Bermuda

"A fellow Bermudan? That guy is also from Bermuda?"

Leonardo, who had been staring at the last sentence for a while, brow slightly furrowed, immediately applied heat to the entire note to check the other contents.

As his impatience grew, the paper precariously changed from a yellowish color to a mottled brown. It looked like it might burn at any moment, but fortunately, without such an incident, dense letters gradually revealed themselves on the darkened paper.

Skipping the frivolous greeting starting with "Dear pretty one..." on the top line, the next thing that caught his eye was about the glass bottle Kenis had handed over.

[Red is a mana amplifier, white is a mana stabilizer.] 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

[For the amplifier, the duration is three hours per dose. It's most effective when administered by injection, but since you seem to dislike that, I put both in pill form.]

[In general, after taking it, one can draw out their mana to the limit, but since you have a handicap, you probably won't see that level of effect. But maybe you can draw out the average amount of your original mana, like before you wore the collar?]

[The side effect is going berserk. If you feel like you're going to go berserk, take the stabilizer. However, since it's my first time with an S-grade, there's no guarantee that taking stabilizers will stop the rampage. But you won't die. Probably?]

[The appropriate interval between taking the two drugs with different properties is at least two hours. Whether to take the drugs or not, and when to use them, is up to you.]

As expected, the suspicious things inside the bottle were drugs developed by that guy.

Leonardo's eyes widened for a moment at the "amplifier," but he soon frowned as he read the irresponsible words that followed, such as, "The side effect is going berserk, but you won't die. Probably?" It seemed to mean that if he wanted power, he should risk his life and become his test subject, even though the creator himself couldn't be sure.

At first glance, the content was absurd, but still, if the amplifier could really draw out his mana as much as before... Even if there were side effects, it wouldn't be completely useless. No, rather, it was close to what he had been searching for.

The following content was about the question regarding the Council's handcuffs that caused his mana control instability, which was also a matter of great concern.

Some time ago, while traveling together, Alec Siles had said that the Council's handcuffs might not be the cause of his control instability.

'Mana control became unstable because of the Council's handcuffs? Hmm..., temporary control instability symptoms after wearing strong mana restraints for a long time do occur occasionally, but as far as I know, instability problems on a scale as large as yours were already resolved by the Council 5 years ago.'

'The inevitable control instability of prisoners who had been wearing restraints for a long time had been continuously raised as an issue, so the Council changed the material combination used in the restraints to solve about 60% of it. The remaining 40% also showed noticeable improvements.'

At that time, he cited specific evidence and pointed to this thing around his neck as a bigger cause of instability than the handcuffs. However, in his opinion, this was not the cause. Because he had already finished adapting to it over the past few years.

And when Alec Siles heard that, he just said, "Hmm..., is that so?" and glossed over it, saying something was strange.

But now, through this note, he was presenting a different, new possibility.

[...Your control instability far exceeded the threshold of instability that commonly appears in mages who have recently worn restraints. In other words, it's much more serious than the general level.]

[I thought the reason for such symptoms was because of your mana-eating collar, but if there was no such problem before you wore the handcuffs, the only conclusion is that the handcuffs you wore were particularly abnormal.]

[So, if you have a chance, ask your Council friends next to you. However, this issue related to the restraints is something that the Council keeps quiet about internally, so don't say that I told you.]

Alec Siles concluded that the handcuffs he had worn were "particularly" abnormal. However, from the contents of the note alone, it was not clear what exactly he meant. Then, did it mean that if he had worn different handcuffs, this problem would not have occurred?

But while being taken into custody by the Council and imprisoned, he had worn a wide variety of handcuffs, and the feeling was vastly different each time they were changed, and he couldn't specifically remember each and every one of them.

So, he couldn't distinguish what was abnormal and what was common right now. In the meantime, the way that guy kept saying collar, collar was quite annoying, although it wasn't wrong.

'By the way, if it's something that the Council keeps quiet about internally, who are you telling me to ask? And how do you know about that hushed-up story?'

For a moment, he had a suspicion that the guy might be related to the Council, but if that were the case, it seemed unlikely that he would take risks like hiding and moving around on the peninsula or approaching him to make a contract.

Moreover, the guy knew a lot of stories that someone wanted to hide or that were hidden from the world, such as the illegal mining team, the Elder Millie Peninsula, and its long history, so it wouldn't be strange if he knew one or two more secrets like that.

[P.S. By the time you read this, I will have already escaped outside the gate, so you don't have to worry about me getting caught. And if you survive and come out of the peninsula later, look for the turtle that took the train at 41 Westforce Romance. Let's talk about the details then.]

But why was he telling him this?

Judging by his confidence that he would have already escaped by the time this was read, it was oddly reassuring that he was skilled at running away.

Of course, now that they had made a contract, he had no intention of completely releasing the guy like this. The guy knew too much useless information, so he needed to be kept under close watch. In another aspect, it seemed like his strange skills could be put to use somewhere.

However... it seemed that he was not the only one thinking of exploiting him.

Seeing that he had written a strange address as if to leave room for meeting again, the guy seemed almost certain that he would look for him.

As fellow Bermudans, we should help each other.

Of course, he also agreed with that certainty.

After quickly scanning through to the last line, he absentmindedly checked the back of the note and found large letters scribbled there.

[See you again, pretty one. Good luck.]

Seeing the handwriting that resembled the guy, he felt like he could somehow hear his voice, making his brow furrow deeply. He let it slide, thinking it was bothersome to get angry every time he heard it here and there, but he didn't really like being called pretty in the first place. But this guy kept saying pretty, pretty all the time.

For a moment, his perception of the guy changed a bit at the mention of being from the same Bermuda, but he was definitely an unpleasant fellow from beginning to end.

*****

Hugo returned to the tent about 15 minutes after Kenis had hurriedly left. Leonardo, who had been quietly glaring at the note with its hidden contents fully revealed, immediately stuffed the note into his pants pocket as soon as he heard the familiar footsteps.

As Hugo entered, lifting the entrance, Leonardo greeted him with a nonchalant face, asking, "You're back?" in a casual yet friendly manner. He lightly answered by asking if Leonardo had been resting well and immediately turned his back and went to his place.

His expression seemed clearly different from when he left, so Leonardo blankly stared at his broad back as he took off his combat uniform with a puzzled face. His face, which he had briefly seen, looked very serious, making him wonder why, but he kept his mouth shut as it didn't seem like the right atmosphere to strike up a conversation.

However, as if sensing the gaze on him, Hugo, who had been folding his removed /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ combat uniform neatly, immediately delivered the most terrifying words in the world with his back turned.

"Leonardo, there's something I want to ask."

His voice was lower than usual. Leonardo instinctively felt that what he wanted to ask was definitely not with good intentions.

As he remained silent, Hugo finished organizing the folded combat uniform top and placed it on the side table, as if giving him time to think. Then, he slowly turned around and asked,

"Since when exactly have you been moving separately with Kenis Weber?"

Leonardo's eyes slightly widened, and he momentarily felt like his heart had sunk. He unconsciously swallowed dryly.

'What?'

He immediately tried to grasp the intention behind the question.

However, there were more than a couple of guesses.

It was already unsettling that Kenis, who had been here until a while ago, was suddenly mentioned, but what made him even more worried was that he asked that question right after returning from the meeting, as if he had found out something about Alec Siles and his whereabouts.

'Could it be that he knows everything and is testing me?'

He was also concerned that his current appearance might look noticeably flustered. He managed his expression naturally, but it felt unnatural to himself.

All sorts of thoughts flooded his frozen mind, wondering what he knew and was asking about, and if he had possibly seen something.