29 Morning of the Attack

Kalin felt a familiar sensation of soft breasts pressed against his chest, and legs around his own. In between the realms of dreams and reality, he was in a state where he was taking in the surroundings with his senses, but not quite oriented yet. At that moment, a certain thought struck him and the sleep scattered from his mind, the memory of his dreams scattering off like dust in the wind. He was camping in a tent on a quest. He shouldn't be feeling the squishiness of breasts on his chest, or the springiness of thighs around his own. Not to mention, it didn't feel like it was Liliana or Mei that was hugging him. Slowly and quietly, Kalin looked down at the heavily breathing body that was attached to his own.

Identifying the culprit as Yami, Kalin sighed in relief. Given the chilliness of the air and her posture, she probably unconsciously found her way under his covers while searching for warmth after her and Artemis's shift keeping watch the night prior. Yami's airheaded nature and quiet personality would have made it unlikely that she would have noticed that he was male. Even if she did, it's not like she'd tell anyone. Thankfully for Kalin, Ilene was laying on his lap, preventing Yami from accidently finding out.

In a skillful manner, Kalin softly peeled Yami off of him, and crawled out of his bed. Doing so awoke Ilene as she quickly climbed his body before wrapping herself around his neck. Noticing both Artemis and Yami were still asleep, Kalin quietly made his way out of the tent. After quickly shutting the 'door' of the tent, to avoid awakening the twins with the morning sunlight, Kalin arched his back while stretching his arms above his head. The sun wasn't out yet, but some of its rays were peeking from around the horizon in the west, giving the clouds in the sky a myriad of different colors, ranging from yellows, reds, and even some violets. Breathing in the fresh morning air, Kalin smiled to himself. While exhaling, his visible breath dissipated into the air.

Looking at the campfire, Kalin noticed Belinda stoking the small campfire as she smiled at him. Noticing nobody else around he couldn't help but ask, "Are you the only one looking out right now? Shouldn't you have someone else helping?" He used hushed words to make sure not to wake any of the others.

Belinda shook her head, "Rain is watching with me. She just needed to answer the call of nature."

"Oh, I know what that one means." replied Kalin with an understanding look on his face, "That means she needed to go to the bathroom."

Belinda couldn't help but giggle at Kalin's blunt words. Kalin's innocence was showing as he threw away her efforts to be discrete. This didn't upset her, she found it cute and charming.

Noticing that they were alone, and not sensing any movements from the surroundings, Kalin decided to pop a question that he had been dying to talk about since the day prior. "Hey, Vin likes you, doesn't he?"

Belinda just sighed slightly, "He doesn't even try to hide it, does he?" Defending herself, she started to complain, "Seriously though, I wish he would just drop it. I've made it very obvious several times that I'm not interested."

Kalin nodded his head. "Yep, that's because you like Elric, right?"

Looking at the knowing, and slightly smug smile on Kalin's face, Belinda covered his mouth and snapped in a hushed, but sharp voice, "Shh. Not so loud. Did Rain tell you this? Well I aught'a…"

Kalin just laughed himself, "No, I just noticed yesterday when Vin was asking about making children." Unwrapping his tail from around his waist, he pointed at it and said, "I could smell how happy you were when Elric smiled because you rejected Vin."

Blushing, Belinda released him, "Sorry, I didn't mean to jump to conclusions. Please don't tell anybody else. Rain is the only person that knows about it."

Kalin smiled, "Of course! I'm really good at keeping secrets."

Hearing his response, Belinda couldn't help but feel more nervous about it. Most people that had to make the distinction that they were good at keeping secrets were the worst. Changing the subject, she couldn't help but ask, "Was I really that obvious?"

"Not really." He replied, "I could tell because I could smell your pheromones, but most people can't do that."

Nervously, Belinda asked, "I know that it's kind of hypocritical, since I just asked you not to tell anybody about it, but could you tell if Elric likes me back?"

Kalin tilted his head and put his finger on his chin, "I think he was happier that Vin was unhappy than the fact that you rejected him. He didn't seem to dislike you, but he didn't particularly like you either."

