Hideki awoke in a cold sweat as he felt a faint tugging on his bond.

How in the fuck did she manage to find trouble in a quiet little town like this?

He hopped out of bed and immediately knew something was very wrong. He stumbled and crashed to the ground, feeling dizzy. It was as though some of the energy within him was missing. He felt ill.

Something is seriously wrong here! I couldn't have been out for more than a couple hours. I never seem to sleep longer than a few hours at a time anymore.

He carefully got back up onto his feet and once he felt stable enough, he quickly threw on his boots and grabbed his pack before heading out the door. He held onto the banister of the staircase as he carefully went down the steps. He didn't know why he felt so lousy, but it definitely meant that Megumi needed his help. He looked around the common room once he managed to get to the main level and didn't see the blonde woman who had checked them in anywhere. 

In fact, he didn't see anyone in the common room except for an elderly woman who was asleep in a chair near the fireplace. He forced his body to move and gently shook her awake.

"Excuse me. Do you work here? Have you seen a young girl in a dress with long silver hair and violet eyes? She was watching the musician sing his songs down here earlier. If you don't work here, have you seen the blonde girl with short hair who was at the check-in desk earlier?"

The woman gave him a puzzled look. "No blonde girl works here, you must be mistaken. I run this place by myself. There was a blonde girl with a traveling musician who offered to perform for us in exchange for a room for the night, though. It was the oddest thing, he played a beautiful song to showcase his skills and I must've fallen asleep right here."

Fuck! We've been played! Megumi, you fucking evil bitch, you'd better not die on me now. Knowing her, she'll probably snuff out my soul out of spite before she dies.

He felt the slight tug again, it was even fainter this time, but he could tell the general direction. She must be really far away if she isn't even able to force me to come. Either that, or she's just trying to send some kind of signal. I can't have been asleep that long, I can catch them. I just hope that they didn't do something to the horse!

He turned and stared off in the direction that he was being tugged towards and then headed for the door. "Thanks for the information."

Hideki felt really weak compared to normal. If he remembered right, there was a maximum range that he could be away from Megumi before he'd go back to being lifeless like the undead on the pirate ship had. What would happen if she went beyond that range? Would his soul still get snuffed out? He didn't want to find out the hard way. The horse was still in front of the place by some miracle of luck and he had to use all the strength he could muster just to pull himself up into the saddle and sit up straight. 

With a silent prayer to the gods that he could make it in time to save her, he turned the horse in the proper direction and headed on his way. 

At least they haven't killed her yet. Maybe Thera wants her alive for some reason? Hang in there, I'm coming, you evil bitch! I just knew there was something weird going on! I know that I shouldn't give a fuck about her, but for some reason I do. I won't let her die alone out there like this!

The sun was starting setting and it appeared that he had only been out for a couple hours. They probably weren't extremely far ahead, and he knew they would have to have carried her off in a wagon or something. It was unlikely that they had just tied her up and tossed her over a saddle. Hideki knew he had to be gaining ground because with each step the horse took in the right direction as it ran, he felt just a tiny bit better. They seemed to be taking her to the west. Were there even in any towns in that direction? He couldn't really remember the map, and didn't want to stop and look.

We should've been more careful! Of course there'd be people jumping at the opportunity to earn so much money from taking her out.

He kicked the horse and prodded it to go ever faster. He didn't want to force it to run to death, but he needed to gain as much ground as fast as possible. After keeping it going full speed for several mintues, he let the horse slow down and continued at a brisk walk for several minutes before pushing it to run again.

After two horus or so of this pattern, he felt almost completely back to normal. They weren't far now, he would definitely catch them. 

Whatever they're dragging her off in, it's very slow if I've been able to gain so much ground so fast. Either that, or they're just not in any rush at all. 

If he was lucky, they might even stop to rest for the night. Unless they managed to beat out of her the fact that he was undead and could find her since they were linked, then hopefully they wouldn't expect him to be able to find them. The element of surprise would be very important in rescuing her. As far as he could reason out, the musician must be a bard who could cast spells using music, but he had no idea what kind of skills the pretty woman had. The tugging at his bond was not insistent, it was more like she was putting out a beacon for him to find her. He had to give her credit, she was good under pressure.

The evening dragged on and he just hoped that the enemy had stopped for the night. He had to move slower along the road as there was only moonlight to see by.  Another hour or so by his judgement had gone by and by his judgement they were really close now. Just as he had hoped, it seemed like they stopped for the night. He would need to leave the road and sneak to their location, which seemed to be just over the next small hill.

I need to take some precautions first. He rummaged through his bag and found a candle and lit it once he got under the cover of some trees. Next, he grabbed one of his extra shirts and tore off a couple small pieces of fabric. Finally, he dripped the melting wax onto the fabric and formed the mixture into makeshift earplugs. I don't really know if that kind of magic can affect me since I'm undead, but better safe than sorry. f I can't hear his music, then his magic will have no effect in any case. I'll want to take him out first I think. 

