When Vicente heard that group's invitation to join forces, he looked at Rory and then at Julian and remained silent momentarily.
Wanting to save his teacher's life was completely different from wanting him as an ally. However, this was a consideration that Vicente had to give some importance to because these men could add power to his group.
These teachers could not only increase the group's chances of success by exploring the innermost part of the Alpine Woodpecker Forest, but they could also help speed up the addition of pentagrams to Vicente's group.
Getting pentagrams faster would be good for the group to gain enough to return to Millfall and more effectively help the rest of the Mazzanti family grow locally.
But in addition to helping the group of the Mazzanti family achieve their goals more quickly and with less danger to the team, these companions of Julian's could give them more important information.
There was no way for Rory and Vice to be sure that their map would lead them to the precious item these people were after. If it didn't, they could get more than they could on their own.
'Even though joining forces with these men will expose the place we are going to, I see more advantages in joining my group with theirs than continuing to travel alone.' Vicente thought for a moment.
When all the valuables in the area had been collected, and the body of the professor killed there was already under the control of Julian's group, Vicente made up his mind.
"All right. Let's team up."
Julian smiled when he heard this, feeling more secure about his group's mission. "So where are we going now? Did you travel by chance, or were you looking for a particular magical creature?"
Rory replied, twisting the truth a bit so the men wouldn't suspect his group might be after the same thing as them. "We have the probable location of creatures useful to our purpose. We were on our way to this place, a few hours from our current position, when we stopped to help you."
"A few hours?"
"I think we should follow their destination for now. You're heading inland from this area, right?" One of the teachers asked.
"Yes," Vicente said.
With this answer, the strongest of the teachers there decided. "Very well. We're going in almost the same direction. Then, let's help your group get your pentagrams. That will improve the chances of survival for all of us in this part of the forest."
"Okay!"
With everyone in agreement, they soon set off, Julian's group joining Vicente's on the trail their map marked as one of the paths to the 'treasure.'
...
Meanwhile, in Millfall...
It was evening in this town, but a new problem had sprung up to entertain the curious and disturb those involved in a new local situation.
The night before, Nina Fuller, a young disabled girl, had disappeared while at the town's most famous academy!
The Fuller family wasn't enough to stir up the town. Still, as the local situation with the Mazzanti family and the Scarlet Syndicate became more stable, her disappearance began to attract local attention.
The Fuller family had already hired House Mazzanti to search for young Nina and even some of the local nobility were getting involved. But even with dozens of people already investigating the disappearance, nothing useful had been discovered so far.
More worried than ever, Eve headed to the home of one of the few people she thought could help her.
Pa! Pa!
Feeling terrible, with dark circles under her eyes from not sleeping at all last night, Eve knocked on the door of a beautiful house where she and her group were going for help.
"Nova, open the door. It's me, Eve, Nina Fuller's babysitter!" She shouted as she knocked on that army soldier's door.
Nova had promised to look for Nina. But she had spent the last two days out of town preparing for the 3rd stage basilisk hunt. She had just returned this afternoon and still didn't know anything.
Knowing this, Eve was there to inform her and perhaps get help from the army!
When she opened the door of her house and looked at the blonde woman, Nova immediately realized that something was wrong. "Eve? What's wrong?" She asked as she had a bad feeling.
"Nina is missing. I think someone has kidnapped her!" Eve got straight to the point, making the beautiful blue-haired woman in her nightclothes widen her beautiful eyes as she turned a little pale.
Gulp!
"It can't be..." She muttered as she saw the sweet little Nina in her mind.
Quickly remembering Nina's story, Nova immediately began to feel angry as her concern for this young girl grew exponentially.
Nina was such a sweet girl and had already been through so much... But fate didn't seem to be going easy on her or her family!
Just when things got better for her, something like this hit her again!
"Damn it! Tell me everything that happened!" Nova entered her house and grabbed a few things, quickly moving to start solving this matter.
'I have to fix this! I can't let another tragedy happen to this family!' She thought as she put on her armor and listened to Eve.
...
Shelby was aware of her star student's disappearance, and some of her contacts were looking for information about Nina.
She was just as concerned as Nova and Eve, but how she acted and showed concern was completely different from those women.
She relied on her usual calmness, maintaining her manners as she tried to deal with all the problems that came her way.
When she had noticed Nina's problem on the morning of the previous day, she had immediately sent out orders to move many of her men, having asked allies to watch the movements of certain men in Millfall.
Not only that, but she had met with Casey Rogers the afternoon of the previous day and added him to her forces in the search for Nina.
Casey had listened to everything Shelby had to say and set out to solve the problem with the rest of her allied forces.
After hours of following the information and leads of some local suspects, he was starting to get close to the real people involved in Nina Fuller's kidnapping.
At this moment, he was on the roof of a building across the street from the person he was about to meet.
As he waited for his moment to act, Casey had a terrible look on his face, his fists clenched and shaking.
'Acting against a child?' He remembered the day he had met Nina and then his own history.
Casey had his own share of tragedy!
