Chapter 32

Chapter 32 – Before Going Out

Chedre returned Erin’s smile, but the worry soon crept back into his expression. For all their talk of forging heroes, the reality surrounding them was anything but peaceful. The situation in the south was catastrophic, and the urgency of it pressed heavily on his chest. They had to resolve what was happening there as quickly as possible.

Only a day earlier, before Erin’s arrival, he had been isolated in a place where nothing living remained. The memory was still raw.

Chedre spoke quietly, his voice tinged with fragile hope. “If you intend to make me a hero, it must be because you believe there are still survivors in the south.”

He wanted to believe that somewhere within that hellscape, there were citizens he could still save. Erin, however, found herself unable to answer him honestly. In her mind, making him a hero meant eradicating the undead and halting the disaster. It had never included rescuing survivors. In truth, she had not even considered the possibility that anyone might still be alive and hiding.

But she needed Chedre on her side. Reassuring him was the wiser course.

“Animals and people alike possess an instinct to survive,” Erin replied evenly, choosing her words with care. “If there are those determined to live, they will be hiding somewhere.”

Chedre’s expression softened, visibly comforted by her reasoning. Erin, on the other hand, felt a faint unease coil in her stomach.

There probably were no survivors. What would happen to him when that hope collapsed?

After a brief hesitation, she spoke again, her tone cautious. “This may sound cruel, Your Grace, but what you hope for may not come to pass.”

Silence stretched between them. She knew that advancing on hope alone could shatter a person beyond repair if that hope proved false. Even as the thought crossed her mind, she chastised herself. She could barely manage her own affairs. Why was she meddling in his?

Still, in her own way, this was an act of atonement toward the man she intended to use.

Chedre answered more calmly than she expected. “It may be worse than I imagine,” he admitted, his gaze distant. “There may be no one left to save, and I may have to cut down the undead who were once my people as I move forward.”

Erin offered no reply. His composure did not soften the brutality of his words.

“Sometimes,” Chedre continued gently, “a person survives by clinging to a single hope. Even if it is faint and uncertain. Without it, living itself becomes unbearable.”

“I believe I spoke out of turn,” Erin said quietly.

“You spoke from your own understanding, trying to guide me,” Chedre reassured her with a small, warm smile. “Do not trouble yourself over it.”

“Thank you, Your Grace,” she replied with a respectful incline of her head.

He studied her face for a moment, then chuckled softly. “In that case, you should relax your expression as well.”

“Yes, Your Grace,” Erin answered obediently.

“With a face like that, your subordinates must place enormous trust in you,” he added lightly.

Erin tilted her head to the side at his remark. Trust. She had run this far for a single purpose, to sever Gabriel’s head. Everything else had been secondary. She had simply worked harder than anyone else so as not to disgrace her position as the youngest commander.

“I do not know about trust,” she said modestly. “It is enough that I am not an embarrassment.”

“You are humble,” Chedre observed.

As he spoke, Erin felt a familiar hostile gaze settle on her. The silver haired man was watching again. Gabriel’s sullen stare had once irritated her, but now it struck her as oddly childish.

Chedre noticed it too and laughed under his breath. “I even have someone glaring at me in jealousy.”

Erin lifted her eyes to Gabriel, then looked away with visible indifference. “It is irrelevant to me,” she said flatly.

“What a cold commander you are,” Chedre teased.

By then they had reached the meeting site where the pre sortie briefing would take place. Neo and Ten were already there, preparations complete as they greeted the pair.

Erin stepped forward and began briskly, her voice carrying the authority of command. “Ordinarily, monsters do not operate during the day. We would use that time to secure survivors and gather intelligence. But as you have seen with these undead, the usual rules no longer apply.”

Neo and Ten remained silent. Their accumulated experience was of little use against this unprecedented threat.

“Engrave runes onto all protective gear and weapons,” Erin ordered crisply. “Make every possible preparation.”

“Yes, Commander,” they responded in unison.

“The moment we reach a village,” she continued, “we will divide into units of five. Three of His Grace’s soldiers and two holy knights per unit. We advance no more than five kilometers per day. We go farther only if absolutely nothing obstructs us.”

In truth, her first division could have marched twenty kilometers without difficulty. The restriction existed for one reason: the demon god Sistus. They could not predict where it might appear or when it might strike.

“Only after an area has been fully secured and purified will we expand our range,” Erin added firmly. “And individual action is strictly forbidden.”

Ten and Neo exchanged a glance before Ten spoke cautiously. “Commander, if something happens to a member of a unit, what are our orders?”

“What do you mean by something?” Erin asked sharply.

“If they are attacked by monsters,” Ten clarified.

Erin fell silent, her fingers brushing her chin as she considered. When she spoke again, her tone was disturbingly calm. “Those attacked by the undead are themselves turning into undead. Rescue cannot be our priority.”

The bluntness of her statement stole the air from the room. Neo and Ten inhaled sharply.

Turning to Chedre, Erin addressed him with formal gravity. “Your Grace, if someone is attacked and purification fails to reverse the corruption, I will order them executed on the spot. Do I have your permission?”

Chedre struggled for words, his lips parting and closing as he wrestled with the decision. Rationally, he knew she was right. Healing and purification were entirely different matters. Healing treated external wounds. Purification cleansed corruption and curses born of monsters. If purification failed, there was no alternative.

“…It cannot be helped,” he murmured at last. If he refused out of misplaced hope, others would suffer. This was no longer a mere incident. It was war. “…You have my permission.”

“Thank you, Your Grace,” Erin replied. She turned back to her officers. “Then we move at once. This meeting is concluded.”

Neo and Ten exited immediately to carry out her orders. Erin lingered a moment longer, addressing Chedre before preparing to leave.

“It is awkward to praise my own people,” she said with quiet confidence, “but Ten, Neo, and the rest of my division are among the finest in the nation. The outcome you fear will not come to pass.”

Chedre smiled faintly, understanding that she was easing the sting of his earlier decision. “On the contrary,” he told her gently, “your decisiveness is exactly what is required.”

“Thank you for understanding,” Erin replied.

“You have set my mind at ease,” he added. Rising from his seat, he inclined his head to her. “You have my gratitude.”

Erin remained bowed until his footsteps faded from the room. Only then did she straighten. The moment she lifted her gaze, she found Gabriel standing directly before her, his expression dark with displeasure. She frowned.

He stared at her and said coolly, “You seemed very close with him.”

“And what does that have to do with you?” Erin shot back indifferently as she attempted to pass.

Gabriel stepped into her path, blocking her. Her right eyebrow arched in irritation. He looked as though he were pleading for even a moment of conversation.

“What am I supposed to say to a man who tried to strangle me to death simply because I am who I am?” Erin demanded coldly.

“That is…” Gabriel faltered, his voice trailing off as he lowered his head.

“We both wish for each other’s misery,” Erin continued in a low voice. “Let that be enough.”

He did not answer. She recognized the silence as denial, yet chose to interpret it as agreement. His behavior now contradicted everything he had said the night before. Her eyes narrowed.

“While I am overlooking the fact that you tampered with my division’s minds,” she warned quietly, “do not cross any unnecessary lines.”

“…You have my thanks for your mercy,” Gabriel replied stiffly.

As she brushed past him, Erin’s gaze flicked to his neck, to the place her hands had crushed the night before. It was perfectly clean, without the faintest trace of bruising, as if nothing at all had happened.