By Zephyria “You were used.”
At Theo’s words, the team leader flinched. Her pupils wavered for a moment before she contorted her face, as if a sore spot had been exposed, and spoke in a choked voice.
“You… what are you really? How do you know that?”
It was a truth she had known but had desperately ignored. That’s why she had been blaming him, thinking that because he had called the Council, everything had been ruined.
She had hoped that if this mission ended successfully and she returned, she would be recognized by Filione Delberg and could proudly serve as a team leader in one of the major cities in the central or southern regions, not in this barren place. That’s why she had come this far.
But reality was cruel. The leadership had fled, and she was caught in the middle of demon beast smuggling with the Council storming in. Now, she couldn’t even escape and was forced to hide.
Even if she managed to escape from here, her name and appearance as the team leader had already spread, and she would soon be hunted.
And Filione Delberg, knowing all the risks, had pretended to give her a chance while using her. There was no way he would protect her now that she was being hunted. And as the man before her had said, even if she had successfully completed this mission and returned, Delberg would have cut her off, as if severing a tail.
Earlier, when she heard the man ask if she thought she could survive if she returned successfully, the precedents of other team leaders who had disappeared—something she had long suspected—suddenly flashed through her consciousness.
In the past, she had lived more tenaciously than anyone, but when she thought she had seized an opportunity, she hadn’t realized what it meant to get involved in this.
And now, having realized all of this, she felt like she was going to go insane.
Theo watched her emotional turmoil, which seemed utterly chaotic, and silently reached out his hand again. She stared at that hand for a while.
If she was originally a dead woman walking, then she had nowhere else to go.
Thinking about why she had come here in the first place, she tightly grasped the hand he offered and emerged from the underground storage. Whether it was because she had been in a cold space for so long, his hand felt incredibly warm.
“We don’t have time. Let’s move quickly. You don’t want to be caught, do you?”
At his words, she nodded. Theo smiled and looked at her. It was an unprecedentedly warm smile, one she had never seen before, and she felt she had no choice but to follow him. He was the only one who had said he would save her, whom the team had abandoned.
Terzio crushed the location-tracking sensor he was holding in his hand with one hand. Then, holding her hand, he vanished without a trace in an instant.
* * *
―We mobilized immediately upon your order and searched the surrounding area, but we couldn’t find anyone. We discovered an underground storage at the coordinates and are currently searching inside.
Flynn, listening to the report through the communication magic tool, was puzzled by the mention of searching inside the storage and asked again.
“Wait a minute, didn’t we already finish searching all of Delberg Team’s storage facilities?”
―Huh? Yes, that’s correct.
“Then that storage should have been investigated too, right? It should also be Delberg’s storage, shouldn’t it?”
―This place? It wasn’t marked on the map that indicates storage facilities owned by the team. Therefore, we assumed it was privately owned and didn’t search it, but….
Flynn felt a strange unease.
‘An unmarked storage? Could it not be owned by Delberg Team?’
If it wasn’t a storage owned by Delberg Team, then what were Theo and he carrying team goods from there for?
The thought that it might be a secret storage for the team briefly crossed his mind, but the entrance to that place was too poorly hidden for a secret storage. It was more credible that it wasn’t owned by Delberg.
“Weren’t there boxes stacked inside? What’s inside them?”
―Um… things like blankets, feed sacks, straw bales… miscellaneous goods.
“There should be a location-tracking sensor I threw near there. Did you happen to find it?”
―We did find a tracking sensor used by the Council. However, it seems to be broken and non-functional.
The items in the boxes were all things that didn’t need to be stored in a cool place. And they were items that the team wouldn’t typically handle—things easily obtainable in the area. Flynn’s suspicions grew, feeding on the dubious circumstances.
The only team members currently unaccounted for were the team leader and Terzio. And the storage where Theo had taken him wasn’t actually owned by Delberg, and the sensor he had thrown in front of it was broken.
