Ironvine Territory (26)

"... At first, everything went smoothly. We followed your plan to disarm the secret guards who were pulled down. But as you know, they had quite a few weapons on them, and even when they were caught in the net, they kept resisting. We had no choice but to kill those who resisted the most fiercely."

Just then, as you know, enemy reinforcements suddenly appeared. My men didn't even have time to react. Plus, the enemy was really strong. As soon as we made contact, two groups of men were wiped out.

Afterwards, I and the team leader led the rest of the team to fight the secret guards who came to rescue our comrades. At first, we even tried to capture them alive by using nets, as you had planned.

But they already knew our plan, so the nets and lassos were unlikely to be effective. In addition, they would use the time we spent releasing the nets and lassos to launch an attack, resulting in many of our casualties.

At that moment, the captain was suddenly targeted by the strongest member of the secret guard. That guy was terrifying and had an amazing aura. At that time, the captain had two groups of soldiers with him, but he charged over all by himself.

Wielding a heavy sword, our weapons were no match for his sword; even the heavy shields we had prepared beforehand could be cleaved in two with a single strike.

Fortunately, the brothers were all brave and managed to form a battle formation. But that guy probably knew that the captain was an officer, and he managed to fight off a group of soldiers' guns and kill the captain.

After that, a squad of soldiers lost their leader and fell into chaos, and that guy also set his sights on me. It took my soldiers and me a lot of effort to kill him.

Just in case, I also had the brothers use a barrage of gunfire to pin the corpse firmly to the ground."

As he spoke, the captain pointed to the corpse on the far left.

Victor and Lenster were quite surprised to see the man with at least a dozen spears stuck in his body, resembling a hedgehog. The man's physique was strikingly similar to that of Number Five, whom Victor had killed. His muscles bulged all over his body, his head was pointed, and even in death, his skin was still a deep red.

As for the other corpses, they were all pretty much the same. Victor even wanted to lift their clothes to check them, but Lenster stopped him.

"Viscount Victor, be careful. These guys are skilled with poisons. It could be dangerous if they've done anything to their bodies."

Victor nodded and took a few steps back. Then Lenster called over several soldiers and had them use their spears to pry open the corpse's clothing and armor.

Victor finally saw the inner armor these people were wearing, and then he gasped, "Hiss!" They were wearing armor made of Iron Birch bark.

Lenster wasn't too surprised by this. "Actually, since the establishment of the duchy, the Iron Birch Family of the Northlands has been paying tribute of Iron Birch bark to the Ducal House."

Our several Count families also have the right to purchase a certain quantity, so armor made of Iron Birch bark is actually not rare, it's just that the absolute number is not as large as that of the Iron Birch Family."

After listening, Victor shook his head. It's normal for high-ranking nobles to share resources. The fact that the Iron Birch Family doesn't sell to outsiders probably only applies to lower-ranking nobles.

After mentally grumbling about the squabbles among the nobles, Victor continued to examine the corpses of the secret guards. Their equipment, especially the various weapons, amazed Victor.

"Is this a throwing knife? It's in the style of the southern desert. Does the Silver Maple Ducal House employ knife makers from there?"

This portable crossbow is quite ingenious; the bowstring has been modified to make a very quiet rebound, so it's probably designed for assassinations.

This..."

Victor and Lenster discussed the weapons. Victor marveled that the Silver Maple Ducal House was indeed a power that had stood at the pinnacle of the Grand Duchy of Vera for over two hundred years. Just looking at the equipment of these Silver Maple Secret Guards, it was beyond the imagination of ordinary nobles.

Victor judged that the cost of arming just one secret guard was enough to arm two or three Heavy Cavalry. These secret guards might not be as powerful as a heavy Heavy Cavalry on the front lines, but their role in the rear or other battlefields was unimaginable.

However, Victor and Lenster discovered a problem: even including the three Silver Maple Secret Guard they encountered, the total number of corpses at the scene was only 18.

Lenster glared angrily at the captain. "Were these the only people there during the battle? Did someone escape and go unnoticed?"

"Lord Lenster, this is truly all there is; I wouldn't dare lie to you."

