There was something going on with Miyako, which I may have a pretty good idea why. The thing about good people was… they could get pretty honorable. She seemed to act strangely when she got out of one of the buildings, so there was only one cause of it all.

Killing those sleeping guys bothered her, huh?

I sort of expected such a reaction from her. But impressive that she saw it through. If there was something good this accursed land made, it was that it made people strong. Hard times create strong men, as they say. And peace times create pussies.

But I digress.

Doing what she was doing seemed to have put a strain on her, but there was no way to back out now. She was here already, no way but forward. I knew she would get through it.

We had erased this half of the fortress, now to proceed to the other half.

The same as last time, we take care of the lookouts first, while those two take care of those on the surface. I had to divide our area of activities, this place was a bit too big and dense. Hard to tell where the enemies could be and which they were occupying.

And as this place was big, I couldn't pretty well go on ahead and take out the lookouts on the other half first before the team on the ground. It would be unpredictable if the enemy would discover the missing lookouts, and Nira's eyes could only cover so much. Thus, I had to partition the area. And considering it was sleep time, there was a low chance a bandit would just walk over to the other end of the fortress. If there was, I had Nira on the lookout.

I jumped up on the wall and quickly disposed of the guards and then the sleeping ones. Quite lazy of them to not check the other end of the wall, but oh well. Nira had also been becoming more smooth with it. I would only need to point at an enemy, and there she was.

I gestured at Nira to take out the enemy on top of a building, and she quickly killed the man. With the wind, I quietly jumped from one roof to the other. A man was on a balcony standing guard that was looking in Miyako and Satomi's way.

I snuck up behind him and slit his throat. As he writhed, I observed the ground, watching the two women take out two bandits sleeping outside. When the bandit in my hands stopped moving, I gently put him down and quickly proceeded to another bandit lookout. Indeed, if I did this alone, I could have done it. No, with Nira, I would definitely succeed. This place was so big that doing it completely alone would be highly risky and tiring. Way bigger than the last bandit base I wiped out.

Wiping out an entire base stealthily requires patience but also speed. You just can't take too long. The longer you work, the higher the chance the enemy will discover your presence. If this was the modern world, there could have been radio checks which would only serve to tighten the time we have.

I took out a bandit, while Nira killed the other one nearby. Looking down, I saw a bandit coming the ground team's way. I swiftly moved through the rooftops and delivered death from above. As I landed on the man, I pushed a blade into the back of his neck. Raising my head, I saw Miyako and Satomi take out a group of four.

I swiftly dragged the body off the road.

My only issue with those two was that they were a bit too slow for my preference. That was why earlier, when we quickly wiped those lookouts, Nira and I helped eliminate those that were still walking on the ground. But I had already considered that those two would be a bit slow, they were trained as warriors after all. Not assassins, or, ugh, ninja…

I returned to the rooftop and called upon Nira. She appeared before me.

"Are there any lookouts left?"

"I don't see any more of them."

"Good. Then let's help the ground team and be done with this."

I quietly sprinted through the rooftops until I found a couple of bandits cackling to each other on the ground. Landing behind them like a feather, I slit one's vocal cord before taking a step towards the other one. He jerked aside, but it was too late to escape. I extended my hand forward and stabbed him in the throat. Before dragging them to the shadows, I first looked around to check my surroundings to make sure no one saw me.

I jumped back up to the roofs, and I searched for another enemy. I caught a glimpse of Nira killing an enemy. Aww, look at the adorable little killer. She's adorable, right? Ahem, anyway, there didn't seem to be any enemies outside left. I searched for Miyako and Satomi and landed next to them. This time, I let it be more obvious so I wouldn't scare them again.

"Just like last time," I said. "That area is mine." I pointed.

"Y-Yes," Miyako said. "Then we'll go there." She pointed in another direction.

I nodded and swiftly headed for a building. The window was open, and so I moved next to it and checked if anyone was around the lobby. There was one sleeping on the table. Quietly entering through the window, I imbued electricity on my blade before stabbing the blade into the back of the man's neck. His body rattled as the blade was embedded into him. When he stopped moving, I stepped back.

