Bermuda Chapter 87 (Patreon)

Chapter 87

As his voice, as brutal as the chilly air of the frozen crater, spread, everyone held their breath.

Hugo stared into his fierce eyes and recalled the moment he had put firewood into the dying bonfire last night. Just like the flames that had blazed up again when the firewood was added, his sharp eyes, which he was seeing after a long time, were seething as if to devour him.

Of course, it would be a lie to say he didn't know it would turn out like this. He had just hoped Leonardo wouldn't notice.

Leonardo was convinced that his prediction was correct due to Hugo's continued silence. Once he was convinced, he didn't even need to hear an answer. Leonardo listed the things he had been speculating as if demanding an explanation from him.

"You were curious if I would recklessly use mana without being able to control it properly."

"..."

"You thought it was an opportunity since it would be easier for you to control me if I was in the water. So even though you had already arrived nearby, you didn't step in right away and just watched, right?"

He twisted his lips and let out a sneer.

"Did you think I wouldn't be able to sense your mana?"

Unlike his blazing eyes, the voice coming out of his mouth was as cold as could be.

Flynn fidgeted and alternately looked at Leonardo's face, coldly enraged, and the Commander's calm face.

It was he who had kept putting pressure on Leonardo, who had been reluctant to intervene, and had given him a look that he needed help.

And it was true that the Commander had said to observe the situation for a moment after arriving here, but he had said that because the battle was already in full swing, not because he had intended to test him from the beginning.

Flynn knew that the Commander was constantly worrying about and paying attention to Leonardo's unstable control.

So he thought that if he hadn't created the situation in the first place for Leonardo to enter the water, he wouldn't have gotten angry like this, and the arrow of that anger wouldn't have been directed at the Commander, so he felt an unnecessary sense of guilt.

"Blaine, that's because..."

Just as Flynn tried to explain, the 8th Platoon leader, who had been watching Leonardo unleashing his anger one-sidedly and her superior who had become the target of that anger, abruptly opened her mouth to set the strangely flowing atmosphere straight.

"Leonardo Blaine, I will acknowledge that you were of great help in rescuing our platoon members. I am grateful for that. However, what you are saying now is a highly disrespectful remark, and there is a clear misunderstanding."

Leonardo frowned and turned his gaze to her. Flynn also stopped talking and looked at her. She met Leonardo's eyes and confidently continued her words.

"The Commander's engagement in the battle is for the purpose of achieving the subjugation of the Elder Millie Peninsula, not something you can dare to criticize as if it's a matter of course that he didn't intervene. Also, the reason he didn't go out of his way to intervene was because he judged that it was something we could sufficiently handle on our own. Even if he had tested you, that too was something he judged necessary for the safety of the whole. Refrain from making any more disrespectful remarks to the Commander."

Leonardo's eyebrows twitched. And he coldly asked back,

"So you're saying that even though I found out that I was being tested, I should rationally shut up and stay put because it was for the greater good?"

At his words, silence flowed again. Leonardo let out another sneer with a dumbfounded air and said,

"And what? Necessary for safety? Do I have to kill you guys or something?"

"Blaine!"

At the words full of sarcasm, the 8th Platoon leader glared fiercely at Leonardo and raised her voice. However, Leonardo completely ignored her words and stared only at Hugo as if telling him to speak for himself.

Hugo, who met those eyes, let out a small sigh. Then, he opened his mouth that he had been keeping closed and said quietly,

"I won't make excuses."

The members widened their eyes at the Commander's voice. Flynn and the 8th Platoon leader also looked at him with slightly surprised eyes.

In the frozen atmosphere, Hugo continued in a calm tone,

"It's true that I tried to test you."

"Ha-."

Leonardo didn't know whether to say thank you for admitting it frankly or to let out a hollow laugh because it was absurd. However, he immediately gritted his teeth and sharply glared at Hugo, demanding in a low voice,

"Why is that necessary, do you still find me lacking?"

Hugo, who had been observing his highly agitated demeanor, turned his head for a moment and said to the 8th Platoon leader,

"Platoon Leader Russell, I appreciate you conveying my position on my behalf. But this time, I'd like to have a conversation with Leonardo directly, so could you give us a moment?"

The 8th Platoon leader alternately looked at the two of them, and only after Hugo gave her a look that it was alright, she gave a short salute and slightly stepped back. Then, she gestured to the members behind her to back away as well.

