With sounds of battle behind her, Mulla led her silent dolls straight for their target tent.

It was the opposite of what they would normally do. Mulla had never expected to lead the charge on the front lines herself, but she didn’t hesitate.

It was true that her role was typically at the back, but that didn’t mean she had never been on the front line.

In the battles up until now, it was only because Sistoi was more suited to it that she entrusted it to him.

As a result……

「S-Stop! Who are you guys!」

「What on earth is commotion over there!」

There was no way a confused soldier point a spear at her in confusion would be her match.

「Fuu-!」

Easily avoid the tip of the spear, she quickly got within range.

Since they were in charge of guarding the tent, the soldiers had to be quite skilled.

But, they were deep in the rebel camp, isolated from other tents, it was the middle of the night when everyone was asleep, and they hadn’t seen any unusual behaviour up until now.

All of these factors combined put them at a complete disadvantage.

Mulla’s dagger slashed the necked of the two spear wielding soldiers.

The blood that spurted out like mist was beautiful under the soft moonlight and Mulla, covered in blood, looked alluring.

However, Mulla didn’t care as she turned to her dolls.

「You seven, eliminate the soldiers in the tents. However, be careful not to kill the target. Go.」

It was a brief order, but it was enough for the dolls, who couldn’t think for themselves.

Following Mulla’s order, they charged into the tents with weapons in hand.

Some soldiers were waking up after hearing the noises and screams outside, but before the could ready themselves to fight, the dolls burst into the tents with weapons in hand and killed them.

Some soldiers managed to survive the initial and escape, but they were still eventually chased down by the other dolls.

The dolls carried a variety of weapons, including long swords, clubs, and spears, but they were still able to wield their weapons with a certain level of dexterity inside the tents, movements that were ingrained into their bodies.

(It was a good idea to make dolls from soldiers and adventurers rather than merchants.)

They might not be as easy to move around, but in terms of pure fighting power, they were a considerable force.

Making that judgement, she called out to the three dolls that remained.

「The rest of you, come with me. If anyone attacks me, I don’t mind killing them.」

The dolls responded silently to Mulla’s orders.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t hear her orders. They just couldn’t speak.

This was a side effect of Mulla’s quick adjustment of them into dolls.

Hearing the sounds of fighting coming from a tent, Mulla continued toward a particular tent.

The tent was exactly where her accomplice, the soldier, had told her Sobble would be.

(They’re confused in the best way. But they say that the troops stationed here are elites, so we should hurry up a bit. Even though there are no other soldiers around, if the commotion gets too big, reinforcements will come.)

Mulla made sure no soldiers were coming towards her amid the commotion in the surrounding tents.

Passing by several other tents, she eventually reached a singular tent in a fairly large space.

It was a good thing that she had finally reached her destination, but the soldier sin front of the tent, pointing their spears at her, made her click her tongue.

Unlike the first soldiers she had killed, these one didn’t seem confused at all.

On the contrary, it seemed that they realised that Mulla was the cause of all the commotion and they glared at her, ready to attack at any moment.

The only reason they didn’t attack was probably because they under stood their role was to guard the person in the tent behind them.

As the defending side, attacking first was not an option.

All they could do was to buy themselves time to wait for reinforcements.

With this much of a fuss, the people in the surrounding area would surely have noticed something by now.

If that were the case, reinforcements would arrive before long.

Then, what they had to do now was……one soldier spoke out.

「Your attack has already failed. If you surrender now, we will guarantee your safety.」

「Go.」

Mulla’s response to the guard was just a singular word.

With that short command, three dolls ran across the ground with weapons in hand.

Mulla understood that the guards’ goal was to buy time. That was why she ordered her dolls to attack, she had no intention of stalling things out.

The dolls dashed forward as they charged the guards.

Their speed was far beyond that of an ordinary human.

That was the effect of brainwashing and strengthening, at the expense of sensitivity.

However, due Mulla’s lack of time, they didn’t have much else.

『……』

The dolls drew silently closer to the guards……

「Hah-!」

「Take that-!」

The guards timed their spears to thrust forward at the same time.

At the same time, they felt the jagged tips of their spears pierce flesh.

As soldiers, they had seen their fair share of combat against other humans, but they still couldn’t get used to the feeling.

That was the momentary thought of one of the soldiers.

It certainly wouldn’t have been a problem under normal circumstances. The tip of the spear was fully buried into their enemies’ bodies.

However……it was also a fatal mistake.

Why was the enemy not wearing any armour even though they were attacking the tents?

If they had been worried about making noise, they could have worn leather armour make from monster hides.

The soldier didn’t seem to realise and, even though the spear had fully pierced through their torsos, the dolls still raised their long swords at the unsuspecting guards.

「Huh?」

Those were the soldier’s last words. The next moment, the doll, still pierced by the spear, moved forward and swung their long sword, splitting the guard’s head in half.

「Bah! What-!?」

Seeing what had just happened, the other guard leaped away from his current position.

At the same time, a long sword swung down at where he had just been, but not from the doll who had killed his comrade, or the doll he had pierced himself.

Yes, three dolls had been following Mulla.

With only two guards, three dolls weren’t something they could handle.

