The Truth (3) - The Hidden Goal

Early one when Stigma and Felix had left the scene, from where the guards tied. A branch from the tree above started changing its shape to that of a man. The man stood on top of a branch where the guards were tied, he was dressed in a black cloaked.

Strapped to his back was a wooden box which appeared similar to a casket, red seals and chains were wrapped around it but other than having a wooden frame. Nothing else stood out, except that each time the man moved his hand, the contents inside started to shake and chather as if something inside was alive.

Its overall height was about the man's height, nearing five feet. But he didn't show obvious discomfort in carrying a heavy luggage as he made a few strolls on the branch to look at the scene with a calm expression.

On his face he wore a painted mask that looked like a red faced monkey similar to what can be found in festivals. Unlike the three mask from Stigma's employers, which had no visible feature other than being black face mask that covered their upper face, this mask was meant to be disposed of after use as it covered his whole face.

"Some rats have gotten themselves involved with our plans..." After watching Stigma and Felix leave a few more meters, the man gave a soft whisper, unless one was standing right near his face, no one can hear what he can say clearly. But instead of a voice responding, the surrounding forest gave a groups reply similiar to that of an echo.

"Shall we dispose of them? Or should we ignore them and continue with the plan?" The way the voices spoke in unison, was pleasing to the ears but made it appear as though the forest was alive. The man was aware who were the one speaking and didn't bother to survey his surrounding.

".....Keep an eye on them. Nothing has been discovered yet by the guards, but those two on the other hand are completely different, and cannot be easily fooled or manipulated. Just to be sure, I will handle the guards here, they want the merchants to take notice, but all they will find only dead ends. Continue as planned without any delay..."

"Understood." As if on cue, a strong gust of wind brushed past the area and carried blades of grass and leaves, along with the sound of branches being brushed past them.

After the area became quite and the wind faded away, the masked man looked at the guards and made a swift hand gesture, moments later the sound of a chattering came behind him where the boxed opened by itself.

As the chattering continued a figure stepped out from the box and walked beside the man. It's height was no more than four feet and had four arms with a different tool and one of them was a hook.

Without saying a word, the masked man eyed one of the guards and made a swiping gesture, the figure beside him made chattering noises and followed the action. The arm its swing was equipped with the hook landing on the nearest guard's neck.

The wound wasn't deep nor did it hit any arteries, but blood that was escaping was alarming and was pulled away. The hook on the guards neck was ripped out in one solid movement, leaving the hanging guard to struggle as he flails around from the unfamiliar pain and the feeling of blood flowing down his neck.

With their eyes blindfolded and their ears were covered with a wet cloth, they had no idea who was the perpetrator.

The wound wasn't life threatening and only tore a piece of flesh, but it was enough to believe that the guard's life was being aimed at. Using the same hook, the man did the same thing and attacked the other guards, with similar slash marks the one guard, it will lead to believe that the guards lives will be aimed next as a warning.

He didn't plan to kill the guards, as he had plan to use then in his plan. With a look of indifference, the man recalled the being inside his box using a few hand gestures, then walked away from the scene.

Suddenly he recalled something ,when he saw Stigma leave the cave carrying something.

'...So that is where it was hiding.'

***

When Stigma came back to then tent sought out his employers, he wanted to have a chat with them and see if they had something to do with the missing people, or had a rough idea who would use a similar method of killing.

Now Stigma was sitting cross legged on the opposite couch, with his left hand supporting his face hand and the other was petting a sleeping Kirin on his leg. If other looked at this situation, they would assume Stigma was a young master scolding his subordinates who were slacking of.

Before him were three people, two were siblings a younger brother and the older sister, along with a short woman who they kept in calling their leader.

While the little brother, with his pants on, had his face down the entire time sitting at the right, the little woman was still wearing a bathrobe with laughing expression on the center and the elder sister was trying to comfort her brother will trying not to laugh from the left.

Stigma's face showed indifferent, since he told the little brother to prove that he really loved women, he wasn't surprise to see him and the captain do the deed. Kirin didn't seem to care what was happening and fell asleep in Stigma's lap, while Hilda remained silent from when Felix found him.

He however had not expected them to their business in a where he was suppose to sleep, the smell of something familiar circled the room, so he assumed that it took them a while to finish their 'wrestling'.

