Bermuda [bl]

"Anyway, if anyone catches my eye—"

"Hey... hey, be quiet."

As one of the men continued talking thoughtlessly, the one who had made eye contact with Hugo jabbed his companion in the side with his elbow.

"Why do you keep hitting me?"

While the men were still chattering, the innkeeper quickly brought the food and placed it on Hugo and Flynn's table.

"Here's your order."

"Ah, thank you."

Flynn smiled and thanked the innkeeper for bringing the food. As a result, the men's attention was automatically drawn to the table where the two were sitting.

In their eyes, Hugo was a tall man with a physique that looked strong at a glance, giving off a rather cold impression, as someone had described. Moreover, he exuded a considerable aura of intimidation and a noble atmosphere that didn't quite fit in with this place.

"Thanks."

As the innkeeper set the food on the table and Hugo expressed his gratitude, silence fell among the chattering men. It seemed that the outsider they had been talking about was clearly that person.

Hugo, unfazed by the silence, easily uncorked the liquor bottle and poured its contents into a glass. He then took a sip and quickly emptied the glass.

However, as if he didn't like the taste of the alcohol, his brows furrowed slightly as he stared at the glass. In that state, he turned his gaze to the men, and they, suddenly faced with his sharp eyes, flinched in surprise and looked away, pretending not to have seen him.

Putting down the glass, Hugo casually said to the men,

"The story you were just telling, could you share it with me as well?"

* * *

"So, here's the thing. For the past few months, traces of fire have been found not only in our town but throughout the polar region. Occasionally, forest fires occur naturally due to the dry climate, but not this frequently," the skinny man explained in detail to Hugo and Flynn about the story they had just been discussing. As the frequency of forest fires had increased recently, the two men, who were currently pursuing Leonardo Blaine, naturally thought of him whenever there was an incident related to fire.

"Then what's the story about the monster?"

"That's..."

When Flynn asked about the monster, the man who had been excitedly chattering until just now trailed off and glanced around. Sensing something strange, Flynn waited for him to answer. Before long, the large, bearded man beside him spoke up instead.

"Ah, what does it matter? It's a story that everyone in this area knows anyway."

As the others nodded in agreement, he continued the story.

"This place isn't originally a monster-infested area. Although it's a polar region with a small population, there's a border with another country to the north, and the land is barren, so there's nowhere for monsters to find food. But a fortnight ago, there was a story about something strange being discovered on a hillside."

"Something strange?"

"Yes, it was said that a box containing monster corpses was found burnt."

As it was certainly not a common occurrence, Hugo, who had been listening intently, raised an eyebrow and asked,

"How many corpses were there? What kind?"

"I heard there were about ten... As for the kind, I don't know either. People said that by the time they found them, they were already charred black, and it was impossible to tell if they were animal corpses or monster corpses."

"Hey, if that's the case, then it's not certain whether they were monsters or not, right?"

The skinny man denied it in a frightened nuance, as if he didn't want to believe they were monsters. At that moment, the young man who had been quietly listening beside him hurriedly interjected.

"No, those were definitely monsters."

At his confident tone, Hugo and Flynn's gazes naturally turned to him. He was a man with a simple appearance, brown hair, and freckles on his face.

"Huh? How do you know that?"

"I was there when those corpses were first discovered. When everyone was hesitating because they couldn't identify them, I saw a man directly touch the corpses and say they were monsters not found in this region."

At his words, Hugo's eyes narrowed. If someone knew the types of monsters found in the region, they wouldn't mistake animal corpses for monster corpses.

This added credibility to the idea that the corpses people had found at the time were indeed monsters. There were several strange things, such as the fact that they were in a wooden box, that about ten of them were found at once, that they were found burnt, and the identity of the man who had suddenly appeared.

"Who is that man? I'd like to meet him."

"Well... I don't think he's someone who lives around here. He seemed like an outsider... He was wearing a hood, so I couldn't see him properly. I was so distracted at the time that I don't know who he was..."

"Then where are the monster corpses? Who handled them?"

"The monster corpses were collected by the guards and probably taken to the lord's castle. All the mountains in this area are part of the Frost territory. Since the largest city is also located in the center of Frost territory, the maintenance of public order is generally handled by the Frost territory guards."

Frost territory was one of the small territories in the northern polar region. Although there was a city, it was incomparably smaller than the large cities in the central and southern regions of Raina Logia, closer to the size of a town.

Usually, the areas around such small cities had few visitors and a small population, so the nearby lord would manage the surrounding small towns.

In general, when monster corpses are found in an area where monsters do not normally appear, regardless of the number, it is the principle to report it to the local Council branch. And those reports are supposed to go up to the Central Council branch located in the imperial capital, the center of Raina Logia.

In other words, there should have been no situation where Hugo, as the commander of the army there, did not receive that report. However, Hugo was hearing about this fact for the first time.

In other words, it meant that the lord of Frost territory had collected the monster corpses discovered a fortnight ago and had not reported it to the Council.

