Bermuda [bl]

"Blaine, what kind of disrespectful behavior is this towards the count?"

At the grand master of the merchant group's words, the man jumped off the sofa and went to the door. Then, still with an expression that seemed to annoy people, he grabbed the doorknob and said,

"It's because you keep pampering him that the old man is throwing a tantrum like a pig that hasn't eaten for days, isn't it?"

"What? A pig? You bastard!"

Count Servia completely threw away his dignity and once again threw a fit in anger. The man just laughed and teased the count, then opened the door and left with a mocking smile.

The count's shouting could be heard from inside, but he didn't seem to care at all.

"That ruffian!"

As soon as he left, the count cursed at the door with all the swear words he could think of, panting heavily. The grand master of the Delberg Merchant Group, as if having a headache, held her forehead for a moment, then regained her composure and smiled, trying to find words that could calm the count's anxiety and anger.

"Count, please calm down."

"Do I look like I can calm down right now?!"

"Although it's not an easy task to handle Blaine, if we keep him around, we might be able to use him as an excuse to get through this incident if things go wrong."

At the grand master of the merchant group's words, the count, who had been fuming, stopped cursing and looked at her. As the count seemed to show interest, the grand master of the merchant group smiled and offered him a handkerchief.

The count, as if embarrassed by his extreme agitation, took the handkerchief she offered and wiped his sweat, asking,

"What do you mean by that? Getting through this incident?"

As his anger seemed to have subsided a bit, the grand master of the merchant group, thinking that he had taken the bait, began to unravel the story she had in mind without hesitation.

"Leonardo Blaine is currently like a thorn in the side of the Council. Doesn't the whole world know that the Council has been desperate to catch him for years?"

"Hmm..."

"If our deal with the count is exposed or we find ourselves in a dangerous situation, we can negotiate with the Council by offering information about him first and handing over Blaine."

The count, who had been mulling over her words that flowed smoothly, nodded, thinking that there was some truth to it. However, he couldn't completely relax and asked again with suspicious eyes,

"But what if we try to hand him over, and he ends up exposing our contract?"

To that, the grand master of the merchant group smiled and said there was nothing to worry about.

"Although the Council is chasing Blaine, he is not currently a wanted criminal who needs to pay for his crimes. However, if it is revealed that he was involved in our business, he will become a high-risk criminal and the Council's top priority for arrest. Blaine himself probably doesn't want that either. He won't easily expose it."

"Hmm, I see."

"Still, this is a plan to prepare for the worst-case scenario, so let's keep it a secret between you and me, Count, and observe the situation for now. It's to keep it as a last resort."

The count seemed to be completely convinced by the grand masterof the Delberg Merchant Group's somewhat persuasive words. After wiping his sweat with the handkerchief until it was damp, he spoke in a relatively calm voice, as if he had finally calmed down.

"Alright, I'll trust you."

He seemed to think that there was now a reliable corner to some extent.

The grand master of the merchant group, who had managed to calm the count after a difficult struggle, said that she would definitely give Blaine a warning and stepped out the door with a smile. Then, she roughly brushed her hair, which had been carefully styled, while holding her throbbing forehead, tired of catering to the annoying noble's whims.

In fact, until just a few months ago, she had never even imagined that she would be involved in such illegal activities.

However, coincidentally, this job not only involved her future but also her life. She had eagerly accepted the chief grand master of the merchant group's promise to give her a share of the group and officially appoint her as a grand master of the merchant group if she successfully completed this business.

However, the opportunity that came faster than expected was accompanied by tremendous risk. In the midst of such danger, she herself was anxious and uneasy, and having to cater to the count's whims made her feel extremely unpleasant.

Her idea of negotiating with the Council by handing over Blaine was just a plausible sophistry to reassure the count. In fact, although she said that, there were several problems and risks involved in handing over the mage she had hired.

She couldn't be sure if he would really expose his involvement in the job or not, and most importantly, there was one fact that the count didn't know.

So, she hoped that the Council would just investigate the arson or whatever incident to a reasonable extent and withdraw as soon as possible. If the count's anxiety was further heightened, she was afraid he might do something unnecessary.

* * *

The man called Blaine by the grand master of the merchant group acted calm and composed inside, but as soon as he left through the door and walked down the corridor, his anxious demeanor was evident.

"Damn it... the Council."

This morning, news reached the Servia County that members of the Council had come to the nearby town across the mountain to investigate the arson incident.

Usually, when a fire occurred, guards would be sent from the lord's castle of Frost territory, which was this county, to conduct a formal investigation. What the man called Blaine wanted was such a formal scene, not for the Council to suddenly appear out of nowhere.

Last night, at a very late hour, one of the county's guards had come to him. The guard had informed him that two outsiders had appeared in a nearby town in recent days, looking for 'Leonardo Blaine.' He then added that the outsiders 'looked quite strong.'

Upon hearing the news, he couldn't help but be surprised. Until now, there had only been rumors, but this was the first time someone had directly come so close to find 'Leonardo Blaine.' The man immediately put on a grim expression and said to the guard who had brought this news,

"Hey, you. Did you report this to your master?"

"No, not yet. It's quite late at night, so I thought the count would be asleep and came to inform Blaine first."

"Is that so? Then, is there anyone in the county who knows about this besides you?"

"Pardon? No. There's probably no one. I'm the only one in charge of patrolling that area among the guards."

"...Really?"

