As Rex laid in the bed on his back with Izumis head and one arm on his chest he was slowly caressing her brown hair. After a while she spoke, content and happiness in her voice.

"Thank you." that was all she said for a while as her hand slowly moved on his chest. After a while she spoke once more, this time more serious.

"The kitsune emperor and council have agreed to Neo's request. Three of their princeses would be gifted, if he can end the war with the sect Union. And since I was representing Neo, to save as many of our people as I can, and ensure his early participation, I had to drive quite a hard bargain. Two of their most beautifull young princeses and a rather arrogant beauty was asked for, and they agreed, albeit reluctantly."

"What are the possibility that they will not honor the deal once I have finished?" Rex asked.

"I would like to say nigh imposible, since the fact alone you had destroyed a sect or two would be enough of a deterrant to ensure their compliance." Izumi answered. And while she wanted to say that kitsunes are honourable and would never do such a thing, she was not entirely sure.

"Gate? Or do we have to take a different path?" Rex asked as he was calculating the time and a few other variables from his knowledge regrding the world map and locations.

"Gate was finished a few days ago, almost at the same time you returned." Izumi told him. "It would take a few days at the wery least from the capital to reach the port cities. Then a day or so later through sea and you would be at the destination."

"I would have loved to enjoy a few more days in this paradise I have created, but sect or two are calling me to burn them and loot some jade beauties it seems." he then pulled her chin towards himself, and stole her lips. A long and passionate kiss then turned into another session. He had to ensure that kis hard working ambasador was rewarded for her achievments in these negotiations.

Early in the morning after breakfast he left alone ensuring he was not noticed and met Izumi as Neo near the gate district. Izumi would bring him over to the capital and then hand over to his contacts on the other side, who would ensure he reached his destination as soon as possible, then she would return home, awaiting his return with the rest of his girls. It did not take long for Neo to cross the gate, and he soon met the representative of the kitsune. A black haired and furred individual, who introduced himself as Naros. He was a seven tailed kitsune tasked with guidance and assistance in Neo's task. And while it seemed that the ywere quite reluctant to give up three princeses, the possible benefits and the preservation of their people was immense. And the posibility of the mercenary dying while still inflicting quite a lot of damage was quite high. medium risk for potentialy insane rewards, was what their council had calculated. And while they would not come to regret their deal, they would change the way they ever adress the man by the name of Neo. After teh war they would never call him anything else than lord Neo, even when only among themselves or hiden meetings.

Without much delay he was brought to a hall where their council was awaiting him, he was not quite high profile enough to demand the presence of the only eight tail kitsune currently alive. They spent an hour or so to sign a contract regarding the job he was to perform, and the rewards he would recieve in return for his sucsesfull mission. And as soon as they were done, he demanded Naros to gring him to docks so he could be on his next step towards the completion of his objectives. Izumi had alrady went back and he had no girls here, so he didnt want to juts laze around in the bed all night. Since the ship was on a standby for him, as soon as he arrived, they departed with him on the board.

The travel across the ocean was quite monotone. No monsters attacked, no pirates encountered, no nothing. Juts him on the deck along the endless waves that the ocean showed him as the ship was on its way to their destination. Sure, he saw a few different species of fishes, who surfaced and jumped out of the water for some reason but it was calm and peacefull otherwise. It was day and a half later that they stopped at a relatively small port town, a few hundred people together, living their lives and eeking out meak some semblece of life. Hard working fishermen, and their families by the looks of it. All heavily tanned, working hours a day in the hot sun of this semi tropical climate. The air was quite damn and hot, ensuring that any physical activities required even more strenght, effort and energy than the weather he was used to. Not that it mattered to him, he was long past the limits of ordinary men, so while fully aware, he didnt even feel the increased strain on his body. Just another day for him.

On his way to some sort of a tavern he realised that people here spoke comon as well, saving him from using some dubious methods to ensure a quick learning experience. After a few questions to the locals, who, while somewhat vary still showed enough hospitality and assistance for Neo to reach the small villages only inn/ bar. there he bought a few drinks, adn left a decent tip as he asked a few questions while sipping from his mug.

"Not from around here as you must have noticed," Neo started "any rules in particular I should be aware of, to not endanger myself in these lands?"

"Depends, whats your tarde mister?" The aged man behind the counter asked as he pocketed the few silver coins Neo left there as the tip, or payment for the information.

