“My Lord, there are people in the woods ahead!” West of the dense forest, Baron Belian’s Attendant hurried back on his horse.
Baron Belian stopped the small advancing group and slowly asked the Attendant, “How many people? Do they have weapons?”
The Attendant swallowed nervously and replied, “There are probably more than ten people. They are holding wooden forks, iron rods, and a small number of knives and axes.”
The Baron felt a slight tension when he heard there were over ten people in the dense forest. Although the opponents might just be ordinary mountain bandits with no fine weapons, if those “wild dogs” truly kept biting at their heels, their three cavalrymen would be hard-pressed to deal with them.
“My Lord, but they are not coming for us; it seems they are heading east,” the Attendant added.
“No matter what, let’s go check it out first. You three, hide the cart and provisions behind the rock pile,” Baron Belian ordered the three serfs responsible for driving the cart.
Once the provision cart was hidden behind the rock pile, Baron Belian took out a finely crafted cavalry bow from the quiver on his front saddle and led two Attendants to stealthily approach the dense forest.
On the other side of the dense forest, Art and his two companions by the bonfire had just chewed half of their roasted cured meat when a roar came from within the dense forest.
Ron, holding a drawn armed sword, jumped down from the rock. “My Lord, I’ve seen them clearly. There are about ten fellows. They have knives, axes, wooden spears, and clubs, but no bows and arrows.”
“Ron, get the horses ready. Be prepared to retreat eastward at any time.”
“Jason, find a slightly higher spot and shoot five light arrows into the crowd towards the sky. After shooting, get on your horse and prepare to retreat.”
Art climbed onto the rock pile by the roadside while giving orders to Ron and Jason beside him.
Climbing to the top of the rock pile, the surroundings were unobstructed. About three hundred yards away, on the western edge of the dense forest, a dozen mountain bandits, armed with wooden clubs, knives, and forks, were charging towards them, led by several burly, fierce-looking leaders dragging large axes and holding long knives.
Art pulled four light arrows from the quiver at his waist, gripping them tightly with his pinky finger. He then took out another arrow and nocked it. With a slight “creak” sound as the bowstring stretched, the cavalry bow slowly bent and drew full. The birch arrow shaft pointed directly at the sky, and on the other side of the arrowhead were several black-bean-sized heads of the bandits, who were charging and roaring, less than two hundred yards away from Art.
Thwip, whoosh~
The tension of the ox-horn cavalry bow was fully released onto the birch-shafted light arrow. The arrow shaft twisted as it left the bowstring, gradually moving away from the bow, away from the rock pile, and flying towards the sky, eventually becoming a small black dot in Art’s eyes.
The mountain bandit One-Eyed, as the second-in-command, was always fierce and brave. He led three old ruffians and strong men, charging at the very front of the team. According to the rules set by the Big Boss of the mountain bandits, the first person to charge in could take a desired war trophy afterward. He had long set his eyes on that black steed, so he was even more fearless than usual.
Seeing that they were only a little over a hundred yards away from those three rascals, One-Eyed stopped and waited for the minions behind him to catch up. He inadvertently glanced at the sky, and a black dot appeared in his eyes. The black dot slowly grew larger and clearer.
Thud!
The light arrow, in the gap left by One-Eyed’s fall, struck the calf of an old ruffian following behind. The old ruffian was suddenly shot down and lay on the ground, wailing incessantly.
One-Eyed turned his head to look at the minion rolling on the ground behind him and roared, “Shut up! It flew so far, it can’t kill you! Don’t you dare pretend to be dead! Get up and charge!”
The minion stopped rolling upon hearing this, picked up his right foot and looked. The light arrow had flown too far and had little force, only piercing a layer of skin and hanging on his calf.
The minion had just stood up, smiling and congratulating himself on his narrow escape, when another heavy arrow, following close behind, pierced obliquely into his lower abdomen. He looked down at One-Eyed, who was still sprawled on the ground, and slowly squatted down, clutching his stomach…
“Big Boss, they have archers, and they shoot very accurately,” One-Eyed said to the mountain bandit Big Boss, who was a dozen paces away.
“I’m not blind!”
“Tell the fellows to spread out and not huddle together like arrow targets.” The Big Boss said, hunching his back and continuing to walk quickly forward.
Before he finished speaking, another light arrow came, and although it pierced into the mud without hitting, it caused immense fear among the charging mountain bandits. After running a few steps, another light arrow came from another direction…
Under the coercion of several fierce bandit leaders, the mountain bandits slowed their pace and hunched their backs, moving closer to where the black smoke was rising.
The distance was shrinking step by step. The leading bandit was already less than a hundred paces from Art. Jason, on another rock, had already shot his five light arrows. Although he hadn’t hit a single one, Jason still followed Art’s order, jumped off the rock, ran to Ron’s side, took the reins, and mounted his horse, preparing to retreat.
Art stared at the fellow charging at the very front. He had already shot ten arrows, but this fellow dodged left and right, not even getting a single hair harmed. Art turned to look at Ron and Jason, who were already on horseback and ready to retreat at any moment. He selected a heavy armor-piercing arrow from his quiver, suddenly turned around, raised his bow and drew the arrow, pulling the cavalry bow in his hand to its extreme, holding his breath and aiming at the bandit charging at the very front. The target grew larger and clearer. Art could even see the face of this One-Eyed bandit.
“Wind~” Art silently recited in his heart.
