By Zephyria As Kenneth, who had been trailing after him, became aware of the situation and dropped back, Leonardo was given some time to smoke and contemplate.
‘Now is not the time to worry about Nero. If he had any sense, he would have already gotten out of there. The problem is on my side.’
He had to make a decision now.
Whether to return as is and join the 1st Battalion, or not.
Realistically, joining them was the right thing to do, but he felt like the tails of the things he had been wary of would be caught, and he was a little reluctant to give up like this. No, rather than reluctant, he felt uneasy. It felt like there were things left that he shouldn’t miss.
And the current situation might be an opportunity to seize those things.
In fact, Leonardo had been wandering alone to quite distant places, receiving individual time from Hugo little by little in recent days, and he hadn’t just been catching demon beasts during that time.
He had also been searching for the ruins within the peninsula mentioned in the reports from the messengers who came to the Legion Commander and the contents directly shared by Hugo, as well as the demon beasts’ food storage areas. And one of the things he discovered in the process was the underground tunnel.
What he learned while going out with Kenneth to find food was that the place they were staying now was also a huge cave created underground. So, the crack that could be seen in the ceiling was a gap created by the splitting of the ground when viewed from the outside.
The reason why his Magic Power was almost depleted just before the collapse was not only because he had been neglecting his condition while focusing on hunting demon beasts, but also because he had been conducting several experiments while continuously consuming Magic Power in these tunnels.
As a result of the experiments, he learned that Magic Power was suppressed here and that it was impossible to track the aura or Magic Power of any target. In other words, it meant that even if the 1st Battalion was looking for him and Kenneth, they would not be able to find them so easily if they only moved within this tunnel.
When he asked the scholar earlier how much time had passed from the time the mountain collapsed until now, he was told that approximately one day and 20 hours had passed. In other words, it meant that the 1st Battalion had not been able to find them for almost two days since the collapse.
This was an opportunity. An opportunity to legally avoid their eyes and wander around.
He wondered if there was any need to abandon such an opportunity that had been presented to him and return to the ranks. After all, even if he went back, the tense atmosphere would still be there, and he would have to ignore the wary gazes watching him and continue the uncomfortable companionship. He would be the one who would absolutely lose out in that companionship.
That’s right. Frankly, he was sick of it now.
But even so, the reason why he couldn’t make a hasty decision was because he knew that it was not right to act alone, asserting only his own emotions, in the current situation where even a death had occurred.
Also, he had heard that there were missing people in the Southern Branch as well, and if troops were dispersed to search for him and Kenneth, the search would be delayed and, as a result, the subjugation would obviously be adversely affected. If things turned out that way, it would not be good for him either.
In addition, Squad Leader 8 was caught in the explosion due to the external attack and lost consciousness, and Agrizendro was also seriously injured in the arm while trying to save him and the other two.
He thought that the strong Legion Commander would have taken the Squad Leader and escaped well from the collapsed site, but the blood that had scattered in all directions as he was injured trying to catch him and the sight of him reaching out to him were still vivid in his mind.
In the urgent situation, the voice and eyes that were only directed at him had been constantly shaking him, and in the end, a single word kept stopping his decision.
‘This time, I will wait for you.’
“…Annoying.”
Leonardo ran his hand through his hair irritably. His beautiful brow furrowed in response.
What the hell was so important about that? He didn’t even know the meaning of it properly, but he was very annoyed and frustrated that it kept lingering in his head and interfering with his decision. But even when he tried to shake it off, it wasn’t as easy as he thought.
Leonardo, letting out a self-deprecating sigh, habitually tapped off the burnt ash and stopped as he was about to put the filter back in his mouth. It was because the cigarette had become too short while he was distracted.
He looked at the short thing between his fingers with displeasure and lit the remaining cigarette to burn it. Then, he immediately opened the cigarette case to take out a new one, but coincidentally, it was empty.
As Leonardo crumpled the empty cigarette case with an annoyed expression, a long cigarette was suddenly pushed in from the side. When he looked to see what it was, the scholar, who had approached him, was smiling and offering him a cigarette.
