Davarious First Born Light of the Autumn Wind:
I stretched, yawning, on my way back to our camp. A few hours after we had gone to sleep I had the sudden urge to go the toilet. What? Even the Demon Lord had to take care of business. Thus I was floating peacefully above the grass towards my tent. Being able to fly was sure convenient, this way I didn't even have to put my shoes back on.
I landed just outside the tent and did a quick check on the Heroes. There was a response from three of the four like usual. Again I wasn't able to pick up Sayuri but if I focused I could usually just feel her. Doing so I began to go back inside but oddly again there was no response of Sayuri being around. I froze halfway into the tent. It couldn't be? Had she somehow evolved further to hide from my senses? That was a scary thought, if she was that hard to find she'd be able to kill me before my fail safes activated. I turned all my attention on the girl's tent and scanned it. One life belonging to Alicia came back. No way…. That's when I noticed their tent was open.
Carefully I peeked inside. Alicia was sprawled out alone. Oh thank the Demon Lord, she wasn't actually in there. That would make sense. Can't find a person who wasn't there. I chuckled and headed back to my tent, then froze. Wait, what? Where the heck did Sayuri go? I did a search of the area using magic but of course I couldn't find her. I looked around the camp for any evidence to where she went. Someone had gone through our equipment and Sayuri's armour and katana were missing. Not only that, but there was a small track leading to Sasran. She couldn't have…, no she probably did… but I didn't think she was the type of person to go out alone. What could have made her do that? Maybe she was becoming more like a Hero. A stupid Hero, but a Hero nonetheless. The problem was, she still wasn't strong enough to act alone. I sighed and began changing my clothes. Looks like I'd have to go chase after her. Really, I was going to wait and see what happened tomorrow but oh well.
I flew up and towards the city, bending the light around me to conceal myself. Slipping past the soldiers guarding the wall was easy. For a normal person they'd either be spotted or detected for using magic. That is for a normal person. I laughed inside as I looked down at the city from above. The soldiers from the Miltis Empire had set up camp around what looked like the city lord's residence. To keep order in the town they had men patrolling the streets in a way that seemed too systematic. It was suspicious for them to have that good of a grasp of the layout of the city. The patrols were in groups of six but in total there was more than three thousand soldiers. The way the city was structured they could easily hold out against an army ten times their size and they even had hostages to boot.
I alighted on the roof of the lord's mansion. Their head of command was probably inside. It was a good place to gather information, had solid defences and in a pickle it was close enough to the harbour to escape. There was a door leading inside from the roof and I happily let myself in. The guards that were keeping watch didn't even feel me pass by as I silently entered. From there a staircase led me further into the building. I followed the sound of people talking and after walking past numerous guards and corridors, found myself in a wide audience chamber. It was large and had what looked like higher ranking knights and magicians lining the room. A throne had been placed at one end and a fat bolding man sat on it smugly. Seeing him I had the urge to kick him off but I held back. The hostages weren't too far away from here. From his attire he was probably their General.
Hmm what to do. I still needed to find Sayuri but I couldn't sense her presence. Meh, she'd be fine. As long as a hostage wasn't used against her she could take out dozens of them. In the meantime I'd investigate! I wandered next to the General as they were all oblivious to me. Just behind him was important looking magician. From the feel of him, he wasn't at Heafest's level but could definitely pose a threat to the Heroes. Thinking about it, they were from another land. Which meant they could have different kinds of magic! I looked at the magician with glutinous longing. If I could read his mind I could not only get a peep to what they were planning but also where he might be keeping his books. Of course that all relied on him lowering his defence. Even I couldn't just force my way in without being detected.
As if on cue a group of soldiers barged into the room. They had two people with them, a young boy and, well I'll be damned, it was Sayuri. I guess they really did use a hostage on her. This however was dangerous. The people in this room were far stronger than those outside. If they all converged on her, even as a Hero she'd lose.
"General we found this girl wondering the streets," a soldier said while holding a knife to Sayuri's neck. "She claims to be one of their Heroes."
The General stirred in interest, "Oh? I've heard about them but for one to come alone is quite the stroke of luck." He licked his lips. "And she's quite the beauty as well." Hey now, just what was this pig thinking?
The magician pointed to the knights, "Restrain her! If she's telling the truth we can't let our guard down."
"Yes sir!" the knights replaced the ordinary soldiers.
"Bring her closer," the General gestured for them. They dragged Sayuri over and forced her to kneel. "Speak."
Sayuri's eyes hardened, "My name is Sayuri Shizuka and I've come here on behalf of the Heroes to ask you to leave this city."
The General laughed, "This city now belongs to the Miltis Empire. Did you really think just asking would work. You'll have to offer something better than that, like your body perhaps?"
