When Strongarm brought the three shards back to Torras the Jeweller, he crafted them into a wondrous treasure for him to use: the Shard Sword, an indestructible blade made from enchanted Sudani Glass. He never actually uses this sword in any of the stories, which is what makes me think that this is actually the weapon used by Duchess Valonia. It is easily one of her two most favourite pieces of equipment, alongside the Justice Armour.

Huan Strongarm: A Bartfort Folktale, by Lufas Maphaahl

"Here you go!" Greg grinned. "Six drams of gargoyle blood, as ordered!"

He placed six hexagonal medallions down on the counter, which each acted as containers that preserved the precious resource. Krys picked up each one of them in turn, examining them beneath his magnifying glass. "Exceptionally fresh and exceptional quality. An excellent job!"

He took six unlit Stonefire Lanterns out from beneath the counter, each of looking like a bizarre fusion of a western lantern and an eastern paper lantern: cracking open one of the drams, he deposited a drop of blood in each of them before placing the remaining five medallions in his pockets.

"There: that's one dram for your lanterns and five for me. Compensation for time and materials. Gargoyle blood is hard to come by, as you well know."

"Oh thank goodness," sighed Olivia. "For a moment there I thought you were doing this for free!"

"I know what you mean," nodded Earis. "Someone does you a solid, and they're trying to be nice about it but they only make you feel guilty for taking advantage of them…"

"Isn't that why we're doing all this in the first place?" Brad remarked. "So that Torvel guy isn't just giving us thing for free?"

Krys was smiling as the party filed out of his shop. "I think they might be my new favourite customers."

They were in high spirits as they returned to the palace, the love interests taking the Stonefire Lanterns inside while the rest of them waited. "Hang on a sec," said Leon. "I have to do something real quick."

Angelica gave him an odd look. "Why do you say that as if you're about to do something really shady?"

"Just look out the window. Trust me, you won't regret it."

The wolfdog padded out of the room as the remaining party members curiously did as he said: they had an excellent view of the palace gardens, where King Roland was putting the rizz on an attractive young woman who none of them had ever seen before. They stopped by a beautiful ornamental pond as he took her hands in his, leaning in to steal a kiss.

Then Leon ran in, jumping up with a woof and pushing the King unceremoniously into the water. The young woman shrieked as the water splashed her from head to toe, while Roland thrashed and cursed to his feet.

"Ooga booga, motherfucker!" Leon taunted vengefully, running off with a cackle.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU LEON!"

"Oh!" Angelica dropped her fist into her palm as she finally got it. "So Leon is his real name, and Huan is…"

"His dog name, yes."

Julius met Leon in the hallway, cracking a smile at his furiously wagging tail. "You're in a good mood."

"I am in a good mood!"

They opened the door to the waiting room, where Chris gave the girls a thumbs up. "Great news! I gave him the Stonefire Lanterns and he said that Torvel's been exonerated! Let's go tell him now!"

They filed out of the palace on the way to the theatre, chatting casually as they walked. "I've always liked the idea of Stonefire Lanterns," observed Leon. "We should make it our thing. Like, every time we celebrate anything, we should grab some for the occasion."

Angelica smiled at the thought. "Should we gather our own gargoyle blood as well?"

"Yeah!"

Torvel squealed like a little girl when they gave him the good news, sweeping Olivia into a hug; he deliberately avoided hugging any of the young men, just in case Bibrus was watching. "You have delivered our company of thespians from certain ruin, my friends! Soon, the Master of Revels will request our presence before the King and Queen!"

"I'm happy for you," smiled the fairy. "I hope that your future has only good things!"

"And yours as well!"

It was now finally time to speak to Torras, whose shop had run out of customers with the fall of night. His receptionist led them to the second floor, where the jeweller greeted them with open arms. "Miss Redgrave!" The man seemed honestly surprised to see them. "Surely you cannot have found three shards of Sudani Glass already?"

"Sure did!" Olivia grinned, pulling out the blue shard. Jilk took out the green shard to her side, while Greg took out the red shard from his jacket pocket. "Three shards, different colours! As ordered!"

