"So, you want me to go to that place and keep it safe?" Loraz asked in a low, guttural voice quite sometime after I explained my station on the matter.
And judging by his squinted eyes, I could pretty much guess his answer.
'Right, it's not that easy to forget about the past and cooperate with someone you've tried to kill, someone responsible for the loss of your balls...'
"Yes and no," I replied shortly, doing my best to cut Loraz off before he could make any statements that would only serve to have his pride stop him from revoking them. "For now, it's better to just leave it alone, and attract less attention to the area. Right now, I need you to guide us to where Madam is."
Going around the forest and killing whoever we encountered was a valid tactic... when it came to testing out the strength of Makary's guns and men within the standards of this world. But this kind of half-random strolling and looking for a fight served little to no purpose in winding down the enemy numbers.
And no matter how great Makary's scouting tech could be, it only revealed our direct proximity, not the entire, massive area of the forest.
"What do you ask of me, then?" Loraz questioned, closing his hands on his chest.
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Another sign that signified how hard it would be to convince the man.
Thankfully, I only needed him not to actively sabotage my plans, and not to wholeheartedly support them. And the best way to convince him to this small degree... Was to force him to acknowledge what I could bring to the table. And that could only be done once I got more men...
Or found better ways to make use of what I had on hand at the moment. After all, with the cooldown on my portal only an hour shorter than it was when we entered this world, we were pretty much stuck here, with no way to replenish our numbers or supplies.
"First, led us to Madam so we can decide on a plan on how to stop..." I nearly bit myself in the tongue, just a second too late to fix my wording. "... to quell the human incursion into the forest. And we need to hurry, or the threats I used against the golden princess will appear as bluffs."
Once again, I could hear the sound of Makary's ears prickling as he listened to everything I said with great interest. Soon enough, just by listening in, he would gather enough info to start piecing together enough context to figure it all out.
"Enough to show that those weapons are only good against the weak folk," I casually replied, leaving the interpretation of those words for Fay.
"Sure thing!" Fay's smile turned from cheeky to a smug one as she let go of my hand and moved forward, leading the group ahead at a slightly different angle than the one I initially took.
'I guess she can already smell the others,' I thought, stealing a glance to the side at Chris.
Makary's feminine subordinate continued to alternate his glance between Fay's back and his device with an increasing frown on his face.
"Is everything alright?" Makary moved over and asked while stealing a glance at Chris' device.
"Yeah, I mean..." Chris raised his eyes again. "It's not exactly a problem, but she's leading us right between those two smaller groups."
They both used hushed voices, a precaution sufficient given the distance if I was a normal human... But with my enhanced senses, I could make out pretty much every single word they whispered.
"Fear not," Fay turned her head over her shoulder while stretching her arms out and wiggling her shoulders to warm them up a bit. She then turned around and reached out, grabbing my shirt and pulling me towards her as she once again spiked our bond.
Every last receptor in my mind and soul screamed out when filled with an endless sense of unity and mutual affection. And in the midst of all of this, Fay pulled me close enough to lean herself and press her lips against my mouth.
For a second, only the softness of her lips, the warmth of her breath, and the wetness of her tongue mattered. The world around us disappeared as our minds erased anything beyond our bond.
And as the intensity of our bond spiked, as our souls united... The inherence of our bond pried its eyes open and flooded the two of us with the extremely familiar craving.
Fay's lips moved, kneading my mouth into submission while her tongue aggressively rubbed and tangled with mine. And then, as suddenly as it all started, Fay pulled out, both in terms of her lips and in terms of our bond.
Once again able to see her face, I fell into the trap of her enchanting smile, filled with wild if not dark undertones.
"Now, let's go kill."