At the edge of the northern gate, separating the inside of the walls and the outskirts, the military placed their camp, where Erina and the others had their time to rest after the chaos.
Erina, who was lying in bed in a green tent, began to move slightly as she wakes up.
Erina slowly opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings.
She suddenly sat up from her bed, as if she remembered something urgent.
"Where..." Erina said, being a little confused of the situation, "let's see... I was being held down in rush, and then...".
Erina gathered her thoughts, and as she got a full grasp of the situation, tears began to fall down on her cheeks.
"I... was put asleep..." Erina places both her hands on her lower face, "I... wasn't able to help Yuji..." she covered her eyes with both of her hands as she began to cry.
Layla stood by the exit of the tent hearing what Erina had said, and what she was currently doing.
"she's... crying..." Layla said as she stood still outside the tent.
"Hey Layla," jaspher called out, "is she awake?"
"SSHH!" Layla said, interrupting jaspher with her pointing finger placed over her mouth.
Jaspher was stunned.
"I don't think now's a great time..." Layla whispered.
"I'm ok now..." Erina said as she slowly walked outside the tent, looking gloomy yet obviously trying to put a tough front.
"Miss Erina!" said Jaspher and Layla.
"Thank you," Erina said with a smile, "you can drop the formalities, there's no need for "miss", " she said as she faced them.
"what were... your names again?" Erina said, "sorry if I forgot..."
"It's ok, a lot has happened so it's quite understandable," Layla said with a shaky voice, "my name is Layla, and he is jaspher. plus we only met for a short moment,".
"Thanks for understanding," Erina bowed her head, "So... Layla, can you tell me about the situation? how long was I out?".
"I don't know the exact time..." Layla replied, "but you slept the whole night, the doctor told us that your body was dealing with so much stress, then took it's full rest right after being injected by a sleeping serum,"
"I see... so that's how I was put asleep," Erina said, "and where are we now?" she questioned.
"By the North gate, leading to the outside of the city, the military made a camp here as they prepare to get to city A" Jaspher said.
"How long has the camp been here?" Erina asked, "How did we escape? I'm sorry if I'm troubling you, with questions,".
"No it's ok, to answer your questions is the reason we're here in the first place..." Layla said.
"If that's so, then I'm grateful," Erina replied.
"Anyways, to answer your question..." Layla said, "we all escaped through the multiple vehicles around the area, leaving one person behind,"
"one person?" Erina questioned.
"The one who injected you with the sleeping drug, I think her name was Yukina," Layla said, "she said she was an S class soldier despite looking young, and that her purpose was to delay the arch demon,"
"Delay the arch demon!?" Erina replied in surprise, "Where is she now??".
"We don't know," Layla replied, "I haven't heard from her ever since last night, after we got here,".
Erina looked troubled, "they just left one of their fellow behind?" she said.
"Don't go making that face," a sudden familiar voice said from a distance, "It was her that told us to do that,"
"Miss Liz!" Jaspher said, as Liz walks over to them.
"You..." Erina said as she glared at Liz with her troubled look.
"Don't stare at me like that, didn't you hear what I said?" Liz said, staring back at Erina.
"Still, you sacrificed her just like that..." Erina said.
"Who said anything about sacrificing?" Liz said, "that girl is an S class from city A you know?"
Erina raged, "Just because she's an S class doesn't mean that she..."
"Don't underestimate her," Liz said, interrupting Erina, "I've known her for a long time, and she faced situations similar to this before, I know she's fine...".
"That's just blind faith in your soldier..." Erina said.
"It's trust in a comrade," Liz said, "after all, that's the only thing we can do after she ordered us...".
"Ordered? aren't you the captain?" jaspher questioned.
"Yes, I am," Liz replied, "but the thing is, S classes get more privilege than you think... an S class doesn't just represent their strength, but also their authority among the military,".
"She was basically the one that devised this plan to save this much people,"
"She... planned all this? including her taking on the arch demon alone?" Layla said.
"That's bull sh*t," Erina said, "the governing superiors must have told her to do that,".
"I'm gonna be honest, The prior order given to us by the government, was to make sure you and her get to city A safely," Liz said, "and if you think about it, what would sacrificing a strong, capable, and experienced S class in exchange for a newbie and rebellious S class student get them? won't it just cost them without any benifit?".
Erina stayed silent, understanding Liz's point.
"She was the one... who ordered you to prioritize high classes too, am I right?" Erina said in a low voice.
"No, she wasn't," Liz replied, "like I said, the priority told to us by the higher ups was you and her safety, along with the other high classes,"
Liz approached her closer, "In fact, she was supposed to be with us when we got you out of that school..."
Erina once again stayed silent, looking down on the ground.
"Then... where was she?" Layla asked.
Liz looked away and pointed out her surroundings, "do you see how much people there are here? despite the military,"
"There's quite a lot," jaspher said, looking around.
Liz faces back directly at them, " she's the reason why these many people got saved,"
Erina kept being silent.
"Look... I know your mad..." Liz said with a slightly nervous tone, " and I don't blame you for that,".
Liz moves closer to Erina, "but please, don't misdirect your anger at anyone... that girl... was very exited to meet you... please don't treat her poorly when you meet her..."
Liz took a deep breath as she mustered courage, "if your going to blame anyone for your loss... then blame me!" she said, putting everyone in a shock, "it was my calls, and my decision... it was my lacking that caused you this... that's why..."
"You... really care for that girl huh?" Erina said.
Liz stood silent in shock, seeing Erina calm down, with a sad expression on her face.
"I'm... not feeling good..." Erina said in a low voice as she moves the tent curtains, "I'm going to rest for a bit longer..."
Layla nodded at Erina, as Erina walked inside the tent.
"Is she going to be ok?" jaspher asked, "she didn't look so well... is it probably because... of him?"
"Whether she'll be ok or not depends on her... anyways I'll say what I came here for," Liz said.
"Huh? it wasn't to check on Erina?" Layla said.
"It was just by chance that I was here when she woke up, the real reason I'm here is to tell you an announcement," Liz said, "we're leaving at dawn tomorrow, you got the whole day today to do what you want, then it's goodbye to this city,".