Note: When I reread past chapters, and the future ones, I am noticing a lot of grammar errors. Just a heads up lol. I'm planning to fix them up.

Another hour had passed, they arrived at Quirky Valley.

Aqua finally took her first step into the outside world. A strange sensation seemed to spread around the child's body as her foot landed on the ground.

It was a sense of fulfillment.

"Now," Vesture said from behind, "Let's get started."

"What type of shopping do you need to do?"

"Well, I usually buy all my supplies from a local merchant I know. But I am not sure if they are open. Can you check for me? I need to run other errands."

The child instantly nodded to his request.

"Do you know where it is?"

"Not exactly."

"Just go right on that corner and continued straight. You'll eventually see a big two-story building. Oh, I should give you this just in case something happens."

Vesture stood and handed the child a tomb.

"That magical item alerts me if something dangerous had occurred. Do you see that button at the bottom? Press that, and I'll be alerted to your location."

Aqua nodded and slowly raised her head.

"Thank you, you've taught me a lot these past few days."

"Well, it's only natural."

Aqua could see a slight smile on his face.

"When you grow up and become strong, you should use that strength to protect the weak as well."

"I see, so the purpose of being strong is to become rich and famous."

"No, not like that."

"Just kidding, I understand, it's to protect the weak."

"Mmmm, that's right, make sure you don't cause any trouble to the locals."

"Okay!"

And with that, Aqua took on the path to the merchant's guild by herself.

Since it was in the middle of the day, more people were out than usual. But the child still walked.

The village was quite large when you compared it to other locations. Food stands were in the child's view, and a variety of different people were shopping from place to place.

With the river that flowed through this place, it was inevitable this village would grow more abundant in the future.

No wonder the merchant guild was by the waters. It seemed quite large for one.

"Maybe this place also serves as an inn."

That statement served true as Aqua walked passed a food menu. And everything was expensive.

"Does Vesture really shop from this place?"

Most likely. Miss Nabe even gave her the task of seeing if they could handle a trading request. They must undoubtedly be somewhat reliable.

And Alaric did recommend this place to them. They must have some valued items here.

But because of that, it seems they don't get too much business. Over by the windows, the working hours were posted, yet no one seemed to be near the building.

"Oh well."

Aqua went through the doors.

As expected, since no one had parked any horses near the building, there would not be too many people here, besides one person.

"Is that the owner?"

Aqua got a better look at the man. He was sitting by a wooden table and had an eye patch on his right eye.

"Wait... Haven't I seen this person before?"

That fact was true. Aqua only did not recognize him because of his current appearance.

It was Alaric. His eyes looked dark, and his face looked weary as if he'd been drinking a bit too much.

He was also wearing different clothing. While she was working for Mr. Smith, Alaric usually wore a high-quality rope dressed with many magical enchantments, but here it seemed he was wearing only a brown robe.

However, on the wooden table were many high-quality magical items. The child still didn't know how to identify what tier magic they could hold, but they certainly looked powerful.

"Oh, right."

Aqua almost forgot to thank him.

"Hi Alaric, thank you for addressing Miss Nabe and me here. Because of you, the kind lady here gave us a horse to travel."

He didn't respond

It seemed he was in deep thought.

Now that Aqua noticed it, there was a small scent of something burning inside the building. And it did not smell like burnt food.

"Was there a fire inside?"

If there were, that would make sense why no one was near the building at this moment. However, Alaric shook his head.

"Get out, It's none of your business."

"Get out of the building?"

"Yes, It is closed for today."

"Then can I quickly talk to the owner? I have a request for Miss Nabe and Ves…"

Alaric stood from his chair.

"Do not speak those names in front of me."

Aqua nodded slowly. Alaric still seemed angry from the fact he and his whole team lost a duel against Nabe.

"I apologize. It seems you are busy right now. I'll find the owner myself."

Aqua turned her back and headed towards the other room. But then her thoughts turned sour. She understood why Alaric was why angry at this moment.

"That was where the smell was coming from."

Yes, through the next room, next to the kitchen of the building, that entire section of the room was entirely made up of burnt wood.

And a body lay inside the center.

"Is that the owner?"

Aqua spoke softly and turned to face the still drinking Alaric, and he nodded.

Nemel had been burnt to death.

