Bermuda

“The identity verification process is currently delayed. Please have your ID and pass ready before entering the checkpoint.”

Gate 3-2 in the southwest of the Agrizendro territory—the location of the portal to Celestia, situated in the central airspace of Raina Logia.

It was already past midnight by local time, but people waiting to go to the sky city were lined up in front of the checkpoint. Celestia was a city built on a massive floating island, one of the areas where a special magnetic field near the equator conflicted with mana stones in the geology to create an anti-gravity effect.

Therefore, to prevent personal metal objects from interfering with the magnetic field’s flow, there was a regulation that stopped accepting outsiders immediately when the acceptable population was exceeded.

Leonardo, wrapped in a black hood and cloak, was also buried among the crowd gathered in front of the gate. He looked like an ordinary man, so unremarkable you wouldn’t remember him even if you brushed past. He peered at the sign at the front of the line while holding his ID and pass.

‘Will I be able to get in?’

Once he entered Celestia, it would be impossible for a large-scale pursuit team to follow him for at least a day. It was the perfect place to erase his tracks and hide right away. However, he wasn’t sure he could get through under the name ‘Leonardo Blaine,’ and the current number of people allowed to enter seemed barely enough.

“Are we going to be cut off right here?”

“Nah, there’s not much left.”

By now, there were only three people ahead of him waiting to enter the checkpoint. People in front and behind were constantly on edge, worried they might get cut off on their turn due to bad luck.

Leonardo, biting his lip among them, weighed it until the last moment.

‘Should I just leave now instead?’

He still hadn’t decided whether to stop by His Excellency’s villa or not. Honestly, he wanted to stay for a while, if only to appreciate his thoughtfulness.

But he soon shook his head and steeled himself. Staying here too long would only breed lingering attachments—and rumors. Baseless talk had already spread to nearby territories.

“Did you hear? Leonardo Blaine...”

“Ah, he was finally released, wasn’t he?”

Looking down at the two people in front of him who were quick with news, Leonardo tightened his hood.

Just then, a sharp-eyed guard stepped out of the checkpoint. She counted the waiting line in a solemn voice.

“One, two, three, four. Up to here—four people, please enter the checkpoint.”

After scanning the last man with a suspicious look, she added loudly:

“Please remove any items covering your face, such as hats, hoods, or masks, in advance. And from here on, passage to Celestia is not possible today. Please visit again at midnight tomorrow.”

A sigh of disappointment rippled through the waiting crowd. Leonardo glanced back at the people lined up behind him and felt relieved.

Surprisingly, it seemed his turn was the last one. Leaving behind those lingering in hopes of a possible chance, he followed the guide into the checkpoint.

Inside the wooden checkpoint were four examination booths separated by partitions. The previous numbers filled the seats in order. Leonardo took the last seat.

He removed his hood and revealed his fake face, keeping only his original golden eyes. It was to make it look as if he were disguised with a wig or fake skin, rather than using magic, in case eyewitness accounts leaked later.

“Please place your belongings here and present your ID and pass.”

The guard recited the routine lines. Leonardo set his backpack on the examination desk, then hesitated for a moment with his prepared ID in hand. He considered simply presenting the fake ID he’d been using, but wanting to use it properly at least once, he carefully unfolded the mage registration card.

He covered the striking face in the photograph with the overlapping pass. They would check everything anyway, but he didn’t want to show it openly.

Swallowing dry saliva, he handed the documents over. The guard who took them scanned the destination and stay schedule written on the pass and began manually copying them into the inspection log.

Meanwhile, another guard came up and picked up the small backpack on the examination desk.

“I’ll check your belongings for a moment.”

It was to see whether he was carrying dangerous items or metal exceeding the allowed amount. Leonardo watched the two with an indifferent expression.

Just then, the guard examining the documents paused and asked:

“Sir, are you a war veteran? Veterans are subject to priority inspection without waiting—didn’t you know?”

He must have noticed the words ‘War Veteran’ in the additional information section. Though flustered despite himself, Leonardo tried to answer calmly:

“Ah, yes. I didn’t know.”

‘How would I know if I’ve never received such treatment before?’

