The strange trio found themselves descending the hill at a brisk pace.
Evan stood in front with an annoyed face, while Rada and Kiba followed at a "safe" distance.
"Why are you acting so strangely since that guy appeared?" asked Kiba with a frown. He still didn't understand his companion's attitude.
(Shh! You're still too young! You can't understand!)
With his index finger near his lips, Rada gestured for silence, he seemed to be inexplicably worried by his expression.
"You are small! Your whole family is small! Bah, do what you like!"
Annoyed by his gesture, Kiba rolled in on himself and closed his eyes, ignoring everything else. He knew that a great danger loomed over their heads, but all he could do at the moment was to hoard his energy in case of need.
"We're going to regroup with the rest of the group, the Bran and Baum family leaders are waiting for us" Evan explained.
"Mm, okay" Rada replied in an unfriendly tone.
"Do you have something against me by any chance?" the thing couldn't help but make the young commander doubtful.
"Who me?" Rada made his usual dumb face.
"Yes you! You seem to be avoiding me," Evan replied, sharpening his eyes.
He approached him with a predatory look, you could almost hear his breathing.
Instinctively Rada pulled her head back.
"Eheh, I have no idea what you're talking about commander," he was certain by now. Drops of sweat began to drip from his temples.
(This one is gay to the core!!)
"Speak!" Evan grabbed the collar of Rada's shirt, the two of them were head to head, their eyes reflected each other. On other occasions and with entirely different company, such a situation could ignite lust in any man.
But at that moment for Rada it did not, at that moment he felt he had sunk into the deepest of hells!
"I'm not attracted to boys!!!" Rada suddenly blurted out.
Evan was taken aback, his eyes opened wide in amazement. He immediately released his grip on the boy.
"W-what do you mean by that!?" he mumbled hysterically.
"I mean what I said! I understand my charm, Commander, but I am just a normal guy, in his prime to boot, who only prefers the company of the fairer sex!"
Rada took a few steps away from Evan who was petrified. He tried to act elegant and courteous. But from the eyes of the young commander he did not seem to have succeeded.
"Y-you!" he said.
He was furious to the point that he couldn't even speak, his face turning so red with embarrassment that he looked like a tomato.
"Shameless!"
Like a flash, Rada sensed something heading towards his face, but he didn't have time to react.
"Slap!"
In zero time the silhouette of a hand remained in her sullen face like a brand for several time.
"We have gathered almost all the participants sir," reported one of the men from Aaron and Logar's group.
"Who is missing from the roll call?" asked Aaron.
"Your son and his group sir!" the man then turned to Logar and said, "Your daughter too along with the boy with his puppy."
Despite the news not being as he had hoped, Logar continued to keep his expression unchanged, as did Aaron.
"We found something!"
One of the capital guards approached the two leaders in a hurry.
"What is it?" asked Logar.
"There are traces of blood and human remains not far from here!" reported the guard. Without wasting any more time, the group set off for the indicated place.
"Traces of wolves."
As soon as they arrived, it didn't take Logar long to spot the tracks of the beasts.
"There were three of them, large ones too," Aaron beside him.
"That looks like a small camp."
The guard pointed towards where Alcas and his group stopped.
"You said there was blood and human remains?" asked Aaron.
"Yes sir," replied the guard.
They moved towards the place where one of the boys died tragically, the scene was gruesome to say the least. Logar felt the blood boil in his veins as Aaron continued to observe with his usual cold gaze.
"The remains belong to one person," Aaron leaned closer to examine.
"Can we figure out who they belong to?"
Logar asked with concern, instinctively fearing for his daughter's life. After some time examining everything minutely Aaron nodded.
"One of the boys who accompanied my son," he replied in a detached tone.
"So it was their group."
Inside Logar, he breathed a sigh of relief despite being sorry for what had happened.
"There seems to be something wrong, if the group of boys was attacked, why are there only remains of one person?" asked the guard with a doubtful face.
"It's very simple," replied Aaron.
Of all the people in the village, he was the one best suited for situations like this, as he could always maintain a cool mind that allowed him to analyse with utmost accuracy any problem that came against him.
If Rada had seen him in action, he would have immediately assumed the man worked for the forensic team.
"The wolves didn't want to kill the entire group, they just wanted to scare them, they only mauled one member to strike fear into the entire group" In his mind, Aaron had a clear view of the entire incident.
"You mean it was all calculated?" asked Logar.
He knew that in situations like this, although it was hard for him to admit it, he could only count on Aaron.
"Yeah, it looks like the rest of the group was kidnapped, deprived of their will to resist," the latter replied.
"Kidnapped? Why?" Logar and the guards looked towards Aaron in astonishment.
"I don't know that yet," the other replied, shaking his head slightly.
"It's strange though..."
One of the guards expressed his doubt.
"If it's a kidnapping, why were we able to pick up their trail so easily? I mean if they are beings with so much intellect, why would we let them miss such a gross detail?"
"It is precisely because they have great intellect," spoke Logar this time.
"What do you mean?" asked the guard.
"It means they're drawing us to them," Aaron replied.
"Are they up to something?" asked an incredulous guard.
"Looks that way," sighed Logar. He looked around for more clues, but found nothing of note.
Suddenly, however, his attention was caught by a barely audible sound. It sounded like a hiss, coming from a thick bush not far away.
Logar strode towards the bush and immediately noticed something. A small sphere of energy that gave off a bright green glow.
At that, Logar's eyes lit up.
"Rei."