Part 2

Inside a dark cave by Quirky Valley, Cedran and Beaumarchais were on the lookout by the front.

The mission to capture Vesture was in place. Well, that was an understatement, they were simply gathering information on him.

With them were several members of the Windflower Scripture.

Retracing steps is a hard task. It requires much work and a lot of manpower. Most people cannot master this skill, but in the Black Scripture, every member has trained or at least had least some experience in this form of art.

That's why, despite losing some levels, Cedran and Beaumarchais, were chosen in this work.

They have already made connections to many people involved or knew Vesture. One woman who knew him, the merchant named Nemel, was their main target.

Currently, she was still alive and is being interrogated for information about Vesture.

It might seem unnecessary to do this much work. However, at this moment, they did not have enough manpower to guarantee a win against a fight that man. Of course, the Slane Theocracy had plenty of strength. It was only that they did not want to waste too many resources in solving old problems.

That's why Cedran and Beaumarchais were here. They were looking for a way to effortlessly take on Vesture.

Usually, the Slane Theocracy has a kept record of every former member of the Black Scripture. But for Vesture, that was not kept up to date. It was a flaw in the system.

There were various reasons for it. One of them was for the fact was his background before joining the Black Scripture was blurry. It was also due to the fact he moved to a different country.

Record keepers couldn't merely follow him from nation to nation, it would attract unnecessary political conflicts. Therefore, nothing was done.

That was why gathering information about him was taking longer as expected.

Beaumarchais signed and placed his chains of weaponry on his hips, "I bet Nemel doesn't even have a history with that sword master."

Cedran responded, holding several papers to his side, "Based on the record, Nemel always had a friendly trading relation with Vesture."

"I think not, sometimes the 11th seat can get things wrong, did you even find anything about her yet?

"No," He commented, "The woman is still not talking."

"Are you sure Mr. Smith didn't make a mistake?"

"I'm sure. He never makes big mistakes like this. Especially since this is our only way to trace their steps."

"He is so old that his brain is probably messed up. Why do we still keep him in any way? The Slane Theocracy should force him to retire."

"Mr. Smith is planning on taking over an entire city. He has no plans on retiring yet."

"I know we're using that city to fund and supply our military. I think it's only reasonable someone more capable is chosen for that, such as Raymond."

Beaumarchais then closed his mouth and gnashed his teeth together.

"I just think using this woman is an unreliable way of information gathering."

"That's why we brought some members of The Windflower Scripture with us to use mind-reading magic."

"But what if we still don't find out any information? It's faster to simply head towards Vesture's location and fight him head-on. I bet I'll be able to fight him myself."

"You don't understand. Before your time, he rivaled the 3rd seat."

"Right, right, I also know you were no match for him when you were young."

"That's why we need to be careful. The Black Scripture is also testing if we are going to be ready for combat."

"Why don't we wait until he comes back to Quirky Valley and ambush him?"

"Being outside for too long is risky. Plus, we don't know how often he comes there."

"Don't remind me. If that's the case, then how is it going with our illusionist friend?"

"You should know how it works, it takes a while for mind-reading magic to be done."

Unlike high-level beings like Lord Ainz, they didn't have access to such high tier mind-reading magic. Thus, they had to resort to using much more complex means.

However, it was still reliable. But not was their ability to hide crime scenes.

"That fellow named Alaric… wait no, his real name is Jet, right? Cedran questioned, and Beaumarchais nodded, "Hopefully, that man doesn't connect us to the crime."

Beaumarchais glanced at Cedran. This was the reason why they were on guard duty.

"If you hadn't underestimated that lady, this problem wouldn't have occurred."

Yes, despite Cedran years of experienced in battle, he underestimated the power that women held.

"Hmm 3rd tier magic, If only I knew she had magic items that could cast those spells."

"No shit, she ran a merchant's guild."

"Right, right."

On the mission to capture Nemel. She resistant and cast several 3rd tier fire spells for self-defense. By no means did they affect Cedran, but of course, that spell burnt the room.

There was magic to hide and reverse the effects of burnt wood. But before they could cover up the crime scene. Jet appeared at the building.

"Knowing him, he might be able to do it."

Cedran said that statement, and his teammate started giving him some weird looks.

"That crazy guy?"

"Before he went crazy, he was one of the lead researchers in the Baharuth Empire of Wild Magic, correct?"

