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The roar of the explosion still echoed deep in the man's ears, making his head throb with a splitting pain.
"Cough... cough cough cough!"
The man coughed violently, his lungs burning with pain.
"¿Dónde...dónde estoy?¿Qué...qué ha pasado?" (Where... where am I? What... what happened?)
His last memory was being attacked from behind, followed by endless darkness and jolting.
And then... there was that earth-shattering explosion, enough to collapse the entire valley.
Just as his mind was a blank, the blond American suddenly crouched down in front of him, looking into his eyes.
"What's your name?" Leon asked in a low voice. "Why were you locked up here?"
The man felt extremely uncomfortable under Leon's oppressive gaze.
He didn't answer Leon's question, but instead asked back cautiously in an exaggerated, theatrical tone.
"I'm guessing... you two gentlemen certainly aren't local police... and you're definitely not here for a vacation in the backwater, right?"
As he spoke, he looked pointedly at the tactical vests and leg holsters the two were wearing.
Leon's brow furrowed slightly; he hadn't expected this guy, who looked dazed from the explosion, to be in the mood for wisecracks at a time like this.
"We..."
"Shh—"
The man suddenly put a finger to his lips, mysteriously interrupting Leon.
A playful, somewhat self-satisfied smile actually appeared on his face.
"Let me guess, eh?"
He closed his eyes with great ceremony, pressed his fingers to his temples, and muttered to himself like a clumsy charlatan.
"You've traveled thousands of miles, risking being turned into kebabs by the hospitable local Villager, to come to this place that even God wouldn't want to look at twice..."
He snapped his eyes open, staring intently at Leon.
"You're looking for a...'Señorita', right?"
"A lost 'babe' of very high importance."
At that moment, a subtle change appeared in Leon's expression.
Noah had been standing by without speaking, merely observing this dramatic Spanish man with an interested gaze.
"What do you know?"
Leon's voice dropped as he took a step closer, the oppressive Aura of an ace agent being released without reservation. "Tell me, now."
The man instinctively shrank back under the pressure of Leon's Aura.
But he quickly straightened his back again, a triumphant "I knew it" expression on his face.
"Hey, hey, friend, take it easy."
He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
"You have too many questions; we have to take them one by one."
He cleared his still-raspy throat.
"First, about those not-so-friendly Villager... in fact, I once, just by chance, very unfortunately, heard those lunatics discussing it while I was dozing off in the church."
"They mentioned... the 'President's daughter'."
When he said the word "President," he deliberately lowered his voice and looked around exaggeratedly, as if afraid of being overheard.
"I also heard them say... they were going to move that'Señorita'."
"However," his tone shifted, and a confused look appeared on his face,
"later, I heard a bunch of chaotic noises, and they seemed to have dragged someone else away. The destination... seemed to be that abandoned old church."
Leon and Noah exchanged a look.
This information basically matched the contents of the order note he had gotten from Bitores Mendez.
It seemed this man wasn't lying.
"Who are you?" Leon pressed.
This question seemed to play right into the man's hands.
He immediately struck what he considered his most dashing pose, ran a hand through his messy, bird's-nest hair, his face brimming with flamboyant pride.
"Luis Sera."
He announced his name and then performed a standard Spanish gentleman's bow to a non-existent audience.
"A handsome, dashing Spanish guy from Madrid."
He paused and added, "I once served the Madrid Police Department. But that's all in the past now."
When he mentioned the word "police," the flamboyant smile on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a complex expression of weariness and self-mockery.
"Talking about being messengers of justice, serving the people... Ha!"
He sneered and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.
"That's just a thankless, piece-of-shit job! You work your tail off, and in the end, all you get are cold shoulders from bureaucrats and misunderstanding from the public. Forget it, I've had enough of that stupidity."
Hearing this cynical complaint, Leon fell silent.
A ripple of emotion appeared in those blue eyes.
He sighed, his voice carrying the weariness of someone who had been there.
"I used to be a cop, too..."
He thought of Raccoon City, of the city swallowed by Hell, and of the night that had changed his life forever.
"...For just one day."
He said only that and spoke no more.
But in those unspoken words lay a past far heavier than Luis's long list of complaints.
The cynicism on Luis's face froze.
He stared blankly at Leon, reading too much from the man's brief words and that weariness.
He opened his mouth, and finally, in a strange tone, dryly squeezed out a sentence.
"Well... looks like you have even less patience than I do..."
Leon didn't respond, only shook his head, a bitter smile on his face that looked worse than crying.
Some scars never heal.
The atmosphere fell into a subtle silence.
