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Arrival of the Convoy

Two light cavalry soldiers were guarding the main gates of the camp. From afar, they could see a rider approaching quickly. Curious about what orders that rider might have received, one of the guards got closer to check it out. However, upon closer inspection, he noticed that the rider wasn't one of his comrades and quickly raised his pike to intercept him, only to have it broken by the Silver ranked rider's blade glow. Had it not been for the fact that the the enemy was in a rush to escape, the two light cavalry guards might have been killed already.

The rider on the stolen mount whooshed past the two light cavalry soldiers who had been dismounted and successfully went out of the camp. Cursing as they tried to prop themselves up from the ground, the two soldiers then got back on their horses with one readying his crossbow and the other taking out his javelin, but they could do naught but watch as the enemy galloped out of their firing range.

Lorist quickly arrived and took the javelin in the soldier's hand before continuing on the chase. At that moment, he was about 40 meters apart from that Silver ranked rider and he wasn't confident that he would be able to hit his mark from that distance. Seeing the distance between him and the enemy increase gradually, he decided to try his luck by throwing the javelin.

Suddenly, his horse staggered and started wobbling unstably as if it were about to crash. Greatly startled, Lorist quickly got both his feet out of the stirrups, jumped and somersaulted in the air before landing and rolling on the ground, escaping the fate of tumbling to his death with his mount. Seeing his horse on the ground, Lorist threw his javelin down angrily. Sol, why is my luck so bad… The horse he had taken at a whim in fact belonged to one of the two soldiers he was chasing to the camp before. It's no wonder the horse slowed down right after exiting the camp early on, having been exhausted beyond its limits.

Seeing the Silver ranked soldier escape from his grasps, Lorist started fuming with rage. The silhouette of the man seemed like a dot hundreds of meters away. Sounds of horses galloping could be heard from behind: they were the light cavalry troops who had reacted to the sudden deaths of two of their comrades. However, they were far too late.

At that moment, Lorist heard the twang of a released bowstring and saw a green stream of light traveling out from the wilderness about a hundred meters away from the camp. As if he was struck by lightning, the escaping Silver rank got knocked off horseback and landed heavily onto the ground. His horse continued running for a while before stopping and turning back towards the camp.

Lorist stopped the few scouts who had just arrived from entering the forest to search for the source of the arrow and pointed towards the place where the Silver ranked soldier fell. "Go inspect that area and bring him back over here. Be careful, that Sol-damned bastard may be playing dead for all we know. I've already had one of my men die at his hand."

Once again looking towards the spot in the forest from which the green ray of light originated, Lorist saw a man holding a large green bow with some leaves and twigs covering him to serve as camouflage and felt that the man was paying attention to his every move.

Waving towards the direction of that man, Lorist made a gesture of invitation. However, that man made no response and slowly retreated into the trees, eventually disappearing completely from sight.

Letting out a breath of relief, Lorist thought, what an impressive archer… For him to be able to shoot someone from 80 meters away and also manage to knock him off his horse for about 6 meters… The strength of the bow is indeed great. The velocity of the arrow was also incredibly fast given that Lorist could only barely see its trail through dynamic vision.

While Lorist himself wasn't worried about that mysterious archer attacking his base, he was still concerned for the wellbeing of his light cavalry troops. That man was possibly Josk, the Gold ranked knight that Soria had mentioned a couple of days before. After all, Lorist found it hard to believe that just anybody could have such fine archery skill as that man did. It was a shame that person's identity couldn't be verified as he didn't accept Lorist's invitation.

The cavalry troops have secured the body of the Silver rank and were on their way back to the camp. When they approached, Lorist really didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The cavalry troops were too cautious and each of them made sure to shoot the corpse with their crossbows twice to make sure the Silver rank wasn't playing dead, effectively turning him into a huge human pincushion.

The cause of death of the Silver rank was pretty obvious: there was a long, green arrow that entered the man's right upper torso and re-emerged from his left armpit. Pulling the arrow out and ripping a piece of the corpse's clothing off, Lorist wiped the blood off the arrow and noticed a small, unclear inscription that read 'Joe'. As expected, that man who carried the green bow was in fact Josk, the Gold ranked knight.

Once again looking at the arrows embedded in the corpse, Lorist sighed and said, "Gosh, don't you guys have eyes? He's already long dead, yet you wasted so many crossbow bolts on him and even ruined his armor. Oh well, just cut his head off and display it by the road of the main camp entrance. After stripping the body of anything that's still usable, toss it in the pyre and burn it with the other corpses."

After returning to the large tent in the middle of the camp, Yuriy came over and reported that he has already swept the camp once more with his troops and discovered three more enemies who have been hiding, two of whom was captured alive with the other one killed. There were no casualties apart from two of the troops incurring light injuries. Including the one who died and the other heavily injured from being ambushed by the Silver ranked rider as well as those who got hurt from the initial assault, the whole of the light cavalry troops only have 3 casualties, 7 heavily-injured with 10 others with light injuries in total.

However, Yuriy mentioned that they also discovered quite a number of women who were badly abused during their search numbering around 30 of them in total. There were two completely nude women who had their necks snapped from the tent the Silver rank rushed out of previously.

Nodding silently, Lorist pointed towards the large tent behind him and said, "There are two others within. Ask the prisoners who are locked up in the middle of the camp about the women's origins and have someone assigned to look after them. When Charade and the rest of the convoy arrives, we'll have some herbalists take a look at them and save the ones who can still make it and end the suffering of those who are already beyond saving.

"Other than that, cut off the heads of the enemy horsemen and put them up on stakes to be displayed all over the camp outside. Strip them of their equipment and burn their corpses after that. Make sure to note the number of people we have killed. Bring the prisoners we captured alive over here, I want to question them personally."

Lorist's interrogation method was pretty straightforward. First, he stripped them naked and had Reidy bring a hammer over. Those who refused to answer each time would have one of their toes hammered flat. After the first stubborn one was made an example of, the remaining five were so terrified that they answered whatever question they were asked with swift cooperation.

True to Lorist's hunches, the ones who attacked the convoy were indeed part of Count Cobry's troops, his elite pike cavalry troops to be exact. This time, the count had mobilized two pike cavalry companies and one garrison regiment in total, amounting to almost a third of all his forces, with the aim of completely wiping out the insurgents based within his territories as well as enslave young and strong men to work as hard laborers. The people leading this undertaking was his 11 illegitimate sons, three of which were Gold ranks with the rest being Silver ranks. However, three of the sons had already perished under Lorist's hand.

According to the prisoners, the brown-haired man and the middle-aged man with the chain mail as well as the Silver rank who stole a horse and attempted to escape were all the sons of the count.

As for the camp, the prisoners said that it was a long term encampment that served as a bridgehead[1] and was normally guarded by a company of garrison troops. It was used as a place for the main force to resupply their rations and provisions. As the main force had to cross the mountains during the most recent expedition, they had their garrison troops that were supposed to be stationed there follow along and only left a company of pike cavalry troops to guard the encampment.

On Grindia, there was a particular way in which the military was organized. The one at the top of the hierarchy were legions, which consisted of divisions of several types of troops, such as heavy-armored divisions, pike infantry divisions, etc. And each division could in turn be further subdivided into regiments, companies and squads, in decreasing order of size. Commonly, a squad numbered around 80 to 120 troops. 4 to 5 squads formed a company, and 4 to 5 companies constituted a regiment, with a division containing at least 4 to 5 regiments in total. For example, in the Whitelion Legion, one of the three main armies of the former empire which Potterfang used to serve in, the total amount of soldiers numbered up to 80000.

The forces of Count Cobry were mainly bolstered by the pike cavalry troops, which have received quite a generous amount of support and funding. In total, there were five companies of pike cavalry troops, each consisting of four squads of 120 soldiers each. For two of the companies to be sent out for the expedition was already quite a large force.

The prisoners also mentioned that the main force that had went to wipe out the insurgents would return in a day or two because they only brought 15 days' worth of supplies with them and it was already the 13th day. The brown-haired commander even sent one squad of pike cavalry to receive them when they return with the two other squads that having left to hunt due to having nothing better to do. The 'hunt' that the prisoner referred to was the patrolling of the surrounding area to capture refugees to force them into labor. The 400-odd people who were kept locked up in the middle of the camp was the result of such 'hunts'.

However, never would the pike cavalry have expected that Lorist's convoy's military might far outranked their own, leading to their total demise as well as the ones who stayed guard at the camp, resulting in the camp being captured by the convoy.

Lorist questioned them very detailedly and asked a final question, that was, why did the hunting squad not check their targets properly before deciding to attack it?

Only then did the prisoners understand the reason that prompted Lorist to come slaughtering his way in with the rest of his troops and started cursing their dead comrades unceasingly. However, one of the prisoners who looked in his thirties stayed quiet and looked at the Norton Family's flag with a meaningful gaze.

Noticing the prisoner's odd behavior, Lorist asked, "Have you seen this flag before?"

