Broken Confidence

"Everything ready?"

The village chief asked one of the elders. The nodded his head in return. They were ready. But all of them had grim expression on their faces, a sharp contrast from the night before.

"Will it really be okay?"

Erza asked, tugging her father's clothe from behind. Now that it had finally come to this, the reality was finally kicking in.

"It'll be alright.. although.."

The chief strained his sentence without saying anything for a while, making Erza curious.

"Although? Is something not to your liking?"

The elder asked from the side, seeing the slight expression of dissatisfaction on the chief's face.

"I would've felt a bit more at ease if I had my staff with me."

He said, opening and closing his palm a few times. Erza wanted to say that he shouldn't worry since Ian and the rest would arrive any moment but the words failed to leave her mouth at the last moment.

'Will they really come..? Knowing how dangerous things will get here..?'

She couldn't help but ask herself t