Luis also seemed to realize his complaints just now were a bit melodramatic; he scratched his head awkwardly, climbed up from the ground, and brushed the dust off his pants.
"Alright, since the beautiful lady has two powerful knights to protect her, it's time for this down-and-out ranger to continue his own journey."
As he spoke, he prepared to turn and leave.
"Aren't you coming with us?" Noah watched his figure.
Luis turned around and looked Noah and Leon over once more.
He saw the metallic glint of the shotgun in Leon's hand and noted the keen, predator-like eyes behind Noah's calm demeanor.
He grinned: "Oh, no, no." He wagged a finger.
"Don Quixote has his own path to walk. Staying with you two would be too easy."
He winked, his face returning to that cynical expression.
"By the way, I'll give you a free piece of intel."
His voice dropped, carrying a hint of mystery.
The 'babe' you're looking for isn't the only guest the 'Church of Light' has invited.
"As far as I know, there seems to be another... a very, very beautiful girl who has also been locked up by them."
Luis's gaze shifted between Leon and Noah, his smile becoming more suggestive.
"Good luck, Sir Knights."
With that, he didn't linger, gave a jaunty wave, and turned toward the mountain path in the opposite direction of the church.
"¡Hasta luego!" (See you later!)
His heavily accented Spanish faded into the valley wind, and soon his figure disappeared into the dark woods.
After Luis left, silence returned to the scene.
Only the soft "crackle" of burning wood remained.
"Beautiful girl..."
Noah repeated the words, turning his gaze to Leon.
Leon's expression became grave.
He nodded, his voice carrying a bad premonition.
"It must be Manuela."
Manuela Hidalgo.
She was another girl caught up in a biohazard disaster, someone Leon had once promised to protect.
He hadn't expected to hear news of her again here, in this way.
Things had become more complicated than expected.
Leon quickly pulled the reinforced satellite communicator from his tactical vest and pressed the call button.
After a slight crackle of static, Hunnigan's familiar voice came through.
"Kennedy, what's your situation?" Hunnigan spoke quickly.
"vulture one reporting."
Leon's voice was calm and steady; he habitually filtered out unnecessary emotions.
"We had a friendly... fireworks exchange with the locals."
There was a full five seconds of silence on the other end.
"...I'm glad your damn sense of humor hasn't been blown away, Kennedy," Hunnigan's resigned voice came through. "Get to the point."
"Approximate location of baby eagle (Ashley) locked in. Also, found an extra Eaglet (Manuela)."
Leon's speech quickened as he concisely reported the intelligence he had just received.
"According to a local informant we just 'interrogated,' they are likely being held in a certain church."
"A church?" Hunnigan's voice immediately became serious. "Understood. That's good news. At least we have a clear objective."
"Check someone for me," Leon added. "Luis Sera, Spanish national, former Madrid police. He provided the intel. I need his full background and why he's here. Over."
"Copy that. Luis Sera. I'll have intelligence start a background check immediately. You two head to the church to investigate. Keep in touch. Be careful. Over."
The communication was cut off cleanly.
Leon put away the communicator and let out a long breath.
Ashley, and now Manuela.
The burden on his shoulders had grown heavier.
Noah pulled the crude map, drawn with charcoal, from the waterproof compartment of his tactical pouch—the one they had scavenged in the village.
He spread the map out on a relatively flat stone on the ground.
Leon leaned in as well, switching on his flashlight. A beam of white light illuminated the simple drawing filled with crooked lines and markings.
"This is our current position, the Valley Farm."
Noah's finger pointed to a scrawled mark at the bottom of the map.
"The direction that Mendez fellow fled is this way."
His finger followed a dashed line toward the edge of the map, where nothing was marked—it was a blank space.
"And that church..."
His finger slowly moved to the very center of the map.
There, a building with a cross was depicted in thick black lines.
From their current position to the church, the map showed two paths.
One went through the woods ahead, taking a large detour to approach the church from the side.
This path looked longer and more concealed.
The other was more direct.
It passed through an area marked as the 'Quarry' and then crossed a suspension bridge leading straight to the church's main entrance.
This path was undoubtedly the shortest route.
But it was also bound to be the most heavily guarded and dangerous.
Leon looked at the map, his finger tapping lightly on the route leading to the Quarry.
"Hunnigan's intel, Mendez's order, and what that Luis guy just said—all clues point to the church."
Noah looked at the map with a calm gaze.
"Since they've locked both Ashley and Manuela there, it means they don't think anyone can break in."
"Then let's show them we can," Leon said with a slight smile.
He looked up and met Noah's eyes; both saw the same determination in each other's gaze.
Their eyes fell simultaneously on the shortest, and most dangerous, route.
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