptibly. A thin flush crept quietly up her neck and the tips of her ears, her eyes darting away as she bowed her head a little lower, never daring to meet his.
Until Leon abruptly became aware of the stares from either side.
Jeanne and Rose were watching him in silence, their faces calm, a clear glint of amusement in their eyes, along with a faint, almost intangible warning.
"..."
Leon straightened his expression, gave a light cough, and switched to an especially grave tone:
"Good, very good."
"Lives up to our family's taste, all right."
"As for Lydia joining the Familia... I approve."