Chapter 55 Sudden Attack

After a full day of trade negotiations, Baron Belyan purchased twenty thousand pounds of husked wheat from Sapp at a price slightly higher than the usual buying rate. Galvan had originally hoped to sell the grain at a high price, but with trade routes currently blocked, he had no choice but to rely on Baron Belyan to transport the grain out with his troops. Moreover, Baron Belyan promised to continuously purchase large quantities of grain from Sapp in the future for military supplies. To demonstrate absolute sincerity, Galvan provided twelve iron-reinforced four-wheel wagons capable of carrying fifteen hundred pounds free of charge and arranged ten drivers. Of course, once the grain was delivered to Castle Kark, Baron Belyan was obligated to have the Atter Ranger detachment safely escort the wagons and drivers back to Sapp.

During a break in their discussions about purchasing the grain, Barons Galvan and Belyan also agreed with Atter that, after the Ranger detachment returned from transporting grain from Provence, they would assist the Baron in entering the southern mountainous region of Sapp to suppress bandits.

"The southern trade route has always been quite peaceful over the years, but ever since the turmoil in the south, various bandits have taken root in the mountains one after another..." Baron Galvan briefly recounted how his southward-bound caravans had been repeatedly attacked recently. Naturally, as a wealthy and powerful aristocrat, Galvan could not allow bandits to run rampant in his domain. Not long ago, Baron Galvan had even organized two knights and over thirty guard soldiers from his fiefdom to venture into the southern hills in an attempt to clear out the bandits. As a result, they were led in circles through the complex hills by the mountain bandits and suffered the casualties of several elite soldiers in the ambushes.

Baron Galvan rubbed a rare jade thumb ring on his hand, looked up at Atter, and said, "Atter, that is the situation. To speak frankly, although I am a baron, I know nothing about military strategy and combat, and the knights in my domain are better acquainted with gold and silver coins. Besides, those bastards entrenched in the hills are just a bunch of rats, hiding everywhere, and their whereabouts are completely untraceable."

"My Lord, I roughly understand the situation you described. During this southward grain transport, I will pay close attention to the terrain and the enemy's situation, and we can discuss the bandit suppression in detail after I return from the south, how does that sound? However, I must discuss the commission with you in advance..." Atter stated his ideal commission and waited for Baron Galvan to counteroffer.

"Good! That's the price. As long as the bandits can be successfully suppressed, money is no issue!"

Atter had not expected the merchant-aristocrat before him to be so straightforward. After a brief discussion with Baron Galvan, he rose to take his leave.

Just as he reached out to pull open the door of the office, the wooden door was pushed open violently, and a figure collided heavily into Atter. The person was petite and rebounded onto the floor by Atter's impact.

Atter hurriedly stepped forward to help the person on the ground. As their eyes met, Atter was momentarily lost—the person before him had hair as dark as lacquer, skin like jade, flowing bright eyes, and delicate facial features...

After gazing at each other for a short moment, Atter came to his senses and realized he had lost his manners.

"Noble lady, please forgive my clumsiness." Atter slowly helped the female attendant up from the ground, offered a soft apology, and fled as if escaping.

The female attendant's eyes chased Atter's departing figure...

"Cough, cough~ Lottie, what are you doing bursting into my office!" Baron Galvan interrupted the female attendant's trance and scolded her softly.

The female attendant was called back to her senses by the soft reprimand, glanced outside the door again, recovered her composure, and turned to question Baron Galvan loudly, "Father, I heard that you want to arrange a marriage for me with the Dean family?"

Galvan had always doted on his only daughter, Lottie, and respected her wishes regarding marriage. However, this proud and uniquely-minded child could never find a suitable husband. If she were allowed to continue being this willful, Lottie would end up becoming a "saintess."

Baron Galvan gently rubbed his forehead and said in a slightly reproachful tone, "Lottie, you used to reject noble scions, and now you don't want to marry a wealthy merchant. You are nineteen years old, and if you don't marry now, do you want to become a nun? Your mother was right; all these years I have simply doted on you too much. I will no longer let you be so willful!!"

Upon hearing this, Lottie mustered her courage and retorted, "Just look at the kind of people you've been finding! They are either spoiled nobles or slick merchants..."

Hearing this, Galvan flew into a rage. "What kind of person do you actually want to marry? Tell me, and I'll go find him for you!!!"

"I want to marry a true warrior..."

............

As he walked further away, Atter faintly heard the argument coming from the office. He shook the pretty shadow from his mind, left the lord's residence, and walked toward the Ranger detachment's temporary camp in Sapp Castle.

On the third morning, a grand procession of dozens of people escorted seventeen four-wheel wagons, carrying twenty-three thousand pounds of grain, departing from the main gate of Sapp Castle and moving along the cart road toward the southern hills.

