Left with no better idea to get info on weird Activity that could be linked to a captain of the legion Zack and the two girls went to the black market to find a information broker or atleast someone who has information, and then it goes to hoping that the information is correct but Zack knew this place was not the best but they already know that.
Now that they finally found the black market entry point after a bit of searching because its not like there is a sign pointing at it so it took some effort but they found it and decided not to wait longer and enter it the black market was a sort of basement in a abandoned house but the basement was definitely made bigger because you can see where the foundation of the house ends.
There are many things being sold and it was mostly expected there are weapons and drugs being the most common there are some slaves and the three decided to stay away from those shops for a few reasons.
"Huh what it is that?" Zack just suddenly asked and was looking to a pretty busy stall where there were vials on the table.
"It looks like drugs nothing special if you ask me." Rachel told him but they were pretty quickly proven wrong when he heard someone mention that he was lucky that he got some poison for his revenge.
This was a suprise the Zack and Rachel who clearly where wrong while Priya just did not care about the poison for sale.
After a bit of walking and finding no more shocking things being sold they find someone in a small tent with a sign outside that said that he trades information.
'Bingo we found it.' The reason why Zack used the hivemind was so the person inside the tent did not become suspicious of them and would think that they were there to kill him.
The trio walked inside the tent and saw a man who had most of his face covered the only thing which was visible was his mouth and eyes.
"Welcome customers take a seat and tell me what do you want to know?" The man told them and being surprisingly nice to them.
The three took a seat and Priya started talking with the man " we want info on suspicious animal movement or something weird that includes animals more specifically insects." Hearing this the man nodded.
The man grabbed a map of the surrounding villages and towns and pointed at a village that was a bit remote and almost fully surrounded by the woods.
"Now these are rumors but there is a in this village a increased presence of locusts and the village has been defending there crops with some losses and success but these are rumors are you happy with this info?" The man asked looking at the group.
"What is the name of this village?" Zack asked the man.
"Its called Starforrest." The man answered.
Zack looked at the girls and he saw them nod so he give the man the money for the info and left the tent and the black market.
"So let's prepare for this trip then." Rachel told them both with Zack and Priya nodding.
They walked out the gate to go back to the base when Zack had a intresting question for the two girls.
"So i have been wondering are you girls all on good terms or are there a few who hate eachother?" Both the girls had not expected a question like this but it was better than just finding out about it when it is to late.
"We are all on good terms we might be competitive with eachother and tease or joke with one another but we do care about eachother and consider eachother as sisters." Priya told Zack with a small smile.
When to got the base all of them had a different thing to check before leaving.
Priya checked on the centipedes and saw that almost all eggs had hatched but there were no mutations but when the centipedes grew up there would be atleast 20 centipedes who could lay eggs so Priya decided that for the trip it is better to be safe then sorry and told 15 centipedes who have Grown to the size of a small dog thanks to Zack and took those in case of attacks.
Rachel had less luck because the queen wasp did build a nest but there was simply not a lot to take so she took five wasps and will get Zack to make them bigger before they leave and will tell them to not be seen be other people.
Zack had the least things to check he only checked if they had enough food for the trip wich to do and if his daggers where still sharp enough and they are so now he waited for the girls at the entrance he could have walked over to one of them but he did not want to interrupt something.
After a little while the girls where done and the trio walked outside and once outside Zack made the wasps bigger and did the same as he did to the centipedes and the wasps grew to the size of a house cat.
The two girls give their respective insects orders on which gate they need to be and to not be seen.
With this they walked back to town and once they were in town Zack wanted to buy a map but the girls stopped him and told him they remember how to get there.
Zack decided to trust the girls and walked to they gate where he and the girls had to be and he felt the presence of the insects in the forest next to the road.
After they walked for a bit they found some trouble.
'Do you see the guy in the tree?' Rachel told them using the hivemind.
'I do now atleast.' Zack told her and realized that he needed to be more aware.
'What do you want to do?' Priya asked the wasp
'Simple we attack him his group is nearby and so Zack can get experience a fight.' Rachel told them both.
And just before the man from the tree could get the jump on him one of the wasps that Rachel brought had stung the man.
And just like how Rachel had hoped the Venom from the sting had left the man paralyzed and the man fell to their death or atleast he was as good as dead.
This was not what the rest of the bandit group had expected but they got out their hiding spot and decided to face the group head on.
Now Rachel and Priya had brought their respective insects in the open ready for a fight.
With a quick count Zack told them using the hivemind that there is a 19 Bandits 20 if you count the man from the tree.
Now the bandit decided that they did not want to wait for their enemy to make the first move and started running at them.
Priya had the centipedes to trip the bandits by wrapping their legs together and after that the centipedes started eating the bandits.
Seeing this a few bandits tried to help their friends and tried stabbing the centipedes but where stung by the wasps in their backs and just like that the trapped Bandits died.
And for the paralyzed bandits they were food for the wasps and just like that the bandit attack is over just as quickly as it started.
Rachel was a bit dissapointed that she had no chance to fight against the bandits but she remembered that this won't be the only fight so got over her dissapointment pretty quickly.
Zack was just in shock of how easy it was and just suprised that it was done as fast as it did.
Priya well she was happy to see that Zack did not care about sparing the lives of bandits so that made her more convinced of the fact that if needed that Zack can kill if he needs to.
The tree decided to take the weapons from the bandits to sell and looked for the camp wich was quickly found thanks to the help of the wasps and they took the sleeping bags and a tent the reason why they did not have one was because they planned to walk during the night but now they decided it would be better to have one just in case.
And after looking the camp for all the food and drinks they decided to not stay and started walking again they knew it will take a while to get to the village and did not want to wait to long.
"So is it supposed to be that easy fighting Bandits?" Zack asked the two girls.
"Sometimes they put up a good fight but mostly it will be mediocre like this." Rachel told him.
"And it gets only easier the more captains so in a bit of time only big groups of bandits will be a danger but mostly either good groups or other legions will be a real danger." Priya followed up on Rachel's statement.
The group arrived in Starforrest when the sun was coming up they had walked the while night with our any problems and thanks to Zack's stealth skill they kept a steady pace in the night.