That area was so sparsely populated that it wasn’t easy to find. So if the sensor was broken, it was highly likely that someone who knew about that location had broken it themselves.
Strange as it was, Flynn wanted to deny that all these circumstances pointed to Theo, but he couldn’t ignore them.
And ultimately, because Theo had taken him there once, he had naturally assumed it was a storage owned by Delberg Team and didn’t order a separate investigation. The storage facilities marked on the map had all been investigated by the investigation team without him having to mention them.
Of course, even for private storage facilities not owned by the team, considering possible connections with Delberg, they were belatedly seeking residents’ understanding and conducting investigations in a few places.
But rather, because he himself had thought it was owned by Delberg, that storage had managed to slip through the investigation net during the day.
After finishing all these thoughts, Flynn felt goosebumps rising on his arm. Forcing a calm demeanor, he spoke to the tracking team on the other end of the communication.
“Alright… understood. Still, please continue the investigation.”
―Yes, understood.
After the connection ended, Flynn stared blankly at his own hand. Various questions floated in his mind.
“……”
Did Terzio really have another purpose for taking him there?
After coming out of the storage, he had felt Theo’s hand—the one that had grabbed him—was so warm, even if only for a moment. Could all of that really have been a lie?
* * *
The place where Terzio and the team leader arrived was the coastline.
It was a coastline located far to the east of the residential areas within the frost territory. Before them stretched a vast, wave-crashing black sea, seemingly endless.
Theo had deliberately broken the sensor back at the previous location to lure the tracking team, but he glanced around, worried that there might be remaining Council members. As he held her hand and walked quickly toward somewhere, she, being led along, asked urgently.
“Where are we going now?”
“The border region.”
“What?”
Hearing that, she stopped abruptly and forcefully shook off his hand she was holding. Theo also stopped and turned to look at her.
She breathed heavily, her heart startled, and shook her head as if to say this wasn’t right.
“Are you telling me to seek asylum now? Are you crazy? I can’t do that. I’d rather be arrested by the Council and imprisoned!”
She shouted as if resisting fiercely. The sound of waves crashing against the ground seemed to jolt her dazed mind awake. Theo watched her silently again until her excitement subsided, then spoke.
“If you get imprisoned in a Council jail, how long do you think you’ll be there?”
“……”
“Demon beast distribution is a serious crime. Plus, the amount you and the Count have been dealing is quite substantial. Ten years? Twenty? After rotting in jail and coming out, do you really think Filione Delberg will leave you alone? No. Before that, do you think he’ll let you come out of jail alive?”
She couldn’t continue. The Filione Delberg she knew was not someone who left even the smallest potential trouble behind. He would surely try to cut off anything that might become a future problem for the team.
With his ambition and money, it wouldn’t be impossible for him to slip poison into her meals while she was imprisoned, without anyone noticing.
She still couldn’t decide whether she should resent this man before her or rely on him. But the unrealistic stories he laid out were, devastatingly, all close to the truth.
Moreover, what was certain was that among the newly assembled team members, the leadership who had been assigned to assist her under the pretext of supporting her were definitely not on her side. She had thought they recognized her from Delberg, but they saw her as nothing more than a pawn to be used and discarded at any time.
And the money she had risked her life to earn—Delberg only took it as a price, pretending to give her recognition.
“…Ha.”
Once that thought came to her, laughter flowed out spontaneously.
Her current state was so ridiculous that she could only laugh.
They say that just before death, a person’s life flashes before their eyes like a panorama. Seeing her life swirling in her head, it seemed she really was on the verge of death.
She sighed, briefly reflecting on her life flashing through her mind.
Ah, what a pitiful life.
Her vision blurred as hot tears streamed from her eyes. The cold sea wind slapped against her reddish cheeks, as if telling her to get a grip.
Theo watched her, then took her hand again and led the way. She quietly followed behind him.
Shortly after, when a small ferryboat moored at the coastline came into view, Theo led her to the boat and said.
