Bermuda

Kenis Weber was originally a trainee member, a recruit whose unit assignment had not yet been decided.

With the Central Branch's expedition to the peninsula suddenly decided, the 1st Battalion was severely short on personnel for the expedition. During the personnel-organization process, two reserve personnel from the standby group and one trainee were assigned without evaluation, taking into account the trainees' unit assignment preferences and specialties.

Kenis Weber was the one chosen in this process.

During his entry evaluation, he showed a gentle disposition that disliked fighting and didn't stand out in combat areas. In his application, he expressed a desire to work in internal positions or in fields requiring concentration, like searching for smuggled goods or drugs. However, in the unit assignment preference form submitted near the end of his training period, he wrote by hand that he hoped to be assigned to the 1st Battalion, specifically the 8th Platoon.

Normally, since the 1st Battalion was composed entirely of combat personnel, Kenis Weber should have failed the assignment evaluation following the proper procedure. However, by chance, he possessed a specialty that others didn't have, and thanks to this, he became a candidate for consideration during the expedition personnel organization. This was because among Kenis Weber's distant ancestors was a werewolf, a hybrid race of half-human, half-beast born from black magic according to legend.

In the past, they were persecuted as monsters and seemed to be disappearing from the world, but when prominent people from Bermuda began to speak out against discrimination toward different races, they too began to be recognized as members of society—at least on the surface.

However, the few remaining descendants of werewolves either lived in hiding or formed relationships with humans to shed the label of werewolf. The wolf's special characteristics and habits had long since faded over time. So, in cases like Kenis Weber, where some senses were exceptionally developed, it was considered a rare talent in today's world.

Considering these special conditions, the tight schedule, and the fact that the 1st Battalion unit assigned to the peninsula expedition was a specialized pursuit platoon, Kenis was able to become a member of the 1st Battalion without the approval of the Commander and Deputy Commander, under the special permission of Emma Russell, the pursuit team leader and 8th Platoon leader.

As Hugo retraced all these processes, he couldn't deny that his suspicion was spreading even to the 8th Platoon leader, though he knew it couldn't be.

As Meterion had said, when coincidences persist, they are no longer coincidences. The 8th Platoon being the only one from the 1st Battalion to participate in the subjugation was partly due to his high regard for her pursuit abilities, but also because she was the quickest among the busy platoon leaders to express her willingness to join the expedition.

Moreover, since she had the decision-making power in recruiting Kenis Weber as a platoon member, he couldn't ignore the reality that she had contributed to the infiltration of an informant based solely on trust in her subordinate.

But before his suspicion of her deepened, fortunately or unfortunately, Kenis brought up a shocking story.

"I probably wasn't the only one who received such instructions."

Hugo slowly rolled his eyes as he examined the letter Kenis said he had received.

"Not just one person?"

"Yes. In my estimation..."

"Do you have any evidence?"

It was a statement that should have been surprising, but Hugo tried to maintain his composure. Kenis, who had been instructed to sit back on the sofa, recalled his peers who had gone through the training period with him.

"Well... this is just my guess, but... among the trainee members, there were people like me who hoped for internal positions or were far from combat. But suddenly, I remember quite a few of them resubmitting their unit assignment preference forms, saying they wanted to go to the 1st Battalion."

"..."

"That was... not long after you brought Blaine-nim to the Council, Commander. Most people said it was because of increased admiration or respect for you, Commander, that applications were flooding in for your direct unit... but in my view, even considering that, many peers made unexpected choices. They each applied for different platoons. I was probably one of them."

Hugo slowly rubbed his temple.

"...Then, regardless of which platoon accompanied me to the peninsula, there would have been at least one person monitoring Leonardo?"

"Yes, probably..."

Right after the Central Branch's peninsula expedition was decided, anyone could have predicted that Leonardo would be included in the subjugation team. Since it had already been decided in the grand meeting that he would be responsible for Leonardo, it was also sufficiently predictable that some platoons under the Commander's 1st Battalion would join the expedition.

Someone had started to intensively plant eyes and ears in the 1st Battalion, targeting this point, and it was around this time that trainee members, including Kenis Weber, newly submitted their unit assignment preference forms.

In other words, Kenis Weber was just one of many long-term pieces, and in fact, anyone who entered the 1st Battalion could have become a surveillance agent.

The more Hugo organized the situation, the more his neck and head tingled. To disguise coincidences, he couldn't gauge how many people with malicious intentions might be mixed in where.

"When you received this letter, were you promised compensation?"

"...Yes."

"What did they say they would give you?"

The letter only contained the name Leonardo Blaine and a specific location. The location was close to Kenis's hometown.

Kenis said this was the target to be monitored and the location where the records should be submitted. It seemed that he had received the proposal verbally without knowing in advance who the surveillance target was, and only those who successfully infiltrated the 1st Battalion received specific details.

"Um... as you know, our family has had a poor reputation for a long time, so we're not very well off. But we have many family members, and because of our constitution that requires meat consumption, many family members suffer from chronic illnesses. So—"

"I see they promised you financial compensation." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

It was an obvious but more shameful answer than anything else. Kenis affirmed with silence, squeezing his eyes shut.

"What would happen if the conversation we've had here were to reach their ears?"

It was a simple question, but Kenis, who had turned pale, suddenly raised his head.

"C-Commander. Please, anything but that... When those people came to my house, they earnestly implored me. They said if this matter became known externally or reached your ears, they would kill me to destroy the evidence."

