"I-it can’t be..." the Justicar stammered.

Euness’ iron armor seemed ill-fitting on him as he transformed back into a servile receptionist, cupping his hands together and keeping his head low. "Vice Guild Master, it is both an honor and a privilege to meet you." He straightened out his spectacles and remarked, "Forgive me for displaying such an unpresentable appearance."

"It is fine," replied Lilia with a shrug, putting away her Hunter's Guild badge. "I am simply a citizen whenever I’m not working."

Euness bowed and said, "My apologies. I have to return to searching for my acquaintance."

"I’ll also continue to help then."

"You are too kind, Vice Guild Master."

Farbra and Caden had to swallow their feelings and thoughts of revenge. The ranking of Vice Guild Master was not unlike the title of Duke, and the Hunter’s Guild would not stop in trying to destroy those that harmed someone of such a rank.

Before half an hour passed, Poly climbed down from the ladder with dark lines forming under her golden eyes. The defeat that painted Euness’ face nearly buckled her.

"This can’t be," she muttered, her face drawn. "I was sure I heard him. He was in here..."

"Now," Caden said, addressing everyone in the carriage after seeing them stop rummaging through things, "may I be on my way then? I’m rather late."

"Where is he?!" Poly screamed with her "Siren’s Call", flooring Caden.

He shot back up quickly and imbued mana, preparing to strike down the tiny elf. Air distortions caught the carriage driver's attention. Caden noticed Lilian watching him closely. He spat on the ground, straightened himself out, and suppressed his bloodlust. He refused to be reduced to dust today.

"I don’t know who you’re on about, elf," Caden grunted, eyeing Poly with narrowed eyes.

Poly lunged at him, still using her "Siren’s Call" as she yelled, "I’ll kill you!"

Euness caught her and held her back. He shook his head and said to her, "Poly, Red isn’t in here."

"But I heard him!"

"We might as well break this carriage in two and see what falls out," Lilian remarked as the air distortions around her grew. "It’s the only way to make sure that we didn’t miss anything."

A sound like a squeaky door came out of Caden as he stared at the Vice Guild Master about to destroy his carriage. He wanted to argue and curse at the young woman, but the Badlanders becoming dust still hung prominently in his mind.

Steps squished in the mud outside as someone approached the carriage. The guard accompanying Farbra had returned. No one but the Justicar had noticed his absence.

"Justicar," he saluted and presented an envelope to Farbra.

Farbra opened the envelope and quickly went over the letter held within. A mischievous smile grew on his face. His beady eyes looked over to Lilia and he said, "I wouldn’t go destroying anything just yet."

Lilia only gave him a second of her attention before she went back to unleashing her mana. Farbra screeched, "Halt your actions! Your superiors will be in contact with you soon to tell you the same!"

Something flashing in the Vice Guild Master’s pocket gave her pause. The blue glow of her mana dissolved as she brought out her badge. "Guild Master..." she murmured. Calm was restored to the air around her as she withdrew her aura.

Farbra and Caden both exhaled heavily.

Lilia looked over at Poly and gave a curt nod, "I’m sorry. I must be off." Poly’s face seemed helpless. Lilia started to move away. At the edge of the open carriage door, she paused, "I do sincerely hope you find your friend."

The Vice Guild Master of the Hunter’s Guild then disappeared into the night.

"Hmph!" Farbra huffed, "Serves her right for acting as if she were above the law."

Caden groveled, "Thank you, Justicar. You are the light of this city." The carriage driver was thankful for the person who had given him the badge to get into contact with Farbra. Otherwise, his way of making a living would’ve been turned into scraps.

"Get off me. I didn’t do this for you," Farbra spat and began to depart. He murmured under his breath, "I just hope what I was promised will be given…" His accompanying guard leapt to his side and followed along like an obedient dog.

Caden scoffed at Euness and Poly, "Out you go. You’d be lucky if the Justicar doesn’t send you both to prison after this."

Poly and Euness watched the transport carriage roll away. Hewy and Pharc returned to their duties. Mas had finally awoken but could hardly walk on his own.

"I have to take Mas to a healer," Euness said to Poly. The elf girl was silent. "What will you do?"

"Where’s Red? Why wasn’t he on that carriage?" Poly asked in a low voice. The elf girl was lost in a daze.

Euness shook his head and said, "It’s alright. We’ll find him. I have to look after Mas for now. He was never any good at looking after himself. Such a helpless Hunter…" Euness walked over and propped Mas’ arm over his shoulder as he half carried him away back to the Classy Slums.

Dawn would break soon. The clouds overhead finally eased up and ceased dousing the world in rain. Poly’s face was downturned, staring back at herself in a puddle’s reflection.

"Where’s Red?" Poly murmured to herself, "I have to find Red." Her small body swayed unsteadily before her feet, step after slow step, began to move in the direction of The Hole.

Dwindle’s round eyes were absent of focus. The dwarf could see none of the shifting scenes that streaked by the window as they rode by, his mind in a deep rut. All was quiet around him. Outside, the storm had subsided. Yet he noticed nothing. Everything seemed distant and unattached to him.

