By Zephyria Shorendo Hazelnut, the only S4-class mage among the Council’s combat personnel other than Hugo Agrizendro. His known main magic attribute was ‘light.’
Just as he wanted to meet Leonardo Blaine, Leonardo Blaine also wanted to meet him. The reason was that he was rumored to have the speed of light, and he was an individual whose name was always mentioned when it came to speed.
The world compared Shorendo Hazelnut’s main attribute of light and fast speed and called him Lumen, and Leonardo Blaine could understand why he was called that as soon as he saw his movements.
Shorendo Hazelnut looked at Leonardo Blaine with a slightly surprised face at Leonardo Blaine, who called him Lumen at once. But soon, his eyes sparkled as if he was moved, and he grabbed Leonardo Blaine’s hand with both hands and said.
“It’s an honor that you recognized me at once.”
Leonardo Blaine was embarrassed by Shorendo Hazelnut’s actions of suddenly grabbing his hand tightly and sticking his face out, and tried to push him away as if he was disgusted. However, Shorendo Hazelnut put more strength into his grip and didn’t let go, but rather listed the impressions he was feeling.
“Wow— It’s been a while since I’ve seen such a strong fire. And Blaine, I heard you’re an all-rounder? It’s no joke.”
“Hey, won’t you let go of this?”
Shorendo Hazelnut seemed to be genuinely admiring his magic. Leonardo Blaine tried to shake him off by shaking the hand he was holding hard, but Shorendo Hazelnut only shook along with the force and clung to him tenaciously like a leech.
Hugo Agrizendro, who saw Leonardo Blaine’s disgusted expression next to him, opened his mouth.
“Shorendo, do it moderately. It’s rude.”
“Ah, yes! I understand.”
When Hugo Agrizendro gave him a warning, Shorendo Hazelnut finally let go of Leonardo Blaine’s hand. Leonardo Blaine narrowed his brow and glared at him, thinking.
‘He ignored my words.’
“Sorry, Blaine. I was just happy.”
Shorendo Hazelnut, who was smiling refreshingly, did not take his eyes off him even after letting go of his hand. As Leonardo Blaine took a step back with a displeased expression, Hugo Agrizendro, who was watching him, turned his head and asked Shorendo Hazelnut.
“The report.”
“Ah—.”
Shorendo Hazelnut suddenly seemed to remember and stood at attention, then saluted and said.
“Loyalty. Shorendo Hazelnut, Deputy Commander of the Council’s Central Branch. I have completed the inspection of the five southern branches as acting commander. I hereby report.”
“Was there anything unusual?”
“Yes, the inspection was uneventful. But the peninsula is still the biggest problem. There are currently three battalions of southern troops in the peninsula. Progress is slow.”
At that, Hugo Agrizendro nodded and replied.
“I have something to discuss about that anyway. So go report to the higher-ups quickly.”
“Haha, just a little more with Blaine….”
Shorendo Hazelnut trailed off, smiling awkwardly as if he had more to say to Leonardo Blaine. And then, a voice that shattered his wishes was heard.
“De.pu.ty. Com.man.der!”
The voice that had been heard from the third floor earlier was now heard from the entrance of the first-floor building. Shorendo Hazelnut was startled by the very angry voice and turned around. Then his adjutant, Erdin Shirley, glared at him fiercely and approached.
“I told you to go quickly? You have to report back and there’s a mountain of things to do!”
“I was going to go soon, aaaaaah!”
Erdin fearlessly went straight ahead and grabbed Shorendo Hazelnut’s ear without hesitation. Shorendo Hazelnut screamed as if in pain, but Erdin didn’t care at all and saluted Hugo Agrizendro in that state.
“Loyalty, this is Adjutant Erdin Shirley. I will take Hazelnut Deputy Commander with me now.”
“Okay, good work.”
As Hugo Agrizendro replied lightly, Erdin immediately grabbed Shorendo Hazelnut’s ear and dragged him somewhere.
Where on earth did that strength come from, the man who was supposedly the Lumen of the Council couldn’t get his act together and followed behind. Even in the midst of that, he waved his hand at Leonardo Blaine, then frowned again and grabbed her arm and was at a loss.
“Ouch! I get it, so just leave this!”
“You’re noisy.”
Errdin dismissed him with a single word and walked away quickly, taking him along. Leonardo, watching the two leave in a commotion, spoke as if puzzled.
“That’s the vice-commander?”
“…He may look like that, but he’s an excellent vice-commander.”
