By Zephyria “I’m not going to say anything about you stepping in. But if someone else used that kind of mana in your exhausted state, they would have gone into shock. I think it would be good to pay a little more attention to your condition.”
Hearing those words, Leonardo stared intently at Hugo before frowning sharply. He then pulled his hand out of his grasp as if pushing it away and took a step back, creating distance. Then, with sharp eyes, he said mockingly.
“Someone who is so worried about my condition, why were you just watching back then?”
Hugo paused at the coldly returned answer.
“That’s—”
At that moment, as if representing Leonardo’s feelings, lightning struck once more in the middle of the plain. Hugo thought he couldn’t leave it like this and gestured towards the vortex floating in the sky, scattering the gathered clouds in all directions.
As the clouds scattered and the storm slowly dissipated, the strong wind and the electrical discharge in the sky gradually subsided. However, a rumbling sound, as if weak thunder was still striking, could still be heard.
As the sky calmed down a little, Hugo shifted his gaze and said seriously to Leonardo, who was glaring at him.
“I’m sorry. I promise that won’t happen again.”
Leonardo stared at Hugo for a long time at his actions of apologizing once more without any particular excuses. Then, he let out a deep sigh alone.
Because he was acting like that, he felt that what he was doing was very childish.
Did he want him to become emotionally weak? …That wasn’t it.
He just felt too tired of this situation, of being here now, excluding his existence. It felt like the tension he had been feeling, pushing himself into the situations that had been swirling around him since before coming to the peninsula, had burst at that exact moment.
Now that it had burst, there was no way he could afford to be relaxed. Objectively speaking, he was an upright person, had fulfilled his responsibilities, and had even given a perfect apology in the process. But right now, he didn’t have the luxury to accept that apology.
Leonardo, who had lowered his head slightly without replying to Hugo’s words, covered half of his face with one hand and gently stroked the area around his eyebrows.
This humid and hot air, his dry eyes, his scratchy throat, his tense nerves and unstable mana, and the diverse and numerous gazes looking at him. It felt like everything around him was stabbing him.
‘I’m tired.’
Leonardo closed his eyes tightly, then opened them and raised his head. Then, he saw Agrizendro looking at his mood and condition slowly with eyes filled with pity and apology.
Leonardo shifted his gaze from him and stared blankly as he looked up at the sky, where bright light was coming down between the scattered clouds.
‘I want to get out of here.’
Hugo couldn’t say anything more because Leonardo’s face, which had raised his head, looked too tired and exhausted. His white skin looked paler than usual, and his sunken eyes were uneasy and precarious.
As the hot and humid wind brushed between the two, Hugo didn’t know why, but he was reminded of Leonardo from that day when he was soaking in the steam in the cave. The playful smile from that time, which was quite different from now, seemed to be reflected on the face standing in front of him now.
As the thought of that time flickered through his mind, Hugo unknowingly brought his hand to his pale cheek, which looked particularly pathetic.
Leonardo, who had been looking at the sky, suddenly stared blankly at his large hand slowly approaching his face and the eyes looking at him.
Hugo paused for a moment, checking his expression. He didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping him.
Just before Hugo’s hand touched Leonardo’s cheek.
Suddenly, a urgent voice was heard from the radio Hugo had.
Jijik—.
—While arresting unauthorized intruders, Dermokas swarmed in and we are stuck. Requesting support! Coordinates are….
—Delta, D7. Approaching.
As the support request rang out, the voice of another member within the communicable area immediately replied.
“Commander, there is something urgent to report—.”
At the same time, two messengers from the Southern Branch approached, looking for the Commander to deliver a report, separate from the contents of the radio.
Leonardo turned his head towards the place where their voices were coming from.
Then, the messengers who were rushing over suddenly stopped when they discovered the two people standing quite close together. Leonardo glanced back and forth between Hugo’s face and his stopped hand, then turned his body and took a few steps away.
Hugo gazed intently at him as he moved away, scanning his pale cheek with his eyes, which he had not been able to touch. Then, as if nothing had happened, he lowered the hand that had almost touched it.
The two messengers felt that there was something strange in the air and hesitated, unable to finish their words. Then, Hugo turned his eyes to the messengers from the Southern Branch who had approached and asked calmly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah—, just now, a large number of Dermokas were discovered in the ruins near the eastern and southern borders of Eldermilli. According to the first discoverer, they were observed to be behaving as if they were calling their own kind, so we thought it was necessary to prepare and tried to report it, but….”
The messenger, who was conveying the message, trailed off again after seeing the devastated scene of the plain beyond the ridge. Hugo slowly turned his head, following their gaze, and replied.
“I was just finishing up anyway.”
As his gaze reached the plain, water poured from the blue magic circle spread out in the sky, quickly cooling the sizzling ground.
And soon, giant golems began to jump out from the right side of the plain, trampling the remaining demon beasts, and members who appeared to belong to the 6th Battalion all joined forces to deal with the escaping ones.
