The spaceship landed in the village's vicinity. All the Demons were in the spaceship. It was fully packed like an electromagnetic rail subway on Capital during peak hours. I tasked Sylviane to guide and organize the Demons when they’ll arrive at the new village Alyn chose. We were taking care of the minor details together with Sylviane and Alyn when Bozur and Sarrelle interrupted us.

“Governor Drake, I request to accompany your team while you save our people!” Sarrelle imposed herself.

“Rejected, you will take care of the villagers during the night with Sylviane. We need more information about your people and your culture. Feel free to teach my First Advisor about it.” I spoke with a firm voice.

“But my little sister is imprisoned there too! I want to help her now that you’re with us.” She insisted.

“You’re now a citizen of our nation. You can’t speak like that to our governor! Watch your manners. Furthermore, you aren’t even part of our military. We’ll train you and the new willing recruits after tonight. This is only one of the many points we need to talk about.” Sylviane chimed.

“I’ll go with your father and the Deathwings will exfiltrate us while directly controlled by Alyn. We’ll leave with all the hostages, so focus on your own tasks. Don’t forget, you’re now protected by us, but you must obey our orders for the moment.” I gently pointed out.

Sylviane is speaking about discipline? Who left her position before we have neutralized the enemy? However, she’s right. We need to establish a working organization as soon as possible and edict rules for our new citizens to follow. She was nervously looking left and right and stomping on the ground. Her father was looking more nervous by the seconds, not knowing how to appease her. I stepped in front of her, put a hand on her shoulder while looking straight into her eyes.

“She’s going to be okay. If we can kill the manor’s owner and his personal guard, we should easily rescue the hostages from a lesser defended building. Before dawn, you’ll have your little sister basking in your embrace. The faster you depart from here, the faster we’ll end this operation. Now, go with Sylviane and wait for the good news.” I patted her shoulder.

She tightly hugged me. I could feel her warmth through my armor, and her two hills pressing on my chest. “Please, do nothing rash and bring them all safe and sound. Not only my sister, but all the villagers’ loved ones too.” She stepped back. Some tears silently falling from her ruby eyes.

“Sarrelle, we need to leave now. They will group with us later. Meanwhile, we need to speak about your culture and what changes when you become an imperial citizen.” She grabbed one of the Demoness’ hands and quickly entered the ship. She nodded at me before disappearing with Sarrelle in the Deathwings’ belly.

“Alyn, monitor them. Take proper action if needed. We don’t really know much about them. We can’t lose either Sylviane or the Deathwings, so isolate her in the cockpit. I’ll be alright with Bozur but send three drones on duty guard around Sylviane where we’ll create our first city.” I ordered. We can’t let our guard down for the time being. We’ll release security little by little.

“Bozur, let’s go! We’ll jog to the manor. Didn’t you say it’s not too far away?” I turned my head to Bozur.

“Yes, it is only 2 hours of fast walking through the forest. Roads don’t connect our village with his manor. The only road leads to the nearest city, a 5 hours walk.” He answered.

“Lead the way!”

We jogged toward the manor. The forest was dark, but I didn’t fall thanks to my enhanced sight. Neither did Bozur. This grandpa has a lot of stamina, and we’re running fast. Nowhere near my limit, but as fast as a trained human without implants. Apparently, Demons have night vision and can even see colors we aren’t able to because of our limited color spectrum. We passed by small animals such as squirrels-like animals, sort of lizards, night birds,… Nevertheless, we encountered no big predators, they’re sleeping the night and the little animals take advantage of it during the night.

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“We’re here.” Announced Bozur after two hours of jogging.

I was already studying diverse method to break in the manor thanks to the drone’s monitoring. There were tall and narrow windows, multiple rooflines, wooden clapboards. They built octagonal towers at each corner, but they were more decorative than defensive. The whole manor had wooden walls with a gray roof comprising stone slates. The whole looked like an ancient manor retro-built by an eccentric owner back on a colonial planet.

I pulled him apart behind the tree line bordering the countryside manor.

“We’re not discovered yet. The patrol has already passed by, so we have at least 30 minutes. How do you want to free your brethren?” I inquired.

He took 2 minutes to put his ideas in place while holding his chin. "I don’t want to kill more than necessary, so I would like to act as inconspicuously as possible. We could use the service entrance on the west side. I worked here before, so I know the entire place, especially where the prison is.”

“I made a pathway to the prison and uploaded it to your interface. You shouldn’t be discovered until you attain the prison. I recommend a fast escape with the hostages. They are all alive and in good shape for the moment. The jail is in the basement, where are the other 7 hostages. However, I spotted a weird signature, one of an alone teenager, near the door leading to the basement. Maybe the sister of Sarrelle?”

“Thanks Alyn!” What a reliable partner.

“How many people are missing from your village? There are 7 people underground and one in a room near the entry of the basement. I already have a path, so we’ll just need to kill the people who’ll spot us.” I answered.

“There are 7 missing Demons plus my second daughter, so you found them all. We’ll follow the path you proposed.” He took a pause before looking at my head. “We can’t kill innocent Demons. Even if they work in the manor, it doesn’t show their support of Voltemar’s methods. Everyone needs to put bread on the table!” He stressed his point, looking righteous.

“I heard the first time you wanted to play the pacifist. If they don’t see us, they don’t die. We can’t risk exposing our existence so soon. We aren’t ready yet. A noble son with his followers assassinated, and an entire village vaporized in one night, is enough to bring a lot of attention. We don’t even know the exact psychics’ average power on this planet. We can take some risks, but nowhere that much. So, we don’t let eyes-witness alive. Period.”

“What if I don’t want to obey?” He challenged me.

“As an imperial citizen? I’ll take you into custody for investigating purpose. As a native, I’ll kill you right now. As a soldier, I’ll kill you for disobeying my order and destroying the squad’s unity. I see you as an imperial citizen for the time being. If it goes to the worst, I will not hesitate to explode the entire manor after rescuing Sarrelle’s little sister and the hostages.” I was holding my holster, preparing to quickly shoot if necessary. “You should think about your people. What will happen to them if they’re found colluding with an outside force? Will the Demons hesitate to torture and kill them?” I was serious, an unknown force killing a member of the upper society… You need to investigate by catching and questioning every person suspected of being connected to them.

The tension continued to rise… Until he shrugged. “I understand that my top priority is my family, followed by the villagers who elected me their chief. I’m sorry for undermining your authority. Execute any punishment you’ll see fit.” He bowed his head to me.

“He isn’t lying. I recommend using a space-to-ground missile. We can destroy the entire kilometer around the manor.” Alyn elaborated.

“We don’t need a missile. I’ll just kill whoever sees us. They don’t know how a laser gun works, so they can’t recognize what killed them.” We’ll not waste a missile for this insignificant house.

“I fired you from the Demon’s leader role. Your eldest daughter will replace you. I’ll be lenient since you don’t know our rules yet. I recognize we can try to make the guards and the servants faint by behind. Still, they see us, they die. Understood?” I stressed.

“I’ll do my best. Thanks for your consideration, governor!”

“Let’s go, we’ll walk through the service entrance on the side. In there, you’ll follow me toward the basement.”