「Damn it!」

His best weapon, his spear, was still stuck in his opponent’s torso. In comparison, one of their opponents was still unharmed and the other two showed no signs of pain despite having a speared buried in them. And then……

「Huh?」

Where had the woman gone?

The moment he thought of that, something passed by him like the wind and, at the same time, he felt something hot in his throat.

By the time the soldier realised, blood was spurting from his neck.

He felt that the blood, splattering in the moonlight, appeared beautiful. But, the next moment, his consciousness was consumed by darkness and his life shortly came to an end.

「……Well, let’s go. If we’ve come this far, we’ve basically succeeded. Normally, we’d worry about the target being moved to a different location, but this time was a complete surprise attack, so we don’t need to worry about it. Go. However, don’t attack anyone who isn’t attacking you.」

Mulla gave instructions just in case there were still enemy soldiers hiding inside the tent, but the doll that entered didn’t react to anything and stayed quiet.

Relieved that there didn’t appear to be any enemies inside, Mulla entered as well.

What came into a view was a bed that had been prepared for Sobble, despite his status as a prisoner, who was sitting on the bed as the three dolls stood around.

「You’re Sobble……is that right?」

Normally, Mulla would be bluffing someone she was meeting for the first time, but she couldn’t afford to do that now.

Sistoi was still outside, holding enemies back, and even if Crimson wasn’t in the camp right now, there was no telling when he’d return. There was also no way that the rebel army’s leaders wouldn’t have noticed the commotion by now and reinforcement would be arriving any minute. Most importantly, after rescuing Sobble, they still had to take him back to the Imperial Capital.

Considering that, Mulla couldn’t afford to bluff right now.

Sobble didn’t seem to care about her attitude either.

He just accepted it and nodded back.

「Yes, I’m Sobble. So, who are you with?」

Sobble asked, thinking of the countless forces that might want to get him.

If Mulla was with a force that considered Sobble to be a nuisance, it would be a life threatening situation for him, but he didn’t seem to be afraid.

Mulla, pleased with Sobble’s response, shrugged with a smile.

「Well, unfortunately, we’re just the pawns of an organisation, not the heads, so we have no idea who’s asking us to do this. but, they’ve asked us to bring you back to the Imperial Capital alive, so it’s safe to say they don’t have a grudge against you.」

「……I see.」

Nodding towards Mulla, Sobble probably judged that there was no point in asking any further questions and got up from the bed.

Mulla was rather surprised by this.

She hadn’t thought that Sobble would obey a stranger who had come to help him, or ostensibly kidnap him, without hesitation.

Mulla had even thought of some words to persuade Sobble or have her dolls restrain him in order to take him out, so she was a little disappointed.

Still, she quickly pulled herself together as she left the tent.

She had thought to quickly meet up with Sistoi……but when she left the tent, Sistoi was waiting for her, holding a blood stained sword in his hands.

「……Oh, you’re here quite quickly.」

She was surprised for a moment, but was able to quickly call out to him because of how long they had known each other for.

「Yeah. Let’s get of the camp first. Do you remember where the horses our accomplice prepared for us are?」

「Of course. They’re our lifeline. ……You guys, go on a rampage her for a little longer. And, if you feel like you’re going to die, take as many rebels in the area with you.」

『……』

The dolls nodded without any protest at the cruel order of their master.

The had been brainwashed to follow Mulla’s orders absolutely, so it was no wonder, considering their self awareness had been erased.

「Well then, shall we go? I’m sure you understand, but don’t do anything strange, okay? We’ve been told to bring you back alive, but it doesn’t matter if you’re missing a limb or two as long as you’re still alive.」

It was an order to Sobble to obey them.

However, Sobble nodded without a single frown.

「I understand. I need to return to the Imperial Capital anyway. You’re willing to help me with that, so I won’t go out of my way to interfere with you.」

「……I-Is that so? Considering you’re a big shot, you’re quite obedient. That helps. If you’re obedient, we’ll behave accordingly, so you can rest assured and leave it to us.」

Mulla hadn’t expected Sobble to be so cooperative. She muttered with a slightly confused look on her face, but nodded as it really would make things easier for them if Sobble followed their orders.

「Then that’s settled. Let’s go.」

At Sistoi’s words, the trio set off.

Sobble had been confined to a tent and lacked exercise, but running a short distance wasn’t a problem.

The dolls were promising in combat, but they could only do what they were told and weren’t very flexible, so they were left behind as decoys in their previous positions.

Eventually, attention would turn to their actions, but as long as they left the camp before then, there wouldn’t be a problem.

With that in mind, the three of them quickly ran through the camp.

The place Sobble had been confined to had been cleared out as a precaution.

So while a commotion had spread out to the surroundings, it was still limited to the tents near the area.

In other words, the further away they ran, the quieter the noise became.

In fact, while they could hear yelling before, now they could only hear the sound of insects, signaling the long autumn nights.

They continued running for a few more minutes and eventually arrived at the place they had agreed upon with their accomplice.

There was no sign that their accomplice was nearby, but their horses were still tethered there and there were some bags containing simple food and weapons waiting for them.

(Looks like they kept their promise. Well, it’s not surprising considering it’s extra income for them. And, if we get caught, they would end up being dragged down as well.)

Thinking to herself, Mulla approached the horses with Sobble as Sistoi kept a watchful eye out from their backs, just in case.

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