By Zephyria Leonardo was speechless.
It was because of Kenneth, who was bawling in front of him.
About three hours before Hugo and the 1st Battalion arrived at the mining team’s hideout.
When Leonardo escaped from there and came back out to the entrance, Alec, who should have been nearby, was nowhere to be seen.
In the midst of escaping in a daze after seeing the other side of the Council Battalion Commander, he was dumbfounded, wondering if the scholar had abandoned the contract and run away this time. But then he saw the coordinates engraved on the cave wall. It was in a location that wouldn’t be noticeable unless you looked closely.
After using his dagger to mark the sign so that it couldn’t be identified, Leonardo headed to that location, trying to guess why Alec hadn’t been able to hold his position.
Thinking that it might be some kind of unexpected situation or trap, he left the tunnel with some tension. When he moved to the location of the coordinates, he found a dense forest nearby that was still dark because the sun hadn’t fully risen yet.
Among the tough and eerie grass and trees, a low rocky hill could be seen, and two people were standing on a hidden ridge where the rock hung like a roof.
And one of them ran up to him as soon as he saw him, shedding tears like chicken droppings, and said this.
“Blaine, please take me with you!”
Leonardo hurriedly covered Kenneth’s mouth and looked around at the top of his voice, shouting and grabbing his arm with red and swollen eyes. Then, he glared at Alec with his eyes, asking what was going on, but Alec shrugged and gave him a helpless look.
Leonardo pushed Kenneth back hard so that his back touched the rock. Then, he took his hand off his mouth, lowered his voice, and asked him as if he were scolding him.
“Why are you here?”
“……”
“Why aren’t you joining the ranks and why are you here!”
Kenneth flinched, scared by Leonardo’s prodding, but he still sobbed and said.
“I’m here to escort Blaine… to go with you.”
Leonardo was speechless.
He stared at Kenneth with an absurd look, then frowned as if he were annoyed and roughly ruffled his hair. He was confused as to what was going on.
There were no signs of other people around, but he was on edge, wondering if anyone had followed him due to this unexpected appearance.
Leonardo immediately turned his gaze to Alec and glared at him as if to demand an explanation of what had happened. At his gaze, Alec smiled shamelessly as if it wasn’t his fault and began to explain the situation at that time.
“…So, I was nervous when I saw someone walking over, but it was this friend, you know? He was wearing a Council combat uniform, so I couldn’t leave him there, so I moved him here. I’m also quite embarrassed, so can you please take away that suspicious look? I’m also a person, so I get hurt if you keep doing that.”
Alec said that Kenneth had found his way to the entrance on his own. However, Leonardo had been checking to see if anyone was following him and the scholar, and if there were any footprints left, so he was wondering how Kenneth had found his way here.
“What did you follow to get here? There shouldn’t have been any footprints.”
When Leonardo asked with a frown, Kenneth hesitated to speak. Then, Alec slung his backpack forward, rummaged through it, and took out a spray.
“Should I put him to sleep?”
“Yes, yes?”
At that, Kenneth was startled and moved away, and Leonardo kicked Alec in the shin, saying as if he was talking nonsense.
“What are you saying.”
“Ouch, if you heard our story, you can’t just leave him alone, right?”
Alec rubbed the part that had been kicked as if it hurt quite a bit, then approached Leonardo and whispered in his ear with a voice mixed with laughter.
“Besides, you’re my bodyguard, so is it okay for you to do this? This is also a breach of contract….”
Leonardo tried to kick Alec’s leg one more time, but this time Alec dodged it nicely. However, he didn’t see the punch that followed, and he was hit in the side and fell away.
Leonardo glared at Alec with eyes that said to please shut up at Alec’s way of speaking, who was spilling information himself, saying that he shouldn’t be left alone if he heard the story. Then, he turned his head back to Kenneth and asked.
“Tell me quickly. How did you follow us, and why didn’t you go back to the ranks?”
It was dangerous to leave Kenneth as he was in many ways. First of all, if a third party found out about the contents of the contract, the contract could be twisted, and there would be one more person to silence.
Besides, he couldn’t use eye-catching Attack Magic because he didn’t want to be discovered, and the road ahead was said to be full of demon beasts.
Even though he had a lot of strange things, his combat ability seemed to be close to 0, and taking a clueless scholar and a clueless new unit member safely and without being discovered to the target point was almost like testing the limits of his ability.
However, even if he sent Kenneth back as he was, he didn’t know how to explain it and send him back. Tell him to go back and wait quietly because he’ll be back soon? That he has to accompany an unknown scholar and won’t run away?
Leonardo, with complicated thoughts, stared at Kenneth with eyes that said to confess quickly. At that, Kenneth leaned his back against the rock as if he were cornered and pondered how to say it. Then, before long, he made a big decision, clenched his fists, and slowly began to open his mouth.
“Actually… I have a better sense of smell than ordinary people. I can hear sounds well, too….”
“……?”
Wondering what this absurd sound was, Leonardo stared at Kenneth with wide eyes. Alec, who was rubbing his side next to him, was the same. Kenneth took a step back when he saw the expressions of the two people, and then opened his mouth again, looking at them.
“It’s not as good as an animal, but my hearing and sense of smell are more developed than others… I followed you by smelling your scents.”
Leonardo raised his eyebrows as much as he could.
‘His hearing and sense of smell are developed?’
In the meantime, Leonardo had always wondered how this guy had gotten into the Central Branch 1st Battalion. However, he didn’t want to ask it as a question because it would sound like he was ignoring him, but when he heard those words, the question slowly began to be resolved.
His combat ability wasn’t better than other Battalion members, his Magic Power wasn’t very strong, he wasn’t good at swordsmanship, and he wasn’t good at strategy and judgment, so how did he get into the 1st Battalion?
This guy had a tracking-specialized ability. Come to think of it, the Squad Leader of the Squad he belonged to was also a tracking expert. This guy was also the first to discover the outsider who was hiding and moving between the canyons.
Also, since he had a good sense of smell, he could have followed him and the scholar even without footprints, and if he could hear well… he might have heard the contents of the contract that he and the scholar had made at that time.
While Leonardo was pointing out the past questions one by one with a confused face, Kenneth looked at his face and added.
“And the reason I didn’t join the ranks was… you both had footprints, but if I went back alone, Blaine would be running away, and then you might have to wear handcuffs again… I thought we should go back together.”
Kenneth slowly spoke his true feelings, worrying about Leonardo. Leonardo was speechless and couldn’t open his mouth easily. He was a little dazed.
It was true that he had been nice to this guy, but he couldn’t understand the actions of the other person, who was willing to suffer, even though his own position could be quite difficult if he didn’t join as he was. Especially since he was still a new guy who was very conscious of his seniors.
Rather, he couldn’t believe the touching story he was telling, to the point where he wondered if Kenneth had already joined the Council and was pretending not to be in order to catch him. So, he couldn’t believe the touching story he was telling.
Leonardo stared at Kenneth with cold eyes and said the main point he wanted to hear right away.
“How much did you hear?”
“Yes?”
“Me and this guy talking. How much did you hear?”
Leonardo’s gaze was the complete opposite of the pretty and bright smiling face he had shown recently, and was full of wariness and exploration.
When he met such a gaze, Kenneth felt a corner of his heart ache, feeling sorry that he had thought he had built up some affection with each other. It suddenly hurt as if it were stabbing him.