Chapter 273 - Vol. 4 - 72

"Ash?" Satsuhiro asked. "Did you hear me?" 

The half-demon's eyes looked up at him, and she pushed the previous night's conversation out of her mind. 

"Yeah," she answered, and Satsuhiro gave her a skeptical look. 

And, he was right to do that, because ever since she spoke with the Arcane's daughter, her mind had been ruminating on one thing, and one thing only. Was it the right decision to help that girl? The positive side was easy to see. She had promised powerful magic as a reward, magic that not only she could learn, but magic her friends could also learn. Specifically, she was curious to see the kind of Light magic the girl was offering. Was there something that didn't revolve around simply healing things? If there was, she wanted it. 

On the other hand, the potential negative side was also easy to understand. If Zafir caught her, the Senate here in Amber would surely start some problems for her, at the very least, and maybe they'd try to kill her, or her friends, at worst. Sure, she was confident she could beat most humans in a fight right now, that she knew of anyway, but she still would rather avoid conflicts like that if she could. 

What prompted her to accept the girl's proposal, however, at the end of their conversation was one simple thought. 

All she wanted was to be taken out of Amber. Such a thing could be accomplished in a single, well-planned out, night. At the most, Ash guessed this little "mission" would take up to an hour. That fact made giving the girl her answer something easy. 

However, she knew it was probably a good idea to let her group know, just in case anything happened. 

Right now, she was just trying to pick the right time. 

"Okay, well, since I know you weren't listening, I'll explain again," Satsuhiro said. Right now, everyone was gathered up in one of the rooms at the Manor, where they usually had dinner and breakfast. Ash was sitting between Keiko and Kasumi. To Keiko's left was Yumi, to her left was Sinneah. Satsuhiro sat opposite Ash on the table, and on the right side of the table were Metsumi, Luvine, and Opah.

Satsuhiro sighed before he kept talking. 

"If Lumina said you've got a month, that was, of course, almost a week ago, so, that's approximately three to four weeks from now. I'd say, we probably want to stay here for just another week, then, we get you up to Pearl, and handle things there. Then, after that, you do what you have to do for Kaori, and, yeah. What do you think?" 

"Sounds good to me," Ash replied. 

"How many levels could we gain in this time?" Kasumi asked. 

"With your buff, it's hard to say exactly," Satsuhiro replied. "As for Yumi and Keiko, I'd say you can probably get something like 10 levels in that time. Obviously, it depends on how many monsters you fight." 

"We should get to work then," Yumi pitched in. "Make the most out of our remaining time here. As long as we get to work with as few distractions as possible, we should get considerably stronger." 

...

Ash hesitated.

Well,  she thought, this feels like as good a time as any, I guess.

"About that," Ash spoke up, "there's one distraction we should probably take care of first." 

At that, everyone's eyes went to her, curiously. Satsuhiro leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table. 

"Yes?" He asked. 

"... Last night," Ash started, "I ran into the Arcane's daughter." 

As she made that statement, everyone, aside from Sinneah, Luvine, and Opah, all of which didn't quite understand or care about the significance of that, visibly paused. 

"Okay," Satsuhiro nodded slowly. "And, what happened?" 

"I... I talked to her," Ash began to explain. "Look, long story short, Zafir wants her dead. But, before that, he wants to learn some high-level spells from her. So, she told me that if I take her out of Amber, and I save her, then she'll give me those spells instead. And," Ash took a deep breath, "I agreed. I told her I would help." 

"..." Satsuhiro looked away, before raking a hand through his hair. "Well, in that case, we'll have to get that done soon. When are you going to take her out of here?" 

Ash was surprised he accepted the plan so quickly. 

"That's it?" Ash raised a brow. "No other questions?" 

"What else would I ask?" He shrugged. "Obviously I'm surprised, but, it does seem straightforward. I'd rather begin talking about possible solutions immediately." 

"Well, shit. Okay," Ash nodded. "Anyway, we didn't come to any sort of agreement, but I'd guess that one of these nights, either tonight or tomorrow, we'll probably do it. I can handle it alone," Ash quickly made clear. "But, yeah, if you guys can all help somehow, I'd appreciate it." 

