Waaaaaaah—
The cheers of the spectators filled the main arena. The opening performance taking place in the middle of the ground captivated people's eyes and ears. Colorful illuminite lighting combined with majestic sound facilities incorporating pipe organs, and special devices using magic within the arena continuously drew enthusiastic reactions. The water streams of the pouring waterfalls vibrated finely from the sound waves.
One of the major features of the 5th Preliminary Main Arena was the ability to adjust the water level flowing alongside the ground. The performance conducted on water that rippled up to the ankles was decorated with choreography of pure white foam, and using the sound reflected on the water surface as an echo, it produced melodies rivaling an orchestra.
Dreamy yet explosive energy transferred excitement through the spectators' skin. In such a tumultuous scene, Hugo was busy welcoming VIPs who were arriving one after another before the main ceremony. VIPs meant high-ranking officials from various institutions and politically connected nobles. Investment sources that supported arena construction funds, retainers from families that helped attract the station, and other influential figures that he, as both duke and Commander, needed to maintain friendly relations with.
"I've seen countless league arenas, but this is the first place with such unique character yet beautiful appearance. The spectators' enthusiasm represents my feelings. Congratulations on hosting a successful opening ceremony, Your Grace."
"You flatter me. Isn't it that your presence here makes this occasion shine even brighter?"
"Your Grace, though it's early, I sincerely congratulate you on your birthday. I was worried it might be difficult to visit you this year since there was no news of a banquet, but with such a grand event added to the new year, it cannot help but be an auspicious day."
"Thank you. You must have had much trouble coming such a long way, so please enjoy yourselves comfortably. Don't hesitate to speak up if you need anything."
"I can only be grateful for your grace."
Hugo shook hands with each VIP one by one, with Flynn and his personal knights behind him. Today, his particularly handsome face bore a gentle smile, making those who faced him unable to easily make eye contact, yet unable to look away once their gazes met.
Even military executives who had poor relations with the Council were the same. After offering formal greetings and taking their seats, they would glance at the duke and whisper among themselves. The topics and nuances were generally consistent. Whether positive or negative, their tones contained admiration.
"Commander—."
When the VIP seats were almost filled, Hugo turned his head at a voice heard from nearby. It was 4th Battalion Commander Andreas, who would normally appear with one hand in his pocket in a casual manner. But today his expression was strangely stiff.
Though momentarily puzzled, Hugo warmly welcomed him and the Central Branch battalion commanders who appeared behind him. Since the opening ceremony was being held simultaneously at two locations, the personnel who arrived here were half the usual number. Probably Shorendo, with Loren's help, was managing well on the other side.
Hugo patted Andreas's shoulder while checking the time on his wristwatch. Since it was a bit later than scheduled, he was about to lightly scold him jokingly.
"Andre, why are you only now—"
"Commander, behind you. The Senator."
Andreas grasped Hugo's hand and shook it briefly, conscious of watching eyes. Soon Hugo also turned his gaze to where Andreas was looking. Council senators were entering the spectator seats en masse, following the stairs that continued from the internal corridor.
The senators' attendance at the opening ceremony was scheduled, so it wasn't surprising. However, Hugo's eyes naturally hardened upon seeing the figure at the very front. He had thought she wouldn't come since she originally disliked noisy places.
Gladias Agrizendro was slowly climbing the stairs, escorted by knights belonging to the family. Hugo's lips moved slightly as he muttered briefly.
"...Senator."
He hurriedly went down the stairs to welcome Gladias. Flynn, who had followed, was startled and bowed 90 degrees.
When Hugo politely extended his hand before her, blue eyes slowly rose from behind the veil that half-covered her face to stare at him. Her chillingly cold gaze swept the man up and down. Soon she moved the hand that had been resting on the knight's arm to Hugo's palm.
"If you had given me advance notice, I would have come to escort you personally."
"What would be the point of making a busy Commander come and go?"
"I have time to escort you, Senator."
"Such a person hasn't shown his face once since the disciplinary committee was convened."
The Grand Madam's hand, gently clasped, was very cold. Hugo felt the subtle force that entered that hand. He spoke sparingly while wrapping his arm around Gladias's shoulder and helping her up the stairs supportively.
The disciplinary committee the Grand Madam was referring to was a hearing to question the Commander's responsibility for abusing his authority to arbitrarily change the content of the verdict regarding Leonardo Blaine's release.
This disciplinary committee was held twice during the investigation period of the Pentagov party house explosion incident. In the first deliberation, Hugo was stripped of his investigation command authority and originally should have had his Commander duties suspended for several months. However, the person who strongly opposed this was none other than Senator Gladias Agrizendro of the Upper House.
Though the two were from the same family, it was a well-known fact that they politically disagreed and often clashed. Therefore, at the time, various speculative stories circulated within the Council. That blood is thicker than water, that there must have been some deal between them.
However, no one could grasp her true intentions, and Hugo was able to recover most of his authority in the second deliberation held four days before the final briefing of the explosion incident. While this incident included the Emperor putting pressure for his reinstatement after Hugo promised to cover up the peninsula's secrets, in reality, the most influential factor was Gladias Agrizendro's power.
At the time, Hugo had visited the mansion where the Grand Madam resided to offer his gratitude, but even then he couldn't fathom her intentions. He could only guess that since she always valued the family's honor, she had intervened to prevent the ducal house's prestige from being shaken. After promising to refrain from reckless actions that might harm the family, there had been no conversation between them. In fact, Hugo thought there was nothing worth discussing.
So the Grand Madam's remark about him not showing his face was somewhat confusing to him. This was compounded by her personal attendance at the league opening ceremony, which she seemed unlikely to participate in.
"I failed to pay proper attention. In the future—"
"Enough. Maintain your dignity. Aren't there many watching eyes?"
