Chapter 195

John spoke gravely after looking at the situation, "It seems all of them have formed some kind of pact with each other from the way they are moving today . Why do I smell the conspiracy of other n.o.bles behind this alliance? It's good that I left Arlen at the borders today . It looks like these mercenaries plan to do some mischief today . Marsh and you guys, go and scout ahead . Give me a detailed report . "

Marsh nodded and went ahead to scout, "Hmm . . . It looks like what Mr . Grey said was correct, Those mercenaries already formed an alliance with Joss, the head of Glorious Explorers . We should be cautious . " The other scouts nodded and followed .

Meanwhile, at a certain place, Liam smiled as he saw that Grey had agreed to his deal .

Liam smiled and spoke, "It seems, Lord John isn't intending to stop his raids on Mercenaries even though the Royal family has deployed their troops, quite a courageous man . Okay, I agree to your deal . We will smuggle food for 4-5 times the prices for the next 2 months . I am sure a lot of n.o.bles are willing to make a deal with me . Happy Co-operation . "

Grey nodded as he ordered his man to leave a chest full of coins, He nodded and spoke, " Happy Cooperation, Liam . Well, I need to get going, take this chest of gold coins and 30 armors as an advance and token of our sincerity for this deal, I will leave and meet you later at our agreed point of contact . "

Ed spoke as Grey left, "It seems these guys are on alert today . "

Liam smiled and spoke as he understood the situation, "Well, that is natural after the arrival of General Irwin . Start making preparations, this time we need to make a fortune . These armors will come in handy against our enemies . Hmm . . . I can hear the voice of Horses marching west . It looks like a show will start soon enough . We can't be left behind . "

Marsh spotted the mercenaries near the post which were guarded by guards of Dolores and Ballistas on the posts . The mercenaries were smiling as they headed inside the borders . Marsh was quite furious but he soon gained calm after looking at the other 10 scouts . He first decided to report this to Anak, "Come, We will first report this to General Anak, It looks like they are provoking us to invade them . "

One of Arlen's subordinates nodded and followed up, "Ok, Sir . We will check up on the other side as well since we can't spot the mercenaries belonging to Barbarians and Barrenmakers . "

Anak nodded his head as he heard the reports of Marsh, "Hmm . . . it seems they are not as big fools as we thought they were . It looks like they want us to invade them . We will do exactly the opposite of that . However, we can't let them relax already since we aren't attacking them . From now on we will be camping here near the borders and start hunting them whenever they come out of their dens . "

Anak concluded as he gave his orders . "We will also be keeping an eye on the barbarians and Barrenmakers . It seems they too are planning something . Ok, we start building post over here 4 Km away from them at this hill which will be suitable for siege warfare, and fenced barracks . for our troops . Tell the Military corps and engineers to start making camps . I want a decent size castle and bunkers nearby with traps for invaders . It was good that you guys didn't get angry and invade or the Royal family might already have a reason to attack us . We will attack them after we are fully connected with Aurora Island . "

Marsh nodded as he understood his commander, "Hmm . . . so that was the reason why Jay didn't report today and you left Arlen at the back . "

Marsh continued as he carefully looked at the geography, "Additionally, this spot would be quite good to patrol and guard the trade route . Okay, men, from on we will be guarding this place . "

****

Jim got a bad report and asked irritatingly, "What are they doing? Why haven't they raided the caravans yet?"

One of the head scouts reported, "From the looks of our scouts, I think General Anak and his men are camping 2-3kms outside Dolores near the hills . It seems they don't plan to leave . Even the Barbarians and Barrenmakers couldn't be spotted, it is as if they are planning to do something big . "

Joss the head of Glorious Explorers spoke after hearing him, "It looks like they don't intend to invade after watching the presence of the Royal army north of Dolores . It seems they are cautious . Is there any news from Duke Fjord . "

One of Joss's men spoke, "Yes, Milord, We just got a letter from Duke that we will soon be supplied with their new types of ballistas in a few days since they already made the prototype . From now onwards they will be running 24 hours a day to prepare for this war . It looks like even the Royal family is going to ignore the transportation of these weapons . "

Joss smiled and spoke calmly, "It looks like we can endure a few more days and hara.s.s them . "

Jim roared angrily after hearing Joss's timid response, "What do you mean we can endure? Do you want us to sit like ducks after such a big mobilization? Hmph, I will make sure those don't sleep well at night . "

****

General Irwin was looking at the situation with an amused expression as he got new reports,

"It looks like king Lionheart sending troops over here had a pretty good reason . I guess he wanted to balance the power which those ballistas brought and keep a presence here for our interests . "

Irwin's subordinate asked with a mischevious smile, "Do we need to poke them, Lord?"

Irwin looked at his subordinate curiously and spoke about the situation at length, "Why do you want to poke a hornet's nest . Though that Count might seem like a rational person . But he isn't when provoked outright by his enemies which would make him take surprising decisions . Also, we have the Radiant church to look out for now and if we engage directly with that count, we might suffer some losses against those ballistas and that might very well be the time when the radiant church would want to reveal their cards, those old men at church would definitely want to grab this chance to gain full power . As far as the Demon's go, they might very well align with that count if they can get a piece of Aelius Kingdom . Let the mercenaries and that count fight each other for a while . Though it is unlike my usual behavior on poking my nose in all the matters but this time we have got strict orders from the top, especially Minister Plato . Anyway, one of those guys will inevitably buckle under pressure and attack others . "

****

As soon as the night came, Jim had rallied his soldiers and with one of his most trusted men taking the role of head in this operation, while John was with his men and preparing the camps .