"Sellsword by trade." Neo responed after another few gulps of the drink, with the free hand pointing at a sword by his side.

"There is a town a few days travel north of here, if you follow the roads. I would suggest you seek for work there. We have little in terms of needs and ability to aford external help." the bartender sighed at the last part of his response.

"But be carefull not to run into the guys in the clean and regal looking clothing. Doubly so if the back sleeves of their clothes are adorned with quite extravagant drawings. Sadly, their peaole are getting more and more arrogant lately." Then he leaned in, speaking muc hmore quetly "I hear their war effort is going well and they want to expand their operations. That in turn makes them more arrogant, adn we - small people suffer for it, since they rarely care for our lives. And we can do nothing, even if they were to kill some of us. Thats just the life around here." Old man spoke dejectedly.

"I hear a grievance in your voice boss." spoke Neo as he felt the barkeeps voice turn more hoarse, as if something was stabbing the mans heart.

"Lost my daughter to one such young master." the man said and sniffed, holding back the tears of loss "She was a nice girl, if a little naive. Few days ago, a group of them disciples passed through. Wanted her to keep them company. She refused, when I called her back, politely and all of course. But the smirks those men had, sinister I say. They left that very day, but come morning my sweet Lin was gone. As if she had not even laid to sleep. She loved to walk around the village fence before slepp. Said she was nicer dreams that way." The old man serving as the barkeep was now in quite a bit of tears, as he told of his worries.

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"I will look around, see what i find. Would not take much of my time anyways. Consider it as thanks for the warm welcome." Neo spoke, quickly finished his drink and went outside.

"Witcher senses on." he murmured to himself with a small smile and looked around the village for a few minutes. then moved around along the fence the old man said the girl would walk along before sleep. At one point of the fence he noticed a small drop of blood, dried of course, but it wasnt that much of a problem.He used his mana to envelop the dried blood and examined the energy contained within. Just a smidgen of enerhy, but that was all he needed. Every person carried a unique blend of life energy, just liek the dna of humans back in his world, and now that he had a sample he used his enormous man pool to send out waves of energy, scanning great distance all around him. He was the center of the sonar, and it would create a resonance with the same energy he felt in the blood.

There was a ping a while later, a few kilometers away from the village, and Neo moved in that dirrection. Once he had reached the place, he found a clearing of sorts, and he stopped in the shade of a rather large tree. He found a few more dried drops of blood here, adn he used his sonar once more. Another ping, but this one was quite large, that he sensed nearby. He moved to the location and soon he came upon a rather unpleasant sight. A young girl, aproximately fifteen years old, lied there on the ground, her clothes torn, exposing her everything. Her face showed a few bruises, as well as her arms and legs. She had fought with all her strenght, yet it was not enough. The dried mix of blood and semen had formed a puddle as it had leaked from her after the assailants have had their fun with the girl. A talisman of sorts was placed at the tree above the girl, still displaying a small amount of energy. That must be what kept the insects and predators at bay, possibly also contained any sounds inside while they were haing their fun, Neo reasoned. Her tear stained and glossy eyes spoke volumes. And the small, bloody knife near the girls one arm, alongside the larger puddle of blood that had spilled from her second hands wrist finalized the scene.

"Guess I have my work cut out for me." Neo spoke in a solemn voice as he pulled out a cloth sheet from one of his storage rings, then he used his mana to lessen the stiffness of the body, wraped it in cloth and in a princes carry brought the gril back to the village. The few villagers he encountered on his way to the bar quickly cleared way, scared and quite a ware of teh body in the strangers hands. Neo kicked the bar doors open as he entered, with a small pus ha of his mana cleard a tableand laid teh body of the girl on it. He already saw the tears streaming down the old mans eyes as he already knew who the person wrapped in the cloth was.

"I am sorry, old man." Neo spoke "Do you know where they came from, to which power they belong?" One of the regulars who had hidden in the corner, since his path out was bloocked by Neo quickly spoke as the old man was sobbing with the cloth moved, and the girls head in his embrace

""White lotus sect. Rumor has it they use girls as cauldrons for their personal growth. Nobody knows for sure, since nothing has been proven."

