BMD 331

“Uh, uh….”

Leonardo Blaine flinched, conscious of his breath, at the sudden, affectionate action. He reflexively lowered his eyes as his forehead and the tip of his nose brushed against each other. A tingling sensation spread down his spine, as if his lips had touched his eyelids.

He couldn’t even be conscious that he was in front of people. Leonardo Blaine pulled his chin in and placed his hand on Hugo’s arm.

“There was a little trouble.”

Before he could even look properly at the eyes of the person apologizing, a pledge of allegiance to the great Lord echoed in front of the Gate.

“To the Lord, salute―!”

Thanks to the unhelpful, loud voice of the guard, the large hand that had been covering his cheeks briefly rubbed his eyes and quickly fell away. Leonardo Blaine followed Hugo’s receding eyes with his gaze. It was an all too fleeting greeting.

“Lord, have you arrived?”

A man who appeared to be the captain of the guard approached Hugo, placed his hand on his left chest, and bowed sharply. He glanced at Leonardo Blaine, but only for a moment. Hugo, who immediately reached out and patted the captain on the shoulder, asked the captain about the situation.

“You’ve worked hard. Is the control complete?”

“Yes, the entire area within a 2km radius of the Gate has been completely controlled. Ah, the train passing under the bridge has cargo that must be transported today….”

“That’s fine. Good work.”

Andreas, who had stepped back at the Commander’s actions of leaving so hastily upon arrival, wore a shocked expression. He lowered his voice and tapped Loren’s arm.

“Did you see? I was right, wasn’t I?”

With a gesture pointing to Hugo and Leonardo Blaine, who were standing close by, he meant to ask if their greeting just now really seemed like a fabrication. But Loren didn’t respond at all. Perhaps she was saving her words, but it was difficult to figure out her inner thoughts from her expression alone.

In the end, Andreas, who didn’t receive any agreement, made a tsk sound and crossed his arms alone. On the other hand, he was glad that he hadn’t pushed himself on Leonardo Blaine.

Just then, Hugo, who had finished talking with the captain of the guard, turned around and asked the two Battalion Commanders.

“Were there any problems on the way?”

“What problems could there be? There were two Battalion Commanders attached, and it’s a road where no one travels.”

Hugo pretended not to notice Andreas’s subtle gaze and answered with a wink. Soon, he turned to the escort members and continued speaking.

“Everyone, you’ve worked hard to come all the way here. Have you finished greeting? We have to leave soon.”

He said that, took Leonardo Blaine’s hand, and pulled him to his side. Loren’s gaze reached that place, but it was immediately concealed.

“I mostly finished before you came. It seems like you’re the only one left.”

“Is that so?”

Hugo looked down at Leonardo Blaine next to him. He caressed his hand he was holding, interlocked his fingers, and gestured towards the stone Gate.

“Then, shall we go?”

“…Where?”

“To a place where we can say hello quietly.”

While making a puzzled face, Leonardo Blaine was led by Hugo towards the stone Gate. He didn’t even care that he had interlocked fingers with him in front of people. It seemed like all his nerves were focused only on the man in front of him.

‘His cheeks….’

As the two moved, the stationed guards retreated in unison from nearby.

Hugo carefully placed his palm on the lower center of the stone Gate. Near the area where it was written ‘A Gate that sees the sun’.

Wondering what he was trying to do, Leonardo Blaine alternately stared at his hand and his profile.

A few seconds later. A chilly Magic Power rose around Hugo, and his disheveled hair fluttered finely in the breeze.

“Grînḍṡx.”

Leonardo Blaine’s eyes widened. He couldn’t understand it well, but it was definitely an ancient command.

He was about to stare in surprise, but then a dazzling light began to shine from the entire engraving.

“……!”

“What, what is it?”

Some of the escort members covered their faces with their arms and stepped back. Loren and Andreas also turned their heads halfway and closed their eyes tightly.

Leonardo Blaine also frowned, but he never took his eyes off it. Blue Magic Power permeated through the engraving, visually making the complex patterns three-dimensional. At the same time, a strong wind that penetrated his lungs blew, but Leonardo Blaine’s chest was filled with stuffiness instead.

Just as he was rubbing his left chest, wondering if there was another problem with his heart, a sound like Boulder being ground pierced his ears. The ground vibrated so much that his legs shook, and the tightly closed stone Gate emitted a mysterious energy and slowly split open.

The intense light that leaked through the gap illuminated the two.

In the escort’s vision, the two figures swallowed by the backlight flickered.

Kugugung―

The stone Gate, which was being opened with great momentum, only opened enough for one or two people to pass through, and then stopped moving.

As old dust and stone debris fell from the stone Gate, Hugo covered Leonardo Blaine’s head with his palm.

Leonardo Blaine couldn’t take his eyes off the scenery inside the Gate that was revealed through the narrow gap. At the end of the straight passage, the shimmering outside scenery caught his eye.

“I’ll go say hello and come back, so please wait here for a moment.”

