Chapter 47: Joy and Surprise

Excusing himself, he stepped aside to take the call.

"Hello?"

"Lili!!!"

He pulled the phone slightly away from his ear.

Alice’s voice was loud enough that he could hear her clearly, not to mention, the name calling never got comfortable.

"You won!"

Leon seemed to stutter. "...Yeah."

"You actually won!"

"Yeah, I was there."

"I know! That’s why I’m calling! Ohhh~" She said in a mock voice as though sobbing, "I’m so sorry for not believing in youuuu~!"

He could hear the excitement in her voice underneath it all.

"I just saw everything people were posting. You were amazing! And those two other summons! Since when could you summon more than one?"

"I’ve always been able to summon more than one, Alice."

"Really??? Why didn’t you tel meee~"

"It’s not like you asked." He said, faking tiredness in his tone.

Alice laughed.

"You’re so mean~ Mom is going to be so happy when she hears everything."

Leon smiled slightly. Once again, he couldn’t explain the feeling, but it felt strange hearing her this excited about him.

"You sound more excited than I am."

"Of course I am! My brother just did some amazing stuff, you know?"

Leon paused as he heard that. For some reason, those words stayed with him for a second longer than they should have.

Alice continued before he could answer. "And you won the whole thing! You have to come home soon."

"Yes, yes. I’ll visit."

"Good~"

She sounded satisfied hearing that.

Then, after a short pause, she added, "And congratulations, Lili."

Leon sighed. "Don’t ruin the moment."

"I knew you’d say that." Alice laughed.

The call ended a few minutes later.

Leon stared at his phone for a moment before putting it away.

Alice being cheerful and happy wasn’t off character, he would have been genuinely shocked if it was Alyssa instead. He just hadn’t expected it to affect him so much.

’Where is my masculine heart of stone? Have thou forsaken me?’ He almost sobbed... not really, of course.

"And how’s she always at home? You almost forget she is also a student." He said to himself, returning the phone to his pocket as he returned to what he was doing.

...

A little later, somewhere far from the academy, Alyssa heard about the tournament from someone on her team.

She was in the middle of a conversation when the other person who was on their phone casually mentioned the final.

"Did you see that kid from Grand-Phoenix? Leon Carter? Isn’t he your brother, Alyssa?"

"Leon?" Alyssa said, looking up, wondering what could have happened.

"Yeah. He won the yearly tournament today."

Alyssa’s expression changed. "What?"

"The final was apparently pretty interesting too. His summon was already strange, but he revealed two more at the end."

Alyssa stared at her teammate. "Two more?" He questioned. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, that’s what it says, and that’s what I’m seeing here."

"He’s telling the truth. Look, there are already videos." Another of her teammate said, handing her her phone.

The guy protested, "what does ’he’s telling the truth mean?’ DO I even tell lies?"

The other teammate just gave him a look and didn’t linger.

Alyssa took the phone and looked at the screen.

The first clip showed the final from a distance, then she watched as Leon raised both hands and two undead appeared beside him.

She had heard Leon’s awakening was strange, but this was different from what she expected.

"That’s really him?" she asked, almost to herself.

Her teammate gave her an odd look. "Yes. You can literally see his face. Come to think of it, your brother’s actually quite handsome, no? Why haven’t I noticed it until recently?"

Alyssa ignored the comment.

Handing the phone back to her, she pulled out her own phone and opened the internet.

The tournament had already become a topic of discussion almost everywhere, clips were being shared all over, with people were debating Leon’s summons.

Some were calling him a rising talent, while others couldn’t get past the undead and the fact that there were three, having three summons was already rare enough, having them as undead was even stranger.

Alyssa scrolled through several posts before stopping.

"Three..." He said to herself.

She had expected Leon to improve, but even with all the hope she had in him becoming better, she never could have imagined this.

After a moment, she opened her contacts and dialed Alice.

"Alyssa?" Alice said from the other side as the call connected quickly.

"Did Leon really summon three undead during the final?" She asked before she even heard herself.

Alice laughed. "Yes!" She almost sang it, "Yes he did!"

Alyssa closed her eyes briefly.

"So it’s true."

"Of course it’s true. I got a clip that showed the whole thing."

"You knew he could do that?"

"No! I was surprised too!"

"He won also?" She said.

"Of course he did."

Alice sounded almost offended that she had even asked, as if she didn’t doubt, herself.

Alyssa remained quiet for a moment, then she asked, "Is he coming home?"

"Yes." That answer came immediately. "He promised me he will."

Alyssa’s expression softened slightly. "When?"

"Soon. He said he’d visit soon. But I’ll make sure that soon is really soon."

Alice paused.

"Actually, I think he’s going to come back after everything settles down. That might be best."

"I see." Alyssa said.

The two sisters spoke for another minute before ending the call.

Alyssa lowered her phone as she rationalised everything.

She looked at the screen again that had another video of the event where Leon standing in the arena with three undead behind him while the crowd reacted around him.

Alyssa watched it once more.

Then, without realizing it at first, the corners of her lips lifted.

It was a small smile that was barely there, as her usually calm expression softened as she looked at the screen.

For someone like Alyssa, who was so reserved that people often described her as cold, the change was significant.

’He really won.’

Her teammates who were looking at her became dumbfounded seeing her smile. If they were to recount how many times they had experienced that sight, that would be the first.

Understanding enough, they didn’t say anything and simply acted as though they hadn’t noticed anything.