*Ding* *Dong*

 

The sound of the bell marking the ninth hour of the morning echoed throughout the city, emanating from the capital's central area.

 

*Click*

 

"Good morning, girls."  (Rika)

 

""Good morning, Miss Rika.""  The twins greeted Rika the moment she left the bedroom.

 

They were already waiting for her in the living room.

 

It was just the two of them coming over to Rika's apartment. Luna had already left early in the morning to return to the mansion she served.

 

"Okay, let's go, girls. Yuri, we're heading off. See you later."  (Rika)

 

"Be careful, okay? You too, girls. See you later."  Yuri waved the three as they left the room.

 

Thanks to the cloudy sky, it was a gentle morning despite being in the middle of summer.

 

It was the time when the city came to life. In the middle of the buzzing street, Rika, Mina, and Mino made their way to the castle.

 

They didn't go straight into their headquarters, but instead, they dropped by the barrack. To be exact, they were heading to the commission department. It was where they posted all the commissions available for the knight.

 

Unlike the commissions in the adventure guilds, which were paid by the commissioner, and the higher the payment, the higher its priority, the knight's commissions were covered by the army, which usually got delayed until the army could assign someone suitable for them. Because of that, the missions here were often not on the high-priority list or had special circumstances.

 

When they arrived, the twins saw two familiar faces.

 

"Oh? Mina, Mino, what a surprise!"  It was Sara.

 

"Hi, girls. Fancy meeting you here."  Elise waved at them.

 

"Hi, Sara, Elise."  (Mina)

 

"Good morning."  Mino ran toward them and shook their hands.

 

"Your friends?"  Rika asked.

 

"Yes, we were acquainted with each other on our first day. They taught us various things about patrolling."  (Mina)

 

"I see."  Rika nodded and walked toward the girls. "Can I see Captain Fural?" She took out a badge from her pocket and showed it to Sara and Elise.

 

"!?"  Sara made a shocked face when she saw it.

 

"W-Wow... It's the first time I've ever seen it..."  Elise was in a similar state.

 

"T-The captain left for a meeting half an hour ago. He told us to give these files to you."  Sara went to the backroom and brought a small stack of paper to Rika.

 

"Alright. Thanks. Girls, you can wait here for a bit. I'll check what's written here." Rika took the files and sat down at an empty table.

 

"Psst, hey."  Sara whispered.

 

"Hm?"  (Mino)

 

"Is that person a noble?"  (Sara)

 

"No, she works for the army. She's actually our superior; her name is Rika."  (Mino)

 

"Eh!? Did you know she carries the golden badge?"  (Sara)

 

"Hm? What is a golden badge?"  (Mina)

 

"*Sigh* you just started, so it's not a surprise you don't know. The person who carries that badge means he or she will be received with the utmost accommodation, and their identity is guaranteed by the Royal family. To make it simpler, it's like a VIP treatment. Only people like the generals or high-ranking nobles have them."  Elise explained.

 

"Huh? I'm pretty sure she's not an aristocrat. I mean, she's living in an apartment next to ours."  (Mino)

 

'What exactly is Miss Rika...?'  The twins thought.

 

The four chatted for about ten minutes when Rika called out.

 

"Mina, Mino. Let's go to the headquarters."  (Rika)

 

"Coming~"  (Mino)

 

"We have to go now. See you around."  (Mina)

 

"Alright. Bye."  (Elise)

 

"See you~"  (Sara)

 

Rika and the twins made their way back to the underground.

 

"Alright, girls, today, you'll take the first assignment. That means real combat. Tell me the three golden rules."

 

""Always have your teammates' back. Trust your teammates. Don't be a hero.""  The twins answered at the same time.

 

"Good. Today, your mission is to exterminate a bandit camp located half a day on the horse to the west of the capital. We don't know the exact number of hostages. As for the bandits, expect them to have at least ten men strong. We will sortie in 10 minutes. Gear up!"  (Rika)

 

""Understood!!""

 

Exactly 10 minutes later, they regrouped in front of the castle gate.

 

"We'll stop by another place before that. Follow me."  (Rika)

 

After walking for about ten minutes, they arrived at a small store in the back alley that seemed to specialize in medicines and potions.

 

*Ding-a-ling*

 

The sound of a hanging bell rang when Rika opened the door.

 

"Miss Rika, this place is...?"  Mina asked as she looked around.

 

It was a small store, and the many shelves that were full of items on display made the store look even smaller.

 

"Oya? Look who's here."  A husky voice greeted them from beyond the counter.

 

When the twins turned toward the voice, they saw an old woman with a slouched back puffing a cloud of smoke from her pipe.

 

"Hello, Granny, I brought new customers for you."  Rika waved as she made her way to the counter.

 

"Hoh? What cute customers you are, kekeke. Feel free to call me Granny like everyone else."  the old woman laughed and introduced herself to the twins.

 

"Nice to meet you, Granny. My name is Mina, and this is my younger sister, Mino. As you can see, we are twins."  Mina bowed and introduced herself.

 

"Nice to meet you."  Mino bowed.

 

"Kekeke, so polite. So, Rika, since you're here, it's 'that,' right?"

(Granny)

 

"I need three orders of the usual thing, please."  (Rika)

 

"Alright, wait here for a bit."  Said the Granny as she went to the back.

 

Shortly after, she returned with a small box and gave it to Rika.

 

"Thank you, Granny. Here's the money. Can I use the free room?"

Rika put the payment on the counter and asked.

 

"Yeah."  (Granny)

 

"Okay, follow me, girls."  Rika led the two to the small room for the customer.

 

Even though she called it a room, it was more like a cubicle, so with all three of them in the same room, it was pretty cramped. Luckily, they were not going to use it for long.

