40 - Chapter 39 - Day 1827

“Now tell me what the bandit group you infiltrated is doing, and why they captured my family.” asked Adya.

“They were paid to target your family.” replied Evelin. “I was not close enough to the leadership to find out the full details. To be honest I was not even paying that much attention to their actions, as I have been busy with my latest assignment.”

“So someone wanted the caravan captured.” mused Adya. “So what were the bandit’s intentions after the capture? Is my family in danger?”

“The bandits were paid to target the goods on the caravan.” replied Evelin. “There were no instructions on what to do with anyone who survived the raid. The bandits decided to capture everyone and hold them for ransom. I do not believe that they intend to let anyone go even if the ransom is paid.”

Adya ran her hand over her face in frustration. It was always something or someone who thought they could target her family and get away with it. Yet her situation stopped her from taking action against the actual perpetrators.

“How many cultivators do the bandits have, and how strong?” asked Adya. “Also what was Thomas’s intention while you two returned?”

“Thomas was going to see if he could free your family quietly.” replied Jarel. “If he could not, then he would wait for our return.”

“They are mostly mortals. They have 5 cultivators in total, three are tier one, 1 is tier 2, and the strongest has just entered tier 4.” replied Evelin.

“At tier 4, that has to make them one of the strongest bandit groups in the human kingdoms right?” asked Adya. That seemed outrageously strong for a random group to her.

“Yes, this is the biggest bandit group in the whole of the human kingdoms.” replied Evelin. “It was why a tier 6 was assigned to keep an eye on them. They have over 500 members in their little group.”

“Damn it, that is a problem.” replied Adya. “How long would it take you both to return? And how long if you had to bring me along?”

“By ourselves, we could return in under a day.” replied Evelin. “With you, it would depend. If you wanted to travel in comfort, it would take a minimum of 6 days. If one of us carried you on our back, we could make it in one day, just it would be a most uncomfortable journey.”

“Plus it would make you a target.” replied Jarel. “If any of the other agents see one of us carrying a child, they would assume that they were the target, and potentially attack us.”

“Why would they attack us?” asked a confused Evelin. “They would just report back that the target had been found.”

“No,” replied Adya. “We have already confirmed that there are multiple contradictory orders given by the various elders. One group has ordered the execution of your target, along with everyone else who even knows of their existence including other agents.”

“That can’t be right!” exclaimed Evelin. “Why would we be ordered to kill our own?”

“Well you are no longer part of that group.” replied Adya. “However, that is the order that Thomas was given. Had I not subverted him, then he would have tried to kill Jarel. Anyway, I need to deal with this mess. Since I can’t go, that leaves very few options.”

“What are you thinking?” asked Jarel.

“Let us keep it simple.” replied Adya. “Infiltrate the location of my family and the prisoners. One of you stays to guard them from retaliation. The other two wipe out the whole gang. If you can take the leaders prisoner for questioning then do so, but no one escapes. After that recover what is left of the accrued wealth, remount the caravan and bring them back safely.”

Evelin was shaken by the level of brutality in the orders Adya had just given them. She had never expected a child to be so ruthless.

“I want you to remove all evidence when you are done.” continued Adya. “Leave only ashes behind. If everything has gone well, then Evelin reports back to me, leaving Jarel and Thomas to escort the caravan back. I want this done before the ransom demand even reaches my family. Lastly, don’t forget your standing orders. I need you to bring me more agents that are out hunting for the target child. Whoever you bring needs to be kept in the dark. You need to bring them in private, and be able to subdue them for at least 6 minutes after you are in front of me, without putting me in any danger. Do you have any questions? Do you need supplies?”

“No, I am ready to leave,” responded Jarel.

“Are…are you the target of our search?” asked Evelin hesitantly.

“I have no idea, Evelin.” replied Adya. “I have not checked so that I can not confirm one way or the other. That way you don’t have to lie to anyone. You can honestly say that you have suspicions, but have not confirmed one way or the other.”

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“If there is nothing else.” continued Adya. “I need you to leave as soon as possible. How soon will you be able to report back?”

“In the best case,” replied Evelin. “There will be 2 days of travel to get there and return, and if Thomas has everything ready for infiltration, then 1 or 2 days for the actual attack. So the earliest would be 3 days, but more likely 4 to 5 days from now.”

“All right, then be on your way.” replied Adya.

With that both Evelin and Jarel left Adya alone to contemplate the situation. She needed to tell her mother and Parth, but did not want them to change their behaviour and alert their enemies. She decided that she would not tell them yet and take unnecessary risks. Any actions that Parth could take in that time frame would serve only to obfuscate her actions. It would also have no bearing on the final results.

