CHAPTER 38: CAMPSITE RAID

That night, after Eva, Alicia, Milia, and Beatrice had gone to sleep inside the tent, Ard sat by the campfire with Brylee from A-Class and Nathan from B-Class, who were also on guard duty. The three of them were silent. Ard glanced toward the forest; he could still feel the Raven Corps watching and guarding him, as well as the tent where Eva was sleeping.

"They’re still out there, apparently," Ard muttered to himself.

He then turned to look at Nathan, who was already drowsy, and Brylee, who was standing silently with his arms crossed, his eyes closed.

"Huh... they’re asleep, it seems," Ard muttered with a cynical smile.

Suddenly, someone put a hand on his shoulder. Ard turned to see Eva standing behind him, wrapped in a blanket because of the cold, and smiling at him. Ard shifted over, and Eva immediately sat down next to him. Then, Eva turned to look at Brylee and Nathan, who seemed to be asleep.

"Oh, they’re asleep?" Eva asked.

"Yeah, just let them be. Why are you out here yourself?" Ard asked.

"Uuuh... the three of them are messy sleepers," Eva answered, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around them.

"Ah... I get it," Ard replied.

Ard looked up at the sky. A bright moon was directly overhead, with a glittering ocean of stars in the clear, bright sky. He smiled when he looked at the moon above.

"The moon here is the same as on Earth, isn’t it?" Ard murmured.

"Yeah, it is," Eva replied, also looking up.

"Do you still remember when it was just the two of us in the forest? You were hurt and separated from your unit, and I was also separated from mine with a gunshot wound in my hand," Ard reminisced.

"I do. The first time we met, and the first time we almost killed each other when we ran into each other in the woods... after we’d been brainwashed and became government projects," Eva murmured.

"We held our guns on each other that time... but eventually, we took care of each other, and that’s when I really got to know you... Phantom," Ard said, smiling and still looking up.

"Haha... that’s right, Shadow. After that, we always ran into each other, always the ones left standing... and in the end, we died together," Eva murmured.

"Yeah... and then we were born in that village... you turned out to be my neighbor, haha, a funny twist of fate," Ard said.

"We were together since we were little, but neither of us remembered our past until we got lost in the forest and were running from wolves. We climbed up a tree, and after the wolves left, we both fell and passed out. Then, when you woke up, you called me Edith, haha," Eva said.

"Haha... and you called me Ace," Ard replied.

Although both of their faces were looking up at the sky with slight smiles, without realizing it, their hands were linked, holding onto each other. The atmosphere returned to silence as the two didn’t speak. Eva shifted, then leaned her head against Ard’s shoulder, which he allowed.

"I hope in this life we can be together until we’re old," Eva said.

"Yeah, I hope so," Ard replied, putting his arm around Eva without realizing it.

They continued to look up at the stars, enjoying their togetherness, which was impossible to do in front of the others. Ard was thinking, and he glanced at Eva, who looked comfortable next to him. He still remembered his last dream, the dream where he promised to return after placing Eva, who was Evelina at the time, inside the crystal in the cave.

"The dream hasn’t come back... according to Pyria, I went to the Elf tribe village and lived there, but what happened after that?" Ard wondered in his head.

Suddenly, Ard’s eyes darted toward the forest. He felt the Raven Corps, who had been watching him and Eva, leaving in a hurry, as if something had happened deeper in the woods. Eva immediately sat up straight and turned her head toward the same direction as Ard.

"Ard, there’s something in the forest," Eva said, throwing off her blanket.

"I know. I feel it too. Want to check it out?" Ard asked.

"Yeah, let’s go, Ard," Eva urged.

Both of them immediately stood up and darted into the forest. Meanwhile, Brylee and Nathan, who had only been pretending to sleep, slowly opened their eyes. They had heard Ard and Eva’s entire conversation.

"Princess Eva and Ard? Are they dating?" the two of them questioned in their minds.

Meanwhile, in the forest, Ard and Eva sped off, following the trail of the Raven Corps. Suddenly, they saw five people in black armor surrounding a long-eared girl. Ard and Eva landed behind the five people who were circling the girl. A man from the Raven Corps turned around, shocked to see Ard.

"Your Highness?" he asked.

"What is it?" Ard asked.

"Wait, you know them, Ard?" Eva asked.

"Yeah, they’re the Raven Corps from my kingdom, but that’s not important (looking at the girl in the center of the Raven Corps). Wait, Pyria?" Ard asked, kneeling down in front of Pyria.

Ard and Eva were shocked to see Pyria injured, blood flowing from her arm, which she was clutching. Her face looked worn and dirty, and her broken sword lay in front of her.

"What happened, Patricia?" Eva asked.

"We were attacked by demons. They came out of nowhere with monsters and slipped in afterward. Geoffrey, Rosalind, Ainsley, and Irwin are still fighting. I was told to look for help at the nearest camp and was wounded when some devil troops chased me," said Patricia, or Pyria.

Ard immediately turned to look at Eva, who was also staring at him, and nodded. Then Ard turned to look at the man from the Raven Corps.

"Take her to our camp. Treat her wounds. Eva and I are leaving now. You guys guard our camp," Ard said.

"But, Your Highness," the man protested.

"No buts. Tell my brother this is an emergency," Ard said firmly.

"Yes, Your Highness," the man replied, seeing Ard’s seriousness and knowing there would be no refusal.

Ard and Eva immediately took off toward the adjacent camp, which wasn’t far from theirs, to save their friends. Meanwhile, the Raven Corps helped Pyria and carried her to the camp while standing guard there. Ard and Eva ran incredibly fast, leaping from tree to tree to arrive quickly. Both of them pulled their swords, Exgrandal and Exelion, from their dimensional boxes.

"Clang... clink."

"Kyaaaaaa!"

The sound of clashing swords and screams of fighting could be heard ahead of them. Ard looked down while leaping and saw several demon troops sprawled on the ground. Then they both jumped out of the trees into the campsite. Both of their eyes widened as they saw demon troops wearing black armor, with blue skin and red eyes, along with monsters called dire wolves, fighting fiercely with the A-Class, B-Class, and S-Class teams. Many casualties lay scattered around the campsite on both sides.

"Eva, look," Ard said, pointing toward the footpath leading to the river.

"Yeah, let’s go, Ard," Eva replied.

What Ard was pointing at was a gigantic, muscular man-like monster with four arms, fangs jutting out from his lower jaw, a bald head with horn in his forehead, yellow eyes, and a large axe and a large sword strapped to his back. He stood still and upright, merely watching the battle unfold, his four arms crossed over his chest. This monster, or demon, seemed to be the leader of the demon troops attacking the camp. Without another thought,

"Let’s take down that Asura Orc," Ard and Eva said in unison, speeding toward the Asura Orc with smiles on their faces.