By Zephyria Leonardo, recalling the bewildering events of a few hours earlier, lay on the cot, staring blankly at the tent ceiling with drowsy eyes.
He was spending another night wide awake while everyone else was asleep, so his eyes were very dry and blurry, but he couldn’t fall asleep.
Except for the faint lamps hanging on either side, all the lights were off, and the interior was quite dark. The silence added to the atmosphere, which might have felt cozy, but instead, a sense of tension lingered in the tent they shared.
When people fall asleep, their breathing becomes regular. This is because physical activity enters a state of rest, except for the minimum activity necessary to sustain life.
This breathing is also related to the pulse, making it effective in catching a person’s current state or emotions. Therefore, Leonardo, hearing Hugo’s subtle breathing, could know for sure.
That he was still awake as well.
Leonardo didn’t know what he was thinking now, so he felt his head unnecessarily complicated. He had managed to get past the earlier question, but he still hadn’t grasped his intention.
Upon hearing Hugo’s question about exactly when he had started moving separately with Kenneth, Leonardo had been unable to answer immediately.
Then, Hugo, thinking that he had confused the question, changed the question to why the footprints in the swamp were clearly from both of them, but they were separated when they were discovered, and exactly when they had started moving separately.
Leonardo, overwhelmed by the compulsion that he would be suspected in some way if he didn’t answer quickly, fortunately remembered the excuse that Kenneth had given to the squad leader and recited it verbatim, slightly modified.
He had left him for a while to find a safe path, but when he returned to the original location, Kenneth was gone. And that had happened about an hour before he met you today.
Hugo, muttering the word ‘an hour,’ asked again if they had been together all along before that. Leonardo briefly recalled the moment when he had left Kenneth behind, but then nodded naturally. Hugo didn’t ask any further questions after that.
Leonardo, replaying the past situation in his head, shook his head inwardly. He had managed to get past it well, and there hadn’t been any particular words after that, so it was just stress to worry about it any further.
But even while thinking that, he was unnecessarily conscious of Hugo across from him, so he turned his body to face away from him.
The distance between the beds was quite far, but the sound of the sleeping bag rustling was particularly loud, so Leonardo couldn’t find a comfortable position and stopped moving. He couldn’t see it, but he felt that he was conscious of him as much as he was conscious of him.
Everything from the note he had seen earlier to his sudden question was tangled up, and his head throbbed. On top of that, the three packs of meatballs that he had eaten while sitting face to face at the table in the tent, as if to be considerate of him, were stuck near his sternum without going down smoothly.
As he turned to his side and let out a silent sigh because of that, he suddenly heard a rustling sound from behind.
The heavy and leisurely movement seemed to adjust his posture several times, then at some point, he pushed away the sleeping bag and sat up. There was a series of dry sounds of his face and hands brushing against each other, as if he was washing his face, and soon, a deeply sunken bass voice echoed softly inside the tent.
“Leonardo.”
He clearly heard it, but he pretended to be asleep, breathing evenly, in case he heard another unfavorable question. Then, there were several sounds of dragging on the dirt floor. Hugo, who had put on the spare shoes he had placed next to his combat boots, got up from his seat and walked towards him.
“I know you’re not asleep.”
Leonardo, impressed by his quick wit, strained his neck and slightly lifted his head to look behind him.
How many steps had he taken? He was already standing behind him. Because of his posture, his shoulders were severely stiff, so he rustled again, turned his body, and lay straight with his head upright. Then, he looked up at him with a slightly annoyed tone and asked.
“Why did you call me?”
Hugo, standing right next to the bed, looked down at him with tired eyes. Then, he blinked his eyelids slightly for a moment to focus.
The faint light of the dark dawn illuminated the blonde hair scattered on the white sheet, making it quite alluring. His hand almost went to his cheek naturally, but he restrained himself this time.
Hugo swept back his hair, which was slightly disheveled because he had been lying down. Then, he held out his hand to the beauty who couldn’t sleep and said.