Without the smallest amount of sugarcoating, Kalin dropped the bomb. Although she was expecting such an answer, it didn't mean that she had to like it. "Thanks for telling me." She sighed.

Giving her a thumbs-up sign, Kalin said, "Don't worry, I'm cheering for you. If you ever need help, I can make you some clothes to help seduce him."

Noticing the incongruity of the small Kalin readily talking about seduction so easily made Belinda chuckle at the scene. Although she knew he was a succubus, the fact that a small child talked about seduction so easily made it more humorous than reassuring. Fighting back tears, she eventually said, "I guess I'll have to count on you if our relationship ever gets that far."

As the two continued to chat, Rain came back from her journey in the brush. Eventually, one by one, the party member emerged from their tents. After eating breakfast, putting out the fire, and cleaning up the campground, they met up with the other parties to resume their journey. They were only a couple hours from where the Kobold settlement was rumored to be. After the Orc in charge of the expedition sent two of the parties ahead to scout the settlement, the group set out to toward their objective.

Upon entering the forest, the expeditionary force was no longer at ease, chatting among themselves. They continued down a wide game trail while being on high alert. While it was unlikely to see any powerful monsters this shallow into the forest, there are always exceptions. It wasn't uncommon for entire parties to be wiped out by a wandering monster or aggressive demon that got bored enough to leave its territory.

It didn't take long for the scouting parties to follow the numerous tracks that led to the settlement. Reuniting with the rest of the adventurers, they were able to explain the situation to the orc that was in charge.

"Alright," he said in a voice that was more than a little bit too loud for the tense situation, "we're only a couple kilometers away from their settlement. From the looks of it, there are anywhere from 70-100 Kobolds. There are signs of variant Kobolds as well. There are about 10 guards right now. As a nocturnal race, they are probably the only battle-ready demons in the settlement. Only half of the settlement is walled off, making it easier for us. The wall is on the north side, so we'll be attacking from the south. The wall will end up blocking their escape route rather than protect them. Team one, I want you…"

It didn't take long for an attack strategy to fall in place. After the meeting ended, Vin lead the party to where they were to attack from. On the west flank of the settlement, they were positioned near what was assumed to be the supply sheds of the settlement. It was their job to seize the supplies and stop any Kobolds from escaping. However, for now they had to wait, and not get caught.

The target buildings were unlike the surrounding buildings. They were made of dry mud and sticks, forming a pseudo concrete. There were four such buildings, varying in size. This type of building was much harder to make than the simple straw huts, but they were better at keeping out the weather. Because of the increase in complexity of the structure, there were only two reasonable explanations for the use of the buildings. It was either for important members of the tribe, or supplies. As the leaders or strongest members most likely lived more toward the center of the settlement, the latter was more likely. It was their current job to clear these buildings of any useful supplies that would make the attack more difficult. With an emphasis on speed, not stealth, their group was the best equipped to perform this task, mostly due to the presence of the centaur Rain.

The biggest obstacle was the thirty-meter opening separating the edge of the forest from the buildings. The noise of them running would be drowned out by the chaos of the first attack, but they needed to not get seen by any Kobolds. Their best chance to close this gap was during the confusion of the initial attack.

Sitting in silence, the eight members of their group could feel the tension building in the air. Waiting for a signal to attack, there was nothing they could do but try to be quiet. Time ticked by slowly, as the tension got thicker and thicker. There were no signs of birds chirping or animals rustling through the bushes, creating an ominous feeling. Thankfully, it didn't take long for them to hear the signal to start the attack.

A giant crack of thunder filled the air, as a couple of the small leaf huts exploded. As the settlement jolted awake, their attention was drawn by source of the explosion. As the main forces of the expedition rushed into the encampment, Kalin's party sprang forward. Like an arrow released from a taut bow, they shot out of the bushes, dashing at their target.

Thankfully to the stupidity of the inhabitants, they had chosen to keep their supplies in the least populated part of the encampment. In the few seconds it took them to reach the cover of the buildings, all eight of them felt the adrenaline pumping through the veins. They had to move quickly to make sure not to get caught and prevent anything from escaping.