Electricity was good for this purpose. It was hard to make a noise when you're being electrified while stabbed in the neck. People just have a subdued brrrr-aaaah-brrrr. Kinda funny, actually.

Better than fire that might give them a chance to really move around or scream in agony. Electricity makes your nerves numb. And considering I was hitting the neck, which was close to the head by the way if you didn't know, I didn't need to imbue a lot of mana. Get electrocuted around that area, and you'd only get confused or whatever. Although, electrification might be a little too painful. But at least it was not me suffering it, you know.

Continuing into the rooms, I quickly threw my daggers at the enemies, right into their sleeping necks. And then electrified them. Once they were done, I drew back my daggers with their magical strings and quickly moved on to the next.

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I did it as quickly as possible. And in around a minute, I was done. I quickly moved into the next building. Things were a little less bloody this time compared to the last infiltration. I have been holding back my chaotic and gory tendency lately. 'But Estelia, massacring an entire bandit base is not exactly holding back your chaotic tendency.' Pffft, that's got nothing to do with it. And what matters is the execution and I had been more graceful with this, right? And it definitely had nothing to do with the part where I was being very thrifty with spending mana. Totally not.

…

Ahem, anyway. Let's continue.

Some time later, I was done with my part.

"Nira." She arrived right next to me. "Check for any enemies we might have missed."

She left, and I waited for Miyako and Satomi to come out. A couple of minutes later, they were finally done.

"They're dead. All dead," Miyako said in a low voice.

"... I see. Then it's time to proceed to the keep."

We made our way to the back center of the base. There was a well-made building, sizable, almost like a mini castle. I learned from the bandit I tortured that it was where the bandit boss was located. He said that their boss was incredibly powerful, that no one was able to even land a hit on him. From that, he didn't sound too different from the last bandit leader I killed.

Instead of going through the front doors, we used the side entrance. Which was surprisingly locked. Huh, at least they thought of securing the place. However, a locked door wouldn't stop me from getting some good food.

I shaped my shield magic into tiny lock picks. I fiddled around with the lock until I heard a click.

Easy.

I opened the door and went inside the dark, unlit room. However, as we moved, we noticed a particular open room. A single torch illuminated it, but it was enough to see what was inside. Miyako quietly gasped when she saw it. She rushed towards it, and we followed behind her.

"What… What is this?" Miyako looked at the scene with a shocked expression.

In the room were people, tied in ropes. A dozen of them. Most of them were women and a couple of men. They were all naked and looked completely worn out. No, they didn't seem to be breathing at all.

"Slaves," Satomi muttered.

Miyako placed a hand on her lips. "H-How could people do this?"

I approached one woman and placed a hand on her neck. "No pulse. They treated them like consumables…"

Indeed, none of them were breathing.

Miyako gently approached a young woman leaning against the wall. "This is cruel."

"Isn't this your way?" I said. "Slavery."

"No… No." She shook her head. "This… This isn't how we do things. At least not on our island."

"Is that so?"

She lowered her head. "Is this how they do things here?"

"How do you do things, then?"

"We have laws for slaves. Legal slaves are to be treated properly. None shall be forced into slavery unless they broke the law or have a debt to a person. But they shall not be treated inhumanely."

Huh, that sounds like a decent kind of slavery.

"They shall serve their master or the nation until their debt is paid."

"That is why we often hunt criminal groups that kidnap people and force them into slavery. Others move them to another island." Satomi added. "This is not our way." She looked at her surroundings with a displeased frown.

"I see."

Satomi seemed to have seen plenty of slaves being treated like this. But from the looks of it, it was different for Miyako.

"This is… just too inhumane…" Miyako muttered.

It was then I heard a faint groan. I raised my head to see a twitching naked woman. Her hair was muddy and unruly. She was dirty all over. With all that said, she looked kinda familiar.

"That one's still alive," Satomi said.

We approached her, and Miyako quickly crouched down beside her.

