As soon as they left the village, Kara led them off the main road, hiding in the dense forest vegetation. They advanced for several minutes without speaking, until finally, when they were far enough away from prying eyes, Kara stopped.

  "We need to talk," she said, turning to her companions.

  Joel and Toren nodded, forming a small circle in the middle of a clearing.

  "There's no way to reach Mirel in time," Kara began, her voice firm, but her eyes reflecting the whirlwind of thoughts swirling in her mind. "That caravan left almost a day ago. If we wait, if we go back for backup… we won't reach them."

  Toren crossed his arms, his expression grave. "It's too dangerous. They may outnumber us. We have no details, no precise location, no clear extraction point. This isn't a routine mission anymore, Kara; it's an operation that will draw too much attention." Joel isn't ready for something like this. What if you...?

  "What if those children disappear forever?" she interrupted, her voice unusually sharp. "What if we do nothing, and in ten years, those little ones become weapons of the Empire? How many more will suffer because we decided to be cautious?"

  Toren took a deep breath, but didn't respond immediately, producing a silence that was thick and filled with indecision. Joel watched them both, impassive. His face was a mask of serenity, but his eyes were fixed on the damp earth beneath their feet, as if he could read the truth there.

  "I suggest another option," he said, in his familiar dry tone. "We can follow the trail and just observe at first. If it's an Imperial caravan, we should be able to see it from a distance, to assess the actual number of guards, their direction. If it's small..."

  "So we attack?" Toren asked.

  "If possible. If not... we retreat. At least we'll know where they're going."

  Kara looked at him silently for a moment, then nodded decisively. "I like it. It's much less risky, but it's better than being left wondering."

  Toren snorted, resigned. "Then so be it. But if even one of you is injured through carelessness, I'll make sure the report is true”.

  "Just as it should be," Joel replied.

  Without another word, the three turned as one and set off. The search had begun. And with it, the possibility of changing—or losing—several lives. The forest swallowed them up again, one by one, like a silent beast breathing under eternal shadow.

  The group soon fell into a uniform rhythm. They moved with superhuman agility, slipping between gnarled roots, overhanging branches, and ancient trunks that made the forest an impassable tangle for any ordinary traveler. But they were no ordinary people. Years of training, the mana flowing through their veins, and the precision with which they read the terrain allowed them to advance with impossible speed.

  Joel, for his part, felt completely in tune with his body. Every footstep was precise. Every stride, measured. Despite his apparent youth and lower magical level, he could effortlessly keep up with the group… he even knew he could outpace them if he so desired. His muscles responded naturally, and the katana at his waist seemed an extension of his will, not a burden.

  No one spoke. Only the rustling of leaves, the rustling of the wind through the trees, and the whisper of their footsteps in the damp undergrowth could be heard. The team continued the pursuit relentlessly, using a route parallel to the normal one, with fewer curves but many more geographical features. Kara, under constant pressure, used her sensory magic as a kind of radar in search of the caravan's magical presences, an exhausting task even for the most experienced. The three resorted to special potions—rare and valuable—that eliminated fatigue and sleep, extending the limits of their endurance beyond human limits.

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  They spent more than a day running without pause, advancing along hidden paths through the undergrowth, crossing streams, and negotiating slopes and swampy areas. With each passing hour, their physical exhaustion was replaced by growing tension: they knew they were approaching.

  And finally, they saw it. From the high branches of a colossal tree, the three of them took up positions in silence. The clearing before them yawned like a wound in the endless forest, bathed in a faint light that barely filtered through the canopy. There, three carriages rested.

  The caravan was stopped; its occupants—human figures with faces barely distinguishable from a distance—were preparing a makeshift campfire. Joel, Kara, and Toren held their breath.

  After recovering a bit with a short rest, Kara sat on a branch of the tree and closed her eyes. She began to channel her mana with precise movements of her fingers and a soft, almost inaudible murmur. In front of her, a small, luminous sphere began to take shape. It was the size of a closed fist, floating in the air like an eyeless eye, made of pure mana, but with a spiritual appearance.