The guard looked at him quizzically, as if he truly hadn’t known, but soon smiled kindly and guided him with politeness:

“In the future, when visiting areas with a limited floating population, if you give the guards at the gate a heads-up, they’ll guide you to the checkpoint first. You’re lucky, though—you became the last person to pass through. Are you visiting for a mission? Ah, that’s enough with the baggage inspection...”

As he rattled on, the guard gestured to [N O V E L I G H T] his junior inspecting the belongings to take it easy. Then he separated the pass, now finished being checked, from the overlapping documents and placed it in front.

“Do you belong to a guild? Even if you’re a short-term mercenary, you need to tell us.”

Leonardo stared blankly at his now-exposed photograph. He lowered his voice more than necessary and answered flatly:

“No, I don’t belong to a guild. It’s a personal schedule.”

“I see. Then—”

The guard’s gaze fell on the photograph shining golden. As he took in the striking features, he blinked and suddenly raised his head.

“Oh, but this is...”

He looked back and forth between the person in the photograph and the face in front of him, then started to lift the registration card to compare.

In truth, there was no need to compare. Unless he’d been covered in gunpowder on the battlefield, he looked inexplicably different.

“...”

Leonardo stared at the guard with a cold gaze, maintaining the fake skin of another person. He hadn’t done anything wrong, yet he felt like he needed to get out of here for no reason at all. After reading the name, the guard looked down at the registration card with a rather serious expression.

After confirming ‘RANK: S4,’ he seemed to be certain and drew a small breath.

Pulling his upper body back little by little, he urgently whispered to the colleague beside him:

“Quickly bring the chief.”

The atmosphere turned strange. The wary golden eyes slowly shifted.

The local time in Celestia was around 3 AM, about a two-hour difference from the Agrizendro territory.

When Leonardo came out of the gate, it was a quiet dawn, moonlight hanging in the dim sky in the distance.

Here, too, the area in front of the gate was crowded with people trying to leave, but being on the outskirts of the city, there were no lights except for the main road a short distance away. He quickly slipped through the crowd and headed toward a deserted forest path with few people. He covered his face with a medical mask he had previously pilfered from the Council’s hospital ward.

It had been over three years since he’d last presented his real ID at a checkpoint, so he had actually been a bit afraid of being arrested on the spot. However, the checkpoint chief who had come running immediately raised his hand in salute, and after that, everything moved quickly—he had already sent word ahead to Celestia’s checkpoint.

When Leonardo left, all the guards came out to see him off with a hand salute. The only flaw was that the people who had entered with him whispered, wondering who he was.

Still, since this was his first such experience in a public place while alone since that day three years ago, Leonardo couldn’t hide the smile that spread across his face, even as he felt dazed.

‘He really is someone who keeps his word.’

Remembering His Excellency, who had been considerate of him until the end, he moved with steps that felt particularly light in the area’s anti-gravity.

Leonardo hummed a tune as if he wanted to be heard on purpose. He chose a shitty military song as the melody so it wouldn’t be mistaken for someone else’s.

As he slowed his pace, he suddenly stopped in the middle of the forest path.

‘Have they all followed?’

The startled sound of footsteps stopped in unison as well.

To Leonardo, it was embarrassing to even call it tailing. He held his breath for a moment and gauged the direction of their presence.

In fact, he had noticed two or three people following him since he was still in the Agrizendro territory, but he’d thought they would be filtered out by the population limit before entering Celestia. However, the moment he crossed the portal and made it to this side, he sensed about a dozen people—who had been positioned like background in the plaza—moving in secret with him at the center.

Given the nature of a limited floating population area, it was unlikely they had shoved in personnel on short notice the instant they identified his destination. That meant followers were probably waiting in advance not only in Celestia, but wherever he went in the nearby territories.

‘Five in front, six on the left rear, seven on the right.’

After dragging them along like the Pied Piper, a total of eighteen were now on his tail.

‘They really sent them with determination.’

His golden eyes flashed like a beast’s in the darkness. Whoever it was, it didn’t look like they had attached this many people just to poke at him once.

It couldn’t be bodyguards assigned by His Excellency, either. If so, for the sake of his future whereabouts, he needed to deal cleanly with those he’d brought along in this forest.

Leonardo cracked his knuckles with a pop. His smile gone, he slipped behind a thick tree trunk.