"It's, it's gonna be okay," Miyako said. "We'll help you." She held out her hand, and the light of healing magic touched the poor young woman.

I narrowed my eyes and crouched down in front of the woman, and I shifted her hair off her face. "I know you."

Nira leaned forward. "She's one of them…" She, too, recognized her.

"You know her?" Satomi asked.

"She was one of the women I saved… What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here." Never in my life did I expect to see her here, of all places. Of all times.

The young woman twitched and slowly looked up at me. The moment she recognized me, her eyes widened.

"It… It is you…" she said in a low, strained voice. "M-My… savior."

I frowned.

She slowly lifted up her hands, as if trying to reach out to me. Tears started streaming down her cheeks. Her face was full of pain.

"P-Please, s-save me… one last time," she pleaded with all her heart.

"Save you…?"

"Save me… from this suffering… I beg you."

Miyako looked at her with bafflement. "Don't worry, we'll save you. You're going to be alright."

But the woman kept her eyes on me, and we stared into each other's eyes. It was there I understood what she meant.

I held out my dagger.

"E-Estelia, what are you doing?" Miyako stared at my dagger.

"Move aside, Miyako."

"What…?" She looked at the dagger, then at the young woman. "No, you can't do that."

Satomi placed a hand on Miyako's shoulder. "Milady, please, step aside."

"I don't understand. Why would you do this?"

"It's what she wants," Satomi answered.

"But…"

"Milady." Satomi gently pulled her back.

I leaned in close to the woman, and pushed my dagger into her heart. The woman smiled at me.

"... Thank you…" Those were her last words as she closed her eyes. And her voice was full of gratitude and relief.

It kinda pissed me off. I saved her, and you tell me it was pointless? What was all that work for? For her to end up right back where she was. How irritating. I was kinda hoping that some of those people that took her would be at least decent. It would seem that hope was wasted.

What a shame.

It would seem some people just couldn't have hope.

I pulled out my blade.

"Why, why would she…?" Miyako murmured.

I let out a sigh and stood up. "Some people could only take so much suffering, Miyako. Sometimes, death is the sweetest gift."

This woman here had suffered enough. She wished for release, and I granted it to her. That in itself was mercy.

"Let's go. We are almost at the end."

We continued on, and Miyako fell far behind with Satomi. We arrived at the center of the main hall, it was a wide chamber. We climbed up the stairs and found a big room. I opened the door, and the moment I did, I saw a fist coming at me.

I immediately conjured a barrier, and I was sent flying back, landing back on the wide chamber floor.

"Goddess!" Nira rushed towards me, jumping down from the upper floor.

"I'm fine. The enemy?"

Miyako and Satomi raised their blades at the enemy. It was a man with an average body build. Dark hair, and dark eyes. He grinned as he looked at the two of them, then towards me.

"Heh, I suspected that the guys outside were strangely quiet tonight." He drew out his sword. "And you people are here. Intruders!" He shouted. "Wake up, you useless swines!"

The doors of the main hall slammed open, and numerous footsteps came rushing in.

Ah, there's a lot more inside this place, huh?

Still, I didn't expect this guy would realize something was off.

The enemies gathered in the main chamber, surrounding me and Nira.

The bandit leader laughed. "And too bad! I'm still awake, you fucks! I'm not an early sleeper."

Absurd, this is far from early.

"Plus, you think you can just sneak up on me?! Big mistake!"

Indeed, perhaps my mistake was bringing the others along in this building, who had low stealth skills. I underestimated the sharp senses of the bandit leader.

"So answer me, peasants! What the fuck are you doing here?"

"To put it simply, a hostile takeover," I said.

"Hahaha! Fucking hilarious! Men! Kill those two." He turned towards Miyako and Satomi. "I'll take care of these."

"Miyako, Satomi!" I called. "Kill him! We'll handle the rest of the bandits."

With Satomi there, they should be able to defeat the guy. And Miyako was powerful too. There was nothing to worry about much.

"Nira… Let's be quick on these guys."

"Yes."

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