“I guess I suspected some level of tracking was possible, but to this extent? No. The laws state...”

“This zaibatsu themes itself around a usurper demon emperor from Izumo’s history. You are impressed their terms of service aren’t the fairest?”

Qull sighed. “I just don’t understand. Resources run thin on this island during summer, even more since they have to deal Rumi. I understand they may have found your old group to be incompetent, but to go as far as to track me to get to you? What could drive...”

Maze winced, she... shouldn’t have pushed, she really shouldn’t have. Because this was a simple puzzle to solve.

“Mazeline... the loot you said you pilfered. It’s the typical stuff an adventurer might find out of the cities, right? Cores and maybe some old relics or poached materials from rare creatures...”

The wolf pressed her fingers together and offered a nervous smile. “It was a bit of this, a bit of that...”

"And do any of those bits belong to a certain corporation? Perhaps, the Tengu Zaibatsu?” the mercenary stepped forward as she asked.

“Well not exactly, they contracted me to take some things and I decided to keep those things instead of delivering them.”

Qull’s stare turned increasingly cold, the merc breathing through her teeth. "Y O U."

Before the chimera could finish the sentence, a group of five people entered the clearing. Maze was almost relieved at that.

Four of them wore the exact same uniform, the company’s characteristic midnight blue colour. It was an outfit that mixed modern combat design with clues from traditional clothing from the Izumo Islands, their faces were covered by crow masks, the design notably more like those from the plague doctors of old Aeolian kingdoms.

The exception to the uniformity of the warriors was the one in the middle, clearly some sort of hired lieutenant. Some boy with olive skin and brown hair long enough for a little ponytail, light armour and a shiny shield with a viper symbol on it.

Just grunts and some random merc, Maze thought, but well-prepared ones. They had long bows, muskets and lances, knowing the value of weapons with reach, unlike the stubborn merc to her side.

On her side, things were not as well prepared. Maze was good enough to tango, but couldn’t just overpower five well-prepared soldiers, they wouldn't even need luck or skill to completely negate her approach and surround her, with all those lances and the numerical advantage. Her allies, having crashed out of a battle, were useless, and she doubted Qull had fully recovered from the hex her howl had given her.

One of the masked grunts stepped forward and cleared their throat.

“Miss Mazeline Solene de Gevaudan, we do apologize for the unexpected nature of this meeting. However, as representatives of the esteemed Tengu Zaibatsu, we find ourselves compelled to address a recent situation that has developed.”

“Our data-driven analysis has shown that you have failed to finish a request, seized materials belonging to the company, and conspired to further seize assets, this behaviour happened while you were underperforming in a battle situation, signalling that your objectives at that moment did not align with those requested in your contract.”

That was a bit more than what Mazeline expected to hear, she hadn’t stolen that much, she thought, and in the battle, she had been too busy getting kicked in the face to worry about any of that.

“To ensure a mutually beneficial resolution, we would like to present you with the following ultimatum.”

“One: Miss Mazeline Solene shall promptly return all acquired Tengu Zaibatsu assets, including but not limited to, intellectual property, tangible goods, and confidential information. This will be accompanied by a written acknowledgement of said transgressions, to be notarized and submitted to Tengu Zaibatsu's legal department within three business days.”

“Two: As a gesture of goodwill, Miss Mazeline Solene will agree to cooperate with Tengu Zaibatsu in a mutually agreed capacity, answering questions on the nature of the theft and any associates she may have had within the company.”

Mazeline sighed, this was boring, and she hadn’t spoken up with anyone within the corporation, were their blaming all their dirty laundry on her? How typical of a corpo.

“Failure to comply may require alternative solutions to be found, such as the employment of active problem-solving measures.”

“One question,” Mazeline asked. “This is just with me, right? Can you let the other two go?”

The masked person nodded. “We have no interest in Miss Qullqi Chiribaya. As for the other one, she has clearly already left.”

Indeed, Alana was gone, for how long Maze didn’t even know, but come to think of it had been a while since she had heard her voice.

Well, whatever, that was the wise decision, they couldn’t beat the battle, and Maze didn’t want to force the two dogs to stay hidden in the forest all night, under the storm.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Fine. Qullqi, you can leave now. Sorry for this mess.”

“You are an idiot.” the chimera answered. “Look what you have created. And the worst part is that you think I will leave.”

“Stop that bullshit Qull, you know me for a few weeks at most and we only have been on talking terms for like, two days. You don’t have to pretend to care just so you can wave your morals in my face.”

“Bark as much as you want. My personal law is that I don’t leave people under my care behind. I know you are different, but that does not change who I am.”

Mazeline couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it. “Alright then. Are you ready for this? It won’t be easy.”

“I know what has to be done. Like the chasquis of the times of the Inka.”

The two got ready, took a fighting stance, then did a full 180 and started to run as fast as they could.

Maze’s wolf ears twitched as she noticed the sound of something cutting through the air towards her. She twisted her body to dodge the shield of that hireling at the head of the group. It seemed people rarely ever used shields to defend themselves these days.