Previously, with the little brother pants were on the floor with a big stain on it, his sister having a red face with a wet rag wiping the table, then the boss lady walk out the bathroom in a bathrobe. What else would Stigma expect.

When Stigma gave his comment and pointed out what he was seeing, a familiar scene of what happened last night continued. The little brother showing a face of being wronged, while the female members were trying to suppress their laughter.

So they gave their side of the story and Stigma gave his take too understand.

"So let me get this straight, when the little brother came back from outside from his stroll, he found the elder sister had made a bowl of hot soup for them mixed with a lot of dried squid and potato. Halfway through the cooking she made a mistake in mixing the spice powder, because it was a waste to dispose of it, she still ate it anyway. What she mixed in however was chilli powder and the amount was about a cup full, so her face turned red from eating the spicy soup for over an hour."

"The leader however was the type to take very long baths that usually take about two to three hours, she didn't know what was happening outside and assumed it was nothing but rough housing. Unable to watch her eat through the entire spicy bowl of soup, the little brother tried to take it away from her but struggled and had splashed the whole soup on his pants. With the hot and spicy soup on his nether regions, the little brother took of his pants out of desperation and gave a panting expression trying to air out the heat and tingling sensation, and the sister whipped out the remaining soup on the table and was about to be finished, then I entered the same time the lady boss got out of the bath. Is that right?"

Removing the towel on her head, the leader gave a path down on her hair and nodded her head with a grinning expression. This entire time these three had not let their guards down and still wore their black mask, if Stigma didn't knew any better, they were doing everything incognito until they left the market.

"Yup, about sums it up! This man here won't last a round with me in a fight, so you can't expect him to keep up if I wanted to ;wrestle' him in bed. But I have to admit, you made a good joke from the timing there, do you have a natural talent in making dirty jokes."

"...Please don't make me earn a painful skill such as that." With his face still bowing down, the little brother covered his face to cover his shame. Plus, he had no intention on becoming an expert of dirty jokes but a powerful figure where no one can can control him.

Looking around he could still see Dusk on standby, if he wasn't wrong Dusk can't stay invisible for long and had to change back to be visible for a few seconds. Surprisingly, none of the three were complaining about an invisible being inside the tent, so Stigma didn't ask for secrecy sake.

When he gave the mental order from before, it only shacked its head from side to side, indicating that none had tried to take his possessions . He then told it to stand behind him and wait for further orders.

"So did you meet your friend? And what is that cute thing on you lap." After a while, the elder sisters face had returned to her natural color, and she ate a piece of fruit instead.

"This one is Kirin my familiar, he was the one I talked about last night. As you can see its injured so please don't bother it to play for a while." Lifting Kirin from his legs, Stigma faced Kirin in front of them to see a reaction. Even if they were lying and were the actual perpetrators, Kirin would react to them not just by sight but from smell as well.

So far, Kirin didn't react violently and only yawned at them, causing the elder sister to react with delight as her chest swayed side to side, making the leader glare at her chest. The little brother looked for a moment but bowed down again with the look of defeat.

Having a familiar wasn't rare for them, but having a young familiar is considered lucky and many female cultivators always wanted a cute familiar like Kirin as a pet.

"I can see it was injured, so why did you bring your familiar here, I can see you put on a special tool to let it enter the market, but you have to understand in bringing it in a slave market. Bringing a familiar is not actually a good thing since it only make it easier to take it away."

The leader tried to get closer and tried to pet it but Stigma pulled Kirin away and stood up.

"How!!?!?" After hearing those words, Stigma responded with a shout and raging expression, slamming his foot on the table and causing Kirin to wake up and whimper at him to calm down.

'If that was the reason as to why Kirin was targeted, then I would hunt down the bastard and treat him like an animal! No one harms my friend and get away with it.'

The three however were not fazed from Stigma's reaction and the elder sister volunteered to explain. Although Stigma only gave his name yesterday, they had a rough idea what Stigma's personality based on the market observation and interacting with him, he was a precocious child and wasn't the type who would hurt people unless provoked.

After coughing a few times, the sister began her explanation.

