Bermuda

“Will you be staying to watch until the end, Commander?”

“I’ll stay a little longer before I go. See the council members out properly.”

“Yes, understood. Then I’ll see you later.” freeweɓnovel.cѳm

Around the time the intermission was nearly over, Hugo saw off the battalion commanders and his subordinates as they left their seats. Since this was the first match of the Preliminary Round, most of the Council’s executives and senior commanders had shown their faces, but it was a bit much to clear half a day from their schedules. So while a few stayed behind to watch the later matches, the rest were filing out one after another. freewēbnoveℓ.com

“I hope you won’t be late for the afternoon meeting.”

After leaving that remark like a piece of advice, Loren met Hugo’s eyes and passed by him. Hugo tracked her profile with his gaze, then gave a short nod.

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

It felt strange hearing from someone else the words he was usually the one to say. She was clearly taking a jab at how, a few days ago, he had melted away helplessly beneath the fireworks filling the sky and delayed his return without a word.

And Loren seemed to have vaguely realized, while watching the match in person, what the reason for that had been.

Just as she, one of the last to leave, disappeared beyond the door between the rows of seats, Andreas, standing beside Hugo, lightly smacked his upper arm.

“If you’re busy, why not go ahead? I’ll let you know the result.”

“Anyone watching would think I’m the only one attending the meeting. And I suppose you’re already planning whose name to use for your betting this time.”

“Come on, I’m a battalion commander. You think I’d do that again? And Commander, be honest. You stayed because of Lion, didn’t you? To cheer the brat on.”

<In 5 minutes, the first match of the second round of the Preliminary Round will begin. Please take your seats so the event can proceed smoothly and in an orderly manner.>

At the voice echoing from the amplification magic circle, Hugo lifted his eyes to the ceiling, ignored the pestering question, and started walking. Andreas shoved his hands into his pockets, shrugged, and fell in step behind him.

“When did you find out? Have the two of you been in contact behind my back or something?”

He leaned in close and asked with a sly grin. Hugo answered in a deliberately cool tone.

“I fail to see why any of that would be ‘behind your back.’”

“What, so you really were in touch? What exactly are you to each other? You were the one talking to me about him being just some kid—”

The two tall men swept through the staff-only corridor at a brisk pace, their capes flaring behind them. To an outside observer, it might have looked as though they were discussing something grave, but in reality it was nothing more than one jealous old man interrogating another about his love life.

“Was it after the release ruling? Or even before that? Come to think of it, the two of you shared a room the whole time.”

“......”

“Wow, no wonder you overreacted when I said I’d try flirting with him—ngh!”

“Do not stain him and me with your filthy thoughts. Nothing like what you’re imagining ever happened.”

Hugo murmured the words in a low voice. At the same time, he caught the back of Andreas’s neck in one hand and pressed down with steady force.

Every now and then, when his subordinates nodded off during work hours, he would squeeze there as a warning. Since it hurt too much for any of them even to cry out, the method was highly effective. Andreas likewise twisted his face up and screamed soundlessly. It felt as though his cervical spine might snap if he moved wrong, so he could not even shake Hugo off recklessly.

By the time his chattering companion finally shut up, the two of them had arrived back at the seats they had occupied earlier, right on time. Hugo was about to sit down quietly when his gaze suddenly shifted to the figure seated at the far end of the senior commanders’ section.

“So then what kind of relationship is it? Are you playing wealthy benefactor or—”

Andreas, still frowning as he rubbed the back of his neck, halted as well. Then he whispered in puzzlement.

“What’s that bastard doing over there?”

There sat Meterion, looking thoroughly bored, his chin propped on one hand and his legs crossed in arrogant ease. He swirled the champagne in his glass with a flick of his wrist. His haughty gaze slid briefly toward the two of them, then he touched the glass to his lips and turned away as though they did not exist.

After watching him for a moment in silence, Hugo unfastened the buttons of his jacket and sat down in the seat opposite without a word. Andreas sat down as well. Even so, he muttered as if he still found it bizarre.

“He’s not the kind of man who’d sit around watching matches like this...”

Hugo remained outwardly impassive. But there was a faint crack between his brows as he looked straight ahead.

He did not like, at all, how many people seemed interested in that man.

***

<All matches in Group C have concluded! The result is a victory for the defensive team, and all members of Team DoS advance to the next round!>

<No. 378, Gardner, did an excellent job protecting the prisoner. For this match, he wasn’t Gardner, he was a guardian. Are you sure his name wasn’t misspelled?>

<We’ve been told the change was unavoidable because there was another applicant with the same name at registration—.>

“This should be fun, right, Morvain?”

“The time limit’s shorter than I expected. Defense might actually have the advantage.”

Standing before the arena entrance, Beatrice wrapped an arm around Morvain’s waist and looked beyond the transparent window. Gillian, standing beside her, also watched the previous group’s match and added his own comment. They were waiting for Group D, the group they had been assigned to, to be called in.

