Chapter 281

Thud–

Leonardo's head gently tilted towards the broad chest following the vehicle's movement. Hugo, who had opened his eyes at some point, naturally supported the falling head with one hand.

He gazed at the side profile that had stopped near his abdomen with lowered eyes. Soon, he raised his right hand and created a large water droplet in the air. After covering the surface of the droplet completely with an air layer, he placed the completed water cushion appropriately between himself and Leonardo.

Then, to prevent Leonardo's bandaged left arm from being pressed, he slowly laid his head down, aligning his shoulder with the water cushion as much as possible. The sloshing water touched Leonardo's left arm, but there was no particular reaction, perhaps because it didn't get wet.

"..."

His face, with eyelashes neatly lowered, looked unnaturally sound asleep. Hugo gently pressed Leonardo's eyelids, checking for any eye movement.

He also counted his pulse frequency while rubbing his nape. Feeling that the heartbeat had noticeably slowed down by then, he finally withdrew his hand. Instead, he gently brushed the golden hair scattered over his thigh.

It had been just 5 minutes. That was how long it took for Leonardo to fall completely asleep.

"I hope he stays asleep until we arrive..."

As Hugo muttered as if talking to himself, the person sitting in the passenger seat looked at the two through the rearview mirror.

"My lord, will this really be alright?"

Hugo's downcast gaze turned to the front seat. He gave an ambiguous answer to his subordinate, whose eyes he met through the rearview mirror.

"Well, it has to be."

Just then, a beep- signal sounded from the anti-eavesdropping radio attached to the front seat.

–Gate confirmed 100m ahead, accelerating.

With that as a signal, the entire escort convoy quickly increased speed. The vehicle's shaking also intensified, but Leonardo didn't wake up. The medical officer had explained that when taking painkillers combined with sleep inducers in a state of lowered nervous system function, sudden drowsiness could occur.

However, it was unexpected that the effect would appear so quickly. Although he had hoped for Leonardo to fall into a deep sleep, he was also worried that the drug's effect might wear off before they arrived at this rate.

While Hugo was immersed in such concerns, the image of a massive gate appeared beyond the vehicle's windshield. Fidele's external gate, densely built with light yellow bricks, was in the form of a solid fortress wall carved from the mountain, befitting a border county's land.

As it was responsible for the beginning and end of the territory, the gate gave a majestic and firm impression. As he had felt when passing through here on the way to the expedition before, Hugo felt that this gate was like a blue dividing line foretelling an approaching crisis and an event horizon.

This might just be needless worry on his and Cordelia's part. But looking at himself constantly worrying about her words, that strange 'intuition' seemed to whisper that this matter should not be overlooked.

Moreover, apart from his serving the Emperor, the Imperial Knights often tried to exercise authority over other institutions, riding on the Emperor's authority. Therefore, he hoped that they, whom he might soon encounter, were not visiting with a purpose that could conflict with him.

"Execute the operation immediately after passing through the gate. Don't let your guard down."

"Yes, understood."

The two people in the front seat answered in unison to Hugo's words. At the same time, their vehicle had just entered the center of Fidele's external gate.

The interior of the gate, lit by torches, was like a tunnel dug through the middle of a mountain. However, it wasn't very long, and after a brief darkness, they could face bright sunlight again.

As they entered the straight bridge beyond the gate under the pouring light, Hugo composed himself and took a small deep breath. With his warmly heated hand, he gently cradled Leonardo's forehead and crown to prevent his head from shaking.

After entering the forest beyond the bridge, anything could happen there without being strange. But no one would be able to take Leonardo away from him. He intended to keep his promise to him no matter what.

***

Delua looked down at Marlen, who had fallen asleep after taking the same medicine as Leonardo, and grasped her hand, praying inwardly. Occasionally, when the car shook greatly, she tried to reduce the impact by hugging Marlen tightly, even though safety devices were in place.

If the portal connection had been intact, they could have arrived at the imperial capital in a day without needing to drive on rough roads. Now, with even the installation of temporary portals insufficient, they had to physically move to the gate of another territory like this.

Even using escort vehicles, it would take one to two days to reach the nearest place, so Delua couldn't quite understand Lady Hareth's decision to inspect the portals at this time, despite hearing there were circumstances.

But soon she shook her head, cleared her mind, and focused only on nursing Marlen. Just as she was about to pull up the fallen blanket to cover Marlen's neck properly, the vehicle's speed suddenly decreased without warning.

Screech–

Delua, who had swayed greatly, looked forward with surprised eyes, and the driver, who had been watching the right window, said to her:

"Battalion Commander, we're turning left."

No sooner had the driver finished speaking than the vehicle body suddenly turned, shaking violently once again. Delua, who had been thrown sideways in an instant, hurriedly grabbed the stretcher's pole and maintained balance so that Marlen wouldn't shake.

"Hey, there's a patient here, be more careful―!"

She frowned and suddenly stopped speaking, then quickly pulled back the curtain that had been temporarily installed inside the vehicle.

