Chapter 125

At the frontmost line of Fidele Territory leading to the Elder Millie Peninsula, in front of the border zone gate.

The area in front of the temporary headquarters of the Council's subjugation force was bustling busily today as well, with the Hareth Knights and some support troops gathering for combat preparation to head to the peninsula.

Cordelia, who had roughly finished her meal with a few pieces of bread, was checking the condition of the horses waiting for dispatch one by one while waiting for the knights to finish their meal.

Some time ago, when the stable near Parren's main camp was attacked, they had to bid farewell to the horses that had been with the knight order for a long time and newly deploy horses raised in the territory, and there were often problems of horses sensing the energy of monsters and breaking formation.

Although she couldn't read expressions from the eyes of the large, black horses, somehow their gaze seemed to be fearful, which made her feel uneasy. When the hot and humid wind blowing from the peninsula brushed across the border zone, the horses would get excited, kick their hooves, and snort, so Cordelia constantly stroked the bridges of their noses and manes, trying to calm them down.

Recently, as the air grew hotter and the weather became more severe, it was as difficult to see a clear sky as her heavy heart, ever since she heard the news of the collapse inside the peninsula along with the story that Leonardo was among the missing.

Still, thinking that Leonardo Blaine would be safe, she turned her steps to fill the feed buckets for the horses one more time before leaving.

After walking a few steps, she saw Bruno staring intently at the sheets of paper scattered on the table inside his personal tent. Since the recent attack by Dermocas that resulted in casualties, followed by receiving reports on the investigation status sent by the 9th Battalion of the Southern Branch, Bruno had been in that state.

Cordelia, who thought he was also trying to immerse himself in something to forget his sadness and confused emotions, stopped walking and headed towards Bruno. Then, she leaned against the entrance of the tent and knocked on the iron pillar to let him know she had come.

As the crude sound of the iron pillar rang out, Bruno, who had been engrossed, suddenly raised his head. Perhaps because he had been concentrating too much, his brow was heavily furrowed.

"Ah, Lady Hareth, what brings you here?"

Seeing his appearance, Cordelia felt a little sorry for interrupting his concentration.

"Ah... no. It's nothing much, I was just wondering if you had eaten. It seems like I haven't seen you rest much lately."

Seeing her face, Bruno seemed to have an "ah" moment and said while rubbing his forehead and relaxing his expression,

"There's something bothering me among the contents I recently received reports on. I've been thinking about it constantly, so I guess I'm out of it."

His face, with dark and sunken under-eyes, evoked pity in those who saw it. Although he didn't directly fight monsters on the peninsula, he pondered and devised strategies day and night to support the combat personnel just as much.

He collected all the information gathered through liaison officers to select safe routes and distribute supplies and food to each battalion, and he arranged for the injured to quickly return to the temporary headquarters for treatment or, in severe cases, to be loaded onto escort vehicles and transferred to nearby medical facilities.

In addition, as the Council Commander was currently out of contact due to the search for the missing persons, some of the authority had been delegated to Bruno, and all decision-making was concentrated on him, so the burden was inevitably heavy.

Knowing his situation, Cordelia couldn't easily tell him to take care of himself.

"...Is there anything I can help with?"

"Pardon? Ah, no. Lady, you are already providing great help in strategy development by going back and forth between Parren's main camp and the peninsula, aren't you? Thank you for even asking."

At Bruno's words, politely refusing with an awkward smile, Cordelia realized that he needed more time to concentrate alone and lightly nodded her head.

"I understand. Then, I will head out again as soon as the knights finish their preparations. If there is any other news, please let me know."

"Yes, thank you for your hard work as always."

Cordelia, who had exchanged salutes with Bruno, turned her body and stepped outside the tent. At that moment, she paused her steps, startled by the sight of a man running towards her from the front, out of breath, holding an armful of something.

"Lady Hareth, greetings!"

He shouted like that right away and rushed into the tent. Cordelia, who was startled, reflexively avoided him to the side, but her gaze followed him.

