6 - Blaze

"You girls all that?"

"Y-yeah."

Having freed the 9 slaves from the basement of a now-dead, pig-like merchant, Tom found his job still half done.

"Okay, then repeat it back to me."

"We stay back behind you, I am the lead and I will keep my hand on your left shoulder, if we spot any kind of threat behind you I tap you on the shoulder and get down low so you can shoot without us getting in the way."

Although the girls were still clearly still confused about their current situation, Tom saw trust in their eyes.

(I better not fail their trust…)

"Great, then let's move out."

Having earned at least some amount of goodwill, Tom was determined not to let it go to waste as he led the former slaves out of the damp cellar and out of the now blazing mansion through the back service entrance he had snuck in through.

"We need to get over this wall, grab my hand."

Slinging his rifle over his shoulder and jumping up on the wall, Tom extended a hand to help the girl, something which turned out to be completely unnecessary.

Before he could even extend his hand, Tom watched with awe as the tan-looking elf surrounded herself with waves of wind and carried herself over the wall as a fairy floating through the air. Another 2 of the normally looking elf's quickly followed the first one over the wall in the same way, while 6 last girls with tails and animal-like ears of different kinds easily leapt over the wall in a single stride as if gravity was a mere suggestion.

"Welp, moving on…"

Escaping from the immediate area by moving through the unused mansion, Tom decided to cut through Rover's warehouse district before escaping through the west gate. As the warehouse district saw little use in the middle of the night and the girl's stamina were way above Tom's expectations the group quickly closed in on the western gate where the real challenge began.

(Shit…)

"W-what do we do now, we stick out pretty badly."

Acting as the leader of the demihumans, the tan-skinned, raven black haired elf spoke up as she and the others were still dressed in what was basically rags. The problem with 9 lightly dressed demihuman girls walking around in the middle of the night was that the area near the west gate was like the other gates, filled with inns, bars and brothels, thus there was quite a bit of activity on the main road during the night.

"Hmm…"

Chances were with the increased amount of nightly patrols in the pleasure districts that some drunk patreon would invariably raise a fuzz Tom would need to deal with using his bayonet, then there was no chance of anyone getting out alive. While watching the girls do their best to hide tails, ears and other unusual elements to no avail had Tom in a bit of a trance, actions needed to be taken.

"For now we stick to the backstreets, if anything sees us I will deal with it, same actions with the taps, but raise your voices if anyone approaches us as screams and the like aren't that uncommon around these areas."

Advising the girls before moving on, Tom stuck to the back allies and desolate side paths as he did his best to avoid the avid nightlife and drunken hooligans, but eventually luck failed him. Right as he was about to round a corner a drunken adventurer stumped out right in front of him, collapsing into a pile of garbage with a half-filled bottle of high-proof liquor in his hand.

"a-"

"Shh."

Holding up a finger along with a quick shush, Tom managed to silence the girl behind him making a sound as he closely observed the adventurer with a finger still ready on the trigger.

A few quiet seconds of tension slowly passed as Tom returned both hands to his rifle, wrapping his left hand tight around the strap and tightening his grip ready to strike. After a while, Tom's stoic face turned to a slight smile as he attacked, striking the pretending adventurer with his bayonet before he could get up.

"... Let's go."

With no more threats in the area, Tom waited to feel a hand on his shoulder before advancing.

"... How did you know?"

"I've played dead quite a few times myself, so I could tell when his breathing changed."

Answering without really thinking, Tom assumed the talk to be over and continued onward, but after a few more minutes of walking the tan elf spoke up again.

"... It seems like you've fought quite a few battles."

"More than you think young missy, now pipe down. We can talk after we've left the city."

Just as those words left Tom's mouth, a back door swung open just a few metres in front of him.

(Shit!)

Coming to a halt as he heard the rowdy sounds of the inn on the other side of the door, Tom prepared to attack the figure who stepped out and started his strike the second he saw a container filled with garbage appeared.

Needing to keep things quiet, Tom went in with the bayonet but changed his approach at the last second when he noticed he was about to kill a kid wearing a slightly oversized barmaid outfit.

"Door!"

Shoving the kid out of the way and covering her mouth, the leading dark elf luckily understood his intentions and quickly closed the door as Tom conducted an impromptu abduction. Quickly finding a quiet area, Tom was about to speak up when he finally noticed who he had just taken away.

"Wait what, how are you?-"

"MMMMMMM!"

"Yeah, yeah calm down brat, you really do have bad luck don't you?"

Staring at a pair of very displeased-looking green eyes, Tom confirmed that he had indeed kidnapped the same brat adventurer he had recently saved, leaving him in quite a predicament.

"Too bad for you girly, but you need to make a hard choice very fast. Either I kill you right here, right now as I really can't afford you alerting the guards, or you come with us, quietly, and I let you go at daybreak where you can walk back to the city."

Pressing the blade of his bayonet to the girlies throat to make his point, Tom waited for a few seconds as tears formed in her eyes, but then she quickly steeled herself.

"... If you try to shout I will kill you. Nod if you understand."

Quickly receiving a series of very enthusiastic nods, Tom slowly removed his hand from the brat's mouth.

"Okay then, this way now."

Guiding his impromptu hostage to the front of him, Tom didn't miss how she calmed down slightly when she noticed the escaped slaves he was escorting.

"Righty, double time now."

As the torches which lit up the top of the wall gradually came into view before disappearing behind the 10-metre tall wall itself, Tom turned to the tan elf.

"Are you sure you guys can do this?"

"Yeah, I just need some time to focus."

While Tom had planned to escape Rover by distracting the nearby guards by lighting a nearby house on fire before breaching the gate, the elf had presented him with another option.