Torras looked very, very impressed. "I see… Perhaps I should avoid underestimating you in the future, yes?" He took out the bizarre device that he had shown them on their last visit, placing it on his desk and attaching the three shards to each of the three fixtures. Soon the glass started to glow, emitting three beams of light that shone onto the opaque glass. "Observe. The events of the tragedy that befell Goodwife Dama's servant."

A holographic image appeared above the device, showing the events immediately following the servant's trampling by the horse. "What's that?" Chris said suddenly, pointing at the pavement near the bleeding body. "It looks like a rat!"

The ugly rodent scurried away from the scene, a small, shiny object clearly visible in its mouth. "It must have stolen it!" Brad realised, his hand dropping to the hilt of the Berserker Sword. "It's Pomporo's heirloom all over again!"

"Curious," remarked Torras, flicking a switch on the side of the device. The image disappeared as the glass stopped glowing. "If that's the earring you're looking for then I would advise you to speak to Humbus the Rat Catcher. He works in this district, and has perhaps seen the vermin in question."

He removed the Sudani Glass from the artefact and replaced it in his safe, then took some bizarre instruments from his desk and started fiddling with the three shards; he made no effort to hide what he was doing, but he moved with such speed and skill that not even Leon with his supernatural eyesight could make out the exact mechanics of the process. All they knew was that he had forged them into a gorgeous bracelet, which gleamed in three colours as he held it out to the Duke's daughter.

"For me?"

"For you." Angelica placed the bracelet on her right wrist, admiring how it glinted in the candlelight. "Flick your wrist," said Torras encouragingly. "See what happens. Everyone else: stand clear."

They gave her some space as she followed his instructions: the bracelet extended into her hand, becoming a long, two-handed, single-edged sword made of incredible multicoloured glass. The light refracted through the translucent blade, casting brilliant hues on her awestruck companions.

"This is a Shard Sword," said Torras proudly. "My people discovered the secret of making them. The Ghimaadi are a blessed people, you see. So strong is this glass, the sword will never break, save by the most powerful magic."

"Torras," she breathed. "You rob me of words." She swung it experimentally a few times, and after a bit of instruction she was able to transform it back into a bracelet. "How can I ever repay you?"

"Think nothing of it," he smiled kindly. "Your real concern should be finding Humbus: the man is as elusive as the rodents he hunts."

"Yep," said Leon dryly. "If only you had an all knowing dog with super smell OH WAIT!"

He led them out of the shop and down the street, where the Rat Catcher acting as the next link in the chain apparently lurked. "That was a fairly impressive sword," Chris was saying. "Did you really know that he was going to give it to Angelica?"

"Nah," grunted Leon. "I just knew that he'd give it to whoever Olivia liked the most."

Chris slammed face first into a lamppost, shattering his glasses in the process. The other love interests did massive double takes as the two girls stared at one another, their faces turning bright red with embarrassment. Julius just smiled wryly, now able to accept defeat far more gracefully than he could at the start of the adventure.

"I was sort of thinking he'd give it to me," Leon went on teasingly. "After all, I have saved your life a bunch over the last few days. Not that I'm bitter or anything."

Olivia laughed, a little giddily. "Oh, don't be silly! You're still my very favourite invincible dog."

"I feel like that's an overly narrow superlative."

They found Humbus sitting on a step making traps by the side of the street; although he was very malnourished he was still passing good looking, looking much like Sam Fisher would if he lived in a mediaeval setting and never bathed. "Humbus?" Olivia greeted, clearly not aware of how creepy it was to call out to strangers like this after nightfall. "Humbus the Rat Catcher?"

He squinted at them distrustfully. "Who's asking?"

"We're looking for a piece of lost property," explained Greg. "An earring. We noticed it being carried off by a rat, and were wondering if you might be able to track it down."

"I have my own problems, kid," he grumbled. He angrily threw away the half-finished trap, ruining it. "The fucking doll fell down the well, and now it's gone forever!"

Jilk blinked slowly. "A… doll?"

"Yes, a doll!" Humbus snapped. "And no ordinary doll this was! I bought it from a witch, for my girl was sick and the doll cured her ills! But now the doll is lost, and… and I fear my daughter will die!"

His head sank miserably into his hands. "That's not a problem," grinned Julius. "We'll find it for you!"