"I’m sorry," a sympathetic voice spoke, "we couldn’t find your friend." The voice came from Jack of Spades, a Hunter apart of the famous group called the Royal Suit. He was a kind soul who had helped Dwindle search for Red. They had driven in the Royal Suit’s chariot to a storeroom by the eastern gate, owned by the White Scale Vipers that the young swordsman Van pointed out.

There, they discovered chained up men, women, and children, all of whom were destined to be sold into slavery. Tears of gratitude and soul wrenching well wishes poured on them from these would-be slaves they set free. Once more, the Hunter's Guild had saved the day. They were heroes, as they always were.

But Red wasn’t there. There were nearly a hundred unfortunate souls trapped in that storeroom, and Red wasn’t one of them.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

The dwarf remained silent and motionless, his eyes still staring at nothing.

Where did they take Red? Dwindle pondered for the hundredth time. Sir Jon Toler had joined them during that time and used his renown to get a hold of a clerk’s book that had registered listings of all carriages that came in and out through the eastern gate. For all the time that Red had been missing, no transport carriages had come or gone through the area. None were willing to brave the recent storm.

Where are you, Red?

Caden sat in the driver's seat of his carriage as he snapped the reins to get the two-headed buffalo to hurry. His dark eyes peered across the sky and saw that morning would soon come.

He bit his lip, thinking, I’m late.

Soalde became the size of his thumb on the horizon as the road beneath began to become bumpy. Green brush whipped past as he entered a forest. Branches cracked and broke. Creatures of the forest dived out of the way. Caden pulled against the reins, commanding the buffalo to veer right to avoid an oncoming boulder. A scraping sound alerted Caden that the boulder had cut against his vehicle.

Woe is me, he fumed inwardly. More damage to my precious carriage.

Minutes passed with Caden on the edge of the driver’s seat, relentlessly whipping the reins to compel the two-headed buffalo onward. He pulled a small animal's skull from his pocket, and when he filled it with mana, it began to glow with white flames. Ahead, some distance away, white fire erupted from an animal skull erected on a wooden post.

A drawn-out moo rang out as the two-headed buffalo was pulled to a stop upon arriving at the post.

Darkness clung to the corners of the forest, with dawn having yet to arrive. Upon hearing the sound of rustling leaves and crackling twigs, Caden's head whirled uncomfortably. Multiple white fires erupted in several spots at once. All around and in between trees, spots of white ignited.

An anxious squeak escaped Caden, but he soon calmed himself enough to speak, "It’s me, Caden the smuggler! As requested, I’ve come to deliver what was ordered."

The white fires revealed brawny men clad in fur and leather, some with sparse amounts of metal armor. The sources of the white flames were the tattoos on these men’s faces. One of them, who wore a headdress with a hyena’s skull, came before Caden, looming over the carriage driver. Their differences in build were comparable to those between a tiger and an alley cat.

Caden looked up at the man’s face and gulped, "As requested, I’ve come to deliver you your slaves, Battle Lord Otai."

"You’re late," replied the overbearing man, Battle Lord Otai.

“My apologies, honorable sir. Such difficult regulations keep the Jewel of Loderan hard to maneuver through, but I still managed to get you what you asked for.”

“Show me.”

Caden guided the Battle Lord toward the carriage. "It wasn’t easy to get these slaves," Caden explained, making sure to express how much difficulty he went through to get here. "As you know, it is illegal in Loderan to buy, sell, or own slaves." He opened the door of the carriage. "Only the White Scale Viper gang partakes in the slave market, and they only carry stock meant for pleasure. But I managed to convince them to collect a few slaves with strong bodies." Caden winked, "I made sure to only pick the best ones that are sure to be useful for you in your wars in the Badlands, Battle Lord."

Caden had wished he knew in the past that Badlanders paid so well. He would’ve made them his core customers long ago. They always needed slaves for gathering resources, running supplies, or acting as fodder in the territory disputes that often occurred in the Lorn Badlands.

Inside the carriage, Caden tapped the wood in the center of the first floor. As if there hadn’t been anything there before, the wooden floor vanished after the appearance of a sage symbol. Caden took a lantern hanging from the wall that held a glowing sage symbol and cast its light onto where the floor had once been.

Below, lying neatly like logs and wrapped in linen, were around forty people squeezed next to one another, unresponsive, even to the bright lantern light that glared down on them.

Otai grunted, "Why do they appear dead?"

"This is why I am one of the best smugglers," Caden bragged. "They have been given an alchemical potion that puts them to sleep and seals their mana pools. Even an Archmage would be unable to sense them. This makes smuggling them all the easier."

Otai nodded, clearly impressed. "Tongai," Otai called out. A Badlander with his face tattoo aglow appeared at the open carriage door. "Bring the others and unload our new slaves." With a grunt, Tongai gathered the other Badlanders, and they began stacking the slaves outside like firewood.

"You’ve done well, smuggler," Otai complimented, his face tattoo glowing on his pleased expression.

