Erika: My Friend Is Obsessed with Me
Chapter 48
She was told that she only needed to enter the capital before the sacred assembly held at the Heavenly Emperor's Castle came to an end.
“In two months, you'll take a unit placement exam, and that will determine your assignment.”
“A unit placement exam?”
Erica chewed on the phrase before knitting her brows.
It reminded her of a certain exam years ago that had put her through absolute hell.
“Is it hard? Is it going to piss me off even more than the S-rank mercenary advancement exam did?”
“It's on an entirely different level. I praised you to the high heavens, so it will be rather embarrassing if you don't make it into the 1st Division.”
“Ah, why did you do that?!”
“Lacking confidence?”
“Huh?”
Erica shot him an aggrieved glare.
Just who did he take her for?
“Master. One day, you'll hear the legend of a girl who appeared like a comet and conquered Tenearha with a single sword.”
“I'm worried because if you cause trouble, I won't be there to clean up after you.”
“Do you think all I do is cause trouble?”
“……”
“What's with this silence?”
Erica raised her eyebrows with force.
“You know I'm good at everything. I'll adapt in no time, so don't you worry.”
Since it had come to this, she resolved to make the most of life in the knight order.
First, she would behave herself and be good. She wouldn't stir up any trouble.
She would participate diligently in training and get along well with her comrades.
As the Emperor's sword, she would dedicate her complete loyalty to the Imperial Family.
‘So……’
At least until her master's curse was completely lifted.
“Please get well soon, Master.”
“I will.”
“And once you're fully healed, you have to come see me first. No matter how much you hate the Imperial Capital, you must come.”
“I heard you, I will.”
Pechenik smiled and gently closed his eyes.
Then he opened them again.
Listening to Erica, something had appeared that he wanted to stay alive to see, no matter what.
“……You will look splendid in the knight order's uniform.”
It was an attire he had grown so sick of that he thought he would never want to lay eyes on it again for the rest of his days.
Yet now, he couldn't help wondering how wonderfully that splendid uniform would suit her admirable self.
“I'll come see you. My daughter.”
“……?”
Erica stared blankly at Pechenik.
She wondered if she had misheard, but the words had been crystal clear.
Her chin quivered in an instant. Her lips trembled.
She buried her face straight into the bed.
Was it really alright for him to say that? Heat surged up into her face.
“……Yes.”
After hesitating, she mumbled with her head still planted in the mattress.
“Father.”
It was a word she had never spoken in her entire life.
Her ears burned hot.
Though muffled by the bedsheets, both of them heard it distinctly.
Pechenik smiled softly.
“Do whatever you wish to do. Whatever it may be, I will always support you.”
“……Yes.”
Watching Erica keep her face buried, Pechenik let out a quiet chuckle.
He gently stroked the back of her small head.
“Go on now. Don't worry about me.”
Erica soon sniffled.
It was a warm touch she would never forget as long as she lived.
“Yes.”
She had been saved by this very touch when she was young, and now it was her turn to protect her master.
“Don't you worry about me either, Master.”
Erica finally steeled her resolve to leave for Tenearha.
“I'll really do well.”
She was confident in everything she did, after all.
* * *
Leaving the Great Temple of Light, Erica said her goodbyes to various people.
“Saintess.”
First and foremost was Hielia.
“Please take full responsibility and keep our master alive. I'm leaving with complete trust in you, so don't make me come rushing back to the temple out of breath. Understand?”
“Is that a threat?”
“It's a request! A slightly forceful request!”
“Where on earth did the shy girl who stood before me when we first met go?”
“I'm heading to Dangtus! Goodbye!”
She also exchanged farewells with the Tenearha knights who happened to be departing for the Imperial Capital.
“We'll see each other in two months. I will speak favorably to His Majesty, so be sure not to be late.”
“Yes, Marquis! In two months, I'll visit you with local specialties from my hometown, Dangtus!”
“Forgive the interruption, but such personal gifts are prohibited within Tenearha.”
“I wasn't planning on giving any to you, Count.”
“……?”
“Marquis! Please stay healthy until we meet again!”
Spotting the young children being raised as High Priest candidates, she waved to them as well.
