Chapter 19

“My sister got kidnapped!”

He shouted as he knelt on the ground, panic and tears all over his face. It was inevitable that the people nearby were looking at us now. Everyone stopped in their tracks and either blatantly looked in our direction or tried to eavesdrop on us.

Getting him back on his feet, I sat him down on a nearby bench and gave him my water pouch.

“Here, drink this and calm down for now. Tell me what happened.”

“Gulp… Gulp… Haaah. I—I have a younger sister, four years younger than me. Her name is Luna. She usually stays at our home while I’m out getting money or food because she’s still too young and frail to do anything else.”

“How about your parents?”

“Don’t have them. My mother died after giving birth to my sister, and my father was a hopeless drunkard. I don’t even know where he is. Probably died somewhere.”

“I see. Then how did your sister get kidnapped?”

“This morning, I was going out to work and get some food as usual. I was only going out for a little while and came back in the evening, but when I got back, my house was empty. My sister was gone, and there were signs of a struggle in the house and several adult footprints.”

“I understand. But don’t you think kidnapping is something you should have reported to the town’s guards?”

“The guards wouldn’t be doing anything, son.”

The food stall uncle nearby quipped in, and then several other pedestrians who were listening to our conversation also joined in.

“The guards do not care what happens to the people of the slum. As far as they are concerned, the slum people aren’t even human.”

“That’s right. They might even be happy if a slum inhabitant disappears.”

Everyone was saying that and nodding their heads as if it were something very normal in this town. I frowned when I heard that something like this was normalized to such a degree.

“As they said, Huwi. The guards won’t help me and my sister… because we’re just kids from the slum. Please… Please save my sister. I know we just met, and our first meeting wasn’t exactly the best, but I don’t have anyone else I can ask to help.”

Tears came down from his eyes as he sobbed again. I looked at Aaron, a kid my age who had to not only survive by himself but also provide for and protect his sister, his only family. I grew up in a very wealthy family, so I never experienced hardships like Aaron. The hardest part of my life was when I lost my position as the heir, but even then, I could still live in the clan’s main estate and even met Master Elara, who took me in as her apprentice.

What if I were in his position? Needing help, but no one would even spare a glance at me. I’ve been lucky all this time, while Aaron has lived his life surrounded by bad luck from the first time he took his breath in this world.

Sigh.

“Alright. First, take me to your house.”

…

“Over here.”

We arrived at Aaron’s house. The interior was wrecked. The small wooden table and chair were turned over, and plates and bowls were already on the floor, some of them cracked. I looked over the floor and could see the adult-sized footprints Aaron mentioned.

“How is it?”

“Yeah, I think it’s a kidnapping too.”

I could see Aaron clenching his fists tightly and biting his lower lip in frustration.

“Can you find her?”

“I’ll try.”

Taking a deep breath, I started to pull the mana stored in my heart into both of my eyes.

“Tracking.”

My vision turned bluish, and I could see the adult-sized footprints glowing red. I followed the footprints outside of the house.

“I can track them.”

“Really!?”

Aaron’s face was beaming. He must have been glad that his sister’s whereabouts could be tracked down.

“What are we waiting for then? Let’s go!”

“No. I’m going alone.”

“What?”

“From what I see, there are three sets of footprints. That means at the very least, there are three kidnappers. I don’t know if there are more of them at the place where they took your sister, but I know I can’t fight while having to protect other people. I’m still an Apprentice Mage, after all.”

I took the emblem of the Veynes Magic Tower off the clasp of my cape and handed it to Aaron.

“Go to the Magic Tower and hand them this emblem, then explain the situation. I need you to call the tower’s mages for me.”

Aaron looked at the emblem I gave him in his palm and clenched it tightly.

“Alright. I will make sure to do that, so please, Huwi. Save my sister and also… Don’t die.”

“Yeah, I would probably just stake out the place first until help arrives.”

“By the way, how will the mages know where you’re going?”

“That emblem has a record of my mana signature. Once activated, it can be used by the mages from the tower to track my location. Just hand it over to them. They will know what to do with it.”

“Understood. Then, I’ll see you later.”

We nodded to each other and went our separate ways. I activated the Skate spell to quickly chase after the kidnapper by following their tracks.

I need to track the kidnapper quickly. I don’t know why they kidnapped a slum kid, but it’s definitely not for anything good.

Something that Master Elara said came to mind while I was following their tracks, but I shook my head, thinking that was too far-fetched for something like that to happen. This was probably just a slave trader kidnapping slum kids to be sold as slaves anyway.

At least, I hoped so.

