Our Family Has Fallen

Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Bandit Allied Army_1

The high-intensity training finally paid off. The recruits, conditioned by their training habits, shouted instinctively upon hearing the command, thrusting their spears forward in unison.

”Kill!”

This caused a chain reaction. Everyone else followed suit, their spears lunging out simultaneously, impaling the audacious man who dared to charge their formation.

”ARGH!”

”Don’t kill me!”

The gruesome spectacle of death made those following recoil in fear, scrambling to get away. The recruits, experiencing the rush of their first bloodshed, finally caught their breath.

But Lance was far from satisfied and shouted from the rear.

”Idiots! Withdraw your spears! Experienced enemies wouldn’t give you this chance.”

The recruits reacted, pulling out their spears. The corpse, losing its support, slumped to the ground.

As the adrenaline began to wane, their limbs, weak from exertion, started to tremble. They could only gasp for breath to ease their physical distress.

”Advance!”

Lance gave them no time to adjust, urging them on from the rear. The recruits’ minds were blank; they instinctively obeyed the command.

The three groups converged, driving the routed men to one spot where torches were finally raised.

”Surrender, and you live! Resist, and you die!”

At first, it was only Lance who shouted, but soon the command resonated with the unified voices of over thirty men. This terrified the enemy, who dropped to the ground and surrendered en masse.

”Drop your weapons! Lie on the ground, hands out to your sides!”

Soon, the farce was over. They were just a group of fishermen rallied by some local bullies. They were bold enough to kill fish and intimidate ordinary fishermen, but against an actual military force, they could only surrender.

Lance stood aside, his expression somewhat dissatisfied.

The training period had been too short. He was fortunate to have used these fishermen to drill his troops; otherwise, few of these recruits would have survived a real encounter with bandits.

But time waits for no one.

No one knew what might happen the longer things were delayed, and he too felt compelled to keep pushing forward.

”Sir, everything has been taken care of. Twenty-seven in total. Two are dead, and none of our men are injured,” Reynard reported, pushing a man to his knees before Lance. ”This is their leader, the one who seized the town’s fishing boats.”

Lance observed this ’Ship Boss’ by the light of the torches.

He was a very ordinary middle-aged man. His face was weathered by the sea wind, and his knuckles were thick, clear signs of a life of hard labor.

How could such a man become a Ship Boss?

”Why did you seize other people’s fishing boats?”

”PAH! You nobles have the nerve to ask me that?”

”Then we won’t talk. Drag him away and dispose of him,” Lance said, losing interest and gesturing for Reynard to take the man away.

He then turned to the others and commanded, ”Balistan, you and your team escort these people back to the infirmary. Vick, take five men and stand guard for the first half of the night. If anyone approaches, tell them we’re training.”

After the orders were given, everyone dispersed quickly. Disposing of the Ship Boss was a simple matter of a single stroke from Reynard’s blade.

Lance sacrificed the corpses and then ransacked the men’s homes.

They found some money, but nothing else of significant value. The boats were the most valuable assets.

This means if I recruit some fishermen, I can quickly revive the fishing industry. That would significantly reduce my meat consumption.

Moreover, the second phase of construction can incorporate the docks, and a shipyard should also be established.

Looking over this land, Lance was brimming with ideas.

「The old artillery encampment.」

Many more people had appeared at the former artillery encampment. They were bandits who had hurried over upon hearing the news. Inside the main hall, three relatively stronger bandit groups dominated.

Currently, the three leaders were vying for the position of commander of the bandit Allied Army.

Their underlings below watched with amusement, occasionally roaring and jeering, eager to see their leaders duel.

Unfortunately for the crowd, the two loudest leaders were only engaging in a war of words, showing no actual intention of fighting.

They then turned their gaze to the third man, who also had the power to contend for leadership but had remained silent the entire time.

It was precisely because of this third man that they had refrained from actually fighting so far.

Seeing the demeanor of the other two, the third leader understood their posturing and smiled to pacify them.

”Brothers, let’s calm down,” the third leader said. ”We’re here for profit. There’s no need to fight over an empty title and damage our camaraderie.”

Neither of the two had actually intended to fight, so seeing an out, they took it.

”Our younger brother here is right,” one said, ”but who should take the lead then?”

The leaders were well aware that they weren’t just contesting the title of commander, but the right to allocate resources.

There was also the matter of who would deal with the mayor’s mercenaries. As greedy as they were, they definitely didn’t want their own forces to suffer losses. After all, if their casualties were too high, they could easily be betrayed and destroyed by others.

The bandits abided by the law of the jungle—the weak are prey for the strong. They didn’t want to fight for nothing, only to become someone else’s spoils.

”That’s simple,” the third leader proposed. ”The three of us will present a united front and have the outsiders take the lead. As long as we combine our efforts to scatter those mercenaries, afterward, it’ll be every group for itself when it comes to the spoils.”

The three exchanged glances, understanding the third leader’s meaning. It was essentially a plan for the three of them to band together and coerce the smaller groups or lone bandits to be the vanguard, thereby preserving their own strength.

If they could eliminate the mercenaries this way, they would still hold the advantage. If not, they would at least have weakened the mercenaries, reducing their own potential losses.

In reality, this shifted the risk onto the smaller groups that had no say in the matter. If any disagreed, they would be kicked out of the Allied Army.

Furthermore, they could then absorb these scattered smaller groups to strengthen their own ranks. As for turning on each other, or on the weaker groups, such ’dog-eat-dog’ tactics weren’t rare among bandits, provided the timing was right.

At this thought, smiles crept onto the faces of the other two leaders as they nodded in agreement.

”Our younger brother is right!”

”I see no problem with that.”

Unlike the other two, whose faces were alight with scheming grins, the third leader still appeared somewhat worried.

”Brothers, do you know why those two other groups suddenly vanished? Could there be some problem?”

”PSH! Those Barbarians killed the Captain’s men, so the Captain went to settle the score. They must have fought. It was likely a pyrrhic victory for the Captain, and fearing we’d target them next, they slunk away.”

”Useless trash! Seventy or eighty of them against just thirty-odd Barbarians, and it was still a pyrrhic victory? I’d be embarrassed too!”

”HAHAHA! If they hadn’t fought each other, we wouldn’t have this chance!”

”They should have cleared out long ago! They were just blocking our way to making money.”

Just a short while ago, they were groveling to that Captain. And when facing the Barbarians, they didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly.

Now, however, they treated both the Captain and the Barbarians as laughingstocks, openly mocking them.

”This whole affair is very strange. We’d better be cautious,” the third leader warned, his optimism not matching theirs.

The other two leaders, however, didn’t seem too concerned.

”Now, let’s talk about how to get those other fellows...”