By Zephyria Hugo watched the subordinates lined up in a row with an indifferent gaze. However, his coldly sunken eyes seemed ready to dissect every muscle on the faces before him.
The three pairs of eyes enduring the time of exploration wandered in different directions. They were trying to avoid the Legion Commander’s gaze. But as if not giving them a chance, a ruthless voice brushed past their ears.
“At ease.”
As soon as the order was given, the arms of the three men were tightly attached behind their backs.
Their legs were shoulder-width apart, and their heads were lowered towards the floor. Although half a beat late, Meterion was no exception.
His twisted mouth clearly showed his reluctance, but it seemed he had decided that it would be better not to be on the wrong side of things in this situation.
“Heads up.”
As the gentle but imposing instruction came down, the necks that had been facing the floor all rose at once. However, their gazes still couldn’t leave the Legion Commander’s feet. It was as if something terrible would happen if they made eye contact, and they were very desperate.
Watching them move like manipulated mannequins, the remaining battalion commanders also brought their hands together respectfully in front of them. As the internal temperature dropped severely, their fingertips began to tingle. It felt like the cold was turning into needles, pricking their skin.
Agrizendro Legion Commander, unlike his appearance, was a generous person, but the moment someone crossed the line he had to protect, he transformed into the infamous grim reaper. As evidence, frost flowers slowly bloomed on the darkened window, and the light of the lamps that dyed the conference room was unusually pale today.
If the outdated handcuffs that should have been completely discarded were found within the Council, and a big shot named Leonardo Blaine wore them, and his control instability problem even affected the Peninsula subjugation, it was the undeniable fault of the person in charge.
It was a major issue that could potentially lead to someone losing their position, so everyone stared at the three people who had come forward with anxious eyes. Just then, Hugo, who had been carefully scrutinizing them, spoke in a stern voice.
“Starting with the person in charge.”
The two people in the middle and on the right didn’t move, and the lips of Noel Presentia, the 11th Battalion Commander on the left, curled inward.
“…It’s me.”
Blue eyes shifted in that direction.
“You didn’t have any external schedules for two months before the dispatch. You were in headquarters the whole time, so what were you doing without properly inspecting? As the person in charge who receives weekly reports that an outdated handcuff is mixed in among the small number of S-Class Mage handcuffs, you really didn’t know?”
“…I’m sorry.”
“Instead of saying you’re sorry, I’m asking if you didn’t know.”
“I failed to check. I’m sorry.”
Noel didn’t know what to do and lowered his head more and more. His shoulders trembled slightly, whether due to fear of his superior.
Venom, who had been watching the scene out of the corner of his eye, was inwardly sneering at how hypocritical it was. This time, Hugo’s gaze reached the two people next to him.
“Why did you two visit the workshop?”
Venom straightened his shoulders as if he had been waiting for the question and answered with a sense of innocence.
“The 10th Battalion Commander, who was on an external schedule, asked me to send 100 boxes of live ammunition for demon beast capture. At the time, I inquired at the equipment management room, but they replied that the quantity was insufficient, so I personally visited the workshop to place an order and secure the quantity and deliver it to them.”
“The equipment management room didn’t have just 100 boxes of live ammunition? Are you really saying that? The principle is to always have at least 20 times that amount stocked.”
“Well… I thought it was strange too, but that’s really the answer I got.”
“Who was the person in charge at the time?”
Venom’s gaze flickered to Noel next to him. Noel tightly closed his eyes and bowed 90 degrees.
“I’m sorry.”
Hugo rubbed his furrowed brow and coldly muttered.
“Explain what happened.”
Noel explained that he had been unable to pay attention to the armory and equipment management due to a sudden increase in workload at the time. Therefore, he had arbitrarily assigned the task to the company commanders of the 11th Battalion, but proper inspection had not been carried out in the process, and there seemed to have been a recording error during the comprehensive investigation.
He added that he had intended to report this to the Commander as soon as the subjugation force returned, but he had missed the timing because he was so busy, and he repeatedly apologized. Noel, who was saying that, was almost ready to bury his head on the floor. Hugo stopped the confession as if telling him to stop there with a cold face.
“Thesaurus, why did you go to the handcuff production manager?”
“Excuse me?”
When he pointedly asked Venom, who was standing with his chest puffed out, he was quite surprised and asked back.
Hugo casually threw the ledger he had brought onto the nearby table. The cover read ‘Management Ledger and Entry Log.’
He had already secured all the workshop’s visit records and circumstances and was questioning everyone in front of everyone so that no one could escape.
