Ciya, Aeren, and Denvar left the academy, and Denvar was able to negotiate with one of the carriage owners. Because they were academy students, the owner charged them less money.
Ciya noticed this and looked at her team members—both idiots were wearing academy uniforms. Ciya had been planning for days about the bandits and their quest. She had gathered information about the bandits: they captured and kidnapped people for no reason and never returned them, even after receiving ransom money.
Rodrics was much stronger than B-rank. He had killed many B-rank adventurers, and Ciya needed to warn the others about him, or they would die at the hands of the bandits.
She started telling them about the information she has on the bandits and warned them not to be reckless. She told them everything and reached the destination.
It took Aeren, Ciya, and Denvar two days to reach Zone City from the academy. The three of them exited the carriage and looked at each other.
"You two, take these. With them, we can communicate without speaking a single word." Ciya handed them white, small, puff-like balls.
Aeren and Denvar examined the artifacts. Denvar was shocked—these were rare artifacts, hard to obtain. He looked at Ciya with such reverence that he almost knelt down.
"What are you doing?" Ciya asked, looking at Denvar with disgust.
"What is this?" Aeren asked.
"These are telepathic communication orbs. All three balls are connected to each other and will help us communicate through our minds. You just need to put this in your ear, and we'll be able to communicate with each other," Ciya explained with a serious tone.
Aeren looked at the small orb and took it from her hand. Denvar did the same and placed it in his ear.
'Can you two hear me now?' Ciya said into their minds.
'Yes, I can hear you,' Aeren replied.
'Yeah, I can,' Denvar confirmed.
Ciya looked at both of them and communicated mentally,
'You need to buy different clothes. If we wear academy uniforms, they'll run away after seeing us.'
Aeren and Denvar looked at each other and nodded to her.
After purchasing civilian clothes, they went to the guild to inform the authorities about their quest.
Ciya led both of them inside and went directly to the receptionist.
"Where can I find the guild master?" Ciya demanded.
The receptionist glanced at Ciya and was about to say something, but Ciya showed her academy student ID. The receptionist was shocked by the identification and said, "He's on the second floor."
Ciya left immediately for the second floor. She talked inside the room while Aeren and Denvar waited outside. Half an hour later, she emerged from the guild master's office in a frustrated mood.
"We're out of time," Ciya said urgently.
Aeren and Denvar followed behind her.
The trio reached the outskirts of the "Forest of Zone." The forest looked vast, and though it was day, it appeared like evening under the canopy. Trees were everywhere, including some massive specimens. Some monsters could be seen in the distance—mid-level creatures they could easily handle.
As they entered the Forest of Zone, Ciya spoke to their minds.
'Aeren and Denvar, climb the trees. We'll travel from tree to tree—the ground might be dangerous.'
Aeren looked at all the massive trees around the forest, jumped onto one, and positioned himself.
Ciya looked at both of them in the trees and began leading toward the bandits' location—a small mountain within the Forest of Zone. After hours of jumping from tree to tree, fog suddenly emerged from the forest and swallowed the area around them.
Seeing this, Ciya screamed into their minds, 'Run! This is poison fog!'
Ciya realized it too late and lost consciousness. Hours later, the fog disappeared, revealing the forest again.
"Three more people to add aboard," one bandit said with a grin on his face.
"Haha! These adventurers think they can kill us anytime, but we capture them every time! Hahahaha!" a second bandit laughed at their foolishness.
"Wait a minute—someone is still standing and looking at us," a third bandit said with shock at the unexpected sight, alerting the others.
"Hahahaha, it's just a kid," the second bandit said, laughing as he saw Aeren.
"Scared me for a second," the third bandit said with relief upon seeing Aeren.
"Hey, kid. If you come with us peacefully, we won't harm your companions," the first bandit said with a slight grin.
Aeren looked at the three of them, then at his unconscious team members, and said coldly, "Hmm, okay."
It had only been a week since this started, and Aeren had nothing to do anyway—he wanted to see the bandit leader.
"Good, good! Hahaha! You know when to submit. You're a smart kid!" the second bandit said, laughing loudly.
"Yeah, you're the most sensible kid I've ever seen. I've seen many kids who panic, and some try to attack without fear, thinking they're heroes," the first bandit said with an impressed tone.
"You're giving him too much credit. He's just scared and has no choice but to follow us," the third bandit said objectively.
The third bandit approached Aeren and slapped his cheek. Aeren didn't react and just stared at him. Seeing this stare, the third bandit grinned.
"You want to kill me, right?" The third bandit looked at Aeren and offered his chin, daring him to strike.
Aeren didn't react and extended his hands to be bound with mana-restriction chains. The third bandit was disappointed by his lack of response. The first bandit chained Aeren and the others, then began walking toward the small mountain.
Aeren and the bandits walked for hours before finally reaching the 'Bandit Den.' What appeared to be a small mountain from a distance revealed itself to be massive up close, with caves and five to six guards outside. The guards saw the three bandits return with captives, nodded, and let them inside.
Step... Step...
A few minutes later, Aeren found himself in a vast hall with stairs leading up to a throne. A man sat upon it, holding in his hand the severed head of a professor, fresh blood dripping from the wound.
The man on the throne looked at Aeren and the others with cold eyes.