The prisoner shook his head and said, "No I didn't, but one time when I was summoned by the count to his room, I saw two boxes which had the same symbol inscribed on it. Also..."

The prisoner suddenly quieted down.

Lorist asked, "Also what? Feel free to tell me about it, I promise to spare your life if you do. As for the others..."

Lorist made a gesture to his subordinates, signalling them to give the other prisoners a swift death.

The prisoner kneeling in front of Lorist was scared out of his wits upon hearing the agonized pleading of his other comrades. He quickly mentioned that he only joined the pike cavalry troops recently and used to be a mercenary and only joined by coincidence because one acquaintance of his who was a member of the count's forces had invited him.

According to the prisoner, when he was drinking with his acquaintance and a few other pike cavalry soldiers, he heard about the count's rise to fortune and power. Back during the day before the First Prince publicly rebelled against the empire, the count was already partners in crime with the First Prince in some shady business. Word was that during the days Count Cobry was said to be cooped up in his territory and nurturing his illegitimate sons, he was actually having some of his grown up sons disguising themselves as bandits to pillage traveling merchant convoys to gather funds and resources in preparation for the First Prince's rebellion as well as amass a huge wealth for himself in the process. When the former emperor was at his sickbed, the First Prince had requested for the garrison forces of the Bodolger Province to be strengthened to keep a bandit called Redbeard at bay; Redbeard was actually the identity the count took up when he was pillaging merchant convoys. Every time before he started a raid, he would put on a large, red, fake beard to disguise himself. The hunting group that Lorist had encountered today were actually part of the forces Count Cobry led to pillage the merchant convoys as Redbeard. They probably recalled the days when they disguised themselves as bandits and decided to relive it and attacked the convoy without much giving it much consideration.

Lorist also asked the prisoner to describe the size and design of the boxes he had seen in the room of the count before making a sketch of them and showing it to the prisoner for confirmation, to which he nodded with certainty.

After that, Lorist ordered that the prisoner be locked up and started pacing around outside the large tent, seething with anger. He drew his sword and completely pulverized the bed that was within the tent.

Astonished at Lorist's sudden outburst, Yuriy waited for him to calm down before asking about the reason why he was so mad.

Lorist thought quietly for a moment before saying, "Those two boxes were ordered and made by my Third Uncle from Morante City. Originally, he had intended to use them to store the dowry he prepared for the woman he wanted to marry and bring back to the dominion. Who would have expected that the trip would be his last! I could never forget the look my uncle had when he brought me to retrieve the boxes. I could tell that he truly loved that woman from the look he had on his face when he looked at them. That's why I'm so familiar with the design of the boxes. Count Cobry, you truly have did it this time. Just you wait..."

Lorist's voice sounded so venomous that it caused Yuriy and Reidy to shiver a little upon hearing it.

Even though Lorist had only met his Third Uncle once every three years after he found himself in the noble youth's body, the concern and care his uncle had shown him made him feel cherished and warm. It truly saddened him that the first piece of news he got of his uncle after 7 years of silence had been that of his death. Now that he was certain of the main perpetrator, there was no way that he would let that person scotch free. He decided to put the journey to the back of his head and focus his priorities on settling his grudge with Count Cobry.

At that moment, a light cavalry soldier came to report that Charade and the rest would be arriving soon as the Norton Family battle standard was visible from the camp from afar.

Yuriy and Reidy breathed a sigh of relief and led Lorist out of the large tent towards the main entrance of the encampment.

Charade came to Lorist with another piece of bad news the moment he arrived. He said that the pike infantry company of the convoy vanguard had encountered another attack from a squad of pike cavalry troops after Yuriy and Reidy had left with Lorist and the light cavalry scouts to storm the camp. It was fortunate that the senior students realized that they wouldn't be a match for the enemy if they faced them head on and got the convoy into a defensive formation by arranging the carriages into a circular defensive perimeter to buy time until Terman's knights arrive to reinforce them. Coupled with the crossbowman company under Malek's command, the convoy successfully fended off the enemies with only 30 of them managing to escape. However, the pike infantry company had lost 22 people with the remaining hundred injured.

Sounds of chatter and curses erupted from within the camp. Lorist handed the other matters for Charade to handle and instructed Reidy and Patt to boil him some water so that he may take a bath and wash off the coagulated blood on his body that was causing him much itch and discomfort.

After dinner, the large main tent was brightly illuminated with the whole main cast of the convoy present within.

"...47 of the soldiers' family members died with another 130 of them injured, all 21 of the pikemen who were in charge of the security of that part of the convoy perished as well and Chivos..." Charade's voice turned deep at the mention of that name. Chivos was one of the senior students of the academy that had been sent to communicate with the enemy's pike cavalry squad but only ended up trampled to death after the ambush.

"Including the second assault we suffered, a total of 43 infantry pikemen died with 58 others sustaining heavy injuries, 7 of which ended up handicapped and will be unable to recover fully with the remaining 86 sustaining light injuries. Yuriy reported that the light cavalry troops suffered 3 casualties, with 7 heavily-injured and another 13 lightly-injured with none of them crippled. Terman's knights on the other hand only had 6 people who got light injuries with no casualties in their unit. That concludes the report on the damages and losses of the troops."

Lorist followed up with introducing the rest at the meeting about the situation of the prisoners as well as the possibility that Count Corby was possibly the one who had caused the demise of Lorist's Third Uncle and the rest of the Norton Family's merchant convoy.

"I believe that you guys are well aware that the original plan of crossing this area without getting into huge conflicts will no longer be possible. Based on the modus operandi of the count and his troops, it can be seen that they are nothing but inhumane fiends who cannot be reasoned with and have nothing but thoughts of slaughter in their heads, as can be seen from the death of our beloved comrade, Chivos. For his sake, and those of the innocent family members and the brave soldiers of the family who perished, I have decided to avenge them! We will not rest until we stomp the Cobry Family flag under our feet!" said Lorist resolutely.

The whole tent was silent after Lorist stopped talking, but quiet chatters and murmurs gradually built up. Some of them approved of Lorist's decision while others were still a little hesitant. According to the testimony of the prisoners, Count Cobry's forces could possibly far exceed that of the convoy's. Was this truly a battle the convoy could afford to fight in?

Just as the group of people within the tent were discussing the matter, a light cavalry soldier rushed in from outside and reported to Lorist that a knight called Josk wanted to meet him and said that he came at the invitation of the new master of the encampment.

Lorist slapped on his thighs and said, "Quick, invite him in! No, let me go out to receive him…"

Offense and Defense

Marksman Josk looked to be in his thirties. With his head of blonde hair and well-defined physique, he looked exceedingly handsome and wore a resolute expression on his face. However, Lorist could detect a faint hint of grief between his eyebrows.

After receiving him from the entrance and introducing him to the rest of the family knights, Lorist gave a brief summary of the convoy's situation and told Josk about how he captured the camp out of retaliation from the attack earlier that day. He also asked Josk the main reason he decided to visit them.

Knight Josk also spoke rather frankly and said that he had come to check whether the military might of the convoy could withstand the attack from the count's regiment of garrison troops as well as another company of pike cavalry. His original intention of lurking around the area in the afternoon was to sabotage and burn the count's supplies as the security was more lax than usual and force the count's army to retreat to their main base to resupply and give the insurgents of the western mountains some time to rest and recuperate.

Now that Lorist had conquered the camp, he had unintentionally helped the insurgents out. Josk confessed that when he saw Lorist bringing less than 100 soldiers to attack the camp, he thought that Lorist's forces wasn't really trying to conquer it given the disparity of his forces and that of the camp. He also said that he was anticipating the arrival of the other company of pike cavalry to come back to defend that place before he met Charade and the rest of the convoy when he was leaving the forest and understood that the pike cavalry unit had probably clashed with the convoy already. Worried that Lorist wouldn't be able to handle the full brunt of the count's forces and incur a huge loss, Josk felt that he should warn them just in case.

According to him, Count Cobry had a total of five companies of garrison troops with each having a bowman squad, an infantry squad as well as two pike infantry squads with each squad having 120 people each. All the soldiers in the garrison troops numbered around 2400 people. Including the company of pike infantry that was patrolling the outer areas of the mountains, the count's rebel-sweeping troops had up to 2900 people.

Charade interjected and mentioned that according to Soria, they only had 1000 pike infantry and 2000 garrison troops and wondered how the count had managed to expand his forces that quickly.

"Who's Soria?" Josk asked. Charade proceeded to tell the knight about their encounter with Baron Charles and his son.

Curling his lips, Josk said, "I know Baron Charles and I've even met him a couple of times. Knight Soria's information isn't totally wrong, but the information only describes the count's forces a year ago. At that time, the count had only returned to his dominion for a short while. Given that he has been fighting battles here and there and wiping out several landed nobles, he definitely would have expanded his forces by now. Other than the troops that were dispatched to wipe out the insurgents in the western mountains, Count Cobry still has around three companies of pike infantry back at his dominion as well as a regiment of garrison troops and two other newly-formed companies of garrison troops."

