The night sets, as I sleep peacefully.

A loud screeching sound echoes in my ears.

*EEEEEEEEE*

It sounds rather like the sound of an alarm from my previous life.

I’m rudely awoken from my beauty sleep.

I ruffle my hair in slight annoyance.

I do have high hopes for my dashing appearance once I reach the ripe age of 18, so I do want to take good care of this growing body...

Feeling disgruntled, I push myself to sit up reluctantly.

However, soon after, I shake my head, slapping my face lightly with my palms.

“That ringing sound… There’s a book that wrote that alarm medallions caused a sound like that...”, I mutter to myself.

An alarm medallion as a simple device imbued with a basic spell, ‘Alarm’. It’s a spell that any apprentice can learn. It simply produces a form of ringing sound that only humans can hear.

It’s commonly used on trips in the forest, since you don’t want to attract wild animals and beasts.

Noticing the possible severity of the situation, I quickly get dressed and shuffle out of my tent with urgency.

I leave the tent, only to see Zhe Yun and the merchant discussing something, with the servants by the side with pale expressions.

As I stare trying to make sense of the situation, Sylvia, Wind and the Ogre man also lift the flaps of their tents with dazed expressions.

I walked over towards where the merchant was, the caravan, wondering if some goods were damaged by wild animals.

However, as I near, I notice the conversation.

“T-This…”, the merchant mutters with a distressed expression.

The adventurer shakes his head mildly, “I’m afraid that’s the case, Mr Tong…”

He pauses, noticing the rest of us approaching.

As we approach, Sylvia asks what’s going on.

The merchant makes a difficult expression in reaction to her simple question.

He then gestures to us to follow him.

We reach his tent, and lying on the ground within was a male servant.

Another servant uncovered the sheet placed over him.

The male servant lying on the ground wasn’t breathing, and his hand clasped an alarm medallion tightly.

His head was badly dislocated towards the right, as he lay motionless.

I can more or less guess the rest, understanding the reason for the merchant’s difficult expression.

All of us keep silent upon witnessing this as well.

I have some slight recollection of the man, he was the lookout for tonight.

Usually the lookout was just in charge of looking after the goods in case of stray animals.

However, a wild animal or beast most certainly could not have twisted the man’s neck.

After the moment of silence, everyone starts making sidewards glances around.

It’s clear that everyone has reached the same conclusion I did.

Here in this secluded forest, one mercenary turning traitor could very well result in the deaths of everyone.

Everyone’s unguarded at night.

One.

That’s all you need.

As for the person’s motive, if I had to speculate a guess… it should be the unknown goods that we’re carrying.

I doubt any of the mercenaries know of what’s inside as well.

I frown, looking at the merchant.

The goods he’s carrying can’t be simple.

The prepatrator didn’t kill a mercenary.

He opted to kill a servant instead, possibly in an attempt to steal the goods under everyone’s noses.

However, the operation failed when the servant activated the medallion, not dying immediately from the attack.

I ask the merchant to check his goods.

His eyes reveal a light sparkle, as he shows some anxiety, rushing back towards the goods of the caravan.

After inspecting the items for a while, he lets out a look of relief.

It seems I was right, the perpetrator must have fled on hearing the sound.

However, I would personally have liked the perpetrator to have escaped successfully.

If he or she did, they would most likely escape, or simply leave the group secretly once we return to the main road.

Since the person is still here… that mean they have not given up on the goods.

Now that it’s come to this, there’s no point in staying a bystander.

If I don’t say anything and we all simply go to rest, we could all very well die to the next beast horde with an atmosphere like this one.

“I think it’s quite clear that one of us has turned traitor.”, I say, voicing out the thoughts of everyone here.

Everyone looks at me with different gazes, but no one speaks up.

“A normal person like me or the merchant wouldn’t have the strength to twist the head of a grown man so easily, so it should be one of you mercenaries…”

I look around upon saying this, checking if anyone disagreed.

“If anyone has any inkling on who it might be, please speak up.”

No one responds, as expected. Sylvia shakes her head.

“I don’t think we’ll get anywhere with this. I trust that whoever did this did not want to kill us all, but wanted to steal the goods you’re carrying, Mr Tong.”, Zhe Yun steps forward to speak.

He implied heavily that the goods should be revealed at this time.

“T-The goo-”, the merchant struggles to speak.

