"First of all, where the hell was the caretaker of the dormitory?"
Kiernan asked as to his knowledge, she should have been here, and would've seen the robbery take place.
"She was on her dinner break. She was the one who discovered the mess and called us over."
A student said with a deep sigh. It was such shitty luck.
"Coincidence… not. They must've known her routine."
Julian said with a scoff.
"Well, first of all, clean the dormitory. It is a mess. I'll go try to find the stolen items."
Kiernan gave the order. He had an idea how to find the stolen items. It was almost a perfect situation for him as he had a perfect way to find them.
"Need help? It might be faster with more people helping to find the stuff."
Dominic said, but Kiernan just shook his head as he didn't need help. He was confident in his ability to track down the stolen items on his own.
"I'll do it alone. I'll be back before the sun sets."
With that said, the students returned to cleaning the dorm, and Kiernan headed out.
With a gentle whisper, his system interface appeared in front of him, and Kiernan pressed on the inventory button.
A selection of items appeared in front of him, but he grabbed the one he needed most for his mission—it was a map.
'With the Duelist's Map, I can see where everyone is. Therefore, if I see something out of the ordinary…'
He opened the map wide in front of him, zoomed out, and saw that there was a lot of activity in both dormitories.
Montclair High students were mostly staying in the dormitory currently. They were most likely waiting for Karuza High to attack them.
Karuza High's dormitory wasn't as packed. There were fewer students in that school, after all.
'A few red dots are moving in the school buildings. Teachers, definitely. The nearby forests are seemingly empty. I thought there would be a few wild animals, at least, but maybe this map doesn't include them.
'I think this map only counts those with martial souls. Is there anything out of place here…'
At that moment, he zoomed even further out and noticed another building, which he hadn't paid attention to beforehand.
It wasn't exactly in the school grounds, but it seemed like a former abandoned school building. There were some red dots moving about there, about five of them.
'Gotcha. They sure took the stuff quite far.'
Kiernan placed the Duelist's map back into his inventory and took the dirt road, heading off the school grounds.
The nature-made trail led him straight to the former school building. It stood in the middle of the forest, surrounded by trees that seemed to reach for the sky.
It had veins running through its walls, the windows were shattered, and the wooden door was barely hanging on its hinges.
It looked like it had been abandoned for centuries.
Kiernan hid behind a thick tree, looked over, and saw a few heads pop out from the third floor's windows.
'They're keeping an eye on the surroundings. This must be the place where they're keeping the stuff.
'To be honest, if I were in their shoes, I would just burn all the items and then take a few pictures of the burning items, then show the pictures to Karuza High students.
'It would be an effective strategy to make them angry. A few of them would definitely throw punches, and I could act as a victim.
'However, since these are nothing but kids, I am sure they're trying to keep the items hidden for a week or two, then take them for themselves to be used.
'A stupid and greedy plan, if you ask me.'
Kiernan cracked his neck, then dug his fingers into the tree bark and slowly lifted it up from the ground, making the roots stick out like spider legs.
"Time to get to the work."
He lifted the tree high, then planted his feet on the ground and hurled it through the air as if it were a javelin.
The tree smashed through the third-floor window, and screams of frightened students echoed through the broken windows.
Kiernan dashed towards the school building, kicked off the wooden door, and headed to the third floor.
When he reached there, he saw the students looking frightened as they looked at the tree.
Behind them, a large bag of stolen items was lying on the floor.
"Where the hell did this tree come from?!"
"U-uh, did someone throw it?"
"Are you insane? How could anyone have thrown a tree that size?
Then, they heard footsteps and looked over as from the shadows, Kiernan emerged, his hands slipped inside his pockets, and strolled like he was just out for a casual walk.
None of the students moved as if they were frozen in ice. They just let Kiernan walk past him, following him with their frightened gazes.
'T-that's Kiernan Hunter!'
'H-how did they find us? We didn't leave any tracks… I think.'
'We're so screwed. Did he throw this tree? How could anyone do that? He is just a fucking monster!'
'W-we need Zachary to fight him, but he hadn't shown himself since his fight with Kiernan. He didn't even come to the class!'
They kept thinking to themselves.
Kiernan picked up the bag, slung it over his back, and walked back to the students. Then, with the back of his hand, he smacked everyone on the back of their heads.
Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!
With five smacks, the five students collapsed on the ground, their eyes rolled back to their skulls, and their tongues stuck out of their mouths.
Kiernan let out a yawn, the exhaustion hitting him suddenly.
'I think I know why I am yawning now. My martial soul is bored. It wants me to fight stronger opponents, but unfortunately, there aren't many that can push me to my absolute limit.
With that thought and bag of treasures on his shoulder, he left the building.