In the recent times, the troops of the count have successfully wiped out a few insurgent strongholds in the mountains and obtained a substantial amount of food and other supplies. During the past two days, they had turned their attention to the largest insurgent group in the area who were based at Hiddenbull Stronghold. While the insurgents at the stronghold have managed to resist due to the advantage of terrain, they were at their breaking point due to the sheer number of casualties they had sustained. That was why Josk intended to burn the supplies of the camp to ensure that the assault will stop temporarily. However, now that Lorist had occupied the encampment, the count's forces will definitely return to recapture the place when they get wind of it.

Josk suggested to Lorist that if their forces would not be enough to defeat that of the count's, they should quickly leave the area and burn the whole camp down to force the count's forces back to the dominion. Given that the western mountains was only one day of travel away from the camp, they would definitely get news about the conquered camp and return by the evening of the next day. If the convoy doesn't hurry up, they wouldn't be able to escape in time.

Shaking his head, Lorist said, "No, the convoy cannot leave. They'll definitely catch up to us if we try because the convoy travels so much slower than a single military unit. As long as the pike cavalry manages to stall the convoy, their regiment of infantry garrison troops will definitely catch up eventually. Instead of giving the enemy the advantage of attacking us head on in an open field battle, it would be wiser to secure the camp and use the terrain to our advantage to minimize our losses."

Filled with killing intent, Lorist said, "If we're going to fight, let's give it our all! I want to use this camp to wipe out all the 3000 men of their rebel-sweeping army and teach that damned count a lesson."

He also elaborated that even though the count's forces outnumbered them three to one, their actual battle prowess was far inferior to that of the convoy's forces. According to the testimonies of the prisoners, the only unit of the count that posed a threat to the convoy was the pike cavalry unit which were constituted mainly of soldiers who have had their Battle Force awakened. However, if their cavalry lost the advantage of charging and had to engage in close combat with the convoy's heavy-armored soldiers, they would definitely be wiped out without question. As for the remaining 2000 garrison troops who can't utilize Battle Force, wouldn't they just be like a herd of sheep thrown into the midst of a wolf pack that was Terman's Battle Force-trained knight brigade?

As for Yuriy and his squad of light cavalry scouts, they will ensure that not one of the count's soldiers manage to escape. Lorist also mentioned that they also had crossbowmen, pike infantry as well as a carroballista unit and he couldn't imagine how in the world the convoy would lose to the count's forces.

"As for how we would bait the enemy into our trap, that's easy. Knight Josk has mentioned that even though the sweeping troops have breached a few mountain strongholds and have gotten ahold of a batch of supplies, it would only last them for up to 6 days at most. After receiving news of their camp being conquered by us, they will only be left with two choices. Either they return to the count's dominion or come here to try to recapture the camp. I'm sure they will choose the latter, because if they choose to return to the count's dominion, they would definitely be severely punished by the count for the deaths of three of his illegitimate sons. The officer in charge will have no choice but to try to recapture this place to make up for the losses he has incurred.

"When we defend the camp, we must lure them into a false sense of security and let them feel that they have a chance at taking the camp back. After two days of stalling, we'll open the gates and let all of their forces in and use various obstacles to limit their efficiency and deploy the heavy-armored soldiers to give them a fatal blow and wipe them out entirely."

Everyone in the tent looked as if they had been struck by enlightenment. All of them knew that there was no way to avoid this conflict and agreed with Lorist that they would fare better by defending the camp rather than being pursued on an open field. To Lorist's credit, he also came out with a rather viable plan that could potentially cause the enemy a loss of 3000 men.

Bringing the map of the area surrounding the camp over, Charade started to discuss with the rest about how they would set up their traps and contraptions to shave down the enemy's forces.

Josk seemed like he was a little envious of Lorist and his knights' solidarity. Seeing the group talking about how to set up the defensive fortifications, he turned to Lorist and offered to lend a hand in the upcoming battle.

Lorist naturally agreed to that proposition and told Josk that the Norton Family's convoy will definitely be sparing no resource in the battle to come and that if Josk was able to gather some people to ambush the enemy's rearguard, he would definitely be a huge help to the convoy.

Upon hearing the suggestion, Knight Josk agreed to it excitedly and said that he would head back to rally up the insurgents and trail the count's rebel-sweeping forces from behind their backs and launch their ambush when the forces are being lured into the camp. He then left the camp hurriedly.

—————————————————————–

Evening on the day after, Count Cobry's forces appeared nearby the camp as expected with the pike cavalry company leading the charge. When they arrived at the camp entrance, the soldiers witnessed the display of severed heads that were impaled on stakes with the head of the brown-haired man placed at the foremost front.

The pike cavalry all started freaking out and cursed loudly towards the encampment. Some of them even tried to rush to the entrance directly, only to be shot down by the crossbowmen stationed at the walls, causing 10 casualties to their side in the opening volley.

When the garrison infantry arrived, they sent out four squads that were fully-armed with shields to protect them from the crossbow bolts while they retrieved the heads before setting up their camp in the distance.

Standing on the walls and nodding, Lorist commented, "The officer in command seems pretty level-headed and his troops are pretty disciplined. Fatty, let's go. Els, there won't be any more attacks tonight. The real show starts tomorrow."

Charade said in a worried tone, "What if they don't use the main entrance and start attacking from the other parts of the walls of the camp? For the record, we have most of our forces stationed here at the entrance."

"They won't," said Lorist as he pointed towards the walls. "Look, Count Cobry didn't choose this place to build an outpost arbitrarily. First, the terrain around here is flat without any elevated lands around the area apart from a slight two-meter-high slope outside the camp that makes it easier for cavalry to gain momentum and charge downwards as well as make it hard for the enemy to observe the situation within the camp. Second, other than the three-meter-long road leading to the main entrance, there is no other way to enter the camp as it is surrounded by a two-meter-wide moat that has a depth of around two meters. Even if they manage to cross the moat, they will be met with a barricade that is two meters tall with a 1.5-meter-tall fence right up on the main walls. When defending the surrounding areas, one can hide behind those fences for extra protection.

"So, if they want to attack from the other sides, they will have to first fill up the moat before they remove the barricades to make some space for ladders, which in turn have to be at least 5 meters tall to overcome the fence. I'm sure they understand that attacking from the main entrance of the encampment is the optimal way as it they were originally stationed here anyway. And given the amount of time their supplies would last them, I doubt that they'll resort to such time-consuming methods by circumventing the main entrance. To be honest, the fortifications of this camp may actually be stronger and better than that of some other castles that I've seen. I bet the count didn't expect that his forces would have to siege the encampment that he had built to protect his forces from insurgent assaults. It's like they're digging their own graves by attacking this place.

"Apart from the main entrance, there is also a smaller one at the rear of the camp, but to get there, the drawbridge would have to be lowered so that soldiers would be able to cross the moat. I believe the most they would do would be to send a pike cavalry squad to secure that drawbridge from the other side so that we won't be able to escape. As for the main force, they would fare much better by attacking directly from the main entrance. I'm sure that they are under the impression that victory would be theirs the moment they breach the camp. Have some old men and children wear armor and patrol the walls tomorrow to make them think that we're short on personnel and lower their guard."

Els asked, "Then, what if they send a Gold rank expert to sneak into the camp at night?"

Lorist laughed and said, "Els, do you think everyone is a nightcrawler like you? The prisoners said that there were 11 illegitimate sons leading the sweeping operation and only 3 of them are Gold ranks with the others being Silver ranks. I've already killed 1 Gold rank and two other of the Silver ranks, so I bet that they definitely wouldn't dare to sneak inside again. Know that one-on-one fights and all out battles are different: on the battlefield, you can swarm the enemy with your subordinates if you aren't able to take out your opponent. But if anyone dares to sneak in like you mentioned, that person would not be able to bring many people with him or he will risk being discovered by us. Being all alone, the odds of the person returning alive are slim, so they definitely wouldn't bother doing that. Additionally, we have Potterfang and Loze on night duty today, so what is there to fear?"

...

The whole night passed without incident. Given that the count's forces have spent a full day rushing back to the camp, it wasn't weird for them to rest and recover their energy for the night. And Lorist's side didn't send anyone out to harass them either. Coupled with sightings of old men and children wearing armor on the walls, the enemy also came to the conclusion that Lorist's forces were severely undermanned to the point where they were even forced to conscript the children and elderly.

During noon, the count's forces sent several loud-mouthed garrison troops over and they started shouting for Lorist's group to surrender the camp or face certain death. Annoyed at their loud ramblings, Lorist ordered the crossbowmen to turn them into human porcupines and quickly ordered for the old men and children to leave the walls as the battle was about to start.

