Riding the giant harpy, the trio, Olivier, Wisey and Baobao headed towards the location of their target.
"Sniff sniff.. We are near the smelly beasts." Baobao declared as he directed the group towards their destination.
Olivier communicated to the giant harpy to let them down the forest so that the group wouldn't detect their presence. As soon as they landed, they quickly walked towards the location where the group of Spectre was venturing.
Soon they finally saw a group of cloaked men, each partnered with an eerie looking wolf. They stayed stationary in the forest, while one of them was intently studying a map, seemingly the map of the Silver Dew forest.
"Vice Captain, we have been roaming around this side of the forest for a little while now. Do we have any clues as to where we could possibly go?" One of the cloaked men asked in helplessness.
"We don't have any clues other than they were mounting a giant harpy, and their chauffeur was also a young man with moss green hair. Oh, they have a small bear companion as well as a yellow parrot bird. It was really an unusual sight to see contracted beasts as weak looking as them..." The vice captain of the group answered flatly.
"They were probably not contracted beasts, but pets!" Another cloaked man in the group answered with a hint of mocking. The group found the remark funny and let out a mocking laugh.
"Anyways, we need to probably look for an open area of the forest, where the giant harpy could land, possibly we could find traces from there." The vice captain added.
The rest of the men nodded as they continued to wander in the forest. They were not able to notice that hiding in a certain shrub behind them was a man with moss green hair, a small teddy bear and a tiny yellow parrot, their appearances fit exactly as the vice captain had described.
Wisey, Baobao and Oliver stealthily hid in the bush while eavesdropping on the Spectre's conversation. They were covered by a faint green aura from the spell paper given by the Prince, it allowed their scent and mana presence to be concealed and undetected by the enemies.
"Now we found them, but how do we lure them outside the forest?" Olivier whispered with a troubled expression on his face, while looking at the target group, who was getting ready to set forth their journey.
"Shall I transform and chase them out to the exit of the forest?" Baobao suggested with irritation in his furry face, he was offended by the mockery the group gave towards them.
"No, we must not let them scatter, it will be harder for us to deal with them when they scatter.." Wisey poked the angry Baobao's head trying to calm his anger.
"What shall we do then… I am kind of slow in thinking of tactics.. Usually it was Master who does all the thinking.." Olivier asked embarrassedly while scratching his head, a hint of blush appeared on his charming freckled cheeks.
"Don't worry! Buddy is wise, let's listen to her!" Baobao patted shy Olivier's shoulder with his teddy paw and brightly replied, not forgetting to emphasize his buddy's wiseness.
"Little Wisey, I'll be in your care.." Olivier looked at Wisey with trust in his eyes. He could clearly see that the giant panda Baobao treated Wisey with respect and approval, which let him feel at ease.
"Hmm.." Wisey nodded and started contemplating. She stared at Olivier and Baobao, who were waiting for her opinion. Then she looked towards the departing group of Spectres.
After several seconds of contemplating, Wisey finally gave a nod and declared, "Alright, I already thought of an idea."
"Really? Let's hear it!" Baobao excitedly responded with a glow in his round eyes.
"It's like this…"
--
The group of Spectre have been wandering for a few kilometers already and were getting irritated that they had not yet found any clue as to where Eli's group was.
"Vice captain.. Shall we just spread out even more so we could widen our search?" One cloaked man asked.
"I would have done so in the very first place! However, we are mounting these hell wolves. What if your wolves would suddenly berserk? No one would be able help you." The vice captain answered with a reprimanding tone.
"I know this but..." the cloaked man who suggested it still insisted.
"Enough!Tthey are meant to deal with our target's companions, not to kill our own. One wrong mistake in handling these hell wolves you would all be sent straight to your deaths!" The vice captain declared firmly.
The members stayed silent, although they were disgruntled by their fruitless search, they couldn't oppose their acting leader.
Shhhhkk!
Suddenly they heard a suspicious rustle on a shrub nearby.
"Guard up!" the vice captain ordered as they stared cautious towards the direction of the rustle.