“Shall we get some air together?”
Leonardo didn’t realize for a moment whether he was asking for his opinion, as there was no inflection in his words.
As he gazed at him slowly, blinking as if giving him an eye kiss, the dryness subsided a little, and his vision became clear, visually recognizing his proposal that had come close to his nose.
Hugo looked down languidly, and lightly shook the outstretched hand in front of him, as if asking why he wasn’t taking it. Then, Leonardo’s hand, which had been paused in doubt, soon rose naturally and was placed on top of the large hand.
A strong force gripped his hand and gently pulled him. He was led by that force and sat up.
Even until he put on his shoes and went outside with him,
Leonardo didn’t know what he was possessed by to grab this hand.
The two who went outside strolled around the vicinity for a while and headed to a large Boulder hill near the base camp.
Hugo, as always, stood still with a slight distance from Leonardo, who was sitting on the edge of the Boulder with one knee raised and his chin resting on it.
Of course, the distance between the two was much closer than on the first day they had entered the peninsula. Both physically and mentally.
This place wasn’t as high as the mountainside that day, but it was enough to see the base camp’s yard at a glance.
A considerable number of people were seen standing guard below, moving briskly, and it was felt that they were trying their best not to look this way. Hugo thought it was probably because I was standing here.
In the meantime, as he discovered himself naturally searching for who among them was an ally and who was an enemy, Hugo was once again overcome with a sudden sense of fatigue and closed his eyes tightly before opening them.
His face was full of frustration and worry, and to be exact, it had been that way since he had finished the meeting and talked to Flynn alone.
“From 3 AM to 6 AM, he was not seen at all in the base camp.”
“Just him?”
“No, I heard that some of the accompanying members also disappeared with him.”
His eyes, recalling the conversation, reached the roof of the large tent where the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the Central Branch was staying, among the tents that densely embroidered the base camp.
“Judging only by the timing, he’s the most likely.”
“I guess so…”
Hugo estimated that there was about a 70% chance that an insider of the Council was involved in the incident where this illegal mining team entered the peninsula, grew in size, and left with strangely good timing.
And after talking with Flynn, that probability rose a little more to 80%, and he suspected Meterion Kleinder, the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the Central Branch, as the most likely suspect.
‘…I hoped it wasn’t him.’
The reason he was able to reach this conclusion was largely due to the efforts of his subordinates, who had been busy moving in unseen places. Flynn, who went everywhere with him, some messengers from the Central Branch, and members planted in the 3rd Battalion of the Central Branch were them.
In fact, Hugo Agrizendro himself considered the act of planting people in places that were not his territory to be dishonorable and despised it, but as the Duke Agrizendro who had fought to maintain his position from the moment he became the heir to the family until now, it was also a means of intrigue that he had inevitably used. Therefore, he always carried the alienation and self-loathing that came from such contradictions.
Hugo had secretly issued orders to Flynn about two times since entering the peninsula, and that was to check the movements of Meterion Kleinder through the members planted in the 3rd Battalion of the Central Branch.
The suspicion that led him to issue such orders stemmed from the fact that the reports from the 3rd Battalion were consistently delayed after the Central Branch’s procession was divided into three branches in the early part of the peninsula’s entry.
There were several rules agreed upon in advance regarding reporting between the Legion Commanders and Battalion Commanders who participated in the peninsula’s subjugation.
First, regular reports must be made at designated times every day.
Second, if the Legion Commander asks about the situation unexpectedly, an answer must be sent within 15 minutes from the time the messenger arrives.
Third, when each battalion delivers reporting items to the Legion Commander through a messenger, the Battalion Commander must face the messenger and deliver it ‘directly,’ either in writing or verbally.
This was to prevent words from being distorted or incorrect reporting items from being delivered.
However, Hugo was able to hear from one of his subordinates, a messenger, that this was not being followed within the 3rd Battalion. When he unexpectedly visited the 3rd Battalion Commander, he was slow to show up, citing personal business, or the Deputy Commander often delivered the report instead.
