While walking on the road I also tried summoning the other kitsunes. I managed to summon Ivy but Ara and Sylviel would not show up.

I let Ivy walk next to me on the sand road and tried asking her if she knew where her brother and mother were but she just tilted her head and looked confused.

"Hopefully nothing has happened to them," I thought as I picked Ivy up and put her on my shoulder where she stood comfortably on the cloak.

The sun was still shining and It probably was quite hot outside still but thanks to the cloak being outside felt like being in room temperature except with a slight breeze that made me feel even more comfortable. The distance to the elf forest was probably about 2 days long and should not take longer unless I ran into trouble, at least that's what Guld told me earlier. 

I was now a rather long distance away from the village and could see it no more due to the heavy forest around me and due to going over a small hill earlier which overlooked the village. Suddenly I thought I heard footsteps from the behind me in the forest and jumped forward doing a 180 and pulling out my tanto. Ivy also got alert and hid inside my cloak.

There was nothing to be seen in the tree line around and behind me.

"Hmpf, must've been an animal or something" Ivy came out of my cloak and went back on my shoulder and I patted her head softly making her purr in happiness.

As I looked at the map I thought of the Ruins that lied far ahead of me between me and the Elven forest, while training me Guld had told me that savages and tribes consisting of savages liked to hideout nearby the ruins and around it in the no mans land so I should be careful while making my way to my destination.

From what Guld knew the savages were people that consisted of many races of people that lived together in small communities or in small groups due to either being outcast from their villages for their own reasons. The savages are not only Falloians there are also Rivertian savages and sometimes they even worked together in groups doing all sorts of things to survive.

Meanwhile, after Leon had left the village an assembly was about to be held that included the village leader, guld, and a few generals excluding the rest of the village council that included wealthy traders that were elected to their positions democratically by the traders and shopkeepers of the village.

In a well-lit underground hall with maps and a long table in the middle Guld was sitting on a fur chair chatting with Keir and Satui waiting for the other 2 generals arrival. Keir sat In the end of the table on a similar chair that the others were supposed to sit in, Guld was sitting on the left side of the table near Satui and Keir was sitting on the right side opposite from Guld.

Keir was the general of the main branch of Guards that were supposed to protect the villagers inside the village and do all sorts of guard jobs like guarding the walls, inner city, patrolling and sometimes going along with trade caravans. the guards numbered around 50 while the overall population of the village was around 500.

Keir was a  swordsman with the class specialization Brawler and wielded all kinds of weapons and he was often wearing some sort of armor but in this meeting, he was wearing a slightly more formal appearal that was made out of leather and fur and only had two short swords strapped to his legs.

"So Keir did you send those scouts to tail Leon," Satui asked Keir who was sitting, arms crossed with a stiff face.

While unfolding his arms and cracking his knuckles Keir answered "Yeah I sent two good men after him they should do their job well, I've had them tail people on occasions. Its a wonder they haven't requested a transferred to be working in Osior`s group."

"Do you really think it was necessary to send them to tail Leon" Guld asked while tapping the table slightly nervously.

"Yes I believe it is, are you perhaps turning soft towards this Leon, Guld?"

"Of course not Keir..I just think..."

Keir was interrupted by a young woman who entered the room by slamming open the doors. The woman was a Tosian with silvery hair and a lean body and leather armor that had straps for arrows, knives and the sorts. It could be said that her rather beautiful pale face was ruined by a scar that ran from her neck to her lip and from there to under her right left eye. 

Her name was Fiel and she was the General of the "Guards" specialized on fighting against monsters and clearing dungeons for the safety of the village and to supply the villagers with tradable goods to ensure the village could afford to trade for food.

Fiel was a Hunter with a rare class specialization, Blood archer. The group of "Guards" she led were called the Cleavers and they were a group about 40 men strong who were paid with the money taxed from the traders working under the village council. These traders mostly traded dungeon/beast/monster drop items.

"Oh hello, Guld long time no see" Guld nodded and smiled in response to Fiel's greeting.

Kiel sat two seats from Guld on the left side of the table and stuck a knife on the wooden table where there were already many knife marks.

She turned her gaze towards  Keir. "Kier.."

Keir responded, "Oh it's you.." The two looked at each other coldly and Fiel continued to put her legs on top of the table while brandishing one of her many knives.

"You two never change do you," Guld said with a slight grin on his face.

