Chapter 10: Prelude to Battle

After changing his clothes, George used less than a minute to clear his mind and refresh his spirit through several breaths and gentle movements. At the same time, he overcame the inertia of his body’s systems after just waking up and loosened up his major joints and muscle groups.

“If I can master the Jade Pillar Golden Body Technique, I will be able to keep my body in its best state at all times. Furthermore, if I can advance my spiritual cultivation to the next level, I can use the Visualization Method to replace sleep,” George thought to himself. “When that time comes, I will be able to join a battle at any moment without being affected.”

Fully prepared, George retrieved the dagger from under his pillow and tucked it into his boot, then grabbed the sword lying by his bed and rushed out the door. He found Sir Bart waiting in the corridor with his sword planted on the ground, and Craig soon hurried over from a nearby room.

Sir Bart grabbed Craig, who wanted to run forward, and gave an order: “Don’t run around. Follow me to find Mr. Duz first.”

“In this situation, shouldn’t we return to the camp first?” Craig asked, tilting his head to the left with a face full of doubt.

“If the Mayor hadn’t invited us today, we should have waited at the camp for him to explain the situation and ask for help before deciding on our actions,” Sir Bart said, rubbing Craig’s head. “However, since we owe Mr. Duz a favor today, it is better to take the initiative to ask. That is how human interaction works. Besides, given the relationship between Isolde and Mr. Duz, we have no reason to just ignore this.”

Craig pouted his small mouth and widened his eyes, looking at Sir Bart pitifully, as if saying that he hadn’t mentioned these things before.

“Sigh! I will teach you these things in the future. You are not at the age where you need to rush. Your priority right now is to improve your strength; I will teach you other things slowly later,” Sir Bart said with some doting affection.

“I don’t remember anyone around Craig teaching him how to act cute. Is this guy a natural born cutie? A cross-dresser plus a cutie, isn’t that the legendary Hideyoshi from the last century before I transmigrated?” George complained in his heart, feeling like he was about to fall apart in the wind.

Forcing down the urge to complain, George interrupted the father and son’s tender moment: “Hurry up, Sir Bart! This isn’t the time for father-son chats.”

“Heh—heh—heh, I indeed got a bit carried away just now,” Sir Bart laughed in embarrassment.

George really wanted to shout: “Even if this isn’t our territory, you shouldn’t be this careless.” But he certainly wouldn’t put that into practice.

Seeing George’s slightly darkened face, Sir Bart tried to smooth things over: “Alright, alright, let’s go down and find Mr. Duz quickly.”

Thump, thump, thump. Unexpectedly, when they just arrived at the hall, the Mayor was already waiting there. Actually, this was to be expected; after all, the bell ringing in the middle of the night meant something big had happened to the small town, and as the Mayor, he couldn’t possibly still be sleeping soundly.

At this moment, George, who had the highest status among the three, began to ask: “Mr. Duz, do you know what has happened outside? If you need any help, we will do our best to assist.”

“The specific cause is still unclear, but I just saw firelight from the second floor,” the Mayor said. He vaguely felt that something was wrong, because under normal circumstances, the person reporting the news should have arrived by now.

“Bang bang bang,” the knocking on the door was unusually rapid and forceful. Sir Bart hurried forward, stood to the side of the door, held his sword in his right hand, and opened the door with his left.

They saw the Patrol Captain they had met at the night banquet walk in, supported by someone else. His clothes were tattered, and there were bandaged marks on his left hand and right leg. His whole body was covered in a mixture of blood and charcoal.

He spoke in a weak and hoarse voice: “Mr. Duz, Goblins attacked us. There are very many Goblins and some other monsters. There are only a few town Guards left, and the Caravan guards and Adventurers can barely protect themselves for now.”

Hearing the news, the Mayor’s expression changed: “Lord of the Bolerum Territory, the Greywood Town of the Duke of Nohan’s territory formally requests you and your team to give us help.”

“Following the ancient oath, I represent the warriors of the Bolerum Territory traveling with me in accepting your request.” Although George faced this situation for the first time, judging by Sir Bart’s expression, he hadn’t messed up his act.

