Atlacilla was over the moon. She had just snatched the best-looking man within the entire tribe. Earlier when she had asked the man if he would be willing to be her partner and come with her to her home, she had been pretty nervous. Traditionally the tribe folk whether be it men or women were very forward about courting, but she as the one who was usually chased after, had never taken the initiative before this. So naturally, she was happy when she for the first time made the first move and she got a positive answer.
On the other hand, Mago was desperately trying to figure out where this woman was dragging him to.
'Maybe I should have just shaken my head.' Mago sighed to himself. It was too late to regret it now.
Little did Mago know that if he had rejected the goddess of the young men in front of them and made her unhappy, they would have most likely beaten him up to a pulp on the spot. Well, if they knew Mago's thoughts they might have beaten him up, anyway. No, they definitely would have.
While being led by the woman Mago could feel piercing glares coming from all around him and just wished he could disappear. He had wanted to keep a low profile and go through the city unnoticed while trying to see if there was any indication that other tribes had sent reinforcements. But now, he had been literally dragged to the spotlight by this damn woman.
Completely oblivious to the trouble she had caused, Atlacilla was excitedly babbling about herself to Mago and already planning her future with him.
While being dragged by the madwoman, Mago suddenly felt the mana within the air stir and turned to look in the direction where the disturbance came from. There he saw two groups of ten men actively arguing with each other. One group consisted of men with sickly pale skin and green fingernails. He instantly recognized them to be part of the Poison tribe, and they were all shamans and mana was swirling around them. The other group consisted of dark-skinned men with white markings all over their body and they gave Mago an eerie feeling and he knew they were most likely from the Spirit tribe.
Narrowing his eyes, Mago looked at the two groups arguing and wondered if they were just delegates who were sent to negotiate terms of cooperation or if they had already brought soldiers with them as reinforcements.
Soon enough the two groups disappeared from Mago's line of sight while he was being dragged by Atlacilla while being deep in thought. He had to report this back to the army as soon as possible. The army wanted to conquer one of the tribes before facing the other two, so knowing that the tribes were already negotiating and possibly sending men over already had to be made known so they could take it into account.
The rest of the trip through the city Mago was vigilantly checking every tribesman he came across but couldn't find any more traces of members of other tribes in the city. This led him to believe that the tribes were still negotiating.
Finally, after being led around by the woman for close to half an hour, Mago arrived in front of a relatively large hut which was located close to the southern edge of the city. The still excitedly blabbering and slightly blushing girl quickly ushered in him.
The hut was quite simple, with wooden furniture and animal skins decorating it, and a small fireplace built inside. The woman led him to a chair while starting a fire and taking out a pot and some meat and vegetables.
She sliced them up while happily humming and tossed them into the pot and started stirring, all the while shyly glancing at Mago.
At this point in time, Mago had finally figured out that the woman was courting him and he strangely enough felt a bit flattered and sighed in relief now that there were no prying eyes. He could easily knock out the woman later and sneak out of the city once night fell.
'I was getting hungry anyway.' Mago thought.
Soon enough the dinner was ready and Mago once again was bombarded by the woman's endless talking while they ate. He just sat there and politely smiled and nodded and once in a while gave a few brief answers, trying to hide his lack of understanding and proficiency in the language.
Atlacilla didn't notice anything strange and just figured that this tall and handsome hunter of the tribe was just not very talkative, which was quite common among the stronger men in the tribe.
After they finished dinner, the woman was slightly squirming and blushing while looking towards the corner of the hut where the bed lay. Realizing her intentions, Mago just sighed inside his mind, took her hand, and walked towards the bed making the already blushing Atlacilla turn even redder.
Arriving at the bed, Mago placed Atlacilla in front of him and started to gently caress her neck, slowly moving his hands towards her nape and the strings that were tying her top up. He could feel her breath quickening and when she slightly turned her head towards him, he could see the anticipation in her eyes.
'Sorry, you sweet thing. And thank you for dinner.' Mago silently said inside his mind before resolutely knocking the woman out with a quick chop to the back of her head. He caught her before she fell to the ground and gently placed her on top of the bed.
"Now, time to get the hell out of here.", Mago said while quickly placing a kiss on the pendant that Elise had given him and which he had hidden within his scant clothes.
Mago quickly dashed out of the hut and after a brief hesitation, decided to just walk out of the gate. It wasn't uncommon for the tribesmen to go out hunting even during the night, so he easily passed by the two guards he had seen previously during the day.
"That's right, keep your head held up high boy. She wasn't worthy of you anyway.", said the first guard, trying to cheer up Mago, whom he thought would be heartbroken.
"My friend here is right, with your build and looks any of the beauties in the nearby villages will surely fall for you.", said the second guard encouragingly.
Once again, Mago just nodded and smiled, while continuing to walk towards the dense forest of the jungle.
'I wonder what the hell they were talking about.' he silently pondered.
Soon enough, Mago's figure disappeared into the night.
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After a few hours had passed, Atlacilla woke up with a slight headache. Looking around the hut, she couldn't find any trace of her beloved and became alarmed. She feared that one of her previous suitors had attacked in his jealousy. She quickly sprinted outside and asked her neighbors if they had seen her man. She quickly discovered that he had walked towards the city gates and she frantically ran there.
After arriving at the gates, the guards told her that he had walked out of the city an hour ago or so while giving her reprimanding looks.
"You should quickly try to catch up to him. He for sure is a keeper.", the first guard grunted, earning an approving nod from the second guard.
"Where are you, dear?!", Atlacilla shouted while desperately trying to see any movements within the darkness of the jungle. While shouting, she moved in deeper and deeper.
Meanwhile, Xarkleth, who had been knocked unconscious, tied up, and gagged, had finally managed to wriggle himself out of his bindings. He was suffering from a terrible headache, and his wrists were sore and torn after his struggle to get free. But soon he heard the voice of his goddess. And best of all, she seemed to be looking for him!
'I knew it! I was the one she chose! No matter what dirty tricks the others played on me today, she still came to look for me!' Xarkleth rejoiced.
"Sweetheart I'm here!", Xarkleth yelled with a parched and hoarse voice while stumbling up.
"Stay there, I'm coming!", came an excited voice in answer, which filled his heart with love and joy.
'Ah, this turned out to be a good day after all.' Xarkleth thought happily. Soon enough he could hear rustling from the nearby bushes.
Atlacilla was rushing forward happily. She had found her handsome man! Dashing through the last of the bushes, she came to a small clearing and there stood a completely naked man. The moment the man saw her his entire face lit up and he shouted with joy; "Dear, you really came to look for me!"
Upon hearing this, Atlacilla's mind went completely blank. After a few moments passed, she finally gathered her thoughts and simply blurted out; "Who the hell are you?"
Upon hearing this, Xarkleth's face completely fell. He felt like his heart had shattered into a million pieces.
'What? This isn't how it's supposed to go. She was supposed to jump into my arms while weeping tears of joy.' he screamed inside his head. Where did it all go wrong?
Meanwhile, Mago, the main culprit behind this tear-jerking reunion, had regrouped with his squad and changed back into the Imperial Army's scout gear, and was dashing through the jungle towards the location of the Imperial army.