???, yelling: INCOMPETENT, IMBECILE. I cannot believe that 1. None of you were able to stop an elf despite him being desperately outnumbered, 2. The prisoners survived the fall somehow and are escaping, 3. This COMPLETE IDIOT *throws a Ratmen corpse* DID NOT FOR EVEN A SINGLE SECOND thought that MAYBE you should DISARM and steal possessions of like EVERY prisoner EVER. And then LASTLY, WHY was there NO-ONE to guard the prisoners?

Ratmen 1: We sent all our troops to deal with the rogue elf boss!

RatBanditChief, aka RBC: *punches Ratmen 1 too calm down* *sigh* looks like I got to do things myself like always. Well, me and an army, of course. Let's keep things unfair shall we?

*Eleonore was only able to count ten Ratmen charging at them before their erratic movements made it impossible to keep track of them, but she concludes there were about three times as many. most of them were carrying swords and attacked without a pattern, while 5 archers rained down arrows on them. Only the bandit chief wasn’t carrying a weapon. He had a fierce look on his face, and was wearing an eyepatch on the eye that had a slash mark.*

Eleonore: “Protegas me ut lux!”

*The group is protected from the arrows thanks to Eleonore light shield. Felix charges one of the swordsmen. His sword lits on fire and he strikes with a powerful blow. Under the impact of Felix sword, The Ratmen break his arm trying to block the strike and is disarmed, allowing Felix to finish him off. Drake sends of a swarm of crows from his body, all oozing blue fumes. The swarm hits two enemies who get scratched, beaked and clawed before Drake makes the crows blow up and end the minions suffering. Eleonore skillfully dodges the two Ratmen who came and charged her, making the first one kill his compatriot. She slashes the second one arm, disarming him and makes him fall, but hesitate before striking the final blow. Seeing his chance, the Ratmen grabs a dagger*

Felix: “et mitterent augue”

*Felix shoots a fireball at the downed Ratmen before he could arm the princess. in the distraction, he receives a sword to the stomach. While the rat is disarmed, Felix kills the attacker, and use his resurrection to cause a fiery explosion, burning a second swordsman.*

Felix: Take your time, but stay alert, your highness, the first kill is always the hardest one. You sadly get used to it, however…

Drake: I’m at five kills already, what is slowing you down?

Felix: You won’t win this one!

*The princess now faces three opponents. She drops the light shield, making arrows fall on one of them. Drake takes the opportunity to take care of the archers and Felix slashes his way forward. While the third rat is busy avoiding a minor scratch from the arrows, Eleonore picks up a rock and lands a perfect hit on the second attacker, blinding him. However, the first minion was preparing a reckless charge and is now jumping toward her. She could see the intent to kill in the men eyes, and had just enough time to try out the new spell she had been practising*

Eleonore: “Mico a lumen”

*her palm pointing at the enemy, she closes her eyes and releases an intense flash of light before dodging to the right. Felix slashes the Ratmen who was hit by the rock, while Eleonore gathers all her courage and anger to impale the disoriented bandit. She lets out a scream while doing so, as it takes her a lot of willpower*

Eleonore: RAAAAAAAH

*She could see the light in the men eyes dull down, in a final squeak, the rat drew its final breath. Shaken, the princess steps back, leaving her weapon behind. She is trembling, directly taking the life of a sentient being was not an easy thing to accept. As her vision clouded, she could feel a warm embrace. The comforting feeling was enough to bring her back to reality, and as she regained awareness of her surroundings. She realized she was hugged by Felix himself*

Felix: It's okay princess, I’m here.

*A wall of flame was separating them from the enemy. Eleonore looked at Felix in the eyes, still filled with tears, and smiled*

Felix: And don’t think too much of this...

*Felix looks away, she could swear he was blushing*

Felix: This is a special occasion because you really needed one, I do not think this is appropriate behaviour for a bodyguard and…

Eleonore: Yeah yeah, I get it. Thank you *smile and hug him back*

*The moment is cut short by Felix noticing some blue fumes coming out of the floor just below their feet*

RBK: Are you guys not forgetting something? Maybe that this is A BLOODY BATTLEFIELD? I will teach you the cost of making fun of me! “Hinc saxeus umbo inimicos sub pedibus meis!”

