Erika: My Friend Is Obsessed with Me
Chapter 21
Slap—!
“How did something like you ever get born?!”
“Do you know what kind of family this count’s household is? How dare a filthy thing like you—!”
Had she ever been that miserable?
Had she really been that powerless, that utterly pathetic?
The blood of the venerable Count Herace family.
An illegitimate child neglected by her biological father, the count, and abused by her stepmother, the countess…….
Those memories meant nothing now.
If she could, she would have drained every last drop of the half-noble blood running through her veins.
Still, simply living on while forgetting it was enough.
No one knew, after all.
Of course, not even Pechenik knew.
Only Erica herself knew. As long as she took it to her grave alone, not a soul in the world would ever know.
The splitting headaches brought on by scattered memories were just something that happened once in a while, like right now.
So this wasn’t trauma—it was just fine. She was fine.
Thud!
“Ahk……!”
Shurin?
Slam! Seeing Shurin get slammed into the corner again snapped Erica back to her senses.
Sprinting forward with light, rapid steps, she flipped the man right over her shoulder.
Crash!
“Guh, cough—!”
Ramming the man into the wall, she drove her elbows into the stomachs of the two bastards next to him, knocking them down.
“Wh-what the hell?!”
“Gasp, th-that’s! It’s Erica!”
“That girl is Erica! From the Pechenik Mercenary Group…… gah!”
Whoosh—
Snatching him by the neck, she leaped into the air and slammed him down hard against the floor.
Boom!
Using the centrifugal force, she swept her leg in a full arc, tripping yet another one.
Stamping hard on his neck to knock him unconscious, she quickly ran over to Shurin.
“Shurin! Are you okay?”
“Cough, cough……. E…… rica…….”
Shurin’s mouth worked wordlessly.
Erica leaned her ear in close to hear what she was saying.
“……Why didn’t you just wait until after I died to show up?”
“……Huh?”
“Having no idea I was getting beat half to death……. I was scared out of my goddamn mind. Why did you only get here now, cough, cough!”
“Wah, why are you scolding me? I really did get here earlier than scheduled.”
“……Did you beat the crap out of that Wyvern?”
“Yes.”
“Then now…… could you beat the crap out of them too?”
Evidently feeling well enough to care about her appearance, Shurin brushed back her messily disheveled curls.
“Looks like they came looking for the Master Key, ptooey! No matter how many times I told them I didn’t know……. They just couldn’t understand plain speech.”
Ptoo! Shurin spat irritably once more.
Suddenly, a sinister presence pricked the back of Erica's neck. Did that spit hit someone?
Erica casually glanced over her shoulder.
Sure enough, dozens of mercenaries had swarmed in at some point and surrounded them.
There was barely room to stand in the reception room.
“Oh, wow.”
Erica dusted off her knees with a brisk pat and rose to her feet.
“Do you people have zero professional ethics?”
She snapped around, pointing an accusing finger as she yelled.
“Look at those wrists—they look like they’d snap at any second! What kind of violent outburst is this against a healer unnie who does nothing but grind herbs all day like a sickly chicken?!”
A sickly chicken…… Shurin muttered from behind, asking what kind of description that was, but her coughing swallowed the words.
Hands propped on her hips, Erica hollered with stubborn defiance.
“If you’re going to hit someone, hit me instead!”
Of course, she never said she’d actually let them hit her.
“Though I’m going to hit you first!”
Erica kicked off the ground and flew upward.
Scrambling straight up the wall with rapid footwork, she delivered a solid kick right to an opponent’s face. Thwack!
“Get her!”
The clashing metallic ring of unsheathed weapons resonated everywhere. Clang! Clatter!
At the same time, Erica drew her sword midair.
Shring—
In the midst of the unfolding brawl, Erica’s eyes met Chaud’s as he watched her from a distance.
“…….”
He was leaning against the wall, gazing at her.
The glittering light in his eyes seemed utterly entranced.
As if he were standing face-to-face with an exquisite masterpiece of art.
“…….”
Unable to understand that look in his eyes, Erica turned her head away.
Clang—!
* * *
They successfully recaptured the headquarters guild.
Perhaps thinking Erica was having too rough a time on her own, Chaud had drawn his sword halfway through as well.
After subduing everyone, they bound them in a line with ropes and forced them to their knees.
“Now then. This is a written pledge promising you’ll never invade again. Put your seal on it.”
