By Zephyria ‘From the same Bermuda? That guy is also from Bermuda?’
Leonardo frowned slightly and couldn’t take his eyes off the last sentence for a while, and then immediately applied heat to the entire note to check the other contents.
As he became impatient, the paper turned precariously from yellowish to mottled brown. It looked like it would burn if he wasn’t careful, but fortunately, that didn’t happen, and dense letters gradually appeared on the dark-colored paper.
Passing by the trivial greetings that started with ‘Dear Pretty…’ on the top line, the next thing that caught his eye was about the glass bottle that Kenneth had given him.
Red is Magic Power Amplifier, white is Magic Power Stabilizer.
In the case of Amplifier, the duration is three hours per pill. Injecting it with a syringe is the most effective, but I put them both in pill form because I think you hate it.
In the case of general cases, you can draw out your Magic Power to the limit, but you have a handicap, so you won’t see that much effect. But maybe you can draw out as much as your original Magic Power average before you wore the Leash?
Side effect is rampage. If you feel like you’re going to rampage, take Stabilizer. However, I’m a first-timer with S-class, so there’s no guarantee that the rampage will be caught even if you take both Stabilizer pills. But you won’t die. Probably?
The appropriate dosage interval between the two drugs with different properties is at least two hours. Whether to take the medicine or not, when to use it is up to you.
As expected, the suspicious thing in the bottle was the medicine that guy developed.
Leonardo’s eyes widened for a moment at the word ‘Amplifier’, but he immediately frowned after reading the irresponsible words that followed, such as ‘Side effect is rampage, but you won’t die. Probably?’ It seemed like he was telling me to risk my life and become his test subject if I wanted power.
At first glance, it was an absurd content, but still, if Amplifier could really draw out my Magic Power as much as before. Even if there were side effects, it wouldn’t be completely useless. No, rather, it was close to what I had been looking for.
The following content was a question about the Council Handcuffs that caused my Magic Power control instability, and this was also a very concerning content.
While moving together before, Alex Siles had said that the Council’s Handcuffs were not the cause of my control instability.
‘Did the Council Handcuffs cause Magic Power control instability? Hmm…, temporary control instability symptoms often appear after wearing a strong Magic Power restraint for a long time, but as far as I know, the Council has already solved the instability problem on a scale as large as yours 5 years ago.’
‘The inevitable control instability of prisoners who have been wearing restraints for a long time has been constantly raised as a problem since before, so the Council side has solved about 60% of it by changing the material combination used in the restraints. The remaining 40% also showed noticeable improvement.’
At the time, he presented concrete evidence and made this thing around my neck the bigger cause of instability than the Handcuffs. But in my opinion, this wasn’t the cause. I had already finished adapting to this over the past few years.
And after hearing that, Alex Siles just said, “Hmm…, is that so?” and glossed over it, saying that something was wrong.
But now he was presenting a new possibility through this note, different from then.
…Your control instability far exceeds the threshold of instability that commonly appears in Mages who have recently worn restraints. In other words, it’s much more serious than the universal level.
I thought the reason for such symptoms was your Leash that eats Magic Power, but if there were no such problems before you wore the Handcuffs, then the only conclusion is that the Handcuffs you wore were unusually strange.
So, if you have a chance, ask your Council friends next to you. However, this restraint-related issue is a hush-hush story within the Council, so don’t say I told you.
Alec Siles concluded that the handcuffs I had worn were ‘unusually’ strange. However, based solely on the note’s contents, I couldn’t grasp the precise meaning of what he was trying to say. Was he implying that these issues wouldn’t have arisen if I had worn different handcuffs?
But while being detained and imprisoned by the Council, I had worn so many different kinds of handcuffs, and each time I switched them, the sensation varied so drastically, that I couldn’t recall each one in detail.
Therefore, I couldn’t discern what was strange and what was commonplace at the moment. Meanwhile, the way that guy kept saying Leash, Leash, it wasn’t wrong, but it was quite irritating.
‘By the way, he says it’s a hush-hush story within the Council, so who am I supposed to ask about this? And how does this guy know about the hush-hush story?’
I briefly suspected that he might be affiliated with the Council, but if that were the case, he probably wouldn’t be hiding out in the peninsula like this or taking the risk of approaching me to make a contract.
Besides, he knew so much about illegal mining teams, the Eldermilli Peninsula, stories related to ancient history, and other things that someone wanted to hide or that were hidden from the world, so it wasn’t surprising that he knew one or two more such secrets.
P.S. By the time you read this, I’ll already be out of the Gate, so don’t worry about getting caught. And if you survive the peninsula later, find the turtle riding the train at 41 Westforce Romance. Let’s talk in detail then.
But why are you telling me this?
Seeing his confidence that he would already be gone by the time I read this, I was relieved on one hand, as he seemed to be quite skilled at running away.
Of course, now that I had a contract with him, I had no intention of letting him go completely. He knew too much unnecessary information and needed to be kept under close watch. In another aspect, his knack for making strange things might be useful somewhere.
But… it seemed I wasn’t the only one thinking of exploiting him.
Seeing that he wrote down a strange address as a possibility of meeting again, he seemed almost certain that I would look for him.
Fellow Bermuda natives should help each other out.
Of course, I agreed with that certainty as well.
I quickly scanned the last line and casually checked the back of the note, where a large message was scrawled.
See you again, pretty boy. Good luck.
Seeing the handwriting that resembled his, I somehow felt like I could hear his voice, and my brow furrowed. I didn’t particularly like being called pretty, but I heard it so often from so many places that I just let it go, as it was too bothersome to get angry about each time. But this guy kept saying pretty boy, pretty boy, all the time.
The fact that we were both from Bermuda momentarily changed my perception of him a little, but it was certain that he was an unpleasant guy from beginning to end.
Hugo returned to the tent about 15 minutes after Kenneth had rushed out. Leonardo, who had been staring blankly at the note with all its hidden content revealed, immediately stuffed the note into his pants pocket as soon as he heard familiar footsteps.
As Hugo lifted the entrance flap and entered, Leonardo greeted him casually and warmly, “You’re back?” Hugo replied lightly by asking if Leonardo had been resting well, then immediately turned his back and went to his spot.
His expression seemed distinctly different from when he had left, and Leonardo stared blankly at his broad back as he took off his combat uniform, looking puzzled. The glimpse he had caught of Hugo’s face was very serious, and he wondered why he was like that, but he simply kept his mouth shut, as it didn’t seem like an atmosphere in which he could talk to him.
However, as if sensing the gaze on him, Hugo, who was folding the removed combat uniform neatly, turned his back and immediately uttered the most terrifying words in the world.
“Leonardo, there’s something I want to ask you.”
His voice was lower than usual. Leonardo intuitively felt that what he wanted to ask was by no means well-intentioned.
As he remained silent, Hugo finished arranging the folded combat uniform top and placed it on the bedside table, pausing as if to give him time to think. Then, he slowly turned around and asked.
“Exactly when did you start moving separately with Kenneth Weaver?”
Leonardo’s eyes widened slightly, and he felt his heart sink for a moment. He swallowed hard without realizing it.
‘What is it?’
He immediately tried to grasp the intention behind the question.
However, there were more than one or two things he could guess.
The fact that Kenneth, who had been here until just now, was suddenly mentioned was unsettling, but the fact that he was asking that question as soon as he returned from the meeting made him worry that Hugo had found out something about Alec Siles and his actions.
‘Is he testing me, knowing everything?’
He was also concerned that he might look noticeably flustered. He managed his expression naturally, but it felt unnatural to himself.
What did he know and ask, did he see anything? All sorts of thoughts ran through his frozen mind.