By Zephyria Inside the rattling baggage cart. Leonardo was sitting with his legs crossed, leaning against the sparsely piled luggage as a hard cushion. When he closed his eyes, he felt as if he were in the middle of the cheering outside.
The road for the Council’s large-scale expedition was, like the day he was captured, once again filled with many citizens on the streets. But this time, instead of accusations and curses, there were shouts of support, glorifying the Council’s expedition.
Leonardo was not bound all over his body as before, but he was still wearing thick Magic Stone handcuffs on both hands and was hiding in the baggage cart to avoid being exposed to the citizens.
He stared blankly at the crack in the window where the light was thinly seeping in, with sunken eyes. Because the sound came in particularly loudly through that place, he was seized with the urge to throw open the window.
Just a little, just a little bit to open it. He thought that he wanted to see the faces of the cheering citizens, not the condemning ones, even if it was just a little bit.
After a long thought, he slightly raised his body and approached the small wooden sliding window in the swaying cart. Standing in front of it, he stared quietly at the light in the window, but the cart swayed greatly, causing him to kneel down and collapse in front of it.
After much conflict, he laboriously raised one hand bound by handcuffs and brought it close to the window. At that moment, the voices of the citizens brushed past his ears.
“Long live the Council!”
“Please come back safe!”
His hand, which was about to open the window, stopped. His fingertips, which could not reach, lingered in the air for a long time.
Eventually, his hand fell limply to the bottom with the heavy handcuffs. He looked at his fallen hand with bitter eyes.
The waves of support and enthusiastic cheers he had once heard, the praise and blessings from the citizens of the Imperial Capital, were no longer directed at him.
He soon closed the already closed window even tighter, so that there was not even a small gap. Then, he got up again and went back to the pile of luggage where he had been sitting and sat down with a thud.
Leaning against the hard luggage, he swept back his hair, gave a bitter smile, and said self-deprecatingly.
“Make up for it, my ass.”
Even though it was only for a brief moment, he felt ridiculous for wanting to seize the word ‘opportunity’ that Agrizendro had said to him while looking at him, even though he knew how contradictory that pity was. And at the same time, he felt very pathetic.
Leonardo clenched his fist tightly. He had to pretend to be okay. Even if the whole world cursed him, he had to believe in himself. Because if even a small gap appeared, the spirit that he was barely holding on to would collapse.
The cheers outside were still incessant, but when the window was tightly closed, he could only feel the rumbling sound and the shaking of the cart. All he could see was the dusty pile of luggage and pitch-black darkness.
The feeling of being left alone in this dark space. It was a sensation he had become accustomed to.
* * *
The expedition procession of numerous members of the Council reached the gate of the Imperial Capital while listening to endless cheers. The procession passed through several teleport zones there, passed through the portal, and went south as quickly as possible.
Quite some time passed, and soon after entering the Fidele Territory, the expedition procession felt the surrounding air change in an instant. The humid and hot air and the occasional subtle vibrations that shook the ground told him that he had come right in front of the Eldermilli Peninsula.
He had been here a few times before on Dark Silver missions, so he could immediately feel that the situation was much more serious than before.
Even though he had not yet fully entered the peninsula, the energy of demon beasts was already lurking everywhere, and the overall temperature had risen, indicating that the volcanic activity under the ground had become more active than before.
There was a buzzing sound outside, and the energy of various magical powers was mixed together, making it possible to guess that a considerable number of people had gathered. It seemed that other troops were stationed there in addition to the dispatched troops from the Central Branch.
“Unload all the luggage, arm yourselves here, and everyone waits until the order to enter the gate.”
“Yes, sir!”
The voices of the members answering loudly to someone’s order were heard. Afterwards, the members seemed to scatter with busy footsteps, so Leonardo simply sat still and waited.
Soon after, the back door of the baggage cart where Leonardo was located was thrown open, and light poured into the pitch-black interior. He squinted at the sudden glare and turned his head away for a moment.
When the light became familiar to his eyes, he looked straight ahead again, and Hugo was standing in front of him.
Hugo held out one hand to him, who was sitting down, and said.
“Come out.”
Leonardo frowned and looked at him, then slowly reached out to the floor and got up from his seat. He bent down and walked out of the baggage cart and stepped on the ground, but he lightly ignored Hugo’s outstretched hand without even looking at it.
Hugo silently lowered his aimless hand, still seeing his sharp eyes.
Leonardo, who got out of the cart, slowly looked around. There were far more troops stationed in front of the gate than he had expected. They seemed to be using the endless white tents as temporary headquarters.
Some were maintaining various weapons and climbing equipment, some were repairing parts of the gate that had been destroyed by demon beast attacks, and some were receiving treatment from the medical team for injuries.
‘There must be well over two thousand people….’
Leonardo looked around and suddenly met the eyes of those who were looking at him.
The ivory magic robe stood out quite a bit among the busy navy blue combat uniforms, and when they saw that he was wearing handcuffs, the members immediately recognized that he was the rumored Leonardo Blaine.
The members of the Southern Branch stared at him with even wider eyes at his blonde hair and golden eyes, which even the members of the Central Branch were not yet used to, and his unexpected appearance. When the attention was focused on him, Leonardo showed his discomfort on his face.
“Sorry for making you hide in the baggage cart.”
Hugo, who was next to him, spoke to Leonardo cautiously. Leonardo replied in a still cold voice.
“It’s okay, the ride was very comfortable.”
It was clearly sarcastic. Hugo didn’t say anything special, but he couldn’t deny that he was unconsciously checking on his mood.
Soon, Hugo put his hand lightly on Leonardo’s shoulder. Leonardo flinched at the action and glared at him with sharp eyes, so he immediately took his hand off as if to tell him to relax. Instead, he lowered his head slightly and whispered.
“I’ll release the handcuffs when we enter the peninsula.”
Then Leonardo frowned and questioned Hugo’s face, which was quite close to him.
“Why? Release them now. Everyone is looking at me with those eyes because I’m wearing this.”
When he looked around sharply and said that, the members who met his eyes hurriedly turned their heads and did their own work. At that sight, Hugo sighed quietly.
He should have fed him some delicious food before coming to make him feel better. His mood was at its worst right before the expedition, so he couldn’t take his eyes off him even though he was busy.
In the meantime, even if he entered the peninsula, it was actually difficult to release him from all restraints, so he was even more worried. It was clear that voices of concern would be raised towards him. That’s why he said it quietly on purpose, but Leonardo’s mood right now didn’t seem to understand his intentions at all.
Hugo looked at Leonardo, who was full of thorns towards him, and took out the handcuff key hanging in his combat uniform pocket.
Leonardo was unexpectedly taken in by his tantrum and remained still even when Hugo grabbed his wrist, thinking that he was going to release the handcuffs right here.
Hugo released the handcuffs tied to Leonardo’s left wrist. However, instead of releasing the handcuffs on the other side, he reattached the Magic Stone handcuffs that had fallen off Leonardo’s wrist to his own left wrist. Leonardo’s expression at that sight became quite a sight to behold.
“…What are you doing now?”
“Follow me. You can’t be separated from me.”
As Hugo said that and walked somewhere, Leonardo was dragged along by the chain connected to the handcuffs, but he made an absurd expression.
“No, this will make them stare even more!”
He protested strongly, but Hugo, who was walking ahead, didn’t even pretend to hear him.
He, who had suddenly become a follower of the Supreme Commander, felt the gazes of those around him whenever he said something to Agrizendro, so he shot them a fierce look once in a while…. But soon the number became too large, so he eventually gave up and chose to shut his mouth.