By Zephyria The dawn of the Elder Milli Peninsula, spent in the crater, was as quiet as ever. There seemed to be no demon beasts climbing up to this high altitude. But in that quietness, Hugo woke up from his sleep feeling the hot and humid air.
Like Leonardo, Hugo had not been able to sleep deeply since coming here, because he had moved across a wide area in a short period of time, from the frost territory to the capital, and then to the southernmost Elder Milli Peninsula, so he was not adapting to the time difference.
Opening his eyes slightly, he stared at the small lantern hanging in the center of the tent, and then he sat up. The air here was quite cold, but he felt a sudden rush of warm energy, which he found strange.
After washing his face briefly, Hugo swept back his hair and opened the door of the tent. As soon as he went outside and looked around, he saw a member on watch dozing off.
Tsk, clicking his tongue, Hugo approached the member and tapped his back with his palm. Then, the member woke up from his sleep with a start, and was even more surprised to see Hugo’s face, and hurriedly stood up from his seat.
“Squad Leader, I’m sorry.”
Instead of answering, Hugo glared at him as if to tell him to do better. Afterwards, he approached the dying campfire in the middle and threw a few more pieces of firewood that had been gathered next to it to revive the embers. And habitually, he looked at Leonardo’s tent, which had been set up away from the members.
But the door of that tent was slightly open.
“…….”
Feeling a sudden sense of unease, Hugo quickly moved his steps towards the open tent. Then, he lowered his head and carefully looked inside.
But the person who should have been inside was not there, and his sleeping bag and magic robe top were scattered messily. Hugo frowned and asked the member on watch.
“Where’s Leonardo?”
“Yes?”
Seeing him noticeably flustered, it seemed he didn’t know the situation yet. The member quickly approached Hugo’s side and belatedly opened Leonardo’s tent. When it was empty inside, he became pale and stammered in a flustered manner.
“I, I’ll go look for him right away.”
Suddenly, Hugo looked down at him and asked.
“Are you a rookie?”
“Ah… yes, I am.”
He didn’t recognize his face, so it seemed he had just joined the 1st squad. Feeling a little sorry for him, who had come to the Elder Milli Peninsula as soon as he joined, Hugo said to the member who was frozen stiff.
“I’ll do the searching, so stay in your position and guard it well. And don’t doze off again.”
“…I understand.”
Saying that, Hugo immediately entered the inside of the cave where the hot energy was slowly flowing out. It was because his magic was faintly felt inside. He didn’t seem to have gone far, and he was definitely nearby.
From finding him hiding in the frost territory to now worrying about his unstable control, Hugo was so on edge about Leonardo that he could feel his energy even while sleeping.
The deeper he went inside, the hotter and more humid the air became, and it was full of steam. His energy was also gradually getting closer.
Hugo reduced his footsteps as much as possible and entered the depths of the cave, and the narrow path suddenly widened, and a cave-like space like a large dome unfolded.
And there, he saw a huge puddle that seemed to have been created by the water from the lake outside overflowing and pooling.
The water outside was extremely cold, but the water here looked very hot, with steam rising from it. Hugo immediately sensed that this heat was his doing.
Inside the quiet cave, where only the sound of dripping water echoed, Hugo went further inside, looking for Leonardo somewhere.
It was so dark all around that he was about to float a Light Ball, but then he heard the sound of water friction and saw clothes scattered on a large rock nearby. Even with his eyes barely accustomed to the darkness, he could tell. They were all clothes that Leonardo had been wearing.
With a sense of foreboding, he walked behind the rock and saw the golden back of the head he had been searching for in what looked like a pond carved deep into the floor. He was sitting with his upper body half-submerged in the steaming puddle, leaning against the bank with his back to Hugo.
Hugo naturally stopped dead in his tracks.
Leonardo, in the water, swished his arms to sweep back his face and hair, and the sound of splashing water cut through the silence. The thick steam, rising from the meeting of the hot water and the cold air, completely blurred Hugo’s vision.
The figure sitting in the middle of it looked quite mysterious, yet made him feel as if he were witnessing a forbidden scene that he shouldn’t be seeing.
