Title: My First Trading Partner is An Awaken
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"Mang Dondon, there are 48 survivors here and luckily, there are 17 survivors here from our province. In fact, there are four of them who are in my municipality."
It was Calixto.
Mang Dondon also finishes counting the corpses of humans hanging in the warehouses and sadly sighs from what he learned.
'This Ortiz Family had become rampant in this area. They are too bold to have this kind of operation," the old shaman said. However, he knew their limitations.
As time went by, the Order of Pintados had become weak and it took years to mold disciples. Just like him, he is just a regular member of the Order and his colleagues are entry level.
It takes him time and personal efforts to teach the two and another length of time to assist them when they used their accumulated knowledge against the Aswangs and Engkantos and of course to their healing journey towards the people in their care.
'Although we have this kind of setback, the existence of Henry and his concocted potion would be a great help if we could ask him to join the order.'
Mang Dondon thought. He had thought of this as he finds that the concocted potion that Henry gifted is truly magical as his strength were raised comparable to his strength in his early years without the aid of many of his talisman.
'The concoction would really make my disciples train easier since I detect that the concoction affects the mental aptitude in the long run.'
Mang Dondon can see the potential of the concoction of Henry. Never in his mind that he think of snatching the formula to Henry as he knew that even with his talisman activated and with the help of his eight spirit familiars, he is not sure if he can subdue the young man.
'The speed, the strength and the overall action of Henry gives me goosebumps that I had never experienced before. It's good that he is not an enemy. If it was, we would just wait for our doom.'
Mang Dondon inspected the warehouse further along with Calixto. The spirits familiar to Calixto and Gregorio, Donmuc and Kidumin, also had a shock when they felt pressure against Henry.
"Senior Banoy, why does it seem that this young mortal feels suffocating?" Kidumin asked. He recognizes the seniority of Banoy since they are in the same kind of engkantos but different status.
"Oh I thought you're not gonna ask. I too am not sure how he did it. The aura feels different when compared to our masters. As you can see, his aura is similar to our king." Banoy explains.
"I don't want to argue with you, Sir Banoy. However, he too had the aura of my king, too." Donmuc, the dwende, emphasized.
"That's unusual, I think I need to ask the king about this fellow young mortal," Banoy said. The mystery of Henry in the eyes of Banoy had risen to another level along with the comment of Donmuc.
"Indeed, Sir Banoy. I too need to report it to our king." Donmuc said and stayed silence and continue observing Henry in the distance.
In the distance, Mang Gregorio is asking Mang Dondon what to do with the survivor and they agree to his suggestion.
"Hypnosis? Is that reliable?" Henry asked.
"Yes, Henry. Under some special circumstances, hypnosis can save us time to treat trauma and for them to not remember what happened here." Mang Dondon replied as he smoked his tobacco in his pipette.
Henry nodded, still not convinced on the effectiveness of such a method towards the survivors. In front of them are people of different ages, of either male or female.
He can see that most of them are crying and thanking them for extracting them from their situation.
As they do that, Banoy collects the corpses of the Aswangs lying in the ground and even the corpses of the humans hanging in the different warehouses inside the compound.
Even the blood of the Aswangs and the rest of the evidence were collected by the tikbalang.
Henry just observed as the old men did their thing. Mang Dondon leads the undertaking as he opens his lips to start chanting Latin words he vaguely understands.
The shaman taps the shoulder of the victims and continues chanting and for a short time, Mang Dondon claps his hand and immediately, the survivors open their eyes with curiosity.
"You survivors will survive this ordeal. But do not affect your ordinary life. You need to undergo hypnosis and that is what I can offer you."
It was Mang Dondon's introduction to the survivors who were now entranced by him using the aid of the forbidden knowledge he knows of.
"I did this for your safety and if you manage to trigger back this memory, I do hope that you will be mentally prepared. So, I'll start," Mang Dondon said.
Henry and the rest waited for Mang Dondon's mass hypnosis and both of the shaman's colleagues explains to the young man why they needed to do this.
"I understand why this thing must be done. I believe that if I don't have the mental aptitude to accept such fact, people will say that I am crazy." Henry interjected.
"Yes. Most people have a lower defense when it comes to this kind of thing. Aswangs can't be detected unless they want to be detected."
"There are some special cases wherein even a boy can see them or they can see ghosts due to their talent. These people are possibly trained and like us. This is what we call spiritual talent that is rarely seen."
"These individuals need to be protected and this is the only thing that we can offer to them." Calixto concluded.
Henry just nodded and tried to instill it in his mind. Then, as he listens to Mang Dondon's guidance to the rescued people, a whole bunch of connected stories made up by Mang Dondon are formed for the people to connect with and erase what they had really experienced.