The despairing rat catcher's head shot, his expression rapidly cycling between joy, disbelief and suspicion. "You will! But… Why? What's the catch?"

"Just help us find that earring," smiled Brad. It was a handsome main character smile, complete with a dramatic hair flip. "Help us track it down and we'll be square."

"Oh, well I actually caught the thieving vermin already!"

There was a chorus of surprised looks. "You did?" Guts frowned.

"Yeah!" Humbus nodded without thinking. "I gave the earring to my friend, Chengai, for good luck. He'll be halfway to Darhan by now!"

"Darhan?" Angelica repeated incredulously. "All that time and work and it's in a completely different country?"

Leon remembered the merchant Jinyan, who he had met on his first day in Holfort. Had he boarded a ship home yet?

"Ah." The man's smile fell as he realised what he had just done. "I just took away your only reason to help me, didn't I?"

"It's fine," said Julius quickly. "We'll do it anyway. Our whole evening just opened up."

"This is a good one," said Leon, his tail wagging happily. "The well leads down to a village of lizardmen in the deepest levels of the sewers. They have this massive, tame Alligator Beast that-"

"Absolutely not," said Angelica firmly. "You need a bath."

It took him a moment to process the sentence. "I need a- Why? You didn't say anything after we took down those smugglers or went after Pomporo's ring!"

"That's because, for some reason, you never smelled when you came out," she said flatly. "Now you're drenched in swamp water and Mirkbeast guts. You need a bath."

"But what about the doll? There's a kid's life riding on this, guys!"

"We'll be fine," said Julius breezily. "We'll have Guts and Griffith with us, and even without them I think we'll be fine."

"Also she's right," said Earis sheepishly. "You do smell a little ripe."

"But I was looking forward to this!" Leon whined. "I hate those guys! I was going to fuck em up so damn bad…"

"Let's go, Huan!"

The girls dragged him back to the palace while the guards and love interests progressed to the next quest marker, or whatever their plan was. Angelica must have made arrangements in advance - presumably while he was pushing Roland into that pond - because Iven, Erica and Liliana were ready and waiting in the palace garden with a massive tub of soapy water and several servants armed with scrubbing brushes.

"Et tu, Iven!" Leon snarled. "Now, at my hour of need, you betray me!"

"Oh, don't be a drama dog," snorted Liliana. The tiny princess watched as the servants hauled him into the tub, her lips curving with sadistic schadenfreude that reminded Leon acutely of himself. "Did you hate bathing like this when you were a human?"

"I saved you from kidnappers, you traitorous midget!"

To their credit, the servants had clearly bathed a dog before; they were extremely gentle as they scrubbed him clean, and didn't laugh when his wet fur clung to his body and made him look a quarter of his usual size. He glared resentfully at the five backstabbers, who had sat around a table and chatted over tea. Someone had lit a few lanterns so that they could stay outside in the warm night air.

Although the bath was humiliating, he found he quite enjoyed the magitech hair dryers they used to dry his fur; his tail wagged furiously as they simultaneously rubbed him down, earning much praise for his cuteness. They weren't quite quick enough to keep him from shaking himself, causing the five at the table to scream as he sprayed them with doggie bath water. Some of the younger Head Takers noticed what was going on.

"Mr Leon!" He vaguely remembered learning the youngling's name. Keet, maybe. "You didn't tell me that we were going for a swim!"

The little Head Takers squealed as they dove into the water, causing the servants to shriek and dive away. Keet's mother - who he seemed to remember was called Creen - lumbered over, giving Leon a polite nod before training a watchful eye on the playing children.

"I guess I should thank you for saving me a seat," muttered Leon. He hopped onto a spare chair, allowing a maid to push him in. "I'm going to get you for this. All of you. Bathing will be involved."

"I don't need to understand you to know you're being whiny," snorted Liliana. Leon gave her a stony glare.

"Olivia, tell her she's adopted."

The fairy broke off her conversation with Erica to stare at him in horror. "Is she?"

"No, but tell her anyway."

Iven lifted the teapot and caught his attention. "Would you like some tea? I know you don't eat or drink, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the smell."

That was a good point. "Go on then." Iven poured him a cup of tea. He was so elegant that he was like a living work of art. "Goddamn you're graceful. Angelica, is this normal? Is this only impressive to me because I'm a bumpkin from the countryside?"

