"What? Isn’t my role harder than yours?”
“You’re the one who said our combat roles are clear, Miss Cherry. You can do this.”
I shot him a skeptical look, and he smirked, tilting his head slightly as he asked, “Or is it that you don’t trust yourself, Miss Cherry? Then trust me entirely instead. I’ll save you—no matter what it takes.”
He lightly patted my head after saying that.
Looking back, I might’ve fallen under some sort of hypnosis then. A belief that, as long as I trusted him, we’d make it through somehow.
In the end, I didn’t capture the queen but the king instead, though in this situation, it’s all the same. No need to split hairs.
Anyway, Ethan had also proposed a method for taking down the small fry all at once.
“Miss Cherry, have you ever heard the saying, ‘No risk, no reward’?”
“My father used to say something similar when he was running the business. High risk, high return.”
“Good, then this’ll be easy to understand. To deal with the small fry, we need to take some risks.”
“What kind of risks?”
“Making noise.”
“For example?”
“Using something like a whistle. The noise will alarm them, and they’ll scramble to find the source. If the enemy gathers in one place, it’ll be easier to take them all down at once.”
He’d actually used this strategy before, back during the Brunel clocktower takeover.
“But it’s still a fight between the few of us and a large number of them.”
“If they’re clustered together, it’s not hard to handle. The goal is to reduce the risk of an ambush. Numbers don’t matter to me in the first place.”
“...But blowing a whistle won’t just draw human attention, will it?”
“I already told you.”
“No risk, no reward?”
“Exactly. So don’t freak out at the sound of the whistle. It just means I’m coming to you, Miss Cherry.”
That sound—proof that Ethan was coming for me—strangely tickled my heart, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on such things.
I hadn’t expected Ethan to herd all the small fry directly to my location, but it made for a more dramatic result.
Luckily, Ethan, being a police officer, had a whistle on hand. It was a one-time trick, as the method would be exposed after its first use. But one time was all it took to catch the camp off guard and bring them under control—just like this.
“Finally, we meet.”
Ethan approached me, bloodied like Elliot. The difference was that Elliot was covered in his own blood, while Ethan was covered in someone else’s.
Philip and Balon were trembling violently, on the verge of passing out. Ethan hadn’t even directly threatened them, yet they were utterly terrified.
“Why is someone of your rank here?” Elliot snarled, baring his teeth at Ethan. Ethan, having discarded his police uniform jacket, rolled up his shirt sleeves and glanced dismissively at Elliot’s pitiful state before turning to me.
“Who’s this?”
“That’s Elliot Ready Vernonham,” I calmly introduced. The moment I finished, Ethan’s boot pressed down on Elliot’s shoulder.
“Urgh.”
Elliot grimaced, tied to the chair, as Ethan leaned in with a crazed grin in his eyes.
“Ah, so you’re the psycho trash who said awful things to our Miss Cherry.”
“...What?”
Elliot missed his chance to retort, left glaring up at Ethan with burning eyes. The two had a similar aura, but their stark contrast—Ethan’s golden hair versus Elliot’s dark—made their differences stand out even more.
Ethan grabbed Elliot’s jaw and muttered softly, venom dripping from his words.
“Keep your eyes down, bastard. I’ve got a sickness—you see, I can’t just let scumbag criminals walk free.”
His words were ridiculous enough that I couldn’t help but respond.
“What kind of sickness is that?”
“It’s real. Just wait a moment, Miss Cherry. I’m in the middle of an interrogation.”
I was about to let it go, but I couldn’t resist adding, “This bastard tried to kill me.”
“What?”
Ethan snapped his head toward me, his expression darkening. Then, with a scowl, he turned back to Elliot.
I pointed to Elliot’s gunshot wound, like a schoolchild tattling to their parent about a bully.
“He ordered his men to shoot me. They actually fired, too.”
“Then why is the bullet wound in him, not you?”
“Because the princess here used me as a shield, of course,” Elliot sneered, spitting more blood onto the floor.
“Princess?”
Ethan raised an eyebrow at the title. Elliot smirked slyly, casting me a subtle, almost affectionate look. It sent shivers down my spine.