Leonardo frowned slightly and stared at the cigarette the scholar was offering. When the other person continued to not accept it, the scholar put the cigarette he had offered in his own mouth, took out a lighter, and lit it. Then, he took out another cigarette of the same kind and offered it, saying with a smiling face.
“You’re too suspicious.”
He seemed to be confirming that he hadn’t done anything to the cigarette. Only after the scholar sucked on the filter a couple of times did Leonardo take the cigarette he offered and put it in his mouth. The scholar’s lighter lit the end of it.
“What’s so annoying?”
The sound of the lighter lid closing was clear. The taste of the new cigarette wasn’t too bad either. But he didn’t like this guy who was suddenly acting friendly.
Leonardo, who had been ignoring him for a long time, turned to him and said bluntly.
“You.”
But the other side was not easy either.
“I’m honored.”
He didn’t like the smiling face, so he turned his gaze back to the front. The scholar, unconcerned, continued to look at Leonardo’s profile.
His gaze passed over the red lips and sharp jawline and reached the neck crossed by the black choker. The scholar fixed his gaze on the seemingly discordant yet harmonious thing and opened his mouth.
“How’s your Magic Power? Is it stable?”
At his words, Leonardo, who was about to put the filter in his mouth, stopped and turned his head. The scholar moved his gaze from Leonardo’s neck to his eyes and smiled. Leonardo’s eyes narrowed as he looked at him. He couldn’t grasp what his intentions were in asking.
“You didn’t know, did you? Your Magic Power was leaking out.”
What Leonardo had learned through various experiments in the tunnel was not simply that Magic Power was suppressed.
As this scholar was saying, his Magic Power had been leaking out all along. The point at which it started was probably after he was relieved that the control instability had been resolved.
Magic Power leaking meant that if there was a Magic Power tank that had to be filled in order to use a specific magic, there was a hole in the pipe connected to it, so the amount of Magic Power used to fill the tank was twice as much.
At this time, this pipe with a hole in it could also be said to be a type of control instability that prevented the creation of a solid pipe.
In conclusion, his control instability problem had not been resolved. It had moved from the stage where the problem was that the output was larger than expected, to the stage where the amount of Magic Power used to match the expected output had become absurdly large.
He first realized this when he was creating a Divine Beast that could be shaped with Magic Power and moved at will in order to track down demon beasts.
When thinking one-dimensionally, the initial hypothesis was that more Magic Power would be consumed underground, where Magic Power was suppressed, than on the ground to create a Divine Beast of the same size, but as a result, this hypothesis was wrong.
When creating Divine Beasts of the same size in two locations, there was a difference in casting speed, but the total amount of Magic Power used was the same. This was because, on the surface, Magic Power had been continuously consumed more than necessary, while underground, the Magic Power flowing from within the body itself was suppressed, reducing the amount that leaked out.
However, until now, I had been so focused on the magic’s scale becoming larger than expected that I felt relieved the output had returned to normal, and it was only after quite some time had passed that I realized more Magic Power than usual was being consumed.
The problem was, how did this bastard know about something even I hadn’t immediately noticed?
“How did you know that?”
As a wary gaze fell upon him, the scholar smiled as if it were nothing and replied.
“I once researched Magical Outbursts, and I often saw cases similar to yours back then. So I’m exceptionally good at spotting abnormalities in Magic Power manipulation. You probably had symptoms where scale control wasn’t working well before, right? Am I correct?”
“……”
“I happened to have a Stabilizer I used back then, so I tried administering it to you. Seems pretty decent, if I do say so myself.”
“…Stabilizer?”
Leonardo frowned and asked back. The scholar grinned and began explaining at length about the Stabilizer he had developed.
Though it hadn’t received formal pharmaceutical approval and couldn’t be distributed, its safety was definitely guaranteed, and many people had seen effects, and so on—his explanation was lengthy, but to Leonardo, it only sounded like he had administered some mysterious drug to his body without permission.
When the scholar even made a motion as if inserting a syringe into his arm, Leonardo’s face rapidly turned pale. The scholar burst out laughing as if amused and added.
“Don’t worry. The only things I administered into your body were the Stabilizer and a painkiller. And the effects are certain, right?”