Van was pacing in the cabin, wondering what they could do to get out of this situation, it was getting late, and he doubted that help was going to come anytime soon. Which meant they were on their own for now, maybe permanently if nothing was done to save them by the time they were ‘escorted’ out of the woods and into Karmila’s hands…

“So? What’s the plan? Are we going to summon an army and beat Karmine down?” Luna asked. Looking like she was looking forward to such a thing.

Van paused, then shook his head, much to Luna’s surprise. “No… I don’t think that’s a good idea…” He turned his gaze towards her. “Didn’t you sense it? Her aura? Her power? I don’t think she’s stronger than my dad, but she’s not far behind. And as the first daughter of Karmila, that means she’s probably older than she looks, and therefore is also probably very skilled…”

“Even if we summon my army, and even get Lyn and the others in on it, it would still take time, time for them to get suspicious about what we are doing… and finally, even if we summoned my army and sent them out, how many hundreds are we willing to lose? Not to mention she will have help from her bandit friends to back her up…” He shivered. “I don’t want the death of so many people on my hands… we already lost so many when the bandits first attacked us…”

“Yes but that was when they had shriekers! I don’t think they have any more of them.” Luna pointed out.

“Does it even matter?” Van asked.

Luna hesitated and he sighed.

“Why don’t you tell me a little about her, you lived with her for a few years, right? Maybe she has a weakness? Or a personality flaw we can take advantage of?”

Luna thought about it, hard… she actually didn’t remember much of her stay with Karmila’s family. The little scared girl that she once was. now feeling like a stranger to the person who she is now…

“I… don’t really remember much…” she admitted. “In fact, I don’t even remember how many daughters Karmila had… but I do remember that Karmine was the very definition of a training enthusiast. She didn’t really trust the other guards or soldiers, so she didn’t train with them or take any under her wing… but she was known to take orphans and try to train them up… some of them died of course… but…” she then had to reconcile some memories she didn’t even realize she had with the person she thought Karmine was…

She shook her head. “Anyway… Karmine is a person who’s obsessed with power… she believes power is everything. Probably because of her mother… So long as you're powerful, you can do whatever you want… and then girls she trained died…”

Luna then went quiet.

“...what happened to them?” Van asked, a little worried and confused by the sudden turn of events in Luna's storytelling.

Luna shook her head. “I don’t know… but after their death, Karmine became… Very angry… she would stomp around sometimes, looking like she wanted to punch something… after a while, she finally calmed down, and soon after that she took an interest in me… I think because… Karmila couldn't…” her voice died out, not wanting to follow that train of thought and its implications…

“Anyway… she was a very harsh instructor… I’ve said it before, but I almost died four times…” she shivered at the thought. “I don’t think she realized that I simply couldn’t do the things she asked me to do… but at the same time, you're scared of what she might do to you if you don’t train as she says, either that or the sheer weight of her expectations made me do them even if I felt like I shouldn’t… her gaze can be… very… fierce…”

She held in a shiver and went straight into her summary. “In conclusion, if you're strong, you get her respect, especially if you trained hard for it. She’s even still a virgin because she refuses to lay with someone weak. Another thing about her is that she will always abide by a contract to the best of her ability…” now realizing something else about Karmine. “Once I realized that she keeps her word, I've worked very hard to earn even a single favor… from her…” now wondering if she had any favors she could use, only to end up looking disappointed when she realized she didn’t.

“I see…” Van said thoughtfully. “Do you think… if we are willing to pay her double, she would work for us?” he asked.

Luna thought about it. “It would be… fifty-fifty at best… but you heard her right? She wants that Visa out of here. That’s not something we can give her…”

Van thought about that. “Okay… what if we… Dual her?”

“You said it yourself, she’s far stronger than us. There's no way we can win against her…” Luna said, looking dejected as she remembered Karmine bench pressing a literal thousand pounds worth of weights.

Van sighed, his thoughts running fast. Was there really no other option than to sacrifice a few hundred of his people just for him to escape? Or a few hundred more than that just to defeat her?

Then it was as if a light bulb went through his mind. He didn’t like it… and Luna would hate it… but it could work if they were sneaky about it…

“Luna… what if… we had…” trying to draw in the courage to say what he was going to say next, taking a deep breath. “Sex… with her…” he said finally.

