By Zephyria 
“Things are the same as always for us. Still grinding away. Oh, the Headquarters has been nagging us occasionally since the surveillance network incident, so it’s become a bit of a pain having to stop by the main office for interviews every time.”
“Interviews?”
Before Leonardo could even finish asking, Taylor tapped Nero’s forearm with the back of her hand. Her look suggested, Why are you bringing that up? However, Nero only gave her a sidelong glance and replied quite boldly.
“I have to report things to the Captain.”
One of Leonardo’s eyebrows arched.
“What does that mean? Nagging? How, exactly?”
“They ask things like whether there are places I’ve been visiting often lately or people I’ve been meeting, or if I have any trauma or illnesses. Funny, right? Their act of ‘pretending’ to be kind makes them seem just like the Council. Since when were they so curious about the condition of mere soldiers?”
Nero sneered, flipping the skewer he was roasting and continuing.
“Still, it’s better now that they at least pretend to care. Until three months ago, they locked us in solitary cells one by one and grilled us on exactly where we were and what we were doing the moment the surveillance network shut down. One of my peers said they were even asked if there were any colleagues they suspected. On the surface, it’s an interview, but in reality, it’s an interrogation. Besides, the nine of us have been under special surveillance within the military ever since the Captain’s trial.”
Leonardo’s expression stiffened considerably at Nero’s words. The paralysis of the military’s surveillance network had occurred when he was captured by the Council and deployed to the Eldermilli Peninsula. It happened because Taylor and Pierce had put the headquarters’ sensors into a deadlock to create an opening for Nero to get close.
Among the 11th Unit, Taylor and Pierce in particular possessed abilities specialized in infiltrating enemy lines to steal tactical information or disrupting security systems. Consequently, they were known as skilled ‘technicians’ even within the Dark Silver. This meant that if the Headquarters identified someone from the special forces as the primary culprit of the incident, it was only a matter of time before the list of suspects narrowed down.
Leonardo’s lips parted slowly.
“Are you guys under suspicion right now?”
“No.”
It was Taylor who answered. She poked out her lower lip and let out a short sigh.
“Do you think Pierce and I are like this guy? Of course we cleaned up the tracks perfectly.”
Her water-colored eyes flickered to the left and back. Nero, who had been sitting there, scowled deeply. However, acknowledging the gap in skill between himself and his seniors, he didn’t bother to argue.
“Even if the Headquarters suspects an insider, they can’t be sure it’s us. You know my style, right? Prepare everything in advance, move to a safe location, go boom, and then watch while drinking coffee.”
“Yeah.”
“To begin with, Pierce wasn’t even near the Headquarters at that time; he had been dispatched to a short-term assignment. I stayed behind for the cleanup, but I made sure to report trivial things on purpose, showed my face to the officers, and even did personal errands for them—I let them see me in a pathetic state. Anyway, the alibi is solid.”
“DuBray took the fall.”
The last remark came from Finder. Leonardo’s head turned toward him once more. Finder, who wiped the juice off his dagger with his lips, rubbed the blade with a dry cloth.
“DuBray?”
“Brigadier General DuBray, the head of the surveillance network. You should know him, Captain.”
“Of course I do. But that man…”
Leonardo trailed off. It didn’t add up. Brigadier General Vance DuBray of the military headquarters was a well-known Imperial Faction officer, a man who had embezzled everything from small sums to major classified leaks within the military. He was even one of the figures who had strongly advocated for the dissolution of the 11th Unit after Leonardo’s trial.
There was only one reason he could do such things. He had powerful backing.
‘A man like that took the fall?’
“It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the Emperor himself backed him. How could he? What was his punishment?”
“We don’t know. He just vanished one day. I heard a rumor he’s at Amphitrite.”
“What?”
At Finder’s answer, Leonardo’s eyelids trembled. Seeing this, Taylor rolled her eyes and threw a pebble. The stone flew like a cartridge toward the center of Finder’s forehead, but it was caught instantly by his hand. However, seeing that he didn’t continue speaking, it seemed the warning had been sufficient.
“Ugh, you idiot. Can’t you watch your mouth in front of the Captain?”
Taylor raised her voice, looking back and forth between her two colleagues in frustration. Nero, caught in the crossfire, interjected with an aggrieved tone, “Why me?” but quickly shut his mouth after reading the atmosphere.
Amphitrite was the place where Leonardo had been transported immediately after his military trial, one of the three great Laina Rogia detention centers alongside Mortares and Tenebris. It was a prison where human rights were extinguished, used for those who committed crimes with massive repercussions, such as causing immense chaos in the Empire’s political, economic, or military affairs, or infringing upon national interests.
Because of this, many high-profile figures whose names were well-known were imprisoned there, and it boasted a strict security posture where the number of guards exceeded the number of inmates by more than ten times. Located on a remote island not even marked on maps, there was a legend that not a single person had ever successfully escaped.
“Amphitrite…”
Since torture was standard during interrogations and some people even lost their minds, it was natural to shudder at the mere mention of the name, even for those who had returned alive.
Sure enough, Leonardo’s complexion had turned pale.
