Chapter 247: Act 14 – The Battle for the Lumberyard (I)
While the three grand captains were gathering their subordinates, Brendel dispatched someone to find a guide from the slums.
The tattered man who was fetched from a shack on the southern side of Firburh still harbored uneasy thoughts about whether assisting this unfamiliar Lord would bring him trouble—before coming, he had already inquired about the events occurring inside the city. The commotion from that night was so big that even if Antinna tried her schemes to cover it up, it wouldn’t have been possible. Yet, he couldn’t resist the allure of money and the persuasion of his own wife. After hesitating for a long time, he eventually agreed to join the team. The generous young noble had promised him a gold coin as a reward, which he wouldn’t earn in a year of hard work—by having this money, he could send his child to become an apprentice at a workshop inside the city, possibly even altering the fate of his entire family.
Therefore, when Brendel asked questions, the man carefully informed him: the forest located south of Firburh had always been called the Bear People’s Forest, not because there were level 65 monsters that made him squirm with fear, but because there were many wild bears in the woods. Four sawmills were located within the forest; the three that ventured deep into the forest center were occupied by troglodytes, while the remaining sawmill was abandoned after it was destroyed by the workers. Subsequently, Grudin had sent his private army into the forest to clear out those underground dwellers, but after suffering significant losses twice, the baron stopped mentioning the matter.
After listening, Brendel nodded, unsurprised.
At this moment, they had already departed from Firburh for over an hour.
The further south they headed, the more trees started to appear on the wilderness. The forest stretching from east to west appeared like a massive shadow looming in front of the mercenaries—Brendel sat on horseback, one hand tightly gripping the reins as he watched the lines of mercenaries enter the woodland scattered with black pine and red pine trees. The human figures blurred as they quickly vanished into the shadows between the trees.
“Hmm,” a slightly elevated young girl’s voice interrupted the guide’s explanation from behind Brendel, exclaiming: “Are troglodytes that powerful?”
Brendel couldn’t help but instinctively arch an eyebrow. He didn’t know how Romaine had shown up, but shortly after leaving the city, the Business Lady had uninvitedly appeared in his view. “Speaking of which, shouldn’t she be tallying supplies and inspecting the accounts of previous Lords?” A twitch at the corner of his mouth betrayed his thoughts: “So, who informed her about his intention to venture out to deal with those troglodytes?”
“Truly, Miss,” the man hurriedly interjected loudly: “I heard from the city guards that they somewhat resemble rats. Though they lack eyes, they can distinguish directions through smell and sound, and they are immensely strong and fast-moving. A regular person is no match for them. Even the Lord baron’s men need two to three people to take down one troglodyte.”
Romaine tapped her chin with a pale finger, picturing the creature’s image in her mind, “In that case, wouldn’t they have an advantage at night?” She pondered aloud.
“Yes,” Antinna awkwardly glanced at Romaine, somewhat embarrassed to confess to Brendel that the Business Lady had cleverly tricked out the details of their operations with a few innocent questions. She still didn’t know whether this ‘fiancée of the Lord’ had stumbled upon the truth accidentally or had been calculating from the start. Regardless, it unsettled her deeply: “Not just at night, even in this forest with limited visibility, they have a greater advantage than us. Unless there are soldiers of the Black Iron rank, it’s difficult to spot them before they notice us.”
She turned back and addressed Brendel: “Lord, since we’ve already entered the forest, shouldn’t we dispatch scouts?”
Brendel shook his head. He knew well that troglodyte warriors had a strength of 15 and agility of 10, levels that were quite high within the Black Iron class; common Black Iron mercenary was no match for them. “To maintain the defense of Firburh, this time only about four battalions of mercenaries came with me, and I do not intend to further split them up,” the young man answered, eyeing the forest direction: “Moreover, who’s more familiar with this forest, mercenaries or troglodytes?”
