Bermuda [bl]

Count Servia was trembling with a blanket over his head, locked inside his castle. It was after he had heard the news that the entire territory was already surrounded by the Council.

As the thought that it was only a matter of time before he was caught suffocated him, the Count felt like his own residence was like a prison, even though he was clearly inside it.

"Where on earth is the grand master of the merchant group and what is she doing!"

"M-Master... All the guards sent to find the grand master of the Delberg Merchant Group have been restrained and unable to move."

"What...! Then what about the mage? What is Leonardo Blaine doing now?"

"Upon hearing the news that the Council had surrounded the territory, we immediately searched for him, but all traces of him had disappeared."

"What!?"

The Count was on the verge of collapsing as blood rushed to his head.

When Commander Hugo Agrizendro of the Council and his adjutant suddenly barged into the mansion, the Count thought he had sent them away well with some excuses and felt relieved. Then he immediately sought out the grand master of the merchant group to discuss this matter.

However, no matter where they searched, even after sending out the guards to scour the entire territory, there was no news of her whereabouts.

Moreover, to make matters worse, upon hearing that the ruffian-like mage he had kept, thinking he would protect him in a crisis, had also disappeared, the Count felt like he was going crazy with anxiety and impatience.

"Where have they all gone!"

"Master! The Council is outside the mansion!"

One of the mansion's servants rushed to the Count, who was furious, and delivered the terrifying news. Upon hearing that, the Count felt his heart drop for a moment and immediately got up and approached the window to look outside.

Through the gap between the curtains, he could see a large number of people wearing the Council's uniform standing in front of the mansion's main gate. And among them, exuding an overwhelming presence more than anyone else, Hugo Agrizendro was emanating a chilling aura while directly staring at the window where he was.

"Gasp-"

As if their eyes had met, the Count inhaled sharply and immediately moved away from the window. He pressed his back tightly against the wall so that his figure would not be seen, but his legs gave out, and he slumped down on the spot.

Cornered, he had a forlorn expression on his face, then closed his eyes tightly and clutched his head, saying, "Where the hell did those damned guys go..."

***

Meanwhile, the mage who had been impersonating Leonardo Blaine had currently escaped from the Count's mansion and was secretly hiding in a place with few people.

Carefully looking outside, he saw Council members in uniform everywhere, so he was very confused about how the situation was unfolding.

"What the hell, why are Council bastards suddenly swarming all over the place?"

Previously in the morning, he knew that someone had visited the mansion. And he immediately realized that they were the ones who had extinguished the fire he had started the night before and the outsiders who were looking for Leonardo Blaine.

Seeing the man from last night, with his overwhelming large build and cold, sharp features, standing in front of the main gate, he immediately hid inside the mansion.

He wondered for what reason they had come here and if it had been exposed that he was here.

Even though he had hidden deep inside the mansion, the man's cold energy seemed to rise through the floor and walls, making it hard to breathe as if he was right next to him.

But most of all, what he feared the most was that even though he had directly witnessed that man using powerful mana yesterday and could feel this frigid energy rising right up to his chin, he couldn't gauge the depth of his mana at all.

Usually, when meeting someone with mana, one can roughly grasp how strong the other person is and how much mana they possess. However, with that man, he couldn't feel the end of it at all.

Rather, until he directly saw him using magic at dawn, he hadn't even noticed that he possessed mana. In other words, it meant that he was a tremendous controller.

If he stayed still like this, he might be caught without anyone knowing and suffer who knows what. As soon as the mage thought that, he felt a threat to his safety and executed his escape plan more hastily than expected.

He immediately packed his meager belongings and money, and first waited for them to leave the mansion. If he just went outside, he might be spotted by the Count's guards or the members of the Delberg Merchant Group, so he intended to use teleportation to move to the border area of the Frost territory in one go.

However, teleportation was a high-level magic that consumed a tremendous amount of mana, so it was somewhat unreasonable to cast it with his own mana alone. Moreover, the Frost territory itself was quite large, so it was uncertain whether he could move in one go.

Also, even if he used teleportation, he couldn't immediately move to another area. To go outside, he had to go through the teleportation zone at the gate of the territory's border area, so to completely escape from here, he had to save up as much mana as possible.

Suddenly, he remembered that Ardel Linter, the water mage of the Count's family who had been his business partner, had a teleportation tool.

The guy hadn't been seen at all recently, so he thought it was a good opportunity and entered Ardel's room, rummaging through it to find the teleportation tool. He found what he was looking for before long, but the tool only had half of its mana left, as if it had already been used once.

Regrettably, he added his own mana and managed to attempt teleportation, but instead of reaching near the border area, he fell in a remote place and was hiding in a warehouse to recover his depleted mana.

How much time had passed? Suddenly, the surroundings became chaotic, and an enormous number of Council members were scouring the territory, clearly revealing through massive loudspeakers that monsters were buried in this area.

Upon hearing that sound, he felt a chill down his spine and sensed that everything he, the grand master of the merchant group, and the Count had been doing was exposed.

"...Did the Count spill everything? That spineless old fart. If he doesn't have the guts, why even bother."

While he was cursing the Count, whom he had disliked from the beginning, and grinding his teeth, suddenly, the sound of footsteps approaching near the warehouse where he was hiding was heard.

Startled, he reflexively covered his mouth and stared at the warehouse door, holding his breath, hoping the footsteps would pass by.

However, contrary to his wishes, the presence got closer and closer, and eventually stopped right in front of the door and began to roughly shake the tightly closed iron door as if trying to open it.

