It was indeed Hukai and he was not there because he wanted to.
After losing such a big portion of his wealth, the Lord only paid him a fraction of his losses. According to him, he had used those elementalist slaves for an average of a year, so he had recouped some of the costs.
It wasn't that he hadn't thought of scheming to take them back. After all, he knew that group would be traveling on foot. They had many 'weak' members and had plenty of vulnerable places.
The areas outside territories were so dangerous, who was to say he would be the reason for their demise?
He knew many people were greedy for them and for the goods they had access to. He gathered several of his allies and like-minded friends, already dividing the loot while the other group was packing up for a long journey.
However, before leaving, the fatso from that group said that their territory had tracking tools. They also record the situation before the owner's death.
