Sure enough, a moment later, a student walked over. He first cast a look of deep awe and respect at Eros before reporting to Annie:
"The battlefield has been cleared, and the spoils have been distributed according to merit. All students who participated in the battle have received purification and healing. Princess! We should be ready to return now, right?"
Annie nodded and replied in her cool tone, "Then let us return!"
With that, the sudden nighttime rescue operation officially came to an end. Eros entered the vine hut, retrieved The Brilliant Sun, and led Undine and the others back to the temporary camp, following the sixth-year students.
On the way, Undine hugged Eros’s arm, swaying it as she pouted and acted spoiled. "I don’t want to walk anymore. Carry me on your back, okay?"
Ever since the last time he had carried her, Undine seemed to have fallen in love with this way of being lazy while traveling. Eros naturally wouldn't refuse such a trivial request. Seeing his agreement, Undine didn't even wait for him to bend down; she leaped up from the spot, her slender legs wrapping around his waist as she landed firmly on his back.
Eros supported her thighs with his hands and said with a hint of mock disdain, "Not ladylike at all!"
Undine wrapped her arms around his neck, locking his throat in a playful chokehold. "You actually dare to be disgusted by me!" she said, sounding unhappy.
"That's right! A Wenidne who isn't ladylike... I'm very disgusted~" Eros replied, completely ignoring the throat-lock threat and maintaining his teasing tone.
Undine tightened her grip slightly and shook his head back and forth, humming defiantly, "You're not allowed to be disgusted!"
"Alright, alright! I'm not! You're my treasure~" Eros chuckled, his voice full of doting affection.
"Hmph!" Undine tilted her face up, huffing with pride.
Walking closely beside them, Doreen watched Undine happily dangling her slender legs on Eros’s back, a flash of envy in her eyes. She wanted to be carried too!
The group returned to the camp as the night shifted into the late hours. After the intensity of the battle, almost everyone felt a wave of exhaustion. However, sentries still had to be posted; it would be disastrous if an evil spirit managed to sneak into the perimeter while everyone slept.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
As Annie and Claire were arranging the watch schedule for the second half of the night, Eros cleared his throat. "I'll take the watch."
Annie looked at him with hesitation. "You've been in two battles tonight, and you faced strong monsters like those mutated spirits. You..." She paused. She wanted to ask "Are you still capable?" but the words felt ambiguous, as if she were questioning his "stamina" in a different sense.
Struggling to find the right words, she fell silent. Eros understood her concern and smiled. "Thanks to my Elven bloodline, the life energy in my body is abundant. I recover quickly, and my need for sleep is much lower than that of a normal human."
Seeing he was insistent, Annie agreed. And so, Eros took over the duty of guarding the night.
In front of the vine hut, Undine looked unhappy. "Why do you have to be the one to watch?"
Eros leaned down and whispered into her ear with a smile, "Something is wrong with this Sin Realm. I want to use the night to investigate. Only by understanding what happened can I protect you better, right?"
Hearing this, Undine’s face reddened. She stopped complaining about him not resting with her. "Then be careful while you're exploring. I don't want you to get hurt."
Eros nodded and replied softly, "Go inside and rest. You've just been through a fight; you must be exhausted." Without waiting for a response, he gently ushered her into the hut and closed the door.
Eros looked up at the red moon in the sky and walked over to the sentry post. Sitting down on a vine chair, he retrieved the Original Sin Bronze Ring from the hand extending from his shadow and examined it.
"Do you think it's because this ring entered the Sin Realm that the Crimson Evil God on the red moon noticed it and cast a gaze down?" Eros mused. "After all, it’s a ritual item for an existence attempting to ascend to godhood, and the ritual involves 'Sins of the Negative World'—something these Abyss-dwelling evil gods are very familiar with. It seems reasonable that He would take a look."
Barbara pondered for a moment before answering, "It sounds reasonable, but one thing doesn't match up."
"What’s that?" Eros asked curiously.
"If a student bore the direct gaze of an Evil God and faced the kind of pollution that can taint an entire Sin Realm, they wouldn't just mutate into a spirit that isn't even Sequence 7," Barbara stated calmly, pointing out the discrepancy.
Eros nodded. True—if the gaze of a god only produced a sub-Sequence 7 monster, it would be a major insult to a deity’s status.
Just as Eros was about to ask another question, his eyebrows twitched. He tossed the ring back into his shadow and turned his head toward the camp. Beneath the crimson moonlight, a petite figure was stealthily creeping toward him from the tents.
As she got closer and realized Eros’s eyes had been fixed on her the whole time, Mary grumbled dejectedly, "Aw, what! I was trying to scare you."
Eros was amused. Her stealthy movements might fool other students, but trying to hide from someone with Night Vision and heightened perception was impossible.
"Aren't you going to sleep?" Eros asked, his eyes dancing with mirth.
Mary curled her lip and climbed onto Eros’s lounging chair, settling into a "duck sit" (W-sit) on top of him. "We finally meet again, but you spent the whole time talking to Princess Annie and Princess Claire. You barely paid any attention to me. So, I had to wait for this chance to sneak over!"
Watching Mary sitting on him in that posture, the corners of Eros’s mouth turned up. "I suspect that’s not the only reason!"