Bermuda Chapter 249

Although he had showered earlier under the pretext that the sweat was making him uncomfortable, he hadn’t had the presence of mind to bring a change of clothes. So he had picked up and put on Agrizendro’s clothes that he had been wearing originally and ca out.

Though it was a battle uniform, the material was much better than the Imperial Army’s uniform, and since the owner of the clothes was quite large in build, it was roomy and didn’t feel particularly uncomfortable.

Even when he took off his top and was examined by the dical officer, once the bandages were fully wrapped, he was handed that sa clothing without fail. Above all, since Agrizendro, the owner, hadn’t said anything, he had naturally been wearing it until now as if it were his own clothes.

However, he knew that the dical team coming and going inside and outside the cabin occasionally glanced at him. He also knew that they looked at the Commander’s insignia on his chest with strange looks.

Not only was soone else wearing the highest commander’s clothes, but that person was also an outsider who didn’t even belong to the sa organization. If they were part of the Council, it would naturally be concerning. Under those gazes, he felt a bit embarrassed to keep wearing this.

Leonardo, who had been looking down at his sleeve, shifted his gaze slightly to Hugo. As Hugo happened to be looking this way too, their eyes t and he hesitated for a mont.

In that state, instead of saying anything, he just blinked blankly. His eyes seed to be asking, “Should I take this off?” but the other seed to have understood it differently. As if thinking he ant to explain how he ca to be wearing these clothes, he briefly recounted the earlier situation.

“When we arrived here, your clothes were already quite dirty. For hygiene reasons, we removed them before proceeding with the surgery, and after the treatnt was finished, I arbitrarily put my clothes on you.”

Although he hadn’t asked, Leonardo naturally nodded at the explanation. He knew better than anyone that his mage robe had beco like a rag, so he had guessed that was the reason for the change of clothes. However, the questions “Why your clothes?” and “Who put them on?” kept lingering on his tongue. But he missed the timing to ask because of Hugo’s continued words.

“The mage robe you were wearing before probably won’t function properly anymore. If you’re okay with it, it might be better to discard that mage robe... Instead, I’ll arrange a new one for you.”

“Huh? Really?”

Leonardo asked back as if he hadn’t expected it. Yet his voice clearly revealed an undisguised, pleased tone. Hugo nodded as if it were natural, but after turning to look at Flynn, he asked Leonardo again.

“By the way, Leonardo, do you have any spare clothes?”

“...Spare clothes? Why?”

“You might be uncomfortable if you keep wearing that. I was wondering if you had any clothes in your artifact that you could change into.”

Leonardo also turned his head towards Flynn upon hearing Hugo’s words. Before entering Peak 118, he had put items that shouldn’t be lost into the artifact and entrusted it to Flynn. Of course, he had locked it so that no one but himself could open it, so there was no way anyone else could have opened it.

After briefly organizing his thoughts, Leonardo’s lips moved slightly as he turned his eyes to Hugo and said:

“I don’t. That mage robe was it.”

At this answer, Hugo’s eyelids blinked slowly. For a mont, his blue eyes lifted slightly and then lowered. Soon, without showing any particular reaction, he added:

“Then wear that for a little longer until we can get new clothes. It’s a chaotic ti for the subjugation force and all of Fidele, so it might be difficult right away... but I’ll get them for you as soon as possible. If necessary, you could change into Flynn’s clothes.”

At this, Flynn interjected with a sowhat awkward nuance:

“Um... Wouldn’t my clothes be a bit small for Blaine? His arms and legs are much longer than mine.... Or, I could go out and borrow clothes from another mber with a similar build. Even in just the 1st Battalion, there seem to be about two suitable people.”

“...That wouldn’t be bad # Nоvеlight # either.”

Hugo more or less agreed with the alternative Flynn suggested. However, Leonardo, who had been watching their conversation, suddenly furrowed his brows and said:

“I don’t want to.”

At his firm voice, Hugo and Flynn turned their heads towards him. Leonardo was montarily flustered by his own outburst of inner thoughts, but he maintained a composed expression. Clearing his throat with a cough, he continued with a reluctant face:

“I don’t want to borrow clothes from so guy I don’t know. I’d rather just keep wearing this.”