As expected, the deaths of the soldiers who had come to demand the occupants' surrender had greatly angered the rebel-sweeping troops, causing hordes of men to emerge from their camp with the swordsmen in front and the bowmen following closely behind. The crossbowmen in Lorist's camp reacted by open-firing right away. Given the advantage of being able to take cover behind the fence and the stronger firing power of the crossbow, the efficacy of Lorist's crossbowmen far exceeded that of the enemy's bowmen who had to fire the arrows in a parabolic trajectory to be able to even shoot remotely close to the crossbowmen on the walls.

The bowmen were currently in a very awkward position; they would suffer huge casualties from the crossbowmen if they approached too closely, but if they didn't, they wouldn't be able to cause the enemy any harm. After shooting a few volleys of arrows, aside from planting a couple of arrows onto the wooden fences, they didn't manage to kill even one crossbowman.

They were subsequently ordered to retreat and the enemy tried to employ a different tactic. They sent their shield and sword infantry troops forward to attract fire from the crossbowmen in an attempt to cause them to waste their crossbow bolts. At that moment, Lorist ordered the crossbowmen to stop firing and let the enemy's infantry arrive at the main gates before he ordered for it to be opened. Terman's knight brigade that had been standing by beyond the gates instantly charged towards the enemy's infantry troops like a tiger pouncing towards its prey. Chaos ensued and blood was spilled with only 50 of the 200-odd infantry soldiers managing to return to their camp alive.

The pike cavalry units of the enemy had wanted to intercept Terman's knights, but they were fended off by the constant firing of the crossbowmen. By the time the count's forces mobilized their bowmen in response, Terman's knight brigade had already returned to the camp. That exchange alone caused the rebel-sweeping troops a loss of over 150 infantrymen whereas Terman and his knights weren't injured in the slightest.

Even though the enemy had incurred quite a loss, their commander believed that it wasn't for naught. According to the reports of the pike cavalry soldiers who had attacked the convoy while it was on its way to the camp, the convoy's forces was estimated to have around 100 crossbowmen who were currently guarding the camp from the walls, the 40-odd knights who had rushed out just now and only a few hundred other infantry pikemen. Seeing the old men and children on the walls of the camp earlier that day, the commander's belief that the convoy had lost quite an amount of soldiers when they fought against the forces that were stationed at the camp was reaffirmed once again.

In the afternoon, the enemy stopped their attacks and only sent some pike cavalry soldiers to spy on the convoy's movement from afar. The rest of the infantry soldiers were sent to fell some trees in the forest and move the logs back to the camp. Lorist could see the soldiers working together to make large wooden shields and battering rams out of the wood they have obtained.

"It seems that the main attack will be launched tomorrow. Are the fuel jars ready?" asked Lorist to Charade who was standing beside him.

"Yeah, we have 55 of them in total. I wonder if they're enough," said Charade in a worried tone.

"That's more than enough. Tomorrow, we'll burn down their siege engines and initiate our counterattack," said Lorist as he laughed.

...

Just as Lorist was about to wipe his body of his sweat after completing his training routine in the morning of the next day, Charade ran over and said that the enemy has started their assault.

Sol, it's still so early! The sun's not even out yet! Lorist looked towards the sky and discovered that the weather was rather dark and cloudy. It seemed that there may be snowfall coming either in the afternoon or the evening. It was currently the 1st month, so a number of heavy snowfalls was to be expected. The rebel-sweeping troops might have picked up on the change in weather as well and decided to launch their attack earlier.

Looking at Charade, Lorist said, "Go check on the family members of the soldiers and make sure they have enough to wear to accommodate for the changing weather. I don't want any of them falling sick due to the cold and cause us any trouble. I'll handle the matters concerning the battle, so don't worry about it."

...

Standing on the walls, Lorist could see the enemy soldiers lining up side-by-side behind rows of wooden raft-like shields and marching forward step by step. Behind the rows of shielding were three simple battering rams that were pushed by tens of other soldiers. The whole group traveled along the road rather slowly.

Lorist, standing beside Potterfang, who had been on night guard duty during the night, laughed out loud. "It would appear that today's battle will turn out to be quite ferocious. They seem so desperate."

Potterfang nodded and said, "The change in weather must have affected their plans as well. If they were to stay there for the next few days amidst the snow, they would be better of retreating right here and now. They probably have no choice other than trying to recapture the camp given that their resources wouldn't be able to sustain them for long. They must have no other option aside from forcing their way through without regard to their casualties for the sake of taking the camp back. I believe that we will be able to launch the trap without having to wait until tomorrow."

Lorist replied, "Alright. If they continue the assault with full force, open the gates and lure them inside. I doubt postponing it for another day would make much of a difference.With the weather looking like this, even if they want to retreat, they wouldn't be able to go far. Reidy, notify the rest that we'll be giving our foes there a huge surprise…"

Breaching the Camp

The battering rams that Count Cobry's rebel-sweeping corps have constructed overnight were exceedingly crude and simple with only a couple of wooden tripods and a huge trunk that hanging between them. After setting it up by the main gates of the encampment, it would then be able to smash against it repeatedly like a pendulum. The platform on which the tripods stood had four wheels underneath it. Tens of garrison troops were pushing it towards the entrance with several others holding up their crudely-made rectangular wooden shields to prevent the pushing soldiers from being killed by the rain of crossbow bolts.

Naturally, the crossbowmen stationed on the walls of the camp had their attention all focused on the battering ram. Within but a moment, volley after volley of crossbow bolts rained down on the enemy, taking out numerous men and horses as well as causing shrieks and cries to echo throughout the battlefield. However, that allowed the bowmen who were hiding behind the crude wooden shields some opportunities to aim from behind the gaps of the shields towards the crossbowmen, sometimes even knocking them off the walls with several taking an arrow to the face and dying instantly.

The remaining crossbowmen refocused their attention to suppressing the enemy's bowmen. With one side using wooden shields while the other ducking and using the walls as cover, they were currently in stalemate. Now that the bowmen had managed to reduce the distance between themselves and the defensive walls, they posed quite a huge threat to the crossbowmen. Crossbows were slow but they offered much better penetrative power. On the other hand, longbows shot three times as fast as crossbows, but longbowmen had to rest for a period of time after firing 7 to 8 arrows due to the lack of the crossbows' mechanical advantage.

While the crossbowmen on the walls were occupied with suppressing the longbowmen, the soldiers pushing the battering ram gave it their utmost and quickly moved it towards the entrance. Just as they were inches away from their destination, several glass jars were tossed from beyond the walls with some landing on the floor and a couple shattering against the battering ram, releasing a sticky substance all over the ram's body.

One of the soldiers touched the substance and suddenly freaked out and screamed, "It's fuel! Fuel!"

Subsequently, one torch after another landed onto the battering ram, causing the soldiers on the spot to stare with a despairing gaze as the flames erupted and effectively turned the construct into a glorified bonfire. Several tens of soldiers who were in charge of pushing the battering ram into place were engulfed in flames and ran around frantically and aimlessly like countless flies, with some of them who have managed to get out from the fiery mess quickly rolling on the ground at the first opportunity, only managing to have the fire on their bodies extinguished with the help of their comrades. Three soldiers with flames burning all over them jumped desperately into the river; while the flames were extinguished, they still ended up frozen and dead within the dank, watery depths of the ice-cold river. Four others who had been covered by too much fuel instantly turned into human torches, letting out ear-piercing screams in agony until some of their comrades decided to end their misery by giving them a pierce from their lances.

"Oaaghh!" Yet another crossbowman got hit by an arrow on the shoulder. A few pike infantry troops quickly pulled him from the walls. The enemy's commander finally started going all out and sent five squads of bowmen to suppress the crossbowmen. Even though hundreds of bowmen on their side had perished, the remaining 500 or so managed to pressure the crossbowmen on the walls to the point when they couldn't even raise their heads without being taken down by an arrow.

Lorist noticed that only 70 of the 100-odd crossbowmen were still alive and still being pressured by the suppression fire of the enemy bowmen. For every crossbow bolt they managed to unleash, five to six more arrows came in response. After considering his options, Lorist had Reidy bring him a large shield and intended to attract the attention of the bowmen to give his crossbowmen a chance to retaliate.

Taking in a deep breath, Lorist suddenly exited his cover. The sudden appearance of a man standing straight up exposing himself briefly stunned the enemy bowmen. Right after, ten or so arrows were sent flying in Lorist's direction, only to be intercepted by the shield in his hand before hundreds and hundreds of other arrows followed suit...

Sol, thought Lorist as he suddenly ducked behind the cover of the walls. He initially thought that it would be a rather simple affair: given his dynamic vision, he should have been able to deflect or strike down each and every arrow heading his way. But, while ten to a hundred arrows wouldn't pose much of a problem, five hundred arrows was really no joke. He could have easily been turned into a human pincushion. There's simply too much. Had it not been for this shield, I would've been struck long ago. I almost lost my life due to this foolish bet. How did I forget the simple fact that strength in numbers is nothing to laugh at?