"Oh, right, but I don't think that is a valid reason to rate his skills. He and all of the other dumb asses didn't even know they were researching Wild Magic. Even one of the researchers accidentally killed their client because of it"

"You might be right. If that's the case. Then in his current mental condition, that man is close to death's door."

"I am right, I bet he won't be able to realize the dead body we placed there was fake."

"That's true, all the evidence that could be traced back to us were burnt in the fire."

Both of them nodded to that fact.

But what they didn't know was that someone else was going to be with Jet to solve this mystery.

However, it looks like it will take a while for them to solve that puzzle.

Across the room, Jet threw his cup of booze to the floor.

"Hahaha, you see now? I'm screwed, this place is screwed."

The man slowly kneeled to the floor. The first thing that happens when he comes back home is this.

A murder.

Worse of all, it was Nemel.

She was a childhood friend of Jet back in the day. While looking at the past would not help him at this moment. Nemel was the only person who understood him. She even went with him when he went on the run after killing that noble Rangobart.

Indeed, she was a friend everyone would want to have.

One would think a person would stick with that person forever if that was the case. But for Jet, that was not. This was because he was still hung up for revenge for Adamantite adventurers. One of them was named Nabe.

He was so busy figuring out a way to defeat her that he had entirely forgotten about the lack of security this place had.

Ever since they started living here. Nemel started a business, and Jet became an adventurer to make funds to keep it running.

Thus, they had to decide how to spend their budget. In the end, they mostly spent all their funds into buying powerful magical items for himself to use and for Nemel to sell.

However, they never considered placing in security measures. Nemel herself held several powerful magic crystals just in case a fight broke out. Jet thought that would be enough, yet Nemel always said it might be wise to invest in some guards, but of course, that was not agreed on, and instead, they used alert magic to secure the building.

But someone could have disabled it.

And that was true.

This murder must have been done by a professional.

The magical barriers were broken. Nemel body was also burned, leaving no trace of evidence back to the murders.

"Was it the tax collects, or Eight Fingers?"

That thought briefly passed his mind, but then it turned into reality. It must have been the case.

He and Nemel always been having problems keeping the place afloat. Powerful magical items cost very much. It was only because of the fact several wealthy adventurers come here every now and then, this place was able to be kept afloat for several years.

But it seems that this way of living couldn't last forever.

Jet stood up, he was going to get more booze.

But he stopped, that child was still there.

"It's a murder scene, what's so great in looking at one?"

"Sorry, was this person important to you?"

"That's none of your business, now get out."

"Wouldn't it be best to get guards?"

"The guards? What are they going to do? Find the killers?"

Alaric looked around the area, and there was no trace of evidence found in that ash pit room.

All of it would have been burnt in the flames that were in the room.

Yet the child still stood inside there.

"Don't you want justification in this murder?"

That was a word Jet didn't expect to hear.

"It's too late for that. Now go away. It's only natural that the weak die."

"Someone once told me that the strong is there to protect the weak."

"Is that quote from a kid's books? Sorry to say, but that ideal is false."

The child seemed to listen, but looked focused on something.

"Do you know the name of the deceased person over there?"

"Its Nemel."

"Did you check Nemel's condition for any trace of blood?"

"Obviously, I have the ability to use magic to identify blood, but none of that can be found as you see!"

Jet spread his arms wide open to express the stupid question the child had just asked. Of course, there wouldn't be any blood found here. All of it was burnt up in the fire.

That included fluids inside and outside the dead person.

"If you are thinking this person not Nemel, then I already tried. This person is Nemel."

Jet made sure of that when he used the Scroll of Object Location. It's a spell that could locate a person if you have the person's favorite belonging or body substance like blood.

And when he used it on the body, the scroll simply gave the vision of this body right here.

"And just in case you're wondering, knowing the time of death wouldn't matter anyway. None of this matters, the murders likely already moved far away from this place."

He then knocked down one of the wooden tables in front of him, and the child ducked her head. This investigation was pointless.

Ever since he came here, he had shut down the building to investigate this murder for hours, and he had not found anything.

Sooner or later, the village guards would show up and take the body. The only evidence of Nemel's murders.

"Tck."

Jet didn't realize how hard he pushed that table to the ground. That child should be scared deathless right now.

