Will heard the woman's screaming and crying throughout the village like a banshee. She pleaded to everyone to help look for her child. The village was a decent size, but mostly everyone knew each other
The rest gathered and protected their children by keeping them close to them.
Will had no desire to save children. One he wasn't an expert in tracking. Two, the last time he did something like this for a village, they tried to kill him and Grace. All he wanted to do was trade and nothing else.
"How did he escape? Did you lose him from your sight?" The same plump man from the store asked the lady.
"I didn't. I was folding laundry, and my s-s-son, was right in front of me. But 'he' just appeared out of thin air and took him." The woman cried and teared up.
Will's ears perked up.
"It must be that annoying magical item he has. He can teleport wherever he wants. It's the reason why no one has ever been able to find him or the kids he took." Another village voiced his opinion.
"SSSSHHH!!!"
The woman teared up even more. It meant that she'll never see her son again.
"No, I need to find him. MICHAEL!!!" The woman ran out of the village to search for her son.
"Linda! The forest isn't safe. We'll help you look! He couldn't have gone far."
The villagers took whatever they had and ran to the forest. They had no clues or idea where the Taker had taken him, but it was better than sitting around and doing nothing.
"A magical item that can teleport. Sounds great. Maybe Adaline saw him leaving the village." Will ran to the forest to look for Adaline.
There she appeared before him.
"Adaline, did you by any chance see a man teleported with a kid not too long ago?"
Adaline nodded.
"Lead the way and don't lose him." Will jumped on Adaline and they both ran after that man.
The man kept teleporting and teleporting. The magic item he had could teleport, but it had a short range. Even so it was faster than running and didn't consume his stamina.
It didn't take him long before he disappeared for good. It looked like he and the boy disappeared from the face of the Earth.
A few minutes later, Adaline and Will arrived at the spot where he had disappeared.
"Here? I don't see anything." Will looked around but no sign of the kid, or the man.
Adaline looked around for a bit and pointed at the ground.
"Oh. I get it, he's hidden in a secret base. But since he can teleport he doesn't need to use any doors that could give away his hideout. That's smart. Adaline, the moment he leaves his hole you stab him but do not kill him. Strip him if you can so he doesn't teleport away. If we take away that item that teleports him, he won't get away."
Adaline nodded.
Will took out his pickaxe and started mining.
The Taker threw the kid inside the cell and teleported out of it. He wrote in his notepad.
"That's child number 15. This month's quota has been met. Now to message him back."
He took out a communication stone, but a wooden bowl hit his head.
"You bad man! Let us go!" Kat said.
"You're probably the only kid I've seen with this much fighting spirit. He enjoys little kids like you the most."
As he was about to message someone, dirt fell on his head. He looked up, and someone dug a hole on his roof.
It was obviously Will. The Taker and the kids saw not a man, but a humanoid figure with glowing blue eyes.
"What? How did you find this place?" Taker was taken aback. No one could've tracked him here.
Will pointed his gun at the Taker, but he teleported out of there.
"Adaline, now!"
The Taker teleported away from the cave. He tried to think of a plan to dispose of him without leaving any traces that led to his base.
But, his legs were stabbed by tiny spears. He could feel something like snakes stripping him.
"WHAT!" He teleported out of there, but more and more spears impaled his legs soon after. No matter where he went, he was stabbed. He was stabbed in the arms, legs, shoulders.
With the holes made in his body and because he moved around so much, he started bleeding to death. He got too tired to move and teleport anymore.
"So, you're Taker." Will appeared before him and so did Adaline. Adaline with her new exotic form was now way more powerful, and could react fast enough to stab him wherever he was. It didn't help Taker that he made his base in a middle of a forest.
"How… how did you…"
"How did I find you? You just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. I read what you've done these past few years. As far as I know a quick and painless death would be too good for you. But I'd much rather be at peace and kill you myself, then to let your fate be in the hands of someone else."