Luna looked at him as if he went crazy.

“I know what you're thinking!” then quickly tried to explain. “But remember when we first met Agnès and we tried to get her used to my body?” making sure now he got Luna’s attention, and when she looked like she was interested in what he had to say he continued.

“Let's go to Karmine. Say we are going to pay her double for our release. If she accepts, all the better for us. But, if she refuses, we challenge her to a dual, if we win! We go free… if we lose… she has sex with me… and I use my incubi powers to the fullest to make her love me so hard… she will do everything she can to let us go.”

Luna thought about that, her eyes scrunching up in deep thought about it, clearly looking unhappy that she had to think on this in the first place. “I don’t know… just like you can sense her strength, she probably can do the same… I think she will see the challenge as amusing… but she may not accept it for the mere fact that we are so far beneath her. It wouldn’t be a fair fight. Not to mention even if she accepts, we would still have to fight hard enough that she becomes interested in having sex with you…”

Van thought about it, then another idea popped into mind. “Then we become stronger! We tell Karmine that we are close to ranking up and that I'm an expert when it comes to it. All she has to do is give us some time and I'll rank up my vampire bloodline into a greater vampire one. When in actuality, I will be ranking up my incubi one from lesser to mid! That way when we lose, we will be stronger in another sense! And should all else fail, we bring in all our forces, consequences be damned!”

“I don’t know Van…” Luna said, “Mind controlling, whether it’s through charm magic, pheromones or just very good sex feels wrong… and there’s no guarantee that even if we lose she will accept having sex with you… if we don’t put up a good enough fight…”

That took the wind out of Van’s sails… he even felt… slightly offended…

In the end, though he sighed. “Ya… you're right… there are just too many variables to watch out for… at least Yesi and Yassan can still track us, if all else fails…”

Luna blinked. “What?”

Van blinked. “Huh?”

They stared at each other for a moment.

“What do you mean they can track us?” Luna asked.

“Oh! Uh, well… my summons will take a while before they fully become Yesi’s and Yassans. It would take a week or so. But while that’s happening, my summons will be able to always pick up my trail, no matter where I am. So even if our plans fail here, at least the rangers guild will be hot on our trail. Not to mention I added to it with that spell of mine before we left, so it should be even easier for the wolves to point Yesi and yassan in our direction.”

Luna looked impressed.

Van continued. “The friend requests were actually just a distraction. And a good one too, because I saw the bandits setting up an anti-pulse field. It will never occur to them that jamming our vespera bangles is the least of their worries.”

“Good job!” Luna said, looking impressed.

“Thanks!” Van smiled in return a little sheepishly.

“Hmm… that does change things…” Luna now thought out loud, then made up her mind. “Alright… let's do what you said.”

“Really!?” Van asked.

Luna nodded. “I was just worried that our options were a little too limited. But if we have a whole week to make a plan to escape, we might as well throw everything at the board we can and see what sticks. And the first plan would be to try and slow Karmine down, which bargaining with her, dualing her and having sex with her would do!”

Van nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”

“Alright then.” Luna looked towards the door. “Let's do this…”

Van and Luna walked out of the cabin to confront Karmine. Thankfully, she was not far from where they were, talking to one of her subordinates about the distribution of food and other things.

Luna called her out, with a face that looked like she was headed to war… “Karmine… can we talk with you for a moment…”

Karmine glanced over, quirked an eye at Luna’s expression, then politely turned back to the bandit and dismissed her before giving Van and Luna her full attention. “What can I help you with? Was the cabin not to your liking?” she asked as she walked over, playing the gregarious host for her two little guests.

Luna put her hands on her waist and puffed out her chest, looking Karmine in the eyes. “Karmine, I don’t know how much your mother is paying you… but whatever it is WE’LL PAY DOUBLE!” looking oddly proud of herself, like she was some sort of big shot with loads of money.

Karmine blinked, it took a while for her brain to process that… but when it did…

“pfft…!” Karmine desperately tried to hold in her laughter. “PFFT!?!” now covering her mouth and the goofy smile that was to sneak its way onto her face before she couldn’t control it anymore and just started laughing uproariously. “BFFHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Luna’s expression looked greatly insulted, which only made Karmine laugh even harder.

