Bermuda [bl]

The work was quickly finished with the two of them.

'Using the underground like a freezer.'

Right now, the only thought in Flynn's mind was that he needed to inform the Commander about this fact immediately.

'There must be a reason why the Delberg Merchant Group came all the way to the north. I had guessed it was because of the Monsters. If they're using the underground like a freezer, are they storing the corpses of the Monsters underground?'

His gaze shifted slightly to the man beside him.

'But this person says he's a member of Delberg, so why did he bring up the topic of Monsters that could be harmful to the merchant group in the first place? Moreover, if he had something to hide from me, I don't think he would have deliberately brought me here to show me these things.'

As all sorts of thoughts intersected, Flynn went back up with the man. The man closed the wooden door and piled the fallen leaves back on top of it to hide the entrance, but some traces of the dug-up ground remained.

While Flynn was looking at it intently, the man thanked him.

"Thank you for your help. Thanks to you, the work was finished incredibly quickly. You said you had something to ask, right? Since you helped with the work, let me buy you a drink."

"Ah, no, thank you very much for the offer. But I think I need to return as soon as possible, so I'll just accept your kind intentions."

"Ah..., I see. I'm sorry, I think I took up your time when you're busy."

"No, not at all! It's definitely not like that."

Flynn waved his hands as he spoke. The man rubbed the back of his neck, showing a slightly apologetic expression. The more he looked at the man's words and actions that didn't seem like lies at all, the more Flynn couldn't figure out what purpose he was acting with.

In fact, Flynn had been secretly suspecting him. He thought that this man, who had talked with them and even seen Leonardo Blaine's photo, had recognized Blaine's face but pretended not to know and secretly told the grand master of the merchant group.

The Count had said that the grand master of the Delberg Merchant Group had tipped him off about the outsiders looking for Blaine, so under the circumstances, he had no choice but to suspect him as the Delberg member who had seen the photo.

Moreover, if the reason he pretended not to know was to cover up the collusion between the Count, the merchant group, and Blaine...?

If the Commander's heat detector sensed the presence of fire at the mansion, and it was because Blaine was hiding inside the Count's residence. It was a hypothesis that made sense to some extent.

Yes. It should have been like that, but....

Seeing this man who seemed to have no ulterior motives at all, the hypotheses he had set up began to waver. So Flynn decided to sort out the situation by talking with him for now.

"You said outsiders shouldn't be brought here, right? I think it would be better to move to another place for now, as other members of the merchant group might come here."

"Ah, you're right. Come this way. Let's go to a place where the members rarely go."

The merchant group member took the lead again and guided him.

As Flynn followed him, he slyly took out a location tracking sensor from his inner pocket and threw it inconspicuously among the nearby fallen leaves. He planned to secretly come back later in the evening when the merchant group members were hardly around and check the contents inside.

Soon they arrived at a place that was relatively open on all sides but had few people. Flynn asked the man a few questions.

"Oh, come to think of it, I haven't heard your name yet. What should I call you?"

"Ah, my name is...."

The man paused for a very brief moment, then smiled and said.

"It's Tergio. You can call me Teo for short."

"Ah, is that okay? Mr. Teo. Do you remember talking about the corpses of the Monsters at the tavern yesterday?"

"Yes, of course."

"At that time, a man appeared and said it was the corpse of a Monster, and you said you didn't know his identity, right?"

"Yes."

"And you said the charred corpses were taken by the Lord of Frost."

"That's right."

"I'm on my way back from stopping by the Lord of Frost's castle to confirm that fact."

At that moment, Teo's face turned as white as a sheet of paper, and he opened his eyes wide in surprise. Flynn didn't miss the change in his expression in that instant.

Teo spoke urgently.

"Th-then did you also mention that I told you about it? If the Lord summons me...."

"What? Ah, no. I didn't say you told me, so don't worry."

"Ah, that's a relief."

At Flynn's words, Teo was visibly relieved. Flynn asked him tentatively.

"Is there a reason why the Lord shouldn't know that you talked about it?"

"When we were cleaning up the charred remains, the guards came and strongly urged us not to talk about it elsewhere."

"Strongly urged...? If it was just the burnt corpse of an animal, was there a need to strongly urge like that?"

Flynn looked at the man in front of him with a gaze full of doubt. Just as he felt a sense of déjà vu, Teo, who had been looking around for a moment, nodded his head carefully and spoke in a solemn tone.

"I have the same thought as you, Mr. Investigator."

Flynn couldn't understand him as he readily admitted the doubts and answered that he had the same thought. So he decided to ask more directly.

"The Lord of Frost said that it was an accident where the butchered meat of an animal being transported by the Delberg Merchant Group caught fire. But if it was actually the corpse of a Monster, then the Lord who is trying to clean it up and cover it up has committed a crime."

After hesitating for a moment, Flynn laid out his doubts as they were.