Having made the decision to help the town drive away the invaders, the three of them immediately rushed to the square in the center of the town to meet up with the team. After all, apart from the swords they carried, they didn’t bring other main battle weapons, let alone armor. In this state, one-on-one was fine, but once they entered a melee, it would be troublesome.

The Mayor’s house was located on higher ground. Looking out, one could see many houses on the outskirts of the town emitting firelight. The dense buildings caused the fire to spread quickly, showing a trend of spreading into the town. At the same time, noisy sounds came faintly, among which only crying, shouting, killing, and howling could be barely distinguished. The only area not greatly affected for the time being was this wealthy district near the Mayor’s house.

Feeling the miserable state of the town, George couldn’t help but sigh: “It seems that even if we drive away the invaders immediately, it will take many years for Greywood Town to possibly recover to its state before the attack.”

“I indeed didn’t expect it to be this tragic before,” Sir Bart’s face looked very bad. “What are the town Guards eating? How did it get this serious in such a short time?”

“It’s better not to jump to conclusions so early, and Sir Bart, don’t compare this small town with the ones in our Territory,” George said. He believed that without investigation, one shouldn’t make arbitrary conclusions, although he also felt that Sir Bart’s words weren’t wrong. But after all, for those dead Guards, no matter what they had done before, in the final stage of their lives, they sacrificed fighting to protect the residents of the town. Wasn’t there a saying before transmigrating that the dead are the most important? Discussing this during wartime was disrespectful to the victims. If word spread to the townspeople, although they wouldn’t say anything to their faces, who knew what they would say behind their backs. It would be bad if it affected Sir Bart’s reputation.

Danger! Following his instinct, George quickly lunged forward. Sir Bart, who was experienced in many battles, tucked Craig under his left arm and leaped backward.

With a “Bang—”, a wall of a house by the road was smashed, and various stones and slabs fell all over the ground. At the same time, a nauseating stench spread out.

“Achoo—” George, choked by the stench, ignored the various trash stuck to his body. After standing up, he stared intently at the creature that had smashed through the wall. This guy was about nine to ten feet tall, wearing simply tanned fur, with one or two pieces of leather armor patched over vital spots. On the exposed parts of his dark yellow skin, there were darker raised lumps. Its neck was thick and had hard skin. Looking up, it had a broad and flat nose, and on the left and right were purple eyes with white pupils. When it opened its big mouth to roar, it revealed teeth that were orange like its claws. That greasy and messy dark brown two-foot-long hair was definitely one of the sources of the absolute stench.

George compared his strength with that monster in his heart: “An Ogre? If nothing unexpected happens, I should be able to deal with it alone, but it will take quite a lot of time.”

Ogres were ugly and greedy large humanoid creatures, and were one of the inherently Evil creatures. They were a branch of the broad Goblin family, related to Bear Goblins, Orcs, and others. They were both lazy and ferocious, and liked to eat the meat of Elves, Dwarves, and Halflings the most. Don’t think they are simple-minded fools just because of their muscular appearance. They lived by looting and stealing, and their usual combat mode was ambush and surprise attacks. Before close-quarters combat, they also knew how to use ranged weapons first.

That Ogre did not focus its attention on George, but turned around and swung the large wooden club in its hand at Sir Bart. It seemed it could sense who was more of a threat. Sir Bart dodged the club’s attack with a side step and casually threw Craig backward. Unencumbered, he took a step into the blind spot of the Ogre’s large club attack, then immediately crouched and lowered his head to dodge the whistling left fist. He stood up, exhaled, and used his waist to deliver a diagonal slash from the lower left to the upper right with his right hand. The weapon drew a wide and deadly arc. If not for the crunching sound of bone cracking and the tearing sound of leather breaking when it cut into the flesh, the whole process could be described as a hot bread knife cutting through butter.

With a “Bang—”, the Ogre, nearly broken in two, fell down. Craig, who was thrown backward, adjusted his posture in the air, and upon landing, used several small steps to dissipate the impact force, standing steadily.