"Where?" Neo asked in a rather calm voice. While unpleasant, he was sure he could be doing worse things when he will finally get to work on his echlisiarchy problem that was waiting their turn. He had come to terms with this world, and as such he could easily understand being cruel and savage towards people of enemy nations. But these were their own people, and you dont treat your own people like shit, or worse. He could also understand somewhat why this sect could continiue operating. Now that the ywere in a war against another nation, their methods, if true, could help them grow faster once the real fighting starts, giving teh sect side a rather big advantage. Guess in a tragedy of a simple man he has gained a great opportunity. He noew had his first target, and it would give him quite good vibes taking down such a sect.

The regular looked at the sobbing barkeep and his face took on a resolute expression.

"I will take you there. It is a few days away from here."

"Good, whenever you are ready old timer." Neo spoke as he planned a solid torture session in the sect. He had quite teh assembly of torture tools in one of his rings- courtesy of the now deceased Royce Rambert. Right, he had to check teh progress his succubi maids had made with the training of Elena. He cant give his future customers half trained whores, can he? 'Later' Neo though as he focused back on the task at hand.

"How long do you want screams coming from their sect boss?" Neo asked as his slightly mana imbued voice pulled the old man out of his grief induced crying. Cold hatred flashed in the old mans eyes

"Make them suffer, Make them wail. You can take anything I have, as long as the culprits burn and suffer."

"Write down everything you know about all the sects and their locations. Rumored experts, famed beauties and so on. Seems the sects have forgotten that the little people are the lifeblood of any nation. Time to remind them. And worry not old man, I will take my fees from them." With the last sentence a sinister smirk dawned on Neos face.

"Just who are you?" his to be guide asked, then quickly added "sir", Neo waited for a moment, as if in thought, then answered

"To him- avenger and bringer of justice" he spoke as he pointed to the barkeep "To the sects- a nightmare one does not wake from. And to you, perhaps a tale to entertain with and scare people in the future. Who knows?"

A few minutes later, the barkeed had gathered some of his faculties, and gave quite a few drinks to the regular who would guide Neo, as thanks for the help he would provide. Once that was done, a few of the village women had entered the bar, and once they learned of what had happened, the girls body had been moved and now was being cleaned to be prepeared for the burial. Neo would not stay here for that, he had to calm and help a soul pass on to the next life, as the locals believed, and he was more than willing.

The two men departed on their way to the White Lotus sect. And Neo had to give his guide some props. The man did not indulge in the booze he had in his bag all that much. A wery rare swig once in a few hours was taken, and Neo could understand that. From the few words they exchanged as they traveled, the man had seen barkeeps daughter grow up from when seh was born. He had retired from a disbanding mercenary group, and been living in the village for a few months, when the girl was born, and being a regular there he had seen her grow up. HE considered the girl half a daughter himself and had spent the previous day looking for her in the forest. Neo knew there was no way he would have found the girl before the talisman expired. It broke because his mana pulse was just that much stronger and owerpowered it, otherwise even Rex would not have found the girls body. And since the girl had taken her own life after that event, there was no way the body itself would move out of the barrier.

Upon the coiming of dusk they stopped at a clearing where a carriage with a few guards had stopped. Such clearings were made near the roads every now and then, making the camping for the night much easier. The guards wery quite alert as they saw the two strangers approaching. One looked like a beggar, and the second was giving them dangerous vibes. The fact that his clothing was foreighn, betraying the mans origins did not ease their minds one bit.

"State your purpose!" One of the guards barked with his weapon raised, ready for anything and on high alert.

"My guide here needs to rest, since he is quite tired, and I have been informed that these clearings are meant for exactly that purpose. So be a sane guard and lower that weapon, before anyone gets hurt." Neo responded as he moved to the other corner of the clearing, pulling an unused but quite old sleeping bag. and set it up for the guide. They quickly set up a small bonefire, cooked a bit of meat, that the guide devoured as if he had not eaten for days.Earth grade was not something ordinary people could get to eat after all, and Rex had absolutely nothing but earth and heaven grade in his rings. Once the guide had eaten, he quickly went to sleep as per Rex instructions, while he himself slowly enjoyed a lightly roasted piece of meat while being on watch. They never interacted with the people of the carriage, nor their guards during the night, and with the first morning light, once his guide woke up, they had a quick breakfast, cleaned up the site, and left the clearing. The guards, who were quite vigilant all night sighed in relief as the odd pair finaly dissapeared from their sights. One of the passangers of the carriage looked in the dirrection the two starngers dissapeared, a weird glint in their eyes.