Adaline stripped Taker off all his belongings until only his underwear was left. It was merely a normal looking man. One wouldn't think he was a child kidnapper.
Will took out his rifle and aimed it at his head. He noticed that his HP was dropping quickly because he was bleeding to death. Will thought that this man didn't even deserve to live and breathe the same air as him. Disposing him would be the best move.
"Spare me." He asked weakly.
"Nah." Will shot the rifle and killed Taker on the spot.
Will didn't have any healing potions on him so he could ask Taker about the other kids. By the time he returns to the nearest village he would already be dead.
"I need to learn how to craft healing potions."
He left the Taker's body there to rot.
Will observed the items the taker had. Merely clothes, a steel knife, some gold coins, and a cloak. The hood is what caught his eye.
{Clothe of teleportation: Magical}
{Defense 0}
{Durability 100/100}
{Short teleportation: Can safely teleport the wearer anywhere with a 15 meter radius. Consumes no stamina, or mana, nor it requires a cooldown when performing this ability}
{Shape: Can change colours and appearance depending on what the wearer wants}
"Huh. It's a little bloody, but it's a very good item to have." Will placed the coins and the sweater inside one of his chests.
He went back to the hole he found, and there were 15 kids locked up in a cell.
All the kids looked at Will very scared and afraid of him, mostly because of his mask. Inside the barely lit room, if anyone saw glowing eyes peering from the dark looking at them, how could they not be afraid?
Even Kat was a little afraid.
"Sigh… I can't leave them here." Will did not like the idea of helping others anymore, but they were all kids, he'd have to be a heartless devil to leave them to rot and die in a cell with no chance of escaping. He'd never forgive himself if they all died.
He looked around the hidden room. There was a chest under a desk, several papers on the desk. Upon opening the chest, he found several gold coins, over hundreds of them. And also, a lot of jewellery. The Taker didn't only take kids but also stole from various stores.
"Nothing enchanted or magical items. But maybe I can somehow make use of these jewelleries since I am in need of these."
First he collected all the information that the Taker had, papers, clothes, everything. Will took a good look at the papers that were scattered.
"Papers… shit. Shit, shit, oh god."
Will saw the many, many names who were written in those letters, all of them kids. The oldest one was no more than 12, the youngest was 4. The dates went back years ago.
Will saw even more papers, but they were about the one commanding Taker to kidnap those kids.
"A noble from the Reyes kingdom is the cause of all this."
In this world, nobles were not descendants from the king but from the heroes. But that is a story for another time.
He used his pickaxe next to set them free from the cell.
"Come. Let's get you all home."
The kids stood there frozen in fear.
"I don't have all day. Either stay here or leave with me. Your choice.
Kat was the first to step in. She helped the youngest kid get on his feet first.
"Come." Kat helped the other kids leave the cell before her. The rest of the kids soon followed her lead.
Some of the kids were weak. Will carried some of them outside of the hole.
"I think that's all of them. Now, everyone cover your ears." Will raised his gun, pointed it to the sky and shot a few rounds.
The sound of the shots echoed through the forest. Not far from them, people heard it.
"I heard gunshots. This way." Villagers ran to the source of the sound.
Once Will heard the voices of people running to them, he hopped on Adaline and ran off deep into the forest without saying anything.
"Mister…?" Kat didn't have a chance to say anything before Will left.
The last thing Will wanted was more attention. He only came to the village in the first place to trade, nothing else. Besides it did give him some good items that could be of use to him.
"Michael? Michael!" Linda ran as fast as she could when she saw her son.
"Mom!" Michael and her started to cry a bit, but were relieved and happy to see each other again.
"You came back. I was so scared I'd never see you again."
"Everyone back to the village, Taker could still be here. The guards should be here any minute."
The older villagers carried the kids back to the village.
No sooner than later did a few guards come to show up. The reason so few came is because it was the same story, a child got kidnapped, they never find the kidnapper, the kid is never seen again. Sometimes they get lucky and catch another child kidnapper.
