By Zephyria “…….”
The golden pupils, lost in shock, didn’t even blink for a while. The current situation he had heard directly from the Legion Commander was clearly that everything had ended well and was quite hopeful.
He heard that they had successfully completed the barrier repair work, minimizing damage from volcanic ash, and that the residents of the territory were vying to offer lodging to the members who had fought risking their lives. Relief supplies had also been sent from nearby areas, and the injured were receiving timely treatment and recovering quickly.
Hearing it only in words, it was overwhelmingly positive. Wasn’t this the beautiful and brilliant epilogue of the final act?
It resembled the ideal image Leonardo had wished for in his heart. But the scenes reflected in his eyes now weren’t so ideal.
Grief for lost comrades, shattered limbs, the indelible stench of rusted metal and dried bloodstains.
Darkness had already descended upon the exhausted bodies, to the point where the pain in his own left arm felt shameful. The panting of those who had clawed their way back to life through the devastation lay thick over the dusk-filled earth. Amidst it all, Leonardo couldn’t bear to guess what the sharp, flickering eyes looking at him in the lamplight were thinking.
‘The Amplifier… I should have used it sooner.’
He didn’t regret using the Amplifier. However, it had taken quite some time from when the glass vial in his inner pocket fell like an omen until he opened the lid and put the pill in his mouth. It was because overcoming the fear of not knowing what would happen next was difficult.
But remembering that even during the moment he was hesitating, someone had died or nearly died, he regretted not using it a little sooner. If he had, the scene he was seeing now might have been slightly less devastating.
‘No, if only this hadn’t existed before then….’
Leonardo clenched his teeth and covered his neck with his right hand. He made a fist with his left hand, which had no strength.
If the survivors looked like this, the number of deaths likely wasn’t small. Facing the full reality, his heart began to beat faster and faster. Just as the sound of that heartbeat was beginning to cloud his mind, the people murmuring all around took a step forward each.
Having many people swarm toward him wasn’t a particularly good memory, so Leonardo instinctively stepped backward. At that moment, a high-toned voice split the stagnant air. It was a familiar voice.
“Blaine!”
At the sound of his name being called loudly, Leonardo flinched his shoulders. Turning his head immediately toward the direction of the sound, he saw a familiar face.
“Blaine—!!”
Before he could even react, another shout followed, and at that moment, a weight settled on his chest. His body was pushed back, and he barely regained his balance. With a dumbfounded expression, he looked down at the figure that had rushed into his embrace.
“……Legion Commander Rivera?”
Dellua, who had suddenly popped out from somewhere, abruptly wrapped her arms tightly around Leonardo’s waist. It happened so instantly there was no time to stop it. Rather than blocking it, Leonardo spread his arms wide. It was an instinctive action for fear of irritating his casted arm, but as a result, it looked as if he had been waiting to receive the Council’s Legion Commander rushing into his arms.
It was a rather incongruous yet natural picture. Though the person in question was extremely flustered.
“Ha, am I seeing this right…? It’s not a dream, is it?”
Dellua expressed a touching sentiment fit for a fairy tale, leaning her forehead against Leonardo’s neck wrapped in the handkerchief. Hugging him tightly as if to crush his waist, she muttered repeatedly in a choked voice.
“Thank goodness. Really, really thank goodness….”
Leonardo, looking down at her awkwardly with his arms raised, had his thought processes halted and could only blink.
It wasn’t because a woman had rushed at him in front of people and was clinging to his back, feeling him up. Her voice, mixed with breath, was laden with moisture.
‘Is she… crying now?’
Once again encountering another’s deep emotions confused Leonardo as much as when Flynn’s eyes had been wet.
“Haa… Do you know how worried I was?”
He wore an expression that showed he didn’t know how to react. It wasn’t a bad thing that someone was worried about his well-being. Rather, it was the warmth he had longed for for a long time, but the fact that someone who was not related to him was crying because they were worried about him made him feel more bewildered than grateful or happy.
He had been hit by stones thrown by strangers, but he didn’t expect to encounter such deep emotions in this group.
However, her successive, overwhelming breaths allowed Leonardo to feel Dellua’s anxious heart as it was. Leonardo lowered his right hand and carefully patted her back. His fingertips paused for a moment as he felt the hard compression bandage inside the combat uniform.
Before long, Dellua, who had buried her face, raised her head, following the clumsy pats. She grabbed Leonardo’s face with both hands and turned it this way and that with slightly rough hands. Soon, a series of pitiful sighs and numerous questions followed.
“Oh my god… look at half of your face. What should I do…? How could this happen in just a few days? No, more than that, I haven’t heard that you woke up for long, is it okay for you to come out already? Is there anything wrong with your body? Can you move your arm well? Does it hurt? Can you speak properly?”
