Chapter 152

Leonardo, who had been recalling the perplexing events from a few hours ago, lay on the cot and stared blankly at the ceiling of the tent with drowsy eyes.

Spending another sleepless night while others were all asleep, his eyes were very sticky and blurry, but sleep didn't come.

Except for the faint lamps hanging on both sides, all the lights were turned off, making the interior quite dark. Although the added silence could have made it feel cozy, there was a sense of tension lingering in this shared tent.

When a person falls into a state of sleep, their breathing becomes regular. It is because the body enters a state of rest, except for the minimal activity necessary to sustain life.

This breathing is also related to the pulse, making it effective in catching a person's current state or emotions. Therefore, Leonardo, who heard Hugo's subtle breathing, could know for certain.

That he was also still awake.

Leonardo's mind was unnecessarily complicated, not knowing what he was thinking right now. Although he had managed to get through the earlier question well, he still couldn't grasp his intentions.

When Leonardo heard Hugo's question about exactly when he had started moving separately with Kenis, he couldn't answer right away.

Then, as if thinking that he had confused him with the question, Hugo rephrased it, asking why they were apart when they were clearly together based on the footprints found in the swamp area, and exactly when they started moving separately like that.

Leonardo, who was gripped by the obsession that if he didn't answer quickly, he would be suspected in any direction, fortunately remembered the excuse Kenis had told the Platoon Leader and recited it with a slight modification.

He had briefly left the guy to find a safe path, but when he returned to the original location, Kenis was nowhere to be seen. And the point when that happened was about an hour before meeting him today.

Hugo, who had muttered the words "an hour," asked again if they had been together all along before that. At that, Leonardo briefly recalled the moment he had left Kenis behind, but soon naturally nodded his head. Hugo didn't ask any further questions after that.

Leonardo, who had been mentally retracing the past situation, soon shook his head inwardly. He had managed to get through it well, and since there was no particular mention afterwards, it was just stressful to worry about it unnecessarily.

However, even while thinking that, he turned his body to lie facing away from Hugo on the other side, who was unnecessarily on his mind.

The distance between the beds was quite far, but the sound of the sleeping bag brushing was particularly loud, so Leonardo couldn't find a comfortable position and stopped as he was. Although not visible, it seemed like he was as conscious of him as he was of him.

From the note he had seen earlier to his sudden question, all sorts of things were tangled up, making his head throb. In addition, the three packs of meatballs they had eaten sitting face to face at the table spread out in the tent, supposedly in consideration of him, were stuck around his solar plexus instead of going down smoothly.

Because of that, as he was lying on his side and sighing silently, he suddenly heard a rustling sound from behind as well.

The heavy and leisurely movement seemed to change positions a few times, and at one point, he pushed away the sleeping bag and sat up. Dry sounds of his face and hands brushing followed, as if he was washing his face, and before long, a deep, low voice echoed softly inside the tent.

"Leonardo."

Although he clearly heard it, he pretended to be asleep, breathing evenly, in case he would be asked another unfavorable question. Then, there were a few sounds of dragging on the dirt floor. Hugo, who had put on spare shoes placed next to his military boots, got up from his seat and approached with heavy footsteps.

"I know you're not sleeping."

Leonardo, who clicked his tongue at the quick perception, slightly lifted his head and looked back, putting strength in his neck.

In just a few steps, he had already come to stand behind him. Due to his posture, his shoulders were severely stiff, so he turned his body again with a rustle and straightened his head to lie flat. Then, he looked up at him with a slightly annoyed nuance and asked,

"Why did you call me?"

Hugo, who was standing right next to the bed, looked down at him blankly with eyes soaked in fatigue. Then, he blinked slowly and focused his eyes properly.

The faint lighting of the dark dawn illuminated the disheveled golden hair on the white sheet, making it quite alluring. His hand naturally almost went to his cheek, but this time, he restrained himself.

Hugo brushed back his own hair that had become a bit disheveled from lying down. Then, he held out his hand in front of the sleepless beauty and said,

"Shall we go for a walk together?"