He tied his horse to a tree and began creeping slowly up the small hill. The thick trees blocked out most of the light, so he had to move at what felt like a snail's pace to not make any loud noises. He definitely wouldn't be able to cut it as a ranger, as he stepped on dry twigs here and there, but at least he didn't make a ton of noise. The makeshift earplugs he had made had set up by the time he was a quarter of the way up the hill, but he didn't want to put them in until he was on his way down the other side.

It wouldn't do him any good to not hear himself making loud noises while stomping his way down the mountain. The night was getting pretty cold, even for his sturdy body, he felt a shivver run down his spine. The forested area was still and he didn't like it one bit. 

Megumi's signal pulsed to him in his mind and in just a few more minutes, he came to the bottom of the hill and could see a parked wagon a ways ahead near the road. The area ahead was lit up with the flickering light of a campfire and he could hear the faint sounds of music coming from the distance, but he still couldn't see much from where he was. He didn't want to take any chances, and immediately shoved the makeshift earplugs deeply into his ears and the world went silent around him.

I need to get closer.

The brush was, unfortunately, very thick and like much of the rest of the forested hill he had already experienced, there were many small branches that littered the floor of the forest for him to step on. He needed to be extra careful now. With deliberate steps he edged closer and closer until he was close enough to have a decent view of his quarry.

In front of the fire, he could clearly see the old bard playing with his lute. Hideki was glad that he had thought of the earplug idea. It was hard to say if the bard was projecting any kind of magical aura or not, but better safe than sorry was a motto he had learned the hard way since being killed. He didn't see the pretty girl with the short blonde hair, so he waited patiently for her to come around. He didn't want to rush into things until he saw a little more of what was going on. Megumi was in trouble, but they hadn't killed her yet, so it didn't hurt to wait.

He had been crouching for so logn that his legs had long since cramped up when the woman finally exited the wagon and headed over to the fire. She sat down on a large rock next to the bard as she wiped her face off with a rag that looked red. Hideki ground his teeth, they had definitely been torturing Megumi inside that wagon. He was more than a little eager to rid the world of these two, especially since they had forced him to leave the comfort of the first bed he had seen in days behind to chase after them.

Now that he had seen her come out, he just needed to wait until one of them went away again. The woman was the wild card, so he would wait until he could go after the bard and end him quickly. While he watched from his hiding spot, a pattern emerged. The woman would come out and sit by the fire for a while, talking and laughing with the bard, and then she would get back up and go into the wagon. It was late, and she knew they had to be getting tired soon. The next time she went inside, he would make his move.

He considered his skill set and what he could do to end the fight as quickly as possible. The only ranged attack in his arsenal was Shockwave. Unfortunately, the impact of such an attack and the damage to the surrounding area would alert the woman for sure. He wondered if he could circle around and come at the bard from behind. The small clearing by the road formed a nice U shape and he might be able to do it. The only problem with that plan was that it had been a nightmare getting through all that brush without making a ton of noise. It still amazed him that he had actually succeeded in doing so.

I could try to rescue her when the woman isn't inside the wagon. It's risky, though. That bard could do all kinds of things that would affect Megumi. I should have made a second pair of earplugs.

After several minutes of weighing his options, it was clear that he would need to charge in head on. He would be fast and go straight for the kill. The woman would be alerted, but hopefully he could kill the bard before he was in a two versus one scenario. Hidekis's deceased heart still managed to pound in his chest as he got ready to make his move. He slid his sword out of its sheeth as quietly as he could and gripped it tightly. The purple blade glinted in the darkness from the flickering firelight and he charged forward hoping to move silently while the bard had been looking the other direction.

He only made it a dozen or so paces out of the trees before the bard had heard him and turned towards his direction.

Fuck! This is exactly why I'm not an assassin.

He With his cover blown, he redoubled his efforts to close the gap between himself and his opponent. The bard stood up and began playing his instrument rapidly and chanting something, but Hideki couldn't hear a sound. He grinned at the man and closed the last couple feet. The bard tried to grab a knife off his belt as he saw that nothing was happening to Hideki, but it was too late. The cursed sword slid right through the old man's chest and the taint that the blade contained spread rapidly as the man fell to the ground with a lock of shock and horror on his face. 

Blood sprayed in Hideki's direction as he yanked his blade free and he took a few steps back, reaching up to remove his earplugs rapidly, and then set himself into the defensive ,Turtle Style sword stance. The woman would be coming for sure now. He only wished that he knew what kind of fighter she was.

She didn't disappoint him and came running out from the side of the wagon with a furious look on her face when she took in the scene. 

"Fucking bard was useless! Couldn't even keep a proper watch! Oh well. More money for me." She cracked her knuckles before reaching into a pouch at her waist and pulling out a set of spiked iron knuckles.

