Chapter 403: Collapsed (1/2)

The engineers got to work with an avid quickness. Though they were assured that everything was under control, these men and women were ultimately used to lives spent in labs and private work stations. Something like a battlefield was completely foreign to them.

Though they had had some run-ins with danger on their way to the Fort, it had already been over a year since then. They had gotten used to their lives of comfort and leisure again.

Many of them weren't even willing to be here. But, they had lost the luck of the draw, so this was their only remaining option.

It was no surprise, then, that many of them would be shaking and quaking as they worked. But, luckily, there was the vanguard of troops protecting them from all sides. As they noticed they weren't in any danger, they were able to work faster and faster.

…

In the distance, Leonel and Aina watched all of this in silence. It had already been a few days since they began to monitor the Fort, so they were quite used to the flow of things. However, this plan the Fort sprung was completely out of their expectations as well.

Aina seemed to still be mad at Leonel and spent all her time cuddling with Little Blackstar. As though that wasn't bad enough, even Little Tolly betrayed him as well.

Usually, Little Tolly could only interact with Leonel due to the hazard it presented. But, who knew when the little guy got intelligent enough to steal Leonel's Force Crafter Gloves and pass them over toward Aina.

Somehow, both his partners favored Aina more than him.

Though Aina was still mad at him, Leonel couldn't help but chuckle at this.

Didn't this just mean he had excellent taste? Of course his woman would be beloved by all.

”Ah…”

Leonel's breath hitched when Aina turned back to glare at him. It couldn't be that she heard his thoughts, right? Her gaze seemed to spit fire as though saying 'who's your woman'?

Leonel's father had always warned him that a woman's intuition was scary, but he never really believed it. Back then, Leonel thought his mother had ditched them so he never trusted his father when it came to advice about women. What would an old man who couldn't even keep his own wife know about that topic?

Now that Leonel thought about it, his old man had told him a long time ago to stop confessing to Aina and that she probably thought he was annoying. Eventually, he just started making fun of him for all his failures.

'… Damned old man.' Leonel thought to himself while smiling innocently toward Aina.

Suddenly, Leonel frowned.

'Milan… Joel… Raj…'

Leonel's jaw turned steely.

Aina seemed to sense the change in Leonel's demeanor and looked toward the battlefield. At that moment, the Gate was opening and a few familiar faces charged out.

In the past, Aina had only ever gone to a single one of Leonel's games. And, even if she had gone to more, everyone on the team wore helmets most of the time. So, she didn't recognize most of them. However, Milan and Joel had been with them on their trip toward the Fort.

Seeing them, she immediately knew what Leonel was thinking. Did Miles force them to do this?