Alvin was running battle simulations of the upcoming confickit in his head while he looked over the blade on his sword and dagger with a tense expression as he knew this might be the toughest battle in his short career before he gave a look at the young daughter of the village chief Chloe that was the most tense and was even trembling slightly, as he had known her almost all his life and he knew why she was so tense and lightly scratched his head before he sighed and spoke up in a low voice

"worst case scenario Chloe most return to the village alive"

hearing his words Isabel and Rex nodded silently but Chloe was not so understanding and asked

"so you mean i am the only one not allowed to die?"

"yes that's right"

hearing Alvin's dry cut response Chloe was about to argue further before Rex put a hand on one of her shoulder calming her down before he spoke

"you know what it would do to your dad if he lost you too, especially if he lost you to the humans"

hearing Rex Chloe calmed down but was still unsatisfied to still get treated differently even while she on a mission and sulked slightly before Isabel spoke up

"it makes perfect sense Chloe, so don't make that face"

"what do you mean it makes perfect sense? i am sick of always getting treated like some fragile piece of gla.s.s"

hearing Chloe's outburst Isabel gave a gentle smile and spoke slowly to sooth her

"it does make sense, Alvin is the captain so he has responsibility for us, Rex is an old elf that should have retired long ago and i am a widow past her prime with no kids"

listening to Isabel's words Chloe calmed down and regained her calm with a sigh and spoke up again with a slight smile on her face

"so Alvin what is the best case scenario?"

hearing Chloe's usual confident voice Alvin gave a smile before he spoke up

"best case scenario all of us return to the village safe and i get a new s.h.i.+ny medal"

hearing Alvin usual talk all the members of the 6th barrier forest patrol squad laughed quietly before Alvin gave the command to move on

"let's go"

the tense and professional atmosphere instantly returned to the group as they continued to move in formation for a couple of minutes until they reached the target and Alvin gave a command more as he silently drew his sword

"Isabel draw sword with me, Rex and Chloe cover"

hearing the command Rex and Chloe took their bows of their backs and went to the right and left side both agilely climbing trees quickly disappearing from view and Isabel drew her sword and moved up to the side of Alvin and gave him a quick nod

"let's go"

Alvin waited 20 seconds in the edge of the forest for Rex and Chloe to get in position and moved with Isabel out into a area that had been cleared off trees, moving a little forward Isabel crocheted down and torched a stump with her free hand

"...Alvin there is tool marks on theses stumps"

after Alvin looked around confirming there was no threats in the cleared area he spotted a cave entrance with logs piled up beside it putting on a stern face he came to a conclusion

"...humans or maybe a single human did this"

Isabel looked up at Alvin and gave a little smile before asking him even though she fully knew the answer to her own question

"what makes you say a single human did this, it is a lot of work to fel this many trees is it not?"

"...i might be wrong but"

as Alvin spoke he pointed his sword to a pale white ax that stood leaning against the log pile while giving a slight smile

"if there were more than one there would most likely be more tools, besides i don't see any claw marks so we can rule out the beastmen"

while feeling proud of her little brothers growth Isabel gave a smile and stood up as she asked him

"then what is our next action captain?"

Alvin did not give an immediate answer but instead raised his hand a gave a signal to Rex and Chloe to join up and waited for them to arrive before he spoke again

"first of all we need to clear that cave, Rex with me, Isabel and Chloe cover"

"""yes captain"""

receiving the order Rex put his bow on his back and unsheathed his sword and moved up next to Alvin while Isabel sheathed her sword and took her bow and nooked a arrow before moving behind Alvin as she pulled the bow and aimed over his shoulder while Chloe took a similar potion behind Rex as all 4 of them moved closer to the cave silently while keeping formation stopping in front of the cave before Alvin yelled out

"This is the captain of the 6th barrier forest patrol team, you are in violation of the treaty come out immediately or we will consider you hostile!"

after waiting for 10 seconds without receiving an answer Alvin looked at Rex and gave a nod as all 4 began to move into the cave before stopping less than 5 meters in when they saw the corpse of a earth boar that was just lying there on the cave floor half dismantled stunning all of the elvers sightly before Alvin regained his calm and gave a order

"clear the cave first then we can look around afterwards"

"""yes captain"""

moving further into the cave they saw piles of bones and bones that looked like they had been sharpened by something, before they reached the end of the cave were a giant hide was spread out seemingly serving as a bed for the occupants of this cave, Alvin was slightly stunned as he recognized the hide had belonged to a cla.s.s 6 giant berserk bear but still gave a command

"clear, Isabel cheek for hidden areas with earth magic"

"yes captain"

receiving his command Isabel lowed her bow and closed her eyes for a few seconds before giving a light stump with her leg and after waiting for a few seconds she opened her eyes again before reporting

"no hidden areas detected"

breathing out a sigh that seemed to lower the tension of the patrol Alvin thought for a few seconds before giving his next commands

"Chloe go watch the perimeter of the clearing make sure we don't get ambushed by the occupants of this cave when they return"

"yes captain"

receiving his command Chloe turned around and ran out of the cave with bow ready

"Rex cheek the inside of the cave for things we may have missed"

"yes captain"

after sheathing his sword Rex walked over to the bear hide and crouched down as he inspected it with a thoughtful expression

"Isabel with me, we are going to cheek the clearing for clues"

"yes captain"

lowering her bow Isabel walked out of the cave with Alvin into the clearing as Alvin was looking lost i thought he jumped up on a tree stump and stood still as he overlooked the clearing while Isabel walked around until Rex walked out of the cave and joined them he gave a whistle to signaling Chloe and Isabel to join them and waited for them before he spoke up still looking a little lost in thought

"Rex what did you find?"

"first of the hide in the back of the cave is defiantly from a cla.s.s 6 berserk bear, and from its size it was a most 2 years away from reaching cla.s.s 7 before it was killed, the 2 piles of bones was both from the same bear though one of the piles seemed to have been processed to make swords though the most likely the pile of swords was failures, and finally the half dismantled earth boar corpse seemed to have been killed a few days ago and is missing its core"

still looking lost in thought Alvin touched his chin and was silent for a few seconds before he spoke again

"Isabel what about the clearing?"

"the clearing seemed to have been made a little over a week ago judging from the marks on the tree stumps, most of the cut trees have been cut into similar pieces and been piled by the entrance of the cave where i also found a hatched and ax that seemed to have been made from bone, there also seem to have been a giant fire in the clearing from around the same time we saw the smoke column"

Alvin stood still in thought for a few seconds before Chloe slowly raised her hand afraid she would interrupt his train of thought by speaking up and stood with her arm raised for a few minutes before Alvin spoke up

"...what is it Chloe?"

"as i was keeping watch over the perimeter i spotted a trail that looked a few days old that seemed like something big was dragged through the forest here to the clearing, and i also saw a pair of fresh foot prints, one pair belonging to a human and one pair belonging to some sort of big cat that was leading away from the clearing into the forest"

still looking lost in thought Alvin nodded slightly before he he seemed to wake up from his thoughts and looked at his team members before he spoke again

"we are going to wait here for them to return, so make preparations for fighting someone that can kill a near cla.s.s 7 magic beast, Isabel send a tectonic pulse reporting our station to the village, then join Chloe and Rex to make perforations for a tough fight"

"""yes captain"""