Having a contract beast is something enviable, but those in the top Tiers find it to be nothing special, being a newborn doesn't change the fact it is still weak. Those in the Mid Tiers would take a fancy, but they would find it more of a cute pet and store it within their collection, since they also have their own. The lower tiers and below would think they are easy money for selling, dead or alive.

Each time a newborn is found from a Cultivator, interested buyers would put up a bounty of an astronomical price that would temp any fool to step forwards. Since killing or capturing a full grown Heavenly Beast is suicidal on their level, they would risk their lives in capturing the newborns, which by itself is a high risk but with high return.

But if they capture and delivering a newborn unscratched, it is considered the highest paying profession in the market, in other words poaching. And for a rare beast, even they higher Tier Cultivators won't waste time and hunt them themselves.

But finding and capturing a stray was too difficult, so they choose another method in finding them, they just had to find and kill owners that have one and take them by force.

All the information Stigma was hearing was the painful truth, even if they don't know what Kirin is. They would go after it due to it being a rare find, but if they found out about the truth, then they would stop at nothing to kill Stigma and capture Kirin.

With a clenched fist, Stigma made a statement along with a chilling glare.

'...Alright, bring it on! They want Kirin so badly, they would have to go through ten years of hell by my hands before they could dare look at him!'

Kirin could feel Stigma's heartbeat increasing and leaned into his chest to calm down.

The three before him weren't aware what Stigma was thinking, but his face showed signs of dark thoughts, something all three of them were familiar with. The leader spoke up since she didn't want Stigma go done the wrong path when he was still young.

"If you already made a contract on it then don't worry boy, with your skill only a handful would dare to challenge you in the market, and once you gain enough fame and experience all would chose to avoid you. So mind telling us how you found it, I'm quite curious to have a pet like that."

From the leader's knowledge finding a wolf with a horn and blue pelt can only be found in the north where the ice elements are abundant. Finding a wolf in the forest areas that have hot climates are very rare, so she assumed the baby wolf Kirin must have experience a rare encounter and evolved with the Frost wolf, a violent hunter of the winter but made cute pets once tamed.

The leader switched seats and pressed against Stigma who already sat down, leaning forward and showed of her small curves, the appearance would be arousing if Stigma didn't remember she was a heavy drinker.

"Before that, I want to hear you thoughts about something."

"Ask away!" The leader didn't wait for Stigma's question and started petting Kirin's head who was leaning against Stigma's chest, the sister followed and started to brush its tail with smile on her face, the little brother wanted to take a try but decided not to since Kirin was in between three and didn't want to irritate it.

"Going by the start of when the slave market opened, do you know anything about some people disappearing."

"Hmm, we were disguised as a wandering group four days after it opened, so we heard rumors like that have been going around since the storm hit the market. They say they were being hunted down by Heavenly Beast staying by the border to hide from the storm. But that logic has a load of bull, the Red Lilies are still in bloom so its impossible for those beast to enter unless they were equipped with the same tool that Kirin was wearing, but buying just one would empty the pockets of anyone even the lower leveled item could cost about ten thousand coins." - Leader

"In addition, we are here for bounties, so if you think we had something to do with that then you are sadly mistaken. The underworld is known for its cruelty when undertaking task, but even they now when to not provoke a whole bunch of random people just for the sake of a mission with no additional bonus in mind." - Elder Sister

"Also, unless there was the term agreed there are no witness or third party involved, then they would have to pay up a large fine to silence any intruders or any outside party. To make sure not anybody can issue a genocide or mass slaughter order mission, the top brass came to an agreement to create a special condition for that contract. The payment should equal to how large the area is, equaling to one thousand gold coins per kilometer, and are forbidden in making another request in ten years. If the payment is not equal to the agreed price, then the underworld would pull all string to frame the contractor and washing of all hands on the matter." - Little Brother

"...Them is it possible that an order has been made without the underworld top brass knowing?"

"Impossible, all request have to go through the brass without question. The underworld is not just the dark side of society, they are also part of the reason why Cultivators are more tamed and are allowed to be employed. If not for them, cultivators from all side of the continent would turn into wannabe warlords and turn the fertile land into a wasteland through constant civil war." - Leader

"Also agents approved from the top brass will be allowed for undertake those types of orders, genocide orders are considered a high level request that needs the approval of the top and cannot be circulated. We are considered heavy weights in our field of work, and even we are informed about this type of issues and we haven't been informed. So this may involve a third party." Little brother

"So your saying, even the underworld would not do horrendous task unless they were paid."

