Chapter 17:Kids Are Monsters Nowadays

"What's this, a bunch of kids?" One of the members of flameless said as they walked close.

"Sau..."

"What?" Sau retaliated with a huff. "What're a bunch of kids doing here anyway? This is an important mission, not a day care." Saud continued.

"Maybe you should keep your opinions to yourself old-head." Linx said, audible enough for them to hear, even though he was talking to his teammates this time, which also seemed odd.

"Kid, how dare you call me old and shriveled?" Sau was immediately enraged, it seemed that Linx's words had touched a spot.

"Sau, behave yourself." Zuki said in a stern voice, she seemed to be their leader in Gaz's absence.

(A/N: Sau is a Chinese name and can also mean old age.)

"Hmp, you runt, don't anger me or you won't even know when you d..." Before Sau could complete his sentence, he felt a sharp sting on the side of his neck. 

All it took was a blink, and Linx was no longer in his line of sight, rather, all Sau saw were raised eyebrows filled with the look of surprise. When it had noticed it, even he was shocked, Linx was the one behind him with a dagger to his throat.

"Why don't you complete that statement, let's see who really dies." Linx said in a cold tone that showed he meant every word.

'How did he move so fast?' Sau's teammates thought to themselves in surprise.

"Forget it, Linx. It's not completely irrational." Kazi said looking at Linx with a straight face. 

"Sure." Linx freed his captive and with a spin sheathed his dagger.

'Well, guess he's still a kid.' Kazi thought to himself. From his calculated guess, this only happened because Linx wanted to show his skill too to not get overshadowed by Kazi. In the end however, he only helped Kazi elevate his leadership position.

'I swear, I wasn't even trying this time.'

Sau was left speechless after what just happened. Actually, Linx might not be able to take him down in actual battle, but even at that moment, no one understood what just happened, the speed was just insane for such a kid that it was totally unexpected. Sau had lost not because he was weak, but because he had underestimated the opponent. From this encounter however, Kazi learnt something, and that was the fact that he could use his age to his advantage in a fight since his opponents will definitely always underestimate him as a kid.

See Sau frozen, Zuki gave him a nudge and he quickly apologized.

"S-sorry about that, I let my emotions get the best of me." Linx didn't bother as he returned to his seat, so it once again left Kazi to do the work of the leader, and it seemed like the others of his team left this job to him.

"It's no problem, Linx is just that type of guy. By the way, captain Gaz has said that I tell you guys not to enter the tent when you return."

"Why's that."

"Because he and captain Daru are currently interrogating a bandit."

"I see, we'll be over there then." Before Zuki left however, she seemed to remember something and came back to introduce her team properly before they walked off to the side.

The other two were Dan Sau and Dan Rufa, both were brothers, but they were very different from each other.

"It could also be that they are just from the same clan." Koro suggested.

"Well, that's also possible, may..." While Kazi was speaking, the tent opened and from it came Daru and Gaz. Even though their faces looked stern without any particular expression, this was normal for sutori, in fact, they were trained like this.

Now both teams came together and Gaz explained to the rest what they had learned from the bandit they caught.

"So like we know, this hideout will be a tough place to crack. Our mission is to bring back alive, but if your life is in danger, you can kill. With that said, let's discuss the plan.

So firstly, the plan has been improved upon from what we initially discussed. Initially, we were going to pose as merchants and get ourselves rubbed, then we can follow those who have rubbed us back to their base. This is because even though we know the general area where their hideout is located, we don't know the specifics. That was the plan.

Now, the plan is that one of us impersonate the bandit we just caught and have him bring us back as merchants he has caught as prisoners, then we can act from there." Gaz explained.

The plan seemed good enough and everyone agreed to it almost immediately.

'I guess this is why Daru said our team having dragon in the name is a bit inappropriate.' It was clear that they may very well be a kind of espionage team rather than the regular fighting team.

Listening to the plan though, Kazi wasn't too happy with it.

'If I let them do something this careless, we'll all suffer, personally, I wouldn't want to put myself in so much danger.' Kazi was right. The problem with this plan, in fact, both of them, was that once they had to act after being captured, the entire hideout will be on full alert due to their escape and in such situations is when people can really die without knowing much of what killed them.

'I don't want to be sneaking around only to get killed by some expert.' Even though this was very unlikely since these were bandits, and the number of people who could use ora would most definitely be little. While thinking of this, Kazi realised something.

"Wait, captain Gaz, captain Daru, there's something I don't quite understand. Have we always had problems with this bandit group before?" Kazi asked curiously. 

Gaz couldn't figure out the reason behind this question, but but he answered anyway. "Not really, they used to just be a little bandit group until the three from Jalam came around."

"But doesn't that make no sense? They were a normal bandit group up until the three rogues from Jalan came along, but does it really make sense that normal bandits would have so many users of ora? And all out of nowhere too." Kazi said, causing everyone present to widen their eyes in surprise and sudden realisation. All but Daru whose eyes instead of widening, did the opposite.

Kazi noticed this from Daru and immediately came to a conclusion in his mind. 'So they knew, but still went ahead with the mission anyway and are playing along. This goes deeper than what it seems on the surface. I don't care, I still won't allow you people drag me into a difficult situation.' 

"That's some quick thinking you have there kid. You might actually be unto something." Gaz complimented.

'Of course, I'm already on that thing. The best I can do now his bring another plan that is more favourable.'

"Well, I have a plan I think is better. Permission to share it."