When they saw the missing kids, they immediately notified the higher ups.
More soldiers appeared, and 2 commanders showed up. As well as a few sorcerers.
They immediately scoured the forest after hearing what happened. They entered the secret underground hole, and found nothing. Everything had been taken by Will.
Not long after did they discover a body near the woods. Since it could be Taker they collected his corpse for examination.
One of the commanders, which is an old woman, gently questioned Kat to provide them answers.
"What did the Taker look like?" The commander asked.
"Tall. Dark. Skinny. Had a normal voice. That's all I know. It was too dark to tell."
"And this other 'man' that rescued you, what is he like?"
"Scary at first. Covered his entire body. Wore this weird armor, as if it was made out of wood, but glowing."
"Did it look like this?" The commander showed Kat an enchanted weapon.
"Sorta, some of it had this color. But it was a different kind of color."
"I see…" The Commander couldn't think of anyone or anything that fit her description. What kind of idiot would make wooden armor? And since when does wooden armor like that exist?
"Did he have a name, or anything else that could help identify him?"
"I remember him riding off on something, but I didn't see what, it was invisible."
"Invisible… so he had a giant lizard or a chameleon with him. Probably someone rich."
This world has giant sized chameleons and lizards, some of which could turn invisible or camouflage. They were rare and did not like submitting to others, especially humans who looked more like food to them.
There were several ways to make creatures submit to them.
"Thanks for answering these questions even though you must be scared."
"I'm not scared. I am just worried for mommy. She is in pain and has a baby in her tummy."
All of the parents were notified that their children had returned. A soldier was sent to each of their homes to pick them up and reunite with their children.
It wasn't long after that all of the children were reunited with their families. That day many tears were shed from the pure joy of having been reunited, even soldiers cried. There was a lot of emotion, a lot of love in that village.
"Kat!" A voice of a man echoed.
"Dada!" Kat jumped to her father's embrace, and he hugged her tightly as he spun her around.
"Sorry, I'm sorry Kat." Kat's father said as his tears flowed out.
"Why?"
"I sent you to collect potions, which is why you were kidnapped. I should've known better. Sorry, I am so sorry. Forgive me."
"Dada…" Kat began crying, too.
"I love you so much."
After an hour of reuniting, the families thanked the villagers, and the soldiers for reuniting them.
The soldiers and villagers took the praise. Some did not. The two commanders also felt the same. They were not the ones who found the kids or tracked down Taker.
"Any results on the corpse we found?" Asked the female Commander as she smoked a cigarette."
"The corpse's name is Clancy. He was supposed to be dead 5 years ago, after he killed his family, and set his house on fire along with him." The male Commander was the same one from the other village that Will attacked.
"So he came back from the dead?"
"If you're saying he's a zombie then you're wrong. His body was in perfect health. He was killed by a bullet to his dead, and was pierced in the limbs by what I can describe as tiny spears. If it weren't for the bullet on his head, he wouldn't have bled to death. Someone had it out for this guy and wanted to make sure he was dead for good."
"Tiny spears. Was this the work of a magical item?"
"I don't know. We also inspected the place he hid in, we found nothing there, not the magical item he used for teleporting. Someone robbed him clean and fast long before we got there." The man took a cigarette from the old lady and smoked one too.
"The one who saved these kids covered his face well, or at least that's what they told me. All they said was 'scary blue eyes' or something, and his armor is weird too."
"Did he have a dragon's helmet?"
"Not a dragon's, but glowing wood or something like that. And I think he had a chameleon with him as a mount."
"Glowing wood… that sounds stupid. So a chameleon, that limits our 'hero' suspect to nobles, sorcerers, the Fat Empress. Speaking of nobles, guess what I found about our child kidnapper."
The commander handed important papers to the woman commander.
"What's this?" She asked.
