Chapter 121: Ancarin’s Tears (1/2)
Having taken care of the most troublesome fellow, we stayed the night in his home. The next morning, Eddison kept to his word and began rallying the men of his village. All in all, he swiftly recruited 120 hunters of which 17 were two-stars while the others were one-star.
The same situation repeated itself for the other two villages bringing our total hunter count to 516 two-star and one-star hunters.
According to George, Dawson should arrive in Plateau Village within a day, so we gathered there and prepared for the final showdown.
Everyone gathered here was a hunter and thus had a lot of experience with archery and trap laying. With that in mind, Io volunteered to bring the hunters to prepare the battlefield. While the bandits were proficient in trap laying as well, these traps should still be able to cause some casualties and dampen their morale.
George’s plan was to settle this battle outside of the village. Therefore, he chose a nearby forest with a clearing within it as the battlefield. The hunters would place traps in the bandit’s path and lay in wait for them at the opposite side. In order to leave the trap field, the bandits would have to step into the open clearing where they would be vulnerable to a volley of arrows from the hunters.
All the while the trees would provide us with a natural cover and defense against their long-range attacks and charges. Of course, the bandits might just decide to retreat back into their side of the forest.
As for the trained wolves, while these mutts were pretty smart, their intelligence couldn’t be compared to a human in the end. They might be smart enough to avoid some basic traps, but the traps the hunters had set were anything but basic. All that awaited them was certain death.
The first thing we did once we returned to the village was visit Regine. As she refused to eat without me feeding her, she ended up spending all this time locked up in the carriage without touching the food the villagers had sent her. By the time we returned, her stomach was already rumbling in protest…thank god she knew how to go to the toilet herself.
Thus feeding her was the first thing I did upon returning. The last thing we needed now was a starving Regine. Because of this, we ended up wasting some time in the village, during which George led the hunters away to prepare the battlefield.
Probably out of consideration of all the gear and tools I gave to them, George seemed to trust me a lot more than before. He no longer watched me as closely, leaving only his brave potato of a brother, Dioh, behind to follow us. For some strange reason though, this kid kept giving me a strange look throughout this journey, and it severely creeped me out.
Having finished feeding Regine, we hopped onto the carriage and left. For this journey, Dioh was our driver and tracker. Without much difficulty, he drove the carriage along the tracks left behind by the hunters, and soon we came upon the temporary base set up by George.
As they weren’t an actual army, the base had a haphazardness to it; all they did was find a spot with water and cover. Thankfully, the hunters all had a wealth of experience living off the land, so they knew which areas to avoid while pitching their tents. The hunters pitched their tents as close to each other as possible, then scattered an insect and snake repellent powder around the base.
Being so close to the forest, this camp was particularly vulnerable to a fire attack. But…considering that the bandit’s had no mages and that battles in the Western Human Realms basically revolved around sword and spears, I guess it was understandable that George forgot about this matter.
Sigh, there goes that dream of being called a military strategist in my first large battle while waving a feather fan…
According to George, Dawson wasn’t one to rely on dirty tricks, sneak attacks and the like. If he decided to attack you, he would give you sufficient time to prepare. So this was where he got the idea of two to three days…he based it on an estimate of his understanding of Dawson’s personality. But weren’t we fighting a war now? Was it really alright to leave your own safety in the hands of your enemies’ morality…weren’t they bandits?!
Throughout this preparation period, I had this nagging concern that the bandits would suddenly launch a sneak attack on us seeing as, at the end of the day, they were just a bunch of despicable cutthroats. Not doing so would be the biggest surprise instead.
On the day we killed those trained wolves, the Third Chief came looking for us at Plateau Village the very next morning. This meant that their mountain hideout must’ve been extremely close to the village; probably several hours away.
Seeing as we were the underdogs here in terms of quantity, George’s tactics of using traps sat well with me. But…exactly what were these two potatoes doing!?
Ever since we left the command tent, Dioh and Moranthal, these loafers, would stick to mewherever I went. At the start I thought that they were merely interested in Ancarin, seeing as she was pretty and thus naturally attracted men; anyone who didn’t fantasize about her was either impotent or gay…I guess they could just be a gentleman as well.
Who would’ve thought that their target wasn’t Ancarin but me instead!
It was then that I was hit with the fury of a thousand f*ck yous.
It might’ve been that “cuckold” remark at work here, but ever since that day, these two potatoes hadn’t seen eye to eye with each other. Flanking me on both sides, they would follow me wherever I went. In the off chance that their eyes met by accident, one could see the daggers flying between their gazes.
Originally, I merely wanted to take Ancarin out for a stroll to calm my nerves, but then these two potatoes came along with their potato antics. While we walked, one of them plucked a flower for me and the other grabbed a couple of fruits for me to eat…Naturally, I rejected these offerings. Yet whenever I did so, the other person would throw a mocking grin at their counterpart along with a few choice words.
Didn’t I tell you that I’m a guy already? Can’t you guys even get my gender right? And what’s with that flower and fruit!
Feeling my obvious displeasure, the pair immediately blamed the other for angering me and began arguing. They almost ended up coming to blows. That’s right, almost…because Dioh was defeated within the first two moves.
The two had an entire grade separating them after all; how could the two-star Dioh even stand up to the three-star Moranthal. Being the hot blooded kid he was, Dioh was naturally the first one to attack, yet Moranthal’s retaliation ended up hitting him first. With a swift grab of the boy’s hand, Moranthal immediately blocked his attack and twisted it behind his back.
Subdued in a move.