Hugo, who had turned his head halfway, left a word to the entire escort and stepped through the gap in the stone Gate. Leonardo Blaine followed him, but for some reason, he turned back with lingering regret.

The Council members, who were surrounding in a semicircle, were all staring at this side.

Some members, including Loren, saluted Leonardo Blaine. Andreas, who had been staring blankly, belatedly noticed the situation and raised his hand in a formal manner.

Flynn, who last made eye contact, approached the stone Gate and said goodbye with his mouth, ‘Goodbye’.

As he waved his hand, Leonardo Blaine waved his hand in the same way.

Lest others invade, the heavy stone Gate made a heavy sound again and closed tightly just as the last step was about to cross over.

I didn’t know at all when I only looked through the crack in the Gate, but there was a huge hall inside the Gate. On both sides of the straight passage in the middle, there was a space like a waiting room with high ceilings and various lights coming in softly.

Bronze chairs, made to rest for a while, were worn out with time and stretched out sparsely. Delicate sculptures made of stone and marble were in harmony with the basins placed everywhere, densely filling some of the wide space.

I wondered where the colorful lights were coming from, but the stained glass windows on the walls were the source. There were only two people in this magnificent and vast space. The guards guarding the bridge in the distance could be seen, but they were too far away to feel like they were in the same space.

The sound of water trickling from the fountains and walls added peace and loneliness to the atmosphere. Leonardo Blaine, who was crossing the strange space with Hugo, suddenly opened his mouth.

“What is this place for?”

He didn’t say it very loudly, but his voice echoed as if it were echoing. Just in time, the horn of a steamboat was heard from the other side of the passage. Black smoke billowed from under the bridge leading out of the Gate.

Hugo stared silently at the shadows that the scattering black vapor drew on the light.

“Until 100 years ago, this place was also used as a station. Now only cargo ships pass by, but I’m preserving it because I’m sad to erase the traces.”

Leonardo Blaine also took the same scene into his eyes.

“Then it’s a waiting room. I thought it was for other purposes because the interior was so fancy. Like a temple.”

“The beginning and the end should be beautiful. It’s a good place to say goodbye.”

Leonardo Blaine automatically stopped walking at the word ‘goodbye’. Hugo also stopped walking and turned to look beside him.

It was almost the end of the waiting room. The two people standing like a painting in the middle of the long passage stared at each other silently for a while.

Just as the atmosphere felt a little awkward, Hugo scanned Leonardo Blaine’s outfit with a welcome look.

“It suits you well. Do you like it?”

Leonardo Blaine also looked down at the magic robe he was wearing once.

“Yeah. It’s almost the same as what I used to wear. You have a good memory for this kind of thing.”

“I happened to remember it. It’s as clear as a picture.”

The blue eyes that said that were quite deep. Leonardo Blaine chuckled at his contradictory statement.

In Hugo’s vision, Leonardo Blaine’s appearance, which he had faced just before the expedition to the peninsula, was faintly overlapped. His jawline was sharper than then, and his eyes were so softened that they looked pitiful and sad.

He was about to rub his golden eyes as a habit, but he suddenly stopped and put his hand in his inner pocket and took something out.

“Your registration certificate came out well too. Check it out.”

What Hugo handed over was a Magician registration certificate inserted in a leather case. It was a little smaller than Leonardo Blaine’s hand that received it.

The registration certificate was shaped like a notebook folded in half, and when you opened the blue cover with the scales pattern, the ID photo taken at the photo studio first caught your eye.

It wasn’t too stiff, nor was it a brightly smiling face, but just the right expression. Underneath that, the name Leonardo Blaine, gender, rank, main Magic attribute, and other details were printed in ink.

Suddenly, Leonardo Blaine discovered the phrase ‘War Veteran’ engraved in silver letters in the other details.

It was a word meaning a veteran of war, a symbol signifying a person subject to the empire’s veterans affairs.

He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head.

“I’m a dishonorable discharge, so I shouldn’t be eligible for this.”

“Everyone knows that you’re a war hero, so why wouldn’t you be eligible? And the issuer is the Legion Commander of the Council.”

Leonardo Blaine laughed in disbelief at the man’s answer, which gave the impression of being stubborn.

It seemed like he had heard similar words before. ‘You’re a Duke, so why wouldn’t you be eligible.’ or something like that.

When he recalled the memory at the time, he put more strength into the back of his hand where the authoritative lips had been. Without realizing it, Leonardo Blaine, who was pressing down on the phrase, turned his eyes to the Legion Commander’s signature scribbled on the issuing agency’s seal on the lower right.

He remembered seeing other people’s registration certificates a lot, but there were hardly any cases where the signature of the agency official was included. This meant that the signatory guaranteed the identity of the registration certificate holder.

At the same time, ‘Agrigento Territory’ was written in the ‘Jurisdictional Territory’ section below that.

I know that the place of residence is usually entered in this place. But I don’t have a officially contracted house….

Leonardo Blaine’s lips moved slightly. He looked up at Hugo with eyes asking what he meant.