"Darius, how strong is that party you've been trailing for the past couple days. Do you think we can take them?"
The man named Darius paused for a moment before replying in a deep voice.
"Their party consists of six individuals. Four of them are adventurers, B-rank at least. The remaining consists of a kid and his mother."
Darius then added, "They also bore the Shawling insignia."
Whispers permeated throughout the slave trader camp as the man sitting before Darius revealed a smirk showing his pearly white teeth.
He was a handsome middle-aged man with shoulder-length wheat colored hair. His gaze was sharp and his attire–clean and proper. In fact, no one would ever suspect him of his true profession.
"The Shawling Merchant family… we're going to be rich!" One man exclaimed, unable to contain his glee.
Another joined in with a boisterous laugh. "Do you think we'll be able to have fun with the women before turning them back after ransom?"
"Silence!"
The handsome man stood up as his voice cut through the chatter like a whip.
The camp fell into an uneasy quiet, as their eyes landed on their leader as he surveyed his men with a demeaning gaze.
"Do you think B-rank adventurers are a joke? Do you think the Shawling family is a joke?" His voice grew colder and colder with every sentence.
No one dared to reply to their leader.
"But Sir Roland, you can easily overpower them right…?"
Roland's eyes narrowed, his jaw clenching in frustration. Glancing at the man who spoke aloud he muttered under his breath, his voice laced with disdain.
"Idiots! Idiots all of you!"
He paused to stare down all of his men.
"I may be a tier five mage, however the rest of you are mundanes! They have at least four tier 4 or above mages on their side! Not to mention, they are from the Shawling Merchant family! Do you really think we have the power to hold them hostage for ransom? That isn't even an option for us! With their wealth, whenever we turn them over, they will hire enough men to cut off our escape! Ransom is only for groups powerful enough to leverage hostages for a reward."
One of his men raised his hand tentatively, "Then what do you suppose we should do? Will we simply let them get away?"
Roland casted a look at the edge of his camp. Cages were lined up filled with children and adults from humans to dwarves and beastmen.
"We're almost fully stocked with slaves, but we always have room for more. Darius, did their carriages appear to carry anything valuable?"
Darius shook his head before replying in a neutral tone, "Not that I'm aware of. One of their carriages carried supplies while the other appeared to carry luggage. If the Shawling family was transporting anything valuable there was no way they would only assign a measly four to defend it."
Roland's lips curved revealing an evil grin.
"The most valuable thing we can take from them is the boy and his mother. However, if the mother is also a mage, forget about her. Capture the boy. Instead of ransom, we'll group him up with all of our other slaves. Any questions?"
Silence permeated through the camp.
"Also," Roland added, "We will be splitting up into two different groups tomorrow. One group will take our current slaves to Berxley while the other group surrounds the Shawlings. After we secure the goods, we will rendezvous at the ship."
***
It was the next day as Albert had stowed away his Ravenroot deep inside his pockets. Although he wanted to use it he knew better to wait. If all of a sudden, he collapsed from the pain in the presence of his mother, it would surely worry her to no end.
Letting out a sigh, he stuck his head out of the carriage as it gently moved along, his father at the driver's seat.
Eve was already far ahead, scouting for potential dangers as the main party slowly progressed.
"Mom, when will we reach Berxley?" He asked as he gazed at the tranquil scenery around him.
A lot of Alise's anger already dissipated from yesterday as she rubbed her son's face affectionately.
"If things go well, we'll be there by tomorrow night."
He longed to leave the Lacie Mountains. Though he was no longer a soldier, his intuition told him something was amiss. The goblin swarm from the day before was only a sign. Currently, he felt as though he was being watched, an eerie sensation creeping up his spine.
Each time he turned his head towards the direction he felt off about, there would be leaves rustling for a few moments before it disappeared.
'Am I being paranoid?'
Closing his eyes in concentration, Albert focused his full attention onto his ears.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
'The sound of crunching leaves was slow and the timing was irregular, but there was most definitely someone nearby hiding.
"Dad, we need to call Eve back."
He was now certain something was wrong. The rustling wasn't like that of a goblin. Albert remembered the sound of their steps from the last encounter. The steps he heard now were heavier, like a grown adult man.
His father paused for a moment before turning his head back to reply to his son.
"What's wrong? Eve's too far ahead so I can't exactly call her. Don't worry though, she'll be back as soon as she finds out that nothing is amiss."
The footsteps grew louder as Albert froze.
"Dad stop the carriage. You hear that don't you?"
"I don't hear anything, Albert. I only hear the wind," His father replied.
Alise held her son's face in her palms.
"What's wrong with you today? Did the goblins from yesterday make you think every leaf rustling is trouble?"
'No mother!' Albert wanted to shout, but restrained himself.