"Hm..." Satsuhiro then turned to make sure the door was closed, just in case any of the sounds of their sudden conspiring escaped into the hall. "Something like this, it's probably best to handle it alone anyway. Having a large group with you would only make your whole thing all the more noticeable. But, the issue is, how do we get her out of here? Out of the region, to be specific." 

"What do you mean?" 

"Well, you saw that crowd before. The Senate isn't allowing any regular civilian caravans out of Amber right now. And, of course, you want to get some more farm before you leave, so you can't just leave with her. So, it's not enough to just get her out of the city. We'd have to get her at least halfway through to Jade before she could really be considered 'saved', you know?"

"I think I understand," Ash answered. 

"There's also the issue of, if they notice that she went missing just as you go missing," Satsuhiro added, "it won't be hard for them to realize who it was who helped the girl escape." 

"And," Ash finished his train of thought, "then they'd start problems for us before I even come back, maybe." 

"Exactly." 

Hm... What a pain,  Ash thought.  So, how do we get around this? 

"I can help with a couple of those," Kasumi stated. 

Everyone turned to look at her. 

"What?" Ash asked. 

"I'm an illusionist," Kasumi shrugged. "I can put a disguise on this girl. And, I can put a disguise on someone here, to make it look like you're still around. I doubt they'd think much of it if someone like Keiko went missing, right? We can make it look like she's the one who isn't around." 

"... Oh," Ash replied, blinking.

"You can make it look like Ash never left," Satsuhiro nodded along. "I get it." 

"Now, how do we get her out of the region?" Ash asked. 

"..." Satsuhiro paused. "Maybe... Amber has to have a black market of some sort. Chances are, there are already people working on smuggling citizens out. We'd only need to find them." 

Immediately, Ash perked up when she heard that. 

"Bin," she said. 

"What?" 

"A guy I met a little while ago," she explained. "A half-demon in the underside of Amber. It was a pretty shady place. If we're looking for a black market, I'd start there." 

"If that's true, then, that sounds like a good option. Like you said, we might be doing this tonight or tomorrow. You might wanna get on that soon then." 

"Fuck it, I'll head over there right now," Ash stood up. 

"Uh, sure, if you want to," Satsuhiro shrugged. "Just, try not to get too much attention on yourself. If the guards feel like you're acting weird, chances are they'll alert the Senate." 

"Got it," she nodded. 

With that being said, suddenly, a plan was nearly in place. As everyone walked out of the room into the empty hall outside, Keiko put a hand on Ash's sleeve. The half-demon turned toward her, raising a brow. 

"Yeah?" Ash asked. 

"Want me to come with you?" Keiko asked. "I-I know there's still a huge distance between our levels, but I can still offer some backup." 

"..." Ash paused. "Okay, if you want to. But, be careful, alright? Someone random thug could always sneak in a lucky shot." 

"I understand, Keiko quickly replied. "Come on, let's get ready." 

On that note, both girls went to their room. They didn't take their armor, instead, only they only took their weapons with them as they intended to keep a half-low profile, even though of course, everyone would know who they were as soon as they saw their levels. Ash hoped that the lack of their armor would at least make the guards feel like they weren't looking for trouble. 

Tying her  Lust  to her belt, Keiko did the same with her father's sword, and the two of them soon exited the room. 

Running straight into Zafir. 

Ash flinched when she saw him. The senator was standing there with his hands behind his back and a polite smile on his face. 

"Greetings, Savior," he said. "How goes your day?" 

"... Fine," Ash replied, crossing her arms. "What's up?" 

"I was... merely thinking about our last interaction. I feel as though I may have given you the wrong impression. So, I was wondering if you would allow me a chance to explain to you where Amber is heading. Would you lend me that chance?" 

"Dude, I told you, I really don't care," Ash replied. 

"I understand. Still, I'd like for you to know. Maybe, later, we could speak for a few minutes?" Zafir insisted, and Ash briefly narrowed her eyes at him. 

"Yeah, sure," she answered, hoping he'd just leave them alone. 

"Wonderful. Thank you for your time," Zafir bowed, before promptly walking away. Ash's eyes remained on him for a while, until she couldn't see him anymore. Keiko put a hand on her shoulder. 

"Are you okay?" 

"Yeah," Ash replied quickly. "Just a little weirded out.. Let's go."