Infiltrate,Scout and Report 

"The rendezvous is right in front; slow down," shouted Wang Ben.

They all reduced speed and started moving slowly to the rendezvous.

There stood a little forest in front of us. As we got closer and closer, the air tensed up. Everyone was on alert. They had said they hadn't heard from Joey and Jake's team for a while now.

So the possibility of an ambush was high, Frank pulled out his dagger and readied himself for battle

"Stop," said Wang.

"We're here," said cadet Wang.

"But there's no one around," sparrow frowned. He wasn't supposed to be here; this was the old master's punishment. Sparrow remembered what the old man said to him like it was yesterday.

"You will join the Black River City boys on their exploits for the next 6 months. If not, I don't mind hanging you upside down in the lava pond," said the old man with a smile on his face.

He knew that the old man meant what he said, so he had no choice but to go along with what was planned for him. The old man had schemed against him because he thought the sparrow was too lazy.

"Damn it, I hate that little witch." The sparrow muttered as The face of May appeared in his mind. He couldn't bear to lose face in front of her.

They all frowned. There were supposed to be some men waiting to pick them up today.

"Set up camp here," Wang Ben advised.

"Yes sir," they all echoed. They all seemed to respect Cadet Wang a lot.

As soon as the tent rose, firewood was gathered and a fire was lit.

"Frank and knuckles go around and scout," said Wang Ben.

Frank and Knuckles got up on their horses and left the small forest. They soon started circling the forest. The wind was strong, but it didn't affect them much.

"Wang Ben, they were definitely captured. What do we do? " One of the cadets went to Wang. He looked really worried. There was another cadet with Jake and Joey. He was a senior to them.

"There's nothing we can do for now. Let's wait and see what knuckles finds," said Wang Ben.

...….

"There up ahead is a merchant carriage," said Knuckles while increasing his speed.

Frank was dazed for a moment. He didn't notice anyone, but he followed knuckles tightly.

But soon he too spotted a carriage with the merchant union's logo on it. These logos were mandatory for all merchants in the kingdom unless they were part of a very influential group, in which case they would put the group's logo there.

"You stop right there!" exclaimed cadet Knuckles.

The merchant saw the uniform knuckles was wearing and froze.

the fire-bird insignia.

It frightened all the merchants. In fact, there was nothing a merchant feared more than a man in the military.

There is this old story about a big-time merchant in the royal capital. He was very arrogant and despised people without influence.

One day, he bullied a small-time store owner and took his belongings because he owed him a little money from a fraudulent loan.

The thing was, he not only took the man's things, he also took his wife, but luckily the store owner had a brother in the military, so he reported what happened to the brother.

The next day, the merchant's goods were all seized, and he was beaten half to death and humiliated publicly.

Ever since that incident, every merchant has tried their very best to stay away from military men.

"How can I help, noble officer?" said the merchant.

"We are commandeering this carriage for official purposes," said cadet knuckles He had an evil smile on his face. He knew the merchant was afraid.

"Officer, you have worked hard. Let me appreciate you for your effort," said the merchant.

He pulled out a sack of coins and stretched it to cadet knuckles.

"Hahahahaha, are you trying to bribe a military officer?" Cadet knuckles said

"No, sir, I wouldn't dare," said the merchant in a panic. It wasn't going as planned.

He thought the officer wasn't interested in such an amount, but that was all he had on him. The rest were just too valuable.

"Officer, I have nothing else but.." The merchant couldn't finish before he was cut off.

"Never mind, Frank, take control of his carriage," said Knuckles.

"But officer..."

Frank jumped on the carriage and said, "Just follow us; we don't need your money."

"All right," the merchant said. He really couldn't do anything else. He was just unlucky.

...…..

"Monster wang, look at what I brought," said Knuckles in a loud voice

"hahahaha"

"Cadet knuckles for the win"

The cadets were happy.

Frank was puzzled. Why did they seize the carriage and the merchant in the first place?

A figure soon came out of the main tent; it was Wang Ben.

"Good job, knuckles," said Wang. "Bring the merchant into the main tent," he added.

Knuckles got down from the horse and escorted the merchant into the tent.

Frank didn't know what was happening and, frankly, didn't care.

See what I did there?

"These guys are so unruly," said a voice behind Frank.

It was Sparrow. He was sitting by himself on a rock beside the carriage.

Frank wasn't as condescending as Sparrow, because he too enjoy this type of fun.

Sparrow could only look at him and shake his head. He thought "birds of the same feather often flock together."

...…

Inside the tent

Wang Ben was seated on the floor. He looked at the merchant and said, "What is your name?"

"I am called Lester Noble Officer," said the merchant.

"Where are you headed?" Wang Ben asked with a knowing smile on his face

The merchant was nervous The military knew there were bandits in that village, so, of course, as a merchant that did frequent business there, he also knew there were bandits there.

But he kept going there. It showed one thing: he was going there on purpose, which was a crime punishable by death in some parts of the country. There were laws against supplying to places where bandits were stationed, and he was afraid he didn't want to face the reparations

"Sir, please forgive me." He burst out into tears coming up with various excuses, like his family lived in that village and he had no choice; the bandits threatened him.

"Enough, tell me everything you know about the bandits, who their leader is and how strong they are," said Wang Ben.

The merchant was scared. He started spilling the beans. At least he said everything he knew. He knew that if he lied, he would be skinned alive.

They later escorted the merchant out of the tent and left him outside tied up.

Inside the tent

"I think we can take them. If the info is correct, then we can definitely take them," said one of the cadets.

"There is only so much that a merchant can know," said another cadet. He was quiet, but his eyes were fierce.

"I propose we do an ISR," said cadet knuckles.

Infiltrate Scout and report

This caused the cadets to frown

"But who do we send? We all look too battle-hardened to sneak in as villagers," said the first cadet.

"Not as villagers as merchants, we'll use the carriage outside," said cadet Wang.

"Frank and Sparrow look quite timid they can pass of as ordinary people . i can go in as a guard too," said Knuckles.

"Okay, we'll do it that way," said Wang Ben.

"Frank, sparrow, come here," shouted Wang Ben.

Frank immediately stood up and hurried over but sparrow wasn't too bothered though. He just strolled there, as if he wanted to show that cadet Wang had no real power over him.

Wang Ben told them the plan.

They were to set off in the middle of the night. It was a good thing the merchant was there. He gave them a pair of clothes so they could blend in better with the merchants and locals.

When they arrived in the village, Frank and Sparrow were to be the merchant's assistants, and Knuckles would be his guard.

And soon enough night time came.

and they set off towards the village.

Frank was especially nervous, so he stayed inside the carriage.

And sparrow was his usual self-centered self.

"Halt!!!" A village guard shouted

they had arrived at the front gate.

"What business do you have in our village today?" asked the guard.

"I'm supplying some goods to a partner of mine. He is in the village. His name is Jim," said the merchant.

"We don't accept people so easily into our village. "Times are hard, you know," said the guard.

The merchant understood what the guard wanted, so he pulled out something from his robe and gave it to him.

It was a bag of coins. It was much smaller than the one he presented to us, and it showed how much he really feared the military.

"Open the gate, we have guests," the guard laughed loudly after collecting the bag of coins.