The next morning, Abel awoke to find that he had been crying in his sleep. Taking a deep breath, he went to check his mail, only to be shocked by the news that his uncle's house had been set on fire by a bunch of bandits—an event unheard of before. Without wasting a moment, he immediately rushed to the train station. Once aboard the train, he spent hours on the road, preparing his weapons such as swords and daggers, alongside magic scrolls. Abel was determined to save his family no matter what it took.
When he finally arrived at Lagu Village, he rushed to his uncle's house, only to find it had been razed to the ground. "Bandits??" Abel muttered to himself in disbelief.
The Mad Sage suddenly approached Abel from behind. "No... no way a bandit could be capable of doing this," said the Sage.
"Mr. Sage, where is my uncle? Do you know?" Abel asked, panicking.
"I can sense them... somewhere near Loch Lake," the Sage replied.
The Mad Sage then took out his staff. "Follow me!" he commanded.
They immediately rushed towards the location. When they reached the place, Abel saw his uncle and auntie tied to a tree alongside other civilians. Abel and the Sage sneaked around, noticing a bunch of hooded people on guard.
"Where are my cousins?" Abel whispered.
"Inside the cave; they seem to be transporting people," the Sage informed.
"Who are they?" Abel asked.
"Probably cultists, if not human traffickers," the Sage speculated.
After preparing an ambush, when a group of traffickers was leaving the camp, leaving only a few behind, they began their plan. "Listen, Abel, these people are dangerous. I need you to sneak around and free the hostages. I'll fight those people. Can I rely on you?" the Sage asked.
Abel nodded in agreement, preparing his battle stance and ready to move as quickly as possible.
As the Sage slowly walked outside the bush, the traffickers were on alert. Suddenly, as the Sage continued his approach, the sky turned dark. A storm suddenly appeared, and with a single chant, many thunderstrikes began to strike down towards his enemies.
The traffickers were in shock, but over ten of them rushed towards the Sage, armed with enchanted equipment and accompanied by mages among their ranks. A great fight broke out. The Sage summoned an Infernal Golem, which charged and hurled the traffickers around. Meanwhile, the mages called forth a fiery elemental.
One of the traffickers, wielding a scythe, leapt high and prepared to strike the Sage. Reacting swiftly, the Sage raised a wall of fire that blocked the trafficker's attack. Another attacker appeared from behind, creating thunder spears and hurling them at the Sage, who caught them with his own hands. This severely damaged his left hand, but he managed to control the thunder spears, imbuing them with his own mana. The thunder spears now transformed into Fiery Thunder Spears.
With great might, the Sage hurled the Fiery Thunder Spears, impaling a trafficker. The one who had been blocked by the fire wall charged again, imbuing his scythe with powerful thunder and striking the Sage on his chin.
The two exchanged blows fiercely. The Sage could only strike with his own fists, which he imbued with flame magic, causing his hands to burn. Eventually, the Sage managed to land a critical hit, putting a hole in the chest of his opponent.
More traffickers arrived, armed and ready, some using magic-enchanted bows to barrage the Sage with thousands of arrows. The Sage maintained his magic shield, unable to move as he was pinned, but he managed to hold off the barraging attacks.
Meanwhile, Abel managed to free all the hostages and led them to safety. Returning to the fray, Abel threw a fireball at the trafficker archers, giving the Sage a chance to call down another thunderstorm, causing many traffickers to scatter.
Despite his wounds on his chest, chin, and arms, the Sage rushed forward. With his remaining strength, he punched the traffickers one by one with his magic-enchanted fists. Eventually, he knelt down, exhausted and critically wounded.
One trafficker was still standing, approaching with a blade enchanted with ice magic. Abel positioned himself between the Sage and the trafficker.
"Wait, Abel..." the Sage cautioned.
"I won't leave you behind," Abel declared, his hands trembling yet filled with enough courage to raise his dual swords.
Seeing Abel's determination, the Sage used his remaining mana to enchant Abel's swords with a Fiery Thunder Enchantment—a unique magic anomaly mixing thunder and fire—enhancing Abel's ability to protect them both and continue the fight.
Abel, realizing the peril, adopted his feline-like stance and moved in a zigzag pattern, managing to strike the trafficker's left leg. The trafficker struggled to match Abel's Youkai agility. In response, he slammed his sword into the ground, causing ice spikes to emerge around him. Abel deftly dodged each spike, but to his surprise, as the trafficker pulled his sword back, a powerful wave of ice surged forth, hitting Abel and throwing him against a tree.
With murder in his eyes, the trafficker charged at Abel with extreme speed. Abel, no longer holding back, charged forward aiming for the trafficker's neck. However, his left sword was caught by the trafficker's bare hands. Despite his injuries, the trafficker began to slash at Abel, who could only defend himself with his remaining sword. His sword was smaller, shorter but faster; however, the range difference made it difficult for Abel to land an attack.
Taking some distance from the trafficker, Abel crossed his swords against each other and spun around 360 degrees several times, creating mini tornado-like winds around him. He infused the tornado with the fiery thunder from his blade, creating a devastating fiery thunder tornado that destroyed anything around him.
The trafficker didn't hold back and thrust his ice sword into the tornado, attempting to combat the winds of Abel's fiery thunder tornado. After a brief clash, the trafficker, with all his might, began to shatter Abel's tornado, grinning, thinking he had won. However, as soon as the tornado dissipated and his sword was still in motion, Abel appeared below the trafficker. Without hesitation, he stabbed the trafficker's neck, ending him instantly.
