[Your son, Jolly is with us.]
[We captured him alongside his new girlfriend. In case you don't believe us, we sent a little token as evidence to show you how serious we are.]
[We want 50,000 gold coins, no negotiations.]
[We'll be waiting in the South Bamboo Forest. Send only 1 servant. I repeat, only 1 servant with our money if you want to see Jolly again alive.]
[Sender: The Bearman Gang.]
Thud!
She threw a black bag down before the 2 students. "This is the little token that they sent as evidence to show that my brother is really with them".
Freya could already tell what was inside the bag but still, she opened it.
She blocked her nose due to the stench.
"…!" Ramon stared with wide eyes filled with shock as he shook in rage.
"That was my brother's newest girlfriend". The 18-year-old lady with long light brown hair, Bianca Macintosh, the 28th daughter of the Macintosh family casually said.
Ramon shook in rage. "How dare they?!"
"How dare they treat human life so casually?!"
"They're astral travelers, it's normal to them". Bianca looked at the boy who was a head shorter than her, she furrowed her brows. "Are you sure the both of you are really up to the task?"
"Mother would complain if Jolly ended up dying".
"Don't worry," Freya assured her. "We'll take care of the job".
Looking at the girl, the 2nd student sent by Centerpoint Astral and seeing the confident look in her eyes, Bianca nodded. "Ok, I'm leaving".
"A little tip though, the leader of the Bearman Gang is a notorious mid-tier Knight Stage Evolver".
With that, she left.
Bianca was Jolly's biological brother with the same mother. This was why she took it upon herself for her mother's sake to rescue her useless little brother.
The letter that they just read was sent by the kidnappers.
"How dare they?!" Ramon still fumed as he looked at the black bag filled with blood, containing the severed head of Jolly's now ex-girlfriend.
Freya looked at her companion. "Ramon, now is not the time to rage".
"It's better you keep that rage to channel it later against the kidnappers".
Ramon finally calmed down as he clenched his fists angrily.
During the past few years in the academy, though they were not close enough to be friends yet, he already developed a relationship with the reportedly most talented of the 4 Specialists of their batch, Freya Atreus.
Freya looked at the time. "It's already 4:00pm".
"We can't afford to rush this mission since we don't have the 50,000 gold coins that they're requesting for to trick them".
"Our best chance is to wait for the cover of night".
"Ok," Ramon nodded, barely thinking straight due to his anger. "Do the thinking, I'll do the fighting".
He grunted and left. Freya followed behind him.
The manor of the Macintosh family was absolutely humungous, at least 10 times bigger than the manor of the Brenden family.
They were the ruling family of Centerpoint City, the capital city of Stoneflower State and their jurisdiction covered most of the state.
All smaller families like the Brenden and Crosti families were under them. They paid tributes to the Macintosh family every year to stay ruling over their territories, and their large farmlands.
"Let's go to an inn". Freya suggested and Ramon didn't object.
Storm Breaker was already vibrating in alignment with his fury, all he wanted at this moment was to unsheathe his sword and cut those mother*ckers to pieces.
Going to the inn, Freya managed to gather information about the Bearman Gang and at exactly 7:45pm, they finally embarked on their journey.
The South Bamboo Forest was just one of the 3 roads that led to the nearby Crayon City, and it was also the wildest and most dangerous.
Most merchants rather took the other longer but more safer routes to Crayon City, only the confident ones with large guard forces took the Bamboo Forest route.
"Oh! You're students of Centerpoint Astral Academy?" The middle-aged merchant with flapping fat belly laughed as the students showed their I.D.
"You want to join my crew? Sure!" He laughed. "In the future, my aim is for my first son to attend and be a graduate of Centerpoint Astral".
"I'm sure your son will do well". Freya did all the conversations.
Seated at the edge of the carriage, Ramon only caressed his sword.
15 minutes into the journey, Ramon spoke. "The surveillance has stopped; their scout has removed his sight from this merchant crew".
Freya believed him, she already witnessed Ramon's terrifying perception first hand after dangerous encounters over the years in Wheat Trye Wilderness.
She smiled at the merchant. "We'll be stopping here".
"Oh, ok, let's meet again some time later". He was all smiles.
Thud! Thud!
As soon as they came down, hiding behind the cover of the moving carriages of this merchant crew, Freya asked. "Where?"
"He was spying us from behind that giant rock". Ramon pointed to the eastern direction. "He should not be far".
"Let's move!" Freya directed as she led the way.
About 200 meters away from the merchant crew, a thin man covered in green clothes made out of tree leaves hissed as he turned away.