"...And the most likely suspect for the distribution of those Monster corpses is the Delberg Merchant Group where you work, Mr. Teo. It's not something that would benefit the merchant group, so why are you telling me such things?"

Then Teo suddenly smiled at Flynn, grabbed his hand tightly, and said.

"Wrong things should be set right. And I believe you will do that, Mr. Investigator."

As he abruptly brought his face close and spoke, Flynn was very flustered and hurriedly pulled his hand away.

"Ah..., well, that's right. Wrong things should be set right."

Worried that he might have offended him by pulling his hand away as if he was startled, Flynn was a little concerned. However, he didn't seem to mind and was still smiling at Flynn.

For a moment, Flynn thought that this merchant group member with brown hair and brown eyes might be helping him solve the problem.

Perhaps, even though he worked as a low-ranking member of the merchant group, he had an honest heart as an ordinary citizen regardless of that, and he might have deliberately brought him here to reveal the ugly secrets of the merchant group.

Thinking that way, Flynn became a little confused about how he should view the man. Once his suspicion wavered, the freckles all over his face and the brown eyes looking at him seemed utterly innocent. He felt a little embarrassed by his own suspicions.

Was it because Teo's hand was very warm when he grabbed it tightly, even though they had been together in a cold place? Flynn felt like the hand that had touched him was still burning.

"Ahem, so Mr. Teo, do you think the Delberg Merchant Group you work for is distributing Monsters?"

"Hmm..., I'm not sure. I'm a low-ranking member, so I don't know well."

Flynn, who was about to be moved and think that justice was still alive as it seemed he was trying to give a hint, was disappointed by Teo's different behavior from earlier when he refrained from speaking, saying he didn't know well as a low-ranking member. He tried to hide his disappointment and asked.

"...But just a moment ago, you said... wrong things should be set right, didn't you?"

"That's true. It's certain that the charred remains I found at that time were inside the crates distributed by Delberg. And someone said it was the corpse of a Monster. There were traces of being scorched by fire or the ground being dug up around it as well."

Teo added a few new facts in addition to what he had said at the tavern last night. Flynn hurriedly transcribed his words into his notebook.

If the charred remains were inside the crates distributed by Delberg, it meant that the Delberg Merchant Group was definitely involved in this matter. Moreover, when he mentioned traces of being dug up, Flynn recalled the storage they had gone to earlier, where some traces remained even though the soil and fallen leaves were covered back on top.

Flynn thought that Teo was reluctant to come forward as a direct witness because he belonged to the merchant group, but he wanted to give him hints indirectly. Understanding his somewhat lukewarm behavior so far, Flynn nodded and continued his questions.

"Then, since we're on the topic, do you really not know who the person was that said it was the corpse of a Monster?"

"...No, I'm not sure about that."

Flynn started over and wrote down his words in his notebook, but when his answer that he didn't know brought the question back to square one, he clicked his tongue and scratched his head with the pen cap.

If he could find the person who said the charred corpses were Monsters, the puzzle pieces would be almost complete, but there were no clues as to who that person was other than Teo's words, which was regrettable.

The existence of that person had practically convinced him and the Commander that there were Monster corpses in this Frost territory.

Still, satisfied that the direction of the investigation was almost set with this much, Flynn drew a line in his notebook and went down to the next item.

"Mr. Teo, do you remember the photo I showed you before?"

"Ah, the person with blond hair and golden eyes? I remember."

"That person, have you really never seen him?"

"No, I haven't."

"Really?"

"Yes."

No matter how persistently he asked as if interrogating, the man named Teo only answered firmly.

Flynn didn't have the ability to figure out whether this man was lying or not. Because of that, Flynn wished he had the ability to threaten people with just a glance like the Commander.

If the Delberg Merchant Group was close to being the distributor of Monsters based on the circumstances, the story about 'him' in the Count's residence should have come up as well. Flynn sighed and asked again.

"Mr. Teo, do you really not know Leonardo Blaine?"

"Leonardo Blaine? I know that person."

Flynn was dumbfounded by his suddenly changing words, then recalled that the name 'Leonardo Blaine' itself was famous enough that almost no one didn't know it, so he corrected himself and asked again.

"...What? Ah, right. Most people know that name. I'm not asking if you just know the name, but if you've actually seen him. I'm not supposed to disclose this for the investigation, but. This person in the photo I'm looking for is Leonardo Blaine. Haven't you seen him?"

Flynn took out the photo from his inner pocket again and showed it as he spoke. Then Teo made a puzzled expression and said.

"Huh...? That's not it...."

"It's not?"

"No. The Leonardo Blaine I saw looks completely different?"

"What? W-wait a minute. Mr. Teo, have you seen Leonardo Blaine?"

As Flynn spoke in surprise, Teo answered as if it was obvious.

"If you went to the Lord of Frost's castle, didn't you meet him there? He's usually there."

"What??"