After I take my pick, I bring her over to an alleyway where I will cut off the horns of this demons. Looking at me with pleasing eyes, I offer her a tiny roll of Blue Maloo; which she reluctantly accepts. After teaching her how to use it, she takes a puff and looks euphoric; this is time...
"Haaahh!"
*SWWWNNGGGG*
Bringing my massive knife with tremendous force, I look at her and it seems that she really didn't feel anything; that's good, I can't have her screaming since I shouldn't have taken a demon for myself in the first place, though I'd doubt if anyone would stop me.
The horns are easily above average. With each horn being 10 cm in length and 3 cm in girth, these are an insanely beautiful piece. Hmmmm... looking at her now, she could make a good replacement Lyca...yeah, let's do that.
"Lady, do you want to live?"
"...huh? Oh! Y-yes please!! I'll do an-mmmmghhh"
"Keep quiet. I'll let you live if you become my equipment. Obviously, I won't ravage you everyday and I'll give you certain freedoms, understood?"
"Uhuh"
After taking my hand off her mouth, I ask for her name and she then replies that her name is Loren. Alright, Loren is now my second-hand. Constructing a rudimentary equipment branding tool using fallen metal beams and my Phoenix flames, I brand her on her stomach; just like Lyca.
I bring her back to camp into my carriage's luggage area and put her into a box; for comfort, obviously. I'm not a monster. Just kidding, it's so she doesn't get hurt.
Can't have damaged products, no?
Setting a gigantic bonfire in the middle of the settlement, we start celebrating the successful siege and the newly found equipment for the wealthy. Remember, having equipment is illegal but only for the upper-middle class. There is a massive different with the upper-middle class and the upper class.
The upper-middle class are wealthy, the upper class are powerful; a very simple difference. Not really.
Since the siege of Huotian was the 3rd siege without any problems, the soldiers celebrated for 3 days straight, obviously a mistake as on the 3rd day, we were ambushed. While they were singing a song titled "Silver Tongued", a massive amount of mana crystals was thrown into the bonfire, causing about 50~ soldiers to be burnt to a crisp.
"Woahhh!!! Arm up! Arm up!"
"This isn't a drill! Get your weapons, men!"
Rushing into their tents and makeshift weapons stations with a wobble in their step and alcohol in their brain, some are so drunk that they can't even hold up a sword properly, let alone swing it with the intent to kill.
After our camp armors up, we heard a similar situation with the other camps as we seems a massive fire shooting up the night sky and then plumes of smoke followed by the horrified screaming of the soldiers. Hell, we could even hear the drunken battlecries from over here.
'Michael, what do you think?'
[[...]]
'Michael?'
[[huh? Oh... I don't know. Let me rest for a bit]]
'Alright then'
Seeing that Michael has been acting weird for the past few weeks with his constant silence, ignore it and immediately come to a conclusion that anyone would if they were in my situation; the intruders are the demons whittling down our numbers.
This is an insanely easy prediction to come to and it's most likely the truth.
With the dark shadows rushing around the camp and slitting the soldiers that woke up from the ruckus and some of the more drunken men, the camp was thrown into utter chaos. I couldn't do anything since my fire is a splash attribute where multiple enemies would be hurt.
The only people that could help would be the physical heroes like Anna or Ha-neul. And help they did, with Anna chasing down the shadows and Ha-neul not too far behind with the other heroes.
Some of the water mages start putting out the massive bonfire and even then they could put it out because while the shadows were running around like little cockroaches, they were throwing fuel pouches and mana crystals into the fire, sending beams of fire straight towards the heroes and soldiers, even injuring a hero.
By the 10 minute mark of the raid, it has mostly calmed down with 2 shadows dead and the other 10 getting away. The 2 shadow's body were burnt to ashes by their comrades to hide their identities. In total, about 1,430~ soldiers out of the 10,000 situated in 31 camps were dead.
Only 24 camps were attacked but they were the most important ones; the medical camps, the supplies camps and my camp, the hero camp. Obviously, it was called the hero camp since about 5 heroes were stationed there to guard the general with the other heroes dotted around in pairs in the other 30 camps.
1,430~ dead soldiers, 830~ severely injured soldiers, 5 dead healers, about 10 tons of wood and supplies burnt to ashes, 30 destroyed carriages and 1 moderately wounded hero. For the enemy, a total of 10 shadows were killed.
To say we got obliterated would be an understatement. And honestly, this wouldn't have happened if it weren't for the general. He suggested the celebration party, he decided on keeping 5 heroes to himself to protect his life and he barely prepared for an ambush, thinking that the demons would be too disorganized to do so.
Like the saying goes, "a lock will only keep out an honest person". The barricades, shallow moats and powerful looking spikes were all just a formality, a deterrent if you will. He hoped that upon seeing our defenses, they would immediately abandon mission and let us free to destroy more and more.
The absolute complacency of humans is their downfall.
After the crazy night of partying, we immediately set off to get back to Restinasia where in the middle, all of the heroes would transfer caravans with another general before getting back to the conquests.
With over 10% dead and a few more out of commission, it isn't hard to see why they'd opt for transferring caravans instead of continuing on.
The trip to the middle point of Restinasia will take about 3 weeks and most likely, we won't be meeting in the middle since the messenger sent over there hasn't arrived at Restinasia yet. Against the orders of the general of course.
I mean, who wouldn't want to hide their mishaps?
After taking the luggage Loren is in and placing it in a more breathable environment, we set off into the half way point of Restinasia and E Mo Zhi Di.
Tea Room, Remiér Palace, Destinasia
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Knocking on the door 3 times, Jeffrey comes in after the maid opens the door for him. He was tasked by his boss to hand over a gift to Aria considering her declining mental health yet he didn't believe that she should find out about the discovery of Morr-...Min-chul just yet.
"Good morning, lady Aria"
"Huh?! Who's there!"
Pointing the sword in her right hand at Jeffrey, she spills a bit of an alcohol with a similar percentage to Whisky. Around the floor near her are 4 other similar bottles with different amounts of liquid in them.
Her eyes are red, her face is covered in dried up buzz (alcohol), her hair is messy and her clothes haven't been changed in weeks; easily told by the stains of dark spots on the chest area. She isn't the queen she used to be.
"Oh.....Jeffrey. What the fuck do you want?!"
"Uncle sent me. He sent you something"
"Uncle? Oh, that yalno of a man...so, what is it?"
Hearing the comparison of his boss to a yalno, he couldn't help but smirk. It was true. His boss was a big fellow with an even bigger bank account; like a yalno, big and expensive.
After shuffling around in his pocket, Jeffrey takes out a little pendant with a miniature portrait of Min-chul, the Morrigan replacement. Handing it over, Aria gazes over it and tosses it to the grass.
"Huh? Wait wait wait!!!"
After seeing that she tossed the pendant, she wanted to confirm what was in it. After all, it looked exactly like him. Confirming the like painting of her Morrigan, she hugs Jeffrey with a new found strength.
"Hic...hic!...please tell him thank you..."
"There is no problem, lady Aria. I will convey your message"
After a few more minutes of patting her back and comforting her, he leaves the tea room with a bow and makes his way back to the the hotel he is staying at for a week.
'Patience, Jeffrey...patience is key'
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(A.N) yo yo yo! New chapter!! New new new chapter!!! Please do vote if you enjoyed and thanks to you all for the continuing support!!!! Hope you enjoyed, peace ✌️!