Erwin raised his head to look up at the sky. At this point, it was already turning a little dark, and the clouds up above were basked in a warm orange glow, giving off a very serene and peaceful atmosphere. Erwin was quite grateful to Onean as she had allowed him to take a break earlier during the day. As a result, he was able to take a nap for a few hours and was feeling far more rested.

He looked up at the sky, and he couldn't help but marvel at the wonders of nature. It was just a few gusts of gentle wind and some clouds that were glowing with the light of the dying sun, but it seemed to be able to heal all of the wounds on his heart.

While Onean was speaking with the commanders of the city guards, Erwin caught sight of a familiar figure; it was Finnley. He had only been leading a small unit of city guards prior to this, but due to the urgency of the situation, he had been promoted and was now being blessed with the opportunity to receive instructions directly from the princess.

Erwin cast his gaze toward Finnley, and Finnley met his gaze with a smug look.

Erwin was rather amused that Finnley was still in the mood to joke around at a time like this, but at the same time, he couldn't help but heave a forlorn internal sigh. Can these people really be trusted to defend the city? I feel like Aiden's troops will be able to easily force their way into the city with these so-called city guards as their only opposition. 

Indeed, with the entire regular army of Sarus wiped out in Burmen, these remaining city guards truly weren't inspiring much confidence in Erwin.

After Onean had finished delegating duties to the commanders of the city guards, Erwin dragged her over to the side before asking in a quiet voice, "Are we really going to rely on these people to defend the city? Before this, I thought we would be able to ward off Aiden's invasion, but now, I feel like we've been too optimistic."

"What else can we do? Even the professors of all of the major academies were taken by Father to the front lines, so the only people left in the city that we can count on to put up any resistance are these city guardians," Onean said with a derisive sneer on her face. "All of the noble families in the city seem to have suddenly disappeared off the face of the world. Also, Prime Minister Fuller just went out to recruit people for militia units, but in a city with a population of over 1,000,000, he was only able to recruit about 700 to 800 people."

"It's alright, you won't be so disappointed once you get used to it," Erwin consoled with a wry smile. When it came to an understanding of human nature, Erwin was far more knowledgeable and experienced than Onean, so he wasn't surprised in the slightest to hear about the cowardice displayed by the nobles and the common folk.

"I've already arranged for Christine to come to Sarus with her airship. If Sarus does end up being conquered, we'll still have a backup plan and be able to escape," he continued.

Onean turned to him with an amused expression upon hearing this. "You're a really interesting person. I feel like no matter what you do, you always make sure to set up backup plans in advance. Are you really that afraid?"

"Well, I think it's a good idea to always have a backup plan," Erwin replied in a rather ambiguous manner.

"Is that why you make sure not to cut off me or Lana completely? So you always have a backup plan in case it doesn't work out with one of us?" Onean asked as she raised an eyebrow. 

A sense of exasperation welled up in Erwin's heart upon hearing this, and he sighed, "Why are we going back to this topic? Can we not discuss this at a time like this?"

Onean rolled her eyes at him in response.

"Where is Aiden's army right now? Have you sent out scouts to determine its location?" Erwin asked.

Onean nodded in response. "They are currently about 20 kilometers away and are still traveling toward the city, so they should be here by the time night arrives."

"They're only 20 kilometers away?" Erwin exclaimed in a surprised voice. "Looks like they're really not willing to give us any respite at all. How can they still lay siege to a city after traveling for so many consecutive days? Are the soldiers of Burmen incapable of getting tired?"

Onean was rather taken aback by his reaction. "Weren't you the one who told me that Aiden was going to directly attack the city? Why are you acting so surprised now?"

"Think about it: after traveling for so many days in a row, we're all exhausted, right? The fact that Aiden's army has arrived so quickly means that they also had to have been traveling non-stop for the past few days. How can they not be exhausted?" Erwin asked. "Under normal circumstances, surely he would have to allow your troops to rest for a night before launching an attack against Sarus."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that if we do nothing but wait for them, there's still no guarantee that they will be able to conquer the city," Erwin replied with tightly furrowed brows. "What I've always been struggling to understand is why they're so confident. Why does it seem like they're already convinced that they'll be able to conquer the city?"

Thinking back to what Lana had said to him, he still couldn't understand where her confidence was coming from. Thus, he sat down onto the ground with his legs crossed, then supported his head with his own fist as he fell into deep thought.

Onean also sat down onto the ground with her legs crossed, completely disregarding the etiquette befitting of a princess, then laid her back against Erwin's back in a comfortable manner. "I have to take a nap now. Wake me up if you think of something."

Erwin couldn't help but think back to that day when Onean had been sleeping on his bed. However, his mind only lingered on that memory before he returned to his contemplation. He couldn't help but feel as if Lana had revealed some important details to him, whether that be an intentional or unintentional decision on her end.

With the light of the dying sun filtering down through the clouds, Onean and Erwin sat back to back with each other under the long and slanted shadows cast by the nearby buildings.

