(Mael's POV)
"Mael!" I heard Cecilia call out for me, "I heard gunshots, is everything okay?"
I looked behind to see her walking out of the cave as she was adjusting her clothes. Her hair was a bit messy, and she was trying to fix it.
"Yea, I'm good." I said, "This guy here found us somehow."
"An enemy?" She reached me, "He's bleeding a lot."
"Two gunshots will do that to you." I said as I was pointing the gun at the wizard's face, "I'm asking where we'd find the Fort."
The wizard was glaring at me, "I will never tell you." He managed, his voice becoming weaker, "I will rather di-"
I shot the spot next to his head, the impact of the gunshot causing dirt to fly out everywhere. He flinched hard as smoke filled the air.
"I'm not fucking around here." I told him with a scowl, "Where the hell is it?!"
"Tchh....." He said as he was wincing, "Fine. It's past the river, around 2 miles to the north."
"Not that far then." I said as I put the gun away, "Let's go."
Cecilia looked at me, "You're leaving him here?" She asked, "Is that right?"
"Why? You want to help him?" I asked, "Or do you want me to finish him off?"
"I don't know." she said as she stepped back, "I really don't know what I would do in this situation."
"Finish me off." the wizards said, "I do not have much left to live. Kill me."
"No." I said as I grabbed Cecilia's hand and pulled her along with me as I began to walk away, "Let's go."
"But...." She said, "Wait, Mael, you're bleeding."
"I feel fine." I said as we began walking, "Don't worry about it."
As we walked, I kept hearing the wizard's pained groaning in the distance. Cecilia was looking back, a bit unsettled by the fact that we were leaving him to die.
"Who was he anyway?" She asked as we walked
"He's the one who tried to kill me." I said, "He told me that the Kitsune are in the Fort. He also wanted to either kill you or rape you."
She shuddered, "That's...." She said, "I don't feel that bad now."
"You shouldn't." I said, "In this world, it's us or them."
"Right..." She said softly, "But you and I, we're sticking together. Right?"
I nodded, "I need to get to the Fort." I said as we walked, "I don't know if I should send you over to Ren."
"Ren? The Kitsune Woman you met?" she asked, "Why?"
"If I am to take on the Fort, I can't worry about protecting you while I do that." I said as we stopped
"I don't trust anyone else other than you." She said as she frowned, "I can't leave your side."
"But we don't know how many enemies there are." I told her, "Listen, you need to be somewhere safe."
"Your side is the safest place right now." She said, "I'm coming with you. I am serious, I don't want to be alone with someone I don't know."
"You don't know me that much, Cecilia." I told her, "It's no different."
"We had sex for an hour." She said with a frown, "And we're from the same place, there is nobody else I can trust."
I sighed, "I guess you're right." I said, "But you need to understand that where we are going, its going to be dangerous. I have to complete this Task."
"Have you gotten any more?" She asked, "For Sex, that is."
I shook my head, "No." I said, "Not yet at least."
She nodded and let out a sigh, "You already know." She said, "If you need to have sex, just ask me."
"Yea." I said, "I know."
"Now, let's go."
*************
After walking in the direction The Wizard said, we reached a small hill that overlooked the river. Next to the river, there was a small Fort that had some raiders patrolling the outside and some were posted on the ramparts.
The hill was around a hundred meters from the river, and the Fort was just across it. If I wanted to get to it, we had to cross the river.
"Hm...." I said as I tilted my head, "I count at least ten on the ramparts and outside. Who knows how long there might be inside."
"Yea." Cecilia said softly, "What's the plan?"
I looked at the riverbank on our side, and there were several bushes and a few trees that were enough cover to block their view of us. I also saw that there were some raiders fishing down the river. There were four of them there, and along with the ones I saw, there were at least ten or eleven men.
"Hm..." I said, "The Kitsune are there, they have to be."
"We have to create some sort of diversion to get them to leave their post." Cecilia spoke up, "So we can sneak in and free them."
"Yea, I was thinking that." I said as I began to run downhill, "Let's get closer."
"Wait for me!" she said in a hushed tone
As we went downhill and reached the bushes right by the river, I noticed the currents of the river weren't that fast or hard. I focused my vision on a specific part of the river, noticing that it was shallow enough to run past without issue.
I then overheard the fishing raiders, speaking about something. I focused my hearing towards them, tilting my head towards them.
"What's with the swordmaster? Why is he in the cage?" one of them asked, "He ain't no kitsune."
"I thought he was." He said, "He looks pretty enough."
"You fool, Kitsune are all female!" another one said, "There's no male, not anymore."
"Yea yea, well we have a swordmaster now." He said, "We could force him to teach us how to properly wield a sword. Usarak left for the woods in search of the other one and Togo took most of the men to raid a Hanagami compound. It's just us eleven us here, we can have him teach us some tricks."
"Yea, wait for the fish hahaha!" another one said, "Maybe if we trick one of the Kitsune girls to eat one with a sharp bone, we could see her face all distorted with pain!!"
"Hahaha!" they all laughed
I looked to the Fort, seeing that the ones on the ramparts had walked away and were not in sight.
"The Kitsune are here. And there is someone else." I said as I looked at the raiders who were fishing around 50 meters down the river, "We have to get inside somehow."
Cecilia nodded, "Maybe I can help." She said as she slowly crawled towards the river, placing her hand on the waters, "This is very foolish, but just for a moment....."
I then saw as the water began to turn soapy, several large bubbles forming and flying out of the water as it flowed towards them.
"Cecilia!" I exclaimed, "What are you doing?!"
"A diversion." She said softly
I watched as the bubbles reached where the raiders were, they simply looked at them with awe.
"What the hell?" one of them said, "Bubbles?"
"Oi oi oi, what the fuck?!" another one said, "What's causing this?!"
The bubbles were blocking their view of where we were, a perfect opportunity to cross the river.
"Go!" Cecilia got up, "Now, Mael!"
I nodded and ran into the waters, crossing the river and going around to the back of the fort. I saw as Cecilia followed, nearly tripping on a branch. She reached me and pressed herself against the wall as she panted nervously.
"That was a bit reckless." I said, "But whatever."
"How many are there?" She asked me, "More than ten?"
"Eleven." I said as I looked up, "We can take them out quietly and release the others without issue. The main force is away, we only have this opportunity to free them."
"We have to do it now."