Chapter 131 131: Escape And Capture [Pt1]



After much talking and trying to convince Shinzou not to do anything weird, it was time for Keith to start moving again.

Whatever had taken Fenrir's body was currently in the forest and keeping an eye on them. And they did not even know if it was a human, a demon, and a dwarf. It was a tough situation to be in for real.

"I will go and check our parameters. You all should wait here for the time being for me to come back."

Master Shinzou was confident when he spoke and he also moved swiftly without waiting for a reply or confirmation from the other people in his party. It was not like Master Shinzou would be stopping Shinzou so there was no need for him to hesitate like this.

"Master Shinzou sure is like a gust of wind. He does what he wants to do without waiting for our input. If only he had listened once in a while, I would have told him that he was leaving the wrong way."

Master Fushi pointed out as she watched Master Shinzou leave. Keith only sighed and shook his head at what was happening before him. And then he decided not to pay attention to this matter anymore.

"So, should we look around as well? Or keep on moving?"

Shimi turned toward Keith to ask this question. Since he was the grandmaster, he was the most appropriate choice to ask this question. They all trusted his judgment (even Clair to an extent) and Keith coughed into his hand to hide his discomfort.

It was a little too much for him to bear so much on his shoulder. If anything went wrong, then it would be on his shoulder to bear.

"For now, we keep on moving. Master Shinzou would somehow find his way back to us."

Since Keith was the grandmaster, he could not openly say that he trusted Shinzou. But his actions and words meant the same thing. And everyone else knew that as well.

"Somehow, I am jealous of Master Shinzou right now. He managed to get praise from the grandmaster for his reckless words."

Master Fushi's voice was low but her words were clear. She sounded envious of what was given to Master Shinzou. Everyone here really adored the Grandmaster.

"Enough gossiping around. It's time for us to leave."

Keith took the front while Master Fushi took the rear. They both were vigilant as they kept an eye out for any trouble. But so far, nothing seemed to be wrong. And for that reason, Keith could not allow himself to relax.

Suddenly, there was a snapping sound coming from the surrounding forest. An unnaturally tense silence followed that sound. There was someone dangerous in the forest right now and something was trying to follow them.

'Shit, this is not good for us. Someone is following us. Should I ask someone to check this noise out?'

Keith's mind was running a mile per second. He was sure he could hear footsteps following behind him. But he was too tense to check the sound out.

Luckily, he had some capable team members that decided to check the situation out themselves. Master Fushi did not even need a signal to go after the noise.

For a minute, nothing happened. There was no noise or indication that someone was in the forest. All one could hear was the tense silence of the surroundings before Master Fushi walked out of the shadows of the forest. She had an unconscious body being dragged behind her as she walked toward Keith.

Then, she threw the body in front of her with a calm and bothered expression.

"Since he did not want to come with me calmly, I had to take drastic measures to ensure he came with me. I hope you do not have a problem with my decision, grandmaster. For the record, I did try to be calm and talk things out. But it did not seem like a possibility anymore."

Master Fushi's calm expression made Keith frown. She was far too calm after just having knocked out someone. 

"Should we wait for this thing to wake up first? Or, should I just forcefully wake it up? Grandmaster, what do you think I should do next?"

Keith looked at Shimi with a calm expression but he flinched from the inside when he heard her words. For such a sweet-looking Lady, Shimi sure had a meanness inside her. The way she was looking at their capture target was already too poisonous.

The poor unfortunate soul decided to wake up at the wrong time. His weakness caused everyone to look at him like sharks smelling blood in the water.

"So, care to tell us why you were following us around? And an introduction would be nice as well in the meantime."

The poor man gulped down his nervousness as he looked at his capturers. He had not expected himself to be in such a situation. But now that he was, he could not help but speak against his situation.

"Ugh, would you believe me if I said that this is all a coincidence? I did not mean to stalk you people but you were just there when I started taking a walk? Yeah, I did not think you people would agree with me."

The man retreated with a flinch when he noticed that three tall and one small figure was giving him critical looks. But since things had come to this, he decided that it would be a better alternative to try and run away.

Keith noticed when the man took out a small flash bomb. But before he could call the man out for it, the flash bomb was already going off. As a result, no one was able to see anything for a while and they had to close their eyes.

When they opened their eyes next, the forest was empty, and their target had managed to run away.

"Fuck, this is not good. We let the obvious suspect behind the body snatch get away. What should we do now?"

Shimi questioned while smacking her hand against her palm. She was angry and concerned about what happened. 

But while their group was busy thinking about what they should do next, someone else had found the escapee and managed to capture him. 

Master Shinzou was done with his round but he had not managed to find anything of significant importance. As a result, he was a little more than annoyed. So, when it came time to meet someone in the forest, Master Shinzou was not able to stop himself from taking the man down.

He did not know when and how his fist met with the unknown man's face. But he did know that he had an unconscious person in his arms. 

"Oops, I did not notice when I knocked a person out. But I guess I have no choice but to take him back with me now. It would not be too much trouble for me to take care of one more human while I am at it."

Unknown to the unconscious man, he would, once again, find himself in the middle of the group he had tried to run away from. And this time, he would not be able to run away in time. 

Master Shinzou came back to the group with a man on his back. He looked calm but his small action caused everyone else to look back at him with fascinated wonder.

"Here, I accidentally knocked him out when I was coming here. I hope you do not have a problem if we take him along with us as well."

Master Shinzou dropped the unconscious body on the ground and Shimi gave a dramatic gasp.

"T-This person! Why did he try to run away if he was going to end up back here anyway? I cannot believe the audacity of this man."

Shimi spoke with a clear pointing finger. 

"Alright Shimi, now calm down and take a deep breath. What are you going to do about this man once he wakes up? Are we going to question him? Or, are we going to let him go? Grandmaster, what do you think we should do?"

Master Fushi asked, now turning her attention toward Keith and he coughed to hide his discomfort.

He did not want to decide, especially when it affected a human life but he sure did not have much of a choice in this matter. He needed to maintain his position as someone cold and uncaring.

"We shall wait for what this man has to say for himself when he wakes up. Once I hear him out, then I will decide what to do with this man. Until then, continue how we were doing things until now. Master Shinzou, keep on carrying the man with you, and do not let him escape."

Master Shinzou looked alert suddenly and their group started walking once again. And then the man on Master Shinzou's back woke up.