By Zephyria Hugo, who had barely escaped from the familiar semi-circular table, came out of the hall with a look as if he was enduring a headache. As soon as he closed the door behind him, Loren, who had been waiting, unfolded her arms and straightened up from leaning against the wall and said.
“You came out earlier than I thought.”
Dellua, who had been waiting together in the hallway due to the Commander’s summons, flinched for a moment at Loren’s words. Hugo also stared at her intently with a face that said he had heard something he shouldn’t have. He was about to retort, ‘Did you want me to get scolded more?’, but he felt a sense of déjà vu and didn’t bother to bring it up.
Instead, he glanced at his watch, swept back his hair, and replied in a tired tone.
“It ended early, just like you said. In just about 30 minutes.”
“…I apologize if it sounded sarcastic. I expected you wouldn’t hear good things since the Legion Commander exercised his veto power over the Council’s order.”
“Good things, when have they ever said good things? Anyway, the purpose of the subjugation was achieved, and they refrained from saying unnecessary things today, as if they were really only going to listen to the report. The Councilors sent their aides instead, so I didn’t even have to run into them.”
“That’s a relief.”
Loren was planning to share some internal matters with Hugo as soon as his report was finished, but seeing his somewhat exhausted appearance, she wondered if it was right to bring it up now. Meanwhile, Hugo, who was looking around, asked Dellua next to him.
“Where’s Meterion? I told him to wait.”
“Ah, that’s… that is…”
Dellua, who also sensed that Hugo was in a bad mood, hesitated to answer as she looked up at him. Loren, noticing her difficulty, opened her mouth instead.
“He said it seemed like it would take a long time, so he left first. He said he had a lot to take care of.”
Hugo’s brow furrowed.
“…How long did he wait?”
“About 10 minutes.”
In fact, it hadn’t even been 5 minutes, but Loren made up a suitable excuse for the sake of peace on both sides. Hugo didn’t like the way he had gone back on his own, but he knew how precious 10 minutes could be in a busy situation, so he accepted it and moved on. Instead, he apologized to Dellua, who had been waiting all along.
“You must be busy, I made you wait too long.”
“Ah, no. It’s okay.”
“It’s nothing else, but I’d like the 6th Battalion to collect the list of casualties internally. As we just discussed inside, the casualties from the Peninsula subjugation are unprecedented, so even if we succeed in the subjugation, it will be difficult to avoid external criticism.”
“I see… that’s right.”
“But I’ll cover that well, so don’t worry too much. It’s not something a commander who did his best should worry about. Rather, our and the higher-ups’ common intention is that we should hurry with the enshrinement of the fallen and condolences to the bereaved families. Um… I’m sorry for making you work as soon as you get back, as Marlene and your subordinates must be feeling bad due to their injuries. You must be tired today, so take it easy and rest, and please deliver the list as soon as possible if possible.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Tell the 3rd Battalion Commander the same thing.”
“Yes!”
As Hugo continued to give instructions, but seemed to feel sorry, Dellua deliberately answered more vigorously. Soon, she bowed her head at his gesture to leave and stopped as she was about to turn the corner of the hallway.
“Commander―.”
Hugo, who was still staring at her, gestured with his eyes as if asking what was wrong. Dellua clenched her fists in both hands with a bright smile.
“If you have anything else you want me to do, please tell me anytime!”
Hugo’s stiff eyebrows lifted slightly, and then he nodded lightly. Only then did Dellua turn around and hurry away. Loren followed her from behind, then shifted her gaze to Hugo as if surprised.
“The two of you seem to have gotten quite comfortable. Rivera Battalion Commander has a good personality, but… I think she was a little wary of you.”
“If you go through life and death together, you get pretty close.”
“Do you trust her?”
“Well, so-so.”
Seeing Hugo readily agree to the word ‘trust’, Loren thought that the relationship between Leonardo and him that she had seen earlier might be a similar case. Meanwhile, Hugo continued to Loren.
“I don’t want to bring in political views, but I’m glad she’s not from a noble family with divided factions.”
“Why?”
“If we have opposing ideologies, it would be difficult to trust each other.”
“…Then I guess things are still the same with Meterion.”
Her subsequent remarks earned Hugo an unpleasant glare. Loren chuckled at his expression, which clearly showed his dislike, and quickly changed the subject while correcting herself.
“The monthly report will be temporarily postponed for the time being. I’ll have to go see the Archduke right away.”
“It’s late today, so tomorrow. I’m sure he’ll understand.”
“I see. Then, I’m sorry to bother you when you’re busy, Commander. Let’s move somewhere for a moment and talk―.”
“Commander!”
At that moment, a voice was heard from the other end of the hallway. Hugo and Loren turned around at the same time.
A familiar face was approaching in a hurry from afar. Hugo’s eyes narrowed.
“Gabe?”