Looking at the shield that had over a hundred arrows embedded within it, Lorist could still feel his hand shaking. The combined energy of the arrows passing through the shield to his hand was hard to defend against even when he used his internal energy. He was practically dancing with death on a tightrope just now. The only thing that he could be happy about was the fact that he managed to buy some time for his troops who have just managed to take out another 40-odd enemy bowmen.

The rebel-sweeping corps sent out some infantry troops to throw some mud onto the burning battering ram and quickly pushed it aside when the fire was extinguished to make way for the second and third battering rams that were being pushed over. The second battering ram was slightly modified in that it had wooden barriers on both sides where the soldiers who pushed the battering rams were positioned. There were also a couple of soldiers who were prepared to extinguish any fires with their buckets of water and mud.

Within thirty minutes, the second battering ram was pushed to the front of the entrance, rumbling as it went along. Ten infantry troops ran over and started pulling onto the rope fastened onto the ram and let it go with a unified cry. The humongous log smashed towards the gates of the encampment, causing the walls to shake from the savage vibrations.

As Reidy was passing a fuel jar to Lorist, he was unaware of the impending strike and fell off the walls from the vibration. Had it not been for Patt who grabbed his arm in time, Reidy might have suffered severe trauma from a fall from that height.

Sol, thought Lorist as he hurriedly steadied his feet. The moment he threw the fuel jar just now, a number of bowmen noticed it and shot the fuel jar in mid-air, causing its contents to fly all over the place and covering his face. Not having expected that to happen, Lorist could only stand there stunned and wasn't able to react in time to the incoming fuel.

"Pog, I'll leave this part to you. I have to go wash up for a bit," shouted Lorist. Currently, it was of utmost importance that he removed the fuel from his face and body, otherwise he might just end up as a human candlestick.

Lorist hastily got off the defensive walls with Reidy and Patt and sent the former to bring a basin of hot water with some soap over for him to clean his face up. He also removed his scale armor and grabbed a pile of mud to rub it on the parts that was stained by the fuel. After that, he took a piece of linen cloth and started wiping the fuel off. Patt quickly headed towards the large tent on horseback to retrieve a change of clothes for Lorist.

The sound of the camp gates being hammered at rang out at a steady rhythm. Lorist seemed to be unable to accept the incredulous situation of him practically bathing and changing into a fresh set of clothes in the midst of a siege.

"It's on fire!" cheered Loze from the walls.

Turning his head to look, Lorist could see clouds of soot and smoke rise from outside the walls. However, the sound of the hammering continued incessantly.

Wiping his face dry and getting his new clothes on as well as donning his cleaned up armor, Lorist quickly got back to the walls and saw that the battering ram was indeed aflame, but that didn't stop the infantry who were operating the ram from behind using the rope that was fastened to the hammering log.

"Reidy, get me two fuel jars. Patt, hold a torch ready for me," instructed Lorist.

This time, Lorist aimed for the infantry troops at the back of the battering ram. Hurling both of the fuel jars to the midst of the soldiers and following it up with a torch, a choir of agonized cries rang out in unison as the smell of charred flesh once again wafted through the air.

The hammering sound finally stopped due to the rope of the ram having been burned away. And so, yet another glorified bonfire was created in front of the camp gates.

"Master, I think the gates won't hold up for much longer," said Reidy.

Lorist went down the walls and inspected the double gates only to see that it had been hammered so badly that it was bent inwards for almost half a meter. A man of slight build could probably even fit through the opening of the dented gates. The top one of the three iron bars that held the gate shut was the most malformed, having been bent into a bow-like shape. The rod in the middle had a slight dent while the bottommost rod still looked perfectly fine.

"Let's stop defending the gates. It's not like we need it to secure the camp anyways. To be honest, I doubt that it would be easy for us to even open it ourselves… Just look at that distorted shape! I'm only worried that the enemy will stop attacking and leave us trapped within here," joked Lorist.

It was 'fortunate' that the enemy still wasn't willing to give up after that. They sent yet another group of garrison troops to extinguish the burning battering ram and moved it aside to make way for the third one this time.

The third battering ram was fortified even more meticulously; it seemed almost like a wooden longhouse given its roofing and the wooden barriers that surrounded it by the sides, offering protecting to the soldiers within. A layer of thick, moist mud was also covered all over the wooden surface to help with fire resistance.

This battering ram moved even slowlier than the former two and took almost two hours of pushing before it arrived at the gates, giving Lorist and his men enough time to rest up and have their lunch. Potterfang and Loze even managed to take a short nap during that time.

Worried about the situation with the camp gates, Charade went over to the walls with Els. Seeing its miserable state, Charade asked Lorist with a pale face, "You're just gonna let them push the battering ram all the way here without bothering to stop them at all?"

Lorist felt like laughing out loud on the spot as he thought, Charade, based on your martial prowess at the Three Star Silver rank, you'll be a peak Silver ranked fighter soon and will break through into the Gold rank in the near future. Even though Charade was currently swamped with all sorts of tasks and also had to accompany that pretty little maidservant of his at night, he still managed to find some time to train in his Battle Force. His dedication to his training was really something to be admired.

In terms of ability, even Potterfang himself graciously took a few steps back and let Charade take the position as the chief knight of the Norton Family, thus making him the main supervisor of the northbound convoy. The man himself also did not let anyone's expectations down and managed almost every affair, big or small, within the convoy. Back then, Baron Miranda once personally told Charade that he thought of him really highly and was appalled at his management skills. He even said that a man of Charade's caliber was fit to be a high-ranking official in a kingdom's government. It was worth noting that Charade was injured at that time and had to be carried around by others on a chair all over the place to get things done.

Even so, while Charade spoke quite a bit of sense during the war council meetings, when he was actually on the battlefield, his weaknesses would start to flow out ceaselessly. His hands and feet sweated incessantly and his face would turn utterly pale as he pranced around the battlefield in a state of panic, frightened by every little sound. His battle prowess in that state was not even comparable to a soldier who did not know how to utilize Battle Force!

Lorist felt intrigued that the usual beast-like calm and courage of Charade would instantly vaporize in the heat of battle. It wasn't like he was not accustomed to seeing dead bodies; he had taken quite a few lives himself. Why, then, was he like that on the battlefield?

Charade could only sigh in exasperation. He said that for some reason, seeing so many people die at once and hearing the savage cries of the warriors made him feel nauseous for some reason. Potterfang and Loze, however, didn't feel that it was a weird thing and concluded that it was because of Charade's lack of exposure to large scale skirmishes such as these. One time, they said that if Charade were to use corpses as stools and dip his bread in their blood before biting into it, he would eventually stop feeling so affected by the surrounding atmosphere.

"Ueergh…" Charade quickly ran away to throw up upon hearing that comment.

Poor lil' Charade… He knows that he can't stand being in the frontlines of battle, yet he still comes over to mingle in spite of that…

Lorist patiently responded, "There's no need to do that. When it comes to defense, we must not only focus on one aspect and must look at the bigger picture. We would be able to stop the battering ram from approaching the gates, but it would come with a heavy price. It isn't wise to do so when we have a better alternative. Look at the fortifications they have made to the battering ram. You will soon be able to see how it would actually work in our favor later."

However, that did not transpire as quickly as Lorist had mentioned. With but one strike of the ram, the iron bars that held the gate shut were knocked flying, leaving behind a large hole that revealed the surprised faces of several garrison troops.

Lorist ordered a few of his crossbowmen to shoot volley after volley of projectiles towards that hole, causing screams to echo from outside the gates. Only after a few moments were the enemy able to close that hole up with several shields. There was no activity for the later half hour as the enemy was presumably adjusting the position of the ram before the hammering started all over again.

Lorist's brows started to twitch with impatience when the hammering begun once more.

This time, it only took 20 impacts for the gates to crumble, causing its hinges to go loose.

"The gate has fallen!" The soldiers within the wooden barriers surrounding the battering ram all cried out in joy. At the same moment, Els and Lorist rushed like raging storms towards the wooden barriers that flanked the battering rams. The soldiers who were in charge of pushing the whole siege engine and operating the hammering log were truly in a pinch as they did not have even one weapon on their hands due to having been preoccupied with operating the war machine. More than 60 of the soldiers perished from Lorist's and Els's massacre with only a couple at the back of the ram somehow managing to make a run for it. Corpses were littered all over within the enclosure of the wooden barriers with a large amount of blood leaking out, forming a small, crimson stream…

The main reason why Lorist refused Potterfang's offer to go with him and brought Els instead was due to the fact that Els's dark attribute Battle Force was best suited for tight spaces like the inside of the barriers of the battering ram. The night vision his Battle Force granted him also put him at more advantage in the low light conditions within the barriers, allowing Els to efficiently chase down each and every foe without accidentally harming his allies.