Focusing like she said she would and closing her eyes, the tan elf reopened her eyes which had a slight glow to them as air currents started gathering around the entire group.

Within no time, the entire 11-person group lifted off of the ground rising to the top of the wall.

"Wha!"

Meeting a very confused guard head on, Tom drew first and quickly placed a round between his eyes, turning his brain into purple mist as the group sat down on top of the wall.

"Get down!"

Immediately drawing attention due to the sound of gunfire, Tom made the girls crouch down as he opened fire above their heads.

"How long!?"

Speaking in between gunshots as he dealt with guards coming at him from both sides, Tom didn't have time to look at the tan elf who had collapsed to her knees in exhaustion. 

"Just… A… Minute…"

"Don't push yourself now, I don't really enjoy falling from this kind of height."

Stuck in the awkward situation where he didn't have the cover or ammunition needed to hold his current position, Tom didn't fancy his chances of escaping after he had broken a leg by jumping down from the wall, he found himself in a rough spot until his hostage of all people spoke up.

"I can help!"

"Not likely, pipe down."

"Do you really think I want to die here!? Let me help!"

Although he was hesitant to accept help from his hostage, Tom found himself shit out of luck and any other ideas he gave a reluctant go-ahead.

"Fine, do your thing!"

Finding himself out of rounds in his dual magazine, Tom inserted his last 20-round magazine as instinct took over.

"Last mag, do it fast brat!"

"Don't call me brat! My name is Lisa!"

"I don't give a shit Lisa!"

Encouraging Lisa in the best way he knew, Tom continued suppressing the guards hiding nearby as he was rapidly running out of ammo.

"ARH, FINE! FUCK THIS!"

Placing her hands on the tan elf's shoulders, orbs of pale light started surrounding Lisa before they made their way to the elf.

"H-huh!? My mana is back!"

"Great, let's get going then!"

Not wanting or willing to wait looking a gift horse in the mouth, Tom was happy to get moving as currents of wind started surrounding him and the others. Lifting off the ground as he came down to his last 5 rounds, Tom shot the head off of another city guard before he and the girlies hit the ground.

"Go! Go! Go!"

-

"Okay, let's stop here. Rest for a few hours."

As Tom said those words, the entirety of the group collapsed to the slightly damp forest floor. Although it was almost pitch black, the beast girls had no issue traversing the dense forest, likewise Tom relied on his LNX L-4 sight and its night vision capability.

The elves and the sole human however, didn't fare so well.

"Aw… My head."

Rubbing the sore red spot in the middle of her forehead, Lisa was in quite a bit of pain after walking headlong into not one, but two trees within the last 10 minutes.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't fucking know, I can't see shit!"

"Give me a second."

Closing his eyes to focus, Tom accessed his resupply.

OBJECTIVE_STACK_PRIMARY:

FIX THE WORLD.

STATUS:_0.000000000103%_COMPLETE.

SECONDARY_OBJECTIVE(S)_UPDATED.

NEW_SECONDARY_OBJECTIVE_UPDATED:_DESTROY_THE_ROVER_SLAVE_HUB.OBJECTIVE_COMPLETED:

OBJECTIVE_REWARD(S)_AWARDED:

SA_PDW_CLASS_WEAPONS_NOW_UNLOCKED.

5000_POINTS _AWARDED.

INTERFACE_CONFIRMED:_ACTIVE.

CONNECTION_SECURE.5005_POINTS_AVAILABLE.

(I need a few USIE standart glow sticks, 5 should do.)

REQUEST_CONFIRMED:NOW_SEACHING.

STANDBY…

QURREY_COMPLEATE

STATUS:_AVALIBLECOST:_5_POINTSCONFIRM_PURCHASE_Y/N?

(Yes please.)

As the warmth spread throughout his body, Tom grasped the pack of 5 glow sticks out of the air and cracked them all at the same time to spot something strange.

"Wait what?"

"Huh?"

With Tom staring at Lisa for a second, it took her too long to notice that her disguise had disappeared. Instead of passing off as a normal human lass, Lisa now showed her her true form and revealed herself as an elver with slightly glowing green eyes.

"D-don't look at me!"

Trying to hide her ears as she panicked, Lisa's eyes lit up as the ground started shaking, before anyone knew what was going on flowers started blooming around Lisa as roots started sprouting out of the ground as grass grew to the height of a metre.

"Lisa!"

Dropping his rifle, Tom tackled Lisa out of the way as a concentration of roots were about to crush her, when she finally realised what was going, Lisa's eyes stopped glowing as the plants stopped moving.

"W-what? Oh, it happened again…"

Although confused for a moment, Lisa blinked a few times before calming down as the glow in her eyes disappeared and her ears returned to looking like human ones.

"Wait what?"

Going off of a hunch, Tom focused on the area around Lisa's right ear, although it was hardly visible there was a slight disturbance around the edge.

(So even from up close it is still pretty hard to tell, I guess that would make it impossible for anyone to notice in day to day life.)

Getting back up on his feet, Tom helped Lisa back on her feet and turned around to see all the former slaves on their knees paying tribute to the barmaid.

"""""We greet an esteemed princess of the forest."""""

Glancing at kneeling former slaves, then back at Lisa who was clearly uncomfortable, Tom stepped in between the two groups.

"Okay, knock it off, my hostage here is a normal barkeep and former adventurer."

"Bu!-"

"I'm not open for suggestions. Knock. It. Off."

"... Fine."

Although reluctant to agree, Tom only needed to apply a little bit of pressure as their saviours to get the girls to stand back up again, then he turned to Lisa who still seemed confused about everything.

"Let's have a chat, just one on one."