Meanwhile, Azaroth was already aware of Laura and Yrellea's whereabouts. They shouldn't be far from here.
Azaroth disregarded the guard captain's question about whether they should go. He looked as if he was expecting someone.
Soon enough, he sensed someone getting closer to their camp.
Even the guards sensed someone's presence nearing them. They were immediately on guard and were prepared to battle.
Azaroth's voice resounded out, "Don't move. It's an ally."
Those words forced the guards to sheathe their swords or put down their spears.
The person who appeared was in a carriage as well. It was a woman who left her carriage and soon joined up with Azaroth's group.
This woman was Tiana Rhodes!
Many of the guards around Azaroth recognized her and wondered what she was doing here. But they were smart enough to not ask any questions.
"You have finally arrived. Alright, go get some food. We will move soon." Azaroth calmly ordered Tiana.
"En," Tiana muttered out before grabbing some bread and roasted chicken from a guard.
Azaroth waited for her to finish eating before he ordered the guards, "Alright. Pack up. We are going to change our route."
The guards immediately started packing everything, meanwhile, the guard captain approached Azaroth, "Sir, which route will we take?"
Azaroth smiled slightly and pointed towards the Wrihull Forest.
"Through the forest."
Hearing Azaroth's remarks startled the guards to the point where whatever they were holding dropped to the ground.
Even the guard captain was stunned. He didn't think Azaroth would ask them to go through the forest.
"But sir…"
"This is my order. Get to it!" Azaroth spoke, scowling a little at the guards.
The guards sighed in defeat. Before leaving, the guards had been ordered to follow all of Azaroth's commands. So they couldn't disobey Azaroth.
Azaroth said to the guard captain, "Just follow my instructions and we will encounter no beast."
The guard captain wasn't entirely convinced. He assumed Azaroth was simply saying that to make him feel better. But still, he smiled and replied, "As you command, young master."
The only ones who weren't scared were Azaroth's retainer. They had seen his strength first hand, especially Sargan. He refused to believe that some lowly beasts could actually trouble this man here.
The other carriage that had brought Tiana turned around and began to return.
However, after a few hours, a few men appeared who surrounded that entire carriage and the men. They killed all the individuals silently. These individuals further burnt their bodies and the carriage.
It was as if they wanted to fully destroy any trace of them.
These mercenaries were bought by Josephine Rhodes on Azaroth's order. He had ordered her to silence all individuals who knew Tiana was leaving the Rhodes Palace.
This carriage driver and his companions were the most dangerous people. It was necessary to silence them!
~~
On the other hand, Azaroth's group was soon about to reach the den where he left Laura and Yrellea.
He could sense that the two were still in the den.
Laura could feel Azaroth's presence as soon as he walked into the woods.
She informed Yrellea almost immediately, "Big sister, the man who freed us has come. Also, he seems to have brought a few companions along with him."
"Let's wait here for some time. If he is here for us, then he will give us a signal." Yrellea advised Laura with a calm expression.
In these last two days, she had more or less gotten used to Laura calling her elder sister. Laura would usually tell her of the situation and ask what they should do ahead.
When Azaroth reached the den, he got out of his carriage and walked towards the den.
The guard captain spoke to Azaroth, "Should I come along, young master? I can sense the aura of a high-ranked beast around here."
Azaroth shook his head and continued walking.
He saw Laura and Yrellea inside there. They two were wide-awake and stared at Azaroth collectively.
Laura pouted and spoke to Azaroth, "You are finally here for us. I thought you forgot about us."
Azaroth disregarded her words and continue to observe how close the two women were.
'Interesting. An elf princess and a succubus becoming friends.'
"Alright. It's time to leave. Also, first, let me hide those ears." Azaroth went forward and touched Laura's ears.
As soon as Azaroth touched Laura's ears, she lightly moaned out.
When Laura realized she had actually moaned out, she was pretty embarrassed. She looked at Yrellea and explained, "My ears are really sensitive. Hehe~"
"I can see that." Yrellea calmly replied and didn't think of it as a big deal.
Azaroth then removed his hands from Laura's ears and Yrellea saw how her pointy ears looked just the same as human ears.
It was a minor illusion technique but it should hold out for some time.
He then gave them each a big black cloak to totally conceal their bodies. He even provided them with masks to conceal their identities.
"Let's go." He instructed them before slowly coming out of the den.
The two women were completely covered from top to bottom. They followed Azaroth to his carriage.
The guard captain and the other guards, including Sargan, Noah, and Ralph, were confused regarding the identity of these two women.
But then they remembered Azaroth's words to them a few days ago. He had mentioned that an Elf and a succubus were going to join them.