What use could a pledge like this possibly have? Who bothers writing a pledge before raiding somewhere?
Chaud wondered, but seeing Erica diligently collecting bloody thumbprints, he simply watched in silence.
Thanks to the massive brawl, the building’s interior was a complete disaster, smashed and broken to pieces everywhere.
Crunch. Shattered debris crushed beneath their feet with every step.
Tinged with exhaustion, Erica pointed an accusatory finger as she spoke.
“Tsk, you guys have been giving off bad vibes since last year!”
“W-were you watching us?!”
“You’re the Puhel Mercenary Group, aren’t you?”
“We’re the Dihel Mercenary Group.”
“Same difference.”
Erica smacked each of the obnoxious-looking members of the Dihel Mercenary Group on the head.
Then she walked over to Shurin.
“Shurin, are you feeling a bit better now?”
“No, I can’t calm down……. Why did I have to suffer such humiliation……?”
Shurin wiped away the tears still clinging to her reddened eyes with a finger. Both of her cheeks were swollen and red from how much she had been hit.
Watching her broke Erica’s heart.
“Come here. I’ll let you get your revenge.”
Erica took Shurin by the wrist and pulled her over.
Then she wrapped strips of cloth around Shurin’s wrists to secure them tightly.
Her wrists were frail; if they gave way while throwing a punch, she’d sprain them, so they had to be firmly supported.
“All right, from that end over there to this end here. Hit every single one of these kneeling bastards on the head! Hard!”
The members of the Dihel Mercenary Group and the freelance mercenaries dragged in from outside all scowled.
“……Fuck.”
“……?”
Erica’s eyes flared.
“Who just muttered 'fuck'?”
The Vice Commander of the Dihel Mercenary Group, kneeling at the very end, swallowed hard.
“……Awful bastards.”
Soon, Shurin got to her feet and walked to the far end.
Step, step.
And so, they all had to take a hit to the head from Shurin’s soft, feeble little fists.
* * *
Late at night.
The Guildmaster’s office.
Sawing logs, sawing logs—the sound of snoring resonated through the Guildmaster’s office.
Sprawled across the sofa like a sloth, Erica was out cold in a dead sleep.
She usually slept quietly, but tonight she was even snoring.
And understandably so; her schedule over the past month had been brutal. There hadn’t been a single moment to rest.
Having pushed her body to such extremes, it was only natural that exhaustion had caught up to her.
Clothes grimy and caked with dust and dirt.
Long hair that had initially been tied up high, now a tangled mess from the fierce battle.
She was the very picture of a beggar. A foul-tempered, pretty little beggar.
“…….”
Chaud sat down below the sofa.
He didn’t mind sitting on the bare floor just to look at Erica’s sleeping face up close.
Erica gave her all in every single moment.
A being so devoted to living radiated loveliness.
Even covered in grime, she shone brightly.
He hated the fact that anyone with eyes could see it.
‘Why protect a place like this? Because that master of hers is the Guildmaster here?’
Her stubborn insistence that they had to guard the Guildmaster’s office for at least one night, going so far as to fall asleep right here, was utterly ridiculous.
Guard, my foot.
When she wouldn't even wake up with someone staring at her right beside her like this.
‘She sleeps like an idiot.’
Her small mouth hung slightly open, revealing her teeth.
Those stark white teeth were rather small, which struck him as amusing.
Watching her intently, he felt an urge to slip a finger right into her mouth.
Had his mischievous gaze been too blatant?
“Ngh…….”
Scratching her side, Erica rolled over onto her side.
Sitting below the sofa, Chaud tilted his head, following her with his eyes.
Erica’s profile was as sharp and delicate as a doll’s.
The tip of her nose, her cheeks, and those slightly protruding, plump lips—he had no idea why she looked so inexplicably cute.
Chaud rested his chin on his hand.
“…….”
If she were an object, he would have claimed her long ago.
Yet she had to be a person. The kind you could only possess completely by killing.
He simply couldn’t understand what went on inside Erica’s little head.
‘Why does she refuse to form a fixed pair?’
There was no way anyone else could ever satisfy him.
He had known it at first glance. If he had never known her at all, that would be one thing, but after seeing Erica, no one else could ever catch his eye.
Erica had to pair only with him, take on commissions only with him.
She shouldn’t dare do anything with anyone else.