He had simply come to capture Leonardo Blaine, but somehow, he was getting involved in increasingly suspicious matters. However, he had a strange feeling that the recent events in this area were not unrelated to Leonardo.

"By the way, who are you folks, and why have you been snooping around our town lately? Are you looking for someone?"

The bearded man asked boldly after glancing around for a bit. The other men also looked at Hugo and Flynn, seemingly curious. Flynn was a little flustered, but he soon opened his mouth with a glib smile, ready to recite a prepared script.

"Ah, we're private investigators from the central region."

"Private investigators?"

"Yes, it's when individuals take on tasks from government agencies or guilds, and since there are no intermediary fees, clients can use the service at a lower cost. Despite how we may look, it's quite a popular profession."

As he spoke fluently without hesitation, the men nodded in agreement, even though it was an unfamiliar story. Fortunately, the young man's words that followed added credibility to Flynn's story.

"I've heard of it too. They say there are quite a few private investigators like that in the central and southern regions."

"Oh, as expected, you know a lot since you work for a merchant group?"

"Haha, I just overheard bits and pieces."

"This guy knows a surprising amount about various things."

Another man with short hair, wearing a hat and having dark skin, chimed in as if to praise the young man beside him.

Watching their conversation, Hugo quietly folded his arms. He did so because he couldn't remember seeing any large merchant group carriages in the area over the past few days.

"I haven't seen any merchant group carriages passing by the nearby towns recently. Are you saying that a merchant group has entered the town?"

At Hugo's question, the man with the hat who had just spoken continued.

"No, not currently in this town, but they have entered near the lord's castle in Frost territory. However, this area also needs supplies, so a few merchant group employees, including myself and this friend, occasionally transport goods."

"You two are members of a merchant group, I see."

"Yes, but we both joined recently, so we're still at the bottom."

"Speak properly. I'm your senior who joined two days earlier."

Among the four companions, the two men—the one with dark skin wearing a hat and the one with brown hair and freckles—seemed to be members of a merchant group. The man with the hat boasted about being the senior, saying he had joined first, but they both looked young and seemed to have joined the merchant group not long ago. Hugo then asked,

"Which merchant group is it?"

"The Delberg Merchant Group."

"Delberg?"

When the two merchant group members proudly and vigorously stated the name of their group, Flynn, who heard it, asked back with a rather surprised look.

That was because Delberg was one of the sizable merchant groups in the central region of Raina Logia, and their main areas of activity were mostly in the central or southern regions. Although they occasionally visited other regions while procuring various goods, it was quite unexpected to hear their name in the north.

"I know that Delberg mainly operates in the large cities of the central and southern regions, so it's a bit surprising to hear that Delberg is in the polar region of the north."

"Oh, is that so? I just followed along when they said they were recruiting people in Köln in the north-central region, but I'm still at the bottom. I don't know what the group leader's purpose is for coming here. Well, it's not bad to supply daily necessities to the people here at the same time."

"That's right, thanks to that, it's very convenient for us too. You have to cross the mountains to get near the lord's castle."

When the merchant group member with the hat answered Flynn's words, the skinny man chimed in.

Hugo and Flynn briefly exchanged glances. It seemed that a separate investigation was needed regarding the purpose of the Delberg Merchant Group's visit to this place.

"By the way, do you have a picture of the person you're looking for? We might have seen them, you know?"

"Ah, would you like to take a look?"

Flynn immediately took out Leonardo's photo from his inner pocket and placed it in the center of the table so they could see it clearly. The men, without exception, leaned in and stared intently at the face in the photo.

After a moment, the man who had been suspiciously asking questions earlier was the first to speak, as if in disbelief.

"...He's incredibly good-looking?"

"I know, right? I thought he would look like some kind of vicious criminal."

"Rather, he's quite a beauty, isn't he?"

Flynn, accustomed to people being surprised when shown the photo, looked at them with a business smile. That was because he himself couldn't take his eyes off Leonardo Blaine's photo when he first saw it.

Although it was a photo from a few years ago, Leonardo in the photo was a beautiful young man in his early twenties with blond hair and golden eyes. His expression was extremely sharp and fierce, and despite the photo not being very clear, his appearance shone.

As the men only showed interest in the appearance of the person in the photo, Hugo unfolded his arms and soon turned his head elsewhere. Judging from their reactions, he didn't think they had actually seen Leonardo.

With that thought, Hugo's gaze led to the small table in the far corner across the room, which he had seen when he first came down here.

There, a person wearing a black hooded cloak was still sitting alone, but the way they kept glancing over here more than necessary felt as if they were spying.

As if sensing such suspicious circumstances, the cloaked figure immediately stood up and headed towards the door as soon as Hugo's gaze fell on them. At their sudden action, Hugo also stood up from his seat, not wanting to let them get away.

When the person saw that Hugo seemed to be following them, they started running in a hurry and soon flung the door open and dashed outside.

The people inside all looked in that direction at the sound of the door being roughly pushed open, and Hugo, leaving their gazes behind, stepped outside to follow the mysterious figure.