"What a waste of time, I told the boss that no one is coming".
"The Macintosh family is too big for any of them to pay attention to that brat. Instead of paying the great price of hiring an astral warrior to take care of us or sending one of their priceless guards, they'll rather pay the money".
"Afterall, 50,000 gold coins mean nothing to those filthy rich bastards".
"Hmm," This astral traveler suddenly squatted as he looked into the distance alertly.
The merchant crew was passing through like before, nothing was out of the normal, yet his body felt strange.
"Why is my hair standing on end?" He muttered.
"And…, why am I sweating?"
Those were his last words in freedom.
Whoosh!
BAM!
"Kyujutsu Astral Technique: Wind Arrow!"
The attack hit before the soundwaves of her words came.
"Ugh…!" This astral traveler groaned in pain as the accurate arrow hit him at the left side of his chest, pinning him to the large bamboo tree behind him.
'How were they able to sneak up on me?'
'How did they manage to enter the forest?'
'But I was at alert!'
'I was keeping watch!'
Whoosh!
He looked and saw long black hair appear in his vision, followed by the gleaming blade of a sword, glowing red from the last touch of the setting sun.
Swish! Swish!
2 slashes and this astral traveler lost his 2 legs from the knee down.
"Ar…!"
"Shhh!" He was shushed.
"Make a sound and you won't live a second longer".
He knew the voice was female and it was young too but he dared not disobey it, this was because he felt the strange conviction from her voice to kill.
"Don't move". She continued. "That arrow is just 3 inches away from your heart, every beating of your heart is a risk to your life if the arrow nicks your heart so try not to be tensed and increase your blood pressure, calm down".
She finally arrived before him, this thin middle-aged astral traveler with wrinkled skin strained to look at the little girl before him.
"You little…"
"Tell me everything about your hideout". Freya demanded authoritatively even as she brought out her first aid kit to attend to his grave wounds and stop the bleeding. "You have 3 seconds".
"You little…!"
"2 seconds".
"1 second".
She pulled out a dagger.
"Wait, please!" He pleaded.
Sweat dripped down this astral traveler's forehead. He was a veteran low-tier Knight Stage Warrior Transmutator, the 3rd strongest warrior of the Bearman Gang yet these kids managed to decapitate him so easily.
And the little girl's fearsome eyes, they told him danger.
'Sorry boss'. He gritted his teeth. 'I don't want to die'.
"Our hideout is located…" He told her everything without holding anything back even as he felt immense guilt for betraying his gang.
"Your gang's power composition". Freya demanded.
This thin man looked at the girl, feeling funny for underestimating her a few minutes ago. His instincts told him that if he lied the girl would know so he dared not. "Our boss is the strongest, he's a mid-tier Knight Stage Evolver".
"For your lives, don't go, he'll kill you".
"Thanks for your concern, continue". Freya was stone-faced. "What is his weapon, his fighting style, and what's his strongest astral technique?"
'F*cking wolf in sheep's clothing!' This thin man cursed.
He didn't want to but seeing the sheer rage in the boy's eyes that was beside the girl, he knew more than to cause a ruckus.
"Apart from our boss, Roku is our second in command. He's a low-tier Knight Stage Manipulator".
"What does he manipulate?"
The thin man gritted his teeth. "An invisible whip".
Freya looked at him. "An invisible whip?"
The thin man gritted his teeth even more. "Yes. It is a special whip that our boss got for him, it was crafted by a Warlock".
Freya nodded. "And you're the third in command, their best scout".
The thin man nodded.
"Good, now tell me about your schedule, what time is your so-called boss expecting you back to give a timely report of your scout?"
'This little!' This astral traveler was horrified. 'She's so thorough!'
In the end, he had no choice, he gave up everything.
"Thank you". She gave a signal.
Bam!
Covering his free left hand with his golden astral energy, Ramon slammed his hand like a sword against the side of the thin man's neck as he was instantly knocked out. This was a basic application of his astral energy that he learned recently.
They were not killing the man.
The next moment, Freya placed a wooden bug sculpture with the emblem of lightning on its back on the man's chest that instantly attached itself to the man. The next moment, the bug sculpture started blinking a red color.
"What's that?" Ramon asked.
"It's a receiver sculpture of the Lightning Manor. In 30 minutes, that signal should get to their base in Centerpoint City".
"Their astral warriors will come here to apprehend the defeated astral travelers".
Freya looked ahead. "By then, we should be done".
"Definitely". Ramon clenched his fists.
They moved.