Venom’s Adam’s apple moved busily. Where had the spirit of a mischievous seven-year-old go? He stammered.
“Ah, similarly, at the request of Magnus Battalion Commander…”
“To confirm the facts, I’ll summon Magnus tomorrow and ask him. Do you have any objections?”
Venom, who had paused at Hugo’s statement, hesitated before nodding.
“Yes, of course.”
With his answer, a three-second silence flowed. Hugo stared intently at Noel and Venom before turning his eyes to Meterion on the right. The battalion commanders’ gazes also followed him and focused on one spot.
Hugo’s head felt like it was about to break because this guy, who always got involved in such things, was involved this time as well. In fact, based on his past behavior, if there was a mastermind who could intentionally manipulate the incident, it would definitely be Meterion.
But Hugo took a deep breath and temporarily put aside his doubts. A biased perspective would become confirmation bias and obscure the truth.
Just as he was about to ask about the reason, just like the previous two, Meterion took a step forward as if he was very displeased with the situation itself.
“I only stopped by about three months ago to secure additional weapons and protective gear. Other than that, I have never visited or contacted the workshop, so I am not involved in this matter.”
He began his unsolicited self-defense.
“I may seem to have a strong motive since I was the only one among you who went to the Peninsula with Leonardo Blaine. But in the first place, when I visited the workshop, it was impossible to even predict whether the Central Branch would be dispatched to the Peninsula. The reason I volunteered to be dispatched to the Peninsula was simply because everyone was reluctant to step forward.”
Meterion, knowing that he was prominently seen in Hugo’s eyes, abandoned his usual insolence and explained with some logic.
“If I had intentionally put outdated handcuffs on Leonardo Blaine and volunteered to be dispatched to the Peninsula with the aim of accompanying him. I would have visited the workshop around the time the dispatch was almost confirmed, not at an ambiguous time, and smuggled out the handcuffs. Wouldn’t I?”
Certainly, the time when he and the members of the 3rd Battalion were recorded to have visited the workshop was a time when nothing had been decided about the Central Branch’s dispatch to the Peninsula. In other words, it was before it was even certain that Leonardo would be arrested by the Council and included in the subjugation force.
But at that time, Hugo had already stepped forward to find Leonardo himself, and the Peninsula issue was also being discussed, so even if the dispatch was not confirmed, he could have sufficiently guessed the future schedule.
But apart from that, Hugo felt a strange discomfort in Meterion’s nuance a moment ago.
“Meterion. I assumed the origin of this incident was ‘intentional or a mistake’ in the sense that I wanted to trust my subordinates, at least. But now you’re talking as if you’re sure that someone intentionally designed this incident. Do you have any guesses?”
“…Agrizendro.”
A faint vein popped out on Meterion’s forehead.
“I don’t know where I should feel the trust towards my subordinates in your actions right now. Stop pretending you don’t know. From gathering all the battalion commanders at this time to find out the facts, aren’t you also convinced that there is intentionality in this matter?”
“…”
“Isn’t it incredibly subtle to call it a mistake? Even if coincidences are this continuous, they are not coincidences. And the fact that I, who can point out that fact more confidently than anyone else, am not involved in this matter is clear evidence.”
Meterion’s statement seemed like a self-destruction at first glance, but it was enough to incite confusion among those who were secretly suspecting him. He not only concluded that the incident, which was not certain whether it was intentional or a mistake, was intentional, but he was also unnecessarily confident.
But that didn’t mean that the suspicion towards him completely disappeared. The battalion commanders in this place had often seen suspects trying to win the favor of investigators by using such psychology.
“Considering the timing and the fact that the 11th Battalion Commander had the appropriate authority to plot the matter, I don’t understand why you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
Noel retorted with a displeased expression when Meterion suddenly threw sparks.
“Hey, Kleinder. If you put it that way, I, who was the person in charge at the time, am the most likely to be suspected, so why would I commit such an act?”
“You may have been aiming for that psychology. Apart from that, the most likely thing in the current situation is—”
“Stop.”
Clang!
As the two people’s words grew longer, Hugo, unable to bear it any longer, raised his voice and intervened. However, whether there was a mistake in controlling his power, his Magic Power, which spread out in a flash, shattered all the light bulbs and lamps installed in the conference room.
The glass fragments, which had turned into powder in an instant, fell with a rustling sound, and silence came to the turbulent conference room along with the darkness.
Loren, who shook her head as if she had a headache and clicked her tongue, floated three or four Light Balls in the air to illuminate the room. However, Hugo’s expression, which was revealed under the light a moment later, made them think that darkness would have been better.