John looked at the enemy camp with his telescope and ordered his scouts, "Always keep a lookout on enemies as they might attack us at night since there is less light . Always be more alert . Though we have our traps . It is always better to be alert . "

John smiled and thought as he looked in the direction of his enemies, 'Let's see if they can take my bait . '

One of the scouts answered, "Yes, General Anak . We will be alert . "

Soon a group of 300 men was moving in the direction of John's camp . With a Scout ahead, he reported his head, "Lord, it seems their patrols have reduced now that it is night . "

The Head laughed and spoke arrogantly after hearing the report, "Good, Just as expected, they are amateurs and nothing without those huge castles since they are always sleeping well at night with few patrols . I guess our plan might very well work today if we are able to infiltrate and create chaos over there . "

The Head ordered after hearing the report, "Advance fast but without making any big sounds so as not to attract their attention . "

"Yes, sir"

The troops advanced ahead as they were 500-meter away from the perimeter of their enemy's base .

The head roared as they advanced, "Advance . "

One of the scouts from John's camp noticed their infiltration and immediately shot the gun to signal the whole camp .

Hearing the signals one after another from all the scouts, the men got up fast and prepared to go to their posts in an orderly manner .

As soon as the horses of their enemies came near their base, they were shocked after the Horses fell when they came in contact with Barbed fences which just built at the night after the sun came down on John's orders . The enemies fell and the horses behind collided with a lot of men getting injured .

John smiled as he ordered, "It seems they finally took the bait, good, don't kill their head and some of his immediate subordinates . He will be good for a show . We will capture them alive and parade them naked in the whole city . I won't know how long would they endure such humiliation . "

John smiled and continued, "They think can win against me in psychological games? Kill the others, Immediately fire the ballistas and mini-Ballistas on their middle formation and their rear . "

Amber nodded as he headed out and ordered others, "Yes, Milord . "

Marsh thought as he looked at his enemies with pitiful eyes, "Why would you want to fight against such an evil general who doesn't even spare his subordinates in his training sessions? You guys really were looking for death . Meanwhile, what are psychological games, General?"

John spoke unconsciously as he observed the Battle, "You won't understand, it's a big topic . You should Read M(my) . . . Count John's book about it in Rose Inst.i.tute . You will get some idea about it .

John thought as he almost gave his cover out, 'It's good I didn't reveal myself or it would have been problematic . '

Marsh looked suspiciously at Anak as he thought about Rose Inst.i.tute and wondered if he should visit it later on, 'Well, since Lord John has written about it, I may as well read it to gain some understanding about this topic . '

The head of the raiders was in a shock to find that all of them were duped by Anak, He roared as he saw his men getting blasted by the Ballista's, "d.a.m.n that b.l.o.o.d.y general . It was all a trap by him so that we would attack them at night . What are these threads which cut the legs of our horses? is it some new weird s.h.i.+t made by that Count?"

Amber charged with his team of 20 men towards the head as he attacked with his trademark fire slash against the Mercenary head .

The head resisted the first attack, the head thought, 'It seems he is the new general . I guess this guy still honors having duels . Hehe, this might very well be my chance to claim glory even if I die or even get back alive . '

This time at the next attack, Amber didn't slow down as he slashed the Captain at his arm with impeccable speed . He was observing the Captain calmly as he dodged the attacks neatly .

Amber thought as he clashed, 'Just in time, it looks like my training with General Anak was quite useful . From the looks, I think he will soon fall . I guess General Anak's poison was quite good . '

The Head soon realized that he was poisoned after his sluggish movements and roared, "You . . . ! don't you have any honor in a duel as a general?"

Amber laughed as he pointed in John's direction, "Me and General? Nah, I am just a small captain . General is busy having his midnight snack at the camp . See there . As far as honor is concerned? I don't give a s.h.i.+t about it like my general . My only honor comes from protecting my people with any means possible . You see, my General views war as a fight between 2 evils . And the one who starts the war for greed is simply more evil . In the end, the one who wins the war claims justice . It is a simple fact that history can teach us . "

The head of mercenaries was embarra.s.sed to the point that he almost fainted after hearing that Anak was having his midnight snack while the one who he lost against was a rookie Captain .

"f.u.c.k . I am losing to a brat . "

The head roared and fainted soon after the poison took control of his senses .

Very soon, the other 10 guys from his team too were captured by Amber's men . The other remaining men died by a combination of Ballistas and Mini-Ballistas with none left alive .

John smiled as he saw the 11 prisoners, he spoke after Amber arrived, "Good Job . These guys will be good enough to parade at the city and the trade routes we are going to control . "

Amber nodded and answered, "Yes, General . This would be quite useful against our enemies and can provoke them to take aggressive measures . ".