He always saw himself as a happy-go-lucky joker except people never quite appreciate his gruesome, sarcastic and dry humor. As long as he laughed at his jokes and mockery, Aeron was fine. Today, the joke was on him and he did not quite appreciate it. However, for some obscure reason, he was not going to let that female cuspian of the Coalition Army die. They had spent quite some quality time not at each other's throat down there. He should have left her to rot, but, instead, he dragged hr along and had her pose as his mute subordinate. 'This pathetic meaningless charade perhaps could turn out to be rather amusing,' he thought to himself as they joined the rest of the camp.
The camp had doubled in size the morning. He quickly glanced around to size it up and estimated that at least a regiment within the perimeter getting ready for their next offense in Tempestade. He noted the artillerie, which only meant that the Coalition Army had totally caught up with them. The Imperial Army had successfully advanced since the Festival of Leo's conclusion, but, since then, the other army had called reinforcement. The blonde was either one of those reinforcement or she had always been assigned where he struck today. Furthermore, the number of soldiers was rather alarming. It meant that he had to find a way to send her off as soon as possible.
A hand on her wrist, he pulled her closer and started to walk as fast as possible until they reached a particular tent set at the other end of the camp. It was a bit more luxurious than the common tents. It was normal since he was not just any soldier. He was a decorated officer and a prince. He obeyed to no one except a few even if the others were his superiors. Aeron pushed in the tent after he scoped his surroundings. Everything was at its place. There was no one is sight. The cover was safe, but for how long? He preferred not to think about it; yet, he had to.
"Sorry if I was a bit rough with you," Aeron actually apologized. She was lucky that the army had thought him minimal respect along with discipline that he would always use to his advantage.
He walked around the tent to check the thickness of the fabric. He could barely hear the noise outside, which showcased the quality. The tent was rather simple inside: a bed made of a couple of covers, a bag containing clothes tossed in one corner, a ax that needed to be washed and polished. Hopefully, the young woman did not mind the lack of grandiose comfort, because that would be where she was going to stay for a while with him.
"I assume that like all soldiers, you glanced around and noticed a couple of things," he engaged the conversation. "The officer-in-charge gathered quite a lot of people. Supplies, immunitions and more men are surely awaited. That being said...the next offensive is not before a couple of days. I'd say a week or two. That's the only time I can ship you out undetected. Do you remember what I told about your new identity? You are some mute girl under my care...a spy working for me...you answer to no one but to me." He stared at her for a moment. "Do you also have any question for me? Start asking while I'm still inclined to answer them...Naiya." He named her with the first name that popped into his mind, the name of one of his unfortunate victims during that surprised attack.