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Bermuda Chapter 78
🕑 Added 2024-04-30 11:25:37 +0000 UTCChapter 78
The dawn of the Elder Millie Peninsula spent in the crater was quiet without fail. Perhaps because it was such a high altitude, there seemed to be no monsters climbing up here. However, amidst that stillness, Hugo woke up feeling hot and humid air.
Like Leonardo, Hugo also hadn't been able to sleep deeply since coming here, because he had moved across a wide area in a short time, from the Frost Territory to the capital, and then again to the Elder Millie Peninsula at the southernmost point, so he wasn't adapting well to the time difference.
He slightly opened his eyes, quietly stared at the small lantern hanging in the center of the tent for a while, then eventually sat up. This place had quite cold air, so the sudden spread of warm energy felt strange.
Hugo, who had been washing his face for a moment, swept his hair back and opened the tent door. As soon as he went out and looked around, he saw a member who had been on night watch dozing off.
Clicking his tongue, Hugo approached the member and tapped his back with his palm. Then, the member, who was startled awake from his slumber, saw Hugo's face and was even more surprised, hurriedly getting up from his spot.
"Commander, I apologize."
Instead of answering, Hugo glared at him intently as if telling him to do well. Afterwards, he approached the dying bonfire in the center, threw a few more pieces of firewood that had been gathered to the side, and revived the embers. And out of habit, he looked at Leonardo's tent, which had been set up far from the members.
But the door of that tent was slightly open.
"..."
Feeling a sudden sense of unease, Hugo hurriedly moved his steps towards the open tent. Then, he lowered his head and carefully examined the inside.
However, the person who should have been inside was gone, and his sleeping bag and mage robe top were scattered messily. Hugo frowned deeply and asked the member who had been on night watch,
"Where's Leonardo?"
"Pardon?"
Seeing his noticeable confusion, it seemed he still didn't know the situation. The member hurriedly approached Hugo's side and belatedly opened Leonardo's tent to check. As the inside was empty, he turned pale and stammered in a fluster,
"I, I'll go look for him right away."
Suddenly, Hugo looked down at him intently and asked,
"Are you a new recruit?"
"Ah... yes, that's right."
His face wasn't familiar, so it seemed he had newly joined the 1st Battalion. Feeling a bit sorry for him, who had come to the Elder Millie Peninsula as soon as he joined, Hugo said to the member who was frozen stiff,
"I'll do the searching, so stay at your post and keep watch well. And don't doze off again."
"...Understood."
Having said that, Hugo immediately entered the inside of the cave where hot energy was slowly flowing out. It was because Leonardo's mana was faintly felt inside. It didn't seem like he had gone far, and it was certain he was nearby.
From finding him hiding in the Frost Territory to now having to worry about his unstable control, Hugo's attention was so focused on Leonardo that he could feel his presence even while sleeping.
As he went deeper inside, hotter and more humid air wafted strongly, and steam filled the space. His presence also gradually got closer.
As Hugo entered deep into the cave while minimizing the sound of his footsteps, the sunken path suddenly widened and a cave space like a huge dome unfolded.
And there, a huge puddle of water could be seen, seemingly created by the water from the lake outside overflowing and pooling.
However, while the water outside was very cold, the water here looked extremely hot, and steam was rising. Hugo instantly sensed that this heated warmth was his doing.
In the quiet cave interior where only the sound of water dripping echoed, Hugo went further in, searching for Leonardo who would be somewhere.
Just as he was about to inevitably float a light ball because it was so dark all around, along with the sound of water rubbing, clothes were seen spread out on a large rock nearby. Even with eyes that had barely adjusted to the darkness, he could roughly tell. They were all the clothes Leonardo had been wearing.
With a doubtful feeling, he walked behind the rock and saw the golden back of the head he had been searching for in a place that looked like a pond with a deep groove dug into the ground. He was sitting with his upper body half-submerged in the puddle of water where steam was rising hotly, with his back turned this way and leaning against the shore.
Hugo naturally stopped his steps there.
As Leonardo, who was in the water, waved his arms and swept his face and hair back, the sound of water splashing and falling broke the silence and rang out. The thick steam that rose from the high-temperature water meeting the cold air made Hugo's vision completely hazy.
The back view sitting in the midst of that looked quite mystical, but at the same time, it made him feel like he was witnessing a forbidden scene that shouldn't be seen.
Hugo, who had been silently watching, quietly opened his mouth.
"I thought I told you not to act on your own."