He immediately pushed the guard's shoulder roughly against the wall with a sinister smile. The guard looked at him in confusion, startled by the impact against the wall. The guard's eyes, briefly visible through the helmet, seemed to distort into a golden color, perhaps due to the moonlight.

"Hey, don't tell anyone about what you just said."

"Pardon? But I have to report to the count—"

"If this fact is known to anyone other than you, I'll consider it as you spreading the word and won't let you off easily. Do you understand what I mean?"

"..."

"If your master finds out about this, he'll probably start imagining all sorts of things while trembling in fear, right? So, don't tell anyone and let me handle it quietly."

"...Yes, I understand."

"If you understand, go back to your duties."

He tapped the guard's helmet with his finger and silenced him like that. Then, he waved his hand, gesturing for him to leave. The guard saluted him and turned around.

"Oh, wait. What's your name? I need to have some insurance."

He called out to the guard who was about to leave, as if he had forgotten, and asked. The guard, wearing a helmet, turned around and said,

"Andrew Sherman."

"Andrew Sherman? Alright, Andrew. If you truly care about your master, don't report it and keep it to yourself. I'll take care of it."

"Yes."

The guard looked at him, who was boasting and threatening, and then turned around and walked away. Once he was left alone, he became anxious and immediately headed to the town where the outsider mentioned by the guard was staying late at night.

Usually, those looking for Leonardo Blaine could be various expected targets, such as an employer who wanted to assign dangerous tasks, someone who held a grudge against him in the past, or the Council that had been persistently pursuing him.

So, he needed to find out the identity of those outsiders. Depending on who had come looking for Blaine, he had to act differently.

The work in Frost was comfortable and good, but if it dragged on, he thought he might get caught, and he was just thinking of switching to another employer at the right time. That was because the recent atmosphere within the Delberg Merchant Group, with whom he was collaborating, was not very good.

Upon arriving at the town where the outsiders were staying, he first wanted to start a fire nearby and observe the situation. According to the guard, they looked quite strong, so he thought that if they discovered the fire, they would take action in some way.

However, he used his head to some extent. If he simply started a fire, he could be unconditionally suspected by the county, so he deliberately poured oil and set it on fire to make it look like someone who couldn't use fire magic had committed arson. Then, he hid and watched the situation.

The fire set on the oil spread in an instant, and before long, someone who discovered the flames shouted loudly in all directions that there was a fire. Then, one by one, the lights in the houses turned on, and many people discovered the fiercely burning flames.

People tried to put out the fire by carrying buckets of water, but the speed at which the flames spread was so fast that it was far from enough to extinguish them. As the fire spread enough to reach the residential area, the person who started the fire also became anxious. If the fire spread to ordinary houses and someone got hurt, it would become a bigger issue.

At that moment, someone was seen flying from the air and standing in front of the people.

'A mage?'

Being able to fly in the sky meant that they were a mage who used mana. Although he couldn't hear clearly from a distance, it seemed that the person who had suddenly appeared was telling people to step back. Just that one word carried a sense of intimidation.

After a while, as he watched the situation, he couldn't help but gape. In front of that person, a huge magic circle and powerful streams of water appeared without any incantation, and the embers that had been scattering were quickly suppressed, unable to regain strength as the oil-fueled fire was helplessly extinguished.

Seeing that scene, he felt that the mana of the water-attribute mage who had put out the fire was incomparably powerful compared to his own. A mage who could use such powerful magic so quickly without even chanting an incantation.

He instinctively felt that if he confronted that person, his identity would be quickly exposed.

He hurriedly returned to the Servia County and immediately washed off the smell of oil from his body to hide it, in case his solo action was discovered, and anxiously waited until dawn. Then, he grabbed a passing guard and immediately instructed him to secretly summon a guard named 'Andrew Sherman.'

However, the answer he received from that guard was shocking.

"There is no guard with that name in the county."

For a moment, he couldn't understand what the guard was saying. The person who had delivered the message to him yesterday was clearly wearing the armor of a guard from the Servia County. In his haste to go to the town after hearing the story about someone looking for 'Leonardo Blaine,' he had only asked for the guard's name and hadn't had a chance to confirm his face, which was a mistake.

If there was no guard with that name, then who was the one who had come to him?

In the midst of the confusion, morning arrived, and news came that the Council branch had been dispatched to investigate the fire that had occurred in the nearby town the previous night.

The man was anxious, worrying that the guard who had lied about his name and concealed his identity might have disclosed it to the count. If a fire suddenly broke out in the town after he heard that story, nine times out of ten, the arrow of suspicion would point towards him.

However, when he met Count Servia in the morning, the count was only surprised and agitated that the Council had entered the nearby town. Judging from his reaction, the count seemed to have only a suspicion that he had started the fire, but no certainty.

In other words, the count seemed to be unaware that he knew about the outsiders looking for 'Leonardo Blaine.' The count didn't even seem to know what the outsiders were looking for yet.

Therefore, his suspicion about the guard who had appeared before him last night could only deepen.

The man, who had come out into the corridor, pulled at his yellow and brown mottled hair, pondering what to do next.

"Then, are those guys who put out the fire last night also from the Council? The Council doesn't usually respond this quickly just because of a small fire..."

He crossed his arms and tapped his feet anxiously. Since the guys presumed to be from the Council were looking for Leonardo Blaine, he concluded that it was dangerous to stay here any longer.

As he was about to pack his bags and prepare to leave secretly, thinking that he needed to do so immediately, someone's voice was heard.

"Blaine, there you are."