By Zephyria The sound of rushing water could be heard between the huge trees where the fog was particularly thick. The stream where Leonardo had washed off the demon beast’s blood earlier had gathered several strands and formed a fairly wide valley.
However, there were steep slopes and protruding rocks in places, and torrents flowed, and the splashing water droplets made the view even more blurred. It was a somewhat dangerous place to walk or swim across.
Because of that, there were two people floating slowly in the air with magic to cross the valley, Kenneth, who was struggling to fly while holding onto the backpack strap hanging down, and Alec, who was dangling with his arms draped over the backpack.
Kenneth’s face and neck were flushed red, as if what he was holding in his hand was unusually heavy. Unlike his struggling appearance, Alec, who was hanging on, looked rather comfortable. However, as his feet gradually went down and got wet in the mist spreading right above the water surface, Alec raised his head and said to Kenneth.
Baby, put a little more strength in. You’ll fall off in a bit.”
“Hmph…, I’m trying! No, why is it so heavy?”
Kenneth retorted, unlike his usual self. Alec looked at his flushed face, which looked quite funny from below, and then put the binoculars hanging around his neck to his eyes and looked around.
“I’m going to miss Pretty Boy like this. I can’t see him already?Kenneth wanted to let go of the hand holding the backpack as it was, since he was already short on strength just hanging on. However, he soothed himself by saying that he was a kind and good person unlike this person, so he couldn’t do such a thing.
After a while, they slowly descended into a dense thicket after crossing the valley. They were clearly descending slowly, but in the end, Kenneth’s strength gave out, and he almost fell to the ground with a short scream.
However, surprisingly, Alec landed cleanly without a single scratch, and Kenneth, who fell after him, was also fortunate enough to brush against a tree branch and roll onto the thicket, so he was able to receive relatively less impact.
Alec, who was standing firmly on his two feet, adjusted the drooping backpack strap and straightened his clothes, and then said to Kenneth, who was struggling in the thicket.
“Good job, baby.”
Kenneth groaned and got up from his seat, shaking off the leaves he had overturned. Then, he rubbed his aching waist from falling wrong and retorted in a sullen tone.
“Please don’t call me that….”
Alec smiled instead of answering. It meant that he would continue to do as he pleased in the future.
He immediately pushed through and walked into the dense thicket in the opposite direction of Kenneth. Kenneth thought he was so heartless, seeing him go first when he had done all the hard work, but he couldn’t just watch him getting further and further away, so he jumped up and followed him without even complaining.
At the same time, a strange smell mixed with the thicket filled the surroundings, and he frowned and sniffed.
The rotten smell stung his nose.
As he moved forward, quickly shifting his steps, when he pushed through the last thicket blocking his way, they were able to discover Leonardo, who had arrived there first.
His gaze was drawn to the bright colors emitted by his blonde hair and clothes for a moment, and then his eyes fell on the grass that had been crushed under his feet and the trees that had been deeply dug to the point of being broken and revealing their white flesh. Because of that, the atmosphere was even more eerie, as if a storm had passed by.
There was something black scattered everywhere in the place that should have been full of deep blue-green. It wasn’t something that had just happened, but a trace that had passed some time.
Kenneth stepped onto the pool that had been flattened and frowned even more at the smell of blood that rushed in. Even so, he covered his nose with his forearm and slowly approached Leonardo.
In the middle of the horrific scene, he was sitting with his knees bent, and his shining Gold Eyes were staring silently at something in his hand.
Kenneth felt somehow familiar when he saw what was in his hand, but before long, he realized what it was and inhaled silently. His eyes trembled shallowly with fear and confusion, and his heart pounded.
“That’s….”
Leonardo, who heard the voice, glanced up and examined Kenneth’s pale face. Then, he moved his gaze back to his hand.
What Leonardo was holding was an armband that the Council’s commanders wore on their arms, and it was an armband indicating that he was the Squad Leader 4 of the 3rd Company of the Southern Branch’s 9th Battalion.