At Agrizendro’s rather generous praise, Leonardo looked up at him with a dubious expression, but then, recalling the energy he felt when he held Shorendo’s hand, he wore a somewhat convinced expression.
The Council’s ranking system, as Leonardo knew it, valued not only seniority but also the individual’s abilities, unlike the military where length of service was important.
Therefore, those with strong power and outstanding achievements often rose to higher positions quickly. In such a Council, this Shorendo Hazelnut was known to have reached the position of vice-commander in a relatively young age and in almost the shortest period. That meant he was a man of outstanding ability and an immense powerhouse.
Thinking that, Leonardo suddenly wondered, just how strong is Hugo Agrizendro, who is superior to Shorendo Hazelnut?
He had fought him, but had never seen his limit. Therefore, it was difficult to gauge how strong he was.
“Agrizendro.”
At Leonardo’s call, Hugo’s gaze reached him.
“Have you ever fought your vice-commander?”
At the sudden question, Hugo asked back with a slightly puzzled face.
“Why do you ask?”
With just that question, Leonardo realized that the two had fought before. Instead of answering the reason for his question, he asked what he was curious about once more.
“How did you win? Against that light.”
Hugo stared at Leonardo without a word, then turned his head to look at Shorendo’s back disappearing into the building in the distance. Hugo, recalling the time he fought him for a moment, slowly opened his mouth.
“I think I trapped him in a room of mirrors made of ice.”
At his answer, Leonardo was quite impressed.
Certainly, in order to defeat fast-moving light, it would be more advantageous to use its properties rather than physical combat. Agrizendro was also an all-rounder like himself, so if he added a small amount of soil to the ice to make one surface opaque, he could reflect the light in the desired direction and control it to some extent.
That was the most insightful method in the battle of ice and light, even in Leonardo’s opinion.
As Leonardo nodded quietly in agreement, Hugo smiled slightly and asked him.
“Why, do you want to fight that guy?”
Unlike Hugo’s expectation that he would readily say yes, Leonardo was silent for a while. He seemed to be thinking about something while fixing his gaze on the front where Shorendo had disappeared, and then muttered in a faint voice.
“Well… someday the day will come when we fight.”
Hugo thought that Leonardo’s expression as he said that was somehow ambiguous.
As he stared at him for a long time, Leonardo, feeling his gaze, turned his head. A moment of silence flowed as the two gazes crossed. Leonardo stared into Hugo’s blue eyes without blinking.
‘If I can’t beat these two….’
Hugo felt that Leonardo’s gaze was somehow hot, so he opened his mouth first.
“Is there anything you want to say?”
At Hugo’s words that broke the silence, Leonardo shrugged lightly as if nothing was wrong. He put on an artificial smile.
“No, nothing.”
Suddenly, Leonardo thought that he had been greatly underestimating Hugo Agrizendro. Just the fact that he had figured out his identity meant that he was not an opponent to be ignored, and now he was even a little afraid because it seemed like he could see through his thoughts just by looking at his face.
Hugo simply raised and lowered his eyebrows at his reaction and didn’t ask any further. Instead, he continued what he was going to say to him earlier.
“Leonardo, refrain from calling Shorendo by the nickname Lumen, like you did earlier.”
“Why?”
“He seems to enjoy it, but giving nicknames is a culture that started in the past when referring to key figures of the enemy in the battlefield or when rioters called out their targets. It’s never used in a good way.”
Leonardo blinked a few times at Hugo’s words and said in a rather dumbfounded tone.
“Come on, it might have been like that in the past, but now ordinary people use it without any hesitation, why?”
“That people are using it without any hesitation is the biggest problem.”
Hugo replied calmly once again. However, Leonardo still had an expression that he couldn’t understand.
“Grab anyone running around outside and ask them who the Council’s Lumen or the Council’s Kajard is. They’ll treat it almost like a hero’s epithet, right? Not everyone who uses those words is an enemy or a rioter.”
Leonardo, who was expressing his opinion in his own way, felt interested in Hugo’s cold face at the word ‘Kajard’ more than anything else. He immediately smiled playfully and emphasized to Hugo once more as if teasing him.
“Isn’t that right? Ka―jard?”
Hugo, looking displeased at Leonardo who was deliberately saying it more annoyingly after being told not to, checked the watch on his wrist and retorted coldly.
“It seems like you’ve had enough fresh air now. Go back in.”
“What? No. I’ll stay a little longer.”
“I don’t have time. Go in quietly.”
At his increasingly cold voice, Leonardo pouted with a dissatisfied face.
‘His rigidity makes him look like a Kajard to anyone.’