Leonardo was at a loss for words.
It was because of Kenis, who was bawling his eyes out in front of him.
About three hours before Hugo and the 1st Battalion arrived at the mining team’s hideout.
When Leonardo escaped from there and came back out to the entrance, Alec—who should have been nearby—was nowhere to be seen.
Still reeling after glimpsing the other side of the Council battalion commander, he had been dumbfounded, thinking perhaps this time the scholar had abandoned the contract and run off, when he suddenly noticed coordinates engraved on the cave wall. They were carved in a spot that wouldn’t be noticed unless one looked very closely.
Leonardo scratched out the mark with a dagger to make it unrecognizable, and while heading toward that location, speculated about why Alec hadn’t kept his post.
After leaving the tunnels with tension in his chest, wary of a trap or some unexpected situation, he reached the coordinates and found a dense forest nearby, still dim in the early ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) dawn light.
Among the stubborn, eerie grass and trees, a low rocky hill came into view, and at the concealed foot of a rock that jutted like a roof, two figures were standing.
And the moment one of them saw Leonardo, he rushed forward, shedding ugly tears.
“Mr. Blaine, please take me with you too!”
At Kenis’s voice—shouting while clutching his arm with red, swollen eyes—Leonardo hurriedly covered his mouth and looked around. Finally, he turned to Alec, wordlessly demanding an explanation, but Alec only shrugged, making a face as if it couldn’t be helped.
Leonardo shoved Kenis back until his shoulders hit the rock, then lowered his hand from the boy’s mouth and asked in a sharp, interrogating whisper.
“Why are you here?”
“...”
“Why are you here instead of rejoining the procession!”
Kenis flinched under Leonardo’s pressure, looking terrified, but still managed to sob out,
“To accompany... and go together with Mr. Blaine.”
Leonardo could only stare blankly.
He looked at Kenis in disbelief, then frowned in frustration and roughly ruffled the back of his own head. He couldn’t make sense of any of this.
There was no sign of anyone else nearby, but Kenis’s sudden appearance put his nerves on edge, wondering if someone might have followed.
Leonardo quickly turned back to Alec, glaring as if to demand an immediate explanation. Alec, shameless as ever, smiled as though he’d done nothing wrong and began recounting.
“...So when I tensely checked who was coming over, it turned out to be this guy. Since he was blatantly wearing a Council combat uniform, I couldn’t just keep him there, so I brought him here instead. I’m just as perplexed, so could you stop with those suspicious eyes? I’m human too, you know—I’ll get hurt if you keep glaring like that.”
Alec claimed Kenis had found his own way and walked to the entrance. But Leonardo had constantly checked for pursuers or stray footprints and couldn’t fathom how Kenis had tracked them.
“How the hell did you follow us? There shouldn’t have been any footprints.”
At Leonardo’s frown, Kenis only fidgeted nervously, unable to answer. Then Alec pulled his backpack forward, rummaged through it, and produced a spray.
“Should I put him to sleep?”
“Wh-what?”
Kenis recoiled in alarm, but Leonardo kicked Alec in the shin and snapped at him.
“What nonsense are you spouting.”
“Well, if he overheard our conversation, we can’t just leave him, you know.”
Alec rubbed at his shin as if truly hurt, then sidled up to Leonardo and whispered with a half-laugh.
“And you’re supposed to be my bodyguard—can you even manage this? Feels like another contract violation...”
Leonardo tried to kick him again, but Alec dodged neatly this time—only to take a punch in the ribs and stumble back.
At Alec’s attitude—talking about secrets while freely leaking information himself—Leonardo glared, eyes sharp with a warning to shut his mouth. Then he turned back to Kenis.
“Speak. How did you follow us, and why didn’t you return to the procession?”
Leaving Kenis here was dangerous in too many ways. If a third party learned about the contract, it could be compromised, meaning another mouth that would need silencing.
On top of that, he couldn’t use conspicuous attack magic without drawing attention, and the path ahead was said to be crawling with monsters.
The scholar might have his oddities but had nearly zero combat power, and the rookie was naive. Escorting them safely to the target point without detection was nothing short of testing his own limits.
Yet even if he sent Kenis back, how could he explain it? Should he say, I’ll be back soon, don’t tell anyone, just wait quietly? That he was escorting an unknown scholar but wouldn’t run?
Leonardo’s gaze hardened, urging Kenis to confess quickly, even as his own thoughts tangled.
Pressed against the rock as if cornered, Kenis hesitated over how to put it. Finally, after steeling himself, he clenched his fists and began slowly.
“Actually, I... have a better sense of smell than most people. My hearing too...”
“...?”
Leonardo blinked, baffled by the absurdity, and looked at Kenis wide-eyed. Alec, still rubbing his side nearby, mirrored his expression. Seeing their disbelief, Kenis stepped back and added, gauging their reactions,
“It’s not as good as an animal’s, but my sense of smell and hearing are sharper than others... so I followed your scent.”
Leonardo’s furrowed brows shot up even higher.
Sharper hearing and smell?
He had long wondered how this guy had ever made it into the 1st Battalion of the Central Branch. He hadn’t asked outright, not wanting to sound dismissive, but hearing this now, that question finally began to unravel.
His combat ability wasn’t exceptional, his mana not particularly strong, his swordsmanship unremarkable, and his judgment not outstanding either. So how had he gotten into the 1st Battalion?
He had abilities specialized for tracking. Come to think of it, his platoon leader was also a tracking specialist. And it was Kenis who had first spotted the outsider sneaking through the ravines.
If his sense of smell was keen, he could have followed Leonardo and Alec even without footprints. And with sharp hearing... he might even have overheard the contract discussion at that time.
As Leonardo pieced it all together with a troubled look, Kenis added, watching his face,
“And the reason I didn’t rejoin the procession... There were footprints of both of you, but if I went back alone, it would look like Mr. Blaine had run off. Then you might be put in cuffs again... so I thought we should return together.”
Kenis spoke slowly, revealing his concern for Leonardo. Hearing it, Leonardo was stunned into silence, unable to form a reply. He was dazed.
Yes, he had treated the rookie kindly, but skipping the procession like this could put his own position in jeopardy. He couldn’t understand why the boy would take on such needless hardship—especially a rookie who should be mindful of his seniors.
It was so baffling that Leonardo even suspected Kenis might have already sided with the Council and was only acting otherwise to trap him. He couldn’t take the touching story at face value.
With cold eyes, Leonardo asked the one question that mattered.
“How much did you hear?”
“...Pardon?”
“My conversation with this guy. How much did you hear?”
His gaze, wary and probing, was the complete opposite of the warm, smiling face he had shown recently.
Confronted with that coldness, Kenis—who had thought they had built some rapport—felt a sharp sadness pierce his chest. It throbbed as if poked straight through.
