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Bermuda Chapter 161
🕑 Added 2024-06-22 04:54:08 +0000 UTCChapter 161
Leonardo, who had walked along the perimeter of the rocky hill to a place where the base camp was not visible, looked around and then teleported somewhere. The place he moved to was about 5km away from the base camp, and it was also densely packed with huge, jagged structures.
After checking his surroundings again, Leonardo confirmed that there was no one around and took something out of his pocket. It was a heavy metal lump that shone silver. Nero's ring.
And with his other hand, he created a small sphere without any ability and sent it flying into the air. The transparent sphere naturally blended into the air and disappeared as it was. It was a small amount of mana that he had sent out.
Eventually, Leonardo raised the ring high and narrowed his eyes, carefully looking at the inside of the ring. If the owner was nearby, a faint light would be visible from the engraved intaglio inside. The reason he had sent out his mana was also to call Nero, who might be nearby.
However, even after looking at it for a long time, no light came from the ring. He deliberately wandered around here and there, but there was still no reaction.
It had been three days since he had been searching for Nero like this, and there was no trace or energy of him found since that day.
"...Is it my imagination?"
Leonardo muttered to himself and lowered his stiff arm. Still not taking his eyes off the ring, he stepped on the stairs of a structure that looked like a watchtower and climbed up.
When he reached a high place, he could see the dawn breaking faintly in the distance. He wanted to shine the ring in the faintly spreading morning sunlight once more, but he soon put it back in his pocket. It was because he felt a presence nearby.
He slowly counted to 10 in his mind. After taking a small deep breath and turning around, someone was slowly walking up the stairs of the structure. The other person didn't seem to have any intention of hiding his mana, as he expressed his presence without filtering. It wasn't Nero, and it wasn't Flynn either.
Leonardo quietly watched him climb up. The military boots that stepped on the last stair stopped right there. He was both surprising and unsurprising. It was because Leonardo knew that he had been watching him recently.
The one who had climbed the stairs was Meterion Clinder.
The two of them just stared at each other for a while without saying a word. A silence that didn't even let their breathing be heard filled the space between them.
Then, the first to make a move was Leonardo, who was about to jump off the watchtower, but when he actually tried to avoid it, a strange sense of pride was triggered, and he thought of walking past that person blocking the stairs with dignity.
Leonardo, who had fixed his gaze on the stairs, walked straight ahead. No matter what he said or asked why he was here, he walked with long strides, intending to ignore him.
When he had safely passed him and took about two steps down, Meterion, who had slowly turned around, spoke softly.
"Why don't you run away?"
It didn't sound like something a battalion commander of the Council would say, so Leonardo unknowingly raised his head and looked at him. Eventually, he frowned his eyebrows as if he had heard something strange, but the other person didn't say anything special and just looked down at him.
After figuring out the meaning of the words for a while, Leonardo calmly answered.
"I promised not to run away."
At that, Meterion asked again.
"With whom? Agrizendro?"
Leonardo affirmed with silence. Then, Meterion, who had been quietly staring at him, shifted his gaze somewhere else for a moment and chuckled. It was a clear sneer.
Leonardo's eyebrows rose smoothly at the sight of him. Soon after, Meterion, still with a face that hadn't lost its ridicule, looked down and said,
"Why do you obediently listen to the guy who caught you? Did he say he would let you go later if you don't run away and stay put?"
"..."
It wasn't much different, so he responded with silence again this time. Then, as if he had expected it, a clicking sound of the tongue was heard.
"Are you naive or stupid? Do you think he can let you go? He's just the emperor's dog, nothing without the emperor."
The emperor's dog. It was a vulgar term used by the aristocratic faction to refer to the emperor's loyal subjects, and it was also a term Leonardo had often heard in the past.
Leonardo could implicitly understand the real underlying meaning of what Meterion was trying to say. The man wasn't simply insulting the Commander as a powerless dog. He was mocking him, asking why the abandoned emperor's dog was on the side of another emperor's dog.
Honestly, since the other side was the one who suddenly came and picked a fight, he wanted to cleanly shatter his jaw, but he didn't want to cause trouble when they had reached the end of the subjugation.
Moreover, seeing him openly disparaging the duke of the empire, he seemed even more hopeless than himself, so it didn't seem like it would be good to get involved with someone who was crazy to that extent.
"I'm not in a position to be picky right now, so I have to stick with the person who looks the strongest. Someone with strong enough power to let me go."
Leonardo said with a smile on his lips.
"But other than that person, I don't see any other guy worth relying on."
Since he was a battalion commander who always tried to match the Commander, he looked straight at him and gently scratched him. He didn't know if it worked, but the ridicule that had been on Meterion's face disappeared. A chilling gaze collided in the air, and a tense atmosphere continued.
After some time had passed in silence, Leonardo suddenly felt another presence approaching nearby. It seemed to be Flynn, and come to think of it, he thought he had been away for too long considering he had said he would be back soon. It seemed like he had come to find him directly since he didn't come back even after waiting.
