NoGift

ARGENT carefully landed the flying shuttle on a clearing located in a forest. She first checked the surrounding area for any signs of human activities. When she made sure that there was no one around, she finally turned off the stealth mode of the shuttle. They flew all the way there using stealth mode. Because Argent didn't want people to record an unidentified flying object using their sPhones and post it on their [Jiffy] account. Sooner or later, someone would definitely link that flying object to Silver Corporation. The last thing she needed was for people to clamor for her to mass produce it and sell it to them.

"You can get off now," Argent said to Aurum and Black while turning off the engine.

Black ran off first, almost jumping around like an overly energized kid. Aurum followed. After making sure that the shuttle's engine was really off, Argent too went out. She walked in front of the shuttle and took out a small remote from the space ring she was wearing. Argent pressed the button and the shuttle immediately turned into a capsule the size of an adult forefinger.

She bent down and picked up the capsule. Argent made this technology after studying and understanding how the space ring in this world worked. This capsule has the same function as a space ring. She built this technology in some of the inventions she made. By pressing the remote, it would trigger the capsule technology built inside the shuttle. By pressing the remote again, it would release the shuttle. She put both the remote and the capsule in her space ring.

"So which direction shall we go?" asked Aurum.

"Based on our current location, the capital's direction is towards the east," Argent answered.

Shandra was a small country not even a little bit bigger than Warrshaw - the capital of Amexem. It's located at the easternmost part of the Southwestern continent, surrounded by natural rainforests and mountains. Because of its terrain, it was mostly isolated from other neighboring countries. One would need to travel for a month in a carriage to go to the nearest country. That's probably the main reason why the Temple of Gaia has a complete control over it.

Shandra was a theocratic government. It meant that the people believed that their supreme ruler was the god or goddess their religion was worshipping. In this case, the goddess Gaia. Which in turn meant that the Temple was the one ruling this country. In this case, the newly appointed Bishop - Charles Dupont.

All these, White found for Argent. After all, she couldn't just go here blindfolded. If she wanted to get the sPhones distributed here and to find out the reason why the Temple hated her company, then she needed all the information she could use.

"Why are we going to the capital?" asked Aurum again.

"Because that's where the merchant who wanted to work with Silver Corporation lives." That merchant contacted someone in the company and proposed a plan to distribute sPhones here in Shandra. Finn approved it since another area of distribution meant more money. "And the church of the Temple is also there."

"Do you really think that there's a deeper reason why those old priests hates our company?"

"Yes. Organizations like the Temple of Gaia only meddle with things that they think will bring a disadvantage to their influence. Maybe to them the existence of Silver Corporation threaten their position. But we really won't know the real reason if we don't investigate."

Aurum sighed. "Okay. I get it. I won't complain anymore."

"Master, where are we going next?" Black suddenly asked.

"There's a village nearby. We can hire a carriage there so we can travel to the capital." That's the reason why Argent landed here, because it was the only village near a not so dense forest area. "But before that..."

She walked in front of her sister and took a black choker from her space ring. She put the choker on Aurum's neck and pressed it. Her sister's lovely face turned into a plain one. The type that no one would take notice of. Argent took another choker from her space ring and put it on. She pressed the button on her choker. She was sure that just like Aurum's, her face became plain. The choker was basically a holographic device. Although people here might not recognized her and Aurum, but both their faces were simply too attention grabbing. They should at least be low-key while being here.

Black scrunched up his face. "Master, Black doesn't like your face right now."

"I don't think I do as well," Aurum seconded.

Aurum already had experience using this choker. Because of her fame, it was important that she could disguise herself or else she would always be mobbed by people whenever she went out in public. That was why her brother made this. It was fine when she was using it. But seeing the plain face her brother was using right now, she somehow disliked it. Because it's such a waste, covering her brother's pretty face.

Argent just shook her head. "Let's go, you two."

She started walking eastward and the two followed, walking side by side with her.

According to the map Argent studied, they would reach the nearby village after walking for at least an hour. But after 20 minutes of walking, Argent noticed movements from a couple of trees. She reached for Aurum's hand.

"Aurum, can you sense the number of people surrounding us?" she asked in a low voice.

Aurum could now read people's mind within a five meter radius. After years of training, she could turn it off and on now. Aurum chose to always turn it off because having the thoughts of the people around you bombard you constantly could make anyone insane. And she has no plans yet to go crazy.

"Wait, I'll check it." Aurum let go of her Mana and released it to the surrounding area. A couple of voices flitted into her mind.

[Who are these people?]

[Were they sent by the Temple?]

[They look rich. How much can we take from them?]

[When will the leader send the signal to attack?]

Aurum took back her Mana and immediately turned it off. "There's five men up on those trees. Two on our left, another two on our right, and the remaining one is a little bit ahead of us," she whispered.

[Five, huh?] "Are they malicious?"

Aurum shook her head. "No. I don't think so. I think they're just trying to rob us."

"Can you attack them? Not a serious attack, just enough to make them unconcious," Argent said. She knew how deadly her sister's telepathic attack was. If these guys were not malicious, then there's really no reason for them to die here.

"I could. But the other one, the one ahead of us, he's barely in my range. My attack won't reach him."

"That's fine. Just attack the other four."

Aurum nodded and once again released her Mana. But this time, it was not to read their thoughts but to attack their brains. Just a few seconds later, four men suddenly fell from the trees they were standing on. All of them, unconcious. After that, a young man immediately came down from a tree located in front of them. He has short reddish-brown hair and sun-kissed skin.

"Are they dead?" he asked calmly, but anyone could see the anger in his dark brown eyes.

Argent raised her brow, she didn't expect this kind of reaction. "They're not." She saw him gave out a sigh of relief when he heard her answer. "And I suggest you don't try to make a sneak attack because you'll just end up unconcious if you do."

The man raised his hands in surrender. "I won't move from this spot and you three can go on your way."

"I don't think we could let go of the five of you that easily. After all, you were indeed planning to ambush us," Argent said.

The man furrowed his brows in vigilance. "What do you want then?"

The corner of Argent's lips tilted upwards. "Information."