Of course, in unavoidable situations, the Deputy Commander or a senior commander equivalent to him could perform the role of the Battalion Commander, but the fact that it happened ‘often’ without prior notice was enough to be problematic.
Therefore, the reason he initially sent Flynn was because Meterion’s actions, which made it seem as if the problem had been resolved only superficially, even though he had warned the 3rd Battalion several times about the delayed reports, were very suspicious. It was even more strange because he was not usually the kind of person to do that.
Afterwards, Hugo heard the news that there were casualties in the 9th Battalion of the Southern Branch and headed to the base camp, where he met Flynn and received the first report that there were no particular movements from Meterion.
Originally, he was going to dismiss his doubts around that time, but the somewhat cold-hearted actions of the 3rd Battalion, which sent only low-ranking members for search support at the collapse site and did not show any commanders at all, immediately led him to attach one more member of the 1st Battalion and order Flynn to check the movements again.
And the report he had heard earlier was about that.
According to Flynn’s second report, Meterion Kleinder was not seen at the base camp from 3 AM to 6 AM yesterday, which was almost the same time frame as when the mining team’s superiors were presumed to have left the hideout.
Of course, this alone was not enough to be sure that he was an accomplice involved in the illegal mining team’s escape. But there was not a complete lack of evidence either.
In order for the mining team to avoid the Council’s eyes, grow in size, and escape safely, they needed someone within the peninsula to hide their size, and they also needed the power and influence to control the eyes and ears of the members scattered throughout the peninsula.
Coincidentally, confidential information obtained before entering the peninsula stated that the Kleinder family had recently been buying equipment needed for the mining business out of the blue.
In addition, Dellua, who was leading the rear ranks in the early part of the peninsula’s entry, had reported that an unidentified person seemed to be following the rear of the procession, and at the time, Meterion had shown strange behavior, as if he was constantly trying to fall back.
Also, in order for the workers to travel back and forth between the inside and outside of the peninsula, there had to be a gap in the Gate defense in the border area, and the person in charge of this was the commander of the 7th Battalion of the Southern Branch, who had not been appointed long ago.
He was a noble faction figure close to Meterion, and in fact, a gap in the security occurred in the Gate section in charge of his unit, and traces of a small number of escapees from the hideout were found in the vicinity.
But more than the preceding circumstances, what played the most decisive role in creating the current suspicion was Loren, the 2nd Battalion Commander and Hugo’s longtime friend and colleague, expressing doubts about Meterion’s expedition resources.
Hugo thought Loren had an uncanny sense. When she spoke of Meterion’s actions with suspicion, Hugo brushed it off as nothing to worry about, but in truth, her words had been lingering in his mind. And so, things had eventually come to this point.
However, the real reason Hugo’s expression was dark was different. Flynn, having heard all the preceding circumstances of suspicion, had presented a rather heavy hypothesis, assuming they were not merely circumstantial.
While searching for Leonardo and Kenneth, Hugo had hardly shared his and the 1st Battalion’s movements with other battalions.
This was partly because the messengers couldn’t keep up with the 1st Battalion’s speed, but also because he deliberately avoided sharing information to eliminate any possibility that could be disadvantageous to Leonardo later on.
So, his movements towards the mining team should have been unknown to anyone except himself and the 1st Battalion members. Yet, the superiors of the illegal mining team had disappeared by a hair’s breadth, as if they knew in advance that the Council was about to raid.
Hugo thought that Meterion, suspected of being an informant, did not know the exact direction of the 1st Battalion’s destination. Rather, he believed that Meterion had ‘deduced’ the direction of the 1st Battalion’s destination, fearing that the workers and hideout would be discovered in the process of searching for the missing persons, and had issued an order to flee to avoid this.
However, Flynn’s hypothesis was slightly different.
“Then, could there be someone who informed the mining team’s superiors or the 3rd Battalion Commander of the 1st Battalion’s specific movements? And that someone is inside the 1st Battalion.”