“That was a little easier than anticipated,” said Arivarea. “I have a sneaking suspicion they’re not doing anything fun in there.” She pointed towards the last building, much larger than the rest and eerily quiet. Roh Ten shrugged and walked towards the door, throwing it open to reveal hordes of bandits, each with their very own hostage.

“Take your life or I take theirs,” said the one in the middle before starting to count down. Puppy and Arivarea, without hesitating, acted.

Arivarea immediately manipulated the ground beneath the building and pushed the entire floor throwing the bandits off balance. Using the sudden moment of confusion Puppy cloned himself then teleported in front of two bandits, simultaneously thrusting his spear through their mouth. He changed the grip of his spear which his clone coping again, then threw it at two of the remaining bandits. The cloned spears punctured a bandit each.

Roh Ten, who was only half a step behind realised she would be too slow if she tried to run so instead grasped her sword with two hands and after pulling it back behind her head, threw it with all her might. It clunked straight through a bandits forehead burying itself up to the hilt.

Thistle watched helplessly as the three more dexterous fighters tore through the bandits without giving them even a slight chance. Neither her nor Roh Ten had realised that Puppy could use space magic and so once the bandits were taken care of, they both looked to the sheepish dog with impressed gazes.

One of the townsfolk approached Arivarea with a desperate expression. “They took some, they took some of us back to their camp…” he managed to choke out between sobs. Arivarea instantly summoned Puppy to her side.

“They took some back with them, I’ll stay here with Thistle, you and Roh Ten go after them,” she said commandingly. Thistle translated for Roh Ten then they both nodded in confirmation.

Puppy was leading the way, it did not take long for him to get a hold of the wretched bandit’s smell and followed them hastily with Roh Ten running slightly behind him. They caught up quickly but as Roh Ten was about to charge forward, Puppy caught her hand and put his finger over his lips.

Roh Ten creased her eyebrows but followed Puppy’s order, they followed closely behind the bandits who had three captured townsfolk that they pushed along in front of them, weapons held to their backs.

After ten minutes of walking, they arrived where Puppy had hoped they would, they’re base camp. There were a few cheers that quickly died down when the number of people who had come back was significantly fewer than when they left.

Roh Ten nodded at Puppy in understanding, she waited for him to make the first move. The language barrier made it difficult for any complicated plans but after seeing how he handled the hostage situation she was willing to give him the reins.

He waited for the bandits to lock away the hostages and watched as they settled down with drinks in hand. They remained still for an hour until every remaining bandit was plastered.

Puppy tapped Roh Ten on the shoulder then stood up. She followed him walking directly into the camp. The drunk bandits immediately scrambled for weapons, some even tried to run.

In their drunken states, none of them were able to accomplish what they wanted in the time it took for Puppy to appear in front of their faces. They fell to the floor or staggered uncontrollably, the alcohol as much their killer as Puppy as he began to mercilessly stick bandits with his spear.

Roh Ten shivered but began to cut down barely functioning bandits with her sword. The lack of a fight she found slightly disappointing but Puppy’s tactic and subsequent execution sent shivers down her spine. His lack of empathy for the bandits as he kicked one in the stomach causing him to puke his guts out before stabbing him through his wide-open mouth genuinely impressed her. She was usually the brutal one, in comparison, she seemed tame.

She bit her lip as she gazed at him, wondering exactly why it took so long for her to notice. His blood-spattered body and cold, unfeeling face were pulling all the right strings for her.

They were finished with the bandits in a matter of minutes, the few that actually managed to grab a weapon were dispatched just as easily as the rest, the few that tried to run were mercilessly chased down by Puppy.

The hostages watched in horror as the people who they had assumed to be there to save them appeared to be far more dangerous than their captors. Roh Ten opened the cages and let them out, there were a total of seven people. Three of them were entirely unrelated to the Dew Bath town.

They decided to follow Roh Ten and Puppy anyway, eager to be anywhere safe regardless of where it was. They made their way back, meeting with Thistle and Arivarea again as the sun was beginning to fade.

They were given a room at the local inn for free, as thanks for their efforts in liberating the town which they gladly accepted, the issue arose when it came to organise rooms. Despite being given four rooms, they all ended up in one. Roh Ten, who was still excited from his deadly display earlier was eager to get involved in the antics that she had heard about from some of the guild members.

She had no idea how to approach the subject and she could tell that her presence was holding back the other three from starting the night. Instead of communicating with Thistle and worrying about translation, she decided to take a more direct approach.

Roh Ten moved to Puppy, softly holding his face. Arivarea looked a little in awe at the scene so Roh Ten held her hand and kissed her softly on the cheek. Roh Ten looked at Arivarea, communicating everything she needed to know with her eyes.

She moved in and softly touched her lips with her own. Arivarea shook in pleasure as the teasing girl's hand grasped Puppy’s face and gave him the same treatment.

Thistle could not believe her eyes, there was something magnetic about this couple.

Casualperv

Redemption's Rose is a book I take a little more seriously if anyone is interested... ;)

Finally, it's time to conquer the Rinean warrior.