The captain answered tremblingly.

Lenster carefully observed his expression and realized he really didn't want to lie to him anymore. However, just to be on the safe side, Lenster randomly selected a few soldiers to confirm again.

"Everyone gave the same answer: it's these people, not one missing, they're all here."

Lenster spoke to Victor with a grim expression.

Victor knew that Lenster was somewhat frustrated. On the one hand, they might not have been able to eliminate all the Silver Maple Secret Guard. According to the normal organization, the two teams of guards should have 20 people each, with two slipping through the net. On the other hand, his elite guards, with a ratio of more than ten times that of 200 to 15, suffered nearly half casualties despite being caught off guard, which made him feel somewhat ashamed.

Victor could only reassure him, "Tomorrow is the day the plan comes to a close. From now on, as long as we keep a close watch on the Valley Outer Wall, even if those two escape, they won't be able to notify the enemy on the other side of the valley."

After listening to Victor's words, Lenster realized that this made sense, and his expression softened.

After both of them fell silent, Lenster broke the silence first, pointing to the bottles and jars on the ground and saying to Victor, "These should be the secret medicines of the Silver Maple Secret Guard. It's a pity we didn't capture any alive. We don't know what these are?"

Victor also walked around the bottles. After Lenster finished speaking, he was hesitant to touch them. Who knew if there were any traps inside? Even though he had a strong resistance to poison, he didn't want to get poisoned.

After thinking for a moment, Victor said, "Lenster, if it's convenient, why not give them to me? I'm quite interested in these; they'd be fine as spoils of war."

Lenster, of course, wouldn't refuse Victor's offer and readily agreed, "No problem, Viscount Victor, I'll have someone pack it up right away."

After saying that, he ordered several leather bags to be brought over. The soldiers, wearing gloves, put the bottles and jars into the leather bags and sealed them, intending to send them to Victor's camp later.

Victor then said goodbye to Lenster. It was getting late, and they both planned to go back and rest early in preparation for tomorrow's battle.

Before leaving, Victor saw that Lenster still had a livid face, smiled and shook his head, knowing that Lenster was somewhat unwilling.

However, in his view, although this battle was not perfect, the goal was achieved. The Silver Maple Secret Guard were massacred as a whole, and even if some escaped, it probably wouldn't affect their plans.

If these shadowy henchmen of the Silver Maple Ducal House hadn't been dealt with beforehand, and they were allowed to cause trouble just before the battle, the terrifying power of the Silver Maple Secret Guard might have led to a major incident.

Two men dressed in black suddenly emerged from a thicket outside the valley.

One of them said to his companion, "The captain and the mentor are both dead. We're the only ones left in the Tooth Squad. The Claw Squad is all wiped out too."

"Tooth One, what should we do?"

"Tooth Two, calm down. At least we're still alive, there's still a way."

"How can you expect me to stay calm? The Comfort Drug all on the captain, and we only have enough for half a month."

Our mission failed, and even if we go back, we'll be executed by the Grand Master.

Let's go back and see if we can get back the Comfort Drug they took."

Tooth One's expression was extremely ferocious, as if the Comfort Drug was very important to him.

"Tooth One, stop joking. You saw the battle just now. Our team's mentor and the Claw Squad's mentor used their last bit of strength, becoming neither human nor ghost, and even then they were still killed by the enemy."

Especially considering the enemy our team's mentor encountered, I feel even the head mentor might not be a match for him. What could the two of us possibly do?

Besides, even if we get the Comfort Drug back, the two squads combined would have enough for both of us for a year, and in the end we'd still have to go back and face punishment."

Both men recalled their experiences on the battlefield and felt lingering fear.

Tooth One's expression turned dejected. "What should we do? We can't just wait to die. I can't stand the pain of the attack. You might as well kill me first."

Tooth Two kicked him and shouted angrily, "What are you talking about? We barely survived, there must be a way."

"Oh, right, I've got it! Let's go to Ironwire City."

"Where are you going and what are you going to do?"

Never mind that, just come with me.

Without saying a word, Tooth Two grabbed Tooth One, and the two continued to crawl into the bushes.