By Zephyria 
Leonardo trapped a ripple between his palms and stared intently into the river.
However, because his back was to the moon, his face was obscured by shadows, making identification impossible. So, this time, he turned around and looked again.
As the moonlight shone directly upon him, the black surface of the water acted like a mirror, reflecting his appearance.
“…….”
A young man who looked familiar yet strange was meeting his eyes. His eyelids drooped slightly, giving an impression of fragility by his standards, but perhaps because he had watched the man’s actions, his gaze felt quite resolute.
The hair falling to the side was wet and wavy, and its color was close to wheat. This was why, when he first realized he had entered this body, he had mistaken it for himself without much doubt.
‘What, he’s younger than I thought?’
Since he had heard the man was married and had a child, he naturally assumed he would be older. On the contrary, they seemed to be around the same age, or the man might even be slightly younger. Then again, in this era, it was difficult to receive formal recovery magic, and average lifespans were short, so the life cycle was much faster than it is now.
As he looked at the face of this body while lost in thought, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu. It was a feeling similar to when he had been clinging to Theodore in Santrea earlier.
‘Why does this feel familiar? Is it because I was Theodore?’
Just as he narrowed his brow in frustration, feeling as if a memory was on the tip of his tongue.
“Nomon, what are you looking at so intently?”
Someone spoke while firmly pressing down on the nape of his neck. It was Bram.
“Ugh—!”
Losing his balance for a moment, the body lurched forward.
Splash. His face plunged straight into the water. Leonardo, flailing and creating another spray of water, barely managed to lift his head after Bram let go.
“Pffft, ah, seriously!”
“Hahaha—.”
When Leonardo glared at him irritably, Bram laughed out loud, finding it incredibly amusing. Despite being much older, he occasionally acted childishly like this, which often made Leonardo feel as if Bram were just a peer who had aged a bit earlier. In the first place, Bram was the one who had led the charge in throwing this body into the river. Yet, it seemed he had been caught in the fray as well, as his entire body was soaking wet.
“Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Of course. Because of a certain someone, I almost died. Paying you back feels refreshing.”
“Huh? Ah—”
He was likely referring to the time Leonardo had rushed toward Theodore and thrown the explosives. If the King had been injured, neither the reckless Leonardo nor Bram, who provided the weapon, would have remained safe.
“Consider this a fair trade.”
Leonardo rubbed his eyes with a damp sleeve and let out an awkward laugh under Bram’s glare.
“No, well… anyway, it ended well. Thanks for earlier.”
“That’s all? I felt like my lifespan was being shaved away.”
“What do you mean ‘that’s all’? I gave you the most goose legs.”
At Leonardo’s rebuttal, Bram’s expression became subtle. Then, letting out a small chuckle, he muttered to himself.
“Heh, this is truly strange.”
“What is?”
“Maybe it’s because he came back from the brink of death, but the person seems to have changed. He wasn’t like this before, but should I say he’s become a bit more brazen…?”
Bram stroked his chin suspiciously.
“Geez, what do you mean changed? What are you talking about? I’m exactly the same—”
Startled, Leonardo played along, mimicking the original owner of the body’s manner of speaking. Fortunately, Bram didn’t seem to put much weight on the comment, and the topic shifted immediately.
“If you’re thankful, give me some more of those goose legs you’ve got stashed away. I saw you hiding them earlier. You were acting so suspicious and alone that I thought you were eating something.”
“…When did you see that?”
“I’m telling you, your big brother knows everything.”
Bram shrugged. Leonardo had intentionally wrapped them in cloth and hidden them where no one could find them… He replied in a troubled tone.
“Ah, I have someone I need to give those to. Instead, His Highness said he’d give me another half a bird tomorrow, so I’ll give you a few more pieces then.”
“What? He’s giving you more tomorrow? I knew you were favored by the King, but to that extent? Brother, don’t tell me…”
“…What?”
Bram scanned him up and down with a suspicious look, but then shook his head, deciding it couldn’t be that.
“Hmm, no. More importantly, who is this person you’re giving them to?”
“Right, I have to go before it’s too late. I’ll see you at the barracks later! I’m heading out!”
“Hey, Nomon!”
As if suddenly remembering a task, Leonardo cut him off and turned away. Part of it was to escape Bram’s bizarre misunderstanding, but it was also because there was a place he needed to visit while everyone else was preoccupied with eating or bathing.
Bram tilted his head as he watched the back of the man hurriedly returning to the field camp, wringing out his clothes.
“No matter how I look at it, he seems like a different person.”
“That milk-scented brat used me as a meat shield just to play soldier.”
In a corner of the field camp, there was a single tent standing apart from the rest. As Leonardo headed toward it, he paused at the entrance upon hearing a voice.
It was the voice of the man who reigned as the leader of the conscripts.
“He played some trick about being the captain or whatever and used me as bait. That piece of shit. He needs to be brought to his knees before me and have my cock shoved down his throat to learn his place.”
Hearing a way of speaking that was not just coarse but practically rotting the ears, it seemed that even if his claws were gone, his temperament remained the same. Leonardo hid behind the tent and eavesdropped.
“Brother, please calm down now. Regardless, isn’t the King of Laina taking care of us with meals and treatment? Honestly, if we had struggled on our own, it would have been hard just to cross over from Perman. We would have starved to death before even reaching Santrea.”
“Shut up!”
With a short shout, the sound of firewood crashing echoed. However, the phrase ‘King of Laina’ caught Leonardo’s ear, and his expression hardened instantly.
‘Is that bastard talking shit about Theodore right now?’