While Lorist and Els were keeping themselves busy within the barrier enclosure, the people in the camp were not slacking off either. Reidy and Patt brought a few thick ropes and fastened one end of each of the ropes to the battering ram and the other ends to several stakes that were hammered flat into the ground, effectively turning that battering ram into yet another obstacle for the enemy. Upon seeing that, Charade finally understood what Lorist had meant previously.

The enemy commander was instantly enraged at seeing that happen. This really is going too far! Why aren't they abiding by the common conventions of warfare? Don't people usually assemble their soldiers in formation while waiting for the enemy to move the battering ram away after the gates have been breached? Why did they use it to bolster their own defenses instead? This is truly beyond reason!>

And so, the enemy's garrison troops started operating the ram again to clear out the remnants of the gates while removing the corpses of their comrades. However, the battering ram was still stuck firm on that spot.

A pike cavalry company could be seen assembling at the battering ram facing towards their own camp and tying their own ropes onto the ram. Before long, a game of tug of war had begun between the two sides.

The struggle lasted for more than 30 minutes before another squad of pike cavalry that acted as the rearguard of the enemy was roped into participating. Coupled with 1000 other horses that they had brought out of their main camp, the rebel-sweeping corps won out in the end. But it did not end well, for Lorist had waited for the ropes to be at its most tense before he cut them loose, causing the battering ram to roll towards the enemy troops unimpeded and down the road, resulting in the deaths of tens of soldiers and horses who were too late to react.

When the enemy stared flabbergasted at the situation that was unraveling before them, Lorist quickly instructed for his men to bring over a wooden cart and secured it vertically at the entrance. When the enemy broke out of their trance and attempted to rush over to stop it, the wooden cart had already been firmly planted to the ground, creating yet another obstacle for them to take down.

"The heck?! They're not done yet?!" Countless curses and complaints sounded from the group of enemy soldiers outside the gates with some even ignoring everything and ramming towards the wooden cart recklessly. The defenders of the cart weren't merciful either. There were three spear tips installed at the front of the wooden cart. The enemy soldiers, thinking that it was affixed to the cart and only served as a deterrent, believed that it wouldn't be able to harm them. As the soldiers rushed towards the wooden cart, the spears suddenly shot forward and impaled the sorry soldiers who had attempted to ram against the cart, causing the others to not act recklessly nor approach the cart.

The few illegitimate sons who were in command of this rebel-sweeping unit were steaming with anger. It had already been almost a day ever since they launched the attack during the early dawn, but their forces still hadn't been able to breach the camp even after sustaining near 600 casualties. Now that the battering ram was gone and the makeshift wooden gate wasn't completely undefended, what would they be able to do?

"Set that wooden cart aflame."

Several garrison troops hurled a few sacks of fuel onto the cart and quickly set it on fire.

Since you're going to start a fire, I will do it too. "Come, guys. We'll be setting up a bonfire here tonight," Lorist said.

When the enemy soldiers reported seeing Lorist's men hurling wood towards the burning cart and using it as a bonfire, Count Cobry's illegitimate sons almost went insane. At that moment, flecks of snow slowly drifted downwards from the sky. The illegitimate son that led the group instantly cried out, "Aha! The weather's turning to our favor today! It's snowing! Let's see how they keep the fire up now!"

Lorist, on the other hand, sighed and said, "It seems that fate intends to reap the lives of the enemy sooner. I had planned to let them live for one more night for us to have enough time to prepare, but it seems that we wouldn't be able to avoid bloodbath tonight."

As the bonfire finally went out, tens of garrison troops rushed towards the camp and moved the pile of wood aside as the sounds of horses galloping gradually got louder outside the camp. When the pike cavalry arrived at the entrance, the garrison troops cheered loudly in unison, "Go in there and kill them all!"

Winter Night Massacre

Having been taxed heavily for the whole day, the pike cavalry unit felt extremely worn out especially due to the tug of war match during the afternoon. Being the elite soldiers of Count Cobry, never once have they been assigned such a laborious task. To add salt to injury, given that the camp was on higher ground and they were pulling it off the slope, when the battering ram came crashing down, the 40 of them who couldn't react in time got ground into meat paste along with their mounts. This incident had further incited the already fervorous rage of the pike cavalry soldiers.

Now that the main gates have finally been opened up, they rushed directly into the camp filled with killing intent. A company and a squad of pike cavalry joined up together to a total of around 600 men and prepared to rush into the camp and slaughter anything in their sights to release their pent up frustration and rage, thinking that nothing could stand in their way.

After entering the main camp, the cavalry soldiers all got into a charging formation with 500 Silver ranked soldiers ready in the vanguard as they knew that the enemy had tens of knights who also have had their Battle Force awakened.

However, not a single soul or thing could be seen within the camp, save for a path that was 10 meters wide that led into the middle section of the camp. Some of them felt that something was off. The soldiers riding in front eventually slowed down to a gradual trot. They were unable to stop completely because there were six hundred more people following behind them. Gradually, the soldiers slowly filled up the 10-meter-wide 'corridor' like sardines in a can.

The pike cavalry could all feel that something weird was happening. They had imagined that they would be greeted by the familiar sight of the tents once they entered the camp and had wanted to use their enemy's blood to wash off their humiliation. However, all they could see was the 3-meter-tall walls surrounding them on both sides blanketed by a layer of snow . The pike cavalry could naught but continue onwards on the corridor path.

The skies started to darken once again as the snow gradually fell, blurring the vision of the pike cavalry quite significantly.

"Check these walls out and tell me what they are," someone instructed.

Two soldiers nearby poked their pikes toward the walls and said, "These are wooden walls, sir."

"Weird, they couldn't have possibly gotten so much wood from within the camp…" said one troubled soldier.

"Continue onwards. I refuse to believe they have enough materials to build such a long corridor."

Not even one of the soldiers could have imagined that the 'walls' were actually carriages placed on both sides with their bottoms facing each other horizontally to form a corridor-like structure, an idea though of by Charade. Even though it wasn't perfectly sealed and there were occasional openings here and there, they usually weren't big enough for the pike cavalry soldiers to pass through.

Some of the soldiers attempted to topple the walls, but their efforts ended up in futility. Even though the walls would budge a little after being pushed, the sides of the carriages that served as a stand on the ground gave them even more stability when compared to normal wooden divider boards because of the larger base area.

As the soldiers at the front approached the end of the corridor, they could see a wooden platform in the area in front of them. Suddenly, countless torches lit up at the same moment, illuminating the whole area within.

Upon seeing the spectacle in front of them, the soldiers at the front instantly turned pale.

Finally, someone started shouting out loud. "It's… It's a trap! Quick… Retreat!"

On top of the wooden platform was a group of black-armored soldiers in a square formation equipped with jet-black shields and lances. It was common knowledge that cavalry troops wouldn't stand against heavy-armored troops such as those when they lost the advantage of charging. However, that was not the main threat the pike cavalry faced. The light from the burning torches reflected off the 12 ballistas, causing them to glimmer in a chilling manner in the midst of the dark night…

The pike cavalry instantly erupted into chaos. Some wanted to go back the way they came only to find that it had been blocked off by their own comrades, who were unaware of the situation at the front. To add fuel to fire, there were 2000 or so garrison troops following behind them.

Dulles's excitement instantly soared as it was finally his turn to show off the might of his carroballista unit. Seeing the crazed pike cavalrymen, he waved his hand and shouted, "Release!"

Initially, the 6 ballistas on the second floor of the wooden platform let out a thunderous sound as their strings snapped forward to propel the ballista darts at breakneck speeds towards the enemy, instantly skewing them alive and causing a wave of blood to surge out of their impaled bodies. After that, the other 6 ballistas on the lower platform fired while the ballistas above reloaded. The cycle then repeated itself...

The 12 ballistas fired 20 volleys in total before they stopped due to their strings being overly worn out. The last volley completely paled in terms of power and accuracy of that of the first.

Standing on top of the wooden platform, Dulles himself was stunned at the effectiveness of the unit he commanded. He could smell the thick iron-like smell of blood that lingered in the air and see the corpses of the cavalrymen and their mounts clustered together. The 12 ballistas have fired 240 darts in total, wiping out the majority of men who emerged from the carriage corridor. The first darts even pierced through 5 to 6 men in one shot! Currently, only tens of the enemy were still alive and standing amidst their fallen comrades.

"Ueergh!" That was the sound of a soldier of the heavy-armored unit vomiting from witnessing the bloodbath that had just occurred in front of his eyes.

"Heavy-armored troops, onward!" ordered Potterfang. Having long been baptized by the blood and corpses battle after battle, the sight in front of Potterfang's eyes did not disturb him in the slightest.

"Ooeergh! Barf!" More soldiers of the heavy-armored unit started vomiting one after another.

"Heavy-armored troops! Charge forward!" shouted Potterfang again. He was suddenly reminded that his current heavy-armored unit was comprised of mostly new recruits and was far inexperienced than battle-hardened soldiers that he had once commanded in the Whitelion Legion. If he allowed them to take their time, it was entirely possible that more of them would start vomiting and decrease the overall efficacy of the whole unit.

