"You're still quite pretty, so I won't hurt you too badly," I muttered before stretching out my foot and stabbing her in the liver, her dagger just out of reach of my face.

"Y-you piece… of… shit,"

As she dropped to the ground, I made sure she didn't hit her head on the floor.

"Now, let's try and get drunk again,"

But, once I came out of the bathroom before I could even get the chance to grab a few beers from a passing server, I saw a few familiar uniforms.

"What the hell happened here?" One of the guys muttered as they saw a few people cleaning up the mess of unconscious men lying on the ground.

Though, as I tried to get past them, it seemed I was discovered, and they immediately called out to me upon recognizing me.

"Commander! What happened here!?" One of the men shouted.

"Huh? Why the fuck are you so casual with me?" I muttered, giving my best glare as I still needed to keep up appearances.

I didn't want my men thinking they could bitch me around without repercussions.

"Forgive him. He's a bit tipsy… But, if I may ask, was this your doing? Only somebody as strong as you can take on a hundred thugs," Another one of my soldiers said.

"Yeah, they tried to mess with me and got fucked up… it is what it is…. Anyway, try not to get too drunk. We'll be making our way to the border tomorrow, and we won't have any time to get in a decent meal… think wisely," I muttered before taking my leave.

"Yes, Commander!" They all shouted, and all gave me a salute until I made my way out of the bar, breathing in the thin cold wind.

The icy feeling swirled in my lungs as snow lightly fell from the sky, calming my stressed eyes.

"*sigh*... I guess I'll just get an inn. Don't want to sleep with those dirty pigs,"

…

Early in the morning, way before the sun came up, I realized Cora was sleeping right next to me, and I began to question whether I actually drank last night or something.

Panic immediately began to fill my mind, but once I saw the same dark elf stripper sleeping right next to her, hugging Cora, I just chuckled a bit.

"How the hell did you even manage to get into my inn. I made sure nobody could come in," I muttered before pushing Cora to the side and getting out of bed.

I had gotten the biggest and most prestigious room, so this bed could fit like ten people, meaning it was a possibility Cora and her little dark elf could've fucked right next to me.

So, I made sure to be weary of where I sat on the bed as I changed into my first set of light armor and then placed my actual heavy armor on top.

"Maybe should I request for a black light or something… well, I have no plans of coming here anyway. Cora can sleep a bit more… and I'll… I guess I'll just plan our route," I muttered before exiting the room and making my way to the main lobby.

There was some free paper and even a map of the dukedom and capital, which I graciously took off the wall and placed in front of me.

"Coffee?" An attendant suddenly asked me while holding out a mug of black coffee.

"That would be wonderful, but can you slip some creamer in there. No sugar, though," I requested.

"As you wish," She immediately responded before walking away to the backroom as I took out a plan and began to create the route we were going to take.

The walls of the dukedom were at a very dangerous place as the fire giants could actually sling their skills over the wall and hit us within a one-hundred-mile radius from the wall… meaning we had to be outside that range.

Luckily, some nearby residents created a passageway directly to the wall via an underground route which we could take when necessary.

It would be good for when we weakened the surrounding camps, and then from there, we could expand outwards, destroying all the other camps trying to get a good position for the upcoming attack.

It's obvious what they're trying to do, but it's not like we can do much about it…

"Here's your coffee, ma'am," The attendant said, and after handing me my coffee, she sat down on a stool at the opposite end of the short table.

"Do you want something?" I asked after taking a sip of the coffee.

"Yes, I heard you're one of the two commanders preparing to defend our dukedom. I couldn't thank you enough for what you're doing… the empress has been kind of neglecting this place for a while now, so I was worried she might not even do something,"

"She was going to do something, but she has other things on her mind,"

"Some things even more important than the lives of her own people?"

"To her, yes. It is much more important than any amount of lives here, and if it wasn't for me, you all would've probably gone extinct,"

"I am the sole stick in her plan that is holding her back from abandoning everything, but once she achieves what she has been so desperately trying to obtain, she'll just abandon all of you,"

"Then I must thank you again for brave efforts… Truly… We are truly grateful to all of you," She thanked me, and after giving me a deep bow, she left the room.

This place is pretty nice…

…

After about an hour of planning, Cora had come down to the lobby and was looking for me, already prepared to set off… but there was one other thing being taken with her.

"You shouldn't be stealing strippers from another establishment… Did you even ask her, or did you maybe pay her?" I asked as I looked at the vulnerable stripper clothed with a heavy cloak to cover her skimpy clothing.

Though, her curves definitely still shone through the cloak.

"I didn't steal her nor pay her. And yes, she already agreed to come with me out of her own volition,"

"Mhm… Is that true?" I asked the dark elf.

"Yes. I was bored of that club anyway, and I think traveling with Miss Cora would be fun… I think I would like to be her personal servant from now on," The dark elf suddenly declared, and Cora wrapped her hand around the stripper's waist.

"You naughty thing… declaring that on your own… wouldn't that mean I have to pay you if you become my personal servant?"

"F-Forgive me. I-I was just caught in the heat of the moment,"

What heat? What moment?

"Well, not that I mind… Fine, I'll take you in as my personal servant, and I'll pay you handsomely, of course. Being a commander, I often get wealthy donations, sponsorships, and even a salary from the empress… so I'll have you rise from a body-selling whore to somebody much greater,"

"Thank you very much, Mistress,"

"Though, of course, you'll have to serve me whenever I wish,"

I stuck my tongue out from the cringe and soon left before I could see them have a little strange session of seductively touching each other… like come on, we're in public.

As I waited outside for a couple of minutes, seeing the flicking lamp posts illuminating the falling snow, both of them finally came out.

"Had your fun?" I asked, causing the dark elf to blush in embarrassment, and as Cora wiped the lipstick from her neck, she said,

"Let's go get her some new clothes and maybe a weapon. We still have a few hours until the soldiers will be waking up,"

"But what shop will still be open?" I pointed out the obvious, but it seems Cora's new servant could say otherwise.

"I-I don't mean to embarrass the commander, but there are many shops still open. They just aren't on the street level,"

"Then lead the way, babe," Cora said, and after the dark elf's heart skipped a beat, she finally got walking as we trudged through the shin-height snow.

Soon, we had reached a dark alleyway where no snow was able to touch, and at the end of the alleyway looked to be two bouncers standing tall and firm.

One was a woman holding a katana, and the other was a man with brass knuckles.

Neither of them was exceptionally big or muscular, so I assumed their stats had to be pretty high, and maybe a few good skills were added to the mix.

"And what are you here for?" The man asked as he smirked at our metal gear.

"To go shopping," Cora replied with ice-cold eyes.

"Fun, but you see, we have a no prostitute rule. If you would like one, you can use the ones inside but bringing in extra competition from outside is a bannable offense… so leave," The woman demanded, and I could feel Cora practically seething with rage.

Well, seems like she had a nice life.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.