 

"Miss Rika, what is that?"  Mino couldn't hold back her curiosity and asked.

 

"It's a cursed talisman."  (Rika)

 

""Eh!?""  The twins showed a stunned expression.

 

As the spell implied, curses were a type of magic that put a person under negative status ailments.

 

They were supposed to be on a mission, and yet here they were, putting a curse on themselves.

 

"Before you girls make any wild guesses, these are infertility curse talismans."  Rika opened the box and showed them the talismans with a magic circle drawn on them.

 

"This is a must on our job. Like I told you before, remember? You never know what's going to happen in the line of our duty. Even a tiny mistake can be fatal, especially since we are women. You can imagine what will become of us if we are caught. These talismans will make women unable to conceive a child. The curse lasts for about two weeks, or you can go to the church to have it lifted easily. It's easy to use. Watch me."  (Rika)

 

Rika gave the talisman to each of them. Then she lifted her clothes and stuck it on her lower abdomen. Then, she channeled a small amount of mana into the talisman. It lit up and disintegrated, leaving a small black smoke that sunk into her skin and disappeared.

 

Mina and Mino also did the same.

 

"It feels kinda warm..."  Mino rubbed the part where the smoke disappeared into her body.

 

"It feels weird to me..."  Mina reacted the same way as Mino.

 

"Well, you'll get used to it soon enough. Well then, let's go."

 

Leaving the store, they then exited the city wall and headed Northwest toward their target location.

 

They followed the highway for about an hour, then they went off the road into a dense forest area, and they followed the small river for about four more hours.

 

Normally, it would take them half a day to reach where they were at the moment. But thanks to the twins' magic and Rika's racial traits as cat-kin, they significantly reduced that time.

 

Right now, in front of them was an abandoned ore mine— a favorite spot for bandits to use as their hideouts.

 

Obviously, they were surveying the area at a safe distance and camouflaged to keep the element of surprise.

 

"Summon!" Mina chanted, using her summoning magic to summon a bird.

 

They could only observe the main entrance with the three of them, so having Mina scan the area with her bird was a great help that Rika appreciated. Had she been alone, she would have had to do a lot of leg work just to gather information.

 

"Sis, you see anything?"  Mino asked.

 

"There seems to be only one entrance. And aside from the three guarding the entrance, two were chatting behind the rock over there."  (Mina)

 

"Thanks. But I would like to confirm the number of the bandits before we strike just to be safe. We'll keep watching for a while longer."  (Rika)

 

"Understood."  (Mino)

 

"Then I'll keep my summon to maintain overwatch."  (Mina)

 

Like that, they observed for almost 6 hours to study the pattern of the patrols and guards.

 

At the horizon, the sun was halfway below the mountain in the distance, casting an orange hue on the sky above.

 

"Alright, so far, we know that the guards change their shift every two hours. And from what I count, there are at least 20 of them. *Tch* This is what happened when you postpone the bandit extermination."  Rika clicked her tongue.

 

As the request was sent to the army, it meant that its priority was quite low. Thus, it led to such a delay. As such, the number of bandits grew to almost twice the initial reported number.

 

Normally, it was not an ideal situation. By no means was this quest supposed to be completed with only three people. They would have to go back and request for backup, which would take an even longer time and potentially increase the number of victims.

 

However, Rika was confident they could pull it off. Although they were lacking in numbers, stealth and an element of surprise were also their strengths. They could sneak up on the bandits by separating the enemies from the main camp.

 

Fortunately, that time came when they least expected it.

 

—————

 

"Oi, it's time to change." The man, followed by two others, emerged from the mine shaft.

 

"Oh! Finally. Time to head back and enjoy some booze and girl."

One of the men standing on guard picked up his sword and went back inside.

 

"Wait, not so fast. It's bathing time for them, and it's your turn today."

 

After he said that, one of the men behind him pulled on the chain. The chain was attached to three women.

 

One look was enough to know that the women were treated horribly.

 

Their clothes were tattered, both of their legs were chained together to prevent running, and a collar was attached to each of them, which connected together and to the chain the man was holding in his hand.

 

The women glared at the bandits with hateful stares. Despite that, the men carried on with their conversation as if they didn't even exist.

 

"*Tsk* fine, give it to me."  The man had an annoyed look on his face as he took the chain.

 

"Hahaha, what's wrong? At least you can still enjoy a sideshow while they're bathing."

 

"You fucking serious? Boss's gonna have my ass buried if he finds out I have a dip on them before him. What's the fucking point if I can only watch, man."  The man spat on the ground.

 

"Well, that ain't my problem."

 

"*Tsk* Just my day. First, that annoying bird kept flying around, and now this. Let's go."  He grudgingly glared at the sky to see the bird still flying above as if mocking him before calling out to the other two to go with him.

 

And then, he and the other two led the women to the nearby river for a quick bath.

 

The leader of this bandit group was very strong and ruthless, at least more than anyone he knew. One time, they encountered an ogre that could even give a platoon of knights a run for their money. The bandit's boss singlehandedly defeated the monster, and his men quivered in their pants as fear took over them.

 

That was why they decided to follow their leader—the simple of absolute strength.

 

It was the usual routine. Every day, his boss would pick three of the captive women and have them bathe, only to be covered in layers of dried cum once they were done with them.

 

That he had no complaints, but one day an idiot couldn't keep his dick inside his pants and assaulted a woman when they were bathing. The boss later finds out and puts him on the chopping block in front of them to warn the rest.

 

Since then, no one dared to put their hands on the women until after their boss was done with them.

 

And so, the three men made their way to the river as they dragged along the three poor women.

 

......

 

...

 

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