"A death certificate for our dead kidnapper, a certain noble confirmed the death certificate himself, not a week later did the disappearances of kids begin. Recognize that name?" The man pointed at the corner of the paper.
"Stein."
"Not only that, but Stein also gave the order that no one should investigate the murder of Clancy's family, or the house burning down. It seems to me that he's kinda sus."
"Sus?" She asked.
"Er I mean suspicious. I overheard people talking like this in the military, the heroes had something to do with it."
"You think that a noble, a descendant of the heroes, was the one behind the child kidnappings?"
"Why else would Clancy kidnap so many kids? When I went down to that hole I found nothing. No signs of bones, corpses, intrustments of torture. It seems to me like Clancy treated these kids as nothing but cargo, and someone probably paid him a hefty sum of money to do this."
"If you plan on taking on a noble, you need more evidence. We're merely Commanders, your word or my word will mean nothing to the king!"
"I know. If only I had evidence."
Sorcerers flew around the city and forest looking for the so-called 'scary eyes' fellow that the kids described. But found nothing.
Jasmine, was also one of the sorcerers flying around. After she arrived at the village that Kat was kidnapped, she asked the father and mother questions, Jasmine wanted to capture the child kidnapper and this was her newest clue. At that moment a soldier came and gave them the happy news, their daughter, and all the other kids were rescued.
Jasmine flew to the village, was up to date on the news, and flew around looking for anyone.
Will was hiding underneath a rock he mined. He took out the chest full of the stuff he took from the Takers secret hideout.
Will went through all the papers, there were so many details explaining how and why he kidnapped the children, as if he was writing a diary. Clancy was so confident that no one would find him, that he didn't care what he wrote. Even if he was caught, he purposefully left evidence to get back the noble who paid him off, so he can take him down with him and hopefully be given a light sentence if he used this evidence against him.
Too bad for Clancy, he died before he had a chance to speak for himself at a fair trial.
"This seems like hero work for me. And the one behind this kidnapper is a noble named Stein." Will placed the papers inside the chest and looked at the maps with detailed drawing in them. It led to another place where supposedly this noble would make the trade.
Will did not have a clear understanding of how powerful and influential nobles are. But he did know that they are all descendants of heroes.
Obviously there had been over 300 heroes summoned to this world, it wouldn't be weird if they started having off-springs. But their off-springs are also born with strong traits compared to an ordinary person.
However, a hero's off-spring will never have the same abilities as an original hero or even close.
This is why the incest law is a thing in this world, it's mostly for the heroes. They needed to keep the bloodline pure of heroes only.
There's one reason why he took the papers, he thought he could use this to get more items, like if Taker had a secret stash somewhere. If there was one it wasn't in the papers.
Will took out the hoodie which was now dried with blood.
"There's no way I'm putting this on until it's clean."
Will tossed the magical hoodie back in his chest.
"I think we made a good harvest today. And tomorrow we'll trade with the village. Let's go back home."
Will looked around the forest and up and saw that the cost was clear of people or monsters.
At the moment Will ran away, someone behind them saw Adaline running at a fast pace.
"Isn't that... Hey!" It was Jasmine. She flew as fast as she could towards Adaline.
Will didn't listen because he couldn't hear her. He didn't think a sorcerer would come looking for him. Adaline may not be able to fly, but her speed was on a whole 'nother level compared a sorcerer's flying ability.
"Will and Adaline! Stop!"
Jasmine took out her staff and aimed it in front of Adaline to show them that she's right there. It created a mini explosion.
Will saw where it came from and noticed it was a sorcerer, but since she was too high up, he couldn't see her face, so it didn't know it was Jasmine.
"Crap! Keep running!"
Will took out his gun and aimed it right at Jasmine. But noticed that Adaline stopped running.
"Adaline?"
Adaline instead walked to Jasmine slowly with no intention of fighting.
Will thought that Adaline wanted to fight the sorcerer so he aimed the gun at her once more. But, she put down her weapon and descended.