The door creaked open and a man wearing very baggy harem pants and a long shirt that covered his very lean and muscular body filled with scars. The man took oh his hood that was apart of his shirt and revealed his face the man had cat ears and small horns his face was tanned and he had a sharp jawline and blue eyes. He was a halfbreed between a Khorran and a Ratuu. The mans name was Osior a Rogue with the class specialization Spell blade.

Osior was the general of the small "Guard" group called the Bloodhounds there were only 10 members but they were all skilled in fighting other people like dangerous criminals and high-value targets like generals not to even mention Osior`s skills in combat which were rumored to be even higher than Guld's when he was in his prime.

Osior sat on the right side of the table next to Keir only nodding in response to the greetings of everyone else in the room. His composure was relaxed with his hand tucked into his large pockets.

"Well it's been a while since I've seen Guld and his students in the same table.." Satui said

"Oh for fuck's sake just get to the point" Kiel spat the words out of her mouth while spinning a knife in her hand

"HEY!..LISTEN HERE Y.." Keir was interrupted by Guld who told him to calm down.

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"Huh I guess someone is still mad about what happened to his brother" 

After those words came out of Fiel's mouth in a mocking tone, Guld punched the table. "For the god's sake will you two stop it already!!" The table shook as Gulds voice turned more monotone than usually and Fiel dropped her knife.

A silence fell down in the room for a while.

Satui broke the silence "Mhm, as I was saying you all have read the info I sent to you so you all know what we are doing here so I want to hear your opinions in the matter before we move along" 

"Well do what we've always done when they come well fking kill em!"

"Okay now that we have gone over the crazy woman's opinion I suggest doubling the nightly patrols for a while and that we will act like its just a drill for the soldiers so they don't get too interested in what's going on. Also, Il be informing the missing guard's families that the men were assigned duties for a while outside the city at least for now.

"So you're just gonna lie to them you while knowing that by now they are going to have all the information extracted from them and then either killed or turned into slaves for the goddamm humans" Fiel muttered.

"Well do you have a better Idea?"

"Ok, then Osior what do you think," Satui asked while sparks were flying between Fiel and Keir.

Osior who had stayed silent the whole time finally spoke up

"First of all, we should keep an eye more closely on the valley as the enemy may try to attack us from there even if it seems unlikely we never know what they have up their sleeves if they have someone as capable as the familiar or person that kidnapped the guards, I'm planning on taking a few men and going to the forest nearby and looking for any suspicious signs of enemy movement we will be living in the forest for a while and staying undetectable or at least that's the plan if I get the clearance to initiate it"

"Also, the rest of my men would be in your use Guld If you need them for anything. I also suggest that we start sharing fake intel and plans with each other through some of the familiars we have in use in the bloodhound group. "

"It seems you have come far in the role of being a general" Guld said proudly while lighting a cigar and Osier gave a slight bow as a response.

Everyone agreed with the ideas suggested by Osier and Kier and the conversation moved on.

The conversations consisted of things such as increasing the amount of guard who overlooked the caravans and travelers who came through the village and coordination a joint exercise between all the guard groups as soon as possible. After some debate over the matter, the generals and Guld came to the conclusion that the attack would most likely come after 2 weeks but that wasn't for sure.

Also, the generals requested that Sattui spoke to the rest of the village council about acquiring more equipment for the guards and using excuses like the old gear is worn off, or any means to get them to acquire things like defensive runes, arrows, and consumables.

As the meeting ended and some time passed Leon was setting up a camp in the forest while the sun was going down and the sky was clear while the two moons were rising to the sky from the horizon. Leon had used earth surge to move some ground out of a hill to create a small cave for himself which he was planning on covering with leaves and almost completely closing the entrance when he would go to sleep.

...

I was finally don't making the small cave for myself, well not it wasn't really a cave more like a large hole that had some large logs to keep the holes "roof" from collapsing. I gathered some firewood and dry grass and decided to start a fire to prepare some food. Taking a look at the map I was a bit over a halfway of the journey to the forest and I was somewhat close to the ruins of that city Guld had warned me about.

I realized I really didn't have anything I could make a fire and I wasn't going to go look for anything in the forest no more so I decided to try to use mana manipulation to start the fire. Soon I was able to set the firewood and grass on fire.

While cooking khodra meat and some vegetables for myself and Ivy in a pot Namwo had given me, I looked out at the clear night sky which reminded me of something and I began reminiscing.

0200, somewhere above the clouds.

The C-130 was undergoing some slight turbulence before the hatch on the back opened and the sergeant yelled

"What is our motto!!?"

