Chapter 2- Operation "Princess Rescue" begins!

Erick's POV:

As the roof flies into the air, the nearby guards panic in fear and surprise. I quickly take advantage of that moment to close the distance and knock out the 2 guards guarding the cell. The other 4 guards from the nearby wagons rush towards us while pointing their spears at us, but I quickly create a wall of fire around the carriage the slaves were in. They back away in fear from the sudden unnatural action.

- I'll be out for a moment, all of you stay here while I finish off the guards out there. I'll be back in a moment.

I slowly put the girl who had been in my arm on the ground, she looks at me in a strange way. She begins to open her mouth as if she wanted to say something. I bend down slightly to listen to her when she, after hesitating a little, throws herself against my arm clinging to it with her entire small body.

- You... Will you come back?

- … Sure little one, I will definitely come back to save you.

- Promise not to abandon me?

She looks at me with pleading eyes as she presses her small body even tighter against my arm, almost hugging it with her arms and legs. Smiling, I caress her head with my free hand as I try to calm her down.

- Don't worry, I will definitely come back for you.

- Is that a promise?

- … Yes, I promise.

Looking at me doubtfully for a moment, she finally releases my arm from her grip as she looks at me with pleading eyes. I give her one last look before standing up and looking at the other slaves who seem terrified by the rapid change of events.

- Don't worry, as long as you don't leave the circle of fire you should be safe.

After saying this, I quickly cross the wall of fire. There I find more guards than there were originally talking to each other with tense expressions. I quickly confront them as they try to put up some disorganized resistance, but I quickly strike them with a blunt force to their neck.

In less than 2 minutes, all 13 guards had fallen unconscious on the ground.

"You really tried hard not to kill any of them didn't you?"

- Justice doesn't take lives unnecessarily. They are merely soldiers doing their duty.

"You really are too naive"

- … Maybe, but that doesn't mean I'm easily fooled.

"I wonder where all that trust comes from?"

I can't help but laugh bitterly at Vulk's words.

Putting aside our conversation, I look towards the large building in the middle of nowhere that stands in front of us. There I can see about 40 knights in silver armor fighting in the light of torches with other guards. Despite outnumbering them, the guards are easily taken down by the armored knights.

- It seems that Simon took this mission too seriously…

Simon, my merchant friend, was the one who offered to hire the main force for this mission. Those 40 knights are probably mercenaries with equipment given to them by Simon himself.

"hahahaha, he really made Simon angry that greasy slave trader"

- That's Simon…, rather, that's the bourgeoisie for you. They never forgive a scam.

"At this rate, they won't leave anything for you my adorable hero"

- … I'd rather you didn't call me adorable.

Vulk suddenly came out of rapier mode and quickly floated around me while saying a lot of incoherent things about how cute she thought my way of complaining was. I can only sigh in resignation towards my lively guardian spirit.

- Well, there's no time to waste.

Taking Vulk back into rapier mode, who was still babbling incomprehensible words, I quickly advanced towards the battlefield.

By the time I reached the entrance, the knights had already stormed into the building where the slaves were kept.

I began to advance as the 40 soldiers accompanied me, and before long I had realized that their numbers were rapidly dwindling. The mercenaries entered each room, searched it, and took anything they deemed valuable and headed back out. So the further we advanced, the fewer knights I had at my side.

- As expected of a bourgeois…

Ignoring the clear greedy tendencies of the mercenaries and their contractor, I continued to advance until I finally found the dungeon where the slaves were kept. Now accompanied by only 2 knights, I advanced quickly as guards began to emerge from between the cells to surprise us. I quickly dodged their attacks and struck the necks of the guards who came out, knocking them unconscious. The deeper we went, the more guards came out of hiding, but compared to the shadow witch, this posed no challenge to me.

- Stop there or I'll kill the slaves.

When we reached what seemed to be the end of the dungeon, one of the guards was shaking as he held a woman in rags in his hands. The tip of his spear was against the woman's neck as the nervous soldier looked at us in terror.

- What the hell are you doing? If you remove the merchandise, the boss will kill us.

- And do you think we can get out of here alive if we don't do something?

His nervous companion reproached the guard holding the woman, but he seemed to be too scared to think rationally. The woman in his hands was shaking like a leaf as tears came out of her eyes.

- Vulk, I'm counting on you.

"Of course."

My rapier vanishes into the air and Vluk in his spiritual form quickly floats low to the ground until he is next to the guard holding the woman hostage. A medium-sized flame suddenly appears at the guard's side. This surprise causes him to trip over his feet and fall to the ground quickly freeing the woman. With a quick movement, I close the distance between us and knock out the soldier with the spear with my fist. When I turn to see his partner, he quickly kneels before us while asking for forgiveness.

- With that all the slaves have been secured.

"Good job there Erick."

An apathetic look was the only thing I could respond to her comment.

- … Vulk, was it really necessary to get close to make that flame appear?

"Of course not, I can spread flames at will in about 20 meters around without problem, I thought you knew that my adorable hero."

My eyebrow automatically bristles when she says "adorable", but I'm going to forget that for the moment, there's something more important to ask.

- So… what was all that approaching on the ground you did before?…

"That? It was purely dramatic! Drama is very important in a fight."

I quickly hold the bow between my eyes with 2 fingers trying to reduce the headache while a huge sigh of resignation comes out of my mouth.

- And just for that you risked having your plan discovered...?

Before I could complain to Vulk about the unnecessary risk a loud bang echoed throughout the mansion. The 2 knights accompanying me looked towards the ceiling of the dungeon with concern.

- It seems that this mission will not be as easy as it seemed.

I can only sigh at the appearance of a formidable enemy.