The mercenary was the one who noticed the chance to punish them for letting go of the shield, she turned with a jump, facing the chasing enemies, letting her boots cut against the mud as the momentum kept her moving for a little bit. The girl had started to take aim even before she fully stopped. Her rifle was ready, still loaded since the last battle, as she had never fired it.

At that moment, Maze's ears perked up as a strong wind blew around her, and she sensed something small humming as the wind touched it. A string attached to the shield. The boy was about to call it back, but as soon as Maze heard the twang of the enchanted string being pulled, she sliced it off with her nail and carelessly picked the shield up.

The lieutenant gasped, the masked grunts had fired their guns and bows but they had aimed at Maze, not Qullqi. The werewolf put that shield over her face and chest and braced for impact, meanwhile, the mercenary took a true shot, at first it looked like she was aiming straight at the shield’s owner who had selfishly fully focused their magical shield only on themselves, but at the last moment, she leaned to the side and struck one of the Tengu’s own, taking them out in a single hit.

Someone hadn’t prepared their defences for a ranged attack, Qullqi’s bullet was fancy but not THAT powerful. Maze wondered if they were expecting the shield boy to cover their defences, allowing them to move in with a lighter outfit, or if they hadn't expected a ranged piercing attack.

“Crap.” The lieutenant finally spoke. “Why did you focus so much on the dusklander? Take down that little bastard with the poncho first!”

Qull had done well with her mud sliding trick, but when she tried to turn and move again after the shot, she almost stumbled to the ground, without the energy to keep braving across a muddy field. Maze swopped her up and started running, the werewolf couldn’t help but imagine it would have been cool if Qull could like, fire her pistol while being princess carried, but she was beyond her limit.

The three remaining masked grunts were given a proper shielding ward and two of them darted ahead, advancing towards them with their lances brandished. Maze felt that friendly wind again, guiding her towards a particular route of the forest, and she obliged.

The footsteps were getting closer, Maze wished she could just jump up the branches and fully take the home-field advantage she had in the woods, but she couldn’t just leave Qull behind, not after that little speech. There would be other days in which Maze could break her trust.

There was the sound of something snapping, and around then, a few vines, no, ropes, came to life, rising and entangling around the two grunts, leaving them to clumsily wiggle their spears about as they tried to cut the vines.

Maze felt someone grabbing her hand and guiding her deep into the forest.

"Alana! There you are." the werewolf said happily.

The witch was smeared in mud and wearing only a cape of leaves wrapped around her, almost like a toga, and that black choker she never took off.

“Drop the shield.” The witch warned them. “I can feel it resonating with its owner.”

With a grimace, the werewolf let go of the loot. Alana guided just a little bit farther away before waiting patiently, sinking her wooden staff to the ground and closing her eyes. The nearest bushes reshaped themselves, giving them cover.

The lieutenant and the one Tengu staff member that was left had to first free the other two before continuing, still thanks to the shield, they had an overall direction of where the group would be, but not an exact one. Three pairs of dog ears wiggled as they felt the steps getting closer and closer.

Alana finally opened her eye and let the spell go. Suddenly, there was a sound of a branch being broken followed by rustling leaves and rushed steps on the ground.

A cheap illusion, Maze could tell, but it fooled the agents, who chased ghosts deeper into the wood.

With that, the trio allowed themselves some time to breathe, everyone had pounding hearts, but each for different reasons. Some were having more fun than others.

“So, what is with the ghillie suit?” Qullqi, now on foot, asked.

“The what? Oh, my cloak? I knew that they would take me out quickly in a proper battle, so I decided to hide and run interference. I couldn’t cast a lot of spells, but I tried to help a bit.”

So that helpful wind had probably been her doing. Mazeline couldn't understand what had driven her to fully change clothes and whatnot, but she had never been the hiding type, and it had worked so she didn't need to complain.

“Right, but if you were in the forest and away from the battle, why would you need to wear camo...?” Qull started to ask but Mazeline cut her off.

“That was all very helpful pup. Thank you.” Maze gave her a quick head pet and smirked. “But we are still not out of the frying pan, we need to start moving, now. You two go in the front so I can erase our footprints.”

Although there was a sense of hope at the moment, they really didn’t have many escape routes. It would be foolish to assume there would be no scouts on the few paved roads back to the city, and they had no sense of direction while crossing the humid, foggy rainforest. To make matters worse there was a thunderstorm approaching, and the temperature was not getting any warmer as the night approached.

"We need to get to the city, right?” Alana asked. “So, what if we went through the sewers? I can sniff it from here.”

Maze tried to find the scent in the air and found nothing. She blushed a bit at that, in the old group she was always the official sniffer. But well, this was Cerberus.

“I think you mean the drainage system. I did read that the rainwater from the city is redirected to the swamps and lakes of the area. There may be one such entrance around here.” Qull said.

“Fine in theory girls, but isn’t that suicide? Wouldn’t it all be at risk of flooding?”

Alana shook her head. “Oh no no. It's quite spacious! In the city area, a lot of people even live within it! It’s where I have been hanging out while staying on the island.”

The werewolf wasn’t even impressed that the witch was part of some hidden underground shanty town, she simply smiled and rushed ahead... then she remembered it was actually Alana who knew the way ahead. She pouted and patiently waited for the dog witch to take the lead.