Bermuda

Hugo’s eyebrows, which had twitched slightly before, rose higher this time. Fixing his eyes on Flynn, he turned his gaze toward the void for a moment, lost in deep thought.

As Hugo slowly reviewed the situation, he lowered the hand rubbing his chin and spoke.

"An excellent analogy. It made sense right away."

"Haha, I thought so, right?"

Flynn’s expression became greatly elated. Looking at him, Hugo gave a slow nod and asked,

"Then, are you saying the creatures have a purpose to lure humans?"

"Hmm... if my speculation is correct, yes. But I think we’ll have to wait for the pursuit team’s report to know their exact purpose."

Although he said it easily, it was still a complicated hypothesis. They had to keep in mind the possibility that the creatures’ aim in luring them was a trap.

The large horde of Dermocas that had appeared on the plains only hours earlier was a far greater number than the Council had estimated for the Dermocas across the peninsula.

The question was, where exactly had all those numerous creatures been hiding? If the place they were trying to lure them to was their main nest, and they wanted to draw the enemy there to annihilate them, the pursuit team’s strength alone would be utterly insufficient to handle it. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

As his hypothesis became more detailed and his head more tangled, Flynn unconsciously mentioned the name that came to mind.

"How about asking Leonardo about this now?"

At that name being spoken again, Hugo’s eyes toward Flynn grew colder. Feeling as though he had said something needless, Flynn hurriedly added,

"Leonardo knows a lot about monsters. Maybe he can read the monsters’ thoughts and figure out their purpose. After all, he did succeed in luring the Council’s pursuit team all the way to Frost."

It was certainly a reasonable point. However, Hugo turned his eyes aside as though he had no wish to hear further and shifted his gaze to his wristwatch.

"Yes, that may be so. But when sharing the situation with Leonardo and seeking his advice, it would be better to leave out the last part. If you tell him the monsters’ behavior resembles what you did and ask him to infer their purpose... it will only make things worse."

"That... I know too. Of course I wouldn’t say it like that."

Although he had no intention of saying it that way, when the Commander, who seemed to be listening carefully, oddly nitpicked his words, Flynn felt embarrassed. With an awkward look, he scratched his cheek and glanced at Hugo. It did not feel like imagination—the Commander’s reactions were always strangely different whenever that name came up.

In truth, there were many things he had long wanted to ask about that name, but Flynn kept hesitating whether to bring them up, afraid it might be seen as bothersome when the Commander already had plenty on his mind.

But now that he had laid the groundwork this far, he thought it might be the chance, so he carefully opened his mouth.

"Um, Commander, have you tried speaking with Leonardo?"

Having asked the question, Flynn closely studied Hugo’s face. Yet there was no real change in his expression as he continued to stare at his watch.

"..."

But the silence that followed was long enough to be considered meaningful. He stayed that way for a long time without a word, and in the end, turned his eyes elsewhere without answering. At that, Flynn tilted his head.

By his usual way, if it were work-related, Hugo would already have ended the exchange regardless of the situation.

But Flynn knew. These past days, Hugo had been waiting for the right timing to speak with Leonardo.

And the fact that Hugo was waiting for the right timing meant that, contrary to appearances, he was actually quite mindful of Leonardo’s emotional state.

So Flynn believed that if the two of them spoke again, things might improve, which was why he kept “conceding” to Hugo topics that could be brought up to Leonardo, like now.

Yet even with such efforts, the Commander’s present reaction was...

Did the talk not go well? Or have they not even spoken properly yet...

It was simply baffling.

While Flynn was speculating about their situation, two investigators conducting the investigation at the Southern Branch’s base camp approached, carrying a stack of documents. The one who appeared to be chief stopped in front of Hugo and spoke.

"Commander, may I report the investigation results so far?"

Hugo, who had been looking elsewhere, turned his head at the words. Then, upon seeing him, he readily replied as if he had been waiting.

"Yes, let’s hear it."

It was a calm answer no different from usual, but to Flynn, who had known the Commander for long, it somehow seemed he was pleased the investigator had changed the subject.

With permission granted, the assistant investigator beside him unfolded one of the documents and handed it to Hugo. As Hugo received it, the chief began his report.

"As instructed, we focused our investigation on the relationship between the egg and the Dermocas. We had originally planned to report after arranging the data more neatly... but thought it best to deliver it quickly."

The document contained the investigation results of the captured monsters so far and an analysis of the components making up each specimen.

"To give you the conclusion first, the epidermis and internal components of the being inside the egg do not perfectly match those of adult Dermocas."

At those words, Hugo asked with a subtle expression,

"They don’t perfectly match? What do you mean? Do you mean they match only partly?"

"Hmm... yes. You could put it that way, but please look at this first."

The investigator beside him unfolded another document and handed it to Hugo. Written there was data comparing the components gathered from monsters found on the peninsula so far with those of other specimens.

"Recently, haven’t mutant species appeared suddenly in large numbers? As soon as we captured them, we collected and stored samples and kept records, and from that we were able to confirm quite surprising facts."

Hugo listened to the report while keeping his eyes fixed on the document. As he read, his brow gradually furrowed.

"The types and appearances of the individuals were all different, but when compared, their epidermis and internal components matched from a minimum of 70% to a maximum of 98%, and some genetic traits even overlapped. This was also the case for the being inside the egg."

The investigator spoke with shining eyes, as though finding it fascinating, but Flynn, who was listening, wore an expression of little understanding.

"Wait, wait a second. What does that mean? Their types and appearances are different, yet they match..."

"Simply put, it means that even if species and form differ, they can still share the same genetic traits."

The investigator gave Flynn a handwritten copy of the document he had given Hugo and continued his explanation.

"For example, a recessive gene that completely opens the throat when swallowing large objects, with a gland under the jaw that secretes digestive fluid, is extremely rare among the monsters of the peninsula. Yet among the recently discovered specimens, #17, belonging to the reptilian family, and #19, belonging to the avian family, completely different in species and appearance, both possessed those traits."

"..."

"Moreover, the composition of their digestive fluid ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) also nearly matched, with only a difference in moisture content."

Flynn blinked, struggling to grasp the words that went deeper despite claiming to be simple. Then, suddenly, the mutant monster he had seen in the crater a few days earlier came to mind.

That grotesque creature had a mollusk-like body, but Leonardo had said it carried the same toxicity as an Ilaptor.

An Ilaptor and that mutant would be completely different in appearance, let alone species. Nevertheless, the fact that they shared the same toxicity could be because the two individuals possessed identical genetic traits, just as in the case the investigator had mentioned.

While Flynn recalled the conversation with Leonardo, Hugo, still reading the document, asked the investigator,

"Is there a possibility they share a common ancestor?"

At those unexpected words, Flynn looked up at Hugo in surprise. Finally, to hear the reply, he turned to the chief investigator, who slowly nodded and answered,

"Yes, that is correct."

Hugo’s eyes narrowed at the response. Immediately afterward, he looked again at the contents written in the document and said,

"Quickly resume the meeting."