While Hugo and the messenger were watching the scene, the ground they were standing on suddenly shook slightly. As they felt the vibration again, the messengers backed away, on high alert.
However, the cause of this vibration was not a demon beast attack. Soon, a small golem made of soil and rock suddenly poked its head out from the shaking ground and popped out in front of them.
Leonardo watched it with his arms crossed. If Dellua, the commander of the 6th Battalion’s golem, was reduced to a small size, it would look exactly like that.
The golem that had emerged from the ground opened a part that looked like a mouth and took out a letter inside, handing it to Hugo. As he received it as if he was used to it, the small golem took a motion as if it was giving a salute, as if its purpose was to deliver the letter, and then went back into the ground.
Hugo immediately scanned the contents of the paper in his hand and said to the messengers.
“The rest will be handled by the Central Branch’s 6th Battalion led by Commander Rivera. Go and tell them.”
The messenger, who had been staring blankly at the hole created by the golem entering, came to his senses at Hugo’s words and replied.
“Yes, I understand. Ah, there are a few more things to report before that.”
The messenger from the Southern Branch reported that some squads of the 9th Battalion, which were at the forefront of the eastern entrance, had encountered a group of Dermokas in the ruins and suffered casualties.
Hugo’s face turned sharply cold at the report, and Leonardo, who was listening to their conversation from a short distance away, also turned his head at the story of the casualties.
“Casualties?”
“Yes.”
Hugo said to the messenger with a serious face.
“Report the current suppression situation and the exact number of casualties.”
“Support troops were immediately deployed and the suppression of the site is almost complete, but quite a few monsters have escaped. Two of the five members of the 4th Squad under the 3rd Company of the 9th Battalion of the Southern Branch, who were the first to discover them, have died, and one is seriously injured.”
“…….”
“However, only one body was found, and according to the testimony of the member who came to request support, the Dermokas was holding the body of another member who had died first. So, we are assuming that the Squad Leader chased after them to retrieve the body.”
“Assuming?”
Hugo frowned at the uncertain word ‘assuming’ and asked again, and the messenger carefully continued.
“That is… the Squad Leader’s exact location and whether he is alive or dead are currently unknown.”
Chzz―.
‘Requesting additional support. There are more than expected.’
‘Sigma, E13. Approaching. Requesting location re-confirmation.’
“…First of all, locating the body they took and the Squad Leader’s location is the top priority. Has a tracking team been formed?”
“First, at the direction of the 9th Battalion Commander, members of the same squad are currently tracking. And an eggshell was found at the ruins of the location where the incident occurred, but it was empty, whether it had already hatched or not. We are investigating which individual’s egg it is.”
Chzz―.
‘Coordinates (345, 525, 2034). However, it is located on a mountainside, so it is impossible to move with teleportation tools, and the coordinate error range is also large. After moving to the nearby lowlands, you will need to visually identify it directly from the air.’
Leonardo listened to their conversation and kept his eyes on Hugo’s radio, which was constantly ringing in between. The subtly awkward tone, and the rambling situation report instead of short and concise radio terminology, made it seem like he knew who the support requester was without even looking.
It seemed that other members were continuing to go to support them, but the number of demon beasts was not insignificant, and the situation sounded quite urgent.
Leonardo turned his gaze back to Hugo from the radio. But looking at his face, it seemed that he was not in a situation where he could pay attention to the other side of the radio.
Hugo, who had become increasingly serious after hearing the words of the Southern Branch messenger, hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth.
“It would be good to move together and check.”
“Yes, I understand. It’s not far from here.”
As he seemed about to move immediately, Leonardo called out to them.
“Just a moment.”
At his voice, Hugo and the Southern Branch messenger both looked at him at the same time. When attention was focused on him, Leonardo pointed to Hugo’s radio with his chin.
“That thing, it keeps ringing.”
Hugo glanced at his radio following that gaze, then looked up and said to him.
“Other members will be going to support. Leonardo, you come with me.”
Hugo said that and held out his hand to Leonardo. But Leonardo, as always, did not easily take the outstretched hand. He stared blankly at Hugo’s hand for a moment as if thinking, then shook his head.
“What am I going to do there? I’ll just catch demon beasts.”
After saying those short words, he immediately turned around and started to move somewhere. Then Hugo quickly approached him and grabbed his arm. Leonardo frowned and turned his head at the strong force that stopped his arm, and Hugo said while holding him.
“Where are you going when you’re exhausted?”
“……”
“Don’t overdo it. You need rest right now.”
Hugo said to Leonardo in a firm but as gentle tone as possible, as if trying to soothe him.
Then Leonardo unfolded his frowning brow and stared at Hugo’s eyes with a subtle expression. It was the same chillingly cold color as usual, but somehow, even though it was the same blue color, the temperature felt a little different now.
Leonardo felt a sense of alienation and a strange feeling that he had not felt before in that gaze, but he also felt an unknown rebellious feeling towards Hugo for saying such things now.
So, instead of giving the answer the other person wanted, he answered firmly in a cold tone.
“I’ll take care of it myself.”