Come to think of it, Eve was the first person to notice goblins the other day as well. She most likely had the best perception out of the party to notice so quickly. Now that she wasn't here, the party's immediate danger sensor was gone. Not to mention a fourth of its combat power was also gone.
"Dad, please. We need to stop the carriage. Something is wrong!"
Lael looked at Chris who was sitting besides him shrugging.
"I don't feel like anything is wrong, but it won't hurt to stop for a moment. Taking a short break won't affect how far we travel."
Lael called out to Cleo who was driving the front carriage, "Let's stop here for a moment!"
The two carriages came to an abrupt stop as Lael got into the back of the carriage with his son.
Ever since yesterday, something seemed a little bit off. Albert never misbehaved meaning he had never heard his wife yell at their child. For the first time yesterday Albert did something uncharacteristic of himself.
Today as well, his son was spouting some nonsense about the sounds of leaves.
"Albert, what's up?"
Albert pointed towards a bush on the left side of the carriage several meters away.
"There's someone there."
Lael followed his son's line of sight and began to listen closely.
"I don't hear anything," he stated blankly.
Albert wanted to roll his eyes.
"Because they stopped moving. We stopped so they also stopped."
Lael jumped out of the carriage and began to make his way over, but Albert quickly followed, grabbing onto his father's leg to prevent him from going forward.
"Dad, take your sword."
Alise walked over to her husband with a sword in hand passing it over with a wry smile.
Understanding his wife wanted to go along with their son's whims he took it gingerly as he began to make his way over to the direction his son pointed again.
'What if there really was someone there? There's no way right?'
Lael couldn't help but wonder to himself. Slowly unsheathing his blade he walked until he was directly in front of the bush his son pointed at.
Without warning he unleashed a lighting-quick horizontal slash, slicing through the shrubbery with precision and force revealing nothing. No one was hiding behind the bush.
Lael let out a sigh of relief as he called out to his son without turning around.
"See! There's nothing her–" His sentence fell short as his eyes locked on to two very distinct footprints imprinted into the soil.
His expression froze in shock.
'Someone had gotten that close without me noticing?
Quickly running back to the carriage, he signaled at Chris and Cleo to get moving.
"Everyone get back in the carriage. We need to catch up with Eve."
Albert watched his father's grave expression. Although he didn't say anything most likely to keep him and his mother calm, he knew his premonition was right. There really was someone watching them all this time.
'Something still didn't make sense,' Albert thought to himself.
Currently there were only two carriages in the Shawling party. If they had been watching all this time they would have more than enough clues to discern we weren't a cargo caravan. The wagons carried nothing but luggage and supplies for traveling. So what were they after?
He glanced back at the location where his father checked.
No matter how good Eve's senses were, he refused to believe no one else in this party had the capability to discern someone else so close by.
They were all veteran adventurers with heightened physical capabilities.
Albert himself only noticed because of the many years he spent in the military. On the battlefield, technology alone was never enough. With the introduction of advanced jamming and EMP bombs, one had to rely on their own perception more than once to survive night raids and urban combat. This resulted in a scarily high level of perception to the slightest movement within a close proximity. It was actually unfair for him to compare his father's party members to himself.
Although they also had their fair share of dangerous encounters, they usually delegated the task of scouting to a single member: Eve.
The two carriages began to move once more at a much quicker pace than before.
"What's going on, Lael?" Chris leaned in, whispering into Lael's ear.
Lael's grip on the reins tightened before replying in a cold voice.
"Albert was right. Someone had been trailing us this entire time."
The older man's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Truly?
Lael nodded solemnly, "I am unsure of their intentions whatever they may be, but they certainly are not good ones. Without Eve, one side of our defense will become a weak point. We can most certainly split out attention further and have each of us widen our attention, but that results in an overall weaker formation."
He paused for a moment before continuing, "The fact they haven't made their move yet may still mean they are hesitant about attacking us. This means we can assume whoever it is, their numbers or strength might not be as strong as we think."
Chris rubbed his chin thoughtfully before replying slowly, "They must know our strength, but we have nothing of value on us. Unless…" The older man turned his head looking into the carriage where Albert and Alise currently sat.
Turning his attention back to his friend, he said somberly, "I have a suspicion it isn't our carriages that our mysterious stalkers are after."
Discreetly, Chris gestured towards the mother and son duo sitting behind them.
"I believe we are being followed by slave traders. Bandits wouldn't bother to go through the trouble of following mere travelers."
Lael's face darkened as he clenched his fist, his knuckles white.
"Damn vermin!"
Chris clasped his hand over Lael's trembling fist.
"Stay focused. Losing your composure now will only make things worse for us. Let's focus on regrouping with Eve first."
Taking a deep breath, Lael slowly relaxed his fist. "You're right. I apologize that you still need to remind me like this."
"We've always been like this haven't we?" Chris managed a faint smile. "You still haven't gotten over your bad habits just yet."
"I suppose you're right."