Most of the troops did end up rushing forward in the end, only leaving behind several who were still in the puking their guts out.

In actuality, there wasn't a real need to deploy the heavy-armored soldiers as the remaining cavalrymen had already lost all their will to resist. Potterfang also lost interest in the battle after ten or so of the enemy were killed and ordered that the remaining soldiers be captured alive instead and relieved them of their equipment. After that, he led his units towards the corridor where sounds of battle could be heard.

While the pike cavalrymen suffered such a huge loss from the ballistas, the garrison troops that followed behind them did not fare much better either. Initially, they were assaulted by 400 or so crossbowmen without being able to fight back as their bowmen could not grasp the location of their enemy. The convoy's crossbowmen all hid behind the carriages and fired their bolts through the small openings. Being shot at a close range, the bowmen couldn't retaliate at all.

The remaining garrison troops could only surround themselves with their shields, but that did not stop them from the incessant torrent of crossbow darts.

The ground between the carriages was littered thoroughly with corpses. The snow that fell from the skies eventually froze the blood on the ground, creating a thin layer of bloody ice.

Having nowhere else to go, one of the count's sons who commanded the garrison troops ordered them to retreat immediately. At that moment, the walls near the entrance of the camp quickly collapsed: these were made of normal wooden separators instead of carriages. Terman and his knight brigade quickly rushed in and barred the way of the garrison troops. And behind him were hundreds of pike infantry troops who brought with them many wooden barricades and quickly erected a simple defense perimeter around the area.

At that moment, Loze was already in combat with the Gold ranked commander and both of them were quite evenly matched. Terman on the other hand led his knights on a rampage through the corridor, causing many soldiers to fall beneath his lance.

Several garrison troops soldiers attempted to escape from the spaces between the walls that could fit a person in, but shortly after they did that, their pained screams resounded throughout the area. Even one of Count Cobry's Silver ranked sons suffered the same fate. What they did not know was that two senior academy students and several pikemen had been stationed there just to take care of the soldiers who slipped through the gaps.

When Potterfang's heavy-armored troops rushed to the middle of the corridor, the already battered garrison troops finally despaired, with some dropping their weapons and kneeling down to await the inevitable and others struggling desperately to make their last stand. They were either killed by swords and spears or shot to their deaths by incoming crossbow darts.

Lorist gave the order to Reidy and Patt, "Pass down the order to spare anyone who drops their weapons and surrenders and kill the rest who resist."

Without delay, multitudes of garrison troops within the corridor quickly let go of their weapons and kneeled down in subservience. The battle was already over. Loze had managed to take the head of the Gold rank illegitimate son by countering after taking a sword blow to his shoulder. However, he was still energetic enough to wave that head around while laughing heartily. Potterfang on the other hand was worried as there should have been another Gold rank within the ranks of the enemy just now.

What he did not know was that the other illegitimate son had been pierced by one of the ballista darts at the very beginning when he was sandwiched between the soldiers to his front and back at the corridor.

At that moment, smoke could be seen rising from outside the walls of the camp, signifying the rebel-sweeping corps's camp being set on fire from the assault launched by Yuriy's light cavalry troops. Not long after, Yuriy sent a messenger back to report that the enemy camp had already been taken over and also mentioned their discovery of over 2000 prisoners who lacked food and other basic necessities. He was currently awaiting Lorist's order on how to deal with them.

How did the 2000 prisoners come about? After questioning a few of the surrendered garrison troops, Lorist came to know that the prisoners had been captured by the rebel-sweeping corps after they had taken down a mountain fort that belonged to the rebels to be used as slave laborers.

What should I do with them, thought Lorist as he shook his head with a bitter laugh. "I guess I can only bring them here for now since they wouldn't be able to survive given the night there without resources. They might just freeze or starve tomorrow in the snow if I leave them be. Send Reidy and Patt to go look for Charade and inform him about this issue. Let Terman and his knights as well as a company of infantry pikemen escort the people here and don't forget to collect the wooden boards they used as shields on the way. They will make good firewood to warm us up during the night."

He also instructed Charade to set up a couple of more tents at the northwestern area of the camp and start a bonfire there so that the 2000 captive youths would be able to keep themselves warm throughout the night and be provided with some wheat porridge. After that, he also got them some garments to stave of the chilling winter night air.

The northwestern area of the camp was originally intended for the 400 captives they liberated within the camp and the people who came over with them from Mestre Castle as well as the vagabonds that had ended up tagging along with the convoy. There would be nowhere more appropriate for the 2000 captives to be allocated to in the camp other than there.

The mutters of the men could be heard as they entered the gates of the camp. However, they eventually quieted down with nobody daring to even take a loud breath as the first thing that had greeted them was the grim sight of the bloodstained roads. Beside the path were multitudes of bodies stacked up together. The enemy soldiers who had already surrendered were currently stripping off any usable equipment from the bodies and stacking them on top of each other after that.

The 2000 young men crossed the crimson red path without uttering a sound and only managed to regain their vigor after they arrived at the northwestern area of the camp. Lorist was satisfied with the shock the men had been given from seeing the corpses as he was worried that the prisoners would make a ruckus and cause trouble for the convoy.

The snowflakes continued to fall gently to the ground, covering it with a snow white veil of tranquility.

Within the camp, bonfires were burning bright all over. Standing in front of the large tent, Lorist looked at the falling snow before exhaling deeply. Now that the slaughter fest was over, he wondered what other battles the convoy would have to partake in on the way to the Northlands.

Conclusion and Reorganization

The snow continued to fall. However, it wasn't like the feather-sized flakes like before but rather tiny flecks of white that gradually painted the ground white.

It was as warm as spring within the tent as a large brazier had been placed in the center of it with a piece of burning charcoal within that let out wave after wave of heat. On the brazier was a large bronze kettle with steam coming out of its spout.

Shadekampf lifted the bronze kettle and filled the teacup in front of him and handed it to anyone else who needed it. When the kettle was emptied, it was refilled with water and macks and was placed back on top of the wire gauze on the brazier. In a few moments, the aroma of macks filled up the whole tent once again.

Lorist, Charade, Terman, Yuriy, Els, Potterfang, Mons Malek, Lode Wales as well as the 37 senior students of the academy were assembled together within the tent. In a corner also stood Engelich and her granddaughter, Molise. They were currently talking about the gains they had obtained following the battle yesterday.

"In terms of logistics, the gains we have obtained from the battle were outweighed by the cost. Even though we only lost 17 crossbowmen to take out all 3000 of the enemy troops, not only were our profit quite low, we also inherited a huge burden. We have killed over 1600 enemy soldiers and captured another 1200 and also saved more than 2300 youths in the process. Even though our victory was quite magnificent, we did not gain much food or other supplies from it. Therefore, it would be quite hard for us to provide all these men with the necessary amount of food and clothing to sustain them throughout the winter. I estimate that our resources will last us up to a month at most.

"Apart from losing 17 crossbowmen yesterday, we also have 48 injured men, 34 of which are crossbowmen as well. Others include 4 from Terman's knight brigade, 7 from Yuriy's light cavalry scouts as well as 3 from the infantry pikemen. While it is quite fortunate that our casualties were relatively low, it must be noted that the resources we expended during the battle yesterday is nothing to scoff at. For example, of the 20000 ballista darts we have prepared, we are only left with 8000 of them, and that includes the ones we managed to salvage from the battlefield after they have been used once. The rest were all damaged beyond repair and must be reforged.

"Also, Dulles's carroballista unit also wore out all their ballista strings. While we do have some reserves of that, we still lack ballista darts nevertheless. If we don't procure more of those, I'm afraid the carroballista unit won't be able to contribute much in future battles. While we didn't get any consumable supplies from this skirmish, we did however obtain more than 3000 sets of weapons and armor as well as 2000 war-trained horses that used to belong to the count's pike cavalry. It is fortunate that the camp has quite a decent amount of hay. Otherwise, we will have to consider killing off some of the horses.

"Other than that, we have found almost 10000 gold Fordes' worth of money as well as approximately 1000 pikes, 300 longswords, 600-odd longbows, almost 1000 arrows as well as 500-odd bucklers. We also got 132 four-wheeled horse carts, 341 two-wheeled horse carts as well as 1252 work horses to pull those carts with. According to the prisoners, the horse carts had been left over since their latest supply shipment from the count and hasn't been sent back due to our attack on the camp. Aside from all those, we've also got a number of miscellaneous items.

"Right now, we're facing three main problems. One, what are we going to do with the 1000 plus war prisoners? Should we leave them or bring them along when we set out? Two, at least half of the captives within the camp that we have rescued wants to join our army to take revenge for their family members who have been killed at the hands of the count's forces. Having wiped out the rebel-sweeping corps, we have become their symbol of hope. Should we let them join our forces or not? The third issue is about a man who claims to be the son of a viscount and plans to bring a few hundred men away with him. He has requested that we provide him with some weapons and equipment. Should we adhere to his demands?"

