Chapter 41: Strike, Part 1

At the very last moment of dusk, Theron led his squad of twelve people out of the Military Camp and headed toward the sentry post at the edge of the Snowplains Dense Forest. By the time the sky turned completely dark, the figures of the young Militia members had already disappeared—in order to guard their homeland, these hot-blooded young people had undoubtedly used one hundred and twenty percent of their effort.

“Ike, for tonight, have your men and the Auxiliary Soldiers patrol together. If anything happens, you must wake me up!”

Before returning to his room, Dean instructed another Militia Captain.

“Yes, Regiment Commander!”

The skinny Militia Captain answered loudly, and the surrounding Militia members also saluted the departing Dean—this was not something Dean ordered, but a rule of every Knight Order, whether it was in the local area or the Central Knight Order in the Capital of Emerald, it was the same.

However, facing the original Regiment Commander Potts, these Militia members were reluctant, but facing Dean, they were willing.

Even though this new Regiment Commander had just taken office.

At the very least, not being stingy, being clear between public and private matters, and possessing the bearing a true Noble should have, these few points had already won over these simple young people. Not to mention, this young Regiment Commander also had quite impressive skills—although it was not a real battle, that ‘exercise before meals’ also let these young people from hunter backgrounds see their Regiment Commander’s vigorous skills and very decent techniques.

And the latter was something even the original Regiment Commander Potts did not have.

After all, they had also watched that Regiment Commander with a real Knight title drilling on the open ground of the Square; it was all just straightforward hacking and slashing, without any technique to speak of.

Perhaps, he had greater Strength, but in terms of technique, this new Regiment Commander was undoubtedly more impressive.

This was the unanimous opinion of the Militia members present.

As for the source of these techniques?

Naturally, these young people thought of their new Regiment Commander’s ‘Family’—rumor had it that every Noble Family with a long-standing Inheritance possessed this or that technique that could be called a Secret Technique.

And their new Regiment Commander had undoubtedly inherited such Secret Technique-like skills.

Regarding the thoughts of his subordinate Militia members, Dean could guess a thing or two, but he would absolutely not explain. He needed such thoughts to allow him to control the entire Knight Order faster—of course, it wasn’t enough just to influence these young Militia members; that Lord Baron also needed to be influenced.

In fact, until now, the latter was Dean’s primary target.

“Here and here… and also here…”

Returning to his room, Dean did not rest. He lay on a map, examining it carefully—this map, which recorded the surrounding hundred kilometers of the Tier Territory, was one of the few useful items Potts left behind.

And at this moment, Dean was marking several points on this map.

Of course, such markings were mostly just tapping with his fingers a few times.

Dean was not extravagant enough to mark directly on the map; after all, the production of every map was worth a lot, and the first one even required Gold Pulton, which would make a medium-sized family despair, to produce. Therefore, such maps could only exist in the hands of Territorial Noble Families. Sometimes, this first map within the territory was even a symbol of the identity of the Noble Family heir.

Simply put, whoever possessed the first map of the territory would occupy a considerable initiative in fair competition.

As for the expensiveness of the first territorial map?

That was natural; after all, one needed to ask a Wizard to take action, and as everyone knew, anything related to Wizards represented expensiveness.

And the map in Dean’s hand, although not the first map of the Tier Territory and just a copy obtained from Baron Tier’s hand, even such a copy required ten Gold Pulton—and previously, the price of the bows and arrows Dean equipped his subordinates with, if one excluded the Auxiliary Soldiers, was about ten Gold Pulton for the two squads of Militia.

In front of his subordinates, he showed indifference toward Gold Pulton, but Dean, knowing his own situation, could not truly not care about Gold Pulton.

In fact, he needed Gold Pulton more than ever.

After all, he needed a well-equipped and battle-hardened team, and such a team could only be piled up with Gold Pulton.

Of course, that was a matter for later. Right now, Dean was just completing his plan for after dawn tomorrow.

Yes, tomorrow at dawn.

As long as there were no major errors, his subordinate Militia squad would definitely discover ‘traces of bandits’!

And facing such bandits who ‘murdered’ the Knight Order Regiment Commander, Dean certainly would not give them any chance of survival, so he had to completely wipe them out.

Facing bandits, as long as preparations were sufficient, achieving victory was not too difficult.

But, wanting to achieve a complete wipeout.

