Leona and Ruggie

When asked what he thinks about Leona, Ruggie responds that “You can definitely tell he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth” and he is a demanding boss, but he makes it worth Ruggie’s while to put in the work.

Ruggie says that Leona will give things to him that he doesn’t want, “and that’s a GOLD MINE,” and there are educational benefits as well. Ruggie explains, “In return for my labor, Leona tutors me on lessons I didn’t totally understand in class.”

Ruggie never attended a school before NRC, and he was “bottom of the ladder” before Leona started giving him reference books, old exams, tutoring and advice. When Epel asks Leona for tutoring, Leona refuses.

We see an example of Leona giving advice to Ruggie in a vignette where Ruggie has been assigned to catch escaped rats for Trein, which he struggles to do alone despite his animal linguistics skills.

Leona tells Ruggie,

“You’re pretty nimble all right, and a smooth talker. Plus you’re cautious, so you can handle just about anything by yourself…that’s your problem….you’re trying to do it all yourself. Ain’t no reason why you gotta act like you’re alone here. You’re practically programmed to think like an underdog lackey. Try seeing it from a pack leader’s perspective.”

This inspires Ruggie to employ Lucius, resulting in a successful mission. Ruggie observes, “Definitely couldn’t have pulled that off without Leona’s advice.”

Ruggie asks Leona to go along with him to the school store during New Year’s specifically so that Leona will buy him things that he cannot afford even on sale, and then resell them to others for profit.

Leona is not pleased by the expectation that he join in a koma battle, but Ruggie convinces him to play (“Oh, but if you win, I get your ticket, okay?”).

Ruggie says that the moral of his story is “stick close to the biggest fish in the pond, and figure out how to make it benefit ya personally,” and Leona seems wholly aware that he is being used in this way, saying that Ruggie knows his limitations and “So he sucks up to me and uses me. That’s not bad or something to be ashamed of. His shamelessness is his strength.”

Leona’s plan of Book 2 is compromised in the very beginning by Ruggie using his unique magic to fetch a sandwich on Leona’s own orders. 

Ruggie injures several spelldrive athletes and drinks a magic-boosting potion from Azul to temporarily increase his abilities all according to Leona’s instructions, but when they fail Leona says that he no longer cares, surprising Ruggie.

Ruggie asks if Leona will be abandoning their dreams and Leona claims he was never actually invested in the first place:

“The whole thing amused me, so I threw you a bone. That’s all this was…you wanna hear the truth? You’re a hyena who grew up in a dump, and I’m a hated secondborn prince who won’t ever be king. And there is NO turning that around!”

When Ruggie and the rest of Savanaclaw’s athletes insist that they’re going to make him participate in the tournament anyway Leona turns his unique magic upon them. Jack says, “Everything the housewarden touched is turning to sand?!,” but this is possibly Jack underestimating Leona’s power:

Leona is capable of drying out objects and living creatures entirely on accident and does not need to touch them, as repeated several times in the game, and even incorporeal things like other people’s magic spells.

In this scene in the novels Leona’s UM is described similar to a natural disaster, with the husks of dried-out insects falling from the air while he kinetically controls the sand he creates to smother everyone around him.

Something is raining from the sky. Insect carcasses. They are so dried out that the sound they make as they fall, like rain, is light and rustling.”

‘A magic like this exists?’ Yuuya coughs. The air he breathes irritates his throat.
Ace answers in a hoarse voice, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this. A unique magic like a natural disaster, drying everything out—is that even possible!?’
‘It seems that’s not all,’ Lilia calmly observes. ‘It seems he can freely manipulate the sand that he creates, as well.’
‘Normally, this sort of thing is impossible, right?’ Cater murmurs, his expression deadly serious. ‘This is incredible magical power…Savanaclaw’s housewarden isn’t just for show.’

The section of Leona asking, “How do you like that, Ruggie? Does it hurt? Is your mouth too dry to keep licking my boots? That was your finest talent, too,” is extended in the novel, with Ruggie standing up against Leona and saying he will never give up on his dreams.

Breaking the strained silence, Ruggie finally speaks up in his now hoarse voice.
‘No…’ Ruggie’s voice trembles, and Leona frowns. ‘What?’
‘My…dream…’
His body battered and the pain easily read upon his face, Ruggie still raises his voice.
‘I will…work my way up…!’
Ruggie cries out with everything he has, the sound echoing across the wasteland.
It isn’t particularly powerful. It lacks any real force, a feeble voice that can easily be blown away. And yet, it carries an unsettling determination.