It was the Squad Leader’s armband, who had been chasing after the body of the member that Dermokas had taken away, and had gone missing together afterwards, according to the report of the messenger who had come to see Hugo when he was with him before.
Leonardo, who remembered the messenger’s words at the time, stared at the armband, which had been discolored to black with blood, with a complicated look. There were traces of fierce battle, black dried blood, torn pieces of combat uniform, and a pair of combat boots with clear demon beast teeth marks scattered everywhere.
It felt like his final moments, which he hadn’t even seen, were being drawn in front of his eyes.
Leonardo, blinking slowly, brought the armband he was clutching to his left chest. Then, he closed his eyes, bowed his head, and offered a silent prayer. Kenneth, stunned by the shock, followed suit, tightly shutting his eyes and bowing his head.
In his heart, he wished the owner of the armband a peaceful rest.
As the two fell silent for a moment, Alec approached them slowly, with more cautious steps than usual. Then, he scanned the surroundings and whistled, saying,
“Brutal.”
Even at Alec’s voice, they remained motionless with their eyes closed for a while, without saying a word.
Kenneth walked, clutching the black bundle in his arms tightly with one arm. Inside were the personal belongings of the deceased squad leader from the battlefield. And the black cloth that wrapped it was Leonardo’s cloak.
Immediately after finishing the silent prayer, Leonardo unfolded the cloak fixed on his shoulders and gathered the armband and other scattered belongings on it. After that, he gathered the ends of the cloak, firmly fastened them, tied a knot, and handed the resulting bundle to Kenneth, adding that he should deliver it to this person’s comrades when he returned.
Kenneth, who was not accustomed to the death of someone, took it and didn’t know what to do. It was definitely lighter than a sword, but the arm holding the bundle felt unusually heavy.
In the forest path, heavy with the weight of death held in his arm, the cries and smells of the Illaptor vibrated from all directions. Now, even just breathing, the smell entered his nose, making it difficult to even distinguish where it was coming from.
But the place to go was in the middle of their lair, and realizing that he could no longer avoid it, Kenneth was gradually adapting to the tension.
As the thick fog gradually cleared and crimson light poured in through the leaves, Kenneth glanced at Leonardo, who was walking alongside him. There was no clear expression on his reddish face, but his pretty eyes seemed a little sunken.
And he thought the reason was the bundle in his hand, just like him.
During that time of silent prayer, Kenneth could feel that he was sincerely mourning and feeling sorry for the deceased. And it made him realize that his thought that he would unconditionally hate members of the Council was a shameful misunderstanding.
His appearance as he quickly gathered the belongings and cleaned up the scene afterward made him seem quite familiar with dealing with death.
Perhaps it was because he had experience in war, he seemed to have experienced it a lot, and thinking about it again, his faded glory, once called a war hero, felt quite significant, albeit indirectly.
He was so close, yet he felt like a distant being.
‘Looking at him like this, he doesn’t seem to be that much older than me… but he’s much more of an adult than I am.’
Kenneth slowly reflected on his past actions, which made him think in many ways. As he glanced at his face, he was staring intently without realizing it.
Suddenly feeling the persistent gaze, Leonardo glanced sideways, and Kenneth was startled and turned his gaze away. The problem was that he turned his eyes away so obviously that it was unnaturally obvious to the point that it would be strange if he didn’t notice.
Leonardo, seeing his actions that were so transparent, stared at him, wondering if he had something to say. But as time passed and he didn’t say anything, he turned his head back to the front. Then, he opened his mouth, wondering if he had something to say to the back of Alec’s head, who was leading the way while looking at the Coordinate System.
“There’s something I don’t understand.”
“Yes?”
Kenneth turned his head again, thinking he was talking to him, but Leonardo waved his hand at him as if to say no. In the meantime, Alec, who was walking ahead, somehow realized that he was talking to him and turned around.
Leonardo looked at Alec and asked.
“Have you ever actually seen the Queen of the demon beasts?”
At the sudden question, Alec curled up the corners of his lips, tilted his head, and said.
“No?”