Not just I
In the middle of the night, a soldier rapped anxiously on the luxurious bedroom doors of their base owner, Dick Wale.
He knew he would be scolded once he disturbs the peace of the base leader, but he had no other choice. The situation was too urgent.
Dick Wale opened the doors, with exactly the kind of angry expression that would lob off the head of someone.
" Sir. Officer Bloodhound had taken five hundred combat officers and was making his way to the school of the first village. It is said he was there to arrest officer Morde Zelle. He informed us that Mord is a Reaper spy, and he was the one who made the attempted murder attempt on the young master in the paradise beach. "
" Is that confirmed ? " Dick asked, his face serious.
Bloodhound belonged to the faction opposing him. If he really finds that Morde, and that Morde turns out to be really a traitor, then he would be a laughing stock among the higher society of the base. He is called the base owner, however, the base is not really in his hands. His guild has most dungeons, but the most important 'A' rank dungeon is in the hands of white dragon guild, and the second most important B rank dungeon is in the hands of the MadDog family, to whom bloodhound belonged to.
" Sir, the kidnapped child is Zayne Rhafyre. He is the heir to White dragon. "
" These bastards ! Go. Go find that bastard's house, and all his nine relations ! Find me every last bit of dirt on the man, every last detail ! " Dick ordered, walking out of the bedroom.
If Zayne Rhafyre simply dies in this accident, that's the best situation. However, if he was kidnapped, then the story becomes entirely different. Zayne, given his huntercard, is an adult. As such, he could transfer both his property, and official positions to other people. If they coaxed it out of him, then he would have a long fight on his hands. In the worst case, it can even tip the balance to the other side.
" Stop ! Come back. " Dick called the leaving soldier.
" Send two hundred as a backup to the Bloodhound. Send the best. " he ordered.
After that, Wale returned to his study to rest and wait for the report from either side.
◆◇◆
" Can you sense the girl anywhere in the vicinity ? " Morde, the corrupt officer asked his underling.
In front of him, Zayne Rhafyre's body rose into the air, a bundle of elephant rope tying around his body automatically. The tied up body followed him.
" Release the barrier. We need to go to the I-city." The corrupt officer made the decision extremely fast.
From what I have seen of the girl so far, she has this feeling of being an old hand. If she were truly a teenage girl, she would be waiting somewhere nearby to attack them and steal the boy. However, twice now the girl was able to escape from him. After making him commit a blunder in the morning, she was still able to get away from him in the evening. She had more than one card up her sleeves.
Moreover, if what he is suspecting is correct, and the girl is the lovechild of an escaped agent, then it's very much probable her parents trained her to some extent before their deaths, even if she is an orphan now. This time around, his instincts are telling him, a big disaster is heading their way.
They need to get out of here, Pronto.
" Understood. " The voice came over the walkie talkie.
Removal of his own mana signature from the room, and the barrier took their time. In that time, one of his guards, a healer, healed all the injuries of Zayne.
Just to be sure, he sent a scout to the slime dungeon, to check if it's there. Only, it was not. The next dungeon is within purview of the 89th base. Sure, as a sub-organization of Wulin they could go base 89 or 90, but they can not do that in the uniforms of the 91st base. The pre-apocalyptic feud is all too strong between these two countries, as such, bases do not mingle either, at least, not officially. They need to dress up as stragglers to enter the 90th base.
They entered a rugged jeep with iron grills on four sides as they left the city. The iron grills are covered with tarpaulin.
" What about the rest ? " The officer asked as he stepped into the van.
" They are also prepped and ready, Sir. " the healer replied.
" Make sure to clean up this one nice and well. Products of this quality are going to fetch a lot more than the rest. " The officer mused as he looked at Zayne.
The healer nodded his head in answer.
None of them realized that Zayne was awake for a while at this time. He was pretending to be unconscious at this point.
" How are you so sure of his quality, sir ? " one of the guys asked the corrupt officer, his hands busy wiping away dirt blood on Zayne's chest.
" That, my dear fellas … You get a feel once you get to my level. " The corrupt officer teased them.
" Ei.. that could not be. We went to such lengths to catch him. You picked him with your instincts ? " one of the old men snarked, thinking of all the effort they put into raising the barrier.
" Ah..I know, I know. It's because he is a Rhafyre. Is that right sir ? " another guard said, looking to Morde for confirmation.
" Indeed. On top of that, the boy's fire balls look like they are normal fireballs, but they were concentrated fireballs. Had I not chosen to erect the ultimate magic absorbing barrier from the beginning, he would have broken the barrier all too easily. That means he is a natural elemental, his bloodline will always be a singular elemental. Elementals are top rated studs. On top of that, he is not past the age where he could be marked. " Morde explained to his group.
" So, we caught a big one this time. " the rest of the crew mused.
Zayne, who still had his eyes closed, wondered just what the hell they meant by ' stud ' and ' marked '.
It very much sounded like raising cattle, like branding a ox with a mark, or using it for breeding, but to use that term associated with humans is impossible, right ? He would only realize later that is exactly what they meant.
Zayne sank into his innerworld once more. If they have gone to the lengths of healing him, then he is absolutely sure that he is going to be sold as a slave of some sort. As such, when the next opportunity comes, he needs his strength to break through.
The next time he opened his eyes, the waves sounded in his ears. He was hung in a cage over the sea. His hands are tied with rope. He tried pulling the rope. It was not easy. Then, he ordered calamari to extend its arm out of his finger to wind around the rope on his hand. With a single flex, calamari turned the rope knot into ashes.
The octopus arm width of a finger swayed atop his finger. In his innerworld, Calamari is the size of a behemoth. However, when summoned in the real world, it's only the size of a sparrow, and when it is scrunched up into a ball, it's smaller than a golf ball.
However, calamari's ability is not small. As Zayne used magic circles within his innerworld, with each use, Calamari learned the same abilities. Now, with the help of his summon beast, he only needs to control the outcome. The little fireball took care of the rest happily.
The summon beast only looked around curiously, then, it stuck itself to Zayne's finger, sinking back into his innerworld. There, the little octopus started making fireballs, folding and folding again, making an entire planet worth of little fireballs.
Zayne just used these pre-molded mana constructs directly, reducing his casting time greatly. With throws under his belt, he could shoot them as fast as bullets. Or have them float in the air like now, illuminating the entire area. It is only then he realized how big the operation of human trafficking under Reapers is.
The entire deck of a gigantic cargo ship was full of cages, each cage housing a child or woman.
Right then, the sound of footsteps approached him.
Zayne snuffed out the fire balls, and laid down holding the ropes in his hands.
" He is still down ? Did you put a sleeping spell on him or something ? " The man asked, roughly dragging Zayne out.
They put him on a stretcher, and took him away to the deck.
He was roughly moved to a chair, a belt tying him to the top.
A bucket of stinking cold sea water was poured straight on him, waking him up.
" Hey ! Where's that bitch of yours ? Call her and tell her to get her ass here. " Morde, the corrupt officer demanded, his face livid.
' ah.. Claire must have gotten away with something more. What did she do ? ' Zayne mused.