"Kill to destroy the evidence? Did they specifically mention me, saying they would eliminate you if it reached my ears?"

"...Yes."

"You accepted the proposal even after hearing such threats? Not knowing who they were or what more they might ask of you in the future."

At Hugo's sharp question, Kenis's eyes welled up with tears again. Despite his large build, he clearly showed signs of youth and immaturity. Hugo sighed and held out the handkerchief placed on the table.

"I... I know I was foolish. But at first, they said I just had to monitor someone... I don't think I felt the seriousness of it. Also, I needed money for my family, and they showed it to me right there. A sum I couldn't accumulate in a lifetime even if I saved until I died..."

Kenis explained tearfully that although it was shameful, he had had no choice but to accept at the time.

Hugo was somewhat aware that Kenis's father and older sister were hospitalized due to genetic disorders, and his mother had been responsible for their livelihood. This was because the overly honest content Kenis had submitted to the Council to receive the organization's medical benefits was also written in his application form.

At this point, he couldn't just blame him anymore. Given that they were people who said they would kill to destroy evidence, if he hadn't accepted the proposal on the spot, his entire family might have suffered harm instead. If a member of the organization disappeared, the Council would conduct its own investigation, but for those who dared to plant an informant in the 1st Battalion, disguising it as an accident might have been an easy task.

"I suppose they didn't reveal to you the reason they wanted to employ a surveillance agent so badly as to offer such a large sum."

"No..."

Hugo, hit by a headache, slowly closed and opened his eyes. The information was limited, but the purpose was completely elusive.

He wondered if this was also related to Leonardo's black choker, or if the vampire who took blood was behind it. Whether the Imperial Knights who had pursued them in Fidele were involved, it felt like threads were constantly being added to an already tangled skein.

"I suppose it was also you who delivered cigarettes to Leonardo in Fidele."

"Huh? Oh, you knew about that?"

Kenis asked back with a surprised face. Instead of answering, Hugo asked again.

"Did you do background research in advance to approach him? To gain his favor and get close to him."

"..."

"Then why are you revealing the truth now? If you prepared so thoroughly, you could receive a large sum just by delivering this."

Hugo coldly stared at Kenis while lifting the stack of papers slightly, then letting it drop. Kenis clenched his fists on his thighs and painfully moved his distorted lips.

"Originally... that was the plan..."

Kenis's trembling hands vigorously rubbed his teary eyes with the handkerchief.

"But Blaine-nim is such a good person, it didn't feel right..."

The sobbing started again. Trying to hold back his tears, he stammered on.

"Blaine-nim saved me so many times... and I was just, doing bad, things... hic. And, he looked so lonely. He probably didn't come here by choice... I shouldn't be doing this, if no one else."

Whoever ordered him to monitor Leonardo must surely be someone harmful to Leonardo. Kenis said he had been tormented by doubts throughout the subjugation period about whether it was right to hover around Leonardo, following the orders of such a person. He carried the recorder out of habit, but after falling off the cliff together, his affection for Leonardo deepened and he stopped recording.

"But someone else might be monitoring me or Blaine-nim, and I was afraid harm might come to my family since our home location was already exposed. Yet I felt so sorry towards Blaine-nim... because I was lying. So I couldn't do this or that... hic, I'm sorry..."

Hugo remained silent, feeling complicated as he watched him confess while crying. This guy was even younger than Leonardo. How could he push someone who had made a hasty judgment for his family any further?

Kenis, who had been sobbing for a long time, only stopped crying after expressing his guilt toward Leonardo. It seemed less that he had calmed down and more that he felt he didn't deserve to cry. With his shoulders shaking as if hiccupping, he asked in a nasal voice:

"What... will happen to me now?"

Hugo silently looked at him. Certainly, he should pay for his crimes.

There was room for leniency since he had revealed the truth first, but currently, he was burdened with various crimes, including charges of improper solicitation and bribery, leaking official secrets, abuse of authority, and obstruction of duties. Usually, even one of these would result in disciplinary action or demotion, but for a new member to commit this many, he would undoubtedly be expelled, ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) if not detained.

However, with Kenis, who had accompanied the peninsula expedition, coming to him voluntarily to confess everything, the existence of an invisible force became certain. It also became clear that Leonardo wearing the old-style handcuffs was someone's deliberate act.

Ironically, Kenis's anguish was an unparalleled stroke of luck. Although he didn't believe in luck, this was a strange fortune that even strategies couldn't foresee.

More precisely, it was luck that had come to Leonardo, who always sought to protect others.

For his sake too, Hugo wanted to seize this luck.

"I'll ask just one more time. Do you really not know whose instructions they were?"

Blue eyes stared persistently as if to see through everything. Kenis, blinking, answered in a small voice:

"No..."

Hugo gauged the truth of the answer with narrowed eyes. He wanted to outright ask if there was any connection with the 3rd Battalion Commander.

However, now that the other had informed on someone's instigation, it was better to refrain from making statements that could provide information to this guy.

Looking at the eyes that seemed even more transparent with moisture, Hugo spoke softly:

"From the moment you came here, they would have already judged that the contents of the deal had been leaked. If you go outside now, you might really be in danger."

Kenis raised his lowered eyelids. His face turned pale, and a spasm ran under his eyes. Worry about his own future and his family's safety intertwined in his gaze.

Hugo calmly proposed to him:

"So I'll give you two choices. It's your freedom to choose either one."