I reluctantly accept the quest at the reception and half an hour later we get a cart with an earth bull summon in the front. And inside the cart were the supplies we were transporting. Summons are creatures people make contracts with and they are then soul bonded to that specific summon, the only way to remove a contract is by destroying one or the other soul or after a certain ritual that requires consent from both ends of the contract. In the game, the process really tedious. Most people just forget about the old summons after they get a better one. However, you can only have so many summonses. That's why they give you the option to break the contract. "I'll drive the cart first. Stephanie, Tamura you guys sit and the back and keep watch." Not seeing anyone arguing with my decision we all take our seats and depart to a village west of the city.

The ride has been fully silent and in that time, I took a moment to think about what Tamura told me about Organization Astral shortly before Stephanie came up to us. "Organization Astral, otherwise known as OA has been a group that's been growing fast the last 20 years They're very powerful politically as they have connections to even higher up nobles and lesser royalty Not to mention the members, whenever a member joins they gain lots and lots of power from nowhere. They all have that tattoo on their necks but after they get that power... they're just battle lusting brutes, con artists, and sometimes mindless dogs working for the company. They do trade and other services and it at times seems like it's also a religion from what I've heard. Either way, they're a shady business. I don't know what she wants from us but we should be cautious. "And it seems she seems kinda popular too..." He had a certain blank expression was that jealousy? "I-im just saying! it seems like that!" Thinking back some more didn't he stare at her a lot? Is Tamura having a crush? if so ill have to slap into his senses later NO LOVING THE EMEMY! It's a recipe for getting killed. 

! My danger sense is going off! But before I can say anything Stephanie shoots a sharp blade of wind that cuts through everything in its path with shadowy figures running away from us. I guess they managed to dodge in time. Bandits? No, they were too fast I speak my thoughts to the group. "I don't think that was just random bandits there's a chance someone doesn't want us to get to the village and if so we need to be more careful" Tamura and Steph look at me and nod in agreement. What's going on here?

We set up camp near a cave. Tamura speaks up while I'm setting up the pots. "So, I've never met an abysmall. What's your hometown like and how did you get super strong so quickly?" Stephanie was sitting a little bit away from our position. While uncaring before seems to for some reason take sudden interest as she scoots closer to listen in. Uh, if you're trying to sneakily gain information you kinda suck at it. "The village is small. Not much to really talk about. And as for how I got strong... I ate." I laugh a little. "Really are you serious?" He replied thinking I'm just messing around. Most people don't actually know the abilities of abysmalls they just jot us off as a weak race because we never really show any powerful fighters or any fighters. And lots of us die while trying to become figh- there are just good reasons why we're considered weak ok!? "I'm serious. We have a certain ability to gain the powers of the monsters we eat though of course we cant choose these skills." I make a stew using some of the ingredients I had and hand it out. "So you would get a skill from this?" He asked. "No there's like... Certain conditions need to be met, like a time frame. Enough about me though go ahead and dig in We gotta keep watch one at a time so let's get as much rest. as possible."

Hours later, I was suddenly awoken by Stephanie, she was keeping watch first. "Wake up, someone is here." Grabbing my weapon I look around, Tamura is awake too, albeit barely. Jerks, how dare you interrupt my sleep ill make you pay for it! A hooded figure jumps up above me with a sword in his hand striking down with me easily deflecting it and holding him down with shadow bind. I use empower to slice through the incoming enemies and when I look at Tamura he flies past the enemies with his lightning magic frying them all as he cuts through them. And then there's Stephanie. She's really light on her feet she flips and dodges over her opponents perfectly and even is a little more floaty using wind magic. Despite her gracefulness, she leaves a trail of dead bodies in the path of her dance, and after it's all over it's just the little small fry I shadow bound. 

Steph not wasting time walks up to the man and breaks his leg with her staff. He screams in pain as she speaks. "Who are you people and why were you following and attacking us?" He looks back with spite and defiance in his eyes but a quick whack in the face changes his expression. "W-we had to kill the people driving the cart hired by our leader and take everything including what they owned!" What? That means the person putting out this quest intended to assassinate us from the start! but why? I decided to voice my concerns. "Why would they do that?" I took out my sword and presses it on his neck drawing a little blood. "Im not very patient so hurry up and tell us." Both me and Stephanie bringing out a scary aura. Tamura is just sitting in the back unsure what to do. "Man girls are scary..." He sits and just waits for it to be over. "It's because they're doing human trafficking!! Some really important people could go for a lot with ransom so they didn't want anyone to find out!" So there's someone important. We take his weapons and let him go. "Leave don't come back unless you wanna die, I don't give second chances and I'm sure Steph wouldn't either." He runs away and a bit later we rest for tomorrow after making sure there's nobody else here.

We finally make it to the village, which I'm happy about I've been sitting around feeling bad and cringing over Tamuras attempts to flirt with Steph. "We could go out and get some crepes there's this one place in the town it's really good-" He was cut off by Steph. "I only liked one flavor and they stopped making it so I'm good." Despite her straight face, I can sense her annoyance as Tamura slumps in defeat. Ouch, better luck next time man. We put on the Hoods of the men we killed last night as a disguise. I held up a finger to them to tell them to stay silent. I rode up to the gate and the hooded man looked at me. "Where are the rest?" I sigh acting annoyed at what happened to my "comrades." "The adventurers guarding the supplies were decently tough... they got a lot of us in the end. A moment of silence falls. "I see.. well take this to the stables like usual." He steps to the side as I take the cart in.

It's nowhere near a pretty sight. People are lined up in chains, worked on the farms, and loaded on different carriages to most likely be sold. "Horrible... How can people do this to other people... Especially their own kind." I felt lots of blood-lust coming from Tamura as he spoke. "Calm down," Steph speaks in a very sharp tone. Getting caught because you wanna have a pathetic temper tantrum won't save anyone." So cold, geez. Yeah, it makes Tamura shut up but you could word it a little bit nicer. 

After we make it to the stables we hop off and sneak around to see what we could find. Listening in on conversations we hear something interesting. "Hey, don't forget to feed that brat." The person next to him sighs in irritation. "Do I have to? It'll be so much easier to just send him to Krothu like the rest." "Don't even say something like that idiot! You know how much Elijah wants that kid alive if you even joke about getting rid of his golden goose we're all going under! Ugh just take the key and go feed the kid already." One of the figures was handed a key and they both go in separate directions. "Suppose that's where they're holding said, important people." I look at Steph and Tamura and we all give a silent nod and follow him down into a more secluded part of the village. Pushing a rock to the side he reveals a hidden stairwell and goes down with us following behind.

"HEY, HEY!!" The hooded man runs to the village winded it looks like he's been running for a while. "What the?- Where were you? why weren't you with the other three?" The man at the gate was confused and unsure what to do. "Those guys killed the group! They snuck in using their robes, in other words; INTRUDERS!"

Getting to the cells in this dungeon were then led to a cell with a weakened half-human, half-elf with long rounded ears around our age. He has blonde hair and emerald deep blue eyes with pale skin. Few people are laying on the ground that seems to be full-blooded elves. All of their bodies are frail and covered in bruises and scratches from being mistreated and underfed. Killing the guard quickly we use the key to open the cage and take off our hoods. "Im sure you have a lot of questions, and so do we. But for now, let's get out of here." I hold out my hand to the boy and after some contemplating, he reaches and grabs mine.