Clang, clang-

The fire mage, who was tensely holding his breath until his mouth went dry, stared at the silhouette through the shaking door gap with a pale face and brought his hands together. If worst came to worst, he planned to blow away the guy outside with magic. Although he had almost no mana left, blowing away a single civilian was nothing.

As he thought that and was about to take a deep breath and draw out his mana, the guy in front of the door took a step back, and the shaking sound stopped. Just as he was about to feel relieved, thinking that he was finally leaving.

A man's voice was heard from beyond the iron door.

"Mr. Blaine, are you there? I have come under the orders of the grand master of the merchant group to assist you."

Upon hearing the voice from outside, the one impersonating Blaine's face lit up as if he had heard the voice of salvation. However, it was only for a moment. He pondered for a bit while holding his breath and then opened his mouth.

"The grand master of Delberg? Who are you?"

"I am a low-ranking member of the Delberg Merchant Group. I received orders to escort Mr. Blaine while avoiding the eyes of the Council. She is currently waiting at the mountain path."

"...Is that even worth saying? The Council is spread out everywhere right now, so how can we escape! You should have come earlier if you were coming!"

He was very glad that a man had come to save him in this situation, but he was also very angry that he had only come to find him now and shouted. Then, the person speaking outside fell silent.

As the man outside became quiet, he immediately regretted his actions just now. He realized that now was not the time to be picky about the situation.

If he didn't find a way to escape right away, it was only a matter of time before he was caught, so he changed his mind, thinking that at least someone had come to pick him up.

The mage hurriedly continued, "I mean..."

"It may be uncomfortable, but if you hide under the bottom of the cart used for transporting goods, you can go without being detected. I brought a regular cargo cart without the merchant group's mark."

At the low-ranking member's words that he had even thought of a way to escape undetected, he felt like a lifeline of hope had been thrown to him, like grasping at straws. However, to save face, he tried to hide his joy and continued in a pompous manner.

"Hmm, it's a bit undignified, but I don't want to cause a commotion, so I have no choice. I will ride in that cart you brought."

"Yes, thank you. Please open the door quickly, we don't have much time! The Council might even storm this place."

When the member urged him in a hurried tone, he became urgent as well and removed all the latches he had put on the door and moved the piled-up luggage to the side.

As he opened the door cautiously with half suspicion, he indeed saw a cart with a horse tied to it. Seeing that and feeling relieved, he opened the door a little more, and next to it stood a young man with brown hair, brown eyes, and freckles on his face, smiling and looking this way.

Sunlight poured in through the slightly open door gap, illuminating behind the young man. At that moment, the mage had the illusion that this ordinary low-ranking member was like a savior who had come to rescue him.

He immediately opened the door wide and said to the member who had come to pick him up, "Let's go quickly. When you came here, there were no Council guys nearby, right?"

"No, there weren't. But before that, wait a moment-."

The smiling young man suddenly blocked him as he tried to go outside.

As the mage looked at him with a puzzled expression, the man grabbed his shoulder and slightly pushed him back. It seemed like a light touch, but pushed by an unexpectedly tremendous force, he staggered greatly and almost fell backward.

"Wha, what?"

'This guy, it seemed like he just lightly pushed me, but why is he so strong?'

As he barely regained his balance and stepped back, looking at him with a perplexed gaze, the young man took one step at a time into the warehouse, and as soon as he was completely inside, he closed the door. Seeing him even locking the latch, the mage had a dumbfounded expression.

He found it unnerving that the young man, who seemed weak, had easily pushed him aside. Moreover, when the young man had urged him to hurry up earlier, instead of leaving, he had even locked the door, sending a chill down the fire mage's spine.

"What the hell are you trying to do?" the fire mage asked, full of suspicion.

The young man who had entered the warehouse cracked his knuckles, making a popping sound as he massaged his fists.

"Originally, I was just going to watch you get caught by the Council and quietly let it go, but I've gone through too much trouble for that."

"What?"

"I can't just let you go like this."

The young man grinned as he spoke. The fire mage felt goosebumps rising on the back of his neck at that smile. The air inside the warehouse had changed in an instant, filled with a suffocating tension.

Deciding that he needed to escape this situation as soon as possible, the fire mage once again clasped his hands together, ready to chant a spell and attack at any moment, assuming a combat stance. Then, glaring at the young man with a fierce expression, he said, "You... you lied about coming here on the orders of the merchant group leader."

The young man merely shrugged his shoulders without answering. Convinced that his words were indeed a lie, the fire mage gathered mana in his hands. He was about to chant a spell, squeezing out the little mana he had left, when...

"Bite down hard on your molars."

In the blink of an eye, the fire mage saw the young man standing right in front of him.

The young man's posture was as if he had bent one arm and raised it high, looking like he was about to throw a punch at the fire mage. And on his lips, there was a clear smile.

Every scene felt slow, like a slow-motion before death, but in reality, it was at a speed too fast for the body to move or even perceive.

Without even having time to close his eyes, the fire mage felt a sensation as if his jawbone was being crushed, and he took the punch flying straight at his face.

Bang!

Hit by the young man's fist, the fire mage's entire body was lifted off the ground and sent flying backward. He crashed through the wooden panels of the warehouse's partition wall and flew all the way to the back of the warehouse, smashing through the wall and sprawling on top of the debris like a corpse.

As a result, the dust that had accumulated in the warehouse for a long time rose in wisps, clouding the air inside.

Covering his nose with his sleeve, the brown-haired young man approached the fallen fire mage, coughing. Then, looking down at the seemingly unconscious man, he said, "Cough, oh, I guess I had a lot pent up. I couldn't control my strength."