A day has passed since Hiroko and the gang's arrival in the spruce forest and during yesterday they discuss the planned they have
They will attack before the sun rise and Ayame will be their guide towards the village
Taking Shino's disappearance into consideration they all agreed to help the villagers to escape the village and fled towards the Forsaken forest rather the reclaiming it
As they stealthily travel in the Spruce forest towards the Ikegai village everyone is thinking about their plan
"Since this is going to be a stealth attack, let's use our knife that is used to dismantle our hunt does everyone have it?" Hiroko suggested
Everyone showed their knife and Ayame said, "I don't have a knife on me but I have my Wakizashi, it is a short sword suitable for close combat"
"That is more than enough Ayame-sama" Hiroko replied
"We are going to make a lot of noise because of our armour and weapon, so I'll cast ˹Sweep Movement˼ on everyone" Murakami added
"Use it when we are near the village Murakami, since it has a time limit of 1 hour" Hiroko replied
"Also Kuro, you are going to be our trump card, so hide in the necklace until we needed you" Hiroko added
"But how do we know who is the bad guy and the villager?" Crocus asked
"There is one way we can identify who are the villager and the enemy, except for horns everyone is dress in ragged clothing while the enemy are wearing armour, after all we are being kept as a slave" Ayame replied
"Also we need to be aware of the demon we will have hard time dealing with, Sarkitz of the Wild, and Valdarnt Roshfeld the demon general, Valdarnt want me alive but not you all, Sarkitz is a dangerous fellow who has blades like nail, so be careful not to get notice by them, if we are noticed by one of them eventually we will fight both demon" Ayame added
"So basically the others are just small fry, then it is going to be easy" Crocus commented
"Does anyone have any question, if not we should take a rest and proceed tomorrow" Hiroko asked
With no question asked they slept and proceed to their plan and like ninjas they travel in the forest with in the dark and eventually reach the wooden fence of the Ikegai village
Hiroko put a scarf on his face covering his nose and mouth, on which Crocus noticed and asked, "Hiroko, why do you have a scarf in your face?"
"'Stealth mission requires you to cover your face', although Shino just said it as a joke, don't I look cool with it? Also it puts me into the mood" Hiroko replied
Convinced by Hiroko, Crocus also put on a scarf to cover his nose and mouth and said, "Okay… I feel much more confident now"
Meanwhile Murakami who just witness them goofing around just sigh and said, "Ugh… boys, seriously right Aya…me?"
Murakami caught Ayame putting a scarf on her face too and was disappointed, and asked, "What are you a kid? Why are you doing it too?"
"It looks cool…" Ayame replied in a straight face
Sighing on the situation, Murakami signalled everyone that he is about to use the ˹Sweep Movement˼ skill
"Spirit o' wind, grant us your divine protection and lighten our burden, ˹Sweep movement˼" Murakami chanted
As everyone glow momentarily the lightness of their body were felt and everyone is ready to attack
Seeing one guard patrolling near the fence Ayame signalled the boys that she is going first and to follow her
Running towards the wooden fence, the dry leaves that are on the ground where moving outside Ayame's footstep there for creating as little sound as possible,
Jumping on the fence Ayame manage to sneak behind one of the guard without being notice
Ayame draw her Wakizashi and cover the guard mouth, slicing the neck to kill the guard
Hiroko and Crocus stop on the other side of the fence and Ayame throw the dead body toward them on which they hide behind a tree
Murakami followed them shortly and was help to get over the fence by Hiroko
As they proceed their first priority is to find out where the villager are and to find that out they need to interrogate one of the guards
Found an empty storage house they just need to capture one of the guard to interrogate and to find out where the villagers are being kept
Finding their target guard, Murakami put the guard immediately into sleep by using the ˹Lullaby˼ skill
And with a guard captured and a house to stay for a while the guard was awoken by a slap
"Where are they?!?!" Crocus asked
"Mmm-mmm-MmM-mm?" The guard said
Crocus slap the guard again and asked, "Tell me where are they?!?!"
"Mmmm!! Mm mmm MMM!!" the guard replied
Crocus slap the guard again and said, "Speak god damn it! We can't understand you"
Murakami slap Crocus in the head and said, "Of course we can't understand him, he has a cloth in his mouth!"
Murakami pull the cloth down and the guard said, "You guys suck at interrogating!"
Ayame put her katana on the neck of the guard and said, "Let's stop this skit, scream and your head will be remove from your body, answer my question to have an easy death, Where are my people?"
The guard just smiled and said, "If it isn't Ayame-sama, Lord Valdarnt has been lonely without you"
Ayame pressed the sword deeper on the guards neck and said, "I said answer my question"
The guard just smirk at Ayame and said, "I'll tell you where they are…"
"Damn! you are really afraid to die aren't you?" Murakami said out of no where
"Huh?! As if! I only going to tell you because there are no chance you people will escape" the guard said with a nervous voice
Murakami look at the guard pitifully as the guards feet tremble in fear and said, "Yeah~ sure~ just say it, we don't have much time"
The guard replied confidently, "At the village Dojo, they are being kept there" and then added, "You are going to let go right? I gave you people an anonymous tip"
Ayame seemingly pulled her katana back and sheathed it with a sigh
The guard also sigh and said, "Hah! What a soft….. eh?"
The guards head slowly slide off from the body and fell on the ground
Knowing where the villagers are being kept Ayame lead everyone towards the dojo where they are being kept and clear the way to escape
Opening the door a scene of injured men, women, children, and elderly are seen and everyone inside recognize Ayame and started calling towards her
"sshh!! Everyone I brought help, they will help us escape this village" Ayame said to them quietly
"But Ayame-sama, what will happen to this village?" A random elder asked
"We will abandoned it and build a new one, don't worry we have allies who will help us rebuilt our village" Ayame replied
Everyone started to felt relief and Ayame started to look around and asked, "Where is my father?"
Everyone look at each other and the elder that asked the question earlier replied, "The chief is being forced to work on the workshop where we forge our weapons"
Murakami interfere them and said, "Sorry Ayame but we need to move now, we are going to run out of time"
Ayame agreed and said, "Follow them and stay quiet, we cleared the way towards outside the village but some might come I'll go save papa and the others who are being forced to work"
A child grab Ayame's Yukata and said, "Ayame-sama no, bad people are there, papa said so to me"
Ayame looked at the elder on which the elder replied, "Sarkitz are the one who are guarding the workshop, the chief already told us about you bringing help but the chief also said to abandon everyone in the workshop if you planned to escape the village"
"Eh? Why did father said that!?" Ayame asked as she get angry
"Ayame we don't have time for you to get angry, control your emotion" Hiroko said
Ayame clench her fist and said, "Take everyone, I'll go save my father, I am much stronger than before so I might…"
Murakami stopped Ayame and said, "Ayame-sama, no… Ayame don't do this alone, we can still save them, so don't rush in alone"
Crocus and Hiroko started to guide everyone and even carry the one who cannot walk fast and crippled
"Let's prioritize them first Ayame, the quest said to save everyone in the village, so let's keep them safe first and then the people in the workshop" Hiroko said
Ayame agreed to them and they guide the villagers they found outside the village safely and as they about to go back the sun is already rising
As the sun shine on them Hiroko prepared his sword and said, "No more stealth attack, let's make noise as much as possible"
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˹Sweep movement˼: Lighten the users and allies movement while reducing the sound they make when moving; Medium mana consumption
˹Lullaby˼: Puts a target into a sleep instantly when the target is more fatigue than the user: Low mana consumption