Reincarnated Hero System - Chapter 1237 -

The moment Leoniel stepped into his suite, a servant hurried toward him, one taking the briefcase from his hand while someone else moved behind him to remove his coat and set it aside.

He loosened the tie around his neck, and when he pulled it free, the same woman who took his coat collected it from his hand without a word.

By the time he reached the couch in the living room of his suite, a bottle and an empty glass had already been arranged on the table, and wine was being poured for him.

“Thank you,” he said as he picked up the glass.

The servant silently bowed before making themselves scarce.

Leoniel downed the glass in one go, then lowered the glass slightly, and the woman who had taken his coat returned to refill it as she asked, “How was your conversation?”

He looked up at the tall, grey-haired and brown-eyed woman with sharp facial features, a Countess of Isolon, one of his vassals and his right-hand woman, and he answered, “Very enlightening, to say the least.”

Leoniel genuinely meant it, not only regarding his discussion with Evan, but also his exchange with Princess Sharon and the many others he had spoken to after Evan left.

He truly felt that the conversations and the information he gathered from them were ‘enlightening’.

Just then, another man stepped into the living room, heading straight for the table in front of Leoniel as he asked, “Enlightening, you say? I don’t exactly follow.”

The muscular man with short and messy black hair reached out, grabbed the bottle, and poured himself a drink into the glass he held.

Seeing this, the Countess turned toward him with a glare, and in a blink, both the bottle and the glass in his hands disappeared.

She placed the bottle back on the desk and stored the glass inside her inventory, depriving him of his drink.

When he looked at her in confusion, she scolded him immediately.

“How dare you be so rude as to partake in the Marquis’s wine?”

Her question made Leoniel chuckle lightly, and the man she addressed blinked in confusion, glancing between Leoniel and her as he replied, “It was just a drink!”

“Your superior’s drink,” She shot back instantly. “You picked it up without permission and poured some for yourself, which is the epitome of rudeness.”

Leoniel, still chuckling, finally spoke up, “Let him be, Grace.”

At this, the woman named Grace turned to him and said, “Marquis, if you keep pardoning him, he’ll only continue to be disrespectful to you, both in private and in public.”

Turning back to the other man, she narrowed her eyes and asked, “Do you not know how badly it will reflect on the Marquis if you display this sort of rude behaviour before other nobles?”

Grace had a point, and Leoniel knew it, but he only smiled faintly and told her to pardon him just this once.

She glared at the other man in silence before retrieving the glass from her inventory and tossing it toward him, forcing him to reach out and catch it before its contents spilt onto the floor.

Immediately after, she turned back to the Marquis as he spoke.

“May I suggest a change in personnel? Specifically, the Captain of your Guard.”

Leoniel sipped his drink and inclined his glass toward the other man as he replied, “He may be like this, but he does his job, his actual job, pretty well.”

Hearing this, the man who had just emptied his own glass turned to Leoniel and said, “Huh? I may be like what?”

Before Leoniel could even respond, Grace turned to the man and responded instantly, “Rude and uncouth.”

He shot back with a retort, and soon the two of them fell into their usual bickering while Leoniel watched with a faint, wry smile.

Countess Grace was his right-hand woman and Administrative Deputy, while the other man in the formal uniform was Count Gideon, and as Grace had stated, he was the head of Leoniel’s Guard.

Leoniel might be a Sovereign Level existence and one of the strongest individuals on the planet, but he was still a single person. There could be situations where he would require others to handle lesser enemies while he dealt with greater threats, so that those lesser opponents would not distract him.

That was why his guard detail existed, even though he surpassed them in strength.

On a side note, this was part of the reason Evan wished to empower his fellow Heroes.

Back to Leoniel, both Grace and Gideon before him were ‘Living Legends’, both at the Superior Stage of the Legendary Level, and they had served him for decades.

Grace in particular had been by his side since he was merely a Baron of Isolon, one among hundreds of obscure Barons in the nation, ruling a territory known for a few specialities exported to nearby lands.

He was and remained a noble who was very close to his subjects, and since he governed only one major city and a handful of towns, managing affairs had been simple.

His lower rank made it easier for commoners to approach him and build a genuine rapport with them.

However, 52 years ago, in Year 1004, Leoniel had been forced to reveal that he had long been a Sovereign Level existence.

It happened during an incident when a mountainous region in unclaimed territory experienced a volcanic eruption, and with that eruption, a dungeon or hidden dimension within the mountain was exposed.

A strange monster wielding divinity had emerged from that mountain and charged straight ahead, heading right for Isolon.

It was mindless and devoid of reason, and if it had continued on that path, it would have wiped out everything before it, including several Baronies, Leoniel’s among them.

Leoniel sensed the danger and immediately took action to protect the Baronies, holding the creature back long enough for the Elven Emperor to arrive and eliminating it with a single strike.

However, that monster had been a Level 850 existence that had slumbered within that hidden dimension for an unknown span of time, and the fact that Leoniel could restrain it in battle could only mean that he was at least at that Level or possibly higher.

That event brought Leoniel into the spotlight and revealed him as a Sovereign Level existence.

Since the Transcendents, ‘The Five’, closely documented and kept tabs on the actions of Legendries and Sovereigns, it was only natural that his name was added to their roster on the Elven Emperor’s command.

The King of Isolon promptly elevated him to the highest noble rank a non-royal could hold and even intended to grant him a Ducal title, all to ensure he remained within their nation rather than being enticed away by greater powers.

The only reason Leoniel was still a Marquis was that he didn’t want the King to bend the nation’s rules and elevate him to Duke solely for that reason.

Marquis or Duke, it made little difference in the end, as Leoniel was the most powerful man in the nation of Isolon.

Despite holding the title of Marquis, he did not govern lands befitting that rank, retaining only his city and a few towns, while the surrounding Baronies were placed under him as vassals.

Those with whom he had particularly close ties saw their ranks raised, and his subordinates, including Grace, were granted fairly high noble titles beneath his own, all part of the King’s efforts to appease him.