Unconsciously, using the terminology from the Amber Sword game, where a battalion constituted eighty players, making him effectively referring to slightly over three hundred people. But the aristocratic maiden was unaware of this verbal slip, instead, she was startled: “Of course, troglodytes,” Antinna paused, perplexed: “Lord, do you mean…scouts are unnecessary? But I’ve never heard of a battle where one side completely gives up on reconnaissance. The black eyes of the young aristocrat gleamed: “Magic?”
She tentatively asked.
“Something like that,” Brendel glanced around, as his thought rippled slightly, wind spirits in the form of spiders emerged from the ground one after the other. The mercenaries, upon seeing these cobalt blue webbed creatures with whirlwinds wrapping around them suddenly appear surrounding them, were taken aback. But having encountered these creatures while battling Madara’s undead army, they recognized that they followed the young Lord in their midst—making allies instead of foes. Therefore, after a brief commotion, calm quickly resumed, though they still cast glances tinged with reverence toward the center of the troop.
In the Eruin of this era, having a Gold Tier mage under a noble’s command was undoubtedly a symbol of status. Even grand feudal lords like Duke Anlek and Duke Karasu had no more than two or three Gold Tier mages serving as advisors. But as a scion of an aristocratic lineage, not only did Brendel have a Gold Tier mentor mage in his retinue—Charles had now become the natural leader of the magic users in Firburh, the head of the mage corps, known to all of those following the young man—moreover, it was rumored that he himself was also a Gold Tier swordsman, with another Gold Tier companion in Medisa and Miss Xi.
Even Count Rendener’s entourage didn’t surpass such strength.
Moreover, it was evident that the emergence of the elf named Medisa, the fabled Silver Elf, who had not been seen on this land for centuries, caused tremendous shock. Rumors of the intimate connection between Brendel and the Silver Elves circulated among the mercenaries, while even the three grand captains, Juliette, Vurn, and Crenshia, increasingly found it hard to look through this young man. This was why they resolved to remain and fight alongside Brendel against the Rendener family—not that the title of Viscount alone would be enough to convince them to do so. Even plunging into the Black Forest would be a better choice.
At least the latter provided a glimpse of hope.
Brendel was aware of these rumors; he knew these pieces of news had been spread by Romaine and Antinna. The meticulous plans of the noble maiden combined with the inventive ideas of the younger Romaine were a potent mix of schemes. He wouldn’t bother to refute them since this was precisely the outcome he aimed to achieve—this was exactly how he operated in the past, only now his junior advisors had learned from him.
Silently, Brendel retrieved the Divine Sword card from his chest, and moments later, the ‘Dragoons’ that had once displayed their prowess against Madara’s undead army, reappeared before the mercenaries. This was the second time this card set had been performed before witnesses, and when they saw the sight, Juliette, Crenshia, and Vurn all couldn’t help but change expressions—fifty Silver Tier offensive units. They had initially assumed the wind spirit spiders to be his pets, but they were spells instead. Moreover, it wasn’t easy to gauge the intensity of this spell. If used appropriately, defeating a mid-tier gold existence seemed plausible.
And according to the usual method of categorizing spells, this one must be of Gold Tier or higher strength. But they all knew, Brendel was a swordsman.
A Gold Tier swordsman.
Now, he seemed to be a Gold Tier summoner as well.
This was inexplicable.
Brendel gave a command through silent thought—”to move along the maximum range, and slay all non-human creatures.” Troglodytes would certainly have guards posted around the forest periphery, which he had to eliminate. Although it was not expected that these troglodytes might not realize humans had already intruded until the final moment, at least some delay could be introduced. Then, raising his head, the young man watched silently as these wind spirit spiders unraveled the vortexes surrounding them, ascended into the sky in streaks of cerulean light, and disappeared into the forest. Looking back, he caught Husher withdrawing his gaze from the forest.
“Lord, how do you plan to manage this battle?” Husher turned and asked: “If reports are accurate, there are more than a thousand troglodytes in the forest. Their numbers far exceed ours, and their individual combat prowess is greater. Honestly, I can’t figure out how to conduct this battle.”
