When you don't know the full story, many conclusions can be taken. Although, if you want to take the right decision, you need to hear what really happened from both parties, so here is what happened from Eric's perspective.
* * *
Eric woke up after several hours of sleep. He was sleeping at the edge of the forest under the shadow of a big tree. Even if it was summer, in the forest was a cool wind, and dark enough for someone to take a good sleep.
Eric yawned and looked around at the familiar forest. Everything looked the same, except that today, in a bush, was a stone statue of a girl in military clothes that was covering her eyes with her hands. He didn't pay her any mind and just got up and started walking slowly toward his home.
Several minutes later he arrived and when he opened the door he observed the presence of 3 people in the hall but because of his sleepy mind, he just ignored them and entered his room.
Back in his room he just jumped into bed and tried to sleep again but because he already slept for a few hours he just stayed with his eyes closed and started to think about what happened a while ago.
* * *
"I can help you get revenge on everyone who wronged you, all you have to do is to accept my offer!"
"Mmm? Revenge? And why do you think I want that?"
"You want to say that you don't need it? I can feel your hatred... I know that you feel wronged and I'm here to offer you a hand."
The girl looked at Eric with a confident smile but he just felt amused so he teased her a little bit.
"Hooo... so Kratos wants someone as insignificant as me to work for him? And what should I do?"
"All you need to do is to take your sister out from that barrier and I will do the rest."
"And how should I take her out? She knows that she shouldn't go out."
"I'm sure you can find a way yourself!"
"Neh, that's too troublesome... come back when you have a good idea!"
Eric ended his sentence and closed his eyes trying to sleep. The girl was clearly annoyed but she tried to keep her smile.
"If you help us we have a method to make you able to use magic too..."
Eric opened his eyes and tried to make an interested face.
"Wait, for real?"
"Yes, our lord is very powerful, he can easily help you!"
"Too bad I'm not interested in that either... Just go back and don't bother me again!"
The girl didn't try to keep her appearance and revealed her true self.
"Boy, I wanted to make you into a useful pawn because I wasn't sure they would come to your rescue if we caught you but it seems like I still need to do that!"
Eric looked at her with a serious face to make his point clear.
"I don't want to be involved in your war and I don't care about what will happen either! Just don't bother me and pretend I don't exist!"
The girl looked at Eric and started to laugh.
"You think we can just ignore you? The moment you come out alone your end was clear!"
Without waiting for an answer she held her hand and a magic circle was formed. In the next second, from the magic circle come out a black arrow that was launched toward Eric.
Eric reflexively rolled himself and dodged the arrow. Without losing any second he hide behind a tree and looked for ways to escape from that situation.
"Do you think you can run?"
The girl give up on the range attack and summoned a purple sword and in the next moment, she disappeared.
Eric tried to look at the location where his enemy was but he observed that she wasn't there anymore. He had a bad feeling about this and wanted to change his position but it was too late... A sharp blade was quickly approaching him and he didn't have any time to dodge. He crossed his hands and closed his eyes waiting for the impact but he didn't feel anything in the end. Eric tried to open his eyes but he couldn't because a blinding light shined in front of him.
The light finally stopped shining and Eric opened his eyes to see what happened and surprisingly, the blade and the girl in front of him turned into stone. He looked around to see if someone helped him but no one was around.
("I did this?")
Eric was a little confused but he didn't think too much about it and raised his shoulders.
"Well, I guess I will figure it all out later."
Thinking about all that happened, after a short time, Eric fall asleep again.
* * *
Several hours later, Eric woke up in the middle of the night. He looked at his phone cloak and then at the ceiling. After sleeping so much today it was clear that he could not fall asleep again until morning so he got up from the bed and approached the window. He opened it and the cool breeze of the night hit his face. He took a deep breath and a relaxed smile appeared on his face. His eyes then went up towards the dark sky and he began to look at the stars.
Eric stood there motionless until something appeared on the ground. He directed his gaze toward a little further on the ground where something like a mirror started to shine faintly. On the surface of the mirror, the image of a masked man appeared and both of their gazes met.
Eric didn't seem too surprised and asked with a casual voice.
"You should be Kratos right?"
"You're right, and I guess you should be Eric... I'm quite surprised that you come back safely."
"What's so surprising about that? I just discussed with your subordinate and told her that I don't want to be involved and she let me go peacefully."
