“Um… did your conversation with the commander go well?”

“We can come back a little later, no, we don’t mind skipping breakfast.”

Jorel Hato’s a؃tion has decڣڒ৶ed by 7%.

Jorel’s a؃tion: 58% ▶ 51%

Bertel Vale’s a؃tion has decڣڒ৶ed by 14%.

Bertel’s a؃tion: 76% ▶ 62%

After confirming the rapidly falling affection of the members, Natalie felt not just bewildered but wronged.

“No, the commander went upstairs a while ago. Everyone seems to be misunderstanding, but it really wasn’t anything important, truly.”

However, her explanation had no chance of working.

“No, for our commander, that kind of talk, very important.”

“That’s right, first time I’ve seen our commander act like that with a woman. I’m giving up cleanly.”

Munash Pagabe Umsamati’s a؃tion has decڣڒ৶ed by 3%.

Munash’s a؃tion: 50% ▶ 47%

Muki Pagabe Umsamati’s a؃tion has decڣڒ৶ed by 5%.

Muki’s a؃tion: 51% ▶ 46%

Giving up? What were we even doing, Muki?

You should only say such things after at least confessing.

It was truly a disaster party, enough to make her go crazy and jump.

It really wasn’t like that, why are you all doing this to me?

She wanted to strongly assert her position that everyone was misunderstanding and that there was truly nothing between her and McClain, but it seemed no one would believe her anyway.

Judging by the way they were subtly avoiding her gaze with strange expressions, it appeared that all sorts of speculation and imagination had already run its course among them.

“Yes, then I’ll go upstairs first. Everyone enjoy your meal.”

In the end, finding it difficult to compose her tearful face, Natalie decided to leave.

It felt as if all her motivation had been crushed at once.

Even after returning to her room, it was hard to sort out her tangled thoughts. She needed to calm her needlessly anxious and impatient feelings first.

Rather than hastily trying to predict the direction things would take, it would be wiser to observe for a while longer before making a decision.

Trying to collect her confused thoughts, she packed her belongings and went out.

None of the members who would normally have approached her with friendly chatter came near. If they happened to make eye contact, they would smile awkwardly and subtly avert their gaze.

Though she had resolved to observe slowly, seeing the members keeping their distance while being mindful of McClain made Natalie uneasy again.

How long had they been traveling in the carriage?

The speed seemed to gradually slow down before coming to a complete stop.

Wondering what was happening, she poked her head out the window and saw the members doing something at the front of the formation.

While she was contemplating whether to get out of the carriage, McClain approached with an awkward expression.

Normally, Orlando would have approached to explain the situation, but perhaps because the members’ misunderstandings had not yet been cleared, even that task seemed to have been left to McClain.

“Just ahead is the northern border of Deloa territory, and the corrupted area begins immediately after crossing the border. Bertel will perform basic consecration before we enter the corrupted area, but you should also prepare anything you can.”

Bertel had been at the front of the formation with Orlando and the Munash and Muki brothers, and it seemed he had been explaining entry strategies, but he was actually performing consecration.

Consecration basically required faith along with a certain amount of holy power.

Therefore, it was typically performed by priests or holy knights affiliated with temples.

Natalie, who hadn’t thought that Bertel would be affiliated with a temple, widened her eyes in surprise at this unexpected information.

“Sir Vale is performing consecration?”

To her question, McClain answered in a voice that was neither warm nor cold.

“He was originally… a holy knight affiliated with a temple. Although he’s now excommunicated since joining under me….”

“Ah… I see.”

A holy knight serves the divine. So it was proper for all holy knights to be affiliated with temples.

Yet he chose to join the expedition even at the cost of excommunication.

It was fair to say this hinted at an incredible narrative between McClain and Bertel that she was unaware of.

She even thought that Bertel’s sharp drop in affection might be related to that narrative with McClain.

As Natalie was looking at Bertel performing the consecration at the front and speculating about the relationship between the two men, Orlando, who had just finished the consecration and turned his gaze forward, suddenly had his expression contort drastically. Soon, Orlando’s urgent voice cut through the surroundings.

