Chapter 250

"..."

Whenever the timing came to explain something to this person, his spine always naturally chilled. Especially if it was a situation where he didn't know what he was supposed to explain.

Leonardo maintained his drooping eyes while gently withdrawing his hand from Hugo's forearm. At the same time, he leaned his upper body back, creating some distance. His mind was filled with 'What am I explaining? Me? When?' as he searched his memories for what the other was asking about.

But no matter how he tried to hide it, the tension was evident on his face. Perhaps because of this, Hugo let out a barely audible laugh as he watched.

At the sudden chuckle, Leonardo's eyebrows twitched, and Hugo reached out to gently rub his cheek and neck area.

"I'm not interrogating you, so you don't need to be tense."

Leonardo's eyes narrowed slightly. He slightly raised his shoulders and pushed Hugo's arm away, saying:

"Tense? Why would I be tense?"

"If that's not the case, then that's good."

Hugo withdrew his hand, still with a smile on his face. Leonardo twisted his lips, disliking the other's expression that seemed to know everything.

If someone suddenly sets the mood like this and asks, anyone would be tense even if they hadn't done anything wrong. With the Commander, who was rumored to be scary, asking for an explanation, it would be stranger if one's breath didn't catch.

Leonardo briefly turned his eyes elsewhere, running his hand through his hair and chuckling. He didn't want to empathize with the feelings of criminals who feared Kazad in this way.

"What did I say I'd explain? I don't remember."

Leonardo retorted as if it wasn't a big deal. At this, Hugo's face, which had relaxed somewhat, immediately hardened. He didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point.

"When you were facing the mother body in the plains."

The golden eyes that had been listening lightly suddenly rolled. Hugo continued:

"The southern sky was instantly covered in golden light, and an explosive energy suddenly appeared before my eyes."

"..."

"I knew it was you, but I couldn't be certain it was entirely you. It was very different from the energy of you that I knew."

Concentrating, Leonardo immediately recalled the moment when he had taken the amplifier and appeared before him. The image of himself warning him not to come, saying he would explain later, also vividly flashed by.

"You said then. 'I'll explain later'... I think I have the right to ask now what happened while I wasn't looking, what the source of that power was. So tell me the truth, Leonardo."

At Hugo's serious voice, Leonardo's gaze also became equally serious.

'The right to ask?'

Since Agrizendro had brought him back from the brink of going berserk, he did have the right to ask if one were to be particular. However, this person was someone who was careful even with a single question. Seeing him mention the word 'right', it seemed he wouldn't let him go until he got a satisfactory answer here today.

But his statement about explaining at that time was something he had blurted out unavoidably, with no proper alternative in the urgent situation. As the time approached to explain words he had uttered like water, his mouth went dry.

Leonardo licked the corner of his lips and remained silent for a moment. Since Alec Siles was involved in this matter, some answers would inevitably require excuses. As he organized his thoughts without avoiding eye contact, Hugo slowly rose from his chair and approached him.

Leonardo naturally raised his head to look up, and his nape stiffened for no reason at the blue eyes looking down. Instead of urging Leonardo, Hugo sat down next to him. Then he pulled the side table in front of him and organized the maps and newspapers on it.

It was an utterly meaningless action, but to Leonardo, it felt like pressure that he would wait until he spoke.

There was no point in postponing; he would have to face it eventually. Leonardo opened his mouth plainly.

"I took an amplifier."

Hugo's hand, which had been folding the newspaper in half, suddenly stopped in mid-air. He put down the paper and turned to look with surprised eyes.

"An amplifier?"

"Yeah. A mana amplifier."

The blue eyes instantly sharpened as if he had heard something he shouldn't have. Mana amplifiers occasionally seen in the market weren't rare drugs. However, the problem was that most of them were frequently fraudulent items sold at expensive prices despite having no efficacy. Moreover, they often contained strange additives to mimic the effects, so they couldn't be considered safe for the body at all.

As the Commander of the Council who had heard many related cases, Hugo instantly had a bad feeling. However, hadn't the Leonardo who appeared before him at that time emitted endless mana as if he had really consumed an amplifier? Rather, uncontrollable power had pushed him to the brink of going berserk, to the point where it seemed to devour his mana, making it seem useless.

Hugo unconsciously glanced at the prominent choker on Leonardo's neck. Then, furrowing his brow, he asked again in a slightly sterner voice:

"Where did you get such a thing? Proper mana amplifiers essentially don't exist in the empire. They all have unclear origins and opaque manufacturing processes. Knowing what problems it could cause to your body, why did you-"

"If you look around a bit in back alleys, they're everywhere. And there was no other way then. I had to do something."