…

Tracking down the kidnappers took a while, but I managed to find their hideout. They had hidden themselves in a small shack built out of wood quite a way from the town’s wall, hidden between the trees inside the forest. It was probably a place that hunters used to keep their tools, clean their game, and rest because I could see a tanning rack just outside of it.

I kept myself hidden in the bushes, crouching on the ground while holding my breath. I could see two people standing outside of the shack.

The third one must be inside.

“Search.”

I cast a Search spell with a whisper to make sure of the number of kidnappers and their positions, as well as to find out where Luna was.

Two outside, three inside. One of the people inside the shack is smaller and doesn’t move much, so that’s probably Luna.

Haah… What should I do now? I can take out the two guards outside, but then the sound will alert the other two inside. I don’t feel any mana from them, and they don’t look like people who have any combat training, so even if all four of them attacked me at once, I could still win as long as I keep my distance. But there’s a risk they will take Luna hostage. If that happened, then it’s checkmate.

Is there any way I can infiltrate inside? If I can get into the shack and take out the two keeping watch on Luna quickly, then the two guarding outside cannot take Luna hostage because I’m in a position to block them from reaching her.

Slowly and quietly, I moved around the back of the shack, but there wasn’t a single window there for me to infiltrate through.

Damn it. The windows were only on the side of the shack. I can’t use them to infiltrate.

The side windows were too close to where the two kidnappers were sitting inside the shack. If I tried to get in from there, I would be noticed immediately.

Should I start a fire to distract them?

Nope. Bad idea. It will be an even bigger problem if I cause a forest fire just to save someone.

For a while, all I did was crouch in the bushes, wrecking my brain to find a way in.

Wait, if I can’t infiltrate quietly, I might as well do it brazenly.

Now that I knew what to do, I walked away from the shack, took off my cape, and tore up parts of my clothes. I scooped up some dirt and smeared it on my hair and face to hide my features as a foreigner. I’m pretty much the only Chinese person in this country, after all, and most people in town already know I’m from the Magic Tower, so I needed to hide my identity for this plan to work.

The preparations are done. Now let’s pray that my acting skills are enough to fool them.

Walking out of the forest right in front of the shack, limping, I screamed for help as desperately as I could.

“HELP!! PLEASE HELP!!”

The two guards outside looked at me warily. Some kid had just suddenly appeared in front of them while limping, with his clothes torn all over the place and mud and dirt all over his body. Anyone would be wary seeing a sight like this.

“Who are you, kid?”

“Please help me. I was playing in the forest with my friends, but then a pack of wolves attacked us. I’m the only one who managed to get away. Please help me.”

How’s that? My crying and desperation are top tier, aren’t they? No matter how scummy these guys are, seeing a kid desperately asking for help should make them let down their guard. Man, I’m so good at acting. Maybe I should try out for a theater.

The two guards were talking among themselves, and then the other two inside the shack came out after hearing my desperate scream for help.

“What is it? Why is it so loud?”

“There’s a kid here who said he got attacked by a pack of wolves and is asking for help.”

“Hmm?”

The man who had just come out from the shack looked at me, and then a grin full of greed appeared on his face.

“Well, that’s really bad. Get inside. I’ll patch you up.”

Got him. But I still need to put on one last act to make my acting even more convincing.

“Th-Thank you…”

Turning around in panic, I fell to the ground while screaming.

“AAAAH!!! I-Is it the wolves?”

“It will be fine, boy. The two uncles there will guard outside, so no wolves can attack us.”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah. Trust us. We are pretty strong, you know? Wolves are easy.”

“Th-Then, thank you.”

HAHAHA. I’M SUCH A GENIUS. BEHOLD MY ACTING SKILL!!

Even while I was glazing myself in my mind, I still kept up my act. I could hear them whispering among themselves that they only needed one, but having one more as a bonus would be fine or something.

Heh, they didn’t know that they were already in the palm of my hand. Everything was going according to my plan.

Stepping inside the shack, I saw Luna. She was awake but tied up, with her mouth covered by a cloth.

“MMMMMHH!!”

Her eyes opened wide, and panic could be clearly seen in her eyes.

“Sorry, kid, but resent your own bad luck.”

The guy who let me in didn’t even bother to hide his sleazy, evil grin, so I didn’t even bother to keep up my act anymore either.

“Yeah? That’s my line.”

I turned to him and the other guy who was also inside and raised both of my arms at them.

“Stone Bullet!”

BANG! BANG!

Two sharp, cone-shaped rocks quickly formed and shot toward both of them in the stomach, creating holes.

Both of the kidnappers inside the shack were down, so now there were only the two outside standing guard. Both of them looked shocked.

“Well then, dear kidnappers, let’s start, shall we?”