The trap (2)

When Lia transmigrated, there was only one rule she told herself to stick to remember: to avoid the protagonist. At all cost. Unless she was tired of living.

Yet so far, she had not been really successful doing that.

These men, these injured men were led by Eldric. They came in with him and they came out… without.

Her mind was reeling. What happened in there? Eldric’s men were the cream of the crop. They would not fall on a simple trap. Unless… she did not dare think of what comes after unless. But surely, Eldric would do something.

Speaking of him…she had not seen a hair nor hide of the general. She grabbed the vials of medicine and went back outside and the number of victims increased. There was a faint hope that maybe he was one of them.

She gave out the medicine to the other medics as her eyes subtly roamed the vicinity. No Eldric. Maybe he was not a victim, maybe he was assisting around. She looked around once more to no avail.

“Where’s the general?” she asked to no one.

One guy near her who looked a little better than the rest propped to his elbow and glanced at her. He, too, looked around with much grunting and wincing. “He might– he might still be inside.”

It was as if someone dropped lead in her gut. Surely, Eldric was capable of handling them and fending them off. Right?

She was not going to risk her life in a futile attempt to rescue him. She would be more of a liability than help if she attempted. Eldric was the general for heaven’s sake. He would not die that easily.

But she had seen the edge on his face every time he talked about the Unseen, the burning desire to annihilate the group, that towering fury. She knew that there was more to that than what he was letting on. She knew it was not just what happened in the town or the terrorizing that had been going on. It was something personal, something deep and ugly that was still doing its own terrorizing to Eldric. What if these feelings consumed him and made him do irrational things?

The novel might have painted him as the unrivaled warrior. The perfect human being. Yet Lia could not shake off the feeling that he was everything but perfect. Eldric was every inch a normal person like her, someone who could get hurt.

‘Come on, he’s the freaking protagonist. Protagonists are supposed to have a golden finger, a big, big cheat. They don’t die easily!’

Lia could not, should not, and would not sacrifice her peace for him. Not for the person who was supposedly the start of her downfall. She would not follow the steps of her predecessor. Therefore, she really needed to forget about this whole business about Eldric and just continue helping here where she was needed the most.

She was not looking for trouble. Never.

She was, therefore, quite annoyed with herself as she crept along the edges of the tent. It was a big one like the ones they used in a circus. This was supposedly a tent for businessmen to rest in after a few days journey. The air had cleared but she silently took a vial. Two in fact. Just in case.

‘I’m just going to take a peek.’