Far away from the capital near the border of the holy empire and Midas kingdom exists a vast woodland.

The woodland name is Red woods laden with low-level monsters on which nobles train each year.

An ideal place for a lone fugitive to hide or, in this case, an awful place to escape pursuers.

A lone figure runs between trees, using wind magic now and then to swiftly change direction or speed up, hoping to shake off her pursuers.

4 figures chase her using tactics in which 2 figures work as vanguards and another 2 work as rearguards to be ready for the unexpected.

Yet the figures behind her don’t seem to use magic. They can keep up with her,

It baffled Helda beyond belief, for she never thought she would find herself in such a position.

Helda has always been careful, using her know-how to target the rich aristocracy. She would target the ones who were extremely arrogant and those who would be ashamed for the world to know a mere commoner had bested them.

She would work as a maid and after some time, she would kidnap the sweetheart of the family and demand a ransom.

A low enough amount for the aristocracy to not think too much of it or even chase her after.

She would always target low baron families who, because of their arrogant nature, would not have many friends.

After years of doing such a thing, she was getting bored. In the beginning, it was fun. The thrill of getting away with it. Imagining the bastards’ faces.

She thought, let’s take a big one this time and then escape the kingdom. She found the target in Duke Lionheart.

It was easy enough to get a job in the household. The fourth wife was too naïve.

The rumours about her were true though she was strong, someone Helda never want to face in battle.

She soon found her target a young naïve boy, same as his mother.

The only weird thing was that they did not announce his existence to the public.

It was not unheard of for families to announce their child only after 6 years of age, as commoner children died before that, but that was not the case with nobles who could afford to employ healers to take care of most diseases.

There were rumours he was not the Dukes’ child, which would explain why he and his mother were kept away from the rest of the family.

After trying to decide if she should abandon the plan, as she might not get money if Duke believes the rumours and uses the opportunity to get rid of the kid.

Helda didn’t want to be used. As she was trying to get to a decision, an unexpected thing happened.

The Duke was accused of treason. Helda used the opportunity to get the boy, but later thought she didn’t want to be a babysitter.

The first village they get to lo-and-behold slave trader was there, as if the gods were on her side. The slave trader wanted a boy matching the Duke’s son’s description.

She didn’t waste another day on thoughts. She got rid of the boy. The sight of the boy unable to grasp the situation sweetened the whole thing.

Now she had retreated to her home base in the Red woods where young nobles would come to train in fighting and defeating monsters.

A perfect place to hide and gather information.

After some time, she heard the rumour that the Duke family was being interrogated.

Such a thing could mean doom for her, as she didn’t want to be caught by those pesky imperial knights.

She limited her outings and only ventured out in the middle of the night, making sure nobody would see her face. You never know what kind of magic those bastards would have for tracking.

It had been a week since her night outings had started one night while she cursed at the dry meat she had stomach with stale bread. All her alarms went off.

Not one or two, but all, or at least she imagined all by the looks of things.

She thought a battalion had come to capture her.

To her surprise, it was 6 figures, not close enough to make out who they were, but what surprised her even further was that they didn’t come near her but just stood there.

She heard the words “you have half an hour” words which flew to her with the wind, the gender of the voice uncertain.

She ran as fast as possible by using her magic.

Thinking she had got away and laughing at them for giving her the chance to run.

After five minutes, that laughter stopped, for she felt the approaching figures.

How the hell did they catch up? I even removed the trail.

The figure chasing her we’re 4 now.

She tried to shake them off, but here she is 4 hours later.

She has never run such in her life. She had been using her magic more frequently and with only 15% mana left in her.

She had to make a stand, though the 2 missing figures worried her.

The thought that they had been chasing her and not using their magic at all meant they were basic only good at running.

Further away stood one of the 2 missing figures as she pondered over her next move.

Suddenly, she felt a figure arrive from the darkness.

A person she was more than familiar with as they had learned to recognise each other without the need to see. After years, she could recognise the unknown figure with just a feeling.

They did this to make them a good fighting unit. As a unit who works in shadows, they are weak alone, but together they can match even the greatest of knights.

Sensing the new figure approach, she salutes.

“Captain Sophia, what brings you here?”

“Madame is getting impatient. How are the new recruits?”

“They are slow. Do you want me to wrap it up?”

“No, let the recruits use magic, I’ll finish it”

“Yes captain”

Upon hearing her captain’s order, she sends a message through the wind.

A simple skill they were taught as they grew up in forests to talk to each other.

Upon hearing the message from their senior, one of the vanguard figures breaks formation and uses the magic to create vines on the forest floor to grab Heldas’ legs

Helda, sensing the forest floor moving, sees vines that appear from the ground trying to catch her legs.

At first, frustrated that her pursuers were not basic like she had predicted. She quickly gains control of her emotions.

She uses wind as a jet to push the vines away from her feet at the same time, propelling her forward at a much higher speed.

Smiling at the minor victory, but such a victory is short-lived, for she only just notices that the path she was taking is becoming narrower by the second. It is as if the trees were moving.

She tries to change direction to find a tree up ahead she hadn’t noticed before.

She can use magic to avoid them, but such a thing is a wasteful use of mana considering that she even has opponents who are fighting but only one for now.

What she doesn’t notice is that the narrowing of the path is a magic ability used by the second vanguard.

Though slow, it allows the user to adjust the tree’s position ever so slightly that it looks like you can’t avoid it. Be aware that the tree position only moves for a few seconds.

Such a tactic over time plays a game on the opponent’s mind, making them believe that there is only one way ahead.

This was what Helda was experiencing now.

As she runs towards the opening at full speed, her legs get caught by the vines which had been waiting to ambush her.

She falls to the floor with a thud and starts bleeding from the hands and knees as she uses them to break her fall

The four figures slow down and start approaching her.

She tries to use the last of her magic to create a gust of wind to push everything away from her, but the figures take cover behind trees and avoid her magic.

Helda regretting not having more offensive power to use. She gets the dagger out of her dress, ready to fight.

A vine shoots up and smacks the dagger from her hand as she tries to crawl to the dagger.

“Stop.” A female stands in between her and the dagger.

A figure is shrouded in darkness, even though she stands in front of Helda.

Helda can barely make her out from the surroundings.

“You are to accompany us to the capital. Madame Isabella requests it”

Even though she says request, Helda knows she does not have a choice as she gathers her strength to get up.