Cursed Soul: Ch.23

“And you're certain of this decision?”, General Sparda asked as he sat behind his desk, Baul looking up from where he was reading a book while I took a deep breath before nodding.

“I am, sir. While I do believe that I need to continue onwards for Leah's sake and rise in the army, I also believe that I am not capable of continuing onwards at the risk of endangering my fellow Rune Knights,” I answered, watching as the man's eyes narrowed, but not without anger.

Instead, I watched as his grew heavy when he leaned back in his chair, folding his hand over his chest while looking at me.

“You have lost fellow Scarlet Mantis comrades before, Eric. This is not the first time death has walked beside you.”

“I know that, sir, but you and I both know that Leah was more than just a fellow soldier.”

“You think stepping down will honor the memory of your lover?”, Baul asked as he closed his book slowly, General Sparda holding up a hand to silence his Colonel while I took a deep breath and shook my head.

“No, but I believe being honest about my limits will. I've ran the entire scenario over and over in my mind and it all comes down to one thing. I was not strong enough.”

“So, you wish to leave and what? Get stronger until you believe you can stop losing people on missions? Eric Creed, people die, whether you send them to battle or whether they are simply ridden by disease or famine. It is simply something that happens.”

“I understand, sir, but unfortunately, I do not think I can make the right decisions on the field right now. If I go out there again feeling unsure or riddled with guilt, I may make another mistake and next time, it could more than one that we lose,” I answered, watching as the General looked at me before sitting up and crossing his hands in front of his face.

“And what will you do should I let you go? You still have two more months to go until you are free to leave.”

“Perhaps, intelligence work, then. You could reassign me to the border outposts where I could help keep up the barrier there. At least this way, I can make sure to do as much training as I can while also keeping my promise to Leah.”

“You think watching a border and checking over a magical array will fulfill that promise?”, I heard the man say and his voice sounded heavy, as if filled with years of seeing many others go through the same thing.

“No, but I think that continuing to serve without endangering others is the only way I know how to keep moving forward without lying to myself or putting more names on the wall.”

“People will say that you're running. They'll say that you're breaking under pressure and that she broke you,” Baul spoke up as his chair creaked under his weight and I looked at him before nodding.

“Then let them say it. I'd rather be called broken than become someone who makes decisions that could endanger his team because he couldn't set his pride aside in taking out a threat. My pride is not worth there being another Leah.”

“…You were one of the best in your class in terms of skill and versatility and most likely the sharpest recruit we've had in years. It would be a shame to lose a soldier like you to grief.”

“Think more of it as saving one from becoming a ghost in uniform,” I spoke, watching as the man looked at me before glancing at Baul who nodded with a sigh.

“Very well. You will report to Commander Droppa of the 41st Outpost. I believe you two are familiar with each other?”

“I am, sir. Thank you,” I spoke with a bow as I took the document and Sparda simply looked at me before shaking his head.

“Do not thank me. Prove me right.”

“I will, sir.”

“Creed, before you go,” Baul said and I looked at him to see the man looking at me with a soft smile.

“You are right about one thing. You are not strong enough now, but one day, when you are, do not regret the decision you made today for owning up to every decision you make is already proof that you are growing little by little every day. Is that understood?”, He asked and I gave a small smile before nodding with a salute.

“Yes, sir,” I spoke before turning and leaving the room, Alya and Alex looking at me as I exited the room while I closed the door.

“And?”, Alya asked before smiling happily as I smiled and held up the document, Alex giving an exaggerated groan.

“Aw~ Well, there goes my planning of the two of us drinking our asses off.”

“Well, according to this document, I only have to leave in two days,” I answered with a slight smirk and Alex grinned while Alya rolled her eyes as her brother wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

“Alright, then! Let's go get Peekwold and Lycan! Oh, and Arreiks and Danners too! It's time for a guy's night out!”

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“To Eric! May he enjoy his new job as a border watcher!”

“To Eric!”, Liam and Danny cheered in unison as we raised our glasses up before downing the shots in one go, a smile on my face as I watched Liam and Alex struggle with the vodka while Khae cackled as he poured and downed two more.