There was no intonation in his words, so Leonardo didn't immediately recognize whether he was asking for his opinion.

As he slowly blinked like having an eye kiss and stared at him quietly, his stickiness subsided a bit, his vision became clearer, and he visually perceived his proposal that had come right in front of him.

Hugo looked down languidly, but lightly shook the outstretched hand in front as if asking what he was waiting for without holding it. Then, Leonardo's hand, which had been paused in puzzlement, soon naturally rose and overlapped on top of the large hand.

A strong force gripped his hand and gently pulled. Drawn by that force, he sat up.

Until he put his feet down, put on his shoes, and went outside together,

Leonardo didn't know what had enchanted him to hold this hand.

***

The two who had gone outside took a brief walk around the vicinity and headed towards a large rocky hill near the base camp.

Next to Leonardo, who was sitting on the edge of the rock with one knee raised and his chin resting on it, Hugo was quietly standing with a slight distance as always.

Of course, the distance between the two was much closer than on the first day they had entered the peninsula. Both physically and mentally.

This place wasn't as high as the mountainside that day, but it was enough to have a full view of the base camp's yard.

Below, quite a large number of personnel were standing guard and moving swiftly, and it was felt that they were trying their best not to look this way. It seemed to be because he was standing here, Hugo thought.

In the meantime, when he discovered himself naturally scouting out who among them was an ally and who was an enemy, Hugo closed his eyes tightly and opened them again as another wave of intense fatigue came over him.

His face was filled with frustration and worry, precisely since he had a private conversation with Flynn after the meeting ended.

"From 3 a.m. to 6 a.m., he was not seen at all in the base camp."

"Alone?"

"No, I heard that a few accompanying members also disappeared with him."

His eyes, recalling the conversation, reached the roof of the large tent where the 3rd Battalion Commander of the Central Branch was staying, among the tents densely covering the base camp.

"Based on the time alone, he's the most likely suspect."

"I guess so..."

Hugo considered the probability of an insider from the Council being involved in the incident where the illegal mining team entered the peninsula, grew in size, and escaped with strangely good timing to be about 70%.

And after the conversation with Flynn, that probability rose a bit more to 80%, and he suspected Meterion Clinder, the 3rd Battalion Commander of the Central Branch, as the most likely suspect.

'...I hoped it wasn't the case.'

The reason he could reach such a conclusion was largely due to the efforts of his subordinates who had been busily moving in unseen places. They were Flynn, who was always with him wherever he went, some liaison officers from the Central Branch, and the members planted in the 3rd Battalion of the Central Branch.

In fact, Hugo Agrizendro himself considered the act of planting people in areas outside his own territory to be dishonorable and despised it, but as the Duke of Agrizendro, who had been fighting to maintain his position since becoming the heir of the family, it was also a means of power struggle that he had no choice but to use. Therefore, he always carried the sense of alienation and self-loathing that came from such contradictions.

After entering the peninsula, Hugo had given Flynn two secret orders on about two occasions, which were to check on the movements of Meterion Clinder through the members planted in the 3rd Battalion of the Central Branch and report back.

The trigger for the suspicion that led him to give such orders was when the reports from the 3rd Battalion were continuously delayed after the procession of the Central Branch split into three at the beginning of entering the peninsula.

There were a few pre-agreed rules regarding reporting among the commanders and battalion commanders participating in the peninsula subjugation.

First, make regular reports at designated times each day.

Second, when the Commander unexpectedly asks about the situation, send a response within 15 minutes from the time the liaison officer arrives.

Third, when each battalion delivers a report to the Commander through a liaison officer, the battalion commander must face the liaison officer and deliver it "directly," either in writing or verbally.

This was to prevent distorted or incorrect reports from being delivered.

However, through one of his subordinate liaison officers, Hugo was able to hear that this was not being followed within the 3rd Battalion. When they went to find the 3rd Battalion Commander unexpectedly, he would show up late, citing personal reasons, or the deputy commander would deliver the report instead.