Leonardo, who was almost attacked by questions, was increasingly pressed by Dellua’s palms without knowing what kind of expression he was making. His cheeks were squeezed to the fullest, and his lips were about to become goldfish lips, but suddenly, he felt embarrassed when he thought that the Council bastards were watching this ridiculous scene.
Quickly regaining his senses, he grabbed Dellua’s wrist and pulled his neck back as far as he could, saying,
“Wait, wait! I’m okay, so let’s step back and take it slow―.”
“Hmph―, why does your voice sound like that? Is it because you’ve been sick for a while? What did the medical officer say? Is it okay?”
Her relentless questions took Leonardo’s mind away. Leonardo, showing a troubled look at the déjà vu-like situation that seemed to have happened once before, glanced up, conscious of the surrounding gaze.
But as soon as a dense crowd came into view, he couldn’t help but be surprised once again.
“……?”
Because some of the humans, who had already come quite close, were looking at him with the same face as Dellua.
Some of them were even rubbing their eyes, making Leonardo wonder if he had seen it wrong. When he raised one eyebrow with an expression of cognitive dissonance, the humans around him began to flock all at once as if it were a signal.
“Blaine!”
“Blaine―!”
The wave of humans rushing at him, calling his name, made him feel a fear he had never felt even in front of the core. Leonardo staggered back with the encroaching tension, but Dellua, who was holding him tightly, didn’t let him go. Moreover, because of the crowd rushing in from behind, he was caught in the crowd, unable to do anything.
While turning his head frantically, blocked from retreat, the words of the people surrounding him on all sides flew to him like a hundred words.
“Blaine, are you okay? Why did you come all the way here?”
“Oh no… is your arm injured?”
“I heard you killed the core?”
“I saw it up close, you know? I was so creeped out at that time.”
“A war hero never goes anywhere.”
“Wait a minute, don’t crowd too much! Everyone here is a patient!”
“Move aside, let me see up close too―.”
“I’ve only heard about it, how strong are you?”
“Thanks to you, I’m alive.”
“Isn’t that the Legion Commander’s combat uniform?”
“When did he wake up? I think he still needs to rest….”
“But is it okay to walk around like this? Did the Commander allow it?”
“Okay, everyone, this is rude, ask one by one.”
“Hey, is this the time for this? Let’s quickly toss him in the air, let’s toss him in the air!”
“Oh oh, yeah, let’s do it!”
“Are you crazy? What kind of tossing in the air is that for an injured person?”
“Hey, you guys. Go back to your positions, all of you!”
Hands that bloomed like flowers, as if they were really going to toss him in the air, reached out to Leonardo. They were not the white hands in his nightmare, but the hands of living people with vitality and warmth.
Leonardo, who had not yet grasped the situation, could not avoid their touch. One leg was lifted diagonally against his will. As he felt his whole body floating in the air, the voice of the commander who had come to stop the members rang out.
“What’s going on here? It’s not even maintenance time yet, who’s acting on their own accord?”
Leonardo, buried in the crowd, couldn’t hear it well, but the commanders on the side severely restrained them. Of course, they were quickly scattered by the wave of members, but Leonardo’s body, which was about to be thrown into the sky, came back to its place.
As soon as his feet touched the ground, Leonardo lost his sense of balance and staggered. It wasn’t important that strangers had touched his body. It was fortunate that Dellua hugged and supported him, or he might have already fallen.
However, the members did not back down easily, only stopping the tossing in the air. Rather, members who were passing by without knowing the situation gathered more and more, asking what was going on.
He had received various attention since entering the peninsula, but it was the first time he had received it so directly and enthusiastically. Leonardo’s rigid heart loosened at their crying and laughing faces, but his body shrank and his eyes and head spun around.
As carbon dioxide became concentrated, his breathing became difficult again. Just as his face flushed and dizziness recurred, the faces of some of the members who were talking to him nearby suddenly stiffened as if they were nervous.
“That’s enough.”
In that instant, the heat that had swallowed even the commanders’ orders subsided in an instant. Some murmurs were occasionally heard, but the noisy voices of the members suddenly became quiet.
A low voice pierced his ear, and a cool palm covered Leonardo’s vision. As a dark shadow fell on his eyelids, Leonardo, who had been overloaded, naturally exhaled the breath he had stopped.
As his relaxed body tilted, a broad chest firmly supported his back. Then, a large hand gently pressed his face, tilting his neck back and leaning it against his shoulder.
“Ha… I told you not to fall.”
A rough breath, seemingly struggling to approach, murmured above Leonardo’s head. As if finding a way to live, Leonardo groped for his arm and tightly grabbed Hugo’s collar as if answering the words.