Van tracked the kidnappers down to a cabin in the countryside.

  Of course, he needed to gather more information before simply barging in.

  There were two broad possibilities.

  The first was that they were after Kid herself, in which case they were likely hoping to move her before anyone could notice.

  In that case, as long as they weren't abusive toward the children, it was better to wait and deal with the root of the problem anyway.

  It would also be unlikely that they'd be able to directly counter his Concealment IV Skill. Few adventurers in the world could, at least as long as he kept hidden and avoided acting.

  The second possibility was that they were just using Kid to set up a trap for him or the other Azure Dragons.

  If that were the situation, it was a lot more likely they actually had a counter to his Skills planned, in which case observing from afar until the guild could move was all he could do.

  In either case, as long as he found no indication that Kid or Lilac's lives were in danger, observing the situation was the correct plan of action.

  This was the curse of being a professional scout.

  Although he very often gathered intelligence that would go on to save countless lives, the process for doing so often involved doing nothing while innocent people suffered.

  It was not an easy role to have.

  No amount of logic can wholly quiet a human's heart.

  His heart was cold and rational, or else he wouldn't have become a scout in the first place, but he was still human.

  Nevertheless, without even entering the cabin, he managed to cautiously use Far Sight III to peek inside.

  The curtains were drawn to cover every window, but focusing his senses to their limit, he was able to alter his vision to peer through the threads.

  'They're... drawing?'

  Of course, it hadn't escaped him that one of the men in the cabin had a gun in the general direction of the two children.

  It wasn't aimed directly at them, but it was clear that he was prepared to shoot them.

  Waiting was indeed proven to be Van's best course of action.

  ***

  Aoi Mugiya was something like a diplomat.

  He wasn't an official diplomat, so he didn't have diplomatic immunity. He didn't even work for a state government.

  He was a surprisingly young senior member of the Syndicate, a criminal organization based in Seiran, or as most just called it, the Islands.

  Along with most of the Syndicate's elders, he was a staunch Seiran-first traditionalist, so he was not in the majority who called it the Islands.

  And while he was young for a senior, he was still older than any of his men by about ten years, closer to twenty if he compared himself to the juniors.

  Nevertheless, he was still a diplomat of sorts. He was a liaison sent by the central body of the Syndicate to oversee a branch that operated in the Empire.

  It offended him to have to work with imperials.

  Today, he and a few of his men would be picking up a child that his sources told him was of some value to Naraka, a dungeon world currently monopolized by the Empire.

  He wanted to rattle that monopoly.

  Additionally, since the kidnappers weren't loyal to the Syndicate, he would soon have the unusual pleasure of disposing of two filthy imperials.

  Nevertheless, their deaths would sadly have to be hidden. He was, after all, a diplomat, not a soldier.

  "Everything about this operation is hot," he reminded his men as they drove to the pick-up site. "She's a VIP to both Naraka and the Azure Dragons. Expect A rank adventurers to interfere."

  None of his men asked the obvious question that was on all of their minds.

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  'Can we even handle that?'

  But even though they avoided offending their boss, he wasn't some egotistical hotshot who got himself killed by ignoring the obvious.

  He could read the room.

  "We can handle it. A rank adventurers are tough, but they're used to fighting mindless monsters. Most of them still die if you just shoot them."

  Only most, though.

  But at the very least, thanks to being such high profile adventurers, he and his men had been thoroughly briefed on the capabilities of each Azure Dragon senior, along with their more outstanding juniors.

  Technically, Kid herself was a member too, but as far as he knew, she was just an honorary member.

  'There's no way a brat like her's actually dangerous. Though, why does Naraka even want her?'

  Well, the outsiders of Naraka were fundamentally alien to begin with, so understanding their thought process was ultimately impossible for him.

  All he had to do was collect some bait and see if they went for it.

  It was like fishing.

  ***

  While we drew pictures, I heard a couple of vehicles arrive and park outside.

  Our kidnappers were both very tense for a bit, so it seemed that even they weren't sure who it was at first.

  But the hotheaded guy watched through the blinds, and eventually relaxed, declaring, "They're finally here."

  So it must have been whoever they'd been waiting for this whole time.

  Would I finally learn why I'd been kidnapped?

  'Probably not,' I decided. 'They don't usually tell kids stuff like that.'

  It wasn't impossible, of course. Sometimes they did just because adults assume that kids are basically harmless, and a lot of people like to affirm their decisions by sharing them with other people.