Hugo, who had been silently watching, opened his mouth in a low voice.
“I told you not to act alone.”
His subdued voice cut through the humidity and brushed against Leonardo’s skin. Leonardo, who had been touching the back of his neck with his wet hand, paused for a moment. He probably hadn’t expected anyone to come all the way here.
However, Leonardo soon leaned back as if he didn’t care at all. Then, he put one arm on the bank and turned his head halfway.
“I was going to wash, but I couldn’t wake you up to watch me.”
Hugo’s eyebrows twitched at the brazen answer, and he floated a Light Ball and approached him. As the surroundings became subtly brighter, Leonardo turned his head back, turning his back to Hugo again. He had been caught red-handed in the act of desertion, but he didn’t seem to have any intention of coming out.
Hugo went right behind him and looked down at the figure enjoying the peace and quiet, submerged in the waist-high puddle. Then, narrowing his eyes, he watched without missing a single drop of water falling from his wet hair, running down his neckline, shoulders, and back.
Beyond the black choker, on his white upper body, there were small scars here and there, though not very visible. They were probably wounds he had sustained in numerous wars and dangerous missions.
Hugo scanned the faint marks decorating his white body, slowly examining his shoulders and back.
‘Not bad…’
When he was dressed, he only thought he had a fairly balanced body, and considered him to be slimmer than the average man. But seeing him naked, he realized that it was not that the volume of his muscles was not large enough to stand out, but that it was a delicately woven, solid body.
And it was clear at once that it was not a body made through exercise, but muscles forged for survival, etched into his flesh as he traversed countless battlefields.
However, among those things, what caught his eye the most was a scar on his left shoulder that suggested a rather large wound at first glance. Hugo slowly traced the scar with his eyes.
Unbecoming of his fair skin, it was slightly larger than Hugo’s large hand.
Time seemed to have faded it a bit, but even to Hugo, who had seen many wounds, it looked like a very large and painful scar. He had heard that even fire mages could get burned in a sudden attack, and it looked like a burn mark.
Suddenly, Hugo remembered when he faced Leonardo in the Imperial Palace, Leonardo was unable to dodge the chunk of ice Andreas had woven with tree trunks and swung, and it hit his left shoulder.
Even then, it seemed to Hugo that he could have avoided it easily enough, and he had been left with the memory because he had wondered why he had been hit in the shoulder.
Looking back on it now, it seemed that his agility and senses were a little duller than other places because of the large wound on his left shoulder. Later, Hugo also fleetingly recalled Leonardo constantly rubbing his left arm when he released him from his restraints after taking him to the terrace at the Council.
‘So that’s why he swatted my hand away when I put it on his shoulder.’
In succession, he was finally able to understand why Leonardo was surprised and swatted his hand away a beat late, not before it touched him. It seemed that because his sense of touch was less sensitive than other places, he was more wary and sensitive to it.
As Hugo retraced Leonardo’s actions, Leonardo tilted his head back and looked up at the ceiling.
Then, a beauty who was looking up at him with her lower body precariously hidden in the dark water suddenly came into Hugo’s view.
Her hair and long eyelashes were damp, and her face was slightly frowning. But even the lines around her eyes looked like graceful curves.
“How long are you going to stay there?”
At Leonardo’s question, Hugo answered rather firmly.
“Until you come out.”
Her beautiful brow furrowed, then she narrowed her eyes and smiled lightly.
“I didn’t know the Commander had a voyeuristic side.”
Hugo’s brow furrowed at his words, but he didn’t answer. He didn’t feel it was worth responding to such nonsense. However, Leonardo seemed satisfied with Hugo’s expression and raised the corners of his lips, speaking without inflection.
“Why.”
Hugo looked down at him without a word.
It was strange how her wet hair clung to her clear skin. The way her red lips, illuminated by the soft light, were wet and fluttering caught his eye.
Leonardo, seeing where his gaze was directed, smiled seductively as if he knew everything. Then, he asked Hugo, who still had a cold face, in a dangerously gentle voice.
“Want to come in?”