“Get on. The boat is enchanted with magic, so it will head north on its own without needing to row. After a full day, it will dock at the coastline, and from then on, you’ll have to find someone who can help you on your own.”
Watching Theo speak as if he knew everything and had prepared for it, she asked him with a tear-streaked, contorted face.
“…Why are you helping me escape?”
When she asked, Theo untied the rope tied to the boat and said.
“Is that so important?”
“Of course. I’ve learned that no one helps without a reason.”
At her bold words, Theo chuckled softly. Thinking how her words matched exactly what someone had told him about her, Theo untied the rope and placed it in her hand. Then, he tapped his own neck and said.
“You’re from Bermuda, right?”
At that moment, she flinched in surprise and placed her hand on the back of her own neck. But soon, something like a black choker around Theo’s neck, hidden by his collar and not easily visible, caught her eye.
She slowly slid her hand down from covering the back of her neck, her eyes filled with intensity, and asked him, unable to fully express her emotions.
“…You too?”
At her trembling voice, Theo nodded calmly.
“Yeah. That’s all. I roughly know what kind of life you’ve lived.”
“……”
“So go and live a new life. Don’t live bound.”
At Theo’s words, she looked at the rope he had placed in her hand.
It gave her the feeling that the end of the rope that had bound her life had finally come into her own hands. It might have been just a simple, insignificant act, but the rope he placed in her hand made her feel a strange sense of liberation, as if it were some kind of ritual.
She stared for a moment at the land beyond him, then boarded the boat. It was an asylum she had never even considered. She hadn’t known she would be forced onto this boat like this, nor that she would board it of her own accord.
Once she was on board, Theo slowly pushed the boat so it could float on the water. The waves washing ashore soaked his shoes and the hem of his pants, but he didn’t seem to mind.
When the boat floated on the water and began to rock slightly, she urgently grabbed his arm and said.
“What about you? Won’t you get caught if you stay like this?”
At her concerned words, Theo shook his head.
“I told you. I’m just a low-ranking member. Regular team members usually just undergo some investigation and are released quickly. Unlike you, whose face is known.”
At his words insisting until the end that he was just a low-ranking team member, she let out an incredulous, hollow laugh and said.
“Don’t be ridiculous. What low-ranking member helps a team leader who’s committed crimes escape? As if you predicted everything.”
He didn’t respond to her words. He didn’t seem inclined to share the detailed background. As the boat was pushed further and the water deepened enough to reach his thighs, she persisted and spoke to him again.
“My name is Brianna Dixia. I’m the type who can’t stand owing debts. So I will definitely repay them. To you, and to Filione Delberg who used me.”
“Alright.”
At her confident words, Theo nodded. His brief response and the boat floating enough to bob on the water made her anxious, and she gripped his arm tightly.
“If something is taken, something must be given in return. That’s the team’s law. Seeing you even use teleportation, you seem like a pretty powerful mage. What’s your name?”
That ‘name’ was something occasionally whispered secretly, mainly by those in the demon beast extermination squads or those under life-threatening circumstances who sought protection. Being in the team, she came across all sorts of news, and sometimes his story reached her ears.
Brianna had long wished that the ‘real’ him would approach her, but unfortunately, such luck hadn’t come her way. However, at the edge of this empire, akin to the boundary between life and death, she felt that fortune had finally found her.
Theo looked at her, who was desperately clutching his arm, then gave a slight smile. At that moment, Brianna had the illusion that his brown eyes, illuminated by the bright moonlight, seemed to appear golden.
Soon, Theo loosened her tightly gripping hand from his arm. Brianna felt that it wasn’t her illusion that his hand felt exceptionally warm whenever it touched her.
She moved her lips as if to say something, but he didn’t listen further and pushed the boat she was on away into the distance.
Instead, the moment the boat moved away from him.
He told her his ‘name’ in a low but clear voice so she could understand.
“Leonardo Blaine.”