We reached the place that was supposed to be the illegal slaver’s hideout just as the sky was starting to darken.

Honestly, I was expecting them to have a really big base or something since they were supposed to be a really big organisation.

But when we got to that place, what we found was just a normal encampment that had wooden logs hammered into the ground to act as walls and a single gate as an entrance.

Within those flimsy looking walls were cloth tents and what looked like wooden cages at one corner of the camp.

They seem to be relying on camouflage to hide themselves since they covered the walls and tents with foliage to make it difficult to spot from a distance.

There also seems to be four large stones spread around the camp to form a square which I assume must have been enchanted like those charms we saw to keep monsters away.

The only light sources I could see came from what looked like hooded lanterns that had Mana Crystals inside of them to emit light which I knew were pretty expensive so these people were definitely loaded.

Judging by the number of tents and the size of the camp, I would assume that there’s at least a hundred or so of them in the camp, which was fewer than we expected.

It looked more like a temporary encampment than an actual base.

Maybe that’s just how they designed their base? Since they are illegal slavers, they have to be ready to pack up everything and move at a moment’s notice?

I turned to Katsuki, "That’s their base right? And not some random bandit camp?"

She nodded solemnly, "Yes, Mistress."

"A little flimsy looking, don’t you think?"

"It certainly is, Mistress."

"A well placed fire would light the whole camp up, wouldn’t it?"

"And it might burn any slaves they have as well, Mistress."

That is true... But we can also use that as a diversion like what we did the last time.

I climbed down from the tree to join the rest of my girls who were waiting at the roots of the tree I had used to get a better look over the walls of the base.

Odeta came up to me the moment I landed, "So what did you see, Sister Aster?"

"Honestly, it looks like those bandit bases that we’ve dealt with before. There’s nothing really special about it. There’s a bunch of wooden cages at the back which I assume might hold some slaves that they caught but they’re covered by leaves so I’m not too sure about it."

"Wahahaha! That means we don’t change our plans, right? We charge in through the front!"

Well... What she means is that the bulk of our party charge through the front gates to get as much attention as possible while Katsuki and I will sneak around the back to try and rescue any slaves they might have caught.

I would be there to transport them out with my Astromancy and once the place was clear, the girls would be able to wreck as much havoc as they want.

In my place, I would be leaving Zwei with them to act as their support, just in case.

Since there were no changes to the plan, we proceeded towards the slaver base with Katsuki and I moving towards the back.

Using [Shadow Glide] on both of us, we made use of the darkness to sneak along the wall until we reached the end, both of us keeping silent and crouching down to wait for the signal from my girls.

The forest was silent except for the hushed whispers from the slavers from behind the wall.

That’s why when shouts suddenly came from the gates which was then followed by a loud crash, there was no way we would have missed that.

After Odeta undoubtedly knocked down the gates, the camp burst into activity as alarms were shouted and the slavers armed themselves to rush to the defense of their base.

Trusting my girls to be able to hold the slavers back on their own, Katsuki and I also started moving as we jumped over the log wall, landing on the other side without a sound.

We ended up landing right behind the cages that were covered by leaves and I could see through the gaps of the leaves that there were definitely people inside these cages.

There were three cages in total so I’m estimating there were at least a dozen or so of them in there.

I nodded at Katsuki and we split up, my Inugami maid going over to the other cage to free the captured slaves there first.

I approached my cage and found it locked with a chain wrapped around the door frame.

Which wasn’t even a problem since I didn’t need to break the lock to open it. All I had to do was to cut the wooden hinges instead and the door swung open.

Kind of a shitty cage if you ask me, though I guess this was just meant to store the slaves and not as an actual containment.

As I expected, there were about twelve people inside the cage, most of them being Mahuns with a mix of male and females and all of them had their wrists and ankles tied together. Not only were they bound, the slavers had also blindfolded and gagged them, most likely to prevent them from attracting monsters if they were allowed to shout.

I went over to one and took off the blindfold, the guy widening his eyes when he saw me and tried to back away.

I raised my hands placatingly, "Just to check, all of you are not voluntary slaves, right?"

The guy paused and quickly shook his head, unable to speak since his mouth was still gagged.

"Then relax... I’m here to rescue all of you. I’m a Mercenary hired to deal with the illegal slavers here so if you would all cooperate, I can get you all out."

The others that were still blindfolded shuffled uneasily but the guy in front of me slowly relaxed and nodded.

I undid his bindings first before gesturing to the others in the cage that he should help me free them as well.

Very quickly we started going around freeing the captured slaves who would then help us free the others.

When I climbed out from the first cage, I found Katsuki had already done her side and was even starting on the second one, the slaves she freed huddling in a group outside the cage she opened.

I joined her and soon enough, we freed all the slaves that were being kept in those cages and gathered them all in front of us.

Alright, now we need to get them out of--

"That’s as far as you go."

I spun around and found ourselves looking up at that Franco guy, the supposed executive that we met in the hideout we raided.

He had his sword out in one hand and in the other...

"Carrey?!!" I shrieked.

He had her lifted up in the air in front of him with his hand wrapped around her neck and using her like some kind of shield in front of him.

He then lifted the blade to point at her side and nodded in Katsuki’s direction, "I suggest you not to move or I cannot guarantee that I won’t skewer her out of reflex."

How the heck did they manage to get her?! I even left two Shadow Guards with her with the expressed instruction to protect her from harm?!

I can still sense that they’re in her shadow as well so why didn’t they protect her?! Do they have something that can override my instructions to my Shadow Guards or even render them powerless?!

The guy smirked at me, "Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Did you think we’re just some random bandit group that have no experience dealing with troublesome nobodies like you?"

"We kicked your ass once before," I pointed out.

"Hmph, you needed that stupid City Lord’s help and you didn’t even beat me either."

I tried to get up from my crouch, trying to think of a way to get past his guard when he took a step back.

"No spells from you either or she also gets it. Call your little girls to stop and bring those slaves with you to the middle of the camp. I already know who is in your party so if we see anyone missing, we’ll start cutting her up."

A portal then appeared behind him and he stepped through it, disappearing from in front of us.

Damn it!

I turned to Katsuki and even she looked like she was at a loss on what to do.

Tsk...

"It’s fine... We’ll just go with them for now and look for a chance to rescue her."

Sorry guys... Even though we just rescued you... We’re going to have to take you all back to them...