But she was looking at something.

"Hair."

"Its hair, so what, even if it's Nemel's hair, she's already dead."

"But I found it in the burnt room. If Nemel was killed by fire, wouldn't all her hair be burnt too?"

The child took a closer look at the hair.

"The hair follicle is even at the ends of it."

"Hair Follicle?"

"It's the white stuff that is at the end of everyone's hair, but usually it doesn't come out of the head unless it is pulled out forcefully. Don't you guys sell powerful magic items here? Maybe Nemel used some of them and accidentally burnt the room. And then the murderers forcefully attacked her."

"So, Hair?"

It made sense. If the murders used fire to burn the body and the entire room. Everything should have been made to ashes.

Yet there stood some hair.

The color was the same as Nemel. Yet using the scroll of object location didn't work beforehand. So it confused Jet why some hair was left behind.

That was it.

It was only a theory, but the reason why the scroll of object location didn't work and only showed the picture of that dead body was because there was a magic barrier interfering with the scroll. And to get rid of that barrier, all he needed to do was get out of the range of it.

There was some hope.

Jet was out of the room before Aqua could say something. He ran to the room where he kept all his best magical items.

Not to the place where he and Nemel stock their storage. Of course, they were of high quality. But when compared to his secret treasures, they were below a tier.

Two tiers, in fact. When comparing the average power level of the equipment he had while fighting Mr. Smith, he would totally look like a different person wearing his best gear.

That's why those items were hidden. It was located under the building. Possibly where that magical barrier was lacking in range.

The usual process was to make sure everyone was out of the building before opening it.

Yet it did not matter at this moment, this was an urgent situation.

In the back building, just before the exit towards the outside. Lied a hidden door inside the floors.

There was a basement, yet it was not part of the main building, no one knew about it besides him and Nemel.

But it was still in good condition. The walls were made of stone, and what appeared around the whole basement were many containers with locks.

Scrolls and magical crystals that could cast 5th tier magic were stored in here.

And the most important thing at this moment also rested here. It was the scroll of Object Location.

As Jet opened the hidden door and went inside, the child followed suit. She followed him here.

"Quick, give me the hair."

The girl calmly followed through.

With the scroll now in his hands, he swiftly hesitated.

Scrolls such as these were very rare in this world. Before this, he held 4, but now he only had 2.

If this hair was not truly Nemel's, then this would have been a waste of around 30 gold coins.

Yet, he still threw it into the air.

It vaporized mid-way falling and a mirror starting to form.

Yes, an image appeared.

"Is that her?"

The child spoke. Jet smiled. It was the first time in a while.

His hands formed into a fist, and he turned his back from the mirror. He knew where that place was.

In was in a cave. There was only one cave close to the capital city. Since the burnt marks inside the room didn't seem old. They must still be at that location.

And thus, Jet would have his revenge, or you could say his justice.

Across the secret room, he quickly scattered to find all the magical items he'll need for this fight. Because of how that crime scene was set up. They must be professionals.

Hence, they could have an organization backing them up, such as the Eight fingers. If he had to face against them. Surely it would seem like an impossible task for him to do.

But that was not the case with his best gear.

He had been saving it to fight a certain retired Adamantite adventurer. Therefore, he left some of his trump cards behind.

But certainly, with the gear he was equipping, unless they were on the skill level of Brain or Gazef, they would indeed be defeated by Jet.

And once they realize how foolish they were to challenge him, he will torture and throw them into prison.

Yes, he couldn't wait to see their faces as he single-handedly kills everyone there.

After that, he'll get Nemel out of there and receive fame and riches for defeating a large criminal organization.

There was no way he could lose this chance to torture everyone who done him wrong.

"Are you going to save Nemel yourself?"

The child stared at Jet as he grabbed his items.

"Yea, did you want to come to?

"No, but I know some people who could help you."

"Tck, I don't need their help."

Why ask for help when you could do solve the problem yourself? Alaric certainly learned that lesson after adventuring with many weak humans. They would only steal the credit and the money he would earn.

"But I know they would help you."

"No, they will not."

Jet pushed the child away and headed towards the last piece of equipment he'll need.

It was hung on the wall.

There rested a magical robe that was made by the best tailors around here. It offered complete protection against mind control, poison, and many other lethal conditions that he may come across in this battle.