Once Will got a good look at her, he recognized her. Adaline did too when Jasmine shouted out to them the second time.
"Jasmine?" He said.
"So you do remember me." Jasmine said.
"What? I don't know you. I just recognized you from the… newspapers?" Will tried to come up with a lie to cover his mistake, because there was a chance that she saw him in the wanted posters. He didn't want to fight a sorceress since he doesn't know how strong they are.
"I already know it's you Will. I didn't think it was you because of that weird armor you're wearing. But when I saw Adaline, I knew it was you."
"Oh." Will took off his mask. Even if he tried to lie his way out of it, Jasmine already knew him. There was no point in trying to hide it.
"So, Jasmine, how have you been? Have you become a kingsguard yet?" Will tried to make a friendly conversation with her.
"No. But I'm not here to talk about me. Do you know the pain you caused to the villagers? How many people you killed because you joined the side of the elves?"
"Elves? Oh, I see, you think I am… would you believe me if I said I killed those villagers because I was protecting myself and my friend?"
"How is that protecting yourself? Those were innocent people."
"Not so innocent. Would you hear my side of the story?" Will gripped his gun tightly. If Jasmine declined and wanted to bring him down, he'd have no choice but to fight back.
Jasmine would not listen to others like this or give them a chance to explain. But, remembering the sad look on Jack's eyes, she couldn't help but want to help him.
"I'll listen, but it better be the truth. I'm only doing this for Jack."
"Jack? Crap! I didn't think about him." Will rubbed his eyes. Jack looks up to heroes so much that it's unreal.
Now that Jack knew and befriended Will, who is a hero, that would negatively affect Jack if he knew about what he did in the village. The first hero he met, and the first hero friend he befriended, his view of him probably changed for the worse.
Will owed Jack a lot. When he needed to become a blacksmith, Jack helped him, when he needed money, Jack helped him, when he needed weapons and armor, Jack helped him. He felt grateful towards Jack.
Will ended up telling Jasmine everything, even about Grace and the goblins nest. Although he left out some details like his base, the exotic flowers, anything that would give away his hero identity.
Jasmine thought about some of it made sense. When she arrived at that village the goblin's nest was eradicated and everyone was saved. And when they found out that Grace was an elf and wanted to enslave her, Will protected her and the other elven women, But elves are their enemies, they've been at each other's throats for a long time.
Jasmine was thinking how to solve this without any more problems rising.
"If anyone else heard you say that, they would most likely believe that you were working for the elves."
"I'm not. We just have something in common." Will looked at Adaline. Arbor and Grace are only with him because of Adaline.
"Still… if you did save their people and they still turned on you… I don't know what to say or do."
Jasmine was in a complicated spot. She would've done the same thing if she was in Will's position. But a sorcerer's job is to protect people just like the heroes.
"Say nothing. Pretend like you never saw me."
"No. And I take it that you also saved those kids and killed the Taker?" Asked Jasmine.
"I did."
"Well at least there's that. How come you ran away?"
"I cannot tell you. I don't trust you enough. But I have a good reason." WIll said truthfully. The only ones who knew about his identity is because they all found out themselves, he never once told a stranger his identity. Clement, Arbor, Jack, Grace, they all found out by themselves.
"Here. I want you to contact Jack, he needs to hear this from you. Do you have a communication stone with you?"
"I do." Will took it out from his chest. After killing Jim and his men he tested out the communication stones and figured out how it works.
Jasmine touched Will's communication stone with her stone, a red light glowed between them, and so did Jack's from far away.
Jack was helping his uncle, when he saw the communication stone glowed red.
"Red? Did Jasmine connect our communication stones with someone else?" Jack asked.
In order to connect with each other, the stones have to touch and messages could then be sent between them like texting.
It wasn't limited to just two stones, it could go up to 3,10, 100, higher ups use them to give commands during wars in order to launch a tactical attack.