The low voice crossed the humidity and brushed Leonardo's skin. He, who had been caressing his neck with a wet hand, flinched for a moment. It seemed he hadn't expected anyone to find him here.
However, Leonardo soon leaned his back naturally as if he didn't care at all. Then, he lifted one arm onto the shore and turned his head halfway.
"I was going to wash up, I couldn't wake you up and ask you to watch over me, could I?"
At the brazen answer, Hugo's eyebrows twitched as he floated a light ball and approached closer to where he was. As the surroundings lit up softly, Leonardo turned his head that he had halfway turned back again, turning his back to Hugo. Even though he was caught red-handed leaving, he didn't seem to have any intention of coming out.
Hugo went right behind him and looked down at the figure enjoying the tranquility, submerged in the puddle of water that came up to about his lower back. Then, narrowing his eyes, he intently watched the water droplets falling from his wet hair, flowing down his neckline, shoulders, and back.
On the white upper body that wasn't very visible, small scars could be seen here and there. They were probably wounds he had gotten from numerous wars and dangerous missions.
Hugo scanned the faint marks decorating the white body and slowly examined his shoulders and spine.
'Not bad...'
When he was clothed, he had only thought he had a fairly well-proportioned body, and considered him to be on the slimmer side compared to the average male. But seeing his bare body directly, it wasn't that the volume of his muscles was small and not prominent, but rather, it was a toned body finely woven.
And it could be instantly known that it wasn't muscles created through exercise, but muscles engraved on the flesh for survival while traversing countless battlefields.
However, among those, what caught his attention the most was the scar on his left shoulder, which could be guessed at a glance to have been a considerably large wound. Hugo meticulously traced that scar with his gaze.
It was slightly larger than Hugo's large hand, not matching the white skin texture.
Although it seemed to have faded a bit with time, even to Hugo, who had faced many wounds with his eyes, it looked like an extremely large and painful wound. He had heard that even fire mages get burned by sudden attacks, and it looked like a burn mark.
Suddenly, Hugo remembered when he had confronted Leonardo in the capital, the only time he had failed to dodge and got hit on his left shoulder by the ice mass that Andreas had woven with tree branches and swung.
Even then, it had seemed to his eyes that he could have sufficiently dodged it, so he had wondered when he got hit on the shoulder and it had remained in his memory.
Now, looking back on that incident, it seemed that his agility and senses were a bit duller compared to other parts due to the large wound he had received on his left shoulder. Afterwards, Hugo also fleetingly recalled the moment when he had taken Leonardo to the terrace at the Council and released his restraints, and he had been constantly rubbing only his left arm.
'So that's why he brushed off my hand when I put it on his shoulder.'
He could finally understand why he had been startled and brushed it off a beat late, not before the hand touched, but after it had already touched. It seemed that because the sensation there was inferior to other parts and his reaction was slow, he was rather more wary and sensitive about it.
As Hugo was retracing Leonardo's past actions, Leonardo leaned his body back and raised his chin as if looking at the ceiling.
Then, a beauty who was looking up at him with his lower body precariously hidden in the dark water abruptly entered Hugo's sight.
His hair and long eyelashes were damply wet, and he had a slightly frowning face. But even the curves in the corners of his eyes looked like graceful lines.
"How long are you going to stand there?"
At Leonardo's question, Hugo answered somewhat stubbornly,
"Until you come out."
The pretty brows furrowed, then soon narrowed his eyes and laughed lightly.
"I didn't know the Commander had voyeuristic tendencies."
Hugo's brows also furrowed upon hearing him, but he didn't answer. It was because he didn't feel it was worth responding to the nonsensical remark. However, Leonardo rather lifted the corners of his mouth as if satisfied with Hugo's expression and said in a flat tone,
"Why."
Hugo silently looked down at him like that.
The wet hair sticking to his transparent skin was strange. The way his red lips glistened, wet with water under the soft light, drew his gaze.
Seeing where that gaze was directed, Leonardo soon smiled alluringly as if he knew it all. Then, to him who still had a cold face, he asked in a dangerously languid voice,
"Want to come in?"
Comments
Monmon
These two really can't get enough of looking at eachother (I don't blame them ๐คจ๐ณ๏ธโ๐๐ท๐ธ)
Monmon
At least they're both honest LMAO
Bernie Jay
Can I point out how often Hugo refers to Leo as a beauty?
Jesse Gibson
Cough cough, Leo, you too smooth