It also had the ability to protect against tier magic to a certain point and provided resistance to melee weapons.

It was truly a magical rope any mage would love to have.

"You see this masterpiece? Now you believe I could save Nemel myself?"

Any child would scream in excitement at the sight of this masterpiece. The accessories, the material's texture, the color.

It was one of the rarest magical items Jet actually had to work for instead of stealing it.

"It looks okay."

"Tck, you have bad taste in magic."

It seemed this child doesn't understand the value of magic items here.

However, with everything in his bag, he'll be ready to fight this criminal organization.

8 summonings of Angel Guardians.

Jet did not understand how to summon one. Therefore, he'd brought several summoning crystals from the Roble Holy Kingdom. However, these were different, they were specialized in defending the caster. If ranked, their defense value would be higher than a gold-ranked adventurer.

Next were several 5th tier magic crystals. Some were fire-based, able to deal with a large number of enemies. The next several were lightning-based spells able to penetrate almost any type of armor in humanity.

Jet tested this spell once, and it was able to even penetrate through Orichalcum.

It was undoubtedly the perfect equipment to deal with higher-level beings.

And now, he counted his potions and scrolls. He had all healing and anti-poison potions he'll need, with the addition of several trap scrolls just in case he needs to sneak inside.

And his staff, it was personally designed by Fluder and crafted by the best of the best when he was still a student at the Baharuth Empire.

It increased his magical power to over 150 percent.

With these items in hand, he could possibly beat Adamantite adventurers.

"Alright, I'm done, now get out kid."

Jet pushed the child towards the exit.

And now both of them were outside. He couldn't wait to fight those who'd harmed him.

It'll be an easy victory for himself. Just in case the battle would be too intense, he had a teleportation and invisible scroll if something terrible happens.

But there was almost no chance of that happening.

Across the horse stable, he selected the perfect beast he'll use to reach the cave. Then finally, he climbed up it and started to move forward.

"Oh,"

The child was still there.

"Do me a favor and lock the building, would you?"

"Okay, but I'm still worried you might not be able to save Nemel by yourself."

The kid must be power scaling him from the time he dueled Nabe.

"This time is different, you'll see once the king rewards me with riches."

"Okay."

And with that, Jet went forward.

The sun already passed peak hours as Jet passed through the grasslands. The fields of battle were near, and Jet started to recant his battle plans.

Most likely he won't need one, he'll simply do the basics such as checking for traps and whatnot. Scouting the enemy would not be necessary.

His equipment would be strong enough to deal with anyone around here anyway.

And even if he wanted to scout, he still didn't know the condition Nemel was in. She could be severely injured or near death.

More so, the main leader of the capture, would have more time to get away if Jet simply wasted his time gathering information.

Therefore, this was the best opinion Jet could come up with. The cave to the bandit's area was nearing.

The entrance was dark, and it seemed no one had been here for quite some time.

No defenses were set in place, nor was it ideal for a hideout. The height to the rooftop was about 2.5 meters and 5 meters wide from where Jet would see.

However, they could have picked this spot to create confusion in their location.

Jet was no stranger to this type of tactic. He had seen the use of it dozens of times before.

Most people who would doubt if their objective was in an obvious location. But in this case, they wouldn't fool him. They were about to be proven wrong and foolish for not analyzing his intelligence correctly.

"Oh, right."

He couldn't forget about the traps he might encounter here.

Therefore, he took off his eye patch.

Many bandits and assassins loved using illusions.

That Adamantite adventurer had always told him to keep it on to not draw any unneeded attention.

It had a different eye color than what most humans had around here. Therefore, someone could quickly tell if he was using his talent or not.

But this wasn't always the case. Ever since he left the empire, his talent in his eye had become more prominent.

Which is the reason his former regular eye turned into this.

But that was a good thing.

It was now powerful enough to see through any illusions such as the ones he countered with the mage Nabe.

Thus, no assassin would be prepared to fight his countermeasures. But he still had to be on guard.

Jet readied his staff.

[Alert field]

Since he was entering a cave, he still had to make sure there wasn't anything in there suspicious such as monsters.

"Alright, this will be enough."

He didn't activate any support spells on himself yet. Most had a time limit. It might be meaningless to use them at the start.

For all he knew, the cave was more massive inside, and he'll have to face a small army to rescue her.