When Ruggie insists on joining the fight against the overblotted-Leona, he asks, “So even the lowly hyena turns against me?”

As the overblotted Leona exclaims, “If I can’t overthrow the world, I’ll turn it to sand! It’s pointless— all of it!,” during the battle, Ruggie responds, “Have you always felt this way? All this time…?”

Leona seems to have little to no memory of having overblotted. When Crowley asks if he was responsible for the injures suffered spelldrive athletes via Ruggie’s unique magic, Leona confirms that he was.

Ruggie tells Leona, “Don’t think you’ve earned my forgiveness,” but also that it pains him to see such a pathetic look on Leona’s face, using his unique magic to make Leona smile.

We have seen Ruggie use his unique magic twice on Leona in-game, but with Leona being a powerful enough character to divert even Riddle’s unique magic it is possible that he was entirely capable of batting Ruggie away both times and chose not to.

Jack explains one of the reasons why he respects Ruggie so much, saying, “I was impressed by the way Ruggie never abandoned Leona and did everything he could to serve him.”

Ruggie comes close to reliving Leona’s betrayal during Leona’s dream of Book 7 where he becomes caught in darkness and Leona goes back in to save him.

Ruggie pleas, “whatever you do, please, PLEASE don’t let go of me! The last thing I want is to go out like this,” but Leona is not strong enough to pull them both out of the dark. Ruggie seems to assume that Leona is “gonna cut (him) loose again,” but Leona chooses to save Ruggie instead of himself.

Afterwards Azul observes, “I never thought l’d see Leona of all people dive into darkness on someone else’s behalf.”

Leona responds, “obviously I’d never abandon my friend. Isn’t that right, Ruggie?,” but Ruggie seems unconvinced, saying he was terrified that he was going to relive the experience of the spelldrive tournament.

Leona asks, “does this make us square for that?,” and Ruggie says no: “You’ve accumulated a lot of interest in the months since that whole mess. I’m gonna be milking that for a long while yet…So PLEASE don’t pull any stunts that could endanger your life!”

(Leona: “Would it kill you to just say thank you?” – Ruggie: “Thank you for saving me! Shyeheehee.”)

It is possible that Leona’s initial betrayal resulted in a shift in Leona and Ruggie’s relationship, communicated through how, during and after Book 2, Ruggie might have shifted to referring to Leona as “you” when he thinks Leona is out of line. More here ▶︎

When Grim and the prefect are evicted from Ramshackle Jack approaches Leona about them staying at Savanaclaw, which Leona refuses (Jack: “You didn’t even pause before answering…”)

Ruggie volunteers Leona’s bedroom to the prefect and Grim despite Leona’s disapproval, saying, “I still ain’t fully healed up from the interdorm Spelldrive tournament, y’know? I dunno if it was that major magic I chugged a whole potion to use or what, but hard work’s been wearin’ me down more than ever lately…So I’m thinkin’ I’d heal a whole lot faster if I had these guys waiting on you for a while!,” and convincing Leona without needing to directly invoke his near-death experience at Leona’s hands.

Leona is the only character to voluntarily surrender to the Charon at the start of Book 6 of his own accord, telling Ruggie that he is in charge of Savanaclaw until he gets back: “Then again, I can’t be sure I’ll come back at all…”

Ruggie does not seem pleased about being left in charge, saying that he drew the short straw, but Rook assures him, “It means the Roi des Lions has great faith in you…The dorm is his pride—he knows he can trust you with it.” (Ruggie: “Trust doesn’t fill an empty stomach. There better be some T-bone steaks in it for me later, or it won’t be worth it!”)

Leona says that the King of Beasts “hired outcast hyenas and gave them a central role. He hired based on talent and didn’t get all hung up on his crew’s backgrounds.”

Leona says, “Sounds logical enough to me,” and it is an interesting contrast to Leona’s own situation where his talents are irrelevant to his role due to his background. 

In Leona’s dream of Book 7 he replaces the palace’s retainers with hyena beast-people that seem to terrorize the citizens (Kifaji: “I won’t let you profess ignorance of what they have been doing in the city”), but in Ruggie’s dream he attends a hyena-majority school that provides free food to all who visit, established by Leona.