Checking outside the window, she had already passed the bridge connected to the gate and entered the forest on the other side. Although the spot where the returning convoy would split up should appear after moving a bit further from here, she recalled that according to what she had heard separately last night, they were planned to move individually from this point. Delua stretched her neck and checked the rear window.

'They're really going that way.'

A few escort vehicles that had been following behind her were turning direction and heading towards the opposite road. Perhaps the reason why this vehicle's driver had reduced speed midway was to cover for the rear vehicles so that they wouldn't be discovered from the front as they were trying to break off in another direction.

Following that, the procession of wagons that had passed through the gate was just entering the bridge from afar. The wagons, which had fallen behind due to their relatively slow speed, would naturally follow behind, unaware of what had happened in the middle.

So no one except herself and a few others would know the whereabouts of the escort vehicles that had broken off in the opposite direction. Especially 'that fellow' who would be leading at the forefront of this escort convoy.

Delua, who had been assessing the situation by looking back and forth, recalled the conversation she had with the Commander the night before.

"Delua. I'm sorry for coming at such a late hour, but there's something I'd like you to help me with."

As it was never a trivial matter when he suddenly came to find her in the middle of the night, Delua, who had been taking care of Marlen at the time, quickly put on her combat uniform and followed him to a tent.

"Leonardo and I will be leaving the previously discussed return route. We'll be going a different way. I'll explain the details later, but for now, I'd like you to make one promise with me."

Delua looked up at him with a puzzled gaze as he abruptly asked for a promise. To her, Hugo spoke in a rather solemn tone:

"Keep this matter absolutely confidential. Especially from Meterion Clinder."

It was a well-known fact among Council members that the two didn't get along well. However, the Commander she knew had never discriminated against or disadvantaged Meterion due to personal feelings or political issues. Therefore, the request to keep the matter of the return route confidential sounded very suspicious to Delua, who knew the Commander all this time.

However, from her position of not being particularly involved with any faction, she was prepared to follow if her reliable superior just gave an order, without even needing to make a request.

Delua had many questions she wanted to ask, but after giving a firm answer first, she briefly asked:

"Yes, I understand. But... I suppose I can't hear the details if I ask now?"

Hugo just gave a small smile to Delua in response. Then, along with words of thanks, he explained the position of the escort vehicle she should board the next day.

"Board the vehicle two ahead of where Leonardo is standing. By the way, the driver will be wearing the same combat uniform as us, but they're not a member of the Council."

"What?"

Additional explanation was needed as to what was going on, but Hugo didn't engage in any other small talk beyond that. Instead, he finally said, "I'm counting on you," patted her shoulder, and with a hardened expression, said:

"This is for Leonardo."

"..."

Delua, who had been watching the rear window, observed the three escort vehicles that had broken off disappearing into the undergrowth.

As far as she knew, it was almost the first time the Commander had brought personal forces into the Council. Although Delua was bursting with suspicion, she could only infer that something big was happening that others shouldn't know about.

As she wasn't in a position to lend strength other than keeping silent at the moment, she just earnestly hoped in her heart that the two would return safely. Just then, she felt the vehicle's speed suddenly decreasing again. Delua stared ahead with a puzzled face.

"What...?"

Suddenly, the entire escort convoy that had been speeding along came to a stop in a line, as if blocked by something. As Delua and the driver were peering ahead to see what was going on, a signal tone that would resolve their curiosity came from the radio.

Beep–

–It's a checkpoint. We've stopped following the stop instruction.

Hearing this, Delua gestured to the driver in front with an incredulous look:

"Hey, press that button and hold it down. Firmly."

Following her instruction, the driver pressed and held the radio button. Delua asked back in an exasperated tone:

"Come on, we're the Council, what checkpoint would give us a stop instruction?"

As she finished speaking, the driver released the button. Still, there was no answer for a while.

Delua muttered, scratching the back of her hand with an annoyed expression:

"Ah... we need to get going quickly."

At that moment, the signal tone sounded from the radio once again. The words that the other party, who had been hesitating for a while, faintly conveyed were something Delua hadn't expected at all.

–...It's the Imperial Knights.

Static–

–Northern convoy all temporarily halted. Lead group arrived at checkpoint. Assessing additional situation.

The simple sentence that followed the static noise instantly froze the already quiet atmosphere inside the vehicle.

The sound just now had come not from the public radio installed in the vehicle body, but from the personal radio attached to the driver's waist. The person sitting in the passenger seat half-turned their head and silently moved their Adam's apple.

The personal radio was something that the Agrizendro family had prepared separately for communication with the knights of the Hareth family. The fact that contact had come from them, who were supposed to secretly escort until they safely left the vicinity of the territory, meant that the situation on that side was turning out to be quite unusual.

"My lord, if it's their doing..."

The man in the passenger seat, wearing a troubled expression, looked back at the rear seat.

His lord was looking out the window dense with trees, resting his chin on his hand without a trace of agitation. His right hand was leisurely swimming through the scattered golden hair strands, engraving thin strands onto his fingerprints.

As if the large hand was entangled in the golden threads and couldn't move, it didn't leave for a long time. Then Hugo, keeping his gaze fixed, opened his mouth.