So he decided the best choice was to save his mana and supplies for dangerous situations.

Besides, as he walked through the cave, he didn't see anything harmful.

Just in case, he was sure to soften his footsteps. Jet didn't have a spell like this. It was merely the boots he was wearing that provided this feature.

It lowered the chances of getting caught by a sudden ambush. The use of hearing is a widespread method for hunters and bandits. Thus, removing this and any advantage the enemy would have will be beneficial.

But again, doing all this preparation might have been for nothing, the enemy might not be here at all. But those thoughts were quickly stopped.

40 meters inside the cave. Jet's eyes widen.

There was a trap, and it was covered up by illusion magic.

"Perfect,"

This was likely the correct location. What type of person would place such a high-quality trap inside here?

As Jet observed the trap, it was well crafted. The trap had a mechanism to transmit the spell [message] to specific people if someone was to pass by it.

It also looked to host an explosion mechanism. Most likely, it was to blow up the rooftop to block or trap someone.

Yet, it seemed it was designed to blow up after a certain point in which he passed by the mechanism.

Therefore, he should remove it. But he could leave it alone.

The trap was placed in a position where he could move past it without being detected. But it could get in the away in the future.

However, it could possibly help him if the enemy was foolish enough to fall for their own weapons.

Thus, he left it in place.

And he felt a cold shoulder.

His spell [Alert Field] sent a reaction to his brain.

Someone was coming. No, it was not one person, but several people. And to his knowledge, they were coming from the deeper part of the cave.

Jet ready his staff.

Did he miss a secret hidden mechanism in that trap?

"Dammed,"

Regardless, he was prepared. He even had one hand on his belt to send out a 5th tier magic spell if it was someone powerful.

But that was not needed.

"is this what all they got?

5 goblins appeared from the shadows.

But they were armed.

If a group of villagers was to face them, they would undoubtedly get slaughtered.

Yet to him, this was child's play.

"Hmm, no matter, The enemy must know I am already here."

With that knowledge, Alaric didn't have to hold back.

"[Flame arrow]"

Several arrows coated in heat flew and brought down the weak creatures. If the enemies haven't noticed him yet, the sound of goblins burning to death must have surely notified them.

And it did, two people in the darkest part of the cave were now seen. Jet could only briefly see the outline of their figure.

"Both of you there, did you see what had become of your goblins? This is what will happen to you if you don't surrender to me."

There was no response.

They must be desperately trying to think of a way to get out of here alive.

But that was foolish thinking.

"So Cedran, is this the all-intelligent magic caster named Jet you were talking about?"

"Did he just say my name?"

The only ones who should that information are whose inside the Baharuth Empire. Therefore, were these men from the empire and were here jail him and Nemel? Was this the reason why she was kidnapped?

Jet slowed his breathing, if that were the case, this fight should be a bit hard. Jet was not a wanted criminal. But for killing Rangobart, and for being on the run for several years, his bounty might have gone up a bit.

Thus, it made sense of how professional these guys were in kidnaping Nemel. They were likely on par with the strength of at least Mithril adventurers.

But that thought came to an end when they appeared from the shadows.

If you could describe Jet's main equipment. They could be described as nobly. But the men Jet was facing. They had armor and weapons clearly looking to be on a different level.

The first man to come out was old, yet he was wearing armor that looked much better crafted than the Re-Estize Kingdom's national treasure.

And his primary weapon, duel shields. Jet knew that one of the current four imperial knights drove into this fighting style.

He has seen him once, but this man right here looked much more powerful. In fact, so much so it is likely that imperial knight likely took inspiration of this fighting style from him.

But that would only make sense, the man in front of him looked like he had a higher defensive rating than the legendary creatures, Death Knights.

Death Knights were said to have defense rivaling dragons, and this man right here, just by looking at his gear, you could tell he was in the same ballpark as these legendary creatures.

And the man next to him was not wearing as prominent armor, but it was his weapons that gave Jet the feeling of death.

The way they sounded as they clashed against the ground.

They share a bewitching design. The most prominent weapon he had was his whip. It was not made of leather, but looked to be coated in a metal stronger than Adamantite. To add on that, there was something on his whip. There was a beating heart glowing from the end of the tip.

Clearly, these men were on a completely different tier to Mithril, no possibly even to the four imperial knights.