In Ruggie’s dream Leona graduated from an unspecified arcane academy and then returned to Sunset Savanna where he established schools and spelldrive teams all over the country.

Ruggie says, “The younger generation here likes Second Prince Leona way more than First Prince Falena,” but in his dream he and Leona have never met.

When Ruggie awakens, students of darkness try to convince him to stay asleep by saying he will never go hungry again, and they are “in good with the king. Would you betray that connection?!”

Ruggie responds, “I’d rather decide for myself who my king is,” and then just before traveling to Leona’s dream tells Jack, “Guess it’s time to refocus and wake up our king.”

After Ruggie hears the details of what it is that Malleus has done he says, “Malleus is definitely gonna fold…to Leona!”

Leona and Ruggie both tell Rook in two different conversations that they are not together twenty-four seven.

To Ruggie, Rook responds, “Your bond is strong as diamonds…even with its peculiarities.”

Rook demands that Ruggie tell him Leona’s weakness (”I’ll not be leaving until you divulge that which I wish to know”) despite Ruggie’s refusal to cooperate, using “special hair oil” crafted by Vil as a bribe and petting Ruggie’s tail despite Ruggie’s resistance.

Ruggie holds out against Rook until Rook threatens to turn his attentions from Leona onto Ruggie himself, at which point he says that Leona’s weakness is vegetables.

When Vil orders Ruggie to take him to Leona so that he might confront Leona over his failure to fulfill his punishment of watering the plants in the botanical garden Ruggie refuses, even running away to escape.

Jack and Ruggie both overhear Jade speaking to his tsum about putting Leona in his debt and escort him away for “a nice, long chat.” 

During the Phantom Bride event, however, Ruggie refuses to go to Leona or Jack’s aid when he is asked for help, saying, “Leona will find his way back on his own. No way l’m sticking my neck out for free.”

At the start of Fairy Gala Leona insists that Ruggie, not Jack, be brought on to help him, possibly due to Ruggie’s pick-pocketing talents.

Ruggie says that he will need 15 seconds to swap a fake tiara for a real one that Leona cuts down to ten seconds, but on the day of the heist he successfully manages the trade within six seconds. (Ruggie: “Who needs ten seconds? You insult me, Leona. Shyeheehee!”)

Ruggie is not pleased about being put into danger for Leona’s plan but Leona assures him he is there to protect him and the others, which we then see him do: when Ruggie and the others are in danger of being caught by fairy guards Leona intercepts and insists that they keep their eyes on him, demanding cold water for his dressing room and refusing to take “no” for an answer (Fairy: “Wh-what’s happening? I feel the strangest…compulsion”).

Leona’s distraction successfully buys enough time for Ruggie and the others to escape without issue and Leona protects Ruggie in the botanical gardens again in Book 6, casting a barrier to save him from falling glass.

Ruggie says, “Leona runs me ragged, but he does at least reward me for my efforts. It’s give-and-take,” and he has several lines about doing chores for Leona.

Jack says that Ruggie wakes Leona up every morning, though Ruggie himself says, “with how heavy of a sleeper he is, my success rate is only around 60 or 70 percent.” 

It seems that Ruggie will also remind Leona to go to class and cook for him, saying, “When it comes to cooking, all I can do is throw together whatever’s on hand, but it seems like Leona doesn’t care as long as it’s edible.”

Leona hires Ruggie to protect him the opposite team during Beanfest in exchange for a week of lunch specials from the cafeteria (Ruggie fails in his task), and has him “round up” potential spelldrive club members in exchange for doughnuts.

It seems that Ruggie is also in charge of cleaning Leona’s room, which is maybe the task we hear him complain about the most, with Leona paying for Ruggie’s laundry provided that he has their clothes cleaned together.

We have never seen Leona argue with the prices Ruggie charges for his services (such as ten thaumarks (1,000 madol) an hour during Fairy Gala) and he has also provided Ruggie with his old school uniform, possibly due to Ruggie being unable to afford one himself.

Ruggie also buys his outfit for Vargas Camp with Leona’s money.

In a vignette we see Ruggie wishing he could grow taller while bemoaning his inability to afford any additional eating expenses.