"Deputy Commander, please take a look at this!"

He was Gray Scott, the unit commander of the 12th Battalion of the Council's Southern Branch, and unlike his usual neat and tidy appearance, today he looked disheveled with his clothes not properly worn. His hair was either pressed or blown by the wind, sticking out all over.

Although people in the operations department were all like that these days, it was a bit unfamiliar to see Operations Officer Scott, who was strict in many aspects, looking like that.

He immediately spread out a huge piece of paper as tall as him on the table and showed it to Bruno, saying,

"This is what you instructed me to find out before. I think it's correct. The shape of this half almost matches!"

"...!"

At Gray's words, Bruno's tired eyes widened, and he looked at the unfolded paper as if he would slam his head into it.

Bruno didn't say a word, but his hand sweeping over the paper was slightly trembling. Thanks to that, even someone who didn't know could guess that the paper Operations Officer Scott had brought was an extremely important item.

Cordelia was standing there, watching and wondering what on earth that was to cause such a commotion. Then, when Bruno suddenly raised his head with a serious expression and looked at her, she flinched. She thought it might be confidential information within the Council that she shouldn't hear.

As she was about to salute again and leave the spot, Bruno hurriedly called out to her and stopped her.

"Lady Hareth, may I ask for your opinion on something for a moment?"

At those words, Cordelia stopped walking and turned to look at them, asking,

"Pardon? For what... reason?"

"Could you take a look at this?"

Bruno urgently grabbed the corners of the large paper spread out on the table and unfolded it towards Cordelia. Seeing him, Cordelia entered the tent as if mesmerized and approached them closely. Then, she slowly recognized what was drawn on the paper Bruno was holding out towards her.

It was a map. It was a compressed depiction of the terrain of the Elder Millie Peninsula, and its size was so enormous that Bruno, who was tall, had to stretch his arms to the fullest to hold it.

Seeing that the southern half only had ridges roughly marked and was incomplete, it seemed that the Council's Elder Millie Peninsula subjugation operations department was collecting information and manually drawing the map one by one.

The map had dark dots marked here and there, and although she couldn't tell what they were, it could be said to be the most detailed and perfect among the maps that had depicted the terrain of the peninsula so far.

Cordelia was inwardly amazed, but she wondered if he wanted her to praise him for drawing it well and pondered what to say. Then, Bruno asked her,

"Can you tell what this is?"

"Ah, yes. Isn't it a map depicting the terrain of the peninsula? It's quite... well drawn."

"You must have heard that ancient ruins are being discovered on the Elder Millie Peninsula. Our Council's subjugation force has been putting up fences around the ruins discovered on the peninsula under the Council Commander's orders to mark the areas."

"..."

"These dots marked here now are all the high pillars or statues that serve as reference points inside the ruins, marked as dots to transfer the areas onto the map."

As she nodded her head in a daze, this time Bruno gestured to Gray with his eyes. At that, Gray picked up another thin sheet of paper and placed both ends in Bruno's hands.

When the two sheets of paper overlapped in Bruno's hands, the map that had been behind it was clearly visible through the thin paper.

What was drawn on the thin paper was some kind of picture, connecting the thick dots that had been marked on the map earlier one by one. Seeing that, Cordelia's eyes gradually widened. Seeing her expression, Bruno spoke to her once more.

"Unlike typical ruins, the ruins on the Elder Millie Peninsula have a curved shape, not a straight line. This is the most plausible form among the various ways we tried connecting those reference points with curves. Now, what do you see?"

Cordelia slowly stepped back, moving a few more steps further back. Then, what was drawn on the huge paper finally came into full view at once.

The earnest gazes of the two men seemed to be hoping for a certain answer from her.

Cordelia, who slowly blinked her eyes, moved her lips blankly.

"A magic circle."

Eventually, she raised her head and her gaze turned to the two men. Cordelia steadied her trembling voice and spoke clearly to them.

"I see half of a magic circle."