Chapter 53

A complete silence flowed throughout the conference room. It was probably because most of them had guessed who "that guy" he was referring to.

Seeing the quieted interior, Venum smiled and opened his mouth once more.

"As battalion commanders of the Council's Central Branch, you're worried about losing to him, about not being able to control the situation, about being disgraced in front of your battalion members. Am I wrong? Even though you're all under the Commander's protection, you never know what will happen when you go there."

His words were half right. The reason this expedition wasn't simply limited to monster subjugation was precisely because "he" was going along. Surely, among them, there were those who feared Leonardo Blaine.

Andreas was an S2-grade mage. Although it was said that he and Leonardo had a bad compatibility, the fact that his arm was broken with a single blow was unbelievable, as he was also one of the strong mages. So some thought even more that there was no guarantee that broken arm wouldn't become their own.

Meanwhile, Venum Thesaurus, who was boldly and openly talking about what everyone had been avoiding, was putting forth fear, a more primitive instinct than pride. And no one could blame him for that.

Because it was now a known fact to everyone that Leonardo Blaine was an S4-grade mage with immeasurable mana, far stronger than themselves.

However, Meterion opened his mouth as if reprimanding Venum.

"Ha, with that mindset, why don't you just step down from your position as a battalion commander? You have no shame and dare to say such things."

"Clinder, I'm not ashamed. Compared to the likes of you..."

Venum stopped mid-sentence. He felt a chill slowly suffocating the surroundings.

As he turned his head to look at the head of the table, Hugo was staring at him expressionlessly. At that, Venum closed his mouth without continuing. Meterion was the same. The silent pressure telling them to stop seemed to strangle their breath.

As the atmosphere in the conference room rapidly cooled and it was no longer a situation to freely exchange opinions, Loren let out a small sigh. She had given a warning to prevent such an unfortunate event. It was frustrating that those stupid guys had chattered on their own and finally made Hugo angry.

After a brief silence, the first to break that atmosphere was Shorendo.

"Can I volunteer?"

At Shorendo's words, Venum let out a hollow laugh.

"Who?"

"I'm talking about me! I want to go!"

As Shorendo stood up from his seat and raised his hand, Loren answered,

"You know very well that the Commander and Deputy Commander cannot be dispatched to the same place simultaneously. At the general meeting held while you were away, it was already decided that the Commander would go directly."

"What, you decided that while I was away?"

Shorendo sat back down as if sliding, looking quite disappointed. At that, Hugo rubbed his brows with a slightly tired face and said,

"I won't force anyone. Any volunteers?"

"Me."

As someone raised their hand and spoke again, everyone's attention shifted in that direction.

It was Delua Rivera, the 6th Battalion Commander. She raised her hand in the silence and continued cheerfully,

"I've been wanting to go to the Elder Millie Peninsula. Is that okay?"

At her quite simple reason, Hugo's expression softened a little.

"Of course. Anyone else?"

"I'll go too."

The next to volunteer was Meterion Clinder, the 3rd Battalion Commander. As he raised his hand, everyone looked at him with a surprised expression. Although Hugo had a similar thought, he didn't ask for the reason.

As the battalion commanders of two battalions volunteered, Noel, the 11th Battalion Commander, smiled and whispered softly so that only Venum could hear,

"Unfortunately, it seems you're the only one afraid of him."

"...Pretending to be noble, huh?"

Venum, displeased with the situation where he suddenly became the only coward, turned his head away.

With the battalions for the expedition determined, the meeting gained momentum. It was decided that the personnel remaining at the headquarters would divide and carry out the existing tasks that the expedition members had been in charge of, and the direction flowed to have the volunteering battalions split their personnel into company-scale units to take along.

As the end seemed to be in sight, Hugo summarized the meeting contents one last time.

"Alright. Then, instead of excluding companies or platoons from the expedition battalions whose current tasks are irreplaceable, let's include one platoon from the 1st Battalion, which specializes in combat, in the subjugation."

"Yes, understood."

"Yes, understood."

"And the entire subjugation force will consist of the battalion commanders, unit commanders, and mobilized personnel from the 3rd and 6th Battalions, with some healer personnel supplemented from the 13th Battalion. Any objections?"

"No objection."

"No objection."

When Hugo asked, the battalion commanders took turns expressing their opinions. As Shorendo reluctantly said no objection last, it became unanimous among the attendees. With this, the expedition members for the Elder Millie Peninsula were confirmed.

"Then, the 3rd and 6th Battalions, each organize your expedition members and report back. The expedition will be in three days, so complete all internal handovers within that time."

"Yes, understood."

At the clean summary, everyone in the conference room answered promptly. Hugo let out a small sigh as if relieved of a burden and stood up from his seat.

"Good work, everyone. Let's end the meeting here."

"Good work."

As soon as the meeting ended, everyone quickly left the conference room. After organizing the paper he had taken notes on, Hugo stepped out of the conference room when almost everyone had left.

While everyone had hurriedly returned, Loren was standing alone in the corridor in front of the conference room. Hugo naturally approached her and spoke as if a little disappointed.

"I thought you would say you'd go."

As if Loren also had something to say about it, she immediately answered him.

"While it's regrettable that I can't go to the peninsula, there's a group of nobles I've been tracking recently. If there's a gap in the middle, it'll be difficult to investigate again."

"Ah, is it the matter you reported before? About trading mana."

At Hugo's words, Loren nodded and replied,

"Yes. Previously, I had a vague direction in mind, but seeing that the Delberg Merchant Group was involved in the recent monster smuggling in Frost Territory, I got a rough idea. If they can distribute magic stones, why wouldn't they be able to distribute mana? I had considered the possibility of the merchant group being involved from the beginning. Because there's always a need for intermediary distributors in trading."

Hearing her words, Hugo pondered for a moment and then spoke.

"Filione Delberg is meticulous. Even if they leave evidence, they have never left evidence that gets caught in the law. Filione is always someone with a trusted corner. It won't be easy."

"I know that too. But I have a feeling that something even bigger is entangled in this."

Hugo narrowed his brows.

"Estimated scale?"

"I can't say for sure, but I can tell that what I'm chasing is only a small part of it."

Although Loren spoke somewhat abstractly, Hugo knew well that she had an excellent wild instinct for pursuing cases. Also, because he trusted her considerably, he didn't ask for more details.

"Alright, then I'll continue to leave that part to you."

Loren nodded lightly in response.

At that moment, her gaze suddenly fell on a butterfly flying beside Hugo and herself. The small butterfly with white wings was wandering around them without straying too far, as if appearing out of nowhere.

After observing it, Loren drew the sword at her waist and swiftly sliced the flying butterfly.

As the two halves of the butterfly's white wings separated and fell to the ground, Hugo raised an eyebrow at her sudden action.

"Why did you do that?"

"It seemed to be lingering around suspiciously."

At her answer, Hugo made an expression of not quite understanding.

"I think it's a bit of an excessive action."

"Even within the Council, it was you who told me not to trust anything."

Loren sheathed her sword again and continued, looking at Hugo.

"By the way, I find it quite unexpected that Clinder readily volunteered to go to the peninsula."

At that, Hugo stared quietly at the white butterfly that had fallen to the ground in two pieces and said,

"I thought so at first too, but..."

"..."

"He and his family are the type to stake their lives on honor, so I don't think it's strange to consider it."