The 8th Platoon leader led the members and moved away to a distance where the conversation between the two could no longer be heard. After confirming them, Hugo shifted his gaze to Leonardo, who was still glaring at him with an angry look, and continued,

"Leonardo, what I was concerned about was not that you would harm the members, but that problems could occur even if you didn't intend to. And the situation just now was a good opportunity to safely glimpse that. As you said, if you're in the water and your control becomes unstable to the point you can't regulate it yourself, I can control it for you instead."

Hugo spoke calmly, but Leonardo's momentum became even fiercer.

"I said I don't need that, I said I'll handle it myself!"

As it seemed like the uncontrollably blazing flames of anger were surging towards him, Hugo let out a small sigh, closed his eyes tightly, and opened them.

"I'm sorry, but I can't agree with that opinion of yours. When I observed your underwater combat, I caught several instances where your mana control was still unstable. And there was a dangerous moment at one point. You must have felt it too."

At Hugo's words, Leonardo recalled the moment he had felt something was strange. The moment when, upon seeing the monster's venomous stinger heading towards the 8th Platoon leader, a long-range attack reflexively went out. He had hurriedly cast a barrier in front of them, thinking that the scale would be considerable.

The point Leonardo had found strange at that time was that the subsequent underwater explosion and the resulting whirlpool were much smaller than he had predicted.

Leonardo, who had felt Hugo's subtle mana at that time, could immediately tell that he was nearby. And that he was watching him, reducing the scale of the underwater explosion, and testing his abilities.

Leonardo didn't feel grateful for that; rather, it felt like deception.

"Even if you hadn't regulated it then, I could have sufficiently blocked it. I had already cast a barrier before the explosion, and there was no dangerous moment."

"Well, I can't agree with that."

At Hugo's resolute words, Leonardo's expression crumpled.

The reason Hugo said that was because there were more parts where he had intervened besides that moment.

Even at the moment when the monster collided with the wall of the lake, he had reduced the impact on both sides using the water's resistance, and when Leonardo had shattered the monster, he had reduced the shock spreading to the surroundings so that other members wouldn't get caught up in it.

However, he didn't bother to list those facts in front of him.

But Leonardo had another anger that he didn't want to bring up, not just the anger stemming from having his abilities doubted and being tested.

He bit his lips as if the words would come out of his mouth without him knowing, but he roughly swept back his hair as if frustrated. He seemed to be trying to forcibly control his emotions, but when he faced Hugo, who was looking at him with a resolute gaze, he soon spoke in a trembling voice while suppressing his emotions,

"You said you would try to trust me."

At his words, Hugo flinched a little. Hearing the slightly trembling voice, it felt like his distorted face wasn't just because of anger.

Leonardo looked into his eyes and struggled to express what he hadn't wanted to say.

"If you said you would trust me, even if everyone else didn't trust me, at least you should have trusted me. That I wouldn't hurt other people, that I-."

'How hard I tried not to hurt them.'

Leonardo bitterly swallowed the rest of his words. Agrizendro might not know, but from the moment he jumped into the water, he had made every effort to ensure the members wouldn't get injured.

Not only did he eliminate the targets in front of him, but even when the monster collided with the wall of the lake, he had spread a barrier in that instant.

Even when he was angry after realizing that Agrizendro was testing him, when finishing off the last monster, he had purposely detonated the monster at close range after confirming there was no acid inside its body by inserting his arm, minimizing the impact spreading to the surroundings.

However, Leonardo also didn't bother to list those things in front of him.

Hugo looked at him with a slightly complicated face as he talked about trust and opened his mouth.

"It's not that I don't trust you."

However, Leonardo couldn't put the brakes on his emotions that were about to explode and poured them out to him as if venting.

"If you couldn't trust me, why did you remove the handcuffs in the first place? No, why did you bring me here in the first place?"

"..."

"You should have just locked me up in prison, why did you bring me?"

"Leonardo."

As his emotions seemed to be agitated, Hugo called his name in a somewhat heavy and stern voice. Leonardo flinched at that cold tone, but at the same time, he bit his lip hard and thought,

'I'm the only idiot. I'm the only one who felt a sense of kinship, I'm the only one who felt a bond. In the water where I'm most vulnerable, I was on pins and needles worrying that other guys would get caught up in my mana. But that person was watching how I behaved, analyzing, and in the end, he didn't even trust me. I'm the only one who trusted. Like a fucking idiot.'

Hugo took a step closer to Leonardo, but Leonardo glared at him and took a step back. Seeing him like that, Hugo didn't approach any further and stood in his place, saying,

"It's true that I tested you, but it's not because I don't trust you. I trusted you, so I removed your handcuffs and entrusted you with the rear."

It was a calm explanation, but the golden eyes listening to it distorted as if they couldn't understand.

"Then why did you do that?"