Chapter 307: Investigating the Orphans
This afternoon, we will proceed with the plan. What plan?
Actually, after Russell agreed to help me with the cultist children, we made a plan to get Russell hypnotizes them. But that would be difficult.
It has been a long time, but Russell was actually quite well-known thanks to his rare magic element. He has been targeted especially by some n.o.bles who wanted to abuse his power. Although it has been a long time since he shows his face in the capital, that doesn"t mean everyone has forgotten who he is.
That"s why I need to get the children to be able to meet Russell. It"s basically kidnapping. Not just basically, it is kidnapping.
As for old man Henry, I brought him back to his royal castle. He has a lot of work to do since about half of his own children are cult members. And there are also a lot of n.o.bles under his rule.
As for the fate of that one who was Celestine"s worshipper, I don"t care. Old man will take care of him.
I checked on the children again in the capital just in case. Not all of them are from the same orphanage. I can see other children in other orphanages have explosive devices in their mouth as well.
I guess the orphanages here, most of them are related to the cult. Or the orphans, as they were looking for a job to do, they ended up taking some jobs from the cult without them knowing. They might even willingly put the explosive devices inside their mouth by tricking them.
I shouldn"t have made a judgement easily just to kill all the children. They might be forced to do it because of money. Glad that I discussed about it with old man first.
There are three orphanages that has orphans with explosive devices in their mouth. And looking from their reaction, and how they are happily playing with each other, I don"t think none of them realized that the thing inside their mouth is an explosive device.
But if that"s the case, what about those who have grown ups and left the orphanages? If they recognize that what"s inside their mouth is explosive device, do they choose to live with it?
Hmm… I guess if they ask the orphans to join them while they were young, that will be enough time for the cult to brainwash them to join the cult. Children are easily influenced by other people especially those who are close to them. That might be the reason why the cult can brainwash them without using hypnotism like Russell.
Well, that"s just speculations. I need to find out if they are real or not. That"s why I"m investigating it.
"Where are you going, Roy?" Spot asked me while floating beside me in camouflage. No one can see him.
"Investigating the orphanage. I"m trying to see what"s going on before we took an action this afternoon. Since there are three orphanages, I don"t think we can capture them all in just one day." I said.
"What about killing them? That"s easy and simple. I like that. If you don"t want to do it, I will." Spot said.
…he"s a monster. He doesn"t care about humans at all other than Aura users. And also, those who he considered as my friends. That"s what I learnt about Spot. As long as I am around, he is a good ally. But I wonder what would happen if I leave him be? Will he start to attack my friends?
"Well, I thought that if we brainwash them or help them in some way, they might end up changing side. They are still kids, so their future is still unknown. They are easily influenced as well. We should be able to get them to our side with Russell and old man Henry"s help." I replied.
"Being human is so difficult. Why can"t you just survive, eat, and reproduce? That should be easy. Killing everyone in the way." Spot said.
"That"s how monsters and animals do it. We are humans so we make simple things complicated. Only some smart and strong humans can make complicated things simple." I said.
"Humans sure love to do weird things. Whatever, I will just follow you. Just tell me if you have something you want me to do."
"Okay. Though I want to ask you if I should prepare meals for you or will you find food yourself?"
If Spot is going to be with me from now on, then I will most likely treat him like a pet. With his size, I wonder if I could prepare foods that could satisfy him.
"No need. When you"re asleep at night, or when you don"t need me to do anything, I can hunt my own food. And whenever I changed size to this small me, I don"t need much food. I could even stay without eating for another three days. No need to care for my meals. You just need to focus on destroying that cult." Spot said.
"Well, that"s convenience. I"ll take that offer then."
No need for food for three days? Even if I have the same condition as him, I still like to eat. I don"t want to have no need for food.
Well, maybe I want to. That"s convenience. But I will still eat a lot though.
While watching the orphanage, I see two older kids, probably around twelve or thirteen, taking a younger kid with them. The older kids have explosive devices inside their mouth.
"Spot, can you use your camouflage on me? I want to tail those kids." I said.
"No problem!" Spot said. With him around, I can follow people easily. And he just needed to wrap himself around any part of my body to do it. Just like usual, it was around my waist.
"What happen if you fall asleep while the camouflage is on?"
"Then you will be invisible until I wake up, or I let go of you."
Well, at least if he"s asleep, I should be able to force him to let go of me with my strength if he"s still in this size.
Then, I followed the kids. They are going somewhere while looking around to see if anyone is following them. That"s suspicious, alright.
Then, I see the three of them sneaking out of the capital through a hole hidden in the wall. The hole is too small for adult, but kids their size should be okay to enter. I"m too big for that hole.
They don"t leave the capital through the gate because children are not allowed to leave without their guardians. I guess that"s why they need to leave the city this way.
I can"t follow them through the wall, but since I"m camouflaged, I can just jump over the wall. The security around here is low. Even the guards are sleeping while standing. No wonder it"s easy for the kids to leave.
I followed them for a while, and they finally reached a small hut in the forest. There are no monsters around here at all, so I guess the people inside the hut keep defeating the monsters nearby.
The hut is just the size of a bar, and there are about ten people inside. None of them have explosive devices in their mouth. Why? Let"s see what happened. Though I can see the explosive devices are stored in a box inside that hut. And some were being pocketed by some men.
I entered the hut from the opened window, and stuck my feet to the ceiling. I can hear everything clearly here.
The older kids introduced the younger kid to the ten scary-looking people. These ten men are faking their smile. It"s creepy. Even the kid is scared.
Then, one of the men told the kid that they will give him a job before he leaves the orphanage. He said that the older kids are working for him and get money for it. Hearing that, the young kid is convinced.
Then the man said that as proof of joining the "office", the kid has to insert a device inside his mouth as a proof. That"s the explosive device. I really want to kill these men right here right now.
The kid happily obliged. And the men cheered because they have another person joining them.
The kids then left the hut to return to the capital. And as soon as they left the hut, the men laughed.
"Haha! This is job is too easy! We just need to convince children to put this thing inside their mouth while promising them some work that they can find anywhere in the capital! The person who asked this is so weird, but I love him since he gave us more money than what we spend!" Someone who seems to be their boss shouted happily.
So that"s what happened. These guys are hired by someone who seems to be a cult member. And to hire these people, that person must be quite rich and smart as well. since none of them are related to the cult, they won"t know anything in case they got caught.
"Boss, do you know who the guy who hired us? If we could just kill him and get all his money, we won"t need to work anymore!" One of the men asked.
"You stupid idiot!" The boss shouted in anger and punched the guy.
"Don"t you know? The guy who hired us is strong. When he first hired us, we had three of our strongest mages followed him. But they all died. That"s show how powerful he is. Don"t bother thinking about killing him! We received money, and that"s enough." The boss said.
"The boss is right! We get more money than some hunters. Why would we kill the person who gives us money?" Another person said.
Well, I know how the kids have explosive devices in their mouth now. Should I kill these people?
Maybe not. Not this time. I don"t know if the guy who hired them is strong or not. I"d be happy if he is one of the men I have killed. But I doubt it. I"ll inform this to old man later.
It"s about time to kidnap some bad children.