That was not an ordinary difficulty, especially within the Snowplains Dense Forest, where it was even more so.

Dense jungles, thick snow, and ravines and canyons that no one could be sure of all brought heavy difficulties to the pursuit; therefore, Dean needed to set up several ambush points in advance to leave these bandits nowhere to escape.

And this was definitely not a simple matter.

Therefore, Dean needed to deliberate and think repeatedly.

…

The sky gradually brightened, and Darkness once again left the Tier Territory. The Tier Territory, having experienced a night of cold wind, was even full of chill in the early morning. Even the Militia members wearing padded clothes shrank their necks at this time—however, they did not slack off as usual. Although they stood in a place sheltered from the wind, their eyes were watching the surroundings.

After all, in the hearts of these simple young people, they still simply retained the concept that if you treat me well, I will treat you well.

And undoubtedly, Dean was good enough to them.

Therefore, they would think of ways to repay Dean in these places.

“Someone!”

The morning light was not very good, but in this dim light, the young people from hunter backgrounds could lock onto targets far better than ordinary people. After two young people glanced at each other, they immediately took out their bows and arrows from their animal skin bags—dampness and coldness caused some loss to the bowstrings, and the young people who had followed their Father since childhood certainly knew how to protect their bows and arrows.

As for the animal skin bags for storing bows and arrows?

These were gifts included when buying the bows and arrows yesterday, sewn by the wives and Mother of those hunters, not only sturdy and durable but also quite lightweight.

“Stop!”

After a loud shout, there was a shot full of warning meaning—at a distance of thirty yards, the arrow steadily landed five feet in front of the other party. Anyone who saw this arrow would not doubt that the person shooting the arrow did it on purpose; otherwise, it would have killed with one arrow.

“It’s me, Chad!”

The person opposite stopped and shouted loudly. When this familiar voice appeared, one of the two young people ran to the sentry post to notify his Captain, while the other stepped forward two steps and supported this companion whose Stamina was somewhat overdrawn.

“What happened, Chad?”

The skinny Militia Captain ran out from the sentry post.

“Captain Ike, something happened! Regiment Commander Potts and the others, they…”

The Militia member delivering the message spoke urgently, but because he was too urgent, he couldn’t speak.

“What happened to them? Speak slowly!”

The Militia Captain patted the other’s back, soothing his emotions.

“They’re all dead!”

The Militia member, having calmed his emotions, finally spoke this news.

“What?!”

The Militia Captain was startled and subconsciously exclaimed; however, the next moment, he realized that such a matter was not something he could handle and he needed to inform his Regiment Commander.

“Chad, you go to the main hall first, I will go report to the Regiment Commander!”

The Militia Captain said as he ran toward Dean’s room.

In fact, Dean, who had only experienced a short sleep, was already up. When the Militia shot the arrow to warn, he had already organized all the weapons and equipment needed for today’s departure.

So, after Ike arrived, Dean quickly went out and walked toward the main hall with his Militia Captain, listening to Chad’s report—

“After we entered the sentry post last night, Captain Theron arranged for people to stand guard at night, then let some people rest and some people investigate the surrounding situation; and near the direction of the Snowplains Dense Forest, Captain Theron found some places that were not quite right—some big trees had fallen for no reason. At first, we thought it was a Snow Bear, but while searching nearby, we found Ryder’s Corpse, a stripped Corpse, and then those of Siso and the others… Finally, near a bandit camp, we found Regiment Commander Potts’s Corpse!”

Chad narrated in quite clear words.

“What about Theron and the others?”

Dean asked immediately after Chad’s words fell.

“After simply confirming the situation, the Captain took us back to the sentry post. Apart from letting me come back to report, they all entered a state of alert!”

Chad answered immediately.

Hearing Chad’s answer, Dean finally breathed a sigh of relief in his heart—in fact, in the entire plan, this was the part least under his control.

He was very worried that the young Theron would hot-headedly charge up and have a big battle with those bandits and robbers, causing unavoidable losses.

Actually, if it weren’t for Theron’s ‘Knight aptitude’ and future performance, Dean would have preferred to let the cautious Ike go.

However, fortunately, the other party did not disappoint him.

“Ike, gather all your men, we are setting off!”

Dean stood up from his seat and immediately announced.

“Yes, Regiment Commander!”

The skinny Militia Captain nodded and replied.