The original owner of this body had tried to take care of the man, even if he was a lost cause. It was likely an intention to build rapport so that the man could resolve issues on his own if problems arose later. That would also make it easier to help Theodore. So, although he wasn’t keen on it, Leonardo had intended to carry on the body’s will… but that desire vanished instantly.
The goose leg wrapped in cloth was crushed by the strength of Leonardo’s grip. Rapport, my foot. It wouldn’t be enough to stuff pebbles into that mouth that spouts such nonsense and pound it with fists until every tooth was shattered.
“Are you also bewitched by that brat’s silver tongue? Don’t you know this is all a trick? He’s pretending to help just so he can swallow our withered lands whole!”
“Brother—”
However, everyone knew that the man’s status here was plummeting by the day. Unable to listen any longer, Jeong-ye interrupted him.
“We cannot continue to be this hostile. If what you say is true, then even if they treat us with respect now, won’t our heads be the first to roll the moment things go south? And frankly, what does it matter if some land is taken? You might be different, but eight or nine out of ten guys here were dragged away while digging dirt under some lord. If a new master takes over and promises to clear out all the monsters, most of the soldiers would welcome it with open arms.”
Grinding his teeth, Leonardo calmed his breathing at Jeong-ye’s unexpectedly rational words.
“The King of Laina is strong. And the knights he brought all have polished faces. They are qualitatively different from us, whose bellies are stuck to our backs while chewing on maggots.”
“…So in the end, you’re saying you’ll sell out the land to save your own skin? How many lives were spent spilling guts to protect that land, and now no one even cares? Ungrateful sons of bitches—”
The low-muttered curses sounded miserable. The man could not walk on his own and always had to rely on a baggage wagon.
Since they had abandoned even that to cross the bridge in Santrea, even if they built a cart here, he would have to be carried in turns by the men called the elite to move for the time being.
Usually, soldiers who cannot march stay behind in old villages or bases along the way, or the wounded gather and take a detour. But everyone knows that doing so makes the probability of survival slim.
Theodore generally tried to take care of all of them, and the soldiers who realized they were a burden chose to leave the ranks on their own. Amidst that, only the man held on until the end, claiming he had to personally monitor what kind of trick the King of Laina was plotting.
Leonardo suddenly pondered deeply on the possibility that, as the man said, Theodore might have intentionally pushed him toward the Canyon of Odil to seize actual power over the allied forces—even giving him a hollow title to boot.
“I… I don’t know anymore. Please rest. I will come back during breakfast tomorrow.”
“…….”
Around then, Jeong-ye left the tent with those final words.
The once-overbearing man did not try to stop him. No, he probably couldn’t have.
‘A collapse.’
Listening with his arms crossed, Leonardo stared at the shadow of the man who didn’t move for a long time. Then, he took out the goose leg wrapped in cloth. Instead of bringing it to him as intended, he took a large bite himself. The meat, whose juices had dried in the meantime, crumbled dryly in his mouth.
Chewing, he stayed for a moment before finally leaving the tent silently.
Among men, hierarchy is absolute.
At this moment today, the man was as good as dead.
When midnight came, silence descended upon the field camp as it always did. However, it coexisted with snoring that sounded as if the world were ending. There was even one fellow who snored so loudly that Leonardo worried his mucous membranes might be tearing.
Seeing that the person didn’t wake up to their own noise, he must have been deaf. Leonardo, frowning with his eyes open, eventually bolted upright.
‘…It’s so damn noisy.’
Rubbing his eyes with a tired face, he looked back at the source of the noise. Soldiers, barely covered from the waist down, were tangled together in deep sleep.
When one let out a loud snort, the others followed like a chorus. Unable to endure the horrific harmony, Leonardo wiped his face and stepped out of the tent.
Except for the sentries wandering occasionally, almost no one was awake. Only the sound of insects chirping and the sound of a small waterfall pouring along the rocky ridge laid softly like a midnight lullaby. Leonardo walked slowly through the field camp, keeping pace with that lullaby.
‘Still, it’s a relief that it’s peaceful for once.’
Seeing the knights on the watchtower looking relaxed, there seemed to be no sign of demon beasts nearby. It seemed they had been frightened by Theodore’s strike in the earlier battle and fled far away. It might be the calm before the storm, but everyone needed rest tonight.
Leonardo’s gaze naturally shifted toward the King’s private tent where Theodore would be.
The construction-site-like snoring was part of it, but there were several reasons why he couldn’t sleep.
The era of the man that ended somewhat bitterly, the anxiety that he might have to return control to the owner of this body upon waking up. The fact that the face he saw reflected in the river was strangely familiar. And the faces of the soldiers who had to be sent away vainly in the battle of Santrea, which continued to linger in his mind, though no one spoke of it.
And perhaps the final reason was that the leader of this allied force, who resembled him, was likely feeling the same.
Sure enough, white steam was billowing up from the direction of the tent where he was.
“Hm?”
To be precise, it was steam rising from a small spring attached to the King’s tent.
As he watched with a puzzled look, a bird circling in the sky suddenly flew into that gap. It was a small bird with a brilliant blue light shimmering on its wings.
‘A Divine Beast?’
Instinctively thinking of Hugo, Leonardo naturally associated him with a person who must have been his ancestor. Although it was a very distant ancestor, considering that the dynasty of Logia had never once had its bloodline broken, the nature of their Magic Power might be similar.
Once his thoughts reached that point, his feet were already heading toward Theodore’s tent.
As he approached, the scent of warmly heated water spread fragrantly. The chirping of the small bird, pi, pi, lingered in his ears as if telling him to come quickly.