“Ah, you bastards are just being pansies right now!,” The short man cackled, Arreiks nodding in agreement while I smirked as the large man had resorted to drinking a bottle of rum on his own.

“Guess you're ditching us for the calm and quiet, huh?”, Liam spoke with a teasing grin after he finished coughing his lungs out and I nodded as I placed my glass of whiskey down as well.

“Yeah, quiet sounds good right now.”

“You know that the border is just wolves, Vulcans, and the drunk merchant now and again, right?”, Danny spoke up and I just smirked before shrugging.

“Sounds like a vacation to be honest,” I replied dryly and they chuckled at my answer while Arreiks gave an amused smile.

“It's not going to be same without the shining rookie, man. Now, we're going to have to work hard because our prodigy isn't here,” Alex spoke up with a grumble and I rolled my eyes as everyone nodded in agreement.

“So, you guys just want me here because I take the attention away?”

“Hey, you're the guy that went from a Private to a Captain in the span of a few months. That and you had both the General and the Colonel focused on your every move. Now, we're going to have to go back to actually working,” Danny answered with a shrug and I smirked as I leaned back in my seat.

“Well, I guess you guys are going to have to start training again.”

“Wait, you're not taking your domains with you too, right? You're going to leave the ones we have?”

“Of course, I've already etched them into the flooring. Just remember to pour ethernano into them once a month and they'll work fine,” I answered and Liam let out a relieved sigh as Alex nodded.

“Good. So…are you coming back? When you have your head on straight, I mean?”, He asked and the others looked at me as I looked back before letting out a sigh.

“Honestly, I don't think I am. Like I said when I joined, this is merely an opportunity for me to get some experience before I join a guild.”

“Ah, and what guild are you aiming for?”

“Last I checked, Sabre Tooth or Quatro Cerberus, right?”, Liam said and I smiled before nodding.

“Yeah, either of the two.”

“I don't think you'd be a fit for either, if I'm being honest. Lamia Scale or Twilight Ogre sounds more up your alley,” Arreiks spoke up and I looked at him while the others hummed.

“Nah, Twilight Ogre are a bunch of bums trying to bully weaker guilds. Lamia Scale on the other hand has one of the Ten Wizard Saints and arguably the strongest out of them all if we exclude the Four Gods of Ishgar of course.”

“Yeah, but I don't think Eric is aiming for one of their spots…right?”, Liam asked as he turned to me and I snorted while shaking my head.

“No, I'm not.”

“See? He;s not that ambitious.”

“Not ambitious? We're talking about the same guy that decided to shoot through the ranks and created a new form of magic by combining Archive and Jutsushiki, two of the hardest forms of magic to apply to continuous battles?”, Khae asked with a scoff and Liam rolled his eyes as Alex spoke up.

“In all honesty, Quatro or Lamia Scale would be the best fit for you. The latter because you would fit right in with their 'Work smarter, not harder' style and the former we used to work with them before during that mission with…Leah…”, He finished slowly and I gave a slight smile and nodded.

“I think those two are the only options I have in mind.”

“So, you going to be okay?”

“You being serious right now?”

“What? It's supposed to help him open up?”, Khae spoke with a roll of his eyes while I let out a chuckle as the others shook their heads.

“We really need to teach you subtlety, Khae.”

“And until then, I'm going to be myself and nothing else. Anyway, you going to answer the question or not?”

“I think I'm going to be okay, Khae. Like I told the General, I think I need to find out who I am when I'm not focused on orders, missions or grief. However, once I get to that point, I'm going to be okay.”

“Uh-huh. Until then, you don't have permission to skip your morning drills, okay Captain?”, Arreiks spoke up and I rolled my eyes as Liam and Alex nodded.

“Yeah, just because you're getting a border job doesn't mean you can miss morning drills. We'll know and we'll sick Erica on you.”

“That is cruel, but fine. I guess if I need to…” I trailed off, hiding my smile as they all nodded before going back to their drinking.