Among his adjutants, Flynn was mainly in charge of personal orders, meetings, and schedule management, serving as an executive secretary, while Gabe resided in the Legion Commander’s office, handling various administrative tasks such as external communication, documents, and financial management. The fact that Gabe had come to find his superior in person led him to guess that the matter he had brought was no ordinary matter.
With a sudden surge of anxiety, Hugo’s legs reflexively went out to meet him. Thanks to his quick steps, the two were able to meet in the middle of the hallway.
Gabe, who took a short breath, abruptly asked Hugo.
“Commander, have you finished all your reports?”
“Yeah, what’s wrong?”
“Ah, that’s a relief. Flynn asked me to bring you over as soon as you were done with your business.”
One of Hugo’s eyebrows rose.
“Flynn?”
“Yes, it’s about Leonardo Blaine―.”
At that moment, before Gabe could finish speaking, Hugo passed him in the blink of an eye.
Originally, acts such as running were prohibited in the Council’s hallways in order to maintain order. However, Hugo, uncharacteristically, hurried very much and disappeared around the curve in an instant.
Gabe and Loren remained there, dumbfounded, staring at his back, but soon wondered if something big had happened and hurriedly chased after him.
“Hey, are you still far?”
“…Can’t you just wait?”
Meanwhile, the protagonist of the news that Gabe had brought was currently bickering with Flynn in Hugo’s private room.
“Do you know how many keys there are for handcuffs? Anyway, why did you wear this―. If I can’t find it among these, I’ll have to go to the workshop and cut it off. But, ha… I don’t even know if we can go outside right now….”
As soon as he said one word, five words of nagging came back, so Leonardo stealthily looked around, pulled his neck back, and shut his mouth. He had his arms stretched out to Flynn with both hands bound in Magic Stone handcuffs. Flynn, while focusing on what he was holding in his hand, continued to scold him as if he was troubled.
The reason why the situation had come to this was because Leonardo, who had been alone earlier, had caused a ridiculous accident(?).
While fiddling with the handcuffs along with Alec’s note, he had placed both wrists on the handcuffs to accurately judge the binding force. Then, after loosely closing the ring part, he gauged the difference from the handcuffs he had been wearing. But the problem was that the Council’s handcuffs had a function that would lock as soon as the rings were somewhat engaged to prevent the suspect from escaping.
He was only going to check for a moment, but he never expected that the ring would close shut like that. Leonardo, flustered, struggled to release it by force, but as the pulling force increased, the toothed part of the handcuffs tightened, painfully pressing down on his skin.
In that situation, Flynn, who had come to take care of Leonardo after receiving instructions, immediately discovered the scene, ran to the supply room and brought a bunch of keys for the handcuffs, but he still couldn’t find the right key.
“I wish it would be unlocked before the Commander comes… he’s not in a good mood right now. I heard he even refused the Councilor’s order to not put the handcuffs on you on purpose, but why are you doing this―.”
“I’m telling you, something was a little strange, so I touched it? Did I know it would turn out like this?”
There were at least 20 to 30 keys hanging from each ring in the bunch that Flynn was holding in his hand. But since there were 7 more such bunches lying on the table, it was also a task to match each of the hundreds of keys to the hole in the handcuffs.
In the meantime, Leonardo retorted as if he was angry, so Flynn, who had been handling him carefully, glared at him and pulled the handcuffs in his hand hard.
“Ah―! Hey, that hurts!”
“Then just stay still. I’m confused about which ones I’ve tried.”
“I was being still, though?”
Leonardo, frowning, retorted as if he was wronged. But Flynn was soon silent again as he concentrated.
He was grumbling inwardly that this bastard was doing this on purpose, when. Leonardo’s lips, which had come out to hide his embarrassment, suddenly went in.
He suddenly raised his head and stared at the door. As the intense energy got closer and closer, Leonardo muttered with a sullen face.
“He’s here.”
“Huh?”
The moment Flynn questioned the incomprehensible words, about 1 second later, the door of the private room burst open as if it would break. Flynn flinched and quickly turned his head. Hugo, who seemed to have rushed over, strode into the room.
“What’s wrong?”
“Commander?”
He went straight to Flynn and Leonardo without even having time to fix his disheveled hair. He also glanced around the room in the middle, but didn’t find anything that would be a problem.
Just as he was about to ask again what was wrong, the situation that was hidden by the sofa where the two were sitting came into Hugo’s view.
As soon as he saw the handcuffs on Leonardo’s wrist, his lips noticeably hardened.
“…What happened?”
Flynn glanced at Leonardo with a troubled expression. Leonardo also looked up at Hugo with a nervous expression.
Hugo, twisting his eyebrows, asked in a seemingly cold voice.
“Who put them on?”
For some reason, Leonardo couldn’t bring himself to speak.
Suddenly, a wave of embarrassment washed over him. How could he say that he put them on himself in this situation?
He kept his mouth shut for a while, then lowered his eyes and stammered.
“That’s, well….”