Thinking that nothing would be gained by doing this, Leonardo was the first to avert his gaze. As he went down the stairs, the gaze piercing into the back of his head was stinging, but he tried hard to ignore it.
However, when he took about three more steps down, he couldn't ignore his words that followed.
"What if I can let you go?"
Thud. Leonardo's steps abruptly stopped. His eyes widened.
He stood there wondering what he had heard, and soon another word was heard in succession.
"If I can give you perfect freedom, will you stick with me then?"
"..."
His words were clearly clear, but they were incomprehensible. It was because he had no idea of the intention behind the man saying such things to him.
When he slowly turned around with confused eyes, he was still looking down at him with an expressionless face. However, it felt different from a moment ago when he was mocking him. The extremely serious gaze seemed to be saying that this was the main point.
Leonardo narrowed his eyes and looked at him. He was doubtful whether it was sincere or a trap. Putting aside the question of whether the man really had the power to let him go, the biggest question was what he would gain by doing so.
When he was just staring at him, not suspicious but thinking it was a lie, the sound of Flynn's hurried footsteps was heard.
"Mr. Blaine!"
Flynn, who had hurriedly run over when he saw Leonardo standing on the stairs of the watchtower, soon discovered Meterion standing a little higher up and abruptly stopped.
At Flynn's voice, Meterion also shifted his gaze in that direction. With furrowed brows, he scanned the surroundings with his eyes to see if Flynn had brought anything with him. When their eyes met, Flynn, who had been stiffly frozen, immediately came to his senses and saluted him. Then, he barely opened his mouth.
"Hello, Battalion Commander Clinder."
However, even though he clearly saw that, the other person did not return the salute.
Instead, he turned his eyes to Leonardo and stared at him silently for a few seconds. When Leonardo grasped the meaning contained in that gaze, Meterion soon began to slowly descend the stairs.
Leonardo tensed a little at the sight of him getting closer and closer to him, but surprisingly, he passed by without taking any action. As if they had never even exchanged words.
Soon, when he reached the end of the stairs, stepped on the dirt floor, and walked away with heavy steps, Flynn, who had been frozen nearby, hurriedly stepped aside.
In a one-on-one situation, the subordinate could not lower his arm until the superior received the salute, so Flynn had been saluting at attention until now. However, Meterion, who had even barely glanced at him, passed in front of him with a leisurely pace. Then, he threw out a word as if to let them hear.
"It would be better to guard him properly."
Leonardo's brows furrowed deeply. It was because he knew who the target of that "guard" meant.
After a while, when he completely disappeared from their sight, Flynn finally sighed and lowered his numb arm. Then, looking up at Leonardo, who was still standing on the stairs, he asked in a grumbling voice,
"Mr. Blaine, why are you here? I've been looking for you for a while."
Leonardo jumped off the stairs in one breath and lightly landed in front of him. Then, after staring for a moment in the direction Meterion had disappeared, he spoke plainly.
"Sorry, I was taking a walk."
At the answer that seemed to be made up roughly, Flynn made a displeased expression. He had been waiting for a long time, but he didn't come, so he was worried and eventually came all the way here to find him. He wanted to hear a proper explanation, but seeing him answering half-heartedly, he somehow felt annoyed.
With that feeling, he was quietly glaring at him alone, when Leonardo, who had suddenly glanced at the silent Flynn, immediately noticed that he was in a bad mood and put his arm around his shoulder in a friendly manner, grinning.
"I'm sorry. I was going to go back soon."
"..."
"But why doesn't that bastard even return the salute when someone greets him? Your arm must hurt. Let's go too."
"Is it true that you were really going to come back soon?"
"Of course, obviously. You don't trust me?"
When he spoke with a beaming face, Flynn had nothing more to say. Seeing him rarely smiling usually but blatantly giving eye smiles only at times like this, it seemed like Leonardo knew himself too well.
In the end, Flynn, who couldn't ask more about why he was here, moved his steps together as Leonardo led him. Then, suddenly, the image of the two of them standing face to face on the stairs of different heights came to mind, and he casually asked.
"But how did you run into Battalion Commander Clinder? What did you talk about?"
"Huh?"
At Flynn's question, Leonardo turned his head straight. Then, slightly curling up the corners of his mouth, he said nonchalantly,
"We didn't talk about anything."
Comments
Jesse Gibson
I mean… I talked a lot crap about Hugo too hahaha but at least I didn’t mock him, I just said he was supppppper frustrating as a male lead. Flynn is way smoother and he’s not even close to male lead material and Hugo just frustrates me so much haha he’s gotten better but man.. sometimes I’m like “whyyyyyyyyyyyy? Why are you like this?” 😩 but Meterion.. is a bitch. I said it! I wouldn’t take any deal from him even if he gave me all the money in the world, he is extra sus with shady on top of
