Kidnapping

"Let me go!" echoed the cry of a young girl in the cave.

In the torchlight, five young girls and three boys were visible, all chained by iron chains. These eight youngsters were not ordinary children; they were a group of new students who had just joined Vollen Academy. Unfortunately, they encountered the misfortune of meeting wild mages and were subsequently kidnapped.

"Don't be noisy. If you keep screaming, we'll cut off both your legs," threatened a man guarding the eight children.

Katarina looked at the man with pure hatred. She didn't hesitate to vent her anger, "My father will soon rescue me and kill all of you!"

"So will mine!"

"My uncle will save me!"

"..."

Seeing the children continue to scream made Denis glare at them in annoyance. He then warned, "If you keep making noise, I won't hesitate to kill some of you. Don't think I won't do it."

The threat somewhat subdued the children. Katarina, hearing the words, felt both irritated and guilty. It was her fault the other children were captured, and she didn't want any of them to be killed.

When Katarina first entered Vollen Academy, she had a low mentality. Despite having an S-Class talent, her years of oppression by her brother unconsciously made her believe that there were many people with S-Class talents like herself.

However, her high talent and strong actual abilities immediately made her one of the top students at Vollen Academy. She earned the nickname "Red Queen" because of her power and the color of her clothes.

As a top student, many students naturally wanted to befriend her. Consequently, Katarina had made friends with many of them. In the new student social circle at Vollen Academy, she was undoubtedly one of the influential figures.

A few days ago, the first-year students of Vollen Academy held their annual camping trip in the mountains near the city.

As in previous years, there was an exam for the new students. There were several monsters in these mountains that would serve as the students' exam. They were to form groups and hunt as many monsters as possible.

Of course, all the monsters in these mountains were low-level monsters. The high-level monsters that could endanger the city had been eradicated.

Yesterday, Katarina's group had actually hunted enough monsters to pass the exam, but Katarina wasn't satisfied, so she led her group further into the forest. In the end, they encountered two wild mages who then captured them.

Every mage essentially swore to use their powers for good. This oath was taken upon their graduation from the Academy. Mage groups that did not abide by the oath or violated it were called wild mages.

In essence, Adam, who developed his powers but didn't enter the Mage Academy, also fell into the category of wild mages. There were also many members of the Florent Kingdom's defense force who were considered wild mages. Most mages who had taken the oath looked down on wild mages.

"Katarina, are we really going to be saved?" asked a short-haired black-haired girl named Wendy.

Katarina bit her lip. She herself was anxious and scared, no matter how talented she was, she was still a young girl.

But Katarina didn't want to make her friends worried. She knew that if she appeared anxious, her friends would be even more anxious than her.

Katarina then said, "Calm down, the Academy will surely rescue us. The news of our abduction should have reached our parents. With everyone's help, I believe we will be saved soon."

Outside the cave, Denis stepped out slowly, then pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it with a lighter.

Moments later, a figure descended from a tree. In the moonlight, a woman with long black hair, wrapped in a cloak, approached Denis.

"A few sorcerers have been moving. It's estimated they will find this cave sooner or later. We need to move away from this place as soon as possible," the woman told him.

Denis took a drag from his cigarette and spoke, "Some of these kids are quite annoying. Can we kill them?"

"Their parents will chase us to the ends of the earth if that happens. Remember, these kids are very valuable, don't touch them," warned the black-haired woman.

Denis nodded silently.

The two of them were not slave traders or criminals. They were secret agents of the Florent Kingdom. It might sound unbelievable, but that was the reality.

The Mage Association, under the control of the International Mage Association, wielded immense influence in almost all human countries. At one point in history, there was a time when all mages were members of the Mage Association, and even now, almost 60% of mages are Association members.

Besides playing a vital role in combating other races, the political power of this organization was also immense. These two factors alone were enough to make various countries uneasy.

Many leaders and countries feared the Mage Association. However, some were ambitious and wanted to gradually nationalize the Mage Association in their countries.

The Florent Kingdom was one such case. 30 years ago, the Florent Kingdom secretly began recruiting and developing their own mages. However, no country was allowed to establish a mage academy without the permission of the International Mage Association. This led to covert recruitment.

The Florent Kingdom succeeded in developing their own mages, but their numbers were significantly smaller compared to the Florent Mage Association. It was only when the new Chairman of the Florent Mage Force, Gavain Vorselan, emerged that strategic changes occurred.

Now, the new strategy of the Florent Kingdom was to replace the teachers and individuals at the mage academy with those loyal to the Florent Kingdom. This way, they could provide ideological teaching to talented children, nurturing loyalty and nationalism.

What they were doing now was to depose the responsible camp leaders and those in charge of the annual camp, allowing individuals from the Florent Kingdom to take over some of the vacated positions. Because that, Killing the students was not the main goal.