Hugo, who had been matching Gladias's pace, stared ahead following her straight gaze. Before he knew it, everyone in the VIP section had risen from their seats. It was to welcome the highest authority of the ducal house and the true emperor of Logia. The atmosphere was completely different from just moments before.
Gladias, wearing a white hat with a veil and a navy cape, walked toward the highest seat among the VIP section with her cane, escorted by Hugo. In the process, numerous people approached her to offer formal greetings. They bent their waists to kiss the ring engraved with the family crest and conveyed praise and glory.
Gladias expressed her gratitude to them with a warm smile born from her cool eyes. It seemed as if she was acting as the master of the territory. However, Hugo didn't find this unpleasant or uncomfortable. He simply silently played the role of blood-related family member, still unable to understand her intentions.
* * *
Leonardo wandered around the closed Plarinerus. When he determined there was no reaction, he kicked the contracted flower stem and broke it in half. Then a beast, thoroughly soaked with water, flowed out from inside the flower while unconscious. As he was peering around to assess the situation, the remaining half of the petals opened their mouth wide and snapped at Leonardo.
The interior of the flower seen up close had protruding bumps that were even disgusting. The other participant who had jumped out from behind saw this scene and fled into the forest alone to save himself.
Leonardo hastily generated a flame sword and cut off the flower's stem and base. The flower crawled on the ground, panting, then collapsed and stopped moving. Though he went through confirmation killing, almost brutally hacking it to pieces, he personally searched through only the tip of the stamen where the flower's crystal had been. He was worried the crystal might burn in the fire.
He peeled away the layered petals and separated the thick stamen. However, the crystal that should have been hanging there was nowhere to be seen.
"What? Where did it go?"
Only sticky mucus smeared on his palm. Bewildered, Leonardo examined the broken stamen here and there before pounding it with his fist like crushing a pumpkin. Then the blunt tip of the stamen split in half, revealing the pistil where a crystal should have formed. The pistil was filled with colorless, odorless sticky liquid like the mucus on his hand. There was no crystal.
'Did this thing eat it from inside? Or does this happen when you forcibly open a flower in closed state?'
Questions gave birth to hypotheses, which soon moved to action for verification. Leonardo, who discovered another closed Plarinerus about 500m away, immediately cut off the flower stem and similarly searched for a crystal. As expected, there was no crystal.
There was a possibility that someone else had already harvested the crystal, but there were no traces of spilled water or violent combat in the vicinity. If so, weight was given to the hypothesis that intact crystals could only be obtained in bloomed state.
Leonardo, who left only rough markers and turned away, began earnestly searching for flowers in bloomed state from then on. It had already been 30 minutes since the match started.
The island's environment was quite diverse, ranging from jungle to rocky hills, underwater caves accessible from the coastline below the island, and pond areas connected to waterfalls. Flowers were mainly found in places that were well-ventilated yet humid. So the pond area connected to waterfalls was an unexpected treasure trove. Three small Plarinerus were discovered within a 30m radius.
Even better, two of them were in bloomed state, and one was in a withered closed state but had water pooled around it. Having often seen cases of people being eaten by Plarinerus while wandering the island and then rescued and transported by staff, he guessed it was probably similar traces.
'Please be white, please.'
Leonardo prayed earnestly inside while sending compressed air toward the bloomed Plarinerus from a distance. The stamen, struck precisely at the middle point, instantly lost half its length. The flower tilted its neck as much as possible to snap up the crystal rolling on the ground, but was torn apart before it could snatch it.
The severed stamen came into Leonardo's grasp.
The blunt tip of the stamen, upon detecting danger, tried to stretch its skin to push the crystal back inside the pistil even though it had been severed from the main body.
The sight resembled a penis glans foreskin inserting something into the urethral opening by itself, making Leonardo grimace with disgust.
"What kind of plant is shaped like this?"
Though disgusted, he familiarly made a slight incision in the hard stamen. The creepy feeling he had despite doing it himself was probably just his imagination. When he pushed his thumb into the gap and spread it apart, a crystal that had been about 80% buried in the pistil revealed itself.
However, Leonardo's expectant expression soon turned to disappointment.
"Ah— really. Stop coming out already."
When viewed from afar, it was difficult to distinguish between white and yellow, so he had to harvest the crystal first and then check its color. Leonardo, who had obtained another yellow crystal in his hand, let out an irritated sigh.
The two crystals he had just harvested were both duplicate colors. His luck was absolutely terrible.
While pocketing the harvested crystal, he washed his hands in the pond with a disgusted expression. Then he went under the shade of a nearby tree and sat down with a thud, leaning against the trunk.
He took out all the crystals he had stuffed into his already heavy jacket pocket by shaking it out. Five yellow crystals and two red crystals. He just needed to find one white one, but that one was nowhere to be seen. At this rate, it would be faster to collect seven yellow ones and pass.
Just then, the amplification magic circle that activated at designated times appeared in the sky.
<3 hours have passed since the match began, 3 hours remaining until the end. The total number of passers so far is 11.>
Leonardo, who had leaned his head back, narrowed his eyes at the number '11'. At the same time, the remaining participants on the island seemed to grow anxious, as the presences felt in the wind began to bustle.
It was around then that a cry of "Please save me" was heard from not far away. Leonardo, who glanced over, hastily gathered the spread crystals back into his jacket's inner pocket. After firmly zipping it shut so there were no gaps, he finished his preparations and stood up.
With seven crystals inside, both his pockets would appear bulged and ridiculous to others, yet tempting enough to target. Knowing this, he had avoided encountering other participants as much as possible until now.
But this time, he looked toward the direction where the sound came from. He leisurely walked into the forest following the presence.
It wasn't to help. From now on, he had to steal.