*Felix burst out his wings and use them to dash backward while still holding the princess. He manages to dodge just in time the stone pillar that erodes from the ground. Drakes charges the bandit boss and manages to change his target.*

Eleonore, still blushing from the hug: Okay! we can do this, he’s the only one left!

Felix: I think you should use this time to rest your highness, you got past a very difficult step today

RBK: You will never defeat me!

*The bandit quickly casts a spell to raise a stone pillar from under his feet and rise from the ground*

Eleonore: I don’t think I can reach him now anyway *she pouts a little*

*Felix and Drake both take flight, dodging various stone fists trying to punch them down in the way. As Drake is busy dodging the various rocks that are thrown at him, Felix manages to catch up, and both men strike with a devastating X shape slash, putting an end to the self-titled king*

Drake: Finally, it is over. I was starting to get tired after having to cast all those spells, not everyone can be a boundless well of energy like you Felix.

Felix, showing a smug face: Your just jealous, ha, but I get what you mean. I still have to wait to resurrect before recharging.

*The princess looks confused, while Felix takes the boss eyepatch as proof of his defeat*

Felix: Once you start casting more spell, you will notice that it starts to tire you as much as sword fighting and other means of combat. That is simply because you use energy to pump the ambient mana from your surroundings to fill your reserves.

Drake: Hey, quick question, does anyone know how to get out?

Felix: …

Eleonore: …

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*After what felt like hours trying to figure out the various paths and dead ends of the rats' lair, and with the help of the few parts of the path Drake was able to remember, they finally were able to get out.*

Eleonore: So what exactly happened after the sleeping gas?

Drake: I was able to wake up quicker thanks to elves natural resistance to involuntary sleep effects. I woke up while they were carrying us to the pond. I had to face a lot of them at once, but the carriers took the chance to dash and flee with you two. While thankfully none of them were able to hit me thanks to my cloud of crow technique, it was still hard for me to fend them off all at once, so I only managed to slay three of them.

*The rest of the road towards the village was done in silence, as both Felix and Eleonore didn’t really know what to say to each other after the events in the cave. Drake was following them from a short distance, balancing the pros and con’s of matching the two of them together, and most importantly... how. Things started to heat up once they reached the town, however, as a dispute about “reporting the quest THIS TIME” and a lot of other old grudges started to rise up. from anyone else perspective, there is no way they could think the two men are working together in any shape or form. Thinking back, Eleonore is not sure who was the one started the fight, she somehow had a feeling it was Felix however. Confrontations were over after they agreed to let Drake claim the bounty, but the atmosphere was tense for the entire duration they were inside the village. Eleonore looked back to their previous meeting spot as they were heading towards Felix lair for the night, and sigh at what used to be her enormous pile of adventuring goods. It was not just a few broken pieces and two or three clothes from what used to be the bag containing everything. Aside from the way-to-much-courageous-for-their-own-good assassins, there were no important interruptions during the travel*

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*The group is invited to a cup of tea. Drake, Felix, Eleonore and Sebastian are all sitting around a round table, a few young kobolds are watching from afar, waiting for the scoop on their hero last adventure*

Sebastian: So, how did it go sir? Some of us are dying to know what happened while you were gone.

Felix: We busted out a group of Ratmen bandits who had made a lair out of an abandoned dwarven mine, they managed to capture us, but I and the princess managed to break free while Drake was trying to find us after breaking free earlier. The princess managed to get past the hurdle of her first kill…

Eleonore: Your hug did help, teehehe

Sebastian: Glad to hear both of you are getting closer! *Felix makes a face of “I wouldn’t go THAT far”*. Many of us hope to see if one day she will join the royalty as a queen *Felix chokes on his tea* and maybe even produce a hei…

*Before he could finish his thoughts, Felix slaps the back of Sebastian's head, making his face collide with the content of his cup. The princess gets as red as a beat while Drake starts to laugh*

Felix,  trying to change the subject: The Ratmen empire should thankfully be grateful for our actions. They have been trying very hard to brighten up their reputation and those bandits proclaiming themselves king were definitely not helping. Hopefully, this should buy us a bit more time before things go completely haywire from your absence.

Eleonore: I see, thank your considerations mister Felix