While they took out their weapons and readied their mounts to attack, the culprit had finally shown themselves out in the open. It was a small bear with a yellow parrot perched on his furry shoulders.
They innocently looked towards the savage looking group, with their round adorable eyes. The small 'teddy bear' carried several kinds of fruits in his furry paws.
"Henlo! Humans! Henlooo!"
The yellow parrot greeted the savage people. It innocently tilted its head while the orange spots on its cheeks made it look blushing, becoming more adorable.
The vice captain was shocked by what he saw, after a vain search they finally stumbled upon a great clue! Hiding the vicious smile in his cloak, he raised his hands, gestured his team to be at ease and casted them a meaningful look.
The men understood their vice captain's gesture and hid their weapons. Then the vice captain removed his hood, revealing his face, a bearded man in his thirties, with a raven tattoo peaking from the lower side of his neck.
"Hello wise creatures. What brings you here to approach us humans?" The vice leader inquired in a coaxing manner.
He had identified them as the companions of their target. Upon observing, they seemed to be innocent and naive looking pets, too trivial to be considered a threat to them who were armed with hell wolves. For these 'pets' to use human language, they would surely be contracted beasts.
"Master needs food, we must bring it to her! Do you still have any more?" the parrot answered yet again, and innocently pointed with one of its claws.
"Who may your master be? How come you were the ones searching for your master's food?" The vice captain answered with an excited glow in his eyes.
"My master is pregnant! My male master stayed with her to protect her while we went out.." The parrot and the bear drooped their heads in depression,
"Because we are weak.. We cannot protect our master.. We could only hunt for food."
'Jackpot!' The vice captain's excitement was now so obvious in his face. He looked towards the group again and signaled. He then looked towards the innocent looking creatures and said,
"Oh we have a lot of food here, see." He pointed towards their bags and continued, "However, these would not be small enough for the two of you to carry. You are so little! Oh, why not let you travel with us and deliver these foods to your master?"
The parrot looked towards the savage looking group, tilting its head in innocence and replied, "Are you fast? My master may be crying in hunger…"
"Oh yes we are! Hurry and mount right away so that we could deliver the food to your master sooner!" The vice captain coaxed.
"Oh alright then! Thank you, thank you, kind humans!" The parrot responded excitedly as it flew on above the teddy bear's head in circles.
The men then carried the small teddy bear who obediently sat on top of their mount, still holding carefully the several fruits they gathered.
"Now let us set forth, to where shall we head to?" The vice captain asked the parrot.
"My masters set a camp outside the forest to be safe from the beast, let's head towards that direction!" The parrot answered naively and pointed towards the exit of the forest.
The vice captain then nodded and headed towards the area.
It made sense that they would camp at the exit of the forest because the Silver Dew Forest was not a place for a pregnant woman. Why didn't the group think of it?! He then stealthily used a notification paper and sent the information to the rest of the search team
Soon they had exited the forest and they saw a little camp at a distance ahead. The cloaked men stared at each other meaningfully.
"There she is! My master! Oh, my male master must be hunting too..." The parrot pointed towards a lone cloaked figure. It excitedly flew towards the camp. From afar, nothing could distinctly identify the figure except for the large bump around her tummy.
"Let's speed up then and meet your master soon!" The vice captain said, his voice quivered a little due to excitement.
When they reached the little camp, the vice captain along with his crew had taken down their cloaks and laughed in victory. "Bunch of fools! Hahaha!!! You brought your master's doom!"
However, their 'master', the parrot and the bear didn't react with fear.
"Hahaha they were too naive to understand the situation!" One of the cloaked men commented. However, before they all could continue laughing, a bright light suddenly flashed.
"What the hell is this!" Shocked by the sudden flash of light, the men exclaimed while covering their eyes with their hands. They soon realized that they were inside an entrapment spell.
"Hahaha!" The cloaked figure who was supposedly the 'master' let out a laugh of triumph. 'She' took off the cloak and revealed Olivier, with a large squash tied in his tummy.
"What should we say?" He then gloated towards the trapped group and continued,
"Jackpot!"