"No, he really is that good," she smiled. The girls watched admiringly as he poured fresh cups for everyone at the table. "Were you professionally trained?"

"I was taught by Queen Mylene," he explained. "If that counts." Liliana caught Leon's eye.

"What about my offer? Will you come back to Lepart and be my bodyguard?"

Honestly, so much had happened since their conversation that morning that Leon had forgotten the offer completely. The tiny princess must have grown on her during the tea party, as Olivia's displeasure seemed much less murderous this time. "I'm sorry, but my whole family lives here. I'm not going anywhere."

Liliana looked down at her tea, her mouth twisting miserably. For a moment he put himself in her shoes; a frightened girl, taken from her home by the Holy Kingdom of Rachel and threatened with murder, then seemingly freed only to be captured by Drego and his men. She was probably still scared, still afraid of some new captor stealing her from her home.

Leon was the only reason she had escaped Drego's hideout alive. Of course he made her feel safe.

"I can't be your bodyguard," he said slowly. "But I can make you my disciple."

Olivia looked confused, but translated for him anyway. "I don't understand," frowned Liliana. "Why would I want to…"

"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day," quoted Erica. "Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life."

"If I go back to Lepart with you, then yeah; I might, might be able to keep you safe. But that would still leave your safety dependent upon an outside party. Wouldn't you rather be the one doing the protecting? To be strong and powerful, and safe no matter what comes at you?"

He could tell by her face that he had her. "I mean… Yeah, of course I'd like that, but…"

"Of course I have some conditions," he continued. "These training methods I'm about to teach you aren't available to the public, with good reason. Everything I teach you, I'm trusting you to take to your grave. Can you do that for me?"

"I can, yes!" Liliana blurted. She knew his reputation as the Knower of Secrets. She could scarcely imagine what he was about to tell her. "I have a photographic memory, so I won't even need to write it down!"

"Excellent," nodded Leon. He waited while Erica told the curious servants to leave, then spoke slowly to make the translation easier. "There are two things I'm going to teach you: exercises and spells. The exercises will teach you to expand your magical power, to control it, to take control of it, to sense it and to multitask with it. This last one is called Multicasting, and is one of the most difficult skills a magician can learn. As for spells, we found out this morning that you can use them all: I'm going to give you a comprehensive list of every spell worth using. First, moving magical power internally…"

Liliana listened, rapt, absorbing the knowledge like dry ground soaking up water after a long drought. It wasn't just her: Angelica, Olivia and Erica paid close attention, and though none of them would remember it all, each would retain just enough information to reap colossal benefits in the future. This was it: the true power of the Knower of Secrets. It was a gift that he would very rarely give, but each disciple he bestowed it on would evolve into the stuff of legends.

As the long lesson continued, Iven sipped his tea and listened. He never said a word. He just took each lesson and stored it in his soul; a tiny filing cabinet containing every moment that Leon had ever been in his life.

Liliana wasn't the only one with a good memory.

"…of the tactical level, which means you can probably use it to level most countries if you aim it right." He waited patiently for Olivia to repeat it in humanese. "Did you get all that?"

"Yes," she whispered. "I don't… I can barely comprehend… Thank you! Thank you so much…"

"It's fine. I-"

"Princess Liliana?" A butler he hadn't met yet interrupted them. "Your things are all on the ship. We are ready to take you home."

"T-Thank you," she stuttered, her brain still swimming with forbidden knowledge. "I'll… I'll be with you in a minute."

The butler bowed low before leaving. "So that's you heading home to Lepart, is it?" Leon's eyes softened. "You must be looking forward to seeing your parents again, right?"

"Yeah, I am," she nodded. "Strongarm… No… Your Excellency, thank you for doing this for me."

"You have everything you need," he replied gently. "All you need now is to grind. You need determination. Hard work. You have to want it, or it'll never happen. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes, Your Excellency!" Liliana bunched her tiny fists, seeming stronger and more confident already. "I won't let you down."

"Good girl," he nodded proudly. "Want a hug before you go? My fur smells amazing."

