On the southern gate of Migotanie City.
"Why are there so few people these days?" One guard asked as he watched the empty roads.
His companion, standing beside him, agreed. "You are right. It might be because we don't have many specialty stores in our town anymore. In the past, prominent businesses rose, but all of them disappeared after that incident."
The incident he was talking about was the one Benimaru participated in six months ago. After Arash's death, all those businessmen left as there was no safety in town, and one of the powerhouses, Arash, perished. All of this accumulated into a loss of trust for the city.
"Maybe that's the case. Man, I miss that weapon shop that sold cheap yet quality weapons."
"Me too. Now, I have to buy something made by the locals. You know how long they last."
The two of them lamented the past. The time Benimaru stayed may have been short, but it was full of wonders for the locals. It was, in short, their own glory days.
Pfft Fraap Poot
Suddenly, they both became silent, looking at each other. They just heard a soft yet long fart, but there was no one besides them, which made the atmosphere a bit awkward.
"Uhhh… don't speak. It's okay. I have my mouth shut." The one on the right patted the other's shoulder with sympathy.
Instantly, the patted guy raged, feeling injustice. "What are you spouting about? The noise clearly came from in front of us. Do you think I can fart from the front?"
The other guard shrugged his shoulders in reply. "Who knows? There are many wonders in the world; anything can happen."
"You!!!" He gnashed his teeth, holding himself back from crushing his buddy to pieces.
…
In a tight alley.
"Phew~ We got lucky." Tanaka took off his hoodie and wiped his nonexistent sweat.
The others followed along and stared at Belal simultaneously.
Belal got nervous, feeling everyone's gaze on him. "Why are you looking at me like that? It wasn't my fault. It was that damn fly's."
Yes, Belal was the one who accidentally leaked his gas. Because he digested food normally, to enjoy it thoroughly, he would let the food turn into the most beneficial essences for his body and dump the rest as trash or impurities. Leading to him having gas like normal people.
"Forget it." Gardenia shook her head, as blaming others wouldn't do anything. No matter what happened, they didn't fail in their task, at least.
The others nodded their heads, agreeing with Gardenia. At that moment, Bailey suddenly said. "Gardenia, you are amazing. I have not met someone who is good at concealing their abilities. Well, you do not have that ability, but your mastery of such spells is awesome."
The idea that Gardenia gave was that she would cast an invisibility spell and sneak into the city from the front gate, as simple as it is. The thing that amazed others most was how Gardenia's spell worked. One only needs to stop using their mana, or vital energy, and they will be invisible to the naked eye; even the usage of mana sensing couldn't detect them. So, despite Belal making a noise, the guards weren't able to sense or see them.
One has to understand that noise also counts as some form of energy.
"Hahaha… I am not that great." Gardenia shook her head, not taking that praise to heart. She knew her tricks wouldn't work on someone who has superior mana sense. "Forget all of this, and let's get these kids you are here for."
Belal nodded his head and asked Bailey. "Where are those guys hiding?"
Letting out a depressed sigh, Bailey answered. "They have no one they can call family. They only know themselves. So, they are hiding where they know and can call home, the house they bought with their hard-earned money."
"I see." Belal chuckled to himself before heading toward the east side of the city. "Let's go pick them up."
…
East side of Migotanie City.
This side of the place was the housing area. Many well-known people have built their houses here. But as time went on, the entire place became packed, leaving no room for even opening the balcony. Only a few lucky ones still had the luxury of having open space around their house. This type of house can now mostly be seen on the southern side.
For this, there were no small alleyways. Criss-cross roads could be seen running all around the place.
Belal and others were walking along with others in the road, in plain sight. But they had the invisibility spell on, so no one was able to see them.
They were about to take a turn around the corner when suddenly Belal put his arm up, stopping them. Having their backs caressed against the wall, only Belal looked around the corner.
Belal saw a man standing in front of a house, which was Nil's and the other kids. The man had the same armor and outfit as Ahat, but there were other things that separated him from Ahat. He had a six-petal flower shoulder badge on both sides of his cape and a six-petal flower crest on his chest.
Bailey asked as softly as possible, only letting the trio hear her voice. "What is it, brother Belal?"
Bailey and the other two still haven't seen anything, and they couldn't use their mana senses to look at what made Belal cautious, as it would make the spell useless.
"One of the Paladin Warriors is here." Belal said in a concerned tone.
Tanaka's eyes widened as he blurted out in shock. "Is he going to kidnap them all in broad daylight?"
Hearing that, Gardenia answered after some thought. "I don't think so. If he or they wanted to, they would have already done it. From the way Sir Belal is talking, it looks like he is hesitating to enter."
"She is right." Belal agreed with Gardenia's statement, as he could also see the Paladin Warrior standing there all alone, quietly.
…
'Interesting, all of them are hiding together. That is smart of them. At least they would be able to make noise if something happened, or it would be quite easy to pick them off one by one.' Kai pondered silently. He was one of the Paladin Warriors and is currently being watched by Belal and others.
However, they weren't the only ones who were watching Kai secretly. 'This is quite amusing. That young Baron actually deployed his general to keep an eye on me, and that other city guard captain might be watching those lazy bums.'
Kai was far stronger than Haitam, so it wasn't hard for him to notice Haitam's mana sense on him. The reason he wasn't doing anything against it was because the headquarters had strongly warned them not to do anything against the Baron or they might have to face strong consequences.
Kai was confused as to why the headquarters would give such a weird warning, but the orders were given, and they couldn't deny it.
'Man, this is one of the easiest missions, and the most annoying mission at that too.' Kai frowned, as he didn't know what to do now.
…
"What should we do now? We can't wait like this forever." Bailey asked impatiently, as she couldn't help but worry about her friends. Tanaka nodded his head, he was as worried as her.
Gardenia looked around to find anything. Her eyes widened when she spotted someone.
"Everyone be ready. When I say "go", sprint for the door." Gardenia's sudden commands brought everyone's attention. They looked at her, trying to tell her what she wanted to do.
Gardenia aimed her palm at an old man who was walking slowly beside the road. " [ Fire of Unseen ] "
An invisible fire shot from the palm, not even letting out any mana traces. The fire flew through the air and hit the old man, who was clueless. The moment the fire came in contact with the old man's body, flames swallowed him entirely by surprise.
"ARGHHH!! HELP ME!" The old man shouted in panic and dropped to the ground.
The vendor owners by his side quickly brought their bucket of water and splashed it on his body. Unfortunately, nothing happened, making the crowd panic and distance themselves from the old man as much as possible.
"Please help! My grandson is waiting for me at home. Please… Please, knight of the Goddess Ignia, help me." His body burning slowly, the old man cried out in pain to Kai, who was acting dumb as if he didn't even notice the incident.
The crowd also shouted, as they couldn't watch the old man burn anymore.
"Knight of Goddess Ignia, save this poor old man."
"He will definitely save him; just watch. Goddess Ignia is the only one who loves us mortals."
Kai's eyes twitched after hearing all of these, but he still went to help as he couldn't watch the old man die after everyone praised the goddess so much.
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