Hideki didn't intend to let her put those on, he fired a Shockwave off in her direction. Unfortunately for him, the woman seemed to have the reflexes of a cat and flipped smoothly out of the way.

Damn.

He fired off several more Shockwave attacks, but none landed and the woman was smoothly dodging and gaining ground at the same time. When she got close, he swung his blade for her neck in a wide sweep, hoping that the reach of his blade would work to his advantage, but she slapped the blade away with her knuckles like it was nothing.

Before he could recover, she had got inside his reach and even had time to give him a little wink before she planted one of her fists into his chest. The world lurched around him as he found him self flying though the air like a rag doll.

He knew that the blow had just cracked several ribs, and coughed up some blood as he crashed to the ground. Even though he was wearing armor, she had just utterly floored him with a single punch. He was in serious trouble even with his recently enhanced stats. The blow probably would have killed him for sure a couple weeks ago, and if he were a normal, living person, he would definitely not be getting back up after a hit like that..

Pushing himself up as quickly as his body would allow, he tried to reset himself as the woman calmly walked towards him. ignoring the dull pain in his chest, he changed tactics and went into Tiger Stance. Instead of being defensive, he charged towards the woman with his sword slashing rapidly. She smiled at him while easily dodging the attacks. Occasionally, she would smack the blade away with her weapons, but she was toying with him. 

When he performed a desperate, spinning attack, she flipped to the side and then before he could right himself, she performed a roundhouse kick to the side of his face that sent him crashing to the ground with a thud. Before he could get himself all the way back onto his feet, the woman planted a boot in his middle and sent him rolling a few more feet towards the fire. He coughed up blood and the world was starting to get hazy around him.

Get the fuck up! Are you a man or what? You can't even save a girl from some evil kidnappers? You wanted to be a hero? 

Gritting his teeth, he used all the willpower he could muster to get himself back up onto his shaky feet and hold the sword out in front of himself wardingly.

"What a joke. A weakling like you has no chance of⁠—" The woman cut off as a ball of green fire smashed into the back of her head, exploding it upon impact. Brain matter and pieces of bones splattered all over him in a familiar fashion and the corpse fell to the ground just a few feet away. He had never been so happy to have blood and guts exploded on to him.

Reaching up with a gloved hand, he wiped the blood and pieces of brain out of his eyes and smiled at Megumi who was standing only a dozen feet behind where the woman had been gloating. Her palm remained outstretched towards the corpse and in her other hand he saw a broken collar.

The girl was a mess. She was covered in blood and her face was bruised badly. She wobbled where she stood and then spat to the side. "Serves you right, bitch. As if Megu wouldn't have been trained on how to get out of one of these. Cerberus was very insistant that Megu learn how to break free of one of these in case she was ever caught and questioned," She tossed the metal ring to the ground.. "Thanks for taking care of the bard, Poro-tan. Megu couldn't have ever gotten away so long as he was around."

She went to the front of the wagon and rummaged around a bit before finding her bag. They had been horribly low on funds as of late, and so they only had one healing potion left. She looked at it longingly for a moment and then held it out towards him. "You need it more. Drink it."

He wanted to protest, but she didn't let him. She uncorked the potion and wobbled over to him before she stood up on her tip toes and shoved the potion into his mouth. Relief washed over him as the potion went to work on his broken ribs and cracked cheekbone where he had been kicked.

"At least we got our very own wagon out of this mess, right?" he joked.

Megumi grinned. "Right. No more sleeping on the ground for us! Clean up the back for me, okay? Megu... needs to rest a bit." She was clearly trying to act stronger than she was. He could tell that she was badly injured. Maybe not so bad as he had been, but it looked as though the enemies had been tenderizing her the entire trip. The small girl climbed up into the wagon's front seat and laid down after retrieving one of her blankets from her bag. 

I guess I'd better get the back cleaned up so she has a better spot to rest. If only I hadn't been asleep, maybe we could have prevented this from happening. She's lucky to be alive.

He climbed into the back of the wagon, which at first glance, didn't look all that dirty and then he saw. There was a frayed rope and a large pool of blood near the middle of the wagon. He wondered how the hell she had escaped from that collar, they were said to be unbreakable. The things were used on high profile mages who broke the law. She had been trained on how to beat one? How the heck did that work? He would ask her later, maybe she'd tell him, maybe she wouldn't.

For now, he got to work cleaning up the mess. The truth was he was starting to not mind the girl's company at all. She was kind of like an annoying little sister who, despite giving him constant grief, was someone he had started caring about. Maybe he was a masochist or something?

It was an odd sort of realization to have. She had not only killed him, but she had basically enslaved his very soul, but even so, he couldn't bring himself to hate her anymore. She had been coming around and doing some good things. She wasn't all bad, and he was sure that she had reasons for being the way she was. Maybe one day she would trust him enough to tell him about it. For now, however, he would just try to steer her in the direction of doing good things rather than evil. It might be an impossible task, but at least he had an eternity to do it as far as he knew.