[Hello?} Jack wrote in his stone.
"Aren't you gonna help me, Jack?" Asked Sam.
"Can we take a five minute break?"
"Sure." Sam let go of the hammer and grabbed a snack.
{Hey, Jack. It's me, Will.}
{Will!} Jack was taken aback. Out of all things he didn't expect Will to message him.
{I know that you heard what I did. I did it for a good reason. I'm sorry that I didn't talk to you about it, I had a lot on my plate since you know… I'd tell you about it, but Jasmine might read it. How about we meet back at your village? I'll tell what happened, and why I did it.}
Jack took a while to answer. Emotions piled up in him.
{Okay.}
{I'll see you soon.}
Will placed the stone in his pocket.
Adaline was a little hesitant getting close to Jasmine, but since she knew her, she wasn't as wary as she was around people. After Jim hurt her, she did not want to be near humans anymore unless she knew them. Which is why she stopped. Somehow she knew she wouldn't attack them, otherwise that first blast would've struck them instead of blocking her path.
"Will, how did you find Taker? We've been tracking him down for years including me. Even the Great Sage couldn't find him."
"Secret. Speaking of secrets, look what I found at Takers place."
Will took out his chest and took out many papers with crucial evidence. Jasmine wasn't as shocked to see the chest grow in size because Will had shown her some of his weird abilities, so she thought it had something to do with a magical item he had.
"This is detailed evidence of the Taker's kidnappings. All of the kidnappings happened because of a noble from the Reyes kingdom."
"Noble." Jasmine looked at astonishment at the papers. Nobles are powerful because of their genes. But, if they had committed such serious crimes, they would be executed.
"You can have it. I only brought it with me because I thought it would benefit me. I know that if you brought this news to the king, it would put you in a better spot to become a kingsguard."
"Kings… is this a bribe? You're giving me this so I won't have to turn you in?" Jasmine looked at Will seriously. If people found out she made a deal with a criminal, she would have a black spot on her record, and that would mean the end of becoming a kingsguard.
"No, even if you planned on turning me in, I wouldn't let you. Even if you don't take it, I was planning on throwing it away. All the evidence you'd need to bring this noble to justice is here. Think about all those kids who died because of him. All those families who split up because they suffered so much emotional pain because of him."
"You're playing with my emotions here." Jasmine said angrily.
"I'm only stating facts here. Bring this man to justice, I don't care."
"Wait, why don't you do it yourself? This could be used to forgive your criminal status or possibly give you a light sentence. People will forgive you for killing those villagers if they knew that you caught the child kidnapper."
Will stopped in his tracks, but shook his head. If he did he'd bring a lot of attention. And soon the heroes would recognize him, and his identity would be exposed. If they found out about his powers, he'd become a slave for them.
"You misunderstand me, Jasmine. I am not a psychopath who likes killing people, I don't like killing people, that is my LEAST favourite thing to do. If that's what people think about me then so be it." Will could care less about them. He didn't need them to survive. But he did need to trade with them but he could always hide his face using a mask.
"Uhhhh…"
"Just promise me you won't ever mention me when you bring this evidence. Don't do me any favours, got it?" Will left with Adaline and said nothing else.
"I didn't say I was gonna… and he's gone." Jasmine looked at the papers in her hand. Pictures, maps, detailed explanations. It's rare to come across so much evidence.
"If someone else catches you I won't help. I'm only letting you go because of Jack."
Jasmine flew directly to the kingdom as fast as she could.
Will sighed in relief when Jasmine didn't pursue them. He didn't know how powerful sorcerers are, and he didn't want to find out. If he and her fought, it'll also mean that Jack would never forgive him. He cares about Jack for all the things he had done for him.
"Come on, let's go see Jack. I think I remember where it was…"
But remembering correctly, he had no idea where Jack lived or the name of the village he was in. It's been a month now and he had forgotten.
Will took out his communication and messaged Jack…