BMD 345

“Ugh…”

A refreshing morning poured in through the thin chiffon curtains. The dust floating in the old lodging sparkled in the air like a mobile, receiving the light. Because it was an island where not many people resided, only the swaying leaves and birdsong whispered to wake him from his sweet sleep.

It was a pleasant morning, with white noise tickling his ears.

Leonardo, who had fallen asleep in a peaceful place, groaned repeatedly with his eyes closed. His eyelids, which had been twitching for a while, contorted to the fullest before slowly opening.

The golden eyes, not yet regaining their senses, stared at the ceiling, covered in sleepiness.

‘…Heavy.’

While struggling back and forth with his consciousness, which was about to darken, he barely lifted one arm, feeling as if he was being crushed by a log.

But it wouldn’t lift easily, as if a lump of iron was placed on it. Feeling strange, Leonardo only rolled his eyes and looked down at his upper body.

Someone’s thick arm was crossing his chest. Then, a snoring sound and warm breath brushed against his left ear. Turning his head to see what it was, he saw a face swollen with alcohol.

“Ah… this bastard…”

Today’s source of nightmare was neither the blood-soaked evil spirits nor the curses they poured out. It was none other than Nero’s limbs tangled around his body.

The sound of the creaking bed frame was so annoying that he only slept like a dead man, and the shameless body had climbed halfway over him, binding his upper and lower body.

Leonardo, who had suddenly become Nero’s favorite doll, put strength in his shoulders and shook off the log-like arm. One of his arms, which had become thicker in the meantime, floated up with a whoosh and was thrown to the other side. Because it was a body that had drunk a lot of beer and passed out last night, it felt particularly heavier.

“Haa…”

Leonardo barely managed to sit up, his swaying upper body heaving, and rummaged through his messy hair.

He had encountered an urgent situation where he had to escape from a dream, but he had woken up struggling while being buried under the collapsing debris. The identity of the debris seemed to be this guy.

It wasn’t a very refreshing awakening, but he dropped his head down and rubbed his face in relief. Only then did the room, which was too cramped for two men to live in, come into view.

Above the wooden table placed in the middle of the swaying curtains, the traces of yesterday remained intact. Overturned beer glasses, chip crumbs, pieces of bread that replaced the cake, and an empty peanut butter jar that had been scraped to the bottom with a knife.

Among them, a flare that had burned halfway down was seen lying on the floor. Leonardo rubbed his eyes and let out a hollow laugh. Yesterday was a mess because of that. Nero had said that a liberation celebration cake should have candles, and he had taken out that flare while looking for something similar to a candle.

He had said that it wouldn’t be fired if he put out the fire within 5 seconds. Then, he applied heat to the wick and stuck the flare right into the bread, wasn’t he? It was a bizarre act committed in a drunken state, but it was too much. Fortunately, Leonardo, who had regained his senses, kicked Nero and quickly put out the fire on the wick, so the incident was settled.

He almost blew up one of the few buildings on Solia Island. If he had been sober, he would have broken his wrists, but yesterday he had gotten drunk quickly, so he regarded it as a light prank, saying he was crazy, and laughed and talked together.

It was a shocking but pleasant incident. It was so absurd that he was still laughing.

On the one hand, he was glad that he had met Nero as soon as he was released.

A celebration cake made by stacking five slices of bread with peanut butter. That small and ridiculous party of their own made him realize, for a very brief moment, that there was someone completely on his side in this world.

So, he was sorry to Nero, but it was right to leave each other’s side as it was. There would definitely come a moment when it would be dangerous to be together. To protect his loved ones, he had to keep his distance for a while.

Leonardo, staring silently at the extinguished flare, flicked his fingertips and placed dangerous elements such as forks that had fallen on the floor on the table. Then, he turned his head to Nero, who was sleeping soundly next to him. He had to wear a turtleneck to sleep because of his circumstances, but Nero said he was hot from the alcohol and threw off his top and even his pants, leaving him in his underwear.

Unlike his body, which had grown to be burdensome, the snoring was still the same. Leonardo watched Nero sleeping and stroked his red hair with affectionate hands. Then, he caressed Nero’s abdomen, which was bruised yellow because he had kicked him last night.

‘Did I kick him too hard?’

He gently rubbed it with his palm out of apology, and the clear six-pack and the oblique muscles on the side twitched as if ticklish.

Carefully withdrawing his hand, he slowly pulled back the blanket, thinking that he had to leave before Nero woke up. Then, he barely lifted the wide thighs that were like a snare pressing down on his thighs. But something hard touched his pubic bone.

As soon as he turned his gaze indifferently to check the identity, his face contorted in displeasure.

“…Shit.”

Perhaps because he had drunk a lot of beer, it was a particularly thick morning greeting. Even a field tent set up with sturdy poles couldn’t be set up more tautly than that.

