By Zephyria Silence flowed throughout the conference room. This was probably because most of them realized who ‘that guy’ he was talking about was.
Venom looked at the quiet interior and opened his mouth once more with a smile on his face.
“You’re supposedly the commander of the Council’s central branch, yet you’re worried about losing to him, about a situation you can’t control, about embarrassing yourself in front of your troops. Am I wrong? Everyone’s under the commander’s protection, but who knows what might happen when you get there.”
His words were half right. The reason this expedition wasn’t just about subjugating demon beasts was because ‘he’ was going with them. Surely, some of them were afraid of Leonardo Blaine.
Andreas was an S2-class mage. Even though he and Leonardo Blaine didn’t get along, he was still a powerful mage, so it was hard to believe his arm had been broken in one blow. That’s why some were even more worried that broken arm might become their own.
In the midst of all this, Venom Thesaurus, who was so brazenly speaking about the very thing everyone else was avoiding, was prioritizing fear, a more primal instinct than pride. And no one could blame him for it.
Because everyone now knew that Leonardo Blaine was an S4-class mage with immeasurable magic power, far stronger than them.
However, Meterion opened his mouth as if to rebuke Venom.
“Ha, if that’s your mindset, why don’t you just resign from your position as commander? You have no shame, spouting such nonsense.”
“Kleinder, I’m not ashamed. Not even comparable to the likes of you…”
Venom stopped mid-sentence. He felt a creeping chill constricting his surroundings.
He turned his head and looked at the head of the table, where Hugo was staring at him expressionlessly. At that, Venom stopped talking and shut his mouth. Meterion did the same. The unspoken pressure to stop was suffocating.
The atmosphere in the conference room cooled rapidly, and it was no longer a situation where they could freely exchange opinions. Loren sighed softly. She had warned them to prevent such an incident. It was frustrating that the stupid bastards had gone and angered Hugo by talking recklessly.
After a moment of silence, Shorendo was the first to break the atmosphere.
“Any volunteers?”
Venom chuckled at Shorendo’s words.
“Who?”
“Me! I want to go!”
Shorendo raised his hand and spoke, and Loren replied.
“You know that the commander and vice-commander can’t be dispatched to the same place at the same time. The commander already decided to go himself at the general meeting held in your absence.”
“No, you decided that while I was gone?!”
Shorendo looked quite disappointed and slid back into his seat. Hugo rubbed his forehead with a slightly tired expression.
“I won’t force anyone. Any volunteers?”
“Me.”
As someone else raised their hand and spoke again, everyone’s gaze shifted to them.
It was Dellua Rivera, the commander of the 6th Division. She raised her hand in the silence and spoke cheerfully.
“I’ve always wanted to go to the Eldermilli Peninsula. Is that okay?”
Hugo’s expression softened slightly at her simple reason.
“Of course. Anyone else?”
“I’ll go too.”
The next to volunteer was Meterion Kleinder, the commander of the 3rd Division. When he raised his hand, everyone looked at him with surprised expressions. Hugo had a similar thought, but he didn’t ask for the reason.
As the commanders of two divisions volunteered, Noel, the commander of the 11th Division, smiled and whispered softly to Venom, so only he could hear.
“It seems you’re the only one afraid of him, unfortunately.”
“…Acting all high and mighty.”
Venom was displeased with the situation, where he had suddenly become the only coward, and soon turned his head away.
With the dispatch divisions decided, the meeting picked up speed. It was decided that the remaining personnel at headquarters would divide and carry out the existing tasks of the dispatched personnel, and that the volunteering divisions would also divide their personnel into company-sized units to take with them.
As it seemed like the end was in sight, Hugo summarized the contents of the meeting one last time.
“Good. Then, instead of excluding companies or platoons from the dispatch divisions whose current tasks are irreplaceable, we will call in one platoon from the 1st Division, which specializes in combat, to include them in the subjugation.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“And the entire subjugation force will be composed of the battalion commanders and vice-commanders of the 3rd and 6th Battalions, personnel drawn from them, and some healer personnel from the 13th Battalion. Any objections?”
“No objections.”
“No objections.”
When Hugo asked, the battalion commanders took turns expressing their opinions. Shorendo reluctantly said he had no objections last, and unanimity was achieved among those present. With this, the members of the expedition to the Eldermilli Peninsula were confirmed.
“Then the 3rd and 6th Battalions will each organize and report their expedition personnel. The expedition is in three days, and all internal handover must be completed by then.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Everyone in the conference room answered quickly to the neat summary. Hugo took a small breath as if relieved of a burden and rose from his seat.
“Everyone has worked hard. Let’s conclude the meeting here.”
“Thank you for your hard work―.”
As soon as the meeting ended, everyone quickly left the conference room. Hugo organized the papers he had taken notes on and left the conference room when almost everyone had left.
While everyone was hurrying back, Loren was standing alone in the hallway in front of the conference room. Hugo naturally approached her and spoke, sounding a little disappointed.
“I thought you would say you were going.”
Loren seemed to have been waiting to say something about that, and immediately replied to him.
“I’m sad that I can’t go to the peninsula, but there’s a noble group I’ve been chasing recently. If there’s a gap in the middle, it’ll be hard to investigate again.”
“Ah, is that the matter you reported before? The one about trading magic power.”
At Hugo’s words, Loren nodded and replied.
“Yes. Before, I was thinking in a vague direction, but seeing that the Delberg Merchant Group is involved in this Frost territory demon beast smuggling, I have a rough idea. If they can distribute magic stones, why can’t they distribute magic power? I’ve been considering the possibility that the merchant group has been involved from the beginning. There always needs to be an intermediary distributor in trading.”
Hearing her words, Hugo thought about something for a while before speaking.
“Filione Delberg is meticulous. Even if he leaves behind material evidence, he never leaves evidence that can be caught in the legal net. He’s always someone who has something to rely on. It won’t be easy.”
“I know that too. But I think there’s something else big involved here.”
Hugo frowned.
“What’s the estimated scale?”
“I don’t know exactly, but I know that what I’m chasing is only a small part.”
Loren spoke somewhat abstractly, but Hugo knew that she had an excellent wild sense for chasing cases. Also, because he trusted her a lot, he didn’t ask for more details.
“Okay, then I’ll continue to ask you to take care of that part.”
Loren nodded lightly in response.
At that moment, her gaze suddenly fell on a butterfly flying next to Hugo and herself. The small butterfly with white wings was hovering around them, not straying far from their surroundings, as if from nowhere.
Loren watched it for a while, then drew the sword she was wearing on her waist and instantly cut down the flying butterfly.
As the butterfly’s two white wings separated and fell to the floor, Hugo twitched an eyebrow at her sudden action.
“Why did you do that?”
“It seemed to be hovering nearby in a strange way.”
At her answer, Hugo made a slightly incomprehensible expression.
“I think that’s a bit of an overreaction.”
“You’re the one who told me not to trust anything, even within the Council.”
Loren put her sword back into its scabbard and continued, looking at Hugo.
“By the way, I find it quite surprising that Kleinder readily said he would go to the peninsula.”
At that, Hugo stared silently at the white butterfly that had been cut in half and fallen to the floor, and said.
“I thought so at first too, but….”
“…….”
“He, and his family, are the type to stake their lives on honor, so I don’t think it’s strange to think that way.”