Leonardo deliberately glossed over the source of the drug while asserting that taking the amplifier was unavoidable.

At his statement, Hugo's anger suddenly flared. It wasn't so much anger at Leonardo for talking back, but rather at him for repeatedly taking reckless actions without knowing the dangers.

Earlier, he had said he ate a plant called Mendelias that grew near graves and was teeming with bacteria. And now, on top of that, he said he took a mana amplifier that couldn't have been registered as an official drug to deal with the mother body.

Although he was safe in the end, if this kept happening, who knew what problems might arise. He knew Leonardo had extensive knowledge in various fields, but it seemed he handled dangerous elements like forbidden magic and illegal drugs circulating in the underground without hesitation, which greatly worried Hugo as he listened.

He closed his eyes tightly and let out a deep sigh. As he calmed his heated head, he extended his hand in front of Leonardo. Leonardo stared blankly at Hugo's palm and asked, as if not understanding:

"What?"

"Hand it over right now. That mana amplifier."

"...What?"

"Just possessing an illegal drug without official permission is a serious crime. I won't punish you, so hand it over to me right now. And don't ever touch such drugs again."

Leonardo blinked and was momentarily dumbfounded. He got stuck on a few words, as if a button had been pressed. What was with "I won't punish you" at a time like this? Heated, he frowned and argued:

"What? Serious crime? Punishment? Come on, is that important in this situation? Without that amplifier, the mother body might have rampaged outside the peninsula!"

As the excited Leonardo spoke deliberately and clearly, Hugo watched him with a displeased face. Finding his reaction even more absurd, Leonardo ignored Hugo's attempt to continue speaking and shot back:

"I know it wasn't a good method either. But you asked me to tell the truth, so I honestly admitted it was an amplifier without hiding anything. Couldn't you just let it go? Even if it might be an illegal drug legally, in the end, it killed the mother body and everything turned out well, didn't it?"

Thinking about it now, he had been the one who first said he would explain, but wasn't it a truly urgent situation where every second counted then? After risking his life to take the amplifier and successfully eliminating the mother body, a sense of futility washed over him as to why he had to make excuses. Leonardo felt deeply hurt by Hugo's words, which seemed to trap him by getting hung up on something not so important.

"Do you really have to judge right and wrong even here? Why do you-... ah..."

Leonardo, feeling like inappropriate words might come out, bit his lip hard and suppressed his emotions. Yet he still glared at Hugo with sharp eyes, as if resentful. However, Hugo didn't back down either.

"...You're asking if I can't let it go? Leonardo, if I wasn't trying to let it go, this wouldn't end with just this much."

"..."

"...Right, my words about punishment were a mistake. It wasn't an appropriate word to bring up now. I apologize for that. But my words weren't meant to really punish you, nor was that the important part of what I was trying to say. It's just that the mana amplifier is too dangerous for you to have. So give it to me before I have to find it myself."

At Hugo's words, still mixed with a coercive nuance, Leonardo gradually became upset. So much for letting it go. He couldn't understand why he was being interrogated as if he had done something wrong, and why he had to do as he was told. Because of this, his subsequent response was driven more by defiance than reason.

"No."

"Leonardo."

"I don't understand why I have to argue with you again."

"...This isn't an argument-"

"Do you think I wanted to use that stuff? Why do you think I took it? I took it to save people. Because I promised you I would save them if necessary. So why do you have to corner me like I've committed some great crime? Shouldn't you be thanking me instead?"

As blood rushed to his head, his condition rapidly worsened. He could feel himself becoming sensitive along with it, but Leonardo couldn't easily restrain himself.

Saving people was his own choice. Because of that, he hadn't wanted to boast about it, but when words that made him shrink back came before the words he wanted to hear, his nerves were on edge more than necessary.

Sensing that he was excited, Hugo, trying to maintain composure on his side at least, slowly closed and opened his eyes and spoke calmly:

"Of course, I'm grateful to you beyond what I can fully express. Not just me, but everyone who survived thanks to you will think the same."

At Hugo's response, Leonardo steadied his quickened breathing. But his expression was still full of hurt, and his ears misinterpreted the other's words.

Hugo sighed, slowly rubbed his eyes, then grabbed Leonardo's forearm and said:

"But Leonardo. I'm worried about you." 

Unlike before, his deeply furrowed blue eyes painfully conveyed words he didn't want to mention:

"I can't leave you alone because I'm worried. You almost died because of that amplifier, didn't you?"