"Come on you two, get a move on! We have a job to do, my hubby is going to be expecting us to return and wait for him by the time he comes back from the orcs!" The robust giantess exclaimed, looking at the much smaller purple-haired and fiery red-haired women talking in the semi-destroyed stall.
"Oh shut it, you dumb oaf! Unlike you, we are actually trying to devise a plan to get everyone out safely and silently!" Frowning, the red-haired girl immediately snapped, hearing the giantess' urging tone of voice. It wasn't as if she was keen on staying in a place like this where they looked at her as if she were mere cattle instead of a human being.
"And also, stop referring to Aiden as your hubby!" The purple-haired miss added with a similar facial expression turning towards the blonde giantess.
"Huh?" Hearing Sarah's words, Naybeah, the blonde amazon looked genuinely surprised. "Why not? He is my chosen mate, why shouldn't I call him my hubby?"
Clenching her fists in annoyance, Sarah was almost visually shaking with frustration. Just listening to this stupid warrior woman was more than she could handle. Despite being an appointed officer and leader of the examiners in the Adventurer's Guild, she wasn't the best at handling strong personalities like Naybeah. She usually let the others handle such menial matters while she preferred staying in the back handling her trusted group of aides.
"Grrr… He is not your hubby, nor your mate, or whatever else you wish to call him! He never accepted your aggressive courting, so stop saying stuff like that!" Unable to contain her anger, she snapped, yelling, and letting out some of her accumulated frustration.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAs soon as she realized what she had done, she immediately put her hands in front of her lips in a futile attempt at sealing them. However, what's done is done, and no matter how hard she would try, she couldn't turn back time.
Due to the loud exclamation, the trio of girls jumped to a battle-ready stance and turned towards the door at the far end of the stable-like building, awaiting the inevitable creaking noise.
"Are you both this stupid?! What are you two doing?!" While nervously grabbing the hilt of her dagger that was given to her by Sarah, Scarlet muttered in a half-hushed tone that carried clear anger towards not just the yelling girl in question but to the blonde amazon as well.
Knowing that she made such an amateurish mistake, Sarah couldn't respond to the princess' words at all but instead focused on the still silent door ahead, awaiting the guards that would probably be coming any second.
"Hey, it wasn't me that yelled out, what did I do?" With a cheeky-looking grin stretching wide on her face, Naybeah grinned at the duo as she pulled her broad weapon in front of herself. As usual, she wasn't afraid of the approaching danger, but instead turned more and more heated as the seconds passed.
True to her nature, she was always ready to throw down and jump into the heat of battle. Although she set out on a mission given to her by her queen, she was an amazon. A tribe of warrior women raised through brutal training and fierce battles ever since she learned how to walk.
As their society was somewhat similar in nature to that of the other battle-oriented races, their values were vastly different than the 'normal' civilized races. Trueborn amazons such as her usually had only two goals in their minds: to reach new heights in their skills and to eventually find a worthy mate to bring back. As such, they were always on the lookout for opponents to test their mettle against them, and orcs were one of the best targets. They were strong and brutal, the perfect targets to hone one's skills. Not to mention defeat would have meant a future something even worse than death.
The seconds continued to pass in tense silence as the trio focused all of their attention towards the door, ready to charge in and do their absolute best in overcoming the trial that was sure to be facing them. action
However, as the time continued to mercilessly tick away, the door still did not budge, it still did not creak. There were no footsteps, nor any signs of movement coming their way. It was silent outside, too silent.
"What the… Where are the guards? There's no way they did not hear your yelling…" Scarlet muttered, breaking the ensuing stillness.
"Hmm…" Lowering her sword, Sarah's expression eased up. Looking at the door, she whispered after a while. "Could it be that… Aiden took care of them?"
Putting her humongous weapon back on her back, Naybeah burst into a loud guffaw.
"Ahahaha! That's my mate for ya! I knew he couldn't just leave us without taking care of any potential problem that could arise!"
"Oh shut it! And I told you not to refer to Aiden as 'your hubby' or 'mate'! He is not yours!" Annoyed by her words, Sarah exclaimed once again.
"Why not? I already told him I like him, and I want him." Naybeah responded with an innocent expression. A moment later, however, it turned into a knowing smirk as she turned to take a closer look at the purple-haired, blushing girl. "Oh I get it, you also like him!"
These words immediately caused Sarah to turn stiff, and turn to a stuttering, a weak attempt at a retort.
"N-n-no I am n-not! I m-mean, yes I like him, as a valuable partner! I m-mean as an adventurer, h-he is very strong, and r-reliable and-"
She couldn't finish as Naybeah put her index finger on her lips, instantly silencing the girl in the process. Her smirk slowly, gradually transformed into a gentle, much kinder, warmer smile as she looked at her 'comrade-in-arms'.
"Sshh… Don't worry, I do not want to monopolize him. We amazons know that men like him can't be tied down to just one person, nor do we have any wish to do so. I would not mind having you as a sister, Sarah!"
These words caused her already pink cheek to turn a darker shade of red and seemingly steal her of the ability to think and form any sort of proper response. She could only turn and look at the amazon with wide, stunned eyes and with an unbelieving look on her face.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThis caused another loud laughter coming from the amazon as she turned away from the stunned girl and shifted her attention back to the still silent door in the far end of the building.
Pulling her weapon from her back, she pulled it once again, and without saying any other words, she slowly began approaching the object in question. Following her only a couple of steps behind was Scarlet, still holding the dagger tightly in her grip.
A couple of steps later, as she managed to compose herself a bit, Sarah also followed after the duo.
Although they ignored the rest of the slaves so far, as they slowly approached the door and walked by the different stalls, Scarlet could see as all the slaves were silently looking towards the door with fear and horror clearly visible on their faces. The thought of the dreaded monsters bursting in was fuel for their nightmares.
Although she wasn't born with any special abilities, her years as a gladiator honed her senses, she was able to sort of 'feel' or 'sense' potential threats and harmful intent from some distance away.
Contrary to what she was expecting, she could not feel anything from the other side of the door, no matter how close they got. It was silent, eerily silent outside. Did what Sarah said could be true? Did Aiden really take care of those elite guards without them even catching wind of it?
"Just how strong that boy is?!" She muttered, voicing her puzzled, conflicted thoughts.
"Hehe… Incredibly so! My mate is the best there is! Even the queen was no match to him!" Naybeah, walking in front, proudly exclaimed.
"Hmpf! My brother is still better than him!" She whispered in a defiant tone before both of them turned silent arriving in front of the door.
As they could hear still absolutely nothing coming from the other side, Naybeah, freeing her right hand and holding her huge battle axe in her left, slowly reached for the closed door in front of them.
Reaching the lever, she slowly pushed down on it, and pulled the door, resulting in a silent, but still audible creaking noise as it slowly revealed the outside world to the enclosed trio.
Only opening it half-way, Naybeah removed her hand from the door and grabbed her weapon tightly once more. Taking a deep breath, she peeked out, looking towards the gate, ready to pull back if she would spot even the slightest sign of danger.
Looking at the calm and serene scene on the outside, she was silent for several seconds. Agitated, both Scarlet and Sarah were about to ask about what she could see, but before they could do so, the proud and smug-sounding voice of the blonde amazon came.
"Hehe, I told you, didn't I? He couldn't just leave us in danger!"