Pedro reverted back to his human form and approached Neerak Axutar and three village soldiers, who were in deep sleep. While approaching them, he typed a message towards Sabrina informing her that he was able to set up the adventurers and one of them as the culprit that they were chasing.
On top of that, he said that she—Pedro's comrade who went ahead to chase after the werewolf, was tasked to chase after the men whom Pedro had 'purposely' allowed escaping. This was so that they would be able to track the location of the other accomplices of their enemies and, later on, bring them down one by one.
With this, Sabrina's was missing for a purpose. Even the members of the Advance Force would be able to understand and accept this explanation. At the same time, he took this chance to warn Sabrina about Neerak Axutar's ability.
He was too smart to the point that they might not be able to make him follow them just by simply instilling fear towards him with Pedro and everyone else's power. Thus, they need to act carefully in front of Neerak Axutar. Well… It was the trade-off for having a talented NPC under his command.
He also said that their goal was to arrive at Baliu Village before midnight. Whether the NPCs would be capable to follow behind him or not, he did not give that much care. He said to her that the important thing right now is to be able to reach the Tarala Kingdom by dawn the next day. Thus, if they wanted to do so, they would need to stop by Baliu Village for an hour or two to give Pedro and the other NPCs a chance to rest.
And if they were lucky, they might encounter merchants that would be able to bring them to the Tarala Kingdom without needing to rest for an hour on the Baliu Village. That said, Pedro did not expect that much—that there would be a merchant present at the Baliu Village.
It was because they were not even able to encounter a merchant at the Axutar Village. In fact, Pedro was not able to obtain anything other than potions in the Village Shop of Axutar Village. He had a hunch that the travels of merchants are temporarily halted because there was currently no decent solution to the monster waves that are prominent everywhere in Aquari Continent.
With Sabrina informed of the things he plotted, he was assured that from now on, their journey towards the Tarala Kingdom would be smooth. And that they would arrive at the said Kingdom before any major event occurs.
'I am concerned about her…' Pedro mumbled deep inside. 'She would be flying non-stop for hours. I need to form up a plan for someone to meet her—so that she could take a rest and log off the game. Perhaps… I could ask Mathew to teleport at Baliu Village and swap with her from guarding the Werewolf. This is my only choice since there are only a few monsters coming from the north.'
Decided, Pedro sent another message to Sabrina. This time, he also sent the same message to Mathew. In response, Sabrina cried loudly that made Pedro smirk. As for Mathew, he simply messaged him with an 'Okay' emoji and said that he would transfer the management of the Land Forces to Talia—since her ant army was the main force dealing with the monsters coming from their south, The Great Western Forest and the Woba Mountain.
"This would do…" Pedro mumbled, "We really lack manpower. Hiring Cousin Weyron is the easiest solution to this problem. But… He is the only one I can trust to manage and lead the gold farming force. On top of that… Aunt said that he's already contacting other major guilds from the Philippines. He probably got his hands full at the moment. No wonder he left the Tarala Kingdom Problem in my hand."
Pedro shook his head and said, "In any case, the solution to the manpower issue lies on the Tarala Kingdom. If it falls… I'll try to use the organization to recruit its previous soldiers. But if it doesn't… A representative would do. Because… I could just head to the underground organizations and solve this issue."
He glanced towards Neerak and murmured, "I just hope that things won't go south because of this kid. He would be useful later on—in case we need someone to organize the people that we would be able to obtain from this trip. Or… We could use him to set up an adventurer guild of some sort that the Kingdoms and Villages might adopt. It was his idea after all."
Pedro smirked evilly as he reverted his eyes to their normal state. Fortunately, Neerak Axutar and the three village soldiers woke up despite their stamina was dried to its last drop just by continuous hours of non-stop running.
They had trouble standing up—especially Neerak Axutar, as their body trembled as if they had finished a marathon. Their legs felt weak as it was barely able to lift them up, much less to be able to take a step forward.