After Charade finished giving his report, chatters and murmurs reverberated throughout the tent as the people present discussed the issues. When it came to the war prisoners, some were of the opinion of setting them free to avoid having to spend any resources to keep them alive while others brought up the possibility that they would once again return to the count and provide him with precious military intelligence. Given that they couldn't just kill them off, they could just bring them along on the journey and have them help out with rough labor.

As for the youths who wish to join the convoy's army to avenge their family members, most of the people were of the opinion of letting them join for the time being. However, when it came to the man claiming to be a viscount's son, the consensus was that he had no right to demand free equipment from them no matter whether the convoy needed the surplus weapons or not.

In the midst of the discussions, Lorist clapped his hands and signalled for everyone to quiet down. He then said, "After listening to your opinions, I feel that we shouldn't free the war prisoners just yet. Even if we do, it'll have to be after we exit the area of influence of the count so that they don't add any unnecessary trouble for us. As for the youths who wish to join our army, ask them if they would like to follow us all the way to the Northlands and inform them regarding the treatment our soldiers get. Also, don't force anyone to join against their will so that we won't have any deserters in the future.

"As for the last issue, I think we can't just refuse that man's request outright. I will first go and see him and decide whether we have a good reason to fulfill his request. If it isn't a sound one, I will definitely not consent to giving the equipment to him. Alright, the next thing I'll be telling you about will be a summary of the battle yesterday, so I hope you guys pay attention. This is only the first large scale battle we have participated in since the journey started and there is no way for me to know whether things will continue to be like this for the rest of the journey. I hope that you will all learn from any mishaps from this experience and make sure not to commit them again in the future.

"We only paid a small price to win the battle yesterday and managed to wipe out an enemy force of over 3000 men. This battle could easily be one of the most impressive and perfect victories ever to be recorded in the history books. However, let's not forget that victories like this is a result of a number of unlikely coincidences that just so happened to be in our favor. First, we have the sudden snow that forced the enemies to attack us even though they were at a disadvantage because they were already running out of resources. As a commander of an army, it is extremely unwise to pour every bit of your forces into a situation with so many unknown variables like the enemy commander did yesterday. That was why they fell for our trap so easily.

"Additionally, we also had the terrain working in our favor as well as the necessary defensive fortifications that were already present at the camp, making it easy for us to defend it and extremely difficult for the enemy to besiege. Coupled with our apt response, we have managed to stall them during the day and only let them into the camp when their vision was obscured by the low light and snow. The frustration of having been held outside of the camp also fueled their recklessness and caused them to fall for the bait. Had they managed to breached the camp during the day, what do you think they would've done when they encountered that wooden corridor? Would they have let their troops rush straight into it in that situation? I'm sure you're all aware that if that had happened instead, even if we were able to eliminate their forces, our casualties would be far worse than that. That is why luck was a huge factor when it came to our victory last night.

"Finally, the trap we devised using the carroballistas has produced an unexpected result and caused most of the pike cavalrymen of the enemy to be completely wiped out. Our victory was also mostly in part of our crossbowmen who have attacked from the gaps of the wooden walls; an action that allowed us to take control of the tide of battle that ultimately led to our victory. However, if we consider this victory along with the battle when we were occupying the camp as well as the time when our convoy was first attacked by the pike cavalry, we have lost quite a number of people including one of our cherished comrades.

"Throughout all these battles, I have discovered that our family's forces is heavily dependent on certain units. That can be seen in the fact that our heavy-armored units weren't able to shine during this battle as we have mainly relied on the light cavalry scouts, the knight brigade as well as the crossbowmen and carroballistas to secure our victory. This is not Knight Pog's fault; he has done very well to train his soldiers to make them the elite unit of our family. However, when we first set up the heavy-armored unit, we forgot one important thing: the convoy is mobile, therefore to protect the convoy effectively, that unit has to have sufficient mobility to back it up, and that is exactly what the heavy-armored unit lacks.

"The impressive performance of the light cavalry scouts and the knight brigade has been quite a surprise for me personally, however, their weaknesses also show there too. The main shortcoming of the knight brigade is that it lacks the manpower it requires to be completely able of changing the tide of battle. The scouts on the other hand can't undertake assault operations due to the same reason. For instance, when the light cavalry scouts attacked the enemy camp when they were at their weakest, seven of them were injured even though they only faced off with a squad of infantry troops. That is definitely an undesirable result. That's why, I will be reorganizing the unit structure during these two days while waiting for the frost on the roads to clear up.

"Firstly, the knight brigade needs to expand. Including the sets of armor and saddles the knight brigade currently has, the convoy has a total of 88 sets. The knight brigade will thus be expanded to a full squad of 120 people. Each knight will be allocated 3 mounts which include 1 warhorse, 1 travel horse and another spare mount. Every knight will also be assigned a squire who will be picked from the family members of another knight of age 15 to 16 as well as an attendant that will be in charge of managing the horses and armor of the knight. Both of them will also have one mount, but they will not be required to go on the battlefield. Knight Terman, I'll leave the reorganization to you. I hope you build a stellar knight brigade for the Norton Family."

Terman quickly stood up and saluted. "Milord, I will definitely not let your expectations down."

"Other than that, Knight Yuriy, your light cavalry scouts will be expanded into a full company comprising four squads with 120 people in each one. Each scout will be assigned 2 mounts, a crossbow, javelins, a pike, a longsword, a shield as well as mail and leather armor. There will also be another squad of attendants accompanying the scouts that will be responsible for managing the mounts and equipment. You must give the scouts strict training so that they will not only be able to fight from afar, but in close range as well."

"Yes, milord," said Yuriy as he stood up and saluted.

Lorist glanced towards Potterfang and he nodded slightly in response. Lorist continued, "Next, I will talk about the reorganization of the heavy-armored units. The assault from the pike cavalry has given us a huge realization. After discussing with Potterfang and some others, I have decided to change the heavy-armored infantry into heavy-armored cavalry and intend to have two companies set up for the time being. Each company will be made up of four squads which will each also have 120 people. Each soldier will have two horses and each company will have a squad's worth of attendants. The new heavy cavalry unit will be commanded by Knight Pog and Knight Loze."

Potterfang and Lode Wales stood up and said in unison, "Your will is our command, milord."

Lorist smiled with satisfaction and gestured for them to sit down. After spending some time with the convoy, Loze seemed like he was very keen on joining the Norton Family and it is only a matter of time before he joins the ranks of the family knights. "Currently, we'll prioritize the soldiers who have already awakened their Battle Force in the reorganization of the different units. Other than that, we will also set up a constable unit to maintain the order and security within the convoy that will be equipped with armor, axes and halberds. It is my hope that Knight Mons Malek will accept the position of the leader of the constable unit."

Mons Malek stood up and saluted before saying, "Milord, it is my pleasure to be of service to you."

"Other than that, the main camp's guards will also be expanded into a company, but they will have to be in charge of looking after the war prisoners as well as maintaining the security of the convoy. Els, I'll leave that part to you."

"Understood, milord."

"Lastly, I have decided to fuse the crossbowman unit with the pike infantry regiment. Every company will be made up of 5 squads, namely, 1 swordsmen squad, 1 crossbowmen squad, one longbowmen squad and 2 pikemen squads. Every squad will have 120 members. I will leave the command of this reorganized regiment to…"

Lorist's gaze fell on Engelich before he continued, "Engelich, it'll be your responsibility."

Engelich didn't expect that Lorist would actually nominate him to be the commander of the pike infantry regiment, which has the most amount of people when compared to the other units of the convoy. With his face flushed with surprise, he said, "Milord… I… I don't think I can…"

"Why not? Not only do you have the necessary experience, having been a commander of a city defense garrison before, you have nothing better to do around the convoy other than leaning outside of Charade's tent to eavesdrop. Don't bother denying it, I've seen that a couple of times. As a Gold rank, you can't just sit around doing nothing. As for your granddaughter, don't worry. Knight Charade has told me that he intends to marry her once we get back to our dominion. For your granddaughter's happiness and safety, you'll have to put in your part as well."

After saying that, Molise, who was standing just beside her grandfather, blushed profusely. Charade on the other hand walked up to her and pulled her in his embrace, causing the men in the tent to laugh out loud. Some of them teased Engelich while others congratulated Charade for having found his true love.

Engelich was embarrassed that his behavior had been exposed by Lorist. He was merely worried that Charade would force himself on his granddaughter. However, now that Molise truly had mutual feelings with Charade, there was nothing he could do to stop them. However, he brightened up when he heard of Charade's intention to marry her and said, "Okay, I will definitely do all I can."

Lorist faced the rest of the men in the tent and waved his hand. "Alright, meeting adjourned. We're rather pressed for time and we only have two days to carry out the reorganization. Make sure to make the best use of your time and cooperate with one another.

"Patt, ask that guy who claims to be a viscount's son to come over. I'd like to hear what he has to say."