Caden gave a curt bow as he smirked. "I am the best smuggler on this side of Loderan," Caden said, "and about the payment…"

"Of course, smuggler," Otai smiled, his face ghostly in the white light of his face mana tattoo. He hopped out of the carriage and waved Caden to follow. As the Battle Lord passed the slave pile, a hint of red caught his eye. Among the slaves being lain out, one had a stain on the linen that wrapped around him. Otai squatted and pushed a thick finger into the abdomen of the slave. The hint of red bloomed and spread like dropped ink on a page.

"Blood…" he grunted and rose, turning back to Caden, "Damaged goods."

Caden glanced with confusion at the injured slave, who was a young man, thin but covered in wiry muscle. The smuggler suddenly remembered something, "Ah," he said, "that one is special. He had cost nothing. Apparently, he is an enemy of the White Scale Vipers who had taken out twenty of their men. His enslavement was punishment for going against the gang." He shrugged, "He might be useful to you as fodder to throw at an enemy’s frontline."

Otai shook his head and waved for Tongai to pick up the young slave and toss him away. "We don’t heal slaves," Otai scoffed. "I’d heal my dog before wasting time on a near-dead slave." Tongai grabbed the bleeding slave and tossed him into the woods. The beasts of the forest would eat well today.

Caden had no opinion. He simply waited on what amounted to a fortune headed his way.

A Badlander appeared with a small chest in hand, which was promptly flipped open and shown to Caden. The smuggler audibly gasped at the chest’s contents. He noticed a few expensive relics as well, one of which seemed to be from the time before the fall of Lighteater, the Demon King. He could make a fortune with this artifact alone. The Lorn Badlands was known to be filled with ancient ruins, though the Badlanders usually had no knowledge of what they happened to stumble across.

Caden made sure not to stare too much at the artifact, afraid the Badlanders might suspect they were giving him something too precious, which they were.

"We only happened to be passing by Soalde," Battle Lord Otai smiled, "and yet, we found ourselves an ally in such an unlikely place as this."

Caden bowed with a wide smile and responded, "I look forward to doing business with you in the future."

"As do we!" Otai smiled back. Caden accepted the chest, and his smile stretched further. Before the smuggler could part, Otai asked, "But what of Dordy and Hufran? Why are they taking so long to get here?"

Caden had almost forgotten. The two Badlanders that had accompanied him were Battle Lords, the same ranking of Badlander as Otai. The smuggler bowed lower this time, trying to sew as much regret into his words as he said, "Those from the Hunter’s Guild have killed them, Battle Lord Otai."

Otai fell silent; his expression stuck.

"I know the murderer. It was the Vice Guild Master of the upper district Hunter’s Guild branch," Caden informed. He knew these foreigners wouldn’t have a chance at acting against that Hunter’s Guild branch, but he had to give an answer.

"…you got my brothers killed?" Otai asked with reproach.

"No," Caden denied, "It was the Vice Guild Master! She killed them."

"It was your route, smuggler, and your idea to take my brothers with you."

"This isn’t fair, Battle Lord. I didn’t expect that the Vice Guild Master of all people would show up." He gestured to the slaves near them, "At least I’ve brought you what was promised—"

Otai vanished for a moment before reappearing in front of Caden. A pressure wrapped around Caden’s throat before he realized his neck was in Otai’s bear-paw-sized hand.

"How are they dead but not you?" Otai said, his voice rumbling. "These slaves mean little to me. My brothers are worth more than ten thousand slaves."

"Kill him, Battle Lord," Tongai urged. "Both your brothers were also Battle Lords. There is no replacing talent like theirs."

Caden’s face purpled, but he smiled nonetheless. A spittle filled cackle escaped his mouth.

"You dare laugh?" Otai charged.

Caden choked, "Let me go or things will get out of hand."

A sage symbol of significant size manifested on Caden’s carriage with blinding light.

"Sage symbol magic…" Tongai worried.

Caden’s watery eyes held confidence as he said to Otai, "That sage symbol will kill us all." The Battle Lord noticed a glow in Caden’s hand and frowned upon seeing the smuggler had drawn a small sage symbol. "I can set it off and we all die here, or you can let me go and we can live to see tomorrow."

"Such tricks don’t worry me," Otai grunted, "Your sage symbol magic will die along with you. I will send you to the afterlife as to appease my brothers’ restless souls."

"Don’t you dare, you Badlander savage!" Caden spat. With a crack, Caden’s life was extinguished.

"See?" Battle Lord Otai said, turning to Tongai, "Merely tricks to try and save his own rotten skin."

The carriage suddenly exploded in a cloud of gray gas. Otai laughed, "Is this supposed to kill us? All it is are tricks!"

He heard something land on the ground behind him. Tongai had fallen asleep. Soon, Otai felt dizzy and kneeled on the ground. The Battle Lord attempted to imbue mana but found he could not. His mana pool had been sealed.

He turned to see Caden’s corpse was still smiling, as if the smuggler was laughing on his way to the afterlife.

"Damned tricks…!" Otai grunted before he too fell asleep.