I cut him off, saying, “At this point, it’s not wise to reveal the goods. What if this attracts the desire of more of us?”

I pause, continuing, “I just want to get through this forest safely.”

At this point, a servant whispers something to Tong Guan.

He displays a shocked expression.

He then speaks up, “I won’t ask more about the identity of this person, but I hope whoever you are, you’ll refrain from killing anyone else, even if you get what you want.”

“From now on, I want 2 mercenaries to be the lookouts for each night. That way, at least if one of you is the traitor, the other one will be awake to restrain you.”

He then thinks for a bit more, saying, “I promise that if we reach the city without any further incidents, I will not pursue this matter any further.”

I look at the merchant with renewed admiration.

At this point, he’s giving the perpetrator a chance at retreat. Otherwise, upon returning to the city, if he decided to initiate an investigation, the person would be pursued endlessly by law enforcement.

I nod in approval.

The rest express their approval for taking up the positions of lookout.

One by one, they retreat back into their tents.

The merchant decided that the lookouts for the rest of the night were to be Zhe Yun and Wind.

As I intend to retreat to my tent to digest the rest of this heavy matter…

“Mister Xue, hold on. Do you mind accompanying me for a bit?”

I nod in slight surprise, but follow him to his tent regardless.

We sit down carefully, as a servant covers the tent flap securely before leaving.

I look at him calmly, “I assume you figured something out?”

He says slowly, “Yes.”

I wait for him to continue.

“I was informed by a servant slightly-trained in medicine that the dead servant has a broken ribcage, and suffered from internal bleeding…”

“W-What?”, I lose some control, exclaiming.

“So that means…”, I begin.

“Yes.”, he nods firmly.

I regain my composure, asking carefully, “... and you’re telling me this because?”

He laughs lightly, “You’re at least related to nobility, so I must keep you informed for sure!”

“You jest, Mr Tong.”, I smile wryly.

He thinks I at least have some live-saving weapon, if not, I could be an apprentice mage.

As for why he doesn’t suspect me, it is because of my small physique.

I look so frail sometimes the wind could blow me away, this body simply isn’t fit for combat.

I understand his position, so I continue, “I’m an apprentice mage, but don’t expect too much from me, I’m not good in combat.”

He seems to have anticipated this, “That’s fine, at this point, any help would be appreciated.”

“Now that I’ve shown some sincerity, it’s time for you to show some too?”, I ignore his grim statement, glancing towards the closed tent opening.

He frowns for a moment, before relaxing, “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you. We’re carrying a batch of high-grade healing potions.”

I express my shock again.

A high-grade healing potion could even heal a man on the brink of death, with dislocated limbs, back to the prime of his health in less than a minute.

It’s simply something that’s close to priceless to adventurers and mercenaries.

The Lei Kingdom likely doesn’t possess more than a few batches in its treasury.

And this merchant is carrying a whole batch of them on him.

“I see.”, I say simply, expressing understanding over the situation.

He lets out a sigh, knowing that he’s implicated me.

At this point, I continue, “What else is inside? Is it possible at all the person is targeting something else?”

I’m not doubting the authenticity of his words, or the potions’ value, but something of such importance must have had its information concealed well.

He shakes his head, “There’s not much else of value, just some typical trade items, like broken magic items and slave collars. No one would rob a caravan over just those.”

I nod, broken magic items usually only have 1 or 2 uses left in them, and are popular with poorer adventurers, same with slave collars… mercenaries like to enslave beastmen they meet, and sell them to slave merchants.

“Judging by the tall stature of the servant, it could only be him. We have to hit him before he hits us.”, he says.

“I understand.”

He’s right, the only one that could have dealt such a blow would be Sylvia or the Ogre man. With the height of the man and his twisted neck, Sylvia couldn’t possibly have twisted his neck.

With the Ogre man’s terrifying prowess, if we faced him head on, even if we won we’ll face severe losses.

It wouldn’t be convenient for the leader of the caravan to go gather the rest, since his actions would be easily noticed.

The servants are viewed as his extension as well, unlike me, who talks to Sylvia regularly.

I would thus be perfectly justified to talk to Sylvia.

She could then pass the message to Wind in their tent, and Zhe Yun when they are on lookout together.

“But, I have a request, I would like to hold a potion just in case.”

He ponders for a moment, before agreeing reluctantly, saying that he'll pass me the potion on his carriage tomorrow.

And so I leave his tent to return to my own, resting for the night.