“Uh—what a waste,” Sir Bart panted. “Hurry up, this time there really is trouble. Of course, I don’t mean us, but this town.”

George thought about Sir Bart’s words. The previous sentence about waste probably referred to the materials on the Ogre. Most parts of an Ogre were good Alchemy materials, but Sir Bart’s Steel-Breaking Sword strike just now, in order to save time, had shattered many of its internal organs. The shattered internal organs that couldn’t be preserved couldn’t be taken to the city to sell for money. As for the town having big trouble, from the Goblins mentioned by the Patrol Captain earlier to the Ogre that just appeared, according to circulating sayings, such a group should also have a certain number of Bear Goblins and Feral Wolves. Looking at it this way, the casualties in the town would probably be huge.

“If this thing is still here later, let Thomas clean it up. He is best at this,” Sir Bart said to Craig. “Don’t just stand there, let’s get to the camp quickly.”

When George and his group almost arrived at the camp, the square was covered with traces of the end of the battle. Various corpses lay scattered on the ground. There were monsters and humans. Regarding the monsters, if one looked carefully, one could distinguish Goblins, Bear Goblins, Wargs, and Feral Wolves. The humans included both Adventurers or Mercenaries and Commoners, but their bodies were mixed together, soaked in blood water, and smoked by the fire, making them difficult to distinguish for a while.

Entering the camp, they found that the camp was brightly lit. The members of the Guard were either patrolling or maintaining their weapons. Several wounded were lying near the bonfire, groaning in pain from time to time.

Seeing the group return safely, Knight Val let out a long sigh of relief. He then assigned Sergeant Major Anson, who was responsible for the night watch tonight, to explain the previous situation to them.

Sergeant Major Anson was the leader of the fifty Guard members brought this time. His angular features and bright, spirited eyes gave people a capable feeling. A scar slanting across his nose bridge added to his wild aura. Coupled with his six-foot-tall stature and that sturdy build, when he appeared in uniform with a weapon, the first impression was that he was an iron-blooded warrior.

“My lords, the attack we encountered this time was very sudden. I personally feel that the stealth skills of those Bear Goblins are good enough to rival the Shadow Thieves in the Assassin Guild in the south,” Sergeant Major Anson stated his opinion truthfully. “Of course, I am not shirking responsibility. The testimony of the several Adventurers we saved can also prove this.”

George felt that Anson didn’t need to cover up too much on this matter, so he let it pass: “Then what was the specific result?”

“At the beginning, two members of our Guard were seriously injured by sneak attacks, and five of the Caravan’s hired guards died. However, in the subsequent battle, we clearly had the advantage. The strength of the Guard members was much higher than those Bear Goblins, and most importantly, our cooperation was far more tacit than theirs,” Anson turned his head to look at the Caravan side. “The invaders who entered the camp were eliminated very quickly, but three of the Caravan guards were injured by throwing hammers thrown by the Bear Goblins and temporarily lost their ability to move.”

“Did we participate in the battle outside?” George pointed his finger at the square where corpses could be seen everywhere.

Hiren, who was standing by, interjected: “Of course, otherwise do you think those Mercenaries and Adventurers could accomplish anything? Actually, the battle in the square wasn’t smooth. Of course, that wasn’t an issue with the combat itself. At that time, monsters, Adventurers, Mercenaries, and escaped Commoners were in a mess in the square. Just preventing accidental injuries was not an easy task. Sometimes those cowards would even charge into our team and camp to escape for their lives.”

Knight Val waved his hand to signal Hiren to shut up so Anson could continue.

“In order to solve those guys in the square as soon as possible, several Retainers and Squires of the Knights came to help. To be honest, at that time, thanks to Lord Garick and Lord Garlanod, they used a few small spells to successfully disperse the crowd. This allowed us to fight freely later,” Anson said with some emotion. “Before at the Northern Fortress, both sides fought head-on. It took at least third-circle spells to have some effect on the battle situation. I didn’t expect that in this environment, a few low-rank spells and tricks would have such an impact.”

