Chapter 05 Wake Up Call

After an hour of driving at a leisurely pace of 40km per hour, Suzuka begins to stir from her slumber. She stretches her arms and legs, letting out a big yawn.

"Wow, what a nice sleep I had..." she murmurs before suddenly realizing her surroundings. Her eyes widen in panic as she locks gazes with Jacob and Derrick.

"Who are you guys? Where am I? Where are you taking me? And where is Anton?!" she shouts, her voice trembling with fear.

While Suzuka was making a ruckus on MPFW Jacob signal his man to stop for a minute. Then he changes places with Derrick. When Derrick was in the driver's seat Jacob signaled to go and sit in front of Suzuka to explain the situation she was in.

"Hey! Hey! Little girl, calm down! Don't make so much noise, Okay?! Or do you want me to throw you off the wheeler, huh? Now, how does that make you feel? Better? Good... okay then! Now, be a good girl and behave."

Suzuka realized that she was in a precarious situation and kept quiet while listening to what he had to say.

"Good, good girl. And now, since we all calmed down, I thought about explaining what situation you are in, so? Are we clear?!"

Suzuka nodded her head at Jacob and responded simply, "Crystal."

Jacob flashed a wide grin at Suzuka's interruption and responded, "Oh, I like this girl already! Here's the deal, we kinda kidnapped you and-"

But Suzuka cut him off mid-sentence with a pressing question, "What did you do to Anton? He was with me when I passed out... is he here too?"

Jacob answered her with biting sarcasm, "Oh no! He's not here... we beat him up and left him in a gutter as food for frogs, ha! Ha! Ha!"

Enraged, Suzuka threw a fit and began calling Jacob a series of names, "How could you do that to Anton? You dodo head, sloppy nut, Andy Carper, keg stick-"

Derrick, who was driving, intervened with a stern voice, "Would you two shut up? Look, brat! Wait... Andy Carper? Well, whatever, we didn't do anything to that guy Antonio. So shut up! That Antonio guy sold you for a few gold coins to us and left to do his business. For all I know, he could be at a tavern celebrating a good deal or playing with some local girls..."

"You're lying! He would never do that to me, we are friends for six years! Besides, he's a kind and good city guard."

"Wow, six years of friendship got bought by a mare ten gold coins, noble city guard? Pfff, hahaha!... Are you sure that you are not the only one who thinks you two are friends? Oh! Sorry... were friends. Hahaha!"

"Shut up! He can't be..."

"Look, girl, city guard is a poor job, it's hard, boring, and nobody appreciates it... you don't make a good living from that, haha!"

"I don't believe you, layer!"

"He put you to sleep, you dumb brat!"

Suzuka is startled by a sudden shout from Derrick and stops talking mid-sentence. Jacob turns to him, clearly annoyed, and says, "Oh, come on! And here I was at the good part. Way to go man! It was really funny to see her all worked up like that. So! Girl, look here, his name is Derrick and he is a real killjoy."

Done lecturing Derrick Jacob turns back at Suzuka and continues to talk. "Okay, okay, all jokes aside, yeah! We let Antonio go safe and sound we needed only you, well not you, in particular, nothing personal, it just happens to be you that crossed our path, that's all. In short, you just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, kid. Antonio had to deliver that day and he was out of options, he chose you for it."

Suzuka's voice remained calm as she asked, "But why would he choose me? Did he really sell me for just 10 gold coins? I find it hard to believe he would do that."

Jacob, clearly annoyed, responded, "Look, girl, I don't know and I don't care. It's just a job to me, that's all."

Suzuka then asked hesitantly, "So why did you kidnap me? Wait, don't tell me... you guys are going to do... things to me? Like touching me and adult stuff."

Jacob, taken aback by her assumption, sat down and exclaimed, "Hell no! What the hell, girl?! Of course not!"

Suzuka breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh, that's a relief..." but then became a bit angry and asked, "Wait, are you saying I'm not good enough for you?!"

Jacob, confused by her reaction, tried to explain himself, "Whoa, hey! Do I look like some kind of child predator to you? Because I'm not! I like women my own age, okay? That gloomy guy driving the wheeler might have a thing for kids, but not me!"

As Jacob spoke, Derrick's driving was interrupted by his outburst.