According to the deployment agreed upon yesterday, one of Baron Belyan's attendant cavalrymen led Ron and Jason to scout two miles ahead of the caravan, galloping back to warn the caravan immediately upon encountering danger; Oldo led the third squad of soldiers trailing half a mile behind the caravan, responsible for reinforcements and preventing encirclement when the caravan was attacked; one soldier was dispatched from the dense forests on each flank of the caravan's flanks to scout for enemy activity a hundred paces apart; Atter and Baron Belyan personally led the remaining soldiers and drivers in the middle...

Within the southward-moving caravan, the spear-holding and shield-bearing miner recruit Obert walked beside a four-wheel wagon, while another recruit behind him kept whispering to him continuously. It was obvious that this recruit was quite nervous.

"Obert, do you think with so many of us, there are really bandits daring to come and rob us?"

Obert ignored him.

"Why do you think the lord scattered everyone all over the place? What will we do if the robbers come?"

Obert still ignored him.

The recruit paid no mind to Obert's silence and continued, "Do you think we can make it through this trip alive?"

Obert grew somewhat irritated. The recruit's mouth had not stopped running the entire way, and his nonsense was almost filling his ears.

"You say..."

"Shut up, you coward! If you were afraid of death, you shouldn't have tagged along in the first place. Since you're already here, worrying about these things is of no damn use; you'd better think about the life-saving combat skills trained in the valley."

Obert's voice was a bit loud, and Colin, the combat squad leader walking ahead of them, turned around and rebuked in a low voice, "Loud noises are not permitted in the marching column! Do you want to taste the military rods?"

The two fell silent.

As the caravan moved slowly, deep within the southern hilly mountains, inside a cave, several bandit leaders were arguing loudly.

They were the very crowd of mountain bandits entrenched in the southern hills that Baron Galvan spoke of. Usually, these people were scattered in their respective "territories" to rob passing caravans and pedestrians. However, recently their survival had become increasingly difficult. First, because the bandits entrenched in the southern hilly region were growing in number, and with more people competing for meals, life naturally became tough. Second, because fewer and fewer caravans traveled along this bandit-infested trade route, especially since Sapp Castle's grain convoy, having been intercepted several times, had not traveled along this passage for months. The bandits had once discussed banding together to attack Sapp Castle to make a hefty profit, but Sapp's tall stockade walls made the bandits, who were accustomed to bullying the weak and fearing the strong, hesitate to approach.

Finding survival increasingly difficult, the bandits had packed their bags intending to leave this place and continue plundering in the eastern regions. However, two days ago, an informant who fled from Sapp brought a surprise to the survival-threatened bandits.

This informant was a lazybones in Sapp Castle, habitually idle and spending his days doing petty thievery. Naturally, he was frequently caught and beaten by Baron Galvan's guards, and thus the lazy fellow harbored a deep grudge, actively seeking out the bandits and volunteering to become an informant lurking in Sapp Castle.

Two days ago, when Baron Belyan came to Sapp with dozens of people to buy grain, this lazybones targeted them. He extracted the departure time and grain quantity of this grain transport team from Baron Galvan's domestic servant using a few cups of inferior beer and immediately ran into the hills to inform the bandit leaders.

Thus, having received the good news, the bandit leaders summoned five or six bandit factions, large and small, from the hills to this cave to discuss the plunder of the caravan.

The cave was foul-smelling and smoky. Fifty or sixty mountain bandits wearing all sorts of motley clothes and holding diverse weapons sat around campfires, chewing on plundered food, drinking inferior beer, and shouting and cursing loudly.

In a slightly flatter area at the inner side of the cave, seven or eight bandit leaders were discussing how to plunder the caravan.

A scar-faced, bearded leader said, "If you ask me, forget what black-clad men they are; everyone just charges up in a swarm, slaughters a dozen sheep, and those fellows will naturally run for their lives. By then, we can drive the wagons back and divide the grain to call it a day."

"No, no, the informant said that group of black-clad men doesn't look like ordinary caravan guards; they are all sturdy fellows, and they wear uniform weapons and clothing. I'm afraid they are elite soldiers from the army. Attacking rashily will only make us fall into a trap." The bandit leaders, who were in the majority, shook their heads repeatedly.

The bandits in the cave fell silent for a moment.

A sharp-faced, monkey-cheeked fellow wearing women's clothing rolled his eyes and came up with a scheme: "We cannot make a frontal assault on the caravan. The other side is definitely prepared, and if a frontal assault fails, we will surely suffer. Therefore, we can do this..."

......

On the evening of the second day after leaving Sapp, the horizon was still lingering with the afterglow of sunset. The caravan stopped advancing and made camp in an open space outside a dense forest. Two consecutive days of peace and quiet allowed everyone, tense all the way, to relax their nerves slightly.

Atter was taking off his heavy iron-reinforced leather armor with Ron's help. "Ron, have Oldo and the others arranged the watch positions for tonight?"