That said, they did not dare to lay idly, especially in front of Pedro—who had 'configured' the forest behind him. Smashed trees, Mashed soil, and the stinky reek of blood, the NPCs could not help but to stare at Pedro and admire how frightening he was.
With his murderous stare, paired with the cold aura that his body emanated, Pedro resembled a serial killer that made the four NPCs froze in place. Their hearts could not help but race faster each second as his smirk made it seem like Pedro was even enjoying that very moment.
In order to bring them back to their senses, Pedro made a clap that astonished the four NPCs—out of fear. Then, he glanced towards Neerak Axutar and said, "I have defeated the enemy with ease. Fortunately, we were able to deal with a severe injury to the werewolf at your village. The long chase had worn down its remaining strength, giving me and my comrade to defeat him with ease."
"T-That's great news!" Neerak Axutar said, after mustering up all his courage. Then, he glanced around looking for Pedro's 'comrade'. Seeing that no one was around, Neerak Axutar could not help but force out a smile and ask, "B-But where's your comrade, sir Aron?"
Pedro simply pointed his thumb to the 'configured' part of the Baliu Forest and said, "We just learned a piece of disturbing information! It seems like the adventurers were somehow collaborating with the shape-shifting monster. We are yet to find out the reason behind this, so, I sent her to follow an adventurer that we purposely let go, alive."
"T-This…" Neerak Axutar could not help but frown as he glanced towards the three village soldiers—who also had the same sour look. They took a glance in the direction of their village before shifting their attention back to Pedro. Then, Neerak Axutar asked, "S-Sir Aron! This is bad news! Should we not return to our village and inform my father so that he would be able to employ a stricter rule regarding the adventurers?"
Pedro simply shook his head in response and said, "I am sorry but… We can't go back already! We need to go after my comrade and be ready to provide assistance in case she encounters a strong enemy."
"B-But…" Neerak Axutar wanted to argue but he was interrupted by Pedro before he could utter another word.
"Don't worry young man! Even at worst, the adventurers in your village won't do anything that would harm anyone—even your father. They have a common enemy—which is the monsters, and they aren't strong enough to be the enemy of the Head Soldier of Axutar Village. Besides… Didn't you establish an office that would manage the adventurers? Have some faith in your work! The other villages… even Kingdoms, do not have the same rules that you were able to establish."
"This…" Neerak Axutar could not help but rub the back of his head and force out a smile—being shy. At this moment, Pedro's pen-knife halted from rotating around them, and simply slid back to Pedro's sleeve.
Then, Pedro approached Neerak Axutar and sent a strong slap to his back, while saying, "Cheer up! Instead of worrying someone else, why don't you worry about how you would keep walking to Baliu Village instead? It's about to turn dark, and I don't like camping that much!"
Pedro laughed, hopelessly making Neerak Axutar feel troubled. The young man glanced to his feet only to see it trembling and was barely able to keep standing. Then, he glanced towards Pedro and said, "Sir Aron, Shouldn't we inspect the area and the bodies of the culprits before we head to our next destination?"
At this moment, Neerak Axutar had his fingers crossed. He was hoping that Pedro would consider what he said and that they would check the corpse—giving him and the three village soldiers more time to rest. However, Pedro simply smirked in response as if he had seen through Neerak Axutar's intention to delay their departure for a bit.
Truth be told, the three village soldiers could still be able to proceed and even reach the Baliu Village—but in exchange for draining their strength to its last drop. It was only Neerak Axutar who is not able to continue that far.
But no matter what happens, Pedro had no choice but to proceed because time was not on his side. The Tarala Kingdom is doomed to fall if he did not arrive there the next day. Fortunately, he was able to plant several inventory bags—containing dead bodies of humans and wolves, which became his escape to Neerak Axutar's plan of delay.
Pedro simply smirk and pointed to where the dead bodies were located and said, "There's no need for you to see something gore at your age. But… If you want to insist, go check the inventory bags of the adventurers that I fought... Don't tell me that I did not warn you beforehand,young man!"