Occupying Edge City

Outside the city walls, Mel's soldiers were still waiting. They had only recently become soldiers, having been bandits and farmers before, so they could hardly be called steadfast.

With no sign of Mel returning for so long, many of them had begun to waver, though they had not yet reached the point of fleeing outright.

Suddenly, the city gates opened again, and Mel walked toward them carrying a man.

"This is a traitor. This whole plan was just their way of luring us in. I had to kill quite a few people before I found this bastard."

With the traitor in the mercenary camp, Mel had no other choice. He had said at the time that those willing to surrender could keep their lives, while those unwilling could die.

The result was better than he had expected. Other than nearly two hundred people who would rather die than surrender, the remaining eight hundred basically had no intention of resisting.

What he needed now was to absorb and integrate these people, but the problem was that only one hundred and fifty of his own men could be considered his core force. These eight hundred clearly outnumbered them.

If he scattered all his own men among these soldiers, then when the local lord returned, these fellows might turn on him again in the middle of battle.

"Once we enter the city, shout loudly! Say the rebels have broken in, and have people guard the gates so no one can escape! But don't kill people indiscriminately." Mel reminded the soldiers behind him again, afraid that they had not shed their bandit habits.

"My lord, why are we doing this?" The bandit leader still did not understand. If they did not intend to massacre the city, why shout like that?

"Yeah, my lord. Are