“He’s so healthy.”

He threw Nero’s legs away nervously and got out of bed, making all sorts of disgusted faces. Nero, whose lower body had turned around, only stirred a little and still roamed the dreamland, holding hands with his commander.

After leaving a simple note and placing it under the flare, he put on the gravedigger’s clothes that Nero was wearing when they reunited. Instead, he placed the clothes he had been wearing on the bedside table next to Nero’s head. He stuffed the Artifact and Dark Silver ring that he had given him into his clothes pocket along with a few bills.

It took less than 5 minutes to pack his things and sneak out. The place where Leonardo left the lodging and walked alone was the cemetery he had visited yesterday.

Walking through the lawn where the sunlight poured down like it was breaking, he scanned the names written on the tombstones one by one. Then, he stopped abruptly in front of ‘Ian’. He naturally bent his legs and sat down, removed the flowers that had withered overnight, and placed new flowers.

“Good morning.”

Leonardo stroked the round part of the tombstone with his palm, as if stroking a person’s face.

“You know, right? I did everything I could to get out of the peninsula on time.”

He had overdone it beating up demon beasts and depleted his Magic Power, and as a result, he had the embarrassing experience of falling to the bottom of a valley. There were several reasons why he tried so hard to finish the job quickly in the peninsula, but the biggest reason was probably that he wanted to keep the anniversary.

“I couldn’t make it this year, so I’ll come again soon. Then, please appear in my dream just once. I’ll forget your face if I don’t see your picture.”

Leonardo, who was talking, squatted in front of the tombstone and rested his chin on his hand holding the withered flowers. Ian had a gentle personality but was good at saying cheesy things, so when he was alive, he made me cringe by saying that he didn’t know who was the flower when he saw this appearance.

Every time that happened, I would severely punish him, saying how dare he call the captain a flower, but every time I come here, I think I should have just laughed it off.

Complex emotions swirled in Gold Eyes as he looked at his subordinate who didn’t answer. Soon after, a gust of wind shook his head, and he took it as a signal, got up from his seat, and moved his feet.

He walked about thirteen more steps along the same line. The place he arrived at was in front of Blaine’s tombstone. To be honest, it’s been so long since I’ve seen him that it’s awkward to talk to him as naturally as Ian.

But Leonardo plopped down in front of it. He cleared away the withered flowers in the same way and this time placed some expensive minerals brought from the peninsula.

Among them was an Etaid with a blue glow. After thinking about it, he put the Etaid back in case it might explode if heated by the sunlight.

The deceased I know would prefer this to flowers. Blaine, who had been an old mercenary and soldier since I first met him, didn’t care about anything if it was a valuable item because he didn’t have much to live on. Even when I said I would catch a two-headed snake in the mountain behind the village and came back with swollen legs. He was a great man who took care of the dying two-headed snake first, saying that it was more precious than me.

Sometimes I felt sad about his consistent indifference and humanity, but there is no doubt that the warmth he occasionally showed me made me alive on this earth.

Leonardo stared intently at the name engraved on the tombstone. His gaze was on the other person’s last name, which had been worn away from being scratched so much.

He stared at the first alphabet, which looked like an F, a P, or a B, and read aloud the part that only he could recognize.

“Blaine.”

The wind blew at a good timing and roughly ruffled his golden hair. It was a sudden and faint sensation, so much so that I mistook it for his rough touch with calloused hands.

Leonardo, who was bending over and having a staring contest with the tombstone, left his hair to the wind and closed his eyes for a moment. It wasn’t just because it was a high place where he could look down on the world that he liked this place. It would be a more plausible reason to say that he couldn’t help but love it because it was a place where the families he held in his heart, the bonds with them, and the memories he shared coexisted.

After a while, the sunlight and wind touching his skin became much softer. Leonardo slowly lowered his intertwined eyelashes. He then got up from his seat, shook off the dirt from his pants, and muttered.

“I thought I had a tough life. I know, I have a tough life.”

He took out the rubber band he had prepared in his pocket and tied the sleeves and hem of his pants so they wouldn’t flutter.

“I have so much to do, I can’t die in a place like the peninsula. You know how many kids are living only looking at me, how come you don’t help me even once?”

He carefully put the small backpack full of precious items into the opened Subspace by twisting the ruby ring, just in case he lost it.

Leonardo, who had adjusted his clothes to make it easier to move, put his hands in his pockets and leaned on one leg with a sullen expression. It was as if he was complaining.

“So please help me make this work out well. Not just for me, but for that person too.”

He was about to head down the sloping cemetery, but suddenly he turned back with lingering feelings. Soon, a faint smile appeared on his red lips.

“I’ll come again, Father.”

As if he had cleared away the burden that had been on his mind, Leonardo’s steps became lighter than ever.