Although it might seem picky, Leonardo crossed his arms, asserting his stubborn intention. In the imperial capital, he had sneered when the jailer said the Commander had specially bestowed a battle uniform, but he hadn’t expected to end up wearing it like this, so he wasn’t particularly pleased. Nevertheless, it was far better than putting on the battle uniform of so Council mber he barely knew.

As Leonardo frowned as if he’d rather die than do that, Hugo, who had been staring blankly, suddenly let out a small laugh. Then, pressing Leonardo’s furrowed brow with his hand, he spoke with a faint smile in his voice:

“Alright. There’s no need to borrow soone else’s clothes if you don’t want to. Do as you please.”

Although the nuance was that he really ant for him to do as he wished, not mocking him, to Leonardo it sounded like he was coaxing a stubborn child. Because of this, he narrowed his eyes and rubbed his brow where Hugo’s hand had passed with the back of his hand.

Yet he lowered his gaze for no reason and mulled over his inexplicable statent from earlier.

‘Why did I lie?’

He had a lot of clothes stored in his artifact for disguises while living in hiding. He had even shown these two people himself wearing different clothes while acting as a low-ranking rchant group mber in Frost Territory.

Fortunately, neither of them seed to have noticed anything strange, but he wondered why he had lied about not having clothes to change into.

Leonardo unconsciously touched his nape with a complicated expression. Then, suddenly, Agrizendro covered his hand with his large one. Startled by this, Leonardo looked up at him, and Hugo’s gaze, its aning unclear, settled on his eyes.

Leonardo, staring into the blue eyes, tilted his head in puzzlent.

It was because the other’s expressionless face seed to be tinged with an inexplicable joy.

*****

Flynn, having finished cleaning up, went outside to compile reports in place of the tired Hugo. As the situation of being left alone with him returned once again, Leonardo felt as if the soup, which had nowhere to settle, was firmly lodged in his solar plexus.

Being alone with that person in one space made him extrely nervous. It was uncomfortable, this situation.

As an extension of needlessly being self-conscious earlier, now all his senses were focused on that person.

However, Hugo himself was sitting cross-legged in a makeshift chair next to the deck, continuously looking at a map with sothing marked on it. He seed to be concentrating quite intently, making Leonardo hesitant to break the awkwardness by saying just anything, thinking he shouldn’t disturb this quietness, and becoming careful with even a single action.

Thanks to this, only the sound of turning pages occasionally brushed by, and Leonardo checked things like the range of motion of his arm while holding his shoulder and rotating it.

Honestly, he had thought he could go outside after taking all the prescribed dicine. But that was a big miscalculation. First of all, setting aside the fact that he couldn’t finish the soup, even after taking the dicine and confirming that his condition was fine, Agrizendro didn’t let him go outside.

The reason was that he needed more recovery before going out and about, but although it was said to be for protection, it felt like he was being forcibly confined.

But ti kept passing, and his worry about Nero kept growing. Feeling that this couldn’t go on, Leonardo finally called out to Hugo cautiously.

“Agrizendro.”

Leonardo always drew attention first by saying “Hey” or calling the na when he was curious about sothing or had a request. Hugo, who now knew his way of expression quite well, guessed that he had sothing to ask from the gentle voice calling his na.

Sure enough, when he raised his head, Leonardo approached quietly with a weak expression. Sitting on the edge of the deck, he leaned his upper body forward and muttered in quite a gloomy tone:

“I want to go outside. It’s stuffy in here.”

How could one ignore when such a pretty face was pleading? Hugo, who had been quietly looking at Leonardo, slowly shook his head.

“It’s better to rest inside for now. Even if your recovery is fast, you shouldn’t forget that you’re a patient.”

“But I want to get so fresh air. I already feel like my muscles are atrophying from just lying down.”

Leonardo grumbled as he gently placed his hand on Hugo’s forearm resting on the armrest. At the light touch pressing down as if whining, Hugo’s gaze went down to that spot and then t the golden eyes again.

Although he still looked weak, it seed his exceptional cleverness hadn’t gone anywhere. He wanted to go along with it sowhat, seeing him properly use his strengths.

But there was sothing he needed to hear first. As they happened to be alone, it seed they could talk comfortably.

“Leonardo.”

“Yes?”

As Hugo folded the map and straightened his upper body that had been leaning back, Leonardo looked at him with expectant eyes.

However, his voice setting the mood that followed instinctively gave him a bad feeling.

“Earlier, there was sothing you said you’d explain to . I’d like to hear about that.”