Knight Val touched his chin and nodded: “Did you hear that, Hiren? Don’t think that the remaining few Word Spirits are useless just because they seem ordinary usually. In two months, I will assess your usage of these Word Spirits. If there is no progress at all, you know the consequences.”

“After we were able to let loose, those monsters couldn’t hold on for long. Apart from the dead ones on the square, some fled into the alleys or houses of the residential area. Afterward, since we didn’t receive a request from the town, we didn’t enter the residential houses to eliminate the remaining monsters and just rested and reorganized,” Anson finally sighed. “Regarding the battle in the square, four of the Guard members responsible for the frontal charge were lightly injured and can rejoin the battle sequence immediately after preliminary treatment. But the guards responsible for flank cover were clearly not the main attackers, yet seventeen more were injured, eight of them seriously. I really don’t know what to say.”

Such a casualty ratio indeed shocked George a little. Originally, George had vigorously built a professional army in the Territory—while improving food and standardizing training, he invited excellent veterans and some Knights’ Retainers to educate different soldiers according to their talents. He strove to make every soldier a qualified warrior.

The Guard was selected from the best among the veterans of more than two thousand soldiers in the whole Territory. According to the System’s algorithm, these warriors who had fought Orcs at the Northern Fortress had an average of four to five professional levels. George kept fifty of the more than one hundred Guard members for himself and gave the rest to his father in Cardala for the long term.

Unexpectedly, the first battle after this team was established had such exaggerated results. Because before, George viewed this world with the concept of cold weapon warfare from his previous life, at most adding Mages and powerful Knights. But in this magical world, the strength gap of ordinary people was exaggerated compared to the world before transmigrating. A group of professional soldiers who were powerful and cooperated tacitly could completely crush several times their number of cannon fodder troops with a small price. Sometimes they could even achieve zero losses. This firmly strengthened George’s idea of continuing the elite soldier policy after professionalization.

After all, for the entire Continent, Humans were not dominant, and the internal filth had already become public. His own wealthy Territory certainly needed enough strength to protect it, otherwise it would become fat meat in someone else’s mouth sooner or later. Because of the Knight system, the Duchy was still relatively united internally, so there wasn’t much problem. But when there were external enemies, the Bolerum Territory, which had an excellent port and was wealthy and not far from the capital, would definitely bear the brunt. George didn’t want to live a life dependent on others in the future, so defending his home and country was his unshirkable responsibility.

Ending his wild thoughts, George asked with some worry, “Mr. Val, what is the specific condition of these wounded?”

“Those who are still alive have undergone preliminary treatment and shouldn’t die. After tomorrow morning, I can use the Divine Arts a few more times. But a few of the guards will never be able to eat this bowl of rice again,” Knight Val said with a somewhat sad expression.

After all, the Guard and the guards were different; the former were elite soldiers in the Territory, while the latter were just Adventurers or free Mercenaries hired to protect the Caravan. People had different levels of closeness, so the Guard naturally received priority treatment. Mr. Val’s Divine Arts were limited, and the weaker guards often had more serious injuries, which led to the current situation. However, those guards should have been mentally prepared since they embarked on this path, so they weren’t making a fuss now.

George shifted the topic to what was to be done next: “By the way, Mr. Val, the Mayor has formally requested us to clear out the monsters in the town.”

“Soldiers, since we have accepted the request, let’s fight with all our might,” Knight Val turned around and began to issue orders to the Caravan members present.

“Yes! My Lord—” was the response of the Guard. “Howl—” was the cry of the guards. Having had to hold it in for so long, now was the time for revenge.

“By the way, I think we should send some people to Mr. Duz’s place. We encountered an Ogre on the way here,” George suggested.

“Okay, I will make arrangements,” Val said loudly. “George, Hiren, Craig, after you change your equipment, act together. Treat this as a trial.”

Then Knight Val walked in front of Hiren, patted his shoulder, and said: “Remember to take good care of them.”

“I will!” Hiren punched his left chest forcefully.