However, they stared at Tiana with a confused look. Just who was she then?
"There is no need to think so deeply. We will know later." Sargan whispered to his other two companions.
They agreed with his words and decided not to think so much about it.
Laura and Yrellea sat together in front of them, while Azaroth sat on Tiana's side.
"Let me introduce you all. This is Tiana. She will be your companion from now on." First, Azaroth introduced Tiana to Laura and Yrellea.
Tiana had a forced smile as she met her 'companions.'
Azaroth then pointed at Laura, "She is Laura. And her real identity is that of an elf. Next to her is Yrellea, she is a succubus."
Tiana spoke with some fake politeness, "It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise," Yrellea calmly replied.
Surprisingly, Laura said nothing to Tiana. She instead focused on Azaroth, asking him, "Where are we going?"
"To Kloras Town. It's on the borders of the Sinyalian Kingdom and Lamhilhan Theocracy. A few weeks earlier, it had been demolished by a beast raid. My mission is to restore it and turn it into the base for my organization."
"Organization? What sort of organization are you planning to form?" Yrellea asked Azaroth with some curiosity.
Azaroth stared at her for a few moments and then replied, "An organization with its own army and intelligence network. You all will train the new recruits and command them."
"Ooh. Commanding people. I can do that easily. I have lots of experience." Laura spoke with a proud voice.
Tiana remained silent as she didn't know what her task was. She wasn't that strong and would hardly be capable enough to train the new recruits. How could she command them?
However, she did have a doubt.
"How will you hide this from the king? The king won't just allow you to form a force of your own like that." Tiana asked with a puzzled look.
"The King will have far more pressing concerns than dealing with us." Azaroth confidently replied.
His confident tone relieved Laura. But Tiana and Yrellea caught the meaning behind Azaroth's words.
It signified that something major was about to happen in this country that would take everyone by surprise.
Moreover, this man seemed to even know what would happen and was planning to take advantage of it.
'Dangerous.'
This was the word that appeared in Yrellea's head.
"Anyway, enough of that. Let's talk about your tasks." Azaroth spoke, relaxing the atmosphere.
Azaroth first told them, "Firstly, you will be trained to the ground by me. I can't have weak subordinates. This is one of the main reasons we are going to Kloras Town. Nobody will disturb us there."
"After your training is complete, Laura, Noah, and Ralph will train the new recruits' combat skills. Laura, you will teach them the way to utilize Ardor. Your control should be exceptional amongst everyone here."
Laura responded cheerfully, "Leave it to me, boss!" She felt her pride being stroked by Azaroth and was naturally happy.
He then turned towards Yrellea, "After your training is complete, you and Sargan will form a Pavillion to gather information. I don't care about the method you use. I need information. No matter how insignificant it might seem, I want to know everything that happens in this kingdom."
Yrellea was somewhat overwhelmed by the task assigned to her.
Firstly, she didn't understand why Azaroth would assign such a huge task to her. Did he not save her to turn her into his sex slave?
Was he actually giving her an important task? Did that mean he didn't look down on the succubus race?
Even Azaroth didn't know that his casual words had caused such great waves in Yrellea's mind. She was truly touched that Azaroth didn't look down on her.
"Oh right. Yrellea, gain the ability to control that poison of yours. It can become a useful weapon." Azaroth left one last instruction from Yrellea.
Yrellea was surprised to hear that he knew about her poisonous ability. How did he find out but she still spoke out, "Alright, boss." Since Laura had called Azaroth boss, she thought it would only be appropriate if she did the same.
She'd forgotten that while Azaroth was carrying her and Laura and rushing with all his strength, her nails sank into his flesh and she unintentionally poisoned him.
"As for you, Tiana. You will be assigned a special task." Azaroth had a tense tone to his speech.
"What will it be?" Tiana asked somewhat curiously. She was quite worried that her task would be hard as well.
"I want you to start a new sect and train ladies who have comparable physiques to you. Naturally, I'll provide you some cultivation formulae and techniques to pass on to your disciples. You're not allowed to show your face in this kingdom anymore. So I'll make a mask that won't come off your face until you want it to."
The mask wouldn't be too hard to create. He already possessed the required materials in his rings and also knew the required array techniques to create this mask. Although he was merely a grandmaster in the array formations, he was confident that no one in this kingdom would be able to break his array formation.
Similar to Yrellea, Tiana was overwhelmed by the task assigned to her. She spoke out with a nervous voice, "I-I don't think I am qualified to teach anyone."
"Naturally, none of you are prepared to take on these responsibilities. That is why you will begin working on these tasks only when you have completed your training.." Azaroth casually replied.