Of course, in unavoidable situations, the deputy commander or a senior commander of equivalent rank could perform the role of the battalion commander, but doing so "frequently" without prior notice was sufficiently problematic.

Therefore, the initial reason for sending Flynn was because Meterion's actions, which made it appear as if the issue of delayed reports was only superficially resolved despite several warnings to the 3rd Battalion, were highly suspicious. It was even more strange because he was not someone who would normally do such a thing.

Afterwards, upon hearing the news of a casualty in the 9th Battalion of the Southern Branch, Hugo headed to the base camp and met Flynn there, receiving the first report that there were no unusual movements from Meterion.

Originally, he had intended to dismiss his doubts around that time, but due to the somewhat cold actions of the 3rd Battalion, which only sent low-ranking members as search support to the collapse site and didn't show up at all with commander-level personnel, he immediately attached one more member of the 1st Battalion to Flynn and ordered him to check on the movements again.

And the report he had heard earlier was precisely about that.

According to Flynn's second report, Meterion Clinder was not seen in the base camp from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. yesterday, and this was a time period that almost coincided with the estimated time when the superiors of the mining team had left the hideout.

Of course, this alone was insufficient to be certain that he was the insider who assisted in the escape of the illegal mining team. However, there was some evidence.

For the mining team to avoid the eyes of the Council, grow in size, and escape safely, they definitely needed someone inside the peninsula to conceal their scale, as well as the power and influence to control the eyes and ears of the members spread throughout the peninsula.

Coincidentally, the confidential information obtained before entering the peninsula mentioned that the Clinder family had recently been purchasing equipment necessary for mining operations out of the blue.

Moreover, in the early stages of entering the peninsula, Delua, who was leading the rear procession, had reported that unidentified personnel seemed to be following behind the procession, and at that time, Meterion had been showing strange behavior as if constantly trying to fall back to the rear.

Also, for the workers to move in and out of the peninsula, there had to be a gap in the defense of the border zone gate, and the person in charge of overseeing this was the 7th Battalion Commander of the Southern Branch, who had been appointed not long ago.

He was an aristocratic figure close to Meterion, and in fact, a gap in the defense had occurred in the gate section under his battalion's responsibility, and traces of a small number of escapees from the hideout had been found in that vicinity.

However, what played the most decisive role in creating the current suspicion, even more than the previous circumstances, was when his old friend and colleague, the 2nd Battalion Commander Loren Opience, expressed doubt about Meterion's voluntary participation.

In Hugo's opinion, Loren had terrifyingly good intuition. When she spoke in a way that expressed doubt about Meterion's actions, Hugo had dismissed it, saying it was not something to worry about, but in fact, her words had been lingering in his mind. That was how he had eventually reached the current situation.

However, the real reason for Hugo's dark expression was different. It was because Flynn, who had heard all the previous suspicious circumstances, had presented a rather heavy hypothesis, assuming that they were not mere suspicions.

While searching for Leonardo and Kenis, Hugo had hardly shared the movements of himself and the 1st Battalion with other battalions.

It was partly because the liaison officers couldn't keep up with the speed at which the 1st Battalion was moving, but it was also because he had deliberately avoided sharing the situation to exclude any possibility that could be unfavorable to Leonardo in the future.

In other words, no one should have known about his movements towards the mining team except for himself and the 1st Battalion members. However, the superiors of the illegal mining team disappeared by a narrow margin, as if they had known in advance that the Council would raid them.

Regarding this point, Hugo believed that Meterion, who was suspected to be the insider, had not accurately known the direction of the 1st Battalion's movement, but rather had "inferred" the direction of the 1st Battalion's movement out of concern that the workers and the hideout would be exposed during the process of searching for the missing persons, and had issued an escape order to avoid this.

However, the hypothesis Flynn presented was slightly different.

"Then, there could be someone who informed the superiors of the mining team or the 3rd Battalion Commander of the specific movements of the 1st Battalion. And that too, from within the 1st Battalion."