“Take care, little ones.”
She had also wanted to see the Holy Knights 8th Squad, but they were nowhere to be found, having already departed for Lekankan Forest to recover the Basilisk's corpse.
She said her goodbyes to the upper-level servants of the temple with whom she had grown close over their short time together.
“Goodbye, everyone!”
Erica slung her backpack over her shoulders.
As she walked away from the Great Temple of Light, she looked up beside her.
Just as always, Chaud was standing by her side.
“Let's go.”
There was no need to bid him farewell.
They were returning to Dangtus together, and they still had two whole months ahead of them.
* * *
Southern Dangters.
Befitting the largest commercial city in the Empire's southern region, people were lined up at the gate.
Bustle and clamor filled the air.
Not only were there merchants and mercenaries, but also carriages carrying nobles who had come south for leisure.
Behind the colorful crowd—
“……”
“……”
Two figures resembling beggars appeared.
Caked in a thick layer of dust, the two wretches crawled forward almost on all fours.
Trudge, trudge.
From a distance, their listless plodding seemed quiet enough, but the reality was quite different.
“……Erica. Did we really have to push all the way here without sleeping or eating?”
“……Wait, are you seriously the one saying that right now?”
“What about me?”
“Who was the one teasing me by constantly taking off first?! I still have no idea why we had to cross this distance in just ten days!”
“Hmm.”
“Thank you so-o-o much for letting me experience the absolute limits of human endurance every single time!”
“Don't mention it. If you're grateful, buy me a drink.”
“……?”
They bickered so fiercely they looked ready to pull each other's hair out, only to gasp for breath and resume trudging forward.
Both of their mouths kept running, but physically, they had reached their absolute limits.
Driven solely by the singular desire to reach Dangtus and rest, they had sprinted without pause.
As always, a competition had broken out, but this footrace had ended in a tie as well.
And finally, the moment they stepped through the massive gate of Dangtus—
Thud, collapse.
“……”
“……”
Erica and Chaud crumpled onto the ground.
“Why does it feel like it's been so long since we were here?”
“Because it has been.”
They had finally arrived back home.
Though she wasn't born in Dangtus, she had worked here as a mercenary for a long time.
To her, it was practically the home of her heart.
Perhaps because they had suffered so much both mentally and physically, a wave of profound relief washed over them.
All tension evaporated at once.
“……I'm exhausted.”
“Shall we sleep a bit?”
“Yeah.”
It didn't matter that they were in the middle of a bustling crowd.
The two of them promptly fell asleep, snoring softly.
Zzz—
Snore—
Even then, countless people continued to flow in and out of the gate.
Chatter and footsteps echoed around them.
Everyone neatly looped around the spot where the two beggars lay sprawled out.
* * *
Southern Mercenary Guild Headquarters.
The infirmary door flew wide open, and Caron marched inside.
“Where's Erica?”
He had come straight over upon hearing the news of Erica's return.
He had heard that someone picked up a kid who was fast asleep, lying flat on the street in front of the gate.
“She's on that bed over there.”
Shurin, the healer, gestured with her chin.
Stepping deeper into the room, Caron looked down at the bed.
“……?”
What lay there was a white teddy bear presumed to be Erica.
She was wrapped tightly from head to toe in white bandages, rounded like a massive ball.
“……Shurin, is this really Erica?”
“Yep~”
“Why is she so plump?”
“Because I had to wrap her that thickly to make sure she wouldn't get up.”
Shurin was a competent healer.
The moment she saw Erica's condition, she had made an accurate assessment.
Erica had accumulated an astonishing amount of fatigue, but knowing her restless personality, there was no way she would rest properly on her own.
Knowing full well that Erica would start wandering around the moment she woke up, Shurin had prescribed a special treatment: pressure bandages.
“Then what's this next to her?”
On the bed right beside hers.
There was another gigantic ball of bandages.
“That's Chaud. Erica's friend.”
“Why did you do this to him too?”
“He's the exact same as Erica.”
“……?”
Caron tilted his head in confusion, but there was something else he was far more curious about.
‘Did they fail to find Commander Pechenik?’