Ron placed the iron armor flat on the ground and replied, "My lord, it's already arranged. Bath's first squad is responsible for tonight's guard duty; they are eating right now, and after the meal, they will go out to secure the perimeter."

"Since no one is keeping watch yet, accompany me to patrol the perimeter once more. I always feel these past two days have been too quiet. There are seven or eight bandit factions entrenched in this territory of tens of miles, but so far we haven't seen a trace of the bandits. This is too abnormal."

Ron smiled and said, "Surely those fellows saw that our numbers were too large and our combat power too strong, so they ran far away long ago. Look, haven't we passed through peacefully these past two days? There's nothing to worry about."

Atter looked at his long-time follower, a sense of tension rising within him: "Is that just your own thought?"

"Everyone thinks so. They say now the robbers have to go around us."

Atter hurriedly bypassed Ron, picked up the iron leather armor from the ground and put it on, then walked outward while shouting, "Have everyone gather by the grain wagons to prepare for battle, quickly."

With that, he fastened his longsword belt, picked up his riding bow and quiver, stepped out of the military tent, and rushed toward Baron Belyan's tent.

Baron Belyan had not even taken off his chainmail; he sat in the tent wearing the heavy chainmail.

"My lord, I feel something is wrong. These past two days have been too quiet, and we are far too relaxed right now."

The baron stood up, looked at this young ranger officer, and said, "I've already noticed this problem. Wild wolves never make a sound before tearing out your throat. I just sent my two attendants out to scout the perimeter."

Atter had to admire the military aristocrat's vigilance before him; this was an insight possessed only by someone steeped in the fires of war.

Just as their conversation ended, a commotion broke out outside the tent.

Atter thought to himself that it was bad, and immediately turned and stepped out of the military tent. Dozens of bandits holding long and short weapons had already rushed out from the dense forest on one side of the camp...

............

"Gather and prepare for battle!!!"

When the emergency assembly order sounded, Banson, who had failed to become a deserter, had just put down his wooden bowl and lazily began gathering his weapons and equipment.

Suddenly, a combat squad leader violently pulled out the longsword at his waist and shouted, "Get down!"

Banson turned his head and happened to see a woman wearing gray-white clothes running out from the edge of the dense forest.

"No, wait, that woman is holding a saber, and she looks extremely ugly, and seems to have a beard as well. Whose woman on earth is this, why would such an ugly woman appear in the dense forest?" Countless chaotic thoughts suddenly flashed through Banson's mind.

Then, more people ran out from the forest. A scar-faced, bearded man suddenly nocked an arrow, drawing his bow...

At this moment, Banson finally understood what Colin meant by suddenly shouting to get down.

"Damn it, bandits are attacking." Banson only had time to fiercely curse in his heart before feeling his left shoulder suddenly struck by a tremendous force, sending his whole body falling backward and sideways to the ground. Instantly, a sharp pain erupted from his shoulder, and when he turned his head, he saw a gleaming feathered arrow protruding from his shoulder. The arrow had not penetrated deeply into the flesh, but bright red blood was already flowing, soaking his black tabard cloak.

The sudden arrow strike and intense pain made Banson's mind explode all at once. At that moment, he felt extreme terror, completely at a loss. He could only lie on the ground, screaming in terror like a slaughtered pig.

"Help! Save me! Save me..."

———————

Atter had already loosed three consecutive arrows toward the edge of the dense forest. A distance of a hundred or so paces was crossed in the blink of an eye, and seeing the bandits about to rush up close, Atter pulled an arrow and nocked it while shouting to the panicked crowd:

"Gather and form up!!"

"Shield wall defense!!!"

"All drivers hide by the grain wagons, no running around."

The ranger soldiers could barely be considered strictly trained. After overcoming their initial panic, under the leadership of captains, squad leaders, and veterans, they quickly reacted. Over twenty soldiers formed a linear shield wall facing the edge of the dense forest at Atter's shout.

Having loosed five light arrows, Atter had already shot down two of the charging bandits, and the shield wall in the open space was basically formed.

"Hold steady!"

The bandits were twenty paces away....

"Hold steady!"

The bandits were ten paces away....

Obert, holding a shield and standing within the formation, listened to the shouting opposite and the "thud, thud" sound of arrows hammering against wooden shields. He felt his heart pounding fiercely in his chest, his throat dry and tight, and his right hand turning somewhat pale and blue from gripping his short spear too tightly.

"Push!!"

Ranger Officer Atter's command rang in his ear. Obert pulled his right leg back half a step, leaned his body slightly forward, and used his shield to brace against a hacking hand axe and a charging giant in women's clothing. The giant's strength was great, pushing Obert half a step back by sheer force.

"Thrust!"

With the order, over a dozen short spears, swords, axes, and maces thrust fiercely and smashed through the gaps in the shields at the bandits crowding in front of the shield wall. The tearing sound of sharp blades piercing flesh and the screams of heavy hammers shattering bones began to ring out around the shield wall......