  Joel watched it curiously. He'd seen sensory magic before, but not with this level of detail. The spirit eyeball vanished in a flash as it flew straight toward the caravan at high speed.

  "It's a basic technique among sensory mages," Kara explained to Joel, without opening her eyes. "But it's very effective. Detecting this kind of spell is only possible for someone more powerful than me in sensory magic. If there's a level 4 or higher mage, we'll know immediately and escape. If not, we can gather all the information we need."

  Toren murmured, "Let's hope it's good news. I wouldn't want to have run so far for nothing."

  Kara nodded, completely focused. Joel kept his gaze on the clearing and felt his breathing steady after the great physical exertion.

  "So," Joel murmured, "now we'll know if we're facing an opportunity... or a trap."

  The wait grew intense. The forest, normally filled with subtle murmurs and invisible life, seemed to have held its breath. The three remained motionless among the branches, their silhouettes merging with the shadows of the trees. There was no sudden movement; they didn't even dare to speak in low voices.

  Joel, his eyes fixed on the camp, kept scanning every corner of the clearing, every gesture of the guards, every hint of a possible conversation. Anxiety grew with each passing second without a response.

  They were far enough away to avoid direct vision detection, and they had also chosen an elevated position among dense branches. The route the caravan crossed was little traveled, an added blessing. But they couldn't be complacent, as a single mistake would be enough to make them targets.

  Kara's silence, her concentration remaining unwavering, increased the tension. Joel could hear the subtle sound of her measured breathing, the barely perceptible pulse of mana flowing through her body. Toren, at his side, also watched without blinking, in a position that allowed him to act immediately if anything bad happened.

  Joel said nothing. But inside him, a certainty was forming: something important was about to be revealed. And he didn't know whether to wish for it... or fear it.

  With relief, Kara opened her eyes and whispered, "They don't seem to have anyone high-level. Only one level-three mage, one level-two, and four level-one mage. We can take them on."

  Joel and Toren exchanged a silent glance. The tension began to dissipate... but only for a second. Because then, the unexpected happened.

  Across the clearing, two figures emerged from the trees. Clearly, they weren't part of the caravan, for without a word and without warning, they began attacking the Imperial guards with precise and lethal violence.

  One of the attackers unleashed powerful blasts of fire without hesitation. The flames engulfed entire bodies in a matter of seconds, leaving behind only muffled screams and charred remains. Each movement was clean, professional, almost casual… and without a trace of compassion.

  The second attacker lunged like a beast held back for too long. He didn't cast spells or raise hands to channel mana, only his body. Fists wrapped in vibrating energy collided with Imperial armor and shields, pulverizing everything in their path. A single blow was enough to shatter the guard leader's skull before he could cast a single spell in defense. He was simply too fast.

  "A physical mage…" Joel muttered, almost to himself.

  Kara didn't respond. She was paralyzed, perhaps from fear, or from bewilderment. Chaos had suddenly descended, and with it, a difficult problem presented itself before the team.

  Joel gripped the hilt of his katana tightly. They didn't know who these attackers were, but one thing was clear: the mission had changed course.

  The team of three simply watched, unsure of what to do about it, until the massacre ended and no guards remained. It was then that Kara's face contorted with terror, at the exact moment the fire mage slowly turned his face, his eyes rising directly toward the tree behind which they were hiding.

  Kara shuddered. "The sensory eye... he saw it."

  That simple detail meant the fire mage was far more powerful than her, enough to detect an advanced sensory spell and track it to its source. Kara's heart began to pound, as a drop of sweat trickled down her forehead.

  Joel gritted his teeth, not saying a word. Toren moved very slowly into a better defensive position. No one knew if they had been fully detected, but the feeling was unequivocal: the danger had changed location.