Ning and Emma arrived at the abandoned warehouse sometime before 7 am in the morning the next day. When he arrived, he saw 4 people who sat there in fear, waiting for them to arrive.
When they saw Ning, their soul almost left their body in fear.
"Huh? What's up with the number?" Ning asked, looking around. "Weren't there 4 more of you the last time?"
The man at the front with his bandaged hands hesitated before speaking. "They ran away," he said. "We couldn't stop them."
"Hmm." Ning looked around the group. "And you stuck around? Why?"
"We… "
"We were afraid of what you would do if you found out," the man said. "You are definitely not a normal person and most likely have a lot of influence. You could easily find us if we tried to run away."
"You're not wrong," Ning said softly. "Alright, forget about those who ran away for now. You guys have something to explain, don't you?"
The four men hesitated.
"Come on, spill," Ning said. "Who sent you? Who do you work for? What was your exact purpose in coming to find us."
"It… it was to steal the beast you had," one of them said.
"And how did you know what beast we had?" Ning asked. "Where did you get the information about my beasts from?"
"You… you walked around the town with the bea—"
"Come on now. Do you expect me to believe that you knew what my beast is just from looking at it?" Ning asked. "There are 3 places where I showed my license. The dock, the beast repository in the city, and the one at the hotel. Which one was it?"
The men's eyes widened in surprise and they looked at each other with a fearful look. After a bit, one of them spoke up.
"We get notified by a person in the dock," he said. "Then someone starts following you and when you are settled, we come in and take away your beast."
"Someone at the dock?" Ning asked, remembering the man that was shocked to see the Shadow Puma back at the dock. "Are you saying we got unlucky?"
"Umm…"
"Are you saying we got unlucky with the man who checked our papers at the dock? Or is it something else?" Ning asked.
The man gulped before speaking again. "A-actually, everyone at the dock is in on it," he answered.
Ning sighed. "I knew it," he said. "What do you do with the stolen beasts?"
"There is a demand of young beasts that can be tamed by rich individuals. People pay big sum of money for exotic beasts, which is what we do," the young man said.
"And how many people does this organization have?" Ning asked.
The man gulped once more and stuttered a bit. "5-50," he said. "There are about 50 of us altogether," he said.
"Hmm, and only 8 of you came to take two of my beasts huh?" Ning said. "What is the price of a Shadow Puma? How much would my beast have sold for?"
"The one you had, depending on how well trained it is, could have been sold for anywhere from 10 thousand to 30 thousand Fire Coin," the man said.
Ning's eyes narrowed for a moment. "Wait, he could have been sold for that much?" he asked.
"Yes," the man said. "Do- Do you want me to tell you how?"
"What? Of course not, you idiot," Ning said. "What is this little group of yours called?"
"We… don't really have a name for ourself," the man said.
"Ok, and does the government officials not know this is happening?" Ning asked.
"This far out in the corner of the empire? No," the young man said. "The mayor barely cares enough to look after his own town either. If not for the many trained soldiers keeping peace, this city would have turned lawless ages ago."
"I see," Ning said and sighed. "After we are done with it here today, you will all go and deliver yourself to the authorities and tell them who you are and what you have done, understood?"
"G-give ourself up? Sir, can we not do that?" one of the young man asked. "I—"
Someone slapped him in the back of his head, shutting him up. "We will do as you say," the other man said. "We will give ourself to the authorities."
"Good," Ning said. "And don't think you can just say that and not do it. I will be watching your moves even when I'm not around."
The men gulped, but they weren't going to believe him just yet.
"Now, about the fight I told you about yesterday," Ning said. "We can start it— oh wait, we're still missing a few people aren't we?"
The four men looked confused for a moment before Ning snapped his fingers. In an instant, they saw something appear in front of them, all falling to the ground.
"What's going on?"
"Where are we?"
"Who?"
Four men had arrived out of nowhere and looked around for a moment before they saw the man in front of them that smiled in their direction.
They were sure that was no man but a devil instead.
"I hear you guys tried to run away," Ning said. "Did you think that was going to work?"
The four new men instantly broke down and started crying, begging and pleading for their life, and saying how sorry they were for running away.
Ning sighed and looked at the other four that had been there from the start. "Once we are done here, it is your job to explain to the what they are supposed to do, okay?"
The four men nodded.
"Alright," Ning said. "Now stop crying. It is time for you all to do what I brought you all here to do."
"It's time for you to fight," he said, and looked next to him. "Umbra, come out."
A darkness became visible a few steps away from Ning as as the shadowy veil lifted itself and Umbra showed herself.
On top of her were the two little pumas, Lory and Lyra. The ones that were going to fight here today.