After a minute or two, she finally seemed to quiet down, much to the annoyance of Van and Luna and the confusion of her bandits.

“I-I’m sorry… it’s just that- Just that the way you did it was so cute! And if you knew how much I was being paid, you wouldn’t have made such a silly offer…” Karmine finally said, still having the occasional giggle.

“How much did Karmila offer?” Van asked, now looking genuinely curious.

“A hundred…” Karmine began.

“Thousand?” Van asked, looking surprised but also a little hopeful.

“Million…” Karmine finished.

Van’s and Luna’s eyes bugged out and their jaws dropped. A hundred million could buy yourself a decent castle! Or an entire barony! Or maybe even an airship or two! Maybe three! That kind of money could run a duchy for several years! A decent-sized county for more than a decade! The things one could buy with that kind of money!

Now it was Karmine’s turn to put her hands on her waist and look smug. “So… are you going to pay it?”

Van and Luna looked at each other, but with some hesitation… they nodded… it would completely wipe them out… but they were sure that their parents would rather them be alive and well than in the hands of Karmila…

Karmine looked surprised as if not expecting such a response. But slowly shook her head. “Sorry, even if you did have the money to pay me, I still wouldn’t accept. The Visa means too much to me.”

Van thought about that. “What if…” he began, the idea on the tip of his tongue. “What if the payment isn’t to let us go… but to hire you…?” his half-formed thought finally making its way out into the air.

Karmine looked curious.

“It’s no secret that Tethra wants to send us to Istra. That also includes a handful of retainers… you can be one of them… you’ll just have to wait five years… two hundred million crava’s… and the open world in five years' time… plus you get to stick it to your mother… what do you say?”

Karmine… looked very tempted by the offer… two hundred million crava’s? Plus a ticket out of Alcray? And the ability to give a nice middle finger to her mother? That was… just so… tempting… she had to think about this…

“Hmm… it’s not a bad offer… but!” Karmine’s gaze turned a little steely as she probed them with a few questions of her own. “My mother would definitely send assassins to kill us for this affront. And I would be forced to protect you for the next five years, if not longer depending on the contract we sign… then there's what happens to my girls, I can’t simply just leave them to defend for themselves, and I highly doubt you have the capability of giving each and everyone one of us a pardon.” now crossing her arms. “I’m sorry, but I'm going to have to turn you down until you can resolve those problems and offer me something a little more.” looking a little sad about the fact she couldn’t accept the interesting deal.

Van and Luna looked towards each other, then at Karmine, then back to each other.

“Give us a moment.”

The two then huddled together and began whispering about what they were going to do next. A small argument started, but after a while they both agreed on an action to take. Turning back to look at Karmine with steely resolve, though Van wavered a little…

“Karmine…” Van swallowed. “I-! Will throw in… myself! For one night!”

Karmine blinked.

“BUT!” Luna now began talking. “Only after a duel! If we win… you let us go, no strings attached… if we lose… you can have sex with my husband…” she growled that last part out. “And if you like it… you can have more sessions with him as part of our deal to hire you… plus we’ll figure something about your pardons… what do you say?” folding her arms and looking determined.

Karmine looked like she was going to laugh again. But after a while she became more thoughtful… perhaps… just maybe… they would provide some entertainment at the least… and she had to admit she was curious about the change in Luna and how strong she had gotten… and who knows? Maybe her husband was worth taking to bed? She has searched for decades for a suitable mate. But they were either too weak of body, or will… or not really worth taking at all… she had to admit… She was curious about this proposition.

After a while, she finally answered. “Alright… I accept. In fact… I’ll give you two hours to prepare. We’ll fight at dusk, I don’t want you two too sore come morning, we have a lot of walking to do after all. Unless you want to push it off for later?” acting like her victory was just a foregone conclusion.

Again Van and Luna brought their heads to whisper before turning to her. “We’ll need some supplies… and resources…” looking like they were taking this very seriously.

Karmine smiled. “Take as much as you want… even the stuff we just stole. But you still have to fight me at dusk. But no pilfering of all of our goods or rations to try and make us slow down our march on our way back home. Got it?”

Van and Luna looked a little disappointed as if one of their plans just got caught but then nodded. “We accept your terms.”

Karmine smiled, feeling oddly happy about this and looking forward to seeing what will happen two hours from now. “Good…”