And all the Force recon marines yelled back in unison "Swift, Silent, Deadly" Before starting to jump out of the plane.

"Fuck man I don't think I can do this" Luciano said to Leon as more and more marines jumped out of the plane.

"It's about fucking time you get rid of that fear of heights isn't this like the 3rd goddam time we're doing this?!" Leon said to Luciano as they approached the back of the plane to jump.

As Leon walked forwards while dragging Luciano with him he once again said to him "If you don't jump I'm going down there and taking that bottle of Jack you hid in the barracks and drinking it in one go."

"Goddamit I hate you," Luciano said as he smiled and hesitantly jumped out the plane while the drill sergeant was calling the two a bunch of pansies.

As the two were falling the last of the marines in the plane jumped out. (Fast-forward) Leon, Luciano and the rest of the marines had made it into a forest and set camp under a clear night sky. They were sitting near in a circle while one of them took watch of their surroundings in case any drill instructor would pop out of the woodworks to yell to them.

"Private Edd why is your footlocker unlocked! If there is one thing I hate in this world it's AN UNLOCKED FOOTLOCKER!" Luciano yelled to Edd while imitating a certain drill sergeant. Luciano had been in basic with Edd when a similar situation occurred to Edd.

Laughter ensued amongst the men and someone dropped their Mre fajita on to the ground  (With a deep voice) "NOOOOOOO"

0150, Kandahar

Leon, Edd, John, and Luciano were eating their meals atop a hill they were keeping a lookout of the valley below with another 4-man fireteam.

When Luciano was eating his Pork patty mre he came up with a magnificent idea.

"Guys, Guys what if we took the... Pork patty mres and left them out in the open with a different label, and unknowingly some Taliban will eat it and maybe notice maybe not, that he is eating fucking pork!"

"Jesus Christ Luciano that's sick.........I like it" Leon responded as the four men laughed while indulging in their mre's.

A grimmer memory came up as Leon reminisced about Luciano

1600, Kandahar, Ambush

"Fuck Jack was in that humvee!!" Edd yelled as a bullet passed through his shin.

Luciano and John were firing at a two-story house in which a Taliban was preparing the fire his rpg. Bullets hit the walls of the house and soon midst all the chaos the Taliban was taken out but yet another humvee was taken out.

Suddenly from behind a corner a Taliban jumped out and was about to take a shot at Dan as he was too slow to react, luckily Leon beat him to the punch and was able to shoot the Taliban with his Hk M27. This caused John to give an acknowledging nod to Leon before he jumped behind more sturdy cover to reload.

Leon and Luciano ran forwards avoiding gunfire while Jonh gave suppressive fire. Once the two made it behind a building Leon started reloading while simultaneously signaling that he had spotted a sniper atop one of the roofs, when suddenly he heard a loud yell and a shotgun blast from his side.

Luciano had shot a suicide bomber who had come out of one of the buildings nearby and was now about to jump on top of the bomber while yelling "GET THE FUCK DOWN LEON!!!"

A loud explosion occurred after Luciano had managed to jump on top of the already dead bomber which caused parts of Luciano's body parts and organs to splatter on the wall and on Leon who had dived on to the ground. A loud ringing sound overwhelmed Leon ears as he watched in shock at Luciano's corpse.

"Fuck!!" I yelled as I snapped out of the memory and threw my tanto at a wooden log, sinking the blade deep into the log.

I was sweating heavily and having really bad ghost pains on my left arm, Ivy came to me trying to find out what was wrong as I looked at my own trembling hands and kept getting flashes of my hands covered in blood I could almost feel my hand being blown off.

After a while, I managed to calm down and pull my tanto out of the wooden log after which I started eating the slightly burnt food with Ivy.

A looming sense of guilt hung over in Leon's mind as the night went on and he sat in a corner with his back against the wall and had his elbow propped up against his knees while having his hand covering his face as he thought about the day everything had gone to shit.

As the night kept going and the moons were high in the sky I went out and put down a defensive rune on the ground which guld had given me, the rune would immediately wake me up with some sort of magic frequency if someone got close enough to the cave and would release a small explosion. 

I then closed of the "cave" with earth surge and went to sleep on the ground without putting down anything I could sleep on.

Meanwhile, as Leon fell asleep in the forest you could hear a flapping of wings and a man falling out of a tree with huge claw marks that covered his neck and chest. Soon after another noise of a man hitting the ground could be heard and the sound of big flapping wings quietened as the culprit flew away in the stary sky.