Leon wasn't expecting her to take him up on his offer, and was taken by surprise when she ran up to his chair and threw her arms around his neck. "You do smell amazing," she admitted, burying her face in his fur. He laid his foreleg over her shoulder in an approximation of a hug. "Thank you for saving my life," she whispered tearfully.

"Don't mention it," he replied quietly. "It's what I do."

Liliana couldn't even look at him after letting go; she ran away, rubbing her eyes with the back of her wrist. Leon would not see her again for a very long time. "Poor kid," he sighed. "She didn't deserve this."

A small alarm went off on Erica's pocket watch, scaring the life out of them. "Ah," she said mildly. "Iven! Your next appointment with the healer is due! Can I walk you there?"

"Certainly." He rose to his feet, bowing to each of them in turn. "I hope you have a most pleasant evening." He leant Erica his elbow as they walked away, leaving only Leon, Angelica and Olivia sitting at the table.

"So," coughed the fairy. "I have a confession to make."

Angelica froze in place. Oh god: was Olivia about to profess her love for her? How was she supposed to reject her? Did she even want to reject her?"

Leon was fine with it either way. The protagonist needed to fall in love: it didn't matter with who. As long as the numbers on the Royal Airship were high enough when the Fanoss kaiju came aknockin' then that was all he needed. "Yes?"

"It's weird," she said flatly. "How you guys say my name, I mean. Usually when I make friends with somebody they call me Livia… so… uh… can you guys call me Livia? Please?"

Angelica exhaled as her shoulders relaxed, equal parts relieved and disappointed. "In that case, I would very much enjoy it if the two of you would call me Angie. All the people I care about do."

Livia was almost vibrating with excitement. "Angie," she repeated giddily. "Yeah!"

Leon coughed awkwardly. "My name doesn't really shorten well, so… Angie, you know that Huan isn't my real name, don't you?"

"Right," she nodded. "Your real name is Leon, right?"

"Right. You see, at first I thought I was turned into a normal dog. And I thought to myself, wow! When people find out about this, they're going to mock me for all it's worth! That's why I needed the fake name. To make sure as few people found out about this as possible. Because I was embarrassed." He averted his eyes from their sympathetic looks. "But… But I wasn't just a dog, was I? And after everything we've been through, everything we've done… I'm not embarrassed anymore. I don't need to hide. So you guys can just… y'know, call me Leon. If you want."

He averted his eyes as Angelica and Olivia… as Angie and Livia smiled at him warmly. He quietly cursed his treacherous tail, which was thumping wildly against the back of his chair.

"Leon," said Angie experimentally. "It's a good name."

The moment was ruined when Queen Mylene staggered into the garden, her face bright red from running. "Leon!" she gasped. "We need your help! An Elder Dragon is attacking the city!"

"What!" Angie leapt upright, startling the baby Head Takers as her chair went crashing to the ground. "What kind of Elder-"

Leon heard no more, running into the palace and racing to the top floors for a better view of the threat. He could see it over the walls, lumbering slowly towards the city. Its massive, plated hide was unmistakable: in the very first Monster Hunter, this creature appeared as a slow, lumbering threat. It was a juggernaut: if you couldn't slay it, it would trundle through any fortress in its path and keep on going. Its name, when translated, meant Old Mountain Dragon.

The Lao-Shan Lung.

Side Quest: The Rag Doll

Summary: originally given by a Weeping Butcher in the Old City, this quest is intended to be completed during the first visit to the sewers. The reward is a High Quality Knife, which I personally tend to just sell.

The Lizardman village that Leon mentions refers to the Bacites that I mentioned - in Chapter 27 - that I said that I had strong feelings about. Yet again I have screwed myself out of a good rant.

When I first imagined this fic, Leon would help the love interests through their issues in the same order that he fights them in the first Volume; Brad first, then Greg, then Chris, then Jilk and Julius last. The reason Julius has gotten the most character development is because of how he acted when Marie kicked them out in Alzer. While the others aped growth in their own ways, Julius was the only one to actually grow and mature as a person. He did this because, as he explains to Angelica at the end of the first Volume, he was desperate to grow and make changes in his life even before Marie gave him the opportunity. Simply put, Julius is the most willing of the five to grow into a better person.

Usually I wouldn't have talked so much about this, but Phlebiac drew my attention to it with his recent review. Thanks, buddy! This chapter was for you!