Bermuda [bl]

Flynn felt like his head was spinning. He was clearly having a conversation, but it felt like there was no communication at all. The things he had been chasing after were suddenly pouring out from a strange place, leaving him unable to gather his thoughts.

"So, are you certain that Blaine is at the lord's castle right now?"

"Well..., as far as I know, yes, but the man in the photo you showed me wasn't him."

"He wasn't this man?"

"No. He seemed like a completely different person? Of course, his hair was a bit yellowish, but it was more of a mottled brown rather than blond, and his eyes... they definitely weren't golden, but a dark green, I think. His personality is also really unpleasant. He always speaks informally to the merchant group leader."

Flynn, who was very confused, paused at Teo's words that he seemed like a different person. Not blond hair and golden eyes, but a different appearance?

"Then... you're saying that the Leonardo Blaine at that mansion looks different from the one in the photo I showed you? Like a completely different person?"

"Yes. The Leonardo Blaine at the mansion has a bad personality, and his appearance is so arrogant... Hmm, yes. He looks like he was created halfway. The person in this photo is handsome, isn't he?"

Teo, who was sharply criticizing the Leonardo Blaine said to be at the mansion, seemed to have a lot of grievances against him. Flynn asked again about Teo's statement that his face was different.

"Did that person directly introduce himself as Leonardo Blaine?"

"Yes, whenever he says something, he starts with 'This Mr. Leonardo Blaine', you know? Even the merchant group leader calls him Blaine...."

"Oh my...."

He couldn't help but laugh out of exasperation. The Leonardo Blaine that Teo described was different from the actions he had been familiar with.

First of all, the captain of the 8th Platoon of the 1st Battalion, who had most recently pursued him, testified that Leonardo Blaine's appearance was exactly the same as the photo in the personal information document obtained by the Council.

Although his appearance had matured a bit over time, it was enough to recognize him right away, and above all, he greatly disliked the Council and hid secretly, making it very difficult to find him in the first place.

And yet, such a person was going around blabbing that he was Leonardo Blaine, and even a low-ranking merchant group member knew about him?

Flynn recalled that when a few reports about Leonardo Blaine came in in the past, most of the contents turned out to be impersonation or rumors after going through the verification process. In other words, there was a high possibility of impersonation this time as well.

Feeling like the air was suddenly leaking out, Flynn let out a deep sigh. Then Teo, who had been rambling on about the bad reputation of that so-called Leonardo Blaine, asked Flynn.

"Why are you sighing like that?"

At his question, Flynn made a sad face and spoke to Teo in a powerless voice.

"It seems that person named Leonardo Blaine is a fake."

***

"When the merchant group brings in the corpses of monsters, they bury them in the ground, and then set fire above it to eliminate the monsters' energy. And you're saying you extinguished that fire?"

"Yes..., that's right."

In the interrogation room of the Northern Branch, a mage who had been tailing Hugo and got severely beaten sat across from him, handcuffed. The inside of the interrogation room was very cold and chilly. Whether it was because of that, or because he was afraid of Hugo, the mage was shivering pitifully.

In Hugo's hand was a file containing the personal information of the mage sitting in front of him. His name was Ardel Linter. He was a young man of 27 years old and had been employed by the Count of Servia for about 2 years.

He was a water mage who used the water attribute. When he was first hired, it was to extinguish forest fires, but at some point, he started doing other work, as he confessed. And until he confessed, there were numerous threats and persuasions.

"You, you're really going to protect me, right? If it becomes known that I said this, I will...."

"What do you take the Council for? We guarantee your safety. Of course, since you were involved in illegal activities, you won't be able to avoid punishment, but it will be taken into consideration to some extent, and you will receive a relatively light sentence."

At Hugo's resolute words, Ardel's face rapidly turned gloomy.

At first, Ardel was caught by Hugo while tailing him in the mountains and nearly half-dead, his soul continuously drifting away. Then he was dragged and handed over to the investigators and immediately transported to the Northern Branch of the Council. When the Council people took pity on his frozen hands and carefully thawed them in warm water and gave him delicious food, his body and heart gradually melted away.

Although he had been caught by the Council's investigative agency, he felt much more at ease here than doing illegal work.

In the midst of that, the cold and scary man he never wanted to face again unfortunately appeared before him once more.

The man with a very chilly impression said that he had already gone to the Lord of Frost and heard everything, so don't even think about making excuses, and if he testified properly, he would reduce his sentence to some extent.

When Ardel first heard that story, he neither believed it nor wanted to believe it, but somehow he thought that if it was that brutal and cold-blooded man, even the Count might have already spilled everything obediently.

