The carriage arranged for them was some ways away from bustling parts of the district within a warehouse.
"Welcome, Martial Artists of the Martial Union." The coachmen of their carriage greeted as he bowed to them. "We apologize for the inconvenience, but this is your designated carriage." He gestured to the carriage behind him.
The carriage was designed as a storage carriage, it had window panels that were opaque from the outside but transparent from the inside, allowing the Martial Apprentices to eye their surroundings without anybody else from the outside being able to spy or observe them. This was probably done on purpose.
They quickly boarded the carriage and it dispatched right away. Arriving at the branch that they were just at prior, entering as an inconspicuous import supply. Soon, after some detours and due procedures, it joined the dispatch team that they were hired to protect.
The mission bill already covered all the details that needed to be covered, the entire team was already aware of everything regarding their target of protection. Including all the details like number of people and carriages, and the important carriages with the esoteric matter supplies that were being coveted by the bandits.
The Martial Apprentices relaxed in the carriage, taking their masks off, as comfortable and unrestrictive as they were designed to be, it was still a pain in the ass.
"Initially, I thought five Martial Artists was overkill." Kane sighed. "But with their little operation at play, it makes sense. But as bodyguards, as long as we focus on pure defense, we're fulfilling our duties right?"
"The role of a bodyguard, atleast as defined by the Martial Union, extends beyond purely reactive protective measures." Rui stated. "Proactive measures are also a vital part of our duties, perhaps even more important. For example, if your target of protection was in the way of a canon about to fire, would you move them after the canon was fired or before?"
"You make a good point." Kane admitted. "So that means as long as enemy bandits are even near our targets, we're more or less duty-bound to eliminate the threat?"
Rui nodded. "That's probably also what that man Savin is banking on. He's planned this well, I have to say, he's minimized the risk that he's imposing on his personally employed Martial Apprentices. Since he cannot hire Martial Artists like us to proactively hunt humans, he's still managed to work away around this restriction and effectively have us fight to kill the bandits."
"This will be all of our first time fighting other hostile Martial Apprentices in a life-or-death battle." Dalen noted
"Not all of ours." Kane corrected. "Rui got the jump on us with in that regard."
Fae turned to Rui in surprised disbelief. "No way, you're a grade three Martial Apprentice with only a single mission under your belt."
Rui sighed as the other two also turned to him in interest at those words. "The mission was under-graded in regards to difficulty. But it wasn't that big a deal, I only tussled with a Martial Apprentice for a bit before he retreated." He explained with as few words as he could.
This only caused them to get a bit more excited, pestering Rui with questions.
"Not now guys, we're in the middle of a mission remember?" Rui placated. "Don't let your guards down."
The carriage quietened down as the supply dispatch made its way. As time passed by, the tension in the air began escalating. Sooner or later, it would exit Hajin and make its way to the Shadow Trails in the Basara Mountains where they could be ambushed at any given moment.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
A red-haired woman looked down at the communication device tucked in her belt, picking it up and reading it with a bored expression. Yet the contents of the message twitched a smile on her face.
"Boss." She turned her head to the right, facing a short grey-haired man with a demure stature. "Just got word that the Lowminer supply dispatch with the thirteen Sky Crystals was just dispatched. No unusual occurences."
The man simply opened his eyes slowly. "Make preparations, Feilin."
She nodded in response.
"Heh!" A rough male voice far to the left grunted. "Those fools keep sending us juicy rewards. You'd think they'd have learnt their lessons by now."
"They can't help it, Vale." Feilin shrugged at the man. "They can't halt their business. That's what makes this plan the best." She grinned.
"This could be a trap you know~" A voice with a lazy drawl called out. "Do you really think the Lowminers would send not one, two or even three, but thirteen Sky Crystals?"
Feilin glanced at the man napping on a tree branch with contempt. "Hmph, I knew you weren't paying attention yesterday Han. We already covered this, our men in Gallagar have already confirmed that the supply is a legitimate supply to an order made by several clients in the crystal technology sector of Gallagar, there's no realistic way this could be a trap, not unless multiple towns are literally in active collaboration with each other against us."
Her tone made it clear she did not think this was the case
"That's not impossible Feilin." The boss interjected. His words were soft, but they commanded attention. "I wish to take some precautions before we commence the ambush."
Feilin shrugged with a resigned look. "Alright boss, as you say."
"Hmph, even if it's a trap so what?" Vale barked. "We've got five Apprentices and hundreds of men to boot. That's more than the Lowminers have in their entirety as far as Apprentices go. We can just straight up run into their trap, crush it along with them and steal the Sky Crystals they're kind enough to to us and get outta here!"
"Enough." The boss glanced at Vale with just the slightest hint of irritation. "Are you questioning my orders, Vale?"
"...Tsk okay okay!" He retracted immediately. Vale was an imposing man with a powerful physique, and an aggressive temperament.
Yet there was a reason the boss was the boss.
"We'll proceed carefully." He reiterated himself with a measured tone. "I want this to be clean."