Chapter 11 Leaving for the Academy. The eye within the darkness

The clan head of Walker family John Walker has been in a good mood as of late due to the clan business booming these past 5 years. At first within the Shell city there were two clans which held power and were in direct competition to each other. They were the Walker family and Vasily family. However the Walker family's income has risen exponentially during these past five years which resulted in them dominating the Shell city effectively placing the Vasily family in the back foot. John Walker has always wanted to raise his clan to a medium sized clan and with the steady rise of income the Walker family could hire more guards, obtain better resources and could obtain connections with high level people. The clan head was also satisfied with his son Sean who gave these ideas to improve business and planned on making him in charge of the clan business once he graduates from the Academy. He was also satisfied with his Wendell's improvement despite not having a bloodline as well as with his daughter Emily who was currently studying in the Arcadia Academy which is one of the best academy of Warriors in the kingdom. Though he was not happy with his sons Chris and Liam as they visit only once every six months, he knew that having an connections inside the church is important. Even though he also has his brother in the church it was always better to have his own offspring to have a more direct connection.

He was sorry for Tessa as she was the one who had to sacrifice her two sons as she was always lonely without her sons. As he felt guilty for Tessa, John gave her special attention by doting her more while also trying to give her another offspring which has not been successful as of yet. There were also the recent incidents of bandits who were active in the Rainforest which was outside the Shell city. Anyone who enters the Shell city has to pass through the Rainforest. As the clan business has improved a lot there were many merchants who buy the goods from other cities and they had to enter through Rainforest. The bandits have recently started to attack the merchants who arrive in the city despite them bringing guards to protect them. Though the level of these bandits were low the number was high which has caused quite a bit of loss to the merchants and has caused some small losses to the clan. Though the clan head has placed missions to eradicate these bandits in the mercenary guild there were no real result. However on overall basis these were the five years which were extremely good for the clan. As the clan head was mulling over what to do to eradicate the recently active bandits, a guard came inside the clan head's office and informed of arrival of Wendell and Sean. "Ask them to come in" said John as he saw the guard go out and within seconds his sons were inside the office.

"Sit down" said John as he watched them sit. Wendell was the first one to speak "Father we are leaving to the academy by afternoon". John who heard this said "Okay, tell your goodbyes to your mothers, have your lunch and leave. Wendell take care of Sean while at the Academy. Sean, this is your first time going out of the clan for a long period, listen to your brother when you are out there both along the way as well as in the Academy. Remember, by staying united while having each other's back will increase your survival out there. Also remember that while we are strong, that is only limited to the city. Outside the city we are nothing more than a small clan. The academy will be within the Golem city which is one of the big city and there will be students from bigger clans. Sean do not offend any of them as one wrong step is all that is needed which will end up in your death or injury at best and clan destruction at worst as most of these big clan children are arrogant and easily offended". "Yes dad" said Sean. "Don't worry dad, I will take care of Sean" said Wendell who received the same advice when he left the clan to the academy. As Wendell and Sean got up and went near the door "Oh I almost forgot, be careful while in the Rainforest as there have been bandits in recent times. Though they attack only merchant caravans, it does not hurt to be cautious. I will send some skilled guards along with you this time just to be on the safe side" said John while looking at both of them. "Okay Dad" said both Wendell and Sean as they moved out of the door.

Both Sean and Wendell went towards their courtyard to say goodbye to their family members while getting ready to set off. After lunch they met at the area where their carriage was present and met with the guards who were under the shade inside the barn where the carriage was parked. The captain of the guards this time was a fifth level warrior called Callen who was around 35 years old. He has been a mercenary during his younger years and retired when he was thirty after he could not find anymore ways to improve. He settled as the captain in the Walker family which had good pay and along with his ample savings from the days of mercenary even got married to a beauty and started a family. All the guards were donning armour and wielding either heavy sword or a light sword while some had crossbows and shield. Wendell donned a leather armour over his robe while Sean was in a black blazer with maroon t-shirt and black pant. Inside the blazer he was wearing a Kevlar bulletproof vest around his t-shirt and he was also wearing military boots which he exchanged from the system. The t-shirt and pant were the clothes manufactured by the clan as he was not comfortable wearing these ancient Warrior robes. Sean and Wendell soon set off along with the guards. The distance between Shell city and Golem city was around 1500 Kms which would usually take around 10 days to move in carriage. The guards will be escorting the carriage in their horses.

Meanwhile in Vasily family, the clan head Tom Vasily was currently inside his office when a guard knocked his door. "Come in" said Tom Vasily as he saw a guard coming in.

"Sir our spy within the Walker family sent us news. Today afternoon the eldest son and the fourth son had left their clan escorted by the captain of the guards Callen and four other level four Warriors and 5 level three warriors" said the guard as he waited for the clan head's next order.

"Okay, you may go" said the clan head as he waited for the guard to move out of the room. After the guard left, the clan head took out a talisman paper and infused Qi in it and said "Vince, along with first and fourth son they have 1 level five warrior, 4 level four Warriors and 5 level three warriors. Kill every single one of them"

"Yes boss" said Vince who was also a level 5 warrior. The Vasily family which has been in the back foot, ever since Walker family's rise, has been supporting a bandit group headed by an ex-mercenary who is under the payroll of Vasily family. For the past year they have been attacking small merchants and merchants who do not have powerful guards to earn a lot of money. They have been disguising themselves as bandits and killed the merchants and their bodyguards and looted their goods and money. However all the act they have done till now have been nothing but camouflage to kill as many Walker family members as possible covertly, in order to gain advantage over Walker family. The Vasily family head had always vied the Walker family business ever since he saw its success and hatched a plan to kill all of Walker family head's children as well as their powerful personnel through assassination in order to gain control over the Walker family without any loss in his family's personnel. He also placed many spies in the Walker family to always monitor their movements while screening his guards for possible spies.

Night in Rainforest is extremely dark as the moonlight gets hidden by the dark clouds as in Rainforest area alone there will always be rainfall every day throughout the year. No one knows the reason for it. Inside the dense forest a group of guards were surrounding a carriage as they moved at fast pace towards the location which they usually use to set up a camp unbeknownst to them an eye could be seen from within a dense tree as his body is hidden within the leaves of the branch as he watched the carriage move. He showed signals using his hand as a group of bandits moved from their hiding place as they slowly followed the carriage.