Hiryu's eyes stretched wide at the feel of Feon on his rear. It was more than just uncool, it was a sudden and direct violation of his personal space. His back went rigid and upright, frozen in place on contact. He swallowed the lump in his throat and attempted to move passed it.

"Okay..." he muttered with a blink. He shuffled his legs, testing their reaction. He felt turbocharged. Feon moved on ahead of him and Hiryu took a couple steps to chase her, but stopped, remembering the merchant. He looked back. The man was nervous. He couldn't hide it. Hiryu wondered if he was even trying to at this point. "We have everything under control. You have my word." replied Hiryu, before jetting off to the scene of the last robbery. along the way, Hiryu remarked on how fast Feon's magic made him. Running was a naturally forte, but Feon's magic seemed to make it truly effortless. When he arrived, he immediately knew the scene didn't make sense. The attack was situated out in the wilderness. For any gang of roving bandits and thugs they couldn't afford to scour the entire area between cities like this looking for travelling stock or traders. They would need to set up camp, somewhere they can work around. The vast openness between towns of Fiore created too many opportunites to miss someone by chance of being in the wrong place or at the wrong time. The struggle looked precise, not necessarily organised, but precise. They left nothing of whatever was being transported, meaning they had they own means of transporting it after the attacked the wagon. What's more, there was wreckage of the wagon still left lying around, meaning they didn't steal that to make their exit either.

"We need to head back to that merchant." explained Hiryu, before high-tailing it back the way they came. The prior encounters with bandits on this trade route were not random. There were prepared for when and where they were attacking the traders and what they were highjacking them for. More to the point, Hiryu was convinced that the merchant already knew all this. 

[hr]

The Merchant didn't wait for Feon and Hiryu to return, feeling to anxious as a sitting duck. The merchant boarded his wagon and commanded the horses to mush in the direct of his destination. The horses moved into a trot and the merchant glanced left and right as he moved further and further from town. Unfortunately, while out on the meadows near the train tracks, he heard a whistle. It startled him. Upon glancing around, he saw a man on horseback, beset by mountain bandits on steeds resembling wild boars or pigs. He tried to out pace them by forcing the horses into a gallop, but the bandits closed in on him from all directions.