The wind began to sweep up the dust atop the city wall, and having enjoyed peace and prosperity for many years, the city of Sarus was about to go into battle for the first time in several decades. There were barely any people on the city's once lively and bustling streets, and the few passersby that were on the streets were all urgently scurrying around with uneasy expressions. Most of the doors of the houses in the city were locked, and the entire scene gave off a very grave and somber atmosphere.

In the end, Erwin still wasn't able to think of anything, and he began to look up at the sky in an absentminded manner, praying that Christine would arrive soon. My life is in your hands, Christine. Please don't let me down at a time like this, he thought to himself.

Right at this moment, Sherry arrived on the scene, holding a piece of freshly baked bread from Denly's, which he was delivering to Erwin. This piece of bread was among the final batch produced by Denly's for at least the short-term future as the bakery was closing down for the next few days. He was about to call out to Erwin, but refrained from doing so upon seeing Onean taking a nap while resting against Erwin's back.

Truth be told, Onean was already awake, but she was still feeling too lazy to get up.

A short while later, Onean stretched lazily, then stood up before dusting herself off. "So? Did you manage to think of any good strategies to ward off the enemy?"

"No. I guess we'll just have to wait and see," Erwin replied with a shake of his head, then also rose to his feet.

Onean was just about to go and ask the city guards for the latest news on the approaching troops from Burmen when she caught a whiff of the freshly baked bread, and she turned around before plucking a chunk out of the piece of bread, then promptly departed, paying no heed to Sherry's surprised expression in the process.

"Sherry, if I recall correctly, your house is situated in the eastern section of the outer city, near the Old River Restaurant, right?" Erwin asked with furrowed brows as he cast his gaze toward the eastern part of the city.

"That's right, Master Erwin," Sherry replied with a puzzled expression, wondering why Erwin was suddenly asking about this. "That was where we first met. Don't you remember?"

"I do. I also recall that you had a neighbor by the name of Tina, right?" Erwin asked as he turned to look at Sherry.

"That's correct," Sherry replied with a nod. At the same time, he was once again wondering why Erwin was mentioning all of this. The thought of Tina still made his heart throb dully with pain, but it wasn't the same excruciating pain that he had suffered through right after she was taken away.

"At the time, I recall that you told me her family was accused of blasphemy by the True Light Church, and that was how she ended up having to sell herself, right?" Erwin continued in his line of questioning.

"That's right." Sherry was becoming more and more perplexed by this series of questions.

"Let me ask you this: the True Light Church abducted a lot of people from your area, right?"

"They did. During these past few years, it was a regular occurrence for people in my area to be abducted by the True Light Church, and even some of the minor nobles couldn't escape that fate."

The enslaved Tina, the dilapidated sign of the Old River Restaurant, the sweetgrass root that was produced in Haggardy, the extortion of the True Light Church... All of these scattered leads began to come together one by one in Erwin's mind, culminating in a single conclusion.

"I've got it! I finally understand what I've been missing now!" Erwin's eyes were wide with realization and horror, and it was a rather harrowing sight to behold.

Looking at Erwin's strange expression, Sherry couldn't help but wonder if he had suddenly gone insane.

All of a sudden, Erwin turned around to chase after Onean, grabbing the paper bag out of Sherry's hand in the process. While setting off in frantic pursuit of Onean, he reached into the bag and pulled out the bread inside before taking a bite.

Meanwhile, Sherry was rooted to the spot, at a complete loss for what to do.

"Hurry..." Even while running, Erwin turned around to yell out at Sherry in a muffled voice with half-chewed bread in his mouth.

Sherry didn't know what Erwin was going to do, but judging from Erwin's expression, he knew it had to be something very important, so he hurriedly followed along.

Thus, one was greeted by the sight of two figures rushing along the top of the city wall, one of whom was holding a bag of bread.

By the time Erwin arrived beside Onean, he was already panting heavily, and she was in the process of speaking to a scout on horseback.

Before the scout even had a chance to say anything, Erwin grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him vigorously while asking, "The army of Burmen disappeared, right? Is that what's happened? Tell me! Hurry up and tell me if the Burmen soldiers disappeared!"

The scout stared at Erwin with a dazed expression, wondering who this aggressive madman was.

Onean was also looking at Erwin with a bewildered expression, unable to comprehend what he was doing.

However, what was even more bewildering to her was the report that the scout delivered to her after he was released by Erwin. As it turned out, the Burmen army had indeed disappeared without a trace around five kilometers away from the city.

Erwin naturally also heard the scout's report, and he began to murmur to himself, "It's too late... We're already too late..."

His seemingly deranged eyes were filled with a sense of unease. From a third-person perspective, his dazed expression and incoherent rambling made him look exactly like a madman suffering from a mental breakdown, an image that was further supported by the bag of bread that he was holding.

All of a sudden, Erwin returned to his senses, then grabbed onto Onean's hand as he said in an urgent voice, "Gather everyone and tell them to come with me! Hurry!"