“Princess Sinclair. So, you’ve got yourself a new partner since I last saw you? Turns out you’re just like other women, going after a man’s status.”
Ethan’s appeal wasn’t in his status—women liked him just for his face. But apparently, that fact escaped Elliot entirely.
“Miss Cherry’s partner is me. And I’ll be her last partner, too,” Ethan declared.
His words felt a bit off.
Elliot seemed to think the same, staring at Ethan as though he were some sort of lunatic.
“Sir Ethan, do you think we can block this entrance?”
“Why? To keep these bastards from getting out?”
At Ethan’s question, I glanced over the railing. Monsters were swarming toward the hotel entrance.
“Yes. Let’s take care of this quickly and move on. The monsters are already gathering at the entrance.”
“With your strength, Miss Cherry, it’s possible. The hallway’s narrow—how about stacking a few beds to block the way?”
Good idea. Even if they tried to force their way out, they wouldn’t be able to.
I tapped my foot against the railing.
Clank—
A ladder descended below.
Philip and Balon went pale as they watched. The monsters heading toward the hotel entrance paused, turning their heads toward the sound of the ladder being lowered.
Elliot ground his teeth, glaring at me, but I wasn’t going to spare him anyway.
“Let’s go.”
Leaving Elliot tied up on the balcony, I stepped past the groaning men sprawled on the floor and walked out of the room with Ethan.
We moved heavy beds into the hallway, blocking the narrow corridor and the room’s entrance completely.
The reaction inside would likely be divided—some would try to open the door, while others would focus on fighting off the monsters climbing the balcony ladder.
They wouldn’t be able to escape, though. If fate was kind to them, maybe they’d manage, but I wasn’t going to prevent even that slim chance.
By then, the situation would be over anyway.
‘If they end up clearing out all the monsters near the hotel, that’d be a bonus.’
Even if the monsters made it to the fifth floor, they wouldn’t climb down if the door stayed shut.
“Miss Cherry, are you sure you’re all right?”
Ethan stood by the stairs, checking my expression.
I glanced at his uniform, confirming that aside from some bloodstains, he was unharmed. Smiling, I began descending the stairs, with him following closely behind.
“I’m fine. You saw for yourself—if you hadn’t shown up, I might’ve ripped Elliot apart.”
“...That’s what I was afraid of. Stop talking about tearing people apart.”
“I’ve never actually done it, you know. Just talk.”
“Yeah, well, it feels like you’re one step away from doing it for real.”
“Come on, it’s a joke. What do you think I am, a bear?”
“...Not a bear.”
“What’s with that pause before your answer?”
“Anyway, you’re incredible, Miss Cherry. I thought you’d cut the queen’s head off in one move.”
“It wasn’t the queen, it was the king. And I didn’t cut anyone’s head off.”
“It’s just a figure of speech.”
“Were you really not worried about me?”
Ethan fell silent at my question. I’d expected a casual denial, but instead, he gave no immediate reply.
As we descended past the fourth floor to the third, he finally spoke.
“It all happened so suddenly. No matter how strong you are, Miss Cherry, how could I not worry?”
His voice, unusually calm and sincere, was too genuine for me to continue our playful banter.
Not that we had time for long conversations anyway. I’d heard that members of the camp were stationed on the second and third floors, yet the third floor was completely empty.
“It’s noisy downstairs,” Ethan observed as we descended. I thought back to the monsters swarming the hotel entrance.
Someone must have brought Elpinos herbs into the hotel. Either that or the monsters were drawn by the sound of Ethan’s whistle.
Maybe both.
‘First, we need to deal with the monsters on the first floor.’
What better way to ensure these people—regardless of whether it was Elliot’s unilateral decision—never dared to challenge Brunel again?
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.
The only solution was for me to seize control of Sinclair Hotel.
To do that, I’d have to demonstrate overwhelming skill in the absence of a true authority figure, earning the trust of the remaining camp members.
Dragged here by chance, it seemed I was about to leave having conquered the Kintner survival camp.
I should thank Elliot for letting his guard down.