Chapter 3

As I looked into their information, I slowly started to understand why Damian chose them. All these students are children of the most powerful people—it’s a given that you’d need someone strong to back you up. In this case, I still don’t know why Damian needs people like that.

"Ava, can you keep those people in check? They might be hiding something," I said.

"I’ll try, but if Sir Damian was the one who chose them, I don’t think they’d let anything slip," she replied.

Tch. Damian, you’re hiding something, aren’t you? I guess I’ll have to find out.

"Nia," I called her.

"Yes, Captain?" she asked as she approached.

"Ava discovered something—there’s kidnapping and drug trading happening near the inn we’re headed to. You know what to do," I said. Nia didn’t look surprised at all, as if she already knew something.

"Copy that, Captain," she responded before heading back to Riley and the others.

I lost track of time. I didn’t even know how many hours we had been on the road before we reached the inn.

The innkeeper welcomed us. At first glance, you wouldn’t think that this person was hiding something.

"Welcome. How was your trip?" the innkeeper asked.

"It was fine," Nia replied with a smile. She looked at me, and I gave her the signal that she could proceed with what she needed to do.

"Sorry to trouble you, but may we go to our rooms now? The trip was really exhausting," Nia added.

The innkeeper hesitated but eventually let us in. Everyone was delighted with the place—it truly was beautiful and peaceful—but that didn’t erase the suspicion brewing in my mind.

"Ava, what’s the status?" I asked her.

"Hmm, they still aren’t moving. It’s like they’re waiting for someone," she said.

They’re acting so suspicious right now. Is this Damian’s doing? I inspected our belongings carefully. After almost an hour, I found a tracking device—so small, you wouldn’t even notice it was there.

I called Damian to tell him what I found.

"Hello? Are you there already?" he asked. His calm voice makes it hard for others to suspect him, but not me.

"Why bother asking if you already know?" I replied.

"What do you mean?" he asked. I could hear the change in his voice.

"Don’t play dumb with me, Damian. I found the tracking device you planted. So you managed to bribe one of my members, huh?" I said.

He didn’t answer for a while. The silence between us was already enough of an answer—it really was him.

"Whatever, I’ll just enjoy our vacation. Thanks for this," I said before hanging up. I couldn’t believe he managed to turn one of my own people.

I threw away the tracking device I found and continued searching through our stuff.

"If there’s one, I bet there’s more," I told myself.

They all said they were heading to the hot spring, and I told them I’d follow after taking care of something (finding more tracking devices). Once I was done, I hid the devices and followed them.

While I was going down the stairs, I started hearing noise. I saw Nia and Ava standing, blocking the hallway.

"Ava, Nia. What are you doing here? Weren’t you supposed to be at the hot spring?" I asked as I got closer. I still had my doubts about them, but for now, I decided to act normal and observe.

"Captain, it’s you," Nia said.

"What’s going on here?" I asked again.

"Someone’s being harassed," Ava replied.

I looked at the person and the one harassing her—he seemed familiar. I stepped in to stop what was happening.

"Hey, stop it," I said as I grabbed the man’s arm. Nia came over to check on the girl once the guy let go.

"Ohhh, what a coincidence. It’s the dream team, the most elite among the groups," the man said, laughing.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He laughed lightly.

"Come on, don’t you remember? After you picked the students you wanted, you failed the rest of us. That’s why it took us so long to graduate," the man answered.

So that’s why he looks familiar—he was one of Ava and the others’ average classmates.

"Captain," Nia called out to me.

I looked over and saw the girl trembling all over.

"You should take her to her room—we’ll take care of this," Ava said.

I didn’t want to leave them since there were only two of them, but they insisted that I take the girl back to her room.

"Why me? Why not someone else?" I asked myself.

I had no choice but to help the girl up so I could escort her to her room.

"Be careful, you two. I’ll call Riley once I’ve taken her to her room," I said.

"No need, Captain. She needs someone to be with her—she’s traumatized," Nia said. As expected, she’s very observant.

"Okay. But if anything else happens, make sure you call for backup," I said before leaving.

As I walked away, I kept looking back at them. Yes, I had my doubts, but I would never put my team members’ lives in danger.

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