Except for the cloaked young man, the group of travelers is made up of seven people, four of them being ladies of the same age and three being young men, with the bard named Gustav being the more experienced adventurer among them, despite only being a year ahead of one year in terms of age.
No matter the experience this young bard has when it comes to venturing outside though, nothing will prepare him for experiences such as this especially since he never had one before, yet even then, there's a certain confidence in his eyes, as if he knows extremely well that there's a path to safety lying in wait for them amidst the danger they find themselves in.
"Hehehe~~~ bossman, looks at them, they all look like children of some rich noble houses~~~."
Meanwhile, the group approaching them is composed of over a dozen experienced combatants, all of them wearing outfits specifically made for taking down and restraining opponents rather than killing them, and yet, despite the guarantee of survival, the young adventurer, knowing what fate waits for them if these people catch them, trembles in fear all the more.
"That's why I keep telling you lot that we should go here at this time of the year, the academy is expecting students, and this is one of the most common paths to the capital, easy jackpot right?:
The person who seems to be the leader of this group said with a proud smile on his face, his opinion being rained with approval from the members of his group, making him smile all the more.
"Well, what are you waiting for, you lot? Tie them up!! You can forget about the ladies since they're great commodities, but you can do whatever you want with those little men!!"
The boss reminded, making his group smile in a twisted manner as they start inching closer towards the young adventurers, their movements, despite appearing sloppy, carry a certain trace of cautiousness and mastery to them that points a clear sign to them being experienced in this line of work.
"This is a big mistake that you're trying to make…"
Attempting to buy time in the hopes of someone thinking of a way out of this situation, the lady named Riona warned with a depth of seriousness to her tone, something that made the attacking group freeze for a while, but not for the reason the young travelers expected.
"BUAHAHAHA!!! Look, look!! This little lady is warning us!!"
"HAHAHAHA!! Ooohhh!! I'm too scared~~!!! HAHAHAHA!!!"
"Why don't you try controlling your trembling voice first before you try to scare us off, little girl?? HAHAHAHA!!"
Almost as if being hit by the brick of reality on her face, the lady's ears turn bright red from the humiliation, her hands, previously just shivering from terror, now shaking with fury as well, yet she still remains in place, knowing that there's only one end for her if she tries to struggle more.
"I-I'm am the daughter of—"
Intending to retort as a final warning to scare the attacking group off, the lady starts speaking once more with the intention of revealing her background, yet even a powerful family behind her proves to be quite useless especially when there's nothing that the family can do to help her right now, causing her words to be cut right in the middle by one of the men surrounding them.
"There's no need to try scaring us off with your family, lady, we might be less educated than you sophisticated bunch, but we also know how much the academy challenges their students, so we know damn well that at the very least, right now, your family's name means nothing at all!!"
The boss clapped at his subordinate's words, completely agreeing with the claim, as it is also the very reason why he chose to move here and risk offending some powerful family; after all, catching one of these aspiring students of the academy will be one hell of a profit for them.
'We're wearing masks and hiding our identity, not to mention it is night, and I even prepared that… no matter what sort of protection these kids have on them, we'll definitely get rich tonight!!'
The boss thought to himself, his eyes glowing in greed as he looked at these seven young people as if they are walking bank of gold that just fallen onto his lap, his mind already drifting to calculating the profit he and his group would make for capturing and selling them off.
'Eight descendants of a noble family… even in the black market with reduced rates, they will reach hundreds if not thousands of gold coins… hahaha… so eight will be… wait… eight??'
As he looks at the number of people that don't belong to his group, the boss couldn't help but count once more, now realizing that there's another figure among the young travelers, a cloaked, young man seemingly towering above the rest of his group.
"Boss, look at this prick. How should we deal with him?"
Finding nothing wrong with this cloaked young man, one of the subordinates asked as he pointed his thumb towards the young man while looking back at their leader, and yet despite his confident tone, he couldn't help but feel a bit weird as the boss, who is usually quite talkative as well, fell into complete silence while staring beyond him.
'Where did he even come from?'
The leader of this group asked himself, as he could swear that this cloaked young man was never here in the first place, almost as if he just appeared out of nowhere, this conclusion of his gave him the idea that this is the greatest problem they will have to deal with if they want to subdue and capture this group.
"Gustav, what happened?"
Raising his arms up before stretching them to the sides, a voice came out from beneath the cloak, a confident, sonorous voice that seemed to reach through everyone's ears, his voice, piquing the attention of both his companions and the group wanting to capture them.
"Ah… Sir.. this…"
Hearing the question from the cloaked young man, the young bard, whom everyone in the group knows as someone who is confident no matter who he is facing, couldn't help but stutter under the question, completely different from his usual self.
"I've told you repeatedly already to drop the sir, especially since we're not related in any way or all… not to mention you're older than me, which makes it even more weird."
The cloaked young man cut Gustav's stuttering short as he spoke, while he continued to stretch, his words prompting the bard to compose himself before he spoke.
"Well, I forgot to take into account that the academy's entrance trial period is approaching, so some bandit groups are definitely trying their luck on places that are on the way to the academy to rob, or just like this group, kidnap, potential students…"
The bard starts explaining in a detailed manner, earning a nod from the cloaked young man who just finished his stretching, letting out a satisfied sigh before he replies.
"I see, stand back, bring your companions as well… I'll deal with them…"