Exodus

It was one vs one now and her blade was cracked. The leader, though currently stronger than her, was wary of her. She was clearly adept at combat, so much so that it seemed to contradict her age. 

They clashed a few more times, Vixen now focusing more on dodging than blocking or parrying due to the weakened blade. 

'Why is this girl so good? I've been using the a sword my whole life and this girl looks no older than twenty.  She can't be better than me,' the bandit leader thought. He realized he should've just retreated but at this point he was invested. At least if he captured this woman he'd make up for all his losses and then some, he'd never seen such an attractive woman. He used a movement boosting skill to jump into the air far faster than before and tried to come down on the woman with a two handed strike, she leapt backwards avoiding the attack. Vixen threw her cracked sword hard and the bandit leader jumped to the side, his feet planted he made a move to charge her again only to be greeted to a bright light.

'Spear of Judgment,' the spear raced towards the leader who had just planted his feet after dodging her weapon, she caught him. It was too fast for him to react as the spear caught him in the chest and pushed him backwards into a tree. The magic dissipated and a gaping hole where the man's heart used to be. 

[Title: Daughter of the Sun] granted!

Vixen went around pilfering the bandits' corpses in an attempt to give the man and his daughter time to stop wrenching. She obtained quite a bit of gold and exchanged her broken sword with the bandit leaders which was quite a nice weapon. She crossed it over her back like the one she lost.

"Th...thank you for saving us," the man said wiping his mouth on his sleeve. " Those men were not only trying to get free services by holding my daughter captive if you catch my meaning." 

She did, based on the few words the leader had been saying she knew exactly what fate would befall that girl. What made it worse was that girl hadn't received her awakening yet. She was no older than sixteen. The young girl, the color slowly returning to her face bowed before giving her thanks as well, "Thank you so much miss..."

"Vixen."

"Miss Vixen. My father won't admit it, but he's far too old to be traveling in the woods looking for monsters to skin. I had just convinced him to go back when the bandits approached us. Do you mind escorting us to the capital?"

"I can travel with you, I am heading that way anyway." 

"Thank you." Her head bowed again.  The three of them continued on their way to the capital. The father, Eugene, was in his mid fifties most of his hair grey, black eyes, but a kind and gentle face. The daughter Rachel was a thin blonde girl with hazel eyes with a mousy appearance.  They got to know each other much better over the next week of travel. Vixen and Rachel would bathe together in the stream while Eugene stood watch, not wanting to peek in on his daughter.  

During the night, each did their share to set up camp off the main road to avoid any more trouble with highway men. Vixen and Eugene were the only ones to stand watch at night , Rachel was young and had no combat experience. Eugene didn't have much he usually just trapped monster but has had to defend himself so he at least knew how to wield a weapon. Vixen would always stand watch first, since she felt more comfortable that way. There travel back to Runeford since they were together had become quite less eventful. There had only been one incident when Vixen had fallen alseep on the far side of the camp after being relieved by Eugene. Rachel ended up having to use the bathroom but felt too isolated so cozyed up next to Vixen. Vixen woke up in a panick because she felt someone touching to find out that Rachel had started to grope her breasts in her sleep. The stimulation was so great she nearly came and had to stiffle her moan so Eugene wouldn't hear. She left the camp to go dry herself off. When she came back to camp she climbed a tree and slept how she did when she was alone. 

On the final night, they had all been sitting around the campfire enjoying a meal. Eugene had glanced at Vixen's chest, coughed and turned his head. He was incredibly respectful of the young lady that saved them, he made no lewd remarks, gestures, or advances, but he was a man and seeing someone like her tormented his body beyond his control. Vixen felt comfortable around the two, they were polite and considerate. She noticed when the old man would glance her way, but she knew there were many factors in play, like her pheromone ability. She didn't hold it against him, though at the campfire she noticed the bulge he had, and caught how he tucked it up into his waist band after coughing uncomfortablely. She turned her head, her nipples and abdomen throbbed but forcibly ignored the sensation. 

'Why is this getting more and more challenging,' she thought. 

Eugene cleared his throat, "Heherrm, Vixen I want you to know how much we appreciate you helping us and escorting us back. Before you say anything, we know you've been traveling slower than usual for our sake so I am going to reward you. You don't have a right to refuse."

Vixen looked at the resolute face of Eugene and smiled, "I would be lying if I said it was not a pleasure traveling with you. I appreciate your generosity. You do know I did not help you for just a reward right?"

"Of course not, but you're going to get one," Eugene laughed. 

They arrived to Runeford by noon the next day, Vixen had her cloak and hood back up attempting to avoid unwanted attention. Vixen used the money found on the bandits to pay everyone's entrance fee into the city. The city was different from how Vixen had remembered it, just as packed but significantly less clean. 

"What happened here?" Vixen asked Eugene. He adopted a solemn look, "The hero Cadel died," Eugene began morosely, "I'm guessing based on your current age that you were too young to know about him, but he was an incredibly powerful individual and for this city, a symbol of justice. His presence here stopped a lot of crime you'd see in a big city, sure there was some, but just his name was enough to deter alot."

They took a few turns down numerous streets passing an assortment of shops, heading towards the outskirts of the market district while he continued, "It took about a year for people to find out about his death, since while he frequently traveled to fend off evil he never was gone for that long. Criminals started to move their enterprises here and take advantage of the opportunities large populations provided. Now that he hasn't been seen for eight years there are several, other than upstanding, organizations that have made their home here. The theives guild and a murder for hire company named the Sanguine Covenant are among the more powerful ones."

'I might need to stay here for a while and do something about this, I didn't realize it had gotten so bad,' she thought as they stopped at the edge of the market square at a small leathers shop.