“Commander! The corrupted area is rapidly approaching from the front!”

At Orlando’s shout, the members who had dismounted all got back on their horses at once.

“D*mn! We haven’t even finished the consecration yet…. The corrupted area is coming! Everyone retreat!”

McClain, with a fiercely crumpled face, gestured for Natalie to get in the carriage as he climbed onto the driver’s seat.

With the urgent sound of whipping the horses, the carriage began to pick up speed with a rattling noise.

Through the shaking carriage, the voices of the members urgently relaying the situation flowed in.

“D*mn it! The expansion speed of the corrupted area is too fast!”

“Be careful not to break from the formation!”

Growing anxious, Natalie stuck her head out the carriage window to survey the surroundings.

She wanted to assess the situation and understand exactly what was happening.

Having never experienced a corrupted area firsthand, she had no idea what to do.

She only knew the theoretical definition that it was a place contaminated by demonic energy where monsters frequently appeared and one could easily fall into a state of confusion.

However, when she saw the massive dark tidal wave surging toward the formation, Natalie couldn’t help but gasp.

A sinister darkness, difficult to explain with mere theoretical passages, was approaching like a gigantic monster with its mouth wide open.

As the terrified Natalie considered whether she should use flight magic to escape, Jorel’s urgent voice continued.

“The corrupted area has almost caught up with us!”

“Increase speed to the maximum!”

Despite McClain’s orders, the corrupted area swallowed the formation before they could get very far.

The surroundings instantly darkened. Despite being caught by the corrupted area, the formation didn’t stop moving. They needed to find a safe place as quickly as possible to complete the unfinished consecration and reorganize the formation.

As if a massive explosion had occurred, the blackened, burnt landscape whizzed by.

All traces of life disappeared at once, and the surroundings grew darker by the second, as if night had suddenly fallen.

Natalie bit her lip in regret. Instead of having silly thoughts about affection scores, she should have memorized more spells needed for the corrupted area.

If there was any consolation, it was that she had studied hard about the environment of corrupted areas in preparation for joining the expedition.

As she was trying to recall that knowledge and think of spells that might help, the carriage suddenly shook violently, and Jorel’s urgent voice echoed around.

“There seems to be something under the ground!”

“It’s a spatial barrier! Everyone stay together and don’t scatter!”

Spatial barrier?

Natalie was puzzled by McClain’s dismayed voice, but soon the members’ shouts came from all directions.

“What is this! It seems like a mental barrier is also overlapping, ugh! Commander!”

“Stay focused! Don’t break from the formation!”

As if someone’s scream was a signal flare, Natalie, riding in the carriage, also encountered a strange sight.

Bang bang! Crash! Following the flashing headlight, the carriage shook violently as if colliding with something.

Crack, crackle! Splash splash splash! Soon, with the sound of the windshield breaking, water from a lake poured in madly through the broken window.

“Oh my God! Water in the carriage!”

Fortunately, even in her shock, Natalie immediately noticed the sense of dissonance permeating the situation before her eyes.

Strange, a windshield? Did carriages in this world have glass windows?

And a horn, headlights?

Somehow the interior of the carriage had transformed into the interior of a car. Water was pouring in through the broken window, and the car was slowly sinking to the bottom of the lake.

This was also a familiar nightmare that still occasionally tormented her.

This must be an illusion!

Realizing that it was an illusion shown by the mental barrier, Natalie quickly moved her lips, and the pouring water disappeared instantly.

Only then did she hear someone’s voice desperately calling her.

“Natalie! Take my hand! Quickly!”

McClain was reaching out to her with a desperate expression.

Behind his shoulder, she could see the landscape he was in rapidly receding. It looked as if something was violently pulling the scenery before her eyes backward.

I might get left behind alone in the corrupted area at this rate.

“McClain!”

The urgent Natalie threw herself toward McClain and quickly grabbed his hand.

It was a moment of relief as she grasped his firm hand.

Rip! With the sound of something solid tearing, everything went dark.