By Zephyria The woman’s facial muscles twitched slightly as she wore her long black hair high up and wore an armband signifying that she was a squad leader.
She was Squad Leader 8 of the 1st Battalion, who had been chasing Leonardo for a long time before Hugo went to chase him. As the time she had spent trying to catch him was quite long, she couldn’t possibly look at the man in front of her with kind eyes.
Moreover, as a result of Leonardo’s interrogation a while ago, it was revealed that his appearance after the relentless pursuit was not really because he had been caught, but a scheme to bring in the Council, and she had to feel a lot of frustration. Because she had suffered unspeakable hardships to catch him.
Hugo felt a little sorry when he saw Squad Leader 8’s stiff face. Originally, he was planning to give her a reward vacation for her hard work after bringing Leonardo to the Imperial City, but the schedule for the peninsula was set right away, so the situation was not favorable.
Her tracking skills were essential to find and subdue the hidden demon beasts.
However, as a subtle war of nerves seemed to be continuing between the two gazes that had collided in front of him, Hugo intervened to break the flow.
“Leonardo, you’re going to clear the way from now on.”
“…What? Me?”
Leonardo asked back as if he had misheard. He didn’t know what to believe when he said his magic control was unstable, but now he was telling him to clear the way.
But he was getting bored of just following the slow column from behind, so Leonardo changed his bewildered expression and said calmly.
“I won’t wait even if you can’t keep up.”
Leonardo glanced at the members waiting behind Hugo and shifted his gaze back to him. Seeing that, a faint smile spread across Hugo’s lips.
“You’re worried that the members won’t be able to keep up, aren’t you?”
Leonardo frowned, feeling as if he was trying to tease him by adding the word ‘worried’ on purpose. Soon, instead of answering that, he turned his eyes to the central entrance.
He grabbed the back of his neck and moved his head slowly from side to side. Then, a chilling sound came from his neck, and at the same time, a slight breeze blew as if the surrounding air was preheating.
Leonardo, who had simply warmed up, looked back at the twenty or so people who were looking at him in turn. Then he conveyed to them in a clear voice.
“I’m going at full speed.”
Hugo nodded lightly.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
* * *
Thump— Thump—!
Dellua stopped walking abruptly at the continuous sound of impact echoing inside the cave. Then her deputy, Marlene, and the members also stopped in their tracks following her.
As Dellua focused on the shaking of the ground for a moment, the irregular vibrations quickly subsided.
Just as she was about to start again, thinking it was a temporary phenomenon, the loud sound from before rang out again.
It seemed to be passing by, showing its presence right next to the path where the 6th Battalion members were standing, and gradually disappearing far away. Marlene said in a slightly worried tone at the sound that heightened the tension.
“The cave won’t collapse, will it?”
Dellua scanned the cave’s ceiling and walls with her eyes as she replied.
“Hmm… it should be fine. The soil is a bit soft, but it’s based on bedrock, so it shouldn’t collapse as long as we don’t use long-range attacks. Blaine seems to know that too. Besides, the Squad Leader is there, right? He’ll stop it if anything happens.”
Marlene still looked uneasy, but she seemed to agree with the statement that the Squad Leader would stop it. After the sound completely stopped and was no longer audible, Dellua pondered something for a moment before asking Marlene.
“Hey, about the Squad Leader. What does the Squad Leader want to do with Blaine?”
Marlene tilted her head at the sudden question and asked back.
“Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“No, actually, I was too busy worrying about the problem earlier to think about it properly. I thought the Squad Leader trusted Blaine because he kept him by our side without even putting him in handcuffs. But then he asked me if I could control him, so I guess not….”
“…….”
“Or does he have other intentions? I can’t figure him out.”
Marlene, who had been listening, pondered briefly before answering as if asking the obvious.
“Well, wouldn’t it be because Blaine’s magic control is unstable, regardless of whether he’s trusted or not, and that could put others in danger?”
“Hmm…. I guess so?”
Dellua still had some lingering thoughts, but she seemed to have sorted them out as she moved her feet and muttered.
“I thought maybe the Squad Leader wanted to go with Blaine too.”
Then Marlene, who had somehow heard her, furrowed her brow and let out a burst of laughter as if it were absurd.
“Do you think the Squad Leader is like a battalion commander?”
Hearing that, Dellua stopped walking again and looked at Marlene. Then, with a bright smile, she asked chillingly.
“What do you mean by that?”
* * *
“Squad Leader, is it okay to let that guy run wild like that? What if the cave collapses….”
“It’s fine. He’s more worried about that than we are.”
Squad Leader 8 asked urgently, but Hugo replied leisurely. Currently, all the personnel who went to the center were speeding through the cave interior with high-speed flight. Leonardo was no longer visible in their sight.
He was far ahead, and his speed was so fast that they could only occasionally hear the sound of him beating up a few demon beasts, and it was difficult to even see the hem of his cloak. It would have been impossible to keep up with Leonardo’s speed if they had brought ordinary members.
Hugo glanced back and saw that Flynn and the two healers, who were not combat personnel, seemed a little tired, but they were still keeping up well.
How long had they been dashing through the cave so refreshingly? Finally, the sound that had been coming from afar subsided, and Leonardo’s magic was felt nearby again.
Hugo stopped flying and set foot on the ground, and all the other members also came down to the ground. At the end of the cave visible before them, Leonardo was standing still with his hand on the wall.
He was the type to make a path where there was none, so Flynn, who had struggled to follow him, found his appearance strange, but he was out of breath and just wanted him to stop for a moment. On the other hand, Hugo seemed to know why he had stopped.
Hearing the sound of footsteps, Leonardo, who had been staring at the cave wall, turned his head and looked at them. Hugo gave him a faint smile and asked.
“Do you feel the water?”
Then Leonardo nodded and pointed to the wall in front of him.
“It’s full in front of here.”
At Leonardo’s words, the members, including Hugo, approached where he was.
Flynn found it strangely fascinating that the two of them could feel ‘water’ itself, not magic. The Squad Leader was a powerful ice and water mage, but Leonardo was the opposite, fire, yet the two of them felt the same thing.
But as they approached the wall where he was standing, they felt the ground getting wetter and wetter, to the point where their feet were sinking.
Flynn felt something was wrong. According to Leonardo, this place was full of water, but in his opinion, this place was quite high in altitude and not a place where water should be. Moreover, this muddy mud was somewhat unnatural for being in a cave formed by volcanic activity.
With a question in mind, he asked into the air.
“The lower part was clearly a cave made of basalt and limestone, but why is this side covered with wet soil?”
Hearing him, Hugo put his hand on Flynn’s shoulder as if it were a good question and replied.
“The cave wall in front of us is more like hardened sediment than a wall.”
“Sediment?”
“Yes. Things that have accumulated underwater are blocked like a wall, and then they break through from time to time, flowing into the cave along with the water.”
At Hugo’s words, Squad Leader 8 asked.
“If there’s such a vast amount of water that it can fill the walls… should we go back?”
Instead of answering her, Hugo looked at Leonardo. When his gaze reached him, Leonardo raised his eyebrows slightly.
“Why are you looking at me?”