Amazingly, these individuals went out to the compound using the vans parked inside the compound.
"I didn't know that hypnosis could do that," Henry was stunned by Mang Dondon's capability.
"It's easy when you know some of the forbidden language, Young man." Mang Dondon resumed his smoking session.
"So they are really going to do what you had said earlier?" Henry asked.
"Yes. They need to be. Anyways, if we are done here. Let's go to the next city with this kind of momentum," Mang Dondon said. "Don't forget that you had contributed much with the success of this first mission."
"Well, This is more fulfilling though. Although we do things hidden with the masses, this is more noble, I believe." Henry commented.
The sacrifice and the danger is real for these people. Most of them were misunderstood since the weirdness that surrounds these Antingeros and Albularyos is observable.
However, their contribution to the hidden side of the world or the one that was hidden to most of the people are significant. They had sacrifices and Henry is aware of it.
He also understands why they needed to make such drastic decisions like collecting the corpses of the human beings that were victims in the warehouse.
If the public knew that such a thing would happen, chaos and fear would probably dominate the masses. The worst thing to happen is that their enemies will be aware of their doings and activities and would use legal means to reprimand them and even hold them in prison.
"Master, I had collected everything here and the corpses were now being burned near my place," it was Banoy, the Tikbalang, who is one of the spiritual friends of Mang Dondon.
"Alright, you are truly fast with this. Thank you, Banoy." Mang Dondon said.
"Also, I have made a portal near your next destination," Banoy said.
"Then let's go!"
The calm expression of Mang Dondon gives the two, Calixto and Gregorio, confidence to deal with their next target. With the addition of Henry whom they deem to be powerful in his young age, the two middle aged men are more determined.
Banoy leads the way and they move to the rear of the compound. The biggest mango tree is there and a portal that was increasingly rotating and widening could be seen.
"This —----------!"
Henry was dumbfounded by what he had seen.
He knew for a fact that Banoy could do this, but witnessing it first hand is surprising. This is what Henry feels. The three aged men can only mused on Henry's reaction.
However, he collects himself from his surprise and follows the three Albularyos and the three engkantos, Banoy, Donmuc and Kudiman, towards the portal made by the tikbalang.
As he passes through the portal, he feels that they are in an enclosed tunnel and they had walked for another minute and had reached the other side.
"One of your strongest is truly capable, Kudiman." It was Donmuc, the dwarf, who is still holding his double sided giant ax which seems to be too light for his height.
"Yep, this kind of portal, even if temporary, is truly an exceptional feat." Kudiman proudly replied.
"Sigh, I really hope that our peace treaty will last for thousands of years. It would be too difficult to deal with the rest of you, especially if you have a commander like Banoy." Donmuc said as he waited for his master's command.
"It would be, my friend. Both of our kings are far more civil and amiable. As you can see, our king has instructed us to accept human assistance that deals with the Aswangs and witches in this mortal world."
"We have been doing this for more than fifty years now and I believe we will continue doing it." Kudiman explains.
"Yeah, I had heard that." Donmuc said, closing the topic as they had already reached the other end of the portal.
Of course Henry heard everything that they had talked about. Yet he chose to stay silent as it was not his business to involve himself with such talks.
Although, he was curious about Kudiman's statement. He was curious about war between engkantos and even why the king of the Tikbalang had ordered his kind to assist humans who had the ability to deal with Aswangs and witches.
"We're here," It was Banoy.
But when Henry observed his new surroundings after exiting from the portal, he was again surprised. He immediately opens his phone and uses Google Maps to determine his location and there it was, they are truly in the adjacent city.
"Valenzuela City!" Henry could only exclaim and he knew that this kind of power of Banoy, is truly magical and fearsome.
Although he only listens to Donmuc about the war between the race of the dwarfs and Tikbalang, he agrees with him about his evaluation of Banoy's power.
"In just a small walk, we had reached the adjacent city!" Henry can only accept such a fact, but he is still amazed by what Banoy's power can achieve to assist Mang Dondon and themselves.
"This is the only tree that I can connect with that is closest to our destination, Master." Banoy said.
"Thank you my friend," Mang Dondon replied.
Henry looks around and he finds that they are in a residential area and the tree that they had exited in the only Balete Tree in the area.
He also raises his awareness near them and finds that there are no cameras active nearby. Only the dogs and cats witness their arrival.
Banoy leads the way towards the warehouse they intended to deal with.
As they walk towards the road, they find that the warehouse is isolated again but they can only see a big warehouse and when Kudiman were asked to check the warehouse, it was positive.