It is not confirmed how much Leona overheard, but he then gives Ruggie his entire wallet to go buy laundry detergent, saying, “I’ve got plenty in there. Take what you need and keep the change.”

Ruggie responds, “All you’ve got in here are big bills. You really want me to break one of these?,” and, “He wouldn’t even notice if I kept more in change than what the detergent cost, I bet,” seemingly unaware that that might be Leona’s exact intention: we have seen Ruggie decline money and favors from people in the past, and it is possible that Leona has realized that Ruggie will only allow someone to support him financially in exchange for labor or if he feels like he is getting away with something.

(Grim: “I woulda thought that Ruggie’d be like, ‘Sweet!’ if you offered to do stuff for him. What gives?”)

We have seen multiple instances of Ruggie seeming to have free rein with Leona’s wallet, such as during New Year (Leona: “And you can buy whatever else you want while you’re here”) and when visiting the school store alone.

It is possible that Leona had intended to overlook Ruggie smuggling magestones out of Vargas Camp to sell later on, only having him give them up at the end of the event in order to battle a mine monster.

Ruggie seems free to accept or refuse tasks from Leona as he wishes: Silver guesses that Leona approaches Malleus personally in a vignette only because Ruggie has said no, and Ruggie says that Leona tried to get him to go to the school store alone during Halloween but he insisted on taking Leona with him.

Ruggie also overrides Leona’s refusal to let Grim and the prefect stay over in Savanaclaw in Book 3, even offering them Leona’s own bedroom, and when Leona tries to leave Lilia’s farewell party early Ruggie argues against abandoning an opportunity for free food until he acquiesces.

In a voice line Ruggie invites the prefect to a Savanaclaw dorm meeting, saying, “Depends on what Leona says. The trick is in how you ask.”

Ruggie also shows the Fairy Gala group how to get into Leona’s bedroom when the door is locked, 

During Halloween Ruggie is approached by campus visitors for a photo and decides to redirect them onto Leona, saying, “If you want a pic with someone who’ll blow up on Magicam, I know someone way better than me. He’s buff and tough, AND he’s from a royal bloodline…” only to realize that Leona has already left him behind.

Ruggie says, “You can’t just ditch me…Don’t use me as a decoy just because you can’t be bothered to talk to people!,” but Leona responds, “You were about to use ME as a decoy. Turnabout’s fair play.”

Unlike Jack, who mostly only insults Leona behind his back, Ruggie will mock Leona regularly both out of earshot and to his face, calling him a pampered prince who cannot tie his own shoes, telling him to keep his mouth shut, teasing him about his Vargas Camp punishment and about Beanfest offending his pride (“Whoopsie! Heard that, didja?”).

During Fairy Gala Ruggie says that Leona makes him embarrassed to be part of Savanaclaw, jokes about buying Leona cat food in a vignette, says Leona looks cute in Malleus’ ceremonial robes, and calls him a “silver-spooner type.”

When Grim compliments Leona’s efforts to distract a guard during Fairy Gala Ruggie says, “Oh, that’s not an act. That’s just Leona in his natural element,” when Kalim praises Leona’s performance Ruggie says, “You don’t have to sugarcoat it for us. You’re a real kind soul, though,” and in another vignette he praises Kalim in comparison to Leona, saying that Kalim’s diligence and motivation is what sets him and Leona apart.

When Leona returns to the school after being kidnapped by STYX Ruggie greets him with, “I was afraid you might not come back, and then all that time I spent sucking up to you would’ve been for nothing…whew! What a load off!”

Leona: “Your greeting just now cancelled out all the sucking up you’ve ever done”
Ruggie: “Guess I was so relieved to have my boss back, that just slipped out!”
Leona: “The nerve of this guy.”

During Vargas Camp Ruggie comes across one of Leona’s necklaces, and he insinuates during Book 3 that he has his eye on some of Leona’s valuables but Leona would notice if anyone tried to steal from him: “That one’s mine to nab—uh, I mean, he’d know immediately if something was unaccounted for.”

It is possible that Ruggie tried his luck with stealing the necklace that he found but, as he himself predicted, Leona goes after him to take it back. 

Jamil tells Ruggie that serving someone like Leona looks “far more painful” than someone like Kalim but Ruggie disagrees, saying, “Kalim’s so nice it’d just make me uncomfortable. A lid for every pot, I guess.”