Those four wouldn't stay a chance against these two beings.

Therefore, there was no way the empire sent these people to capture him.

But then again, why did they capture Nemel?

Jet snapped out of it. He had to stay calm, these guys were completely out of his league. Not even with his trump card, he would be able to win.

So then the best course of action was to talk out of this.

"It seems you have mistaken me for someone else, I'm not Jet."

"The looks in your eyes tells me differently."

Jet complete forgot to cover up his eye with the eyepatch.

The taller one, then spoke.

"We've underestimated your investigation abilities, but because of that, it will be your doom."

He drew his dual shields. The man behind him followed suit.

"Shit,"

It was a bad idea to come here alone.

Without thinking, Jet pulled out several of his magical crystals and fired some spells; 5th tier magic. A tier that only the best mages around the world could possibly cast. Anyone who's not above the strength of a gold rank adventurer would most likely die in a single hit.

However, Jet felt it would not be enough,

Therefore, he had to make a defense.

Upon firing the spell. A massive fireball formed like arrows shot down towards them.

While they were distracted by the arrows. Jet decided to summon the angels.

Because he didn't have some of the requirements to summon them. He resorted to using magical crystals. Truly they were useful.

Even if they were stronger than Adamantite adventurers, these summonings should at least survive a few hits.

It would give Jet enough time to counter their attack. Therefore, 6 of them were summoned.

Jet prepared another magic crystal. Any of his own use magic would not do the job of killing these men.

But he simply couldn't use all of his best cards at once.

So, then the best opinion is to use his 3rd tier magic spells to weaken the enemy and use his magical crystals to hit the enemy at their weak spots.

But it seems he'll rethink how he'll be able to do that.

As the fire died out in the cave, two large shields were covering Jet's view.

Almost no damage was on those large shields.

That man was going to be a problem. He'll have to use lighting piercing to even get a chance at hurting him. The other man didn't look to be as heavily armored. Still, his weapon looked as if it could possibly destroy those angels in a single hit.

And now that he thought of it. He didn't see him.

Where did he go?

Afraid, Jet wanted to use [Dimensional Move] to relocate himself. But to reassure himself, the angels would be able to protect him.

Yet they were gone. All 6 of them were gone.

Had they've been taken out all at once?

Surely not, with a defensive rating higher than frozen giants, surely they would be able to survive a few blows.

Yet that was false.

Six explosions bloomed like flowers around Jet. He quickly realized what had happened.

The beating heart at the end of that man's whip. Likely, that weapon itself had the ability to activate an explosive spell every time it hit something.

Since his angels were killed in a single hit, the combined forces of the explosion and the kinetic energy of the whip likely took them down instant.

Luckily the explosions were not big enough to reach Jet's body. He'll have to use this chance to teleport.

But he felt a cold strike around his arm.

It was the whip.

He didn't even get the time to teleport out of the way.

"How did he get here so fast?"

The distance between themselves was at least 10 meters. It was impossible for one human travel that far, kill 6 angels at once, and surprised a target in a span of a few moments.

Yet, it appeared true. There was no trick into it. These men were just that powerful.

Since the angles were destroyed in a single hit, Jet would fare no different. Yet he still hoped for the best.

As soon as the whip hit his body. Jet activated all the magical defenses he knew.

Then he braced himself for a hard impact, there was no guarantee he could still survive. But it seemed it was just enough. As Jet was hit, an explosion bloomed into action, and he was sent flying.

Just from the impact from the weapon, he could feel his entire body being destroyed.

What made it worse as that the walls around him were stone.

There was no cushion as Jet was slammed into the cave.

If this fight was near the entrance. He would have surely been blown out.

Yet, since this was inside. He was only nailed down deeper into the cave's wall. It took more than a meter of solid stone for the blow to be finally stopped.

If it wasn't for the fact that he was wearing his magical rope and for all those defensive spells, that would have been his death.

But perhaps that may have been a better opinion.

He couldn't move his body at all.

He'd been in many fights over the years, but never before, he'd received this much damage from a single hit from a human.

No, it was likely one of the most powerful impacts he'd ever survived.

As he looked around his legs and arms, they were still intact, but his right arm was disabled. It was the first limb to be caught the deadly chains the man wielded.

