(Brendan POV)

"Are you sure about this?"

"Of course I am, is that thing not blinking so obnoxiously right now?"

I sighed, storing Elaria's tracking device back in my storage ring, "This only tells us that we are close, not point us in the exact direction."

Sylphy gestured around us, "Sweetie pie, unless there is somewhere else Master could be held in around here, this is the only building around for miles."

Well she has a point, the two of us were hiding behind the bushes looking at a large fortress right in the middle of an open field where everything around it was stomped flat, presumably to prevent anyone from coming or going without being seen.

The only issue I had with this place was the dubious nature of how she got the info that Master was being held here.

I thought they might have Master locked up in the dungeons within the Dong's capital city, but apparently Sylphy had managed to get some info from a few Dong soldiers that were escorting us 'refugees' to safety.

I found out the reason why she bought all those food was to ingratiate herself with the other refugees, saying it was fortunate that we were on a date and she just so happened to have bought those food. Thus, she was happy to share it with everyone who became especially grateful to her.

That made her seem friendly enough to talk to the guards without suspicion.

They had boasted to her about "torturing a Beiyangdog that was rude to our king, made sure he suffered a lot, he did".

Apparently a few bats of Sylphy's eyelashes was enough to get the guard to sing like a canary.

A hand on their shoulders and her laughter was enough to get them to tell her where they brought the "Beiyang dog to get tortured more".

For the record, I am not jealous.

No, really.

It's hard to get jealous of those guards when they were quite brutally tortured afterwards by the self-proclaimed goddess once she got everything out of them.

I thought it was unnecessary but according to her, getting intimate with anyone but me or Master was exceptionally vexing for her.

Thus she needed to 'cleanse' herself by getting rid of those guys.

Why she didn't skip the flirting and went straight for torture instead I'll never know. If I had to guess, was she actually trying to make me jealous?

I wasn't really there for the interrogation since leaving the guards and her alone would make them talk easier. The guards actually believed that they were in the process of cuckolding me.

Not that I would actually feel anything if Sylphy actually chose to lay with them anyway, we're not dating.

That's why I'm a little dubious about her source of information since the guards could just be talking her up for all we know.

But seeing Elaria's device blinking so enthusiastically, I guess this really is the place.

The place being some kind of prison fortress in the middle of nowhere which we were told the worst of the worst criminals get sent to.

"This doesn't make sense…" I muttered. "Even just considering Master's position as an envoy, He shouldn't be sent here. At the very least, they would keep Master where they can use as a bargaining chip for the war."

Sylphy patted my head, "Oh muffin cake~ The Dongs never thought they would be on the losing side of the war. What use would there be of any bargaining chips?"

Hmmm… I suppose that makes sense. No one goes into a war expecting themselves to lose, after all.

"But still… I wonder what Master did to make them send Him here?"

Sylphy shrugged, "Maybe just because of where Master is from? They respect us as much as they respect ants after all."

I hummed in agreement before trying to expand my senses to scout the fortress.

I shook my head, "They do have the anti-Technique barrier up. I can't sense anything inside those walls, not that I'm good at it in the first place anyway."

Sylphy tapped her chin, "Mmm… That means I won't be very useful either. How would you want to handle this, darling cakes?"

"I believe this is your area of expertise, not mine," I gestured towards the fortress.

She tilted her head at me, "Unless honey pie wants to burn the entire place to the ground, we're going to have to sneak in. But that's a bit difficult with this open field..."

I materialised two bottles from within my storage ring, "Well, it's good that I came prepared then."

"Ohh~ What are those? They look like they could be something fun!"

"Invisibility potions, what else can they be?"

"Oh, I thought they were actually something you were going to use to blow that whole place up," she muttered, sounding a little disappointed.

"If Master wasn't in there… I might have done that. But with the risk of Master being caught up in it, that's not an option."

"Oh sweetie cakes! Let's do that after we rescue Master!"

"Please… Do not act like this in front of Master. Do you have any idea what to say if Master asks you how you ended up with me?"

"Teehee~ Of course muffin cake! Dear Manami taught me how to handle being rejected by the love of my life and we parted on good terms. Although I still want you for myself so I'm not giving up~"

I shook my head, "No, I meant why you're here with me to rescue Master."

She tilted her head at me, "Is it really necessary? I don't think Master would sweat such details. If their Master is captured, of course it would make sense for the disciples to rescue him, right?"

I raised my eyebrow at her.

She pouted, "Oh fine… I came to the country of Dong to start a new life and you met me by chance in one of the towns where news of Master's capture had spread to. You then asked me to lead you to him. Good enough?"

"Better than nothing I suppose. If Master finds out about your involvement with us, I will kill you myself."

"Ooh~ Scary~ I like that part about you too, honey pie~"

I handed one of the invisibility potions to her, "Now take this. We'll wait until night before we try to sneak in, that should make things easier for us. Our main priority would be to secure Master and get Him out to safety, understood?"

"Naturally~ I have done extraction missions before, cherry pie~ I know what I'm doing. What about you?"

"If worse comes to worse, I still have my potions to rely on so I'm good. You don't need to worry about me."

"Ehehe~ If you say so~"

Well then, nothing else to do but wait now.

This mission of mine is definitely not going to be easy. Hopefully the girls are having a better time than I am.

And I'm not just saying that because I am stuck with Sylphy here…

There she goes trying to cuddle up to me again… This woman never learns.

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