Bermuda [bl]

Hugo watched his subordinates lined up in a row with an emotionless gaze. However, his cold, settled eyes seemed ready to dissect the faces before him down to every muscle.

The three pairs of eyes enduring the scrutiny wandered in different directions, deliberately avoiding the Commander's gaze. But as if not willing to give them any leeway, a cold voice brushed past their ears.

"Attention."

No sooner had the order been given than the arms of the three people snapped to their backs.

They spread their legs shoulder-width apart and lowered their heads towards the floor. Though half a beat late, even Meterion was no exception.

His twisted lips clearly showed his reluctance, but he seemed to have judged that it wouldn't be good to fall out of favor in this situation.

"Raise your heads."

As the soft yet intimidating instruction came down, the necks that had been pointing to the floor all rose at once. However, their gazes still refused to leave the Commander's feet. They were desperately avoiding eye contact as if something terrible would happen if they met his eyes.

Seeing them move like controlled mannequins, the rest of the battalion commanders also politely folded their hands in front of them. As the internal temperature seriously dropped, their fingertips began to sting. It felt as if the cold was turning into needles, pricking their skin.

Although Commander Agrizendro was more lenient than he appeared, the moment one stepped out of line, he transformed into the grim reaper notorious in the world. As proof, frost flowers slowly bloomed on the darkened windows, and the light coloring the conference room seemed unusually pale today.

Given the circumstances, old-style handcuffs that should have been completely disposed of were found within the Council, worn by a big shot named Leonardo Blaine, and his control instability problem had affected the peninsula subjugation - it was an undeniable responsibility of the person in charge.

As it was a serious matter that could even lead to dismissal, everyone stared at the three people who had stepped forward with anxious gazes. Just then, Hugo, who had been carefully examining them, spoke in a stern voice.

"The person in charge first."

The two people in the middle and on the right didn't move, but the lips of the 11th Battalion Commander Noel on the left curled inward.

"It's me."

Blue eyes shifted in that direction.

"You shouldn't have had any external schedules for two months before the expedition. What were you doing while staying at headquarters the whole time without properly inspecting? Did the person in charge, who received reports almost weekly, really not know that old-style handcuffs were mixed in among the S-grade mage handcuffs, which aren't even that many in number?"

"...I'm sorry."

"Don't just say you're sorry, I'm asking if you didn't know."

"I failed to check properly. I'm sorry."

Noel bowed his head lower and lower, not knowing what to do with himself. Whether due to the cold constricting his breath or fear, his shoulders trembled slightly.

Just as Venum, who had been watching this scene from the corner of his eye, was inwardly sneering at how detestable it was, Hugo's gaze fell on the other two beside him.

"You two, why did you visit the manufacturing facility?"

Venum straightened his shoulders as if he had been waiting for this and answered with an intent to prove his innocence.

"The 10th Battalion Commander, who was on an external schedule, asked me to send 100 boxes of live ammunition for monster capture. When I inquired at the equipment management room at the time, I was told that the quantity was insufficient, so I personally visited the manufacturing facility to place an order and secure the quantity, then delivered it to them."

"The equipment management room didn't have just 100 boxes of ammunition? You call that an explanation? It should be a principle to always keep at least 20 times that amount stocked."

"Well... I did think it was strange, but I really got the answer that there wasn't any."

"Who was in charge at that time."

Venum's gaze briefly turned to Noel beside him. Noel squeezed his eyes shut and bowed at a 90-degree angle.

"I'm sorry."

Hugo rubbed his furrowed brow and muttered coldly.

"Explain what happened."

Noel explained that due to a sudden increase in workload at the time, he was in a situation where he couldn't pay attention to the armory and equipment management at all. Therefore, he had arbitrarily assigned the task to the company commanders of the 11th Battalion, and in that process, proper inspection wasn't carried out, and there seemed to have been a recording error during the full inventory.

He added that he had intended to report this to the Commander as soon as the subjugation team returned, but missed the timing because he was so busy. As he spoke, Noel looked as if he was about to plant his head on the floor. Hugo stared at him with a cold face and then stopped his confession, as if to say that was enough for now.

"Thesaurus, why did you visit the handcuff production manager?"

"Pardon?"

When Hugo then asked Venum, who was standing with his chest out, Venum, who had been feeling relieved, asked back with a rather surprised expression.

Hugo threw the ledger he had brought onto a nearby table. The cover read 'Management Register and Visitor Log'.

He had already secured all the visit records and circumstances from the manufacturing facility and was questioning everyone in front of everyone else so that no one could escape.