This was what I needed before I left. Just a night of hanging out with the guys and talking about stupid shit to help us forget the weight we all carried.

Watching as Liam's face became flushed with every drink he took, I couldn't stop my burst of laughter as Khae and Arreiks chugged their rum in unison while Alex cheered from the other side of the table only to catch a bottle to the forehead.

'Yeah, this is a nice final night,'

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“Hey, Eric! Nice to see you joining the border gang!”, Droppa waved with a grin as I climbed off of the Scarlet Mantis, nodding at most of the guys that I recognized from the border invasion.

“It's nice to be here. I see the barrier is still holding strong.”

“Yeah, General Lahar comes now and again to check up on it and see if it's holding strong, but other than that, we're left to stare mesmerized at our glorious creation.”

'Yep, I think I missed Droppa's obsession with jutsushiki,' I thought with a smile as I stared at the woman who looked at the barrier with a blissful sigh before turning to me with a happy smile.

“So, pick up your bags and follow. I'll take you to your room and then give you your schedule.”

“Is it a long one?”, I asked as I picked up my two bags with ease, watching as Droppa hummed before shaking her head.

“For the first week, not at all. It's just about two to four hours of patrolling the border and then coming back to report your findings. After that, though, you are looking at eight to twelve hours of patrol on top of another two to three hours of outpost watching.”

“I'm guessing I should catch a quick nap during the outpost watching?”, I asked, smirking as she just raised an eyebrow before shrugging.

“Hey, sleep where you want and when you need as long as you remember that you can't sleep when you feel something is off. If you do and an incident happens that you could have prevented with an early warning, let's just say that the council will have your ass for dinner.”

“Got it,” I nodded as we walked through the outpost, taking glances at the repairs that were done after the battle against the Bosco Stealth group before walking into the building.

“Are you the commanding officer of the base now?”

“Eh, kind of for now. General Lahar had to go back because of the whole border thing, so I was put in charge until he came back. Hey, uh, I heard about Leah, you know? You…wanna talk about it?”

“For now…no,” I answered with a smile and she nodded as we continued towards the rooms.

“Cool, cool. You wanna talk about your new Jutsushiki instead?”

“What new Jutsushiki?”

“The fact that you, lucky bastard that you are, managed to have Archive Magic, which fits perfectly with Jutsushiki. You know, I'm kind of jealous that you not only got it but that you also made instantaneous jutsushiki a thing,” She spoke with a mock glare and I rolled my eyes as she opened the door to a room.

“I did, but it's a lot harder than you would think.”

“I would think so. You would have to use jutsushiki to make the effects instantaneous, another to make sure that the effects are aimed at your target and not everyone around you, another to focus it as a pinpointed attack and not stretch out into a domain and so many more. Honestly, I'm kind of jealous.”

“Eh, I would have loved to have some form of analysis magic like your Seeing-Eye,” I said with a shrug as we walked into the room and she snorted as I placed my bags down.

“Believe me, you do not want Seeing-Eye unless you're going to over-analyse everything around you, but…then again, you're already doing that.”

“That's what I mean,” I answered with a smirk and she rolled her eyes before I took a deep breath and looked around at the room.

“No one has used it since me?”

“Nah, everyone here are given a room of their own to work with and since no one likes changing rooms, we left it as is.”

“Cool. So when do I start?”

“Not today. Today, you just need to sit around and catch a day off. Tomorrow, though, is when you have to start working. Anyway, I got some documents to do so I'll leave you to yourself,” She spoke and I nodded with a smile as she left the room, closing the door behind her while I sat on the couch with a sigh.

“Well, I suppose now is a better time than ever,” I muttered as thirteen screens appeared around me, each having a different sigil and command on it while I created two keyboards in front of me.

Time to boost the Hymns even further.

A/N: I know I said that the Sun Village is going to be this chapter, but I want to do a scene first with Matteo and Lisa before he goes to the Sun Village.

Anyway, next chapter: A Talk and Hell Flames.

As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…

Ba-Bye~!!