Ch.130Amidst Destruction (6)

As days passed, Alice grew increasingly anxious.

She worried about what might have happened to Eric and his safety, but it was also clear that if she delayed any longer, she wouldn’t be able to return to Ash and Sylvia within the promised time.

A week had already passed.

If she could find a horse to ride back, that would be one thing, but if not, she would have to leave this city behind by tomorrow at the latest.

“…Alright, calm down and think.”

Alice barely managed to calm her mind, confused with tension and worry, and began to organize her complicated thoughts.

First, the time.

Being generous with her calculations, she could wait about three more days if she could find a horse, but if not, she would have to depart tomorrow or the day after at the latest.

In other words, if she wanted to wait for Eric, she absolutely needed to find a horse by tomorrow.

But how could she suddenly find a horse in this city that was practically in ruins?

She had already spent the past week searching the city but couldn’t find a single horse, let alone any livestock.

Those who had fled the city must have taken all the horses, and any remaining livestock had likely been eaten by the hungry.

The second consideration was the value of the information Eric would bring.

Eric had gone to investigate the spirits Ash had mentioned.

Since the only clue was the ancient archmage Malice, Eric had surely gone to the neighboring city where that massive castle, said to have been built by Malice in a single night 200 years ago, was located.

However, Alice couldn’t be certain whether the information or whatever Eric might bring back would be worth waiting for.

To begin with, Alice still found the very word “spirit” quite unfamiliar.

She honestly couldn’t be sure if these strange beings, which seemed to belong only in the fairy tales she had read as a child, actually existed in this world.

For Alice, the only evidence that these mysterious spirits existed was merely Ash’s word.

Of course, unless Ash had gone mad, there was no reason for him to tell such an implausible lie.

If he had wanted to persuade Alice and Sylvia to help defeat the Demon King, he could have come up with any number of more plausible lies, so Alice decided to believe his seemingly nonsensical words.

But regardless of what Alice believed, it was honestly difficult to be confident that information about spirits actually remained in this world in any credible form.

It was completely unknown whether the information Eric brought would provide practical help in defeating the Demon King.

She had already gathered weapons, armor, and various supplies and consumables.

In fact, if she could just bring these items safely to Ash and Sylvia, they could at least begin their journey toward the Demon King’s castle.

Even if Ash could actually control spirits, Alice honestly didn’t know how much that ability would help in battle or on their journey, so she crossed her arms and lowered her head in contemplation.

The third thing to consider was Eric’s current situation.

The neighboring city was close enough that it would take only half a day to walk there and back.

The fact that Eric still hadn’t appeared could mean that something serious had happened.

The entire country was said to be in chaos, and surely the city Eric had gone to was no exception.

Alice worried that Eric might have been captured by bandits or looters and killed or seriously injured.

Alice sighed with her arms crossed and muttered.

“Sigh… To summarize… I have three options.”

Wait here for Eric,

Leave without waiting for Eric,

Or head to the neighboring city to look for Eric.

“Damn it,”

What annoyed Alice most was that none of these options guaranteed a clear outcome.

Objectively speaking, not waiting for Eric and departing first was certainly the best choice.

If she made Ash and Sylvia wait longer than the promised time, they might start moving toward the Demon King’s castle without her.

Even though the Demon King was supposedly weakened, there was absolutely no information about how powerful he currently was, so Alice and Sylvia needed to move together as much as possible.

If they went separately and their power wasn’t enough against the Demon King, Sylvia and Alice would be defeated one by one, and that would mean the end of humanity’s future and Ash’s future as well.

However, if something had happened to Eric, especially if he had met with misfortune while handling a task Alice herself had requested, it would surely add another heavy burden to Alice’s conscience that would never disappear.

After much deliberation, Alice finally reached a conclusion.

“I wonder if there are any horses left in the neighboring city…”

She would head to the neighboring city as soon as day broke.

That was Alice’s choice.

While she was worried about Eric, she was also convinced that she wouldn’t be able to find a horse anywhere in this city.

If she found Eric, she would rescue him, and if she couldn’t find him, she would find a horse there and depart.

That was her conclusion.

To leave early in the morning, Alice began packing up the armor, sword, and other supplies she had gathered.

Carrying so many things during such times might make her an easy target for looters, but ordinary bandits were no match for Alice anyway, and leaving the items behind would be an even greater disaster if they were stolen, so Alice decided to carry the luggage herself.