“Have you decided your roles?”

Leonardo, who had likewise been analyzing the match with his head resting lightly against the transparent window, lifted his head a little. A Council official, the same one who had been leading them from the Waiting Room, was approaching at a hurried pace.

Straightening from where he had been leaning, Leonardo uncrossed his arms and handed the paper he was holding to the official.

“Here.”

After scanning what was written on the paper, the official spoke with a hint of surprise.

“So Lion will be the prisoner. Then who will handle the draw for attack and defense?”

“Ah, that’ll be me.”

Ero shot his hand straight up. The official nodded once and opened his mouth.

“Understood. Then, to help make sure everything is clear, I’ll go over the rules one more time. This match is ‘Prisoner Rescue.’”

Prisoner Rescue.

The match was played between two teams, and the leaders of each team would gather to draw for the attack and defense positions.

If a team became the attacking side, one of its members would become the prisoner and be bound at a location designated by the defending side. The remaining members would take on the role of either unlocking the device confining the prisoner or reaching the prisoner’s location and rescuing them.

“If the prisoner succeeds in escaping within 15 minutes, the attacking team wins. If the prisoner fails to escape, the defending team wins. If the prisoner escapes successfully, all members of the attacking team pass, regardless of whether each individual escaped.”

In other words, choosing the prisoner was the crucial key that would determine victory or defeat in this match.

“In addition, the prisoner cannot undo the restraints themselves or move on their own until a teammate rescues them. Of course, after that they may act freely. Except for using Teleportation.”

That meant their movement would be restricted at first, but if their teammates did their job well enough, then after that they could rampage on their own all they wanted. For Team JOKER, whose main combat power was overwhelmingly concentrated in one person, Leonardo thought there was no one fit to become the prisoner except himself.

“Then I’ll take the draw representative first. This way, please.”

The official extended a palm in guidance toward Ero. Just as Ero was about to follow, Leonardo lightly thumped him on the back.

“Do well and come back. Don’t get nervous. I don’t care what position you draw.”

“I’ll definitely bring back attack, boss!”

Ero turned around, clenched both fists, and declared it with determination. That was because, during the earlier team meeting, Leonardo had said he preferred the attacking position. Since defense required holding the escape route for 15 minutes, his opinion had been that the chance of injury was higher and the win condition more demanding.

But Leonardo merely smirked and jerked his chin as if telling him to do whatever he wanted. Then he stared blankly at Ero’s retreating back. Under the pretext of component analysis, the pistol rounds Ero normally used so well had been confiscated for the time being.

He had been given standard rounds, but those could not kill participants instantly, and hitting a moving target with them was difficult in the first place. The conditions were far worse than before.

Can we really make it to the next match again this time while dragging along a bastard carrying a penalty...?

Well, if I do my job right, it’ll be fine.

Leonardo had forced the corners of his mouth upward, but the expression quickly vanished back into blankness. Orca, who had been quietly studying him, suddenly leaned his face in close.

“Are you worried?”

“...What?”

Startled, Leonardo leaned his head back and shot the question back at him. There was no helping how unpleasant he found the man, considering he was a lunatic who claimed that having five at once was possible.

“Don’t worry. Killer whales are strong in group battles.”

Orca tried his best to encourage Leonardo, sending him the most dependable look he could manage. But because it was him, the only thing Leonardo felt was disgust.

By group battles, does he mean that kind of group battle?

Whether he knew Leonardo’s thoughts had immediately leaped to an orgy or not, Orca thumped his own chest a few times and added,

“Whether it is attack or defense, I am confident I can court you magnificently. I will definitely show my ability and earn your recognition. Then you will accept me into your pod and feel inclined to mate with me.”

At the renewed stream of nonsense, Leonardo twisted his face up in irritation.

Still, they were on the same team, and he could hardly beat him senseless before the match started. So all he did was shove that smooth face away with his palm and give him a measured warning.

“I’m letting this go because we’re about to fight, but if you say courting or mating one more time, I’ll rip your tongue out.”

At that, Orca’s eyes flew wide as though he had discovered a fascinating new fact.

“Killer whales like tongues. I did not know lions liked them too. Do you happen to like liver as well?”

“Jesus fuck.”

<All right, you’ve waited long enough! The match for Group D in the second round of the Preliminary Round is about to begin, so all participants, please enter the central ground of the arena!>

Just as his irritation was about to erupt, the commentator’s voice rang out and a wave of cheers crashed over them. At the same time, the transparent Barrier blocking the entrance passage disappeared.

Leonardo, who had been about to head straight into the arena, turned back toward Orca and growled a threat at him.

“You’d better get your act together. Seriously.”

“Of course. If you become the prisoner, I will rescue you first.”

At the conversation that still somehow failed to connect, Leonardo’s golden eyes rolled upward with a sigh.