Many civilians witnessed this. Abel then rushed to check on the Sage, who thankfully had healed himself during Abel's fight. The hostages Abel had freed cheered for him enthusiastically. "Abel! Abel! Abel!" the civilians shouted. His aunt, uncle, and three cousins watched with pride; Abel had truly grown.
Just as they were celebrating their victory, a group of traffickers that had left earlier returned with anger on their faces upon seeing their comrades defeated. They drew their weapons, ready for another fight.
"I still have some stamina left," said Abel, readying himself once more.
The Sage, however, had little mana left, but at that critical moment, Razeluxe appeared. Abel stepped back to give Razeluxe space.
The Sage was shocked by Razeluxe's sudden appearance but relieved at the timely support. Razeluxe, assessing the situation quickly, prepared to engage the fresh wave of traffickers, ready to defend Abel and the civilians.
"Wow, Abel, you're not surprised. I guess you've grown," Razeluxe commented.
"Vice Captain," Abel responded, acknowledging Razeluxe's compliment.
The traffickers, undeterred by the meeting, launched a fireball and various magic attacks toward Razeluxe, but they all suddenly disappeared midair. A small piece of metal could be seen floating around the traffickers.
"What is that?" one of the traffickers exclaimed.
Thousands, if not more, of these small metal pieces could be seen floating everywhere. Before they could react, the thousands of metal pieces suddenly glowed and fired as fast as light, completely tearing through everything around, killing all the traffickers in an instant. This left everyone speechless.
A couple of knights then arrived to help. Among them was a beautiful female elf knight with striking features.
"Uh, Vice Captain... you do realize Captain Ryan told you to at least capture one of the traffickers alive for interrogation, right?" the female elf knight asked.
"Oh... damn..." Razeluxe's eyes widened upon realizing his mistake.
"Uh, just tell Ryan that the hero of Lagu Village already defeated all of the traffickers," Razeluxe suggested.
The female elf knight took a deep breath and nodded, her vice captain's mistake not being the first of its kind. After thoroughly analyzing the situation and ensuring that no civilians were harmed, they sent everyone back to the village. Considering that Nagiatsu's house was burned to ashes, Abel told them to take refuge in Ruri's house for now.
That night, Kaede prepared dinner with everything the family had. Abel once again helped by buying the groceries, and even though the shopkeeper insisted that Abel take it for free, Abel insisted on paying, saying he was an investigator now and didn't need to worry about cash—despite, in reality, his funds beginning to run low. His initial cash reserve of over 900k Verak was now down to 600k Verak, as he hadn't taken any new contracts yet and had occasionally spent on necessities.
Now his uncle's family, who had raised him, was having a hard time. They needed some cash to survive the upcoming winter.
"Uncle, here, I have some cash left. You can use it," Abel said as he transferred over 400k Verak to Nagiatsu.
"Abel... but you need it for your academy, don't you?" Nagiatsu asked.
Abel put on a reassuring smile, though it was tinged with deceit. "Uncle, relax. I'm an investigator right now. Some cash won't be much of a problem," Abel assured him.
After seeing his face, Nagiatsu chuckled. "You truly are a bad liar, aren't you? You forget we Nekomata have better instincts," Nagiatsu pointed out, knowing Abel better than he knew himself.
Abel's expression turned sad; he cared for his family above all else. He knew that raising three children wasn't easy, especially under their current conditions. Most of the goods that Nagiatsu and Kaede planned to sell had been destroyed, along with some cash they had saved in their house. Determined to help, Abel reassured his uncle, "It's alright, Uncle. I promised I will be alright, as long as you all are alright." He then hugged his uncle, feeling the weight of their situation.
As midnight approached, Nagiatsu could be seen sitting on the terrace deep in thought about his family's future. Abel, too, appeared troubled.
The next morning brought no relief, as Abel received dire information from Huskar. A group of gentlemen from Whiteford had come to the Investigator Guild, presenting an arrest warrant signed by Fonta Aria authorities. Abel was suspected of involvement in acts against Whiteford—an act of terrorism. Thankfully, due to Huskar's quick thinking and claiming that Abel was only a freelancer, all of Abel's personal information had been deleted by Investigator Betham the previous day, preventing the Whiteford officials from accessing it. Despite this, Abel was now a wanted person.
Abel was overwhelmed, "Why the hell are they so aggressive towards me?" he muttered to himself. He realized with yesterday's events, it was only a matter of time before his location became known to the public.
In the early hours of the morning, around 3 AM, he woke Kaede and Nagiatsu and disclosed the full extent of his predicament and how Whiteford officials were searching for him. Abel advised them to hide their relationship to protect Nagiatsu and his family. He was torn, realizing he couldn't protect his family when they needed him most. However, he reassured them that everything would be alright.
Abel planned to go to Katya Ports and seek refuge, claiming he had a contact that could help him. At 4 AM, after ensuring he left no tracks behind, Abel gathered all his stuff. Nagiatsu and Kaede kissed his forehead and prayed for his safety as he departed, taking a non-commercial path and traveling from one city to another on a horse provided by a local ranger.
As the sun rose, Nagiatsu, feeling torn, was approached by the Mad Sage on the terrace. "The kid left already?" the Sage asked.
"Yeah..." Nagiatsu replied, his voice heavy with emotion.
The two then sat together. "He's still so young, way too young for all of this," Nagiatsu lamented.
"I know. We can only pray. If things go as planned, everything will be alright. But that Barnabas boy, he's cunning and ruthless. Something isn't right. I can only hope those two manage their tasks smoothly," said the Mad Sage.
"We can only pray... This has all become so tense lately," Nagiatsu sighed, reflecting on the daunting road ahead for Abel and the challenges they all faced.