Things were progressing too fast, and the only stability she could find would be to openly change her family to a sect or clan under the protection of an elder. She could not even start to take extreme action against her family's non cultivator enemies in the meantime. Anything that she did would raise warning flags. Those flags would increase scrutiny on her whole family, potentially sending more agents to her door. Without a sufficient force to protect her, she could only use obscurity as her shield. It was only her extensive training that allowed her to maintain her equanimity in the face of such pressure.

With that Adya returned to her practice and thoughts. She still had 57 days until Sai would be done and she could start work in earnest on her next project. In that time, she planned to level up the skill Environmental Dominion as much as she could, along with sketching a design for the mana coin artifact.

The days passed, as her mother and Parth became more worried while awaiting news. Adya kept herself fully immersed in her training and research. She was confident that she would receive news soon.

It was on the afternoon of the 4th day from when she had sent off her cultivators that Evelin finally returned. She was not alone. She came in carrying an unconscious man who was securely bound hand and foot.

Evelin managed to bring him to Adya without her guards noticing anything.

“Report.” said Adya.

Evelin placed her prisoner on the floor and started to report.

“The bandits have been wiped out.” started Evelin. “Your immediate family are safe, however there were losses amongst your family retainers. I do not have an accurate count. They should be on their way back by now.”

As Evelin reported, Adya used her telekinesis to create her formation on the passed out man.

“When do you anticipate them making it back here?” asked Adya

“Barring any delays or accidents, they should return back home in 6 days from today.” replied Evenlin.

“Who is your prisoner?” asked Adya. Now that she was satisfied that her family were safe, she moved on to other matters.

“I have no idea apart from the fact that he is a strong cultivator,” replied Evelin. “He tried to ambush me on my way here.”

As they talked, Adya completed and activated her formation to take control of the man. By the same prompts she saw, she was sure he was another agent. She just didn’t know what his orders were or which faction he worked for.

“He is another one of your colleagues.” replied Adya. “Or at least he has the same augmentations that you do. And I can tell that he is also Tier 6.”

“So you weren’t lying to me.” replied Evelin. “I thought you were trying to deceive me. It would have been easy enough to order Thomas to lie to me.”

“I have no reason to lie to you.” replied Adya. “I can get you to do anything that I want. I don’t like to treat people as slaves, but sometimes you have to use the tools at hand to defend yourself.”

“I will wait to hear what he has to say,” replied a contemplative Evelin.

“I have no issue with that.” replied Adya. “Why don’t you wait with him until he awakens. Keep him here until I return. Do not allow him to cause a disturbance.”

With that Adya left to go find her mother and Parth. She went towards her mother’s office and asked the guards who was in. She was told her mother was alone. She asked one of the guards to fetch Parth. Then she knocked and entered.

“Mother,” said Adya. “I have good news. Our family is on the way back home.”

“How.” replied Gauri, her expression showing her reluctance to accept the news.

“I asked our cultivator friends for a favour.” replied Adya. “I have just been told that they have been freed and are on their way back. We will have to wait six more days to get the details directly. I do know that the direct family is safe. We did lose retainers, both in the original attack and in camp.”

“What did you have to promise in return for that favour?” asked Gauri, now petrified. Cultivators did not do favours for free, and something on this scale had to have been expensive.

“We can’t tell the family about our involvement with the cultivators.” replied Adya. “We need to keep my secrets just between us, and keep them away from all cultivator business at least for now. I am not permitted to reveal anymore at this stage. When I can tell you more, I will.”

As they were talking, Parth knocked on the door of the office and entered.

“You called for me?” he asked, looking between Adya and Gauri.

“Adya has good news,” replied Gauri.

“I have good news and bad news.” replied Adya. “The main news is that the family is safe, and along with most of our retainers are on their way back to us. It is estimated that it will take them 6 more days to make it back to us, barring any accidents or incidents.”

“That’s wonderful news.” replied Parth. “How did you find out so fast?”

“I am not able to tell you the details.” replied Adya. “I know you will be able to make accurate guesses, but I need you not to do that. You have more important things to look into anyway.”

“Like what?” asked Parth. He was pretty sure she had managed to get the cultivators to help her. No one else could get news back to her so fast. Just how many secrets did this girl have?

“Well apart from confirming that we had lost a number of retainers,” said Adya. “My contact also told me that the bandits were paid, a lot, to specifically target our caravan, with a focus on the goods, not the people.”

Both Gauri and Parth were alarmed by that news. Who had the gall to target the family so openly?