Venum's Adam's apple moved up and down busily. The spirit of the nasty seven-year-old was nowhere to be seen as he stammered:

"Ah, likewise, at the request of Battalion Commander Magnus..."

"You wouldn't mind if I summoned Magnus tomorrow to ask about this for fact-checking, would you?"

Venum hesitated for a moment at Hugo's statement, then nodded.

"Of course not."

Three seconds of silence followed his answer. Hugo stared intently at Noel and Venum, then finally turned his eyes to Meterion on the right. The gazes of the battalion commanders also focused on him.

Hugo felt like his head was about to split from throbbing, seeing that this guy, who was always involved in such incidents, was mixed up in this one too. Judging from his past behavior, if there was a mastermind who would intentionally manipulate the incident, it would undoubtedly be Meterion.

But Hugo set aside his suspicions for a moment with a deep breath. A biased view tends to cloud the truth by becoming confirmation bias.

Just as he was about to ask for the reason, as he had done with the previous two, Meterion stepped forward, as if this whole situation was extremely unpleasant to him.

"I only stopped by about three months ago to secure additional weapons and protective gear. Other than that, I haven't visited or contacted the manufacturing facility, so I have nothing to do with this incident."

He began defending himself without being asked.

"I might look highly suspicious since I'm the only one among us who went on the expedition to the peninsula with Leonardo Blaine, but when I visited the manufacturing facility, it was a situation where we couldn't even predict that the Central Branch would be dispatched to the peninsula. The reason I went on the expedition was simply because I volunteered when everyone else was reluctant to go."

Meterion, seemingly aware that he appeared highly suspicious in Hugo's eyes, set aside his usual insolence and explained with some logic.

"If I had intentionally put old-style handcuffs on Leonardo Blaine and volunteered for the peninsula expedition with the purpose of accompanying him, wouldn't I have stopped by the manufacturing facility to divert the handcuffs when the expedition was almost confirmed, not at such an ambiguous time? Don't you think?"

Indeed, the time when he and members of the 3rd Battalion were recorded as visiting the manufacturing facility was a period when nothing had been decided about the Central Branch's expedition to the peninsula. In other words, it was before it was even certain that Leonardo Blaine would be arrested by the Council and included in the subjugation team.

However, by that time, Hugo had already personally set out to find Leonardo, and although the expedition hadn't been confirmed, it was a time when the peninsula issue was being actively discussed, so it was possible to guess the future schedule.

But apart from that, Hugo felt a strange irritation from Meterion's nuance just now.

"Meterion. I assumed this incident started from 'intention or mistake' in the sense that I want to trust my subordinates at least. But now you're talking as if you're certain that someone intentionally created this incident. Do you have any guesses?"

"...Agrizendro."

A vein slightly protruded on Meterion's forehead.

"I really don't know where the trust you feel towards subordinates in your actions right now. Stop pretending. Isn't gathering all the battalion commanders at this hour to grasp the facts almost a certainty that you too believe there was intentionality in this incident?"

"..."

"Leonardo Blaine wore old-style handcuffs that were thought to have been disposed of and went on an expedition to the peninsula where danger lurks? Isn't it too exquisite to be a mistake? When coincidences are this consecutive, it's no longer a coincidence. And the fact that I, who can point this out more boldly than anyone, is clear evidence that I have nothing to do with this incident."

Meterion's statement seemed self-destructive at first glance, but it was enough to stir confusion among those who had been subtly suspecting him. Not only did he conclude that the incident, which was uncertain whether it was intentional or a mistake, was intentional, but he was also unnecessarily bold about it.

However, that didn't mean the suspicion towards him completely disappeared. The battalion commanders present had often seen suspects desperately trying to gain the favor of investigators by using such psychology.

"Looking at the timing and the appropriate authority to plan this, I think it was the 11th Battalion Commander, so I don't understand why you're barking up the wrong tree."

As Meterion suddenly shifted the blame, Noel retorted with an unpleasant expression.

"Hey, Clinder. If we're going to argue like that, I have the highest probability of being suspected as the manager at that time, so why would I commit such an act?"

"You might have aimed for that very psychology. Besides, the most likely scenario in the current situation is–"

"Enough–"

Clang!

As the two's words dragged on, Hugo, unable to bear it any longer, raised his voice and intervened. However, there might have been a mistake in controlling his power, as his mana that spread out suddenly shattered all the light bulbs and lamps installed in the conference room.

Glass fragments that had turned to powder in an instant fell with a hiss, and darkness along with silence descended upon the noisy conference room.

Loren, who clicked her tongue and shook her head as if having a headache, quickly floated light balls to illuminate the surroundings. However, Hugo's expression revealed under the light made them think that perhaps the darkness had been better.