“Wind~” Baron Belian, standing on the edge of the dense forest, had almost drawn his cavalry bow to its full extent. His eyes were fixed on a bandit charging towards the opposite archer, and his peripheral vision watched the straw in the open ground.
His breathing became steadier, his arms spread wider, “Whoosh~” Two arrows, one from the east and one from the west, whizzed out almost simultaneously.
A moment later, two people simultaneously fell in the open ground outside the dense forest: one was shot in the chest, piercing his lungs, and the other was shot in the back, injuring his spine.
“The Second-in-Command is dead!”
“The Big Boss is down!!”
“Cavalry are charging out from behind!!!”
The charging mountain bandits immediately erupted into chaos.
What was originally a dozen people besieging three suddenly turned into a dozen people being attacked from both front and back by two waves of cavalry.
Art hadn’t even realized who had shot that astonishing arrow from within the dense forest when he saw three cavalrymen, with spears and swords in hand, charging towards the mountain bandits in the open ground.
After a moment of hesitation, seeing the brown banner with a flying horse emblem carried by one of the riders, Art jumped off the rock pile and shouted to Ron and Jason, who were preparing to flee, “Don’t retreat! Reinforcements have arrived! Charge with me!”
With that, he jumped onto his horse and charged forward, drawing the knight’s sword from his waist and galloping towards the crowd in the open ground.
The “hunters” never expected that as they pounced on the plump “rabbits,” their backs would be targeted by “wolves.” Six cavalrymen against a dozen mountain bandits—the situation had become one-sided.
After chasing down four mountain bandits, the cavalry, who had been pursuing in all directions, turned their horses back to converge on the carriage road. Baron Belian was pointing his heavy knight’s sword at the mountain bandit leader who had just regained consciousness.
The leader had been knocked unconscious on the spot by a sudden heavy blow to his back. When he awoke, a heavy knight’s sword was already pressed against his forehead. Before he could figure out what was happening, an interrogation began from the other end of the heavy sword: “Do you have any accomplices?”
The voice clearly carried a Southern accent.
The Big Boss, with hazy eyes, looked left and right, only to see his Second-in-Command already lying motionless on the ground.
The Big Boss panicked, swallowed, and asked, “Who are you? Do you know—” The words were still in his throat when the heavy sword had already cut across the leader’s face. After a moment of chilling numbness came an unshakeable, intense pain.
Baron Belian ignored the bandit rolling on the ground and continued to ask sternly, “Are there any other accomplices?”
With that, he plunged the heavy sword into the bandit’s thigh and twisted the hilt repeatedly.
“Ah!!!~~~ My Lord, no, there are none! There are no other people!” The bandit screamed and roared.
Baron Belian stopped twisting, and the bandit’s screams also lessened.
The Baron’s interrogation continued, “If you go east from here, are there any other mountain bandits or vagrants?”
The bandit gasped several times, stopped the trembling of his teeth caused by the intense pain, held his breath, and replied, “My Lord, yes, there are several other groups.”
“Do you know where they are?”
“No~ I don’t know. They all rob everywhere; they go wherever there’s prey to plunder…” The bandit spilled everything he knew.
Art had returned to the road and dismounted, coming to Baron Belian, who had finished interrogating the bandit. “Respected Sir, thank you for coming out in time to uphold justice.”
Baron Belian did not rush to answer. He had his Attendant drag the mountain bandit Big Boss aside and kill him, then slowly turned and asked, “Who are you people? Which lord’s Soldiers are you?”
“My Lord, I am the Southern Border Patrol Officer of the Burgundy County Court, responsible for patrolling the border and maintaining order in Tinietz County.”
“Patrol Officer? This is the first time I’ve heard of it. You are responsible for maintaining order in Tinietz County? It seems you haven’t done a good job as a Patrol Officer. All the way here, everyone in Tinietz has been uneasy due to the rampant mountain bandits and vagrants. You three strong men with horses and long swords were actually surrounded and attacked by a dozen miscellaneous peasants and petty thieves.”
This was the first time Art had been lectured in such a way. Although he felt a bit aggrieved, patrolling the border and maintaining order was indeed his duty, at least nominally. He didn’t know how to respond to the noble lord’s accusation before him, so he changed the subject and asked, “You are from the South, aren’t you?”
The Attendant beside the Baron replied, “Standing before you is the Guardian of Baronburg in Provence Grand Duchy, the Attendant Captain of the Court Imperial Guard, Baron Belian of the Tiberias family.”
Art did not pick up on the Attendant’s words but instead pointed to the fine bow on the saddle behind the Attendant and asked Baron Belian, “That arrow just now, was it shot by you? You are truly a divine archer.”
Baron Belian then softened his tone, pointing to the cavalry bow in Art’s hand and said, “Your archery is also good, but this cavalry bow is too soft.”
“This cavalry bow was captured from the Lombards. Their bows and arrows have always been soft.”
“You’ve also fought with the Lombards?”
“By chance.”
With a common enemy, Baron Belian immediately dropped his high-and-mighty demeanor. The two spoke more and more, and their conversation broadened.
Art learned about the Southern war situation from Baron Belian and also learned that Baron Belian’s purpose for this trip was to purchase provisions, and he had not yet raised enough quantities.
Seeing Baron Belian’s helpless expression, Art’s mind turned a few times, and he said to Baron Belian, “Honorable Baron, perhaps I can help you…”
