Waiting Game

Soon, 10 minutes had passed and the official knights stepped in.

"All those without groups step aside now."

Having all been trained for at the very least a few months, all the knights in training, followed the order subconsciously without hesitation and those without groups just stopped moving for an instant before quickly assembling to the side.

Fals began pointing out people, who then came together and formed groups following his instructions without a moment's delay.

"Alright. Now that everyone has their groups. Let me tell you all the rules. It is quite simple. You will all go out of the city in your groups. And you will be in charge, or killing 5 beasts per group. Furthermore, for every extra beast over 5 the group kills, you will be rewarded 50 copper that will be spilt within your group equally. Remember, those who do not fill the 5-kill quota by the end of three-day time limit will have to remain outside the gates until they do. As soon as you o complete the required quota, you will be allowed to enter and leave the city freely."

"Remember, if you feel the pressure from a magical beast, run away as quietly as possible while trying to hold in your Internal energy as much as possible. Knights Fals and I, Grey, will be monitoring certain sections of the forest and will try and eliminate all magical beasts. In case you find one, and Fals or I do not come to your rescue, just make your way back to the castle gate. Sir Bob will be waiting here and will eliminate any threat."

"Alright. You have all things you need to survive. Remember, creating a fire will scare away normal beasts and might just attract any normal beasts. So, it is better if you kill a beast of two in the morning and return closer to the castle gates in the knight to prevent unforeseen accidents."

"Go!" Knight Grey yelled as the gates opened and everyone marched out in their groups.

Soon, Daron and his group of five had entered the forest outside the city.

This extermination exercise was not only to reduce the risk of beast attacks to travellers. Daron knew this since the three Knights could easily sweep through the forest and kill everything within a week or so.

However, that would almost completely exhaust them. Furthermore, another reason for this was the fact that the knights in training needed regular actual combat with their life on the line.

Naturally, sending out everyone randomly was just suicide, since knights in training were no better than normal humans other than the training they received. That was why travellers into the city, especially merchant convoys, needed to employ Official Knights of Rank 6 or higher, since they had to guard the carriage while killing the beasts.

However, when sending people in groups of 5, even if they do not use any tactics and just madly rush a normal beast, the chances are highly likely in their favour of killing the beast. And if they used things like traps and encircling the beast, it is almost guaranteed for them to kill the beast.

…

"Alright gang. We follow the plan. Everyone has the rope I told you guys to get?" Daron spoke softly.

The rest of the 4 did not speak but simply took out 4 lengths of rope.

"And the rats?"

This time, Rachel made a disgusted face, but William and Fey pulled out a dead rat from inside the backpacks they were carrying, while Tom simply looked away, acting innocently as though this was the first time he was hearing about it.

"Tch. If we don't have enough, you two will be in charge of catching the required amount." Daron harrumphed as he took the two dead rats.

The group then ventured a little way into the forest, around a 20-minute walk from the city gates. Here, they found a small opening the size of a small shed, with incredibly tall trees surrounding it. It was the perfect ambush spot. Daron took out one of the rats he had with him, and used the dagger he always kept with him to split open the centre of the pest, releasing a strong stench of iron blood. It was clear that the rat was only recently killed, or else there would have been a horrendous stench of rotting flesh.

He then took the rope and hung the rats in it. Next, Daron took the rest of the ropes and tied them together to form a rope capable of spanning a lot more than the length of the clearing.

"Fey, Tom, Rachel, take this end and tie it on that tree and wait there for my signal. I will be tying this end with William to this tree, and will be hiding in the tree. As planned, wait form my signal. But remember to keep your weapons ready for attack and slow down your breathing."

Since the wind was flowing down from the north, which was in the direction of the City relative to where they were, Daron had split his group in two, sending them to the West and East respectively to reduce the amount of smell the wind could carry into the rat carcass he had now hung in the middle of the clearing.

And now, it was a waiting game. He had the bait, hung on a rope that stretched across the tops of two trees on the east and west of the clearing, with the bait straight in the centre, around a meter off the ground, blood dripping on the floor.