"Ha!? You coward…"
Laxus's forehead immediately throbbed with veins, his eyes widening like copper bells.
"First, observe the enemy's strength and whether they have all returned."
"Otherwise, if we alert them and there are others who have gone out to kidnap children and come back, what if they hear the commotion and run away?"
He directly interrupted Laxus's angry words.
"And the rush just now consumed a lot of stamina. Let's take the opportunity to recover."
"Is there anything else you want to say?"
Looking up at Laxus, Rayn said calmly.
"Tch! Anyway, those guys are not our mission targets!"
Turning his head away in annoyance, Laxus gritted his teeth and muttered in a low voice.
Although he said so, his original intention to attack was also temporarily suppressed.
"Tsundere is already outdated, let alone a grown man."
Seeing Laxus's appearance, Rayn held Kanna's hand and walked forward.
"Tsundere? What's that?"
Laxus didn't understand what Rayn meant, but his intuition told him that it was definitely not a good word.
However, seeing that Rayn was already moving forward, he could only keep it in his heart for now.
When they fought later, he would return it all.
"Kanna, is anyone watching around?"
Not paying attention to Laxus who was following, Rayn lowered his voice.
"No."
Kanna replied very quickly.
"Not even a lookout? Are they relaxed? Or are they preparing to retreat?"
It was indeed a good thing that there was no lookout, but would people who did this kind of thing be so careless?
With doubts in his heart, Rayn raised his head and looked around.
Soon, his gaze locked on a tree diagonally in front.
Laxus noticed his movement and quickly understood what was going on in his heart.
He glanced to his side, then with his knees bent, his figure shot up like a cannonball.
After grabbing a tree branch, he used his hands to pull himself up again.
In a breath, he landed on a high branch.
He looked ahead.
"Kanna, you go up first."
As his voice fell, Rayn held her hand and threw the young dragon girl up with force.
And Kanna was not afraid at all, but her eyes lit up instead.
She grabbed the tree branch and spun a few times under the inertia.
A slight change appeared on her expressionless face.
A soft 'oh' sound came from her mouth.
"Alright, Kanna, we'll play next time. We have a request this time."
Not as violent as Laxus, Rayn, who had just used a few fulcrums to get on the tree, said softly.
"Oh."
Kanna let go with both hands, and her figure immediately flew up like a broken kite.
An arm quickly reached out and grabbed Kanna's raised little hand.
And pulled her back, at the same time jumping towards the position he had been looking at before.
Soon, he appeared at a high place, his gaze passing through the shadows of the trees and looking ahead.
A house made of vines appeared in front of him.
"It's really well hidden. No wonder there's no lookout."
Rayn raised his eyebrows and muttered to himself.
The green of the vines in this forest was not conspicuous at all.
Even if a wizard thought of entering the forest to search.
Unless there was a searching magic, otherwise, finding it would depend on luck.
Not to mention ordinary villagers. The forest had magical beasts, and they basically did not dare to cross it.
Unable to organize a large number of people to search, the probability of being found was even lower.
Looking through the 'door' they had left for breathing.
"Tsk, it's not those guys."
Rayn glanced at them and clicked his tongue in annoyance.
The members of the Black Magic Cult generally wore almost uniform uniforms and masks.
And those people were dressed randomly, and there was no mark of the Black Magic Cult.
They were just an ordinary dark guild.
Annoyed in his heart, Rayn did not forget his request and began to scan the people.
"1, 2, 3… 13 people."
And besides those moving figures, Rayn also saw one or two children sitting in a corner.
There might be more beside them, but due to the angle, he could not see them.
But the good news was that they were still alive.
Discovering this made Rayn relieved.
"One of them uses vine magic. The magic of the others is unknown."
The house they lived in did not look like it was naturally formed, so it could only be due to magic.
He was not a magical girl, so he did not have to worry about being countered.
He just needed to avoid being controlled and bound.
"The leader should be the one wearing a green robe and carrying an axe."
From the actions of those people, Rayn silently deduced the relationship.
Due to the distance, he could not judge the strength of those people.
However, while he was watching here, those people could not detect his gaze.
It was obvious that even if they were strong, they would not be much stronger than him.
"Let's wait and see the situation."
Tapping his fingertips on the tree trunk, Rayn's eyes flickered with thought.
Since these people were all gathered here, but there was no action, it was obvious that they were waiting for something.
Either they were waiting for someone to respond, or there were still members who had not returned.
But no matter which one it was, it would be best to catch them all in one go.
Thinking of this, Rayn sat down to recover his stamina as soon as possible.
Kanna also knew that there was something to do now.
So she obediently sat on one side without making a sound.
For a long-lived dragon race.
This kind of thing was very common. It was just a daze.
Perhaps a few years or even a human's lifetime had passed.
Time passed slowly.
Perhaps because Kanna was by his side, the mosquitoes did not dare to approach.
The smell that was not human was too much pressure for them.
The sun in the sky began to set.
The gentle sunlight gradually could not penetrate the shade of the trees, making the forest a little darker.
The sounds of insects and beasts also began to appear.
'Rustle.'
Rayn's ears twitched. The sound of a heavy object stepping on fallen leaves came from below.
He looked down without moving his gaze.
Two figures walked out from the direction where Rayn and Laxus had come.
Of the two, one was carrying a little boy.
It was obvious that he had just been 'abducted' from a nearby village.
"We came back so late. I hope Lyle won't be angry."
The man carrying the child said with some worry.
His tone was mixed with a bit of fear.
It was obvious that he was very afraid of the person named Lyle.
"We brought back a piglet before we left. No matter what, Lyle won't be angry."
The person next to him was much more relaxed. It was obvious that he was in a posture of offsetting merits and demerits.
As for the piglet he was talking about, it was naturally not a real piglet.
It was the child in their hands.
"That's true. It's a pity that the people from the official guild are coming. Otherwise, we could have caught a few more and made more money."
The man carrying the child said with regret. It was obvious that he was not satisfied with the current harvest.
"I don't know why those guys want so many children."
"Who cares about them? As long as we have something to earn."
"Haha, we'll catch a few here, a few there. After we're done, we'll run. Who can find us?"
"Yes…"
As they spoke, the two came under the tree. The man who was not carrying a child stopped, his gaze fixed on the ground.
"What's wrong?"
The man next to him noticed that the person next to him had stopped and also stopped to ask.
Seeing that the person was looking at the ground, he also looked down.
Rayn and Laxus above also noticed their movements.
Their gazes then looked at the ground, and a pair of footprints immediately came into view.
It was the place where Laxus had jumped up before.
The air instantly became solidified.
The chirping of insects in the grass gradually became melodious, as if accompanying the impending atmosphere.
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