“Sigh, forget it. We didn’t meet up to talk about this, did we? Anyway, DuBray was a man who wouldn’t have been strange to be stripped of his rank at any time, and the ten of us, including the Captain, are still alive and well. That’s what matters, right?”
Taylor moved slightly to the side, wrapped her arm around Leonardo’s shoulder, and leaned her head against him. It was her own way of reassuring him. Leonardo, who had been staring blankly at the campfire with his upper body hunched, startled and turned his head.
He then lightly tapped Taylor’s forehead and answered softly.
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine at all. Don’t even think about getting up until you eat all of this.”
Taylor forcibly pressed the meat Nero had roasted into Leonardo’s hand. It was an intentional move to prevent him from shaking himself off and leaving, claiming he had lost his appetite. Normally, at this point, he would have felt that the piece of meat in his hand was nothing more and nothing less than just a lump of meat.
But perhaps because he was with these guys, he fell under the magic of finding it reasonably appetizing even after recalling Amphitrite.
“Alright.”
Nodding, Leonardo took a small bite. Even after confirming this, Taylor stayed glued to Leonardo’s side under the pretext that the sea breeze was cold.
Though she often said living without a care was easier, at times like this, she truly felt like a peer and a senior in life. Thanks to her shifting the topic, Leonardo slowly drifted away from the flickering nightmares.
“I managed to get by with some excuses, but maybe because my return was later than others, the suspicion hasn’t completely vanished. Whenever there’s a local skirmish or a small engagement near the demarcation line, they send me as support or push me toward places no one else wants to go.”
“You brought that on yourself. Who told you to barge into the middle of enemy territory and wreck the place? I told you to just check and get out quickly, but you decided to play the part of a unit member and camp out. Do you know how much I struggled to buy time?”
“I know, I’m sorry. We’ve already talked about this a hundred times. But Senior, if you had seen the Captain’s state back then, you wouldn’t have been able to just leave him. I’d never seen someone so skin-and-bones…”
As Nero pressed his cheeks in with his hands to look gaunt, Leonardo interrupted, telling him not to exaggerate.
“Hey, it wasn’t that bad.”
“Anyway, I felt like I had to protect the Captain back then. And honestly, when you lost consciousness in the middle, you really would have died if it weren’t for me.”
“I think he’s told that story fifty times.”
Finder, leaning toward Leonardo, whispered into his ear. Nero flared up, insisting it wasn’t that many times, and nearly burnt one of the skewers in the process.
“Ah, some of the seniors received new unit assignments. I guess they’re trying to tear us apart again. There are already some seniors I haven’t seen in over a year.”
“Doesn’t that make you miss home more? Honestly, you’re all morons. They’re just making us stick together.”
“What about you, Brother Finder? You were there for a long time during the Pentagov explosion, not just the surveillance network. It must have been hard to get out?”
“I got out before the territory was sealed. And the Headquarters doesn’t bother me much. Snipers have a high market value.”
“That damn market value. Is there anyone here who doesn’t have a high market value?”
When Nero replied with a look of disgust, Finder deliberately picked his ear with a nonchalant expression.
“I know one person, but he doesn’t seem to know it himself.”
“Aah, Brother!”
Taylor burst out laughing at the sight of the youngest acting spoiled. Given the circumstances, the topic couldn’t be entirely bright, but perhaps because they were all conscious of it, they transitioned into trivial stories of daily life.
Nero’s years of service had passed five, so his salary had increased slightly, and Taylor had won a power struggle with a newly appointed officer and used up a week’s worth of leave all at once. Finder listed his almost sole interest: he had recently purchased a firearm from the black market, and because its design was so sleek, he hugged it to sleep every night.
Since they had a history of being involved in major incidents, some discrimination and unfairness existed, but they all seemed to be getting along well enough. This was exactly what Leonardo had hoped for.
After all, it was Leonardo, the Captain, who had persuaded and stopped his comrades from leaving the military to follow him. And that was also his strategy to keep his comrades alive.
Leonardo was certain that Brigadier General DuBray, mentioned earlier, must already be dead. The fact that DuBray, who had the Emperor as his backer, was purged as the responsible party meant that not only the military but also the Imperial Family took the incident seriously. Or perhaps a certain move by the military had offended the Emperor.
Either way, the Emperor had once again warned the military leadership by cutting off his own limbs. He was telling them not to neglect their surveillance. He was desperately trying to prevent the union between himself and the 11th Unit. If he feared retaliation, he could simply have the catalyst—Leonardo—executed or exiled from the country, but he did not do so.
“Captain, eat quickly before it gets cold.”
“I know your mouth isn’t empty.”
“Taylor, did you gain X-ray vision too?”
But conversely, if his comrades stopped acting as the Empire’s dogs, there was no telling how the situation would turn.
“Alright.”
Leonardo answered briefly, holding the mess kit and skewer in both hands. Then, he looked back at the thread-like peace unfolding in his sight. Away from the battlefield, the faces of his comrades shone brightly and cheerfully, like naive children of their age. So much so that he wanted to protect them, even at the cost of his own life.
However, as long as he breathed upon this land, the lives of his family-like comrades were essentially held hostage. Therefore, to protect them, he could not stop what he was about to do. Even if it was a path leading together into the abyss.