Building a Safe Zone with My Harem In The Post-Apocalyptic World-Chapter 107: Secret We Keep

Delilah stood there for a moment, stunned by what she had just witnessed. Even though she already knew Elaine was skilled, seeing it this close, and this effortless, was something else entirely.

Every movement had been precise, controlled, and efficient, like it had been drilled into her over years of training.

’Is she from the military?’

It wasn’t the first time Delilah had seen her fight. Back then, when Elaine had been separated from her subordinates, all of whom were later found dead, she had handled the Greysemire crab alone with nothing but a firearm, fast and calculated, without wasting a single motion.

And afterward, she had only said one thing.

Keep it a secret.

It had sounded simple at the time, almost casual, but for someone capable of killing not just aberrants but trained government personnel, it carried a different weight.

Elaine had claimed they were attacked and eaten by aberrants, yet Delilah had never truly believed that.

Now, as she stepped closer to check on her, Elaine spoke again, almost as if repeating a habit.

"Don’t tell anyone about this," she said, wiping the blood off her cheek with the back of her hand.

"It’s kind of unfortunate that you’re always the one who ends up seeing me like this." She glanced at her, a faint smile forming. "So? Are you scared?"

Delilah shook her head immediately. The alarm had already been turned off, and the lights returned to normal, revealing the full extent of the mess around them: the bodies and blood scattered on the ground, the destroyed kitchen, and Elaine standing in the middle.

But fear wasn’t what she felt.

"I’m just confused... Why are you keeping this a secret?"

Elaine’s eyes widened slightly before she let out a quiet sigh. "Same reason as everyone else," she said, crossing her arms.

"Same as Jade. No one really knows why she left her comfortable life behind to live in this way. Or why do you lie about your husband." She tilted her head slightly. "Is he even dead?"

"We’re not talking about Jade or me," Delilah replied quickly, her tone sharpening. "If you want me to keep your secret, you should at least give me a proper reason."

She had always hated it when people tried to shift the focus away like that, especially when the answer mattered.

Elaine studied her for a moment before answering, her voice calmer this time. "I just don’t want to stand out too much or get dragged into something troublesome."

It sounded reasonable, but Delilah could tell it wasn’t the full truth.

"That’s why none of them are alive to tell anything," Elaine added, almost absentmindedly.

"Are you threatening me?" Delilah asked, meeting her gaze without hesitation.

She wasn’t afraid, because she knew Elaine well enough to understand that killing her would only bring more problems, and Elaine hated problems.

"It’s not a threat," she said, shaking her head slightly. "Sometimes it’s just better to stay unnoticed. I only want a normal life, and to help people when I can."

This time, at least part of it felt genuine. Elaine had always been like that, a doctor who would go into debt just to treat people who couldn’t even pay her back, and that kind of generosity didn’t come from nowhere.

She must be either a saint or doing something truly horrible in the past and did all of that for atonement.

Delilah exhaled softly and shook her head, pushing her thoughts away before they went any further.

She couldn’t keep looking at her friend with suspicion when she herself had things she chose not to explain, and she was the one who had always taught her daughters not to dig into someone’s past.

Climber Rift was filled with people like this, people who carried things they didn’t want others to know, people who were trying to become something else in a world that didn’t make it easy, and sometimes the safest way to live was simply to accept that not every truth needed to be uncovered.

"Help me clean this up," Delilah finally said. "Also, I don’t think they’re from Skull Fang in this area."

She crouched beside one of the bodies and pushed the black robe aside, exposing the bulletproof vest underneath.

The fabric was already torn open, barely holding together, and the damage to the body beneath made it obvious how ineffective it had been.

"Huh... this vest..." she muttered, frowning slightly. "I don’t think just anyone can get something like this."

Even so, it was clearly cheap. If it had been properly made, the damage wouldn’t have been this severe.

"It doesn’t look like something the government would use," Delilah added under her breath.

Elaine stepped closer and crouched beside her, brushing aside part of the vest before her gaze caught a small detail pinned to it.

A tiny emblem of a flying eagle.

"...It’s the Eagle Union."

Even she sounded a bit surprised.

Delilah’s expression darkened slightly as she processed that. "Why are they here and attacking us?" she said, more to herself than to Elaine.

"I thought Freebound already had an agreement not to take jobs from the mercenary guild if it would disadvantage either side."

She had worked closely enough with Freebound to know about their arrangements.

The Eagle Union was one of those factions, made up of former military personnel from all over the world, people who had turned against government remnants like the Order of the West, blaming them for the apocalypse.

Elaine rested her chin against her hand, thinking. "I heard they sent a distress message through the dove," she said slowly.

"But then they followed it up with another message saying it was a mistake, so Jade didn’t look into it further."

Delilah narrowed her eyes slightly. "We need to report this to Jade. She’ll know what to do. But first, we clean this up."

Elaine nodded, already moving to drag one of the bodies aside.

But Delilah’s thoughts were elsewhere.

There was still a government lab inside this bunker. It wasn’t large, but it held sealed documents that were far too important to ignore.

’Are they after that?’

They might not even know she was living here under Freebound’s protection, but if this wasn’t a coincidence, then the situation was more serious than it looked.

Either way, she needed to inform Gideon.

After all, she had already promised to show him that lab.