"We earn a living through dark means but that doesn't mean all are monsters, even the underworld has a bottom line when it comes to these types of work, taking payment is another outlet for telling them we are professionals who don't take it personally." - Elder Sister

With her shrugging her shoulders, the leader clapped her hands to catch their attention.

"So why the sudden interest? Don't tell me you have something against the ones behind these rumors?"

"There not rumors, I found a cave full of bodies near the border and they had the same wounds on the neck, what I am saying is that there is hidden goal here."

!?!!?!

The three have yet to step outside the market since their target has yet to show himself, and with Stigma being a young talent who was a new recruit, they had to keep an eye on him and watch out if the rumors are real.

"...Is this the truth?"

"I have friend outside who was with me when I found them, Kirin was inside the cave and got injure, so can you let him in. He has to know what is going on..."

"Sure but our identities has to be secret, so we'll keep our mask. So, what's his name?" The leader had a serious expression, but kept on petting Kirin who just barked at her until she stopped.

"I met him until yesterday, but he is someone I can trust, he goes by the name of Felix."

....

....

When he said his name, both of them stopped petting Kirin and became silent. Moments later the siblings stood up and started doing some stretching, while the leader went to the bathroom and gave her reply.

"Open the barrier and let him, I have to get changed anyway, so wait for me until we start. Alright..."

Right on que, the brother walked over to the bar and took a bottle to pour some drinks, while the sister took her time and used a compact mirror to apply some powder. The leader flipped her wrist and new set of clothes appeared, disappearing behind the veil of cloth.

Their movements along with their change in tone and attitude had Stigma feel uneasy, but if they were taking this matter seriously, then Stigma would take the opportunity to prove himself and stay silent until he can find the bastard who harmed Kirin.

"Stigma, step outside and call your friend out, we need to get ready for appearance sake okay."

The elder sister gave her reply as she stared at Stigma with a face of sincerity, without much to say Stigma stepped out and called for Felix who was meditating.

After a few minutes the barrier opened a small hole for them to enter. Without warning, both of them dodged an incoming attack that looked like a whip, unfortunately for them there was two more in the air waiting to bind them.

Felix had his arms bounded to his chest, while Stigma also bounded until his shoulders leaving his left arm free, Kirin was still within in embrace so he used his free arm to make sure it won't suffocate. With one powerful pull, both were pulled inside the tent easily.

When they entered the barrier closed up and appeared as though nothing had happened, Felix landed on his feet but Stigma was pulled further in and was pulled into the embrace of a man. As if the ropes was alive, it prevented them from using their limbs.

When they both adjusted their vision, they can see the other was bounded and tied with red rope that gave of an aura. Stigma could see the little brother had on him were two ropes wrapped around his arms, tightly graphing on both ends with one hand.

While the sister sat cross legged on the couch with a hood covering her face, mumbling a chant in silent. When Stigma looked around, he could see the furniture inside the room was rearrange to have an open space in the middle.

A few minutes later, they saw the leader stepped out the bathroom who wore a tight fitting attire that was both a tight fit shirt and hotpants, her hair was then tied in a ponytail and she wore about four daggers on her waist two on each side.

Both the sibling changed their attire by wearing black clothing, the little brother stood behind the couch where the older sister was sitting in, while the leader took a stroll and sat on the other couch to face Felix.

Before the leader was about to say something, Stigma struggled and demanded an explanation.

"Hey, what the hell is going on here!" Stigma could feel that the little brother didn't to hurt them, since the rope wasn't around their necks, but an arm was around his neck preventing Stigma to move freely.

With a long sigh the short woman spoke up and told their hidden goal, but unlike the previously cheery voice she displayed until know, her voice was devoid of emotion and didn't look at Stigma but continued to stare at Felix while pulling out a strange shaped knife that looked like a large needle and twirled it around.

"Sorry Stigma, if this is your friend then this will be a short meeting, after all this man here is our target and we were tasked to take him out. After all, he has a bounty for being a criminal."