Taking the Mafia to the Magic World
chapter-988

Later, Vicente had left the Manifold Family estate after an informative breakfast with Edric, Alicia, and Captain Thom's group.

In the afternoon, he would meet Alicia again for another training session together, followed by another night in Ponddown.

However, at nightfall, Vicente did something he hadn't tried in the last few days. As soon as the traffic in the city had died down, he set off from where he was staying, heading for one of the exits in the area.

Pretending to be in the dark about the 2-Star and the 3-Star Magus following his tracks, Vicente soon arrived at the city's exit, a freely accessible place.

As Vicente had already realized, remote monitoring was very successful in Light Cay. Cities didn't need security guards to control people coming and going. The magical tools on the outskirts helped distant magicians monitor the flow of people through the city exits.

As Vicente moved on, entering the forest about 7 kilometers from the last building in the city, the two men realized that something was going on.

"What's he doing?" One of them asked doubtfully. "Has he noticed us, or is he up to something unrelated to us?"

"It's impossible for him to notice us. How could a newly promoted bumpkin like him realize our position?"

"Maybe it was the artificial intelligence advising him. You know how excellent the sect's devices are."

"Idiot. The sect's artificial intelligences are closely tied to their masters. They perform at a level compatible with them. If it isn't able to identify us, it could never do so," said the strongest man, the leader of Vicente's observation operation.

"I'd forgotten about that..."

"Anyway, let's keep after him. Hopefully, this fool won't get into trouble by going into an area of powerful beasts."

They moved on, keeping a shorter distance from Vicente, since in forests it was easier for someone to lose sight of their target.

The forests of Light Cay were much worse than those of Polaris Realm. The native creatures on the island were much more talented and ferocious than those on Vicente's plane.

There was a reason the beings on this continent had evolved their technology so much that they had developed methods capable of raising the level of even pentagrams formed by magical creatures. There were even entirely artificial pentagrams, something that had arisen from the need not to have to rely only on hunting the difficult-to-hunt creatures of this place.

Vicente had already learned enough of the local history to know this kind of thing. But given how much weaker the individuals from this continent with pentagram configurations close to his own were compared to what he expected from someone from his continent, Vice wasn't worried.

In fact, as he moved from branch to branch, feeling the night wind blow his hair in the air, he had a smile on his face.

The natural fragrance of the forest, full of plants and pulsating life, singing their various natural sounds in the darkness, made him feel more alive.

Between the modernity of the cities of Light Cay and the wildness of the forests, he definitely preferred the place where he was 'strolling' at the moment. He felt at home there!

In his apparently relaxed movement, however, he was attentive to his surroundings, aware of the exact position of the two men following him, as well as the creatures in the vicinity.

As in Polaris Realm, most of the beings near a forest were always weak. On his continent he would come across 2nd and 3rd stage creatures on a walk like this, no matter where he went. But in Light Cay, the average strength was higher and he could see even 5th stage creatures on his path.

None of them called his way until he heard running water. Following the sound, he came to a stream coming from a waterfall up a mountain. Where this stream led, he didn't know and wasn't interested in looking. As he moved towards the source, he climbed one mountain in the area, already dozens of kilometers away from the city.

Arriving near the waterfall that had attracted him, he blended into the night and disappeared completely.

"Where is he? What happened?"

The two men following Vicente to this point were startled to stop suddenly, the stronger of them realizing that his target was no longer in his range.

The weaker one looked from one side of the area he had reached to the other, where a 19-meter-high waterfall made the surroundings glow in the dark, with the silvery waters reflecting the moonlight, while the noise of the waterfall hid more subtle sounds.

Standing there for a minute without knowing what to do, the two were already breaking out in a cold sweat when something happened and one of them felt an icy item against his neck.

"Who are you?" Vicente broke the silence of the two men, making the weaker one shiver, while the stronger one turned his eyes towards his companion.

"Shit!" 3-Star Magus said when he realized it was Vicente. "You almost scared me to death, brat." He said as he looked down at the ground and took a deep breath.

Vicente frowned as he heard it. 'Aren't they enemies after me?'

"Let go of Bert, brat. We're from the same sect. We're on a mission to keep you out of trouble." Explained the stronger man as he moved slowly to summon his identification.

{That looks real, master. This 3-Star Magus really is registered with the sect.} Prisiche confirmed.

Vicente frowned, still carefully, but retracting his dagger from the neck of the 2-Star Magus. These two could be members of the sect selling his information. There would be no way for Prisiche to know whether they could be trusted.

But for now, Vicente backed off from this approach.

"Why are you following me? If you're on a mission to protect me, wouldn't it have been better to talk to me first?" he asked as he released Bert.

"Our mission made it explicit not to do that. Diplomacy Center rules, our superiors say," Bert said as he ran his hand over his neck. "That's supposed to increase the..."

"Quiet, Bert." Garin interrupted his colleague, before saying to Vicente, "Brat, you shouldn't have brought us here just to check who we are. Now we're in the middle of a bloody enchanted forest. Do you know the risks we run every minute we're here?"

Before Vicente could answer him, Garin sensed something and shifted his gaze, quickly turning his back on Vice.

Then a powerful roar came from 300 meters north of where they were standing.

"Shit!"