  But it wasn't likely that the masterminds were less professional than the two that actually kidnapped us, and while they made a few mistakes, they weren't exactly total amateurs or anything.

  I hadn't said much to Lilac, since I didn't want to draw unnecessary attention, but we'd been playing around at their cabin for over an hour, so it was long enough to convey the minimal basics.

  Avoid attention, don't worry if I die, and call emergency services once it's safe.

  Stuff like that.

  The hotheaded guy opened the door to let a bunch of foreigners in.

  They seemed to be Terrans, but not imperials.

  Of course, it was hard to be certain, since the Empire had a wide variety of ethnicities that hadn't all completely blurred together yet under their rule, but that was my impression.

  "Damn am I glad to see you," the hotheaded kidnapper said as they walked inside past him. "I thought those AD bastards finally got here."

  "We didn't see any coming in, but it's only a matter of time. One of them has already failed to make a scheduled appearance, and they've gone completely silent."

  "Well, the merchandise is ready to go, and we are too."

  "We'll need to sanitize things here first."

  For some reason, the gunman's attention wavered.

  I didn't know what the cause was, but that was enough for me to strike.

  Honestly, it was instinct. I saw an opening, so I took it.

  I shoved Lilac to the ground while throwing a pencil at the man's left eye. Thanks to his minute distraction, he failed to make good on his threats, and just screamed in pain, until a second thrown pencil aimed at the hollow of his neck filled his throat with blood.

  I just had to get his gun to win.

  As I dove for it, I threw another distraction for the new arrivals, each of whom reached for their own weapons.

  It was just my hoodie, but it really worked.

  Ear-piercing bangs filled the house with the roar of gunfire, and yet none of it hit me, so I assumed they shot at the hoodie.

  Or maybe the hothead.

  While confusion and mostly foreign swearing hung in the air, barely audible after the initial shots were made, I grabbed the gunman's handgun from him.

  Although each shot had enough kick to sting my hands and wrists, and even with the silencer he'd thoughtfully put on his gun, the sounds still hurt my ringing ears...

  It was a simple matter to point it at each adult in the room and pull the trigger.

  'They really did shoot the hotheaded guy,' I noted.

  But I shot him too, since he was still rolling around.

  And the gunman, since the pencils weren't really enough to kill him.

  The two kidnappers seemed to have been incapacitated, but I didn't want to take any risks.

  It was all awfully easy.

  ***

  There was sudden gunfire coming from the house.

  Van quickly sharpened his senses to find...

  Kid standing alone.

  It was finally time to act.

  He didn't hesitate.

  Kid had somehow eliminated all the small fries who went inside, but Van's Scan Skill told him that the two waiting outside were the real heavy lifters. He'd eventually ponder over how she accomplished that later, but he didn't have the luxury of time to waste on such things.

  When he shot a crossbow at one, the islander man caught the bolt right before it hit his neck.

  It was as he expected.

  'There goes Concealment...'

  He could easily draw the attention of one of them, but he wasn't sure how he could attract them both.

  Would Kid be okay against a guy like that?

  He doubted it.

  Yet even when he shot at the one who made for the cabin, the same guy who caught his first shot interfered, catching a second just as easily as the first.

  "Damn..."

  He was an A ranker, but his specialty was surprise attacks.

  Faced with someone like that... he might as well be a B or even a C ranker.

  The only good part was that, although he was at a great disadvantage, these guys weren't exactly A rank material themselves.

  Once the one went inside, the other man who'd been covering for him started making his way to where Van was hiding.

  He had no choice but to hope Kid found a way to hold out.

  ***

  The front door opened again.

  'So that wasn't all of them.'

  An older man walked inside, perhaps in his forties.

  I don't know what realization he came to, but he seemed to accept the sight of carnage and death that was presented to him without any hesitation.

  Fortunately, his attention was on me. Lilac was pretty much hidden from view.

  'No, if I die here, he might investigate or even try to clean things up.'

  For some reason, even though I had a gun and he didn't, it didn't feel like he had any openings, so I edged away from where Lilac was hiding, hoping it'd give her a chance to escape.

  "So... why did you kill all of my men?"

  "They left an opening."

  "You kill anyone who shows weakness?"

  "If kidnapping me isn't dangerous, other people might try too."

  But mostly... my body had simply moved on its own.

  Even I wasn't completely sure why I had done it, though there was a cold rationality to it.

  I also wasn't sure yet why I didn't simply point the gun and shoot him too.

  For some reason, he just gave me a really, really bad feeling.