BMD 153

“…….”

Flynn said that this might not simply be Meterion’s accurate prediction, but a ‘deliberate situation’ created by someone leaking the 1st Battalion’s movements to the outside.

Of course, if someone else’s eyes and ears were in his territory, he had to consider the possibility that someone else’s eyes and ears were also in his territory. But Hugo shook his head at Flynn’s opinion.

“Except for the member who went with you, all the 1st Battalion members have been moving with me. When they were out of my sight, they moved in groups of three. So, even if they had the opportunity to act individually, there wouldn’t have been enough time to contact or convey messages to someone else.”

“Hmm….”

“And Flynn, you know this too, right? The 1st Battalion undergoes a more rigorous process in its troop formation than other battalions. So, the probability of having an informant within it is slim. The possibility of them being under Meterion’s command is even slimmer.”

“But… the Battalion Commander was too busy to pay much attention to this subjugation force’s formation. The Vice-Commander had also just returned from an inspection, so it was a similar situation.”

Flynn answered worriedly, but quickly added as if realizing something.

“Ah, of course, I’m not saying there must be an informant. But since the schedule was suddenly set this time, there were members who were hastily deployed at the discretion of the officers. So….”

“Hastily deployed members? Who are you talking about?”

“Uh… Melanie Ross, Adrian Howard, who were on standby in the 1st Battalion. And Kenneth Weaver, who was a trainee.”

Hearing Flynn’s words, Hugo narrowed his eyes.

“Are you suspecting that they, who suddenly participated in this subjugation, might be informants who leaked the 1st Battalion’s situation to the outside?”

“Hmm…, to be honest, I don’t think the possibility is zero.”

Thinking about the possibility of an informant nearby always accompanied a sense of futility and bitterness. This was especially true from the commander’s point of view. Flynn seemed to be speaking cautiously because he knew that, but on the other hand, his eyes said that it was necessary to address it.

“Then, is there anyone among the three you suspect?”

At Hugo’s question, Flynn pondered for quite a while before opening his mouth.

“Earlier, the Battalion Commander said that the 1st Battalion members wouldn’t have had enough time to contact or convey messages to someone else, right? Actually, I don’t think that’s entirely impossible either. There’s never 0 or 100 in probability.”

“…….”

“But if we assume that the presence or absence of situational and temporal constraints is the premise for judging an informant, then there’s only one person in the 1st Battalion who was free from that. Someone who was out of the Battalion Commander’s sight….”

“Kenneth Weaver?”

“…Uh, yes. Did you suspect him?”

“No, rather….”

The 1st Battalion was under the direct command of the Legion Commander and the Vice-Commander. Therefore, when there was a need to go on expeditions like the Peninsula Subjugation, Hugo tried to familiarize himself with the faces of the 1st Battalion members who were moving with him, if not all of them.

However, the three people Flynn mentioned earlier were not on the official list because they were hastily deployed without Hugo and Shorendo’s approval, so their faces were unfamiliar. Among them, Kenneth Weaver, who was a trainee, was a face he was seeing for the first time since entering the Peninsula.

He properly recognized his existence on the day they spent the night in the crater. It was when he discovered him dozing off while on guard duty. If he were to deduce the possibility of an informant, he would honestly have to suspect him, as he had the least amount of time knowing him.

“Rather than suspecting, it’s just that Kenneth Weaver is the only one I saw for the first time on this expedition, so if I had to pick, I thought the probability was the highest.”

“I see, that’s right.”

“But Flynn, to rephrase your words, he was not in a situation where he could closely find out the movements of the 1st Battalion, as he was free from constraints. He didn’t know our whereabouts either. And if he was close enough to figure out our whereabouts, I would have noticed him first.”

“Ah, that’s true. But I don’t think we can underestimate his ability to grasp someone’s movements or location. I don’t know him well, but according to what I heard from Squad Leader 8, his hearing and sense of smell are very sensitive compared to ordinary people. That’s why he was able to participate in this subjugation despite being a trainee.”

Flynn added with a rather solemn expression.

“He might be able to see further than we can imagine.”

“…….”

“And the footprints in the swamp. Isn’t that also a means of knowing the direction the 1st Battalion would move? Anyone could have predicted that we would follow if we found the footprints.”

Hugo sighed as he looked at the sky, his mind becoming increasingly complicated. Then, he looked back at him and continued speaking with a slightly tired face.

“Flynn, I believe that the illegal mining team and Leonardo are not related. But Kenneth Weaver was with Leonardo. At least from the time of the canyon collapse to the time he left footprints in the swamp, and the time he found the belongings of the deceased, the two were definitely together.”

“…….”

“In other words, if Kenneth Weaver was communicating with someone else during his disappearance, Leonardo would not be able to avoid that suspicion either.”

“Ah, of course, I don’t think Blaine is related to the mining team or the 3rd Battalion Commander either. All the situations so far would not have been intended by Blaine, so it’s even harder to see him as related. I’m seeing it as Kenneth Weaver’s solo action.”

“If that’s the case, then either way, they were together, so Leonardo’s eyes would be a constraint for Kenneth. Do you think he had a chance to secretly communicate with someone else, avoiding those eyes?”

“Yes, first of all, the two weren’t together when they were discovered, right? I don’t know exactly when they started moving separately, but if there was even one time when the two were separated around dawn when the mining team’s superiors escaped, I think there was enough opportunity.”

Hugo pondered his words, then rubbed his chin and slowly nodded in response.

“…I see. Then I’ll ask Leonardo directly about that. Exactly when did they start moving separately?”

“Yes, then I’ll consider the possibility of the other two people I mentioned earlier. Nothing is certain yet.”

The conversation with Flynn ended like that. Everything was just circumstantial evidence, and there was not a single piece of concrete evidence.

Afterwards, Hugo returned to the tent and immediately asked Leonardo the question that had come up in the conversation with Flynn. Leonardo replied that he had accidentally separated from Kenneth about an hour before meeting him, and that they had been together all along before that.

Even if it was an hour before meeting him, it was well past noon, so Kenneth would have an alibi for dawn, and Flynn’s guess would be wrong.

But Hugo couldn’t completely remove Kenneth from the list of suspects. He hadn’t seen the situation at the time with his own eyes, and he wasn’t sure if Leonardo’s answer was really true.

Leonardo seemed somewhat flustered when he heard the question. It could have been because he was asked suddenly, but Leonardo’s gaze, which Hugo, who had quite a bit of interrogation experience, had momentarily caught, didn’t seem very natural.

But his answer, which came out soon after, was very comfortable and natural in his voice and expression to be seen as lying.

In addition, when he cross-checked it with Kenneth’s words he heard from Squad Leader 8, it matched, and he also thought that there was nothing he could gain from lying. Before that, the desire not to suspect him continued to tilt to one side, regardless of objectivity.

Hugo, whose head was aching from constantly thinking about the situation at that time as much as Leonardo, took his eyes off the tent that Meterion was using and looked up at the huge peak beyond the base camp. Then, as if trying to relieve his complicated thoughts, he let out a deep sigh.

At the sound of that sigh, Leonardo, who was sitting on the edge of the hill staring blankly into the air, suddenly turned his head towards Hugo next to him. A face full of worries and frustrations came into view.

He didn’t really intend to talk to him, but the face he saw when he turned around after hearing the heavy sigh made him feel like he had to ask.

“What are you thinking about that makes you sigh like that?”

Hugo, who was looking into the distance, glanced down at him at the voice he heard. Then, staring intently at him, who was one of his biggest concerns since entering the Peninsula, he said in a dry voice without much thought.

“Thinking about you.”