"Stop spreading lies about me, Jacob!" Derrick shouted. "I like women of my age, in case you're wondering!"

Their conversation was cut short by an adventurer from the first MPFW, who stood up and started shouting in their direction.

"Hey, Jacob! Mind if I play with her? I like girls her age!" he cackled.

Jacob turned to the adventurer, known as Dixson, and barked, "Shut it, Dixson! We're not here to mess around. Keep a lookout and make sure nothing happens to anyone. This is no place for jokes. Save your antics for your daughter when we get back. Is that clear?!"

Dixson quickly sat back down, chastened. Jacob settled back into his seat, but his thoughts were interrupted again by Suzuka.

"You know what, I just realized I'm starving," she said plaintively. "Could I please have something to eat?"

Jacob takes the bag out of the MPFW storage box in his hands and pulls out from it a water bottle, a couple of pieces of smoked meat, and bread.

"Here you go, little girl, have a bite, oh and I hope you're not picky about food, we don't have anything fancy here. We packed stuff to last a few days, so bear with it."

Suzuka accepted the food and water from Jacob, but her expression betrayed her suspicion as she spoke up.

"I hope you didn't put any sleeping medicine in this," she said warily. "And just so you know, I'm not a little girl - I'm sixteen."

Jacob's smile faltered slightly at her tone, but he quickly recovered and replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"Oh, my apologies, Grandma," he quipped. "I didn't mean to insult you by calling you 'little girl'. Ha! Ha! Ha! In all seriousness, though, you don't really look sixteen - more like thirteen from where I'm standing. Actually, I believe you're fourteen, aren't you?"

Suzuka clung to a trunk's corner while ignoring what Jacob was talking about and slowly started to eat with a sad look in her eyes. Jacob tried to get into a conversation with Suzuka but she just sat in a corner and eat in silence without saying anything back. Looks like reality finally hit her and she realized what was happening. He decided to leave her be and sat down on a wheeler seat next to Derrick and started to keep a lookout while he drive. 

After a little bit more than three hours on the forest road, Derrick started talking to Jacob. "Hey! We have been at this speed for three hours, I think we still have six hours until we reach our destination for our plan's first phase."

Jacob taps Derrick on the shoulder and tells him in a calm voice, "That's good, really good... that means, we will have a few hours to scout the area, while still daytime. It Would be madness to go inside the forest at night or while it's getting dark. Mage or not, it's really dangerous to go deep into the forest, especially at night."

Derrick starts talking after Jacob, "Yes, it is, and besides, magic corruption is stronger the deeper you get yourself into the forest. And yes, we have anti-magic corruption crystals but they last only till our mana runs out, after that, we are exposed to magic corruption, also there's a chance they brake. In a week or two, you might not feel any changes but longer than that, you can get mutations, or go crazy."

Jacob stops Derrick from talking and says to him, "You can spare me that textbook crap! I know well what happens, so you better go educate little girl over there, if you want to teach someone about this stuff."

Jacob was about to say something else when Dixson from the first MPFW showed a signal to stop. In front of them, on road, about two hundred meters, Dixson notices a big tree tumbled on their path, from a side road. From that distance, they can't tell what happened to that tree. Dixson and the navigator go ahead to check things out and see if it's not some setup.

The rest of the group remained at a distance, keeping behind Dixson as he approached a tree blocking their path. He examined the tree and the surrounding area, noting that it appeared to have fallen at least a week prior. The leaves were mostly gone and the remaining ones were dry. It seemed that the tree had not been cut down, but had fallen due to its roots breaking while making a hole in the ground, with roots sticking out. There were no footprints in the mud around the tree, only a couple of holes leading to some large bushes nearby. Dixson ensured that the area was safe and signaled Jacob to scan the area for potential threats before removing the tree. Within a minute, the other three members of the MPFW lined up behind the first one. 

Dixson got on his wheeler and asked the boss for further instructions. "Hey! Jacob! I think it's safe! Looks like the tree fell down on its own. But to be safe, could you do a ground scan!? Before you attempt to remove that tree from the road!"

Jacob jumps off the wheeler he was riding on while Derrick was driving and shouted. "Man! On your guard! Okay, Dixson, keep a lookout while I do scanning!"