Eventually, Ardel gave up and began to reveal the stories he knew one by one. However, in the midst of revealing...

Bang-!

"Hii, hieek!!"

"Continue speaking."

He could hear the sound of a sharp ice spear flying past his head and piercing the wall, so he answered without stopping, doing his very best.

Once before, Ardel had asked the Count what would happen if he got caught by the Council while doing this kind of work. At that time, the Count had clearly said that he would only be subjected to a normal level of questioning. However, now, Ardel Linter was testifying to save his life, feeling a threat to his life.

Hugo, who had been briefly looking at the file while listening to the story of the captured mage, closed his eyes and organized his thoughts.

The reason Delberg came to the Frost territory was simple. There was a money-making factor. And that money-making factor was the 'land' that people rarely visited, barren and rugged. The wide expanse of mountainous areas was not a space suitable for human habitation, but Delberg took this as an opportunity.

In Raina Logia, it was clearly illegal for private merchant groups or individuals to distribute the corpses of monsters. The reason was that magic stones containing mana could be obtained from the corpses of monsters, and if these were distributed through illegal channels without going through proper distribution, there was a high possibility of misuse.

Therefore, the Delberg merchant group, which had acquired a large number of monsters, needed a natural freezer and workshop that could store them without being caught in inspections for the distribution of magic stones, and the cold and dry climate and sparsely populated mountains were very suitable for this purpose.

"A water-attribute monster?"

"Yes.... From what I saw directly, it was a monster with a cyan, scale-like skin. Its size was that of a typical livestock cow. And I remember... it was slightly charred."

"Cyan with scale-like skin. It's a 'Quamare'."

"I think that was the name."

Quamare was a monster that could never be seen in the northern regions of Raina Logia. It was mainly found in the warm coastal areas or wetlands of the central-eastern and southeastern parts of Raina Logia, and they moved in groups. Because of that, when they were discovered, the scale was considerable, so they were often captured in large quantities.

Recalling that characteristic, Hugo remembered a report from about 3 months ago that Quamares were found to have died in large numbers in a region called Perion in the central-eastern part.

Quamare was a water-attribute monster, so fire-attribute magic was most suitable when hunting them. At that time, all the corpses found in large quantities were charred black, so it was thought to be the work of someone using fire magic.

The reason it wasn't a big problem at that time was that while it was illegal for private merchant groups or individuals to 'distribute' monsters or magic stones, it wasn't illegal to hunt them or obtain magic stones for self-sufficiency and use them only for personal purposes.

However, if a merchant group distributed and sold them, it would be a different story.

"Delberg started bringing in monsters a few months ago, right?"

"Hmm..., 2 months. No, about 3 months ago."

"3 months ago.... The timing matches."

It might be a bit of a conjecture, but he thought there might be some connection between the mass discovery of Quamare corpses at that time and the Quamare brought in by this Delberg merchant group. And the fact that all those corpses were charred black...

"What did the Count receive in exchange for giving land to the merchant group?"

"He received some of the magic stones from the monsters. The Frost territory is a place lacking in water, so water-attribute magic stones are very precious."

"I see."

Now it felt like the pieces were falling into place one by one.

The Delberg merchant group chose the Frost territory, where the temperature was low and there was little human traffic, to find a place to store a large number of monsters, and the Count received magic stones from the monsters in return.

The corpses of the monsters were buried all over the mountains surrounding the Frost territory, and even after death, monsters released the mana of their inherent attributes, so in order to conceal the water-attribute mana of the Quamare, they buried them in the ground and then set fires above as if forest fires had occurred to neutralize the water energy.

And while covering the dug-up ground again, they concealed the traces of wet soil with burnt leaves and dry branches. Due to that work process, the residents thought that the frequency of forest fires had increased recently.

When he finished organizing his thoughts, Hugo put down the file. Then he took out the photo he had been carrying in his inner pocket and showed it to him, saying,

"Since you were tailing me, you must have known that I was looking for someone. This fellow is the person I've been searching for over the past few days."

Ardel looked at the photo Hugo showed him and reacted as if he knew him.

"Ah, as expected, the person you were looking for..."

As he spoke as if he had expected it, Hugo raised one eyebrow and asked him,

"...As expected? You seem to know this fellow. So, is this fellow the business partner who set fire to the ground covering the monsters?"

Hugo assumed that the mage who set fire to the ground covering the monsters, as Ardel had said, was the protagonist in the photo who was presumed to be at the Count's house.

However, Ardel, who was looking at the photo, answered with a flustered expression at his question that seemed somewhat out of focus.

"Pardon? No, that's not it."

"...It's not?"