The mood in the room shifted dangerously but it worked to my advantage. The magician's guard was down. My hand grabbed onto the back of his head and he jerked but that was all. With all the room's attention on Sayuri, it was easy pickings. I ignored what was happening outside as I shifted though the magician's memories. Interesting. The Miltis Empire were a powerful group of nations serving a single Emperor far from here across the ocean. We lived on the High Continent and from his memories it seemed like they came from the East Continent. They sailed here in plans to start a new conquest after having conquered their own lands. These people were dangerous. I gathered what I could as time ticked by and to my luck, their ship was carrying a quite a few books on magic. I'd steal them later.
Any longer would cause more suspicion. I let go of the magician's head. He looked around confused but I hadn't left any traces so all he felt was a sense of tiredness. Now to see how Sayuri was going.
"Gah!" I let out involuntarily. Of course I would, because the sight in front of me was something even as the Demon Lord I hadn't really experienced. Her face was blushed but determined as she held on to her spirit. Her armour however had been stripped off and her shirt cut to expose her bare skin. With her body leaning forward and me being next to the General, I had a perfect view down her front… they were bigger than I had expected.
"Master Stenson behind you!" a knight pointed at me.
Ah oops, Sayuri's stimulus had been too much. My magic collapsed, revealing me to everyone in the room. Her eyes locked onto mine in surprise, so did everyone else in the room. I clapped my hands together and a thick cloud of black smoke covered the chamber. Before the magician could act I rendered him unconscious and flew towards Sayuri. In the sudden confusion she had managed to knock away the knights binding her. I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the exit.
"Wait, the kid!" she tugged back on me.
I rolled my eyes, "Fine." I quickly found the boys presence and pulled him towards us. With him in tow we rushed from the room just as they began to clear the smoke. Honestly I had no idea where I was going but there wasn't any time to make a map of it. Instead I just ran straight. A wall loomed in front of us and the boy screamed, it blew apart as did the one after it, and the one after that. In no time at all we cleared the building and gathering Sayuri in my arms I flew up while holding the boy beside me.
"Hey kid, where do you need to go?" I asked.
He looked at me in a panic, "Th-that way." He managed to point and I flew down. Thankfully all the guards had rushed towards the Lord's mansion and we landed undetected.
"Here you are, now stay hidden this time," I smiled but before I could leave he tugged on my pants.
"Wait, my sister is sick please help her!" he begged.
I looked into the building and true to his word was a young girl being treated by her mother. She wasn't doing so well. I pulled a small pouch from my pocket and handed it to him.
"Mix a pinch and only a pinch with some water. If your sister drinks it she'll get better," I rubbed the boys head, "Now don't cause a ruckus and stay inside. We'll save you all soon." He nodded and with that I leapt into the sky and left the city.
Still flying back to camp Sayuri looked at me with a blush, "D-Dave, when are you going to put me down?"
"Ah…." I almost forgot about that. Gently I let her down as we reached our camp. "There you go."
Her clothes were still a mess and she covered her chest shyly, "Why didn't you come out sooner."
"I was busy, sorry," I laughed.
Her face reddened, "You saw didn't you?" It was obvious to what she was referring to.
"Well considering I was next to the General and I carried you out… it was unavoidable."
She turned her back to me, "Jeez, that's where you're meant to lie!"
"What, really?" I replied. An awkward silence settled between us. I needed to change the topic, "What were you doing there anyway? Didn't I say not to act till later?"
"I was looking for you! It's your fault for disappearing. I wasn't going to let you go out alone again," she pointed at me, facing my direction again.
"Wah!" I covered my eyes, "I just went to the toilet and went looking for you when I noticed you were gone."
Sayuri stiffened in realization at what she'd done. An awkward few seconds passed as she stood staring at me with her mouth open.
"That doesn't matter right now! Just put some more clothes on!" I yelled and pulled out something from my pocket for her to wear. It enlarged as it left my clothes.
Sayuri grabbed it face now beat red and threw it around herself. It was only after she looked back at me miffed that I realised what I gave to her. It was my mantle… in other words the Demon Lord's mantle. Thankfully the transformation only worked when I wore it so it was just a mantle to her.
"Have I seen this before?" Sayuri asked after some silence as she clutched it around her.
"Nope!" I replied immediately, "I bought it back in the Klerical Kingdom's capital. Haven't had a chance to wear it though."
"Oh really? It smells like you though," she caught my perplexed gaze, "In a good way of course!"
There was a ruffle behind me and a bleary eyed Alicia poked her head from her tent,
"What are you two doing? You're so loud." Her eyes began to focus and then she noticed Sayuri's appearance. Blushed face, wearing my mantle and with clothing pulled off slightly. "Ah… I'm sorry for interrupting you two." She pulled her head back inside but a few seconds later poked it back out, "Though Dave, I didn't expect you to be that kind of guy." She smirked.
"You've got it wrong!" Sayuri and I both shouted.