Once she was ready to leave, Alice slowly sat down on the floor and closed her eyes.

Although not much time remained until sunrise, she judged it would be good to get some rest since she would soon have to walk for hours without stopping.

Alice began to breathe evenly, careful not to fall into a deep sleep.

That’s when it happened.

“Al…ice.”

“…!”

At the sound of her name being called, Alice sprang up and opened her eyes.

The voice came from the direction of the basement entrance, but no one was coming in.

Alice slowly drew the holy sword from her waist.

The soft light emanating from the holy sword illuminated the dark entrance of the basement.

“…Eric?”

There was Eric, collapsed and covered in blood, breathing heavily.

*

“You could have come looking for me, you heartless bastard.”

After being healed with holy power, Eric seemed to be feeling a bit better and immediately started making jokes with his mischievous tone.

Alice stared at him for a moment before smirking and saying:

“What took you so long? I was just thinking about heading back to the forest without you.”

“A bunch of looters attacked me in a group and gave me some trouble.”

“Huh, how many were there?”

“Don’t know, about thirty.”

After healing all the major fatal wounds on Eric’s body, Alice was now working on removing the smaller cuts and scratches. She responded to Eric’s words with an exaggerated expression.

“Thirty? Impressive. Did you spend the whole week in a life-or-death battle with thirty men? Wow, you’ve got yourself a lifetime’s worth of drinking stories now.”

Eric took a swig from an old, dirty bottle of alcohol he had found somewhere in the basement and said:

“Pfft, do I look like you? How could anyone win a fight against thirty people?”

“Then?”

“I got completely robbed by those thirty men. I spent a week tracking them down one by one, beating them up, and retrieving what they stole from me. In the end, I ran away with my tail between my legs while they chased after me.”

“Ah, so that’s why you had an arrowhead stuck in your back.”

“Damn, I thought I pulled it out completely. No wonder my back and waist felt like they were being branded with a hot iron.”

Alice showed him the arrowhead she had removed from his back and said:

“Fortunately, it didn’t hit anything vital, and the muscle has reattached. I removed it cleanly, so there won’t be any risk of infection. Don’t worry.”

“Whew, thanks. Looks like I’m finally benefiting from that heart of yours.”

“You little shit, seriously.”

“Hehehe.”

Eric gulped down more alcohol and then abruptly offered the bottle to Alice.

Alice silently took the bottle and took a sip.

The hot liquid with a foul taste, perhaps from improper storage, flowed down her throat.

She slightly wrinkled her face and exhaled through her nose, releasing a strong alcohol scent.

“Ugh, this is what you’ve been drinking?”

“I just wanted some alcohol. You worked hard.”

“Yeah, yeah, good job.”

Alice pushed the bottle back to Eric and asked:

“So? What did you bring? After suffering for a week like that, it must be something valuable, right?”

“That’s right.”

Eric nodded and continued:

“Well, to be direct, I couldn’t get any information. There was nowhere to ask, and the libraries were all in shambles. Seems like some people carry books with them even as the world is ending—I’ve never seen libraries so empty before.”

“Well, people who’ve spent their lives pursuing knowledge probably thought that was important. Anyway, so?”

“Here.”

Eric took out several small objects wrapped in cloth from inside his clothes.

Alice picked them up and unwrapped the cloth as she asked:

“What are these?”

“I don’t know either.”

“Huh?”

Eric took another swig from the bottle and said:

“I just stole everything I could find from Malice’s mansion.”

“…”

Alice asked with an incredulous expression:

“Malice’s mansion… aren’t these all artifacts? They were still there all this time?”

“The place was rigged with magical traps, layer upon layer. I had to check for traps by looking at the corpses scattered around.”

“I see… but how did you manage?”

Eric grinned and said:

“Because I’m me, kid.”

“Huh, the king of thieves has arrived.”

“Well, that’s probably why those looters came after me in droves—they were after these artifacts.”

Alice nodded as she listened to Eric’s words.

By now, she had unwrapped all the cloth from the object in her hand, revealing a small bracelet with a blue gemstone.

Eric glanced at the bracelet and exhaled a breath full of alcohol as he said:

“That one was inside the largest artifact box. It’s Malice’s bracelet, you know, that decoration that always appears in statues and paintings of Malice? That’s it.”

“…This?”

“From what I heard, it’s supposed to… hmm…”

Eric put down the bottle and said, as if straining to remember:

“It has the power to bring the dead back to life?”

.