“Don’t be cowardly before the fight even begins,” Xi replied from behind: “Captain Husher.”
“Captain?” Husher was momentarily taken aback, understanding immediately. Chuckling, he looked at Brendel: “Miss Xi, have you decided to join us?”
Xi nonchalantly nodded and glanced at Brendel: “I’ve thought about it. I have nowhere else to go.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t mind.” Xi smiled easily: “Let’s still listen to the Lord’s ideas. I’m also curious about how to handle such a battle. When Commander Makarolo led the Gray Wolf Mercenary Brigade, we managed to defeat an enemy twice our number at most, but those were merely undisciplined bandits, which cannot be compared to our situation now.”
“Indeed,” Romaine wiggled restlessly on horseback, making everyone worry that her small frame might fall off at any moment. She added: “Brendel, Brendel, you mentioned that troglodytes have keen sense of sound and smell. If we fight at night, it would surely be to our disadvantage. Therefore, we should aim for a quick resolution.”
When she said that, the three nearby mercenary captains couldn’t help but pay more attention, moving closer to this circle. Brendel noticed this and smiled inwardly. Although he had never refused the entry of external forces into his inner circle, the three grand captains still instinctively harbored suspicions toward this young noble. In fact, it was precisely because of this that Brendel had never planned to integrate the mercenary forces under his command from the start, even though it would be inevitable in the long run. If he seemed too hasty, it might cause misunderstanding and resistance, so he simply refrained from mentioning it, waiting for them to come to him when they can’t bear to wait any longer.
This battle against the troglodytes would be one such opportunity.
“Quick resolution, that’s not so simple,” Crenshia shook his head, looking at Brendel’s face while deliberately replying: “Although I haven’t dealt with troglodytes, if they could humble Grudin, they certainly aren’t an unruly mob. To avoid losing face, I should say that our mercenaries, despite being somewhat better than Grudin’s private troops, aren’t far superior, and the scale of this campaign is far smaller than the expedition that baron once mounted against the troglodytes.”
“Then what should we do?” Romaine blinked her large eyes, asking curiously.
“Lord is likely planning to eliminate the enemy’s sentries,” Antinna’s eyes followed the last wind spider vanish into the forest before she turned her gaze onto Brendel, “to buy enough time before they realize.” She thought for a moment, “Lord, planning to use a lightning raid to capture one of the sawmills and then draw out the troglodytes into an offensive?”
Brendel turned around, his brown eyes flashing with appreciation. Turning defense into offense, this was indeed his plan.
“Good method,” Vurn’s eyes similarly lit up in admiration, “But will it work?” This grand captain of the Fierce Land Combat Unit questioned.
“Troglodytes know their advantages against us,”Brendel replied, “In case they lose during the day, they will definitely try to reclaim it at night.” His tone was full of confidence: “During the night, we defend; they have the timing, we have the terrain advantage. These balance each other out. What remains then depends on morale, combat capability, and the skill of the commanders.” This confidence, however, was more an acknowledgment of the countless Krus players employing this trick in the battles between Krus and Jotungrund in the Amber Sword.
He hadn’t engaged with troglodytes before, but he was certainly familiar with this trick.
“But,” Xi asked, somewhat confused: “What if they don’t attack?”
“That would be perfect,” Husher smirked, “Then we launch an offensive during the day.” But turning around, he added, “Still, the disparity in forces and fighting strength remains a problem, Lord.”
Brendel nodded, instructing the guide to head in front and guide the mercenaries around the abandoned sawmill, directly towards the closest sawmill occupied by the troglodytes. At the same time, he raised his head, focusing his eyes on the sun slowly sliding towards the west: “This is indeed an issue, but I already have a plan.”
……
(P.S.: Recently an incident occurred, and it deeply affected my mood. The updates these few days haven’t been satisfactory, I apologize.) (To be continued. Please log in for more chapters. Read more, support the author, and enjoy the official version.)