Kratos's eyes started to shine in a red light and answered with a sharp tone.
"Bul**it! Then where is she right now?"
"Still in the forest I guess...? She was so set in stone that she wouldn't leave the forest if I don't accept to work for you that I guess she is still there."
Eric tried his best to keep a poker face but the corner of his lips raised slightly.
"Then I don't need to ask anymore if you accepted my offer or not."
"Yes."
Kratos looked at Eric with a sharp gaze before leaving and letting behind some words of threat.
"Very well... when I come out you will be the first person I kill!"
"Sure, sure... whatever you say..."
Eric's mood was destroyed so he closed the window, jumped on his bed, and started to play a game on his phone without knowing about the person that was listening behind his door.
* * *
In the morning both Yuki and Eric come out of their rooms at the same time. Yuki had a long face with dark circles under her eyes while Eric had a good mod after playing all-night games.
"Morning!"
When their eyes meet Eric greeted her while Yuki narrowed her eyes and answered in a low voice.
"Morning..."
("Why is he acting like nothing happened?")
("Why is she acting like she didn't sleep all night?")
Eric didn't pay her any mind and started walking towards the kitchen while Yuki looked at his back. He prepared something quickly and packed them so he can eat his breakfast outside.
He then went out and headed for the forest. When he reached it, he looked at the place where yesterday was a stone statue just to find that there was nothing today.
("Well, I guess someone took her. Should I change my eating place?")
Thinking so, he entered deep into the forest and find a glade where someone left a picnic table. He then sat on the bench and started to eat his breakfast.
While doing so he thought about the light from yesterday and the girl that turned into stone. He then thought about the first day when he meet Alice and saw for the first time a magic circle.
At that moment a ridiculous thought come into his mind and he held his hand and thought about the magic circle that he had seen on that day, and tried to remember every detail of it. He closed his eyes trying to not miss anything and wanted to make that circle appear.
To his surprise, when he opened his eyes a magic circle that glowed faintly appeared in front of his hand. He looked at that magic circle with a serious expression and tried to not lose his concentration.
Although the magic circle appeared, nothing come out of it and he knew that something was missing. He tried to think about the sword that Alice held the other day but still, nothing come out. With a slightly annoyed face he almost give up but he then remembered about a little detail he forgot. Eric narrowed his eyes and spoke in a low voice.
"Ice sword!"
In the next moment, a white-blue sword come out and he hold it with one hand. He took it closer to his eyes and touched the blade with his left hand.
"Wow, I didn't expect it to really work..."
Eric looked amazed at the sword in his hand then put it away and tried to cast other spells but without any success. Although he couldn't cast anything else, he still spent the next few hours experimenting with his newly discovered ability.
* * *
While Eric made the new discovery, Yuki was again in the parallel space training with Alice and Clarissa in hand-to-hand combat. Currently, Clarissa was fighting with Yuki in a 1v1 battle and, after a long time, Alice finally announced that they will take a break and Yuki laid down trying to catch her breath. Alice approached Yuki and handed her a water bottle.
"Good work here, you're surprisingly good at this!"
Yuki took the bottle and drink half of it.
"Thanks! Although I didn't practice any sports, I had a good physique since young."
"This is good then but..."
"Mmm?"
"I can feel that you are distracted and it seems like you didn't have enough sleep last night. Did something happen?"
Yuki suddenly remembered what she heard last night but she wasn't sure if she should tell Alice about it. She couldn't hear too well what they were talking about and she could also be wrong about what she heard, so she hesitated a while but finally told Alice about what happened.
Alice thought for a while then asked Yuki again to make sure.
"Are you sure that you didn't hear wrong?"
"That's the problem... I'm not sure..."
"Well... we will know after we catch and interrogate him!"
Alice wanted to go out but Clarissa stopped her.
"Alice, wait! He can just deny it and we will never learn the truth, we also aren't so heartless to torture a possibly innocent person. For now, I think the best idea is to follow and catch him red-handed!"
Alice thought for a while but before she could take a decision Clarissa made another suggestion.
"If you're not sure you can go and ask Irra about how we should proceed!"
Alice looked at Clarissa's eyes for a while and finally accepted.
"Fine... I will go right now! You keep training Yuki for now, I will be back shortly!"
Alice left in a hurry while Yuki and Clarissa looked at her back.