Bermuda

Silence settled over the cave, as if there had never been any commotion. Yet the bloodstains on the walls and the man’s battered face betrayed what had just taken place here.

Leonardo slid his dagger under the strap of the bag slung over the man’s shoulder and cut it free. As the blade came close to his face, the man sucked in a sharp breath of fear, but he couldn’t stop Leonardo from taking the bag. He kept his arms raised high, just as Leonardo had ordered.

Once the bag was in his grasp, Leonardo dropped onto the nearby ground and began examining its contents closely.

Some of the minerals inside were large chunks, while others were clustered in twos or threes of smaller pieces.

The fact that the minerals had formed this way meant that the place they were found had an environment suitable for mineral formation. Searching the surrounding area could very well yield more.

However, despite this promising clue, Leonardo was not pleased. For now, finding that location was impossible.

I can’t tell if that bastard is telling the truth or not.

Leonardo, eyes narrowed as he studied the minerals, turned his gaze on the man.

His face was covered in scratches, bruises, and dried blood from his nose. Kneeling with his hands still obediently raised, none of his earlier bravado remained.

A few minutes ago, after a beating, the man had confessed that he’d ended up here chasing rumors about the peninsula’s valuable minerals, hoping to make money.

Since robbers who had entered the peninsula before the Council’s Central Branch arrived were being rounded up one by one, it wasn’t surprising that there might be more of them.

But when Leonardo asked where he had found the minerals, the man claimed he couldn’t remember, feigning ignorance.

Believing him to be lying, Leonardo had tried to threaten him further, but the new squad member beside him stopped him, warning that hitting him again here would land him in jail for assault.

Leonardo wasn’t sure if the man truly didn’t know or was pretending. The way his arms kept sagging suggested he still hadn’t come to his senses despite the beating—but the way he quickly raised them again when their eyes met didn’t make him seem like someone with the guts to lie.

Even so, pushing further now would be awkward.

Leonardo needed to know how much the man knew about those blue minerals and in what way. If he had collaborators, what was their scale, and what exactly was their purpose in coming here?

But none of that—clumsy or not—was something to discuss in front of a Council member. Showing too much interest might raise suspicion.

I should have found that bastard first...

Leonardo’s gaze shifted from the man’s bloodied face to the new squad member standing beside him. The Council badge on his combat uniform gleamed as if demanding attention.

Noticing Leonardo’s eyes drop to his chest, the newcomer looked puzzled. Leonardo met his gaze, held it for a moment, then shook his head as if it were nothing. There was # Nоvеlight # much he wanted to ask the man, but now wasn’t the time.

Just in case.

Leonardo reached back into the bag to see if there was anything else. Suddenly, his fingers brushed against something strange.

His elegant brows rose at the odd texture. Everything he’d touched so far had been cold and rough, but this was smooth, rounded—and warm.

Sensing something off, he quickly pulled it out. The new squad member’s eyes widened.

“Why is something like that... in the bag?”

What he had pulled out was a whitish egg with a blue tint, larger than his hand and with a tough-looking shell.

It wasn’t a typical beast’s egg from the peninsula, and though it was likely a monster’s, it was one even Leonardo had never seen before, making it hard to identify.

Still, he was suddenly reminded of the Dermocas crawling and wriggling along the cliffs outside.

He shoved the egg toward the man’s face.

“What is this?”

The man hesitated for a long time, visibly flustered, as if weighing his answer.

His eyes flicked between Leonardo and the egg, but when he saw the patience draining from Leonardo’s face, he blurted out, “Ah, it’s an egg.”

The squad member glanced at Leonardo, sensing that this answer would only worsen his mood.

As expected, Leonardo’s expression went cold.

“Hey, do you think I’m an idiot?”

“Y–yes?”

“I’m not asking if it’s an egg. I’m asking what kind of egg it is and why you have it.”

“Ah... I don’t really know either...”

Already irritable from fatigue, Leonardo felt his temper spike at the nonsense. Deciding that fists might be faster than words, he clenched his hand and stood.

Sensing the incoming blow, the man hunched down into a perfect target for a punch, babbling in panic.

“I—I really don’t know! I was just told to transport it! I didn’t even know it was in the bag!”

Leonardo froze mid-swing. The man clapped a hand over his mouth, realizing his slip. The squad member, who had been about to stop Leonardo, also caught the implication in that word and cut in.

“Transport? Then you mean someone else told you to do this?”

“...”

The man didn’t answer aloud, but his unfocused, trembling eyes said enough.

Leonardo lowered his fist and stared at him.

I knew it.

There was no way this fool had come here alone, not with the peninsula’s dangers. Even Armsilver required at least a pair to be dispatched here.

The mana Leonardo sensed from him wasn’t pitiful, but it was only enough to keep himself alive—barely. Unless he had a death wish, he had to have collaborators, whatever his purpose.

If he really was just a transporter, his yet-unseen allies could be moving in an organized fashion, and the minerals they carried were likely far more than what sat in this bag.

Leonardo pushed down the regret of not catching him alone earlier and looked back at the egg.

Smuggling minerals made sense—they were valuable. But what was this egg, that someone had ordered it transported when it wasn’t even worth as much?

And was its presence related to the Dermocas sightings? If so, that could point toward a shortcut to subjugating the peninsula.

He tapped the egg’s shell, testing its hardness, then shoved it toward the man again.

“Do you really not know what this is?”

“I swear on my life I don’t. I only transported it.”

The man kept his arms raised and repeated his ignorance with a conviction that bordered on arrogance.

Having admitted to collaborators, he now seemed more intent on avoiding responsibility than hiding it. Leonardo even wondered if the “transport” admission had been another lie.

He eyed the man in annoyance.

A little more beating might break something loose, but after the newbie’s earlier warning about assault charges, the man seemed to believe he was safe, answering more sluggishly and acting bolder.

But if you’re going to lie, at least make it convincing. How could someone who’d flaunted minerals as bombs know nothing else?

“Yeah, you don’t know either, right?”

Contrary to his thoughts, Leonardo spoke as if he believed him, tossing the egg lightly into the air. The man’s gaze followed the dangerous motion.

Catching it again, Leonardo raised it high with a calm expression.

“Then we’ll just have to find out.”

The squad member, realizing what he meant, cried out, “Mr. Blaine, wait!” 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

He grabbed Leonardo’s arm, but it was too late.

The egg had already left Leonardo’s hand, arcing toward the ground.