Next were his legs, while they did not take the full blow of the weapon. The impact of hitting the stone walls surely thought to make them unusable.

And his ribs. Jet could not tell at first, but they should clearly be broken.

If he was out of mana, this would have been the end for him, but it was not.

[Heal]

He used his own mana since he was too injured to even grab hold of one of his magical crystals. And once the spell was in effect. He used one of his 4th tier healing magic crystals.

Now, he wasn't completely recovered, but it was enough that he could use his right arm once more.

But just by taking one hit from those men, he ended up like this.

There was no way he could beat them.

He bit his lip.

Such unfortunate luck. Throughout his entire life, he faced many powerful foes who stood on top of humanity.

That retired Adamantite adventurer, Mr. Smith, Fluder. Nabe.

As luck may have it, he would not meet any other people stronger than himself unless he searched for it.

But of course, that was not the case. Somehow danger always came his way.

"Dammit,"

He couldn't think of how terrible his life had been at this moment, he had to escape. Since the enemy had not attacked him yet, were they now toying with him?

That was likely the case.

When he was hit, that created a lot of rubble. Thus, smoke covered his appearance.

They might think he was dead.

That would be the best-case scenario. It was also logical. Any mage of Jet's level would have been killed from that attacked.

So Jet went with that assumption.

This was the best time to escape.

Luckily, he brought along a teleport scroll. Whenever used, it would transport the user back to a specified location.

That would be his room in Nemel's Merchant Guild.

However, when he brought it out. It was not working. Anti-teleportation magic must have been activated.

They were truly professionals.

There was only one opinion of escape now.

That was to run. With his legs now healed, it was possible. But the chance of escaping was only very little.

"First, I should check if the enemies are still there."

Jet had a rare magical crystal able to detect incoming objects or people around him. He did not use it from the start since he only had one of these items.

Now, this was the best time to use it.

Without making any light, the magic activated, and Jet was given a vision of the enemy's current location.

Once he confirms it, he'll use invisibility magic to escape from here. With his shoes of silence. He should be able to escape unless they have items able to see through illusions.

If not, then he'll have to think of another plan.

But that was not the case.

If they had some idea of his condition, they wouldn't be standing so far from his location.

"They must think I am dead."

Now that he had gotten this fact, he activated his invisibility spell.

It was time to run.

However, the man with chains started moving again.

He was not walking but looked to be spinning his whip.

"He's going to make sure I'm finished."

Jet quickly ducked and ran. A small explosion appeared where he once was. It would be wise to look back to see where the explosion hit, but Jet couldn't lose any second running away.

"Dammit,"

Jet kept chanting that word to himself. This was a suicidal move. Obviously, if they were this powerful, they would have a countermeasure to deal with invisibility magic.

And that seems true, as Jet heard some footsteps behind him.

But he was 30 meters away from the exit.

He was not a fast runner, yet he should be able to make it to the exit.

But that man's speed was well beyond humanity, there was no way he could escape.

The crashing of chains grew more apparent.

This was a foolish move, but Jet turned back and decided to use one of his magic crystals to buy some more time.

But it was too late.

His body was too slow to move away from that blow.

The whip was aimed at his vital organs. It would inevitably end his life right then and there.

But it did not.

Only his eyes grew in aggravation.

One would usually be grateful if someone saved their life. But not Jet. Especially if it's that person.

With his talented eye opened, he could effortlessly tell who it was.

That illusion spell wouldn't keep his hatred from rising from below.

It was Vesture.

The explosion did not appear when he parried that attack. Did it only active when the whip's tip hits an object?

Jet shook his head. He couldn't think straight.

The only thing that was in his mind was Vesture.

While it was pointless thinking about that man, he still cannot keep his anger from coming out.

This was because this was the man who Jet always wanted to kill.

The person who made Jet start the path to his sickening life and to his mother's death.

Knowing him, he wouldn't simply deflect that blow for him.

Therefore, they must have been aiming that blow towards Vesture himself.

"Tck."

Jet didn't have time to deal with Vesture.

The only thing he could do now is run.

Note: Well, here we go again xD. Thanks for reading this and keeping up with the story. I don't have a clear schedule for updating this story because I usually write it for fun. Because of that, feel free to mention if you think or feel like there is an error or plot hole in the story. I may have missed a lot with the upcoming chapters.