A strange silence spread through the air, as none of the Martial Apprentices were able to muster up anything to say.
And they very well couldn't be blamed for that. They had the final bandit exactly where they wanted him. And just as they were about to finish the job, a fifth bandit came in stopped the, grabbed the man and jumped out of there.
What could they even say? What were they supposed to say?
Rui sighed. "Well, atleast the mission succeeded." He said, turning around to inspect the inner section of the travelling convoy. Thankfully, the carriages and the horses hadn't suffered much damage and the loss of life to the non-combat personnel was minimal. Milliana and Dalen staying back to ensure that their primary mission would be fulfilled was a life-saver.
The outer section was now almost entirely non-existent, however. The battle with the bandit troops and later the battle between eleven Martial Apprentices had wrecked all that battle chariots that carried the security personnel.
Their primary mission was well fulfilled. All the goods were safe, and the Martial Quint fought with everything they had to ensure the goods would be safe. So, Rui was relatively certain that he would be fully remunerated for his services.
Furthermore, the covert operation of the Lowminer Industries was also a decent success. Although two Martial Apprentice bandits managed to escape, they had annihilated most of the bandits, including three Martial Apprentices.
This was a solid accomplishment that could not be downplayed.
All in all, Rui felt quite satisfied with what they accomplished. The fulfillment of nearly nailing a mission perfectly was quite high, especially when the mission was important and had high stakes. It far surpassed the trivial missions he had completed in the past week.
"Let's wrap things up and resume our journey." Rui suggested. "I highly doubt those two will be returning any time soon, but I think it's best if we make haste in our journey and get out of the Shadow Trails as soon as possible."
No one argued with that. The Martial Apprentices of the Lowminer Industries aided in sorting out the chaotic convoy while the Martial Quint returned to their carriage, exhausted.
"Man that was actually insane!" Kane exclaimed. "We fought and killed three Martial Apprentices. I bet our grades are all gonna shift up."
He was probably correct. Rui did not think his evaluation would remain at three. But what he was most interested in were the martial credits from the mission. Once he received the pay, he would have a total of six hundred and fifty-three martial credits. Furthermore, there was the additional bonus that the branch manager Savin had promised them.
Rui hoped the man would pay up, after all, it was merely a verbal promise, he wasn't obligated to pay up.
Soon, the convoy finally managed to wrap up and pull itself together. The Martial Apprentices had already long revealed themselves so they kept an eye out from the outside where it was easier to conduct surveillance.
Hours passed as the sun started going down, the clouds gathered, barricading its light. At one point, it even began snowing heavily. After all, Kandria was about to enter the most extreme phase of Winter.
And just like that, half a day passed.
No more ambushes, or attacks, the convoy passed through the Shadow Trails uneventfully. This was largely expected, but the Martial Apprentices kept an eye out for the two Martial Artists who escaped, especially the masked one. That one was truly formidable, although they did not think the eight of them would lose. If he chose to fight, there would probably be some casualties.
No one wanted to die.
They soon exited the Shadow Trails, and an hour later, had left the Basara Mountain range in the distance on the horizon.
The convoy finally relaxed; they settled down as the town of Gallagar was entering their field of view.
This was Rui's first time visiting a town aside from that of Hajin, he reveled in the experience. The town of Gallagar had a different feel to it than that of Hajin. For one, it was nearly as well-developed or commercial as the town of Hajin was. The infrastructure wasn't as good as that of Hajin, and the population was less dense in comparison.
There were a lot more residential areas across the entire town, and even at the heartland of the town. Unlike in Hajin, where the further you went to the center of the town the more commercial it became.
Soon they arrived at their destination in Gallagar. The convoy stopped as it arrived at a branch of the Lowminer Industries.
What followed was relatively quick and simple, the convoy was received and adequately handled. It was getting late, the snowfall had accelerated too, so the Martial Quint decided to postpone their journey back to Hajin. The Lowminer Industries graciously offered to take care of their housing and their return trip back to Hajin. Apparently, the actual client, the branch manager of the Lowminer Industries wished to speak to them privately.
"Hopefully for something good too." Kane yawned. "Well, at the very least they're willing to pay for our inn. We should go the most expensive hotel in town and dump the bill on the Lowminers."
"Let's not do that, the branch manager promised us an additional bonus reward, credits are way more important to me than a luxurious night out."
"Tsk tsk. You need to learn how to live."
"I agree with Rui." Fae said, throwing a disapproving look at Kane. "You're the heir of the Arrancar family, show some class. Rui here has far more grace than you do."
"Oh shut up, you're just a little girl who got spoilt by her grandmother." Kane retorted.
Rui sighed as that sparked the umpteenth bout of conflict between them, he had long given up on trying to mediate it. It was just a fact that those two didn't get along.