Escalation

The eight-man team appeared behind the crude encirclement. The seventeen men had split into two groups and lay in ambush along the only road across the mudflats leading to the oasis.

Their arrival was utterly silent. Eight crossbow bolts were aimed at the eight unlucky men lying in wait on the same side.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

The eight men who were hit let out miserable howls.

Since Ergons and the others had appeared just five meters behind the bandits ambushing the southern slope, even the light hunting crossbows used by recruits could drive steel bolts into the bandits' hearts.

The people on the northern slope truly could not see what was happening here because of the angle. The bandit leader could only shout questions, but the only response was seven arrows fired from high ground at low ground.

Amid the screams, Ergons Tevalin released his warhorse from the inventory, mounted up, rode around the hill, and charged the remaining nine men.

However, by the time he reached the opposite slope, five of the nine had already been shot dead. The other four had scattered in flight, but he caught up to them one by one and sent them flying with his light lance.

Clang!

A gong rang out, golden light spilling everywhere. As the last bandit was picked off by his lance, he had actually leveled up again.

And the greatest amount of experience from this level-up came from two foiled schemes?

Foiled Tevalinburg's plot to annex Tervain Village. Experience +10000.

Foiled County of Tervain's invasion plan. Experience +5000.

Ergons Tevalin instantly felt that leveling up no longer seemed appealing. This looked troublesome. Although dealing with Sir Davis Tevalin had indeed temporarily thwarted Tevalinburg's plot to annex Tervain Village.

But what the hell was this County of Tervain invasion plan?

Ergons only knew that Tervain Village, where he lived, belonged to a duchy, and that Tevalinburg stood in a strategic location bordered by three other countries.

What was the duchy called? Where was its capital? What were the three neighboring nations called? He had no idea.

It was not that Ergons Tevalin had failed to leave behind his original memories after Ergons took over his body.

It was that the original Ergons Tevalin seemed a little slow-witted. He simply had not known these things himself.

Judging from the current situation, this was trouble.

There was no time to waste. While the six recruits gathered the spoils, he went straight into the loot interface, kept a few decent butcher knives from these riffraff's equipment, and sold everything else to the system.

"Do you buy corpses? What's the price?"

"Corpse disposal services are available for a fee."

"Forget it, then."

Disgusted by the system's shameless greed, Ergons left behind the corpses of the seventeen bandits, who had instantly been stripped naked by some force the natives could not comprehend, and led the group back toward the battlefield three miles away.

Sir Davis Tevalin was still there, stripped down to nothing but stockings.

After selling the excess useless items and storing all useful ones in his inventory, Ergons upgraded the six recruits who could level up once more into militia.

The experience that overflowed after their upgrades was only a little over thirty points short of allowing them to level up again.

His Attributes had also become: Level: 24, Health: 60, Strength: 17, Agility: 15, Intelligence: 6, Charisma: 6, Iron Bones: 1, Power Strike: 2, Power Draw: 1, Riding: 3, Weapon Mastery: 2, Tracking: 1, Pathfinding: 1, Level 1 Function Commands: 3, Level 2 Function Commands: 3.

He had gained one point of Intelligence, but this time, instead of putting his two skill points into Weapon Mastery, he chose Tracking and Pathfinding.

Because he had a feeling: This matter is definitely not simple. I received information that County of Tervain is preparing to invade, and taking our Tervain Village seems to be one step in that invasion plan. We disrupted it, so there may be serious trouble ahead.

He felt he needed a broader view. After adding those two points, he finally got what he wanted and could analyze far more information through the map.

"Uncle Adam, I'll give you a packhorse. Hurry back to the village, observe the situation, and stabilize things."

Although he desperately needed a dependable elite archer like this under the current circumstances, he needed someone even more to hold down the rear.

Because there was absolutely no way he could return directly to the village now. This force needed to sustain itself through battle, and they really ought to investigate exactly what County of Tervain's invasion plan was.

"County of Tervain?"

Old Servant Adam clearly knew some specific details about this country. He accepted the assignment, crouched down, and used a dagger to draw a rough map on the ground.

"The duchy is called Styria Duchy. The province we are in is controlled by Count Anduin. Baron Tervain, the master of Tevalinburg, is Count Anduin's vassal. Tevalinburg mainly faces countries in three directions: east, south, and north.

To the north, the nomads of the Tuokhan Khanate live by following water and grasslands. The desert separates us from them, so they pose little threat.

The south is mountainous. The mountain savages of the Rockley Federation originally split off from Styria Duchy. They have many mountains and few horses, so they are also little threat to us.

The greatest threat lies to the east: County of Tervain. Those pirates and barbarians who crossed the sea are the closest to us. They only need to cross the narrowest stretch of these mudflats to launch an attack against us.

But they are also the weakest.

They are pirates. After crossing the vast Gobi, their supply lines cannot hold. They are no match for the powerful Knightly Orders of Styria Duchy."

He merely explained and analyzed the situation without mixing in his own judgment. Old Servant Adam removed his armor and weapons, mounted a packhorse, and headed back.

After hearing the old servant's analysis, Ergons became even more convinced that this matter was anything but simple.

Logically speaking, County of Tervain had no ability to attack and occupy Tevalinburg. With the Great Desert at their backs, they were like water without a source, duckweed without roots. They could never withstand retaliation from the county or even the duchy.

Likewise, this county of sea-dwellers was merely a tentacle they had extended onto the mainland. How could they possibly let someone sever it so easily?

So, putting it all together, could the county have allied with Tevalinburg? It might even have allied with some important figure in the province.

The more he thought about it, the more alarmed he became. After giving Sir Davis Tevalin another blow with a club, Ergons picked up a small knife and began interrogating the squire knight to see how much he knew.

After a round of interrogation, it was impossible to tell whether the man was truly tough or genuinely knew nothing.

Because even after he revealed his affair with his own mistress, not a single word about Tevalinburg or County of Tervain came out.

He woke Sir Davis Tevalin. The lord seemed not to have understood the situation he was in.

"How dare you defy your superior! You are only a squire—how dare you attack a noble?"

He should have argued with him for a few sentences. But Ergons could not wait any longer. He dragged the badly tortured squire knight before Sir Davis Tevalin.

Staring into the knight's eyes, he asked, "How much do you know about County of Tervain's plot to invade?"

The squire knight naturally continued crying that he knew nothing.

"Pfft! Squeak, squeak—"

A knife pierced through his chest. Gripping the butcher knife's handle, Ergons pressed down hard. Right before the battle-hardened Sir Davis Tevalin, he cut open the squire knight's belly.

Blood sprayed across the noble lord's face and body from the pressure inside the chest cavity.

"Speaking of County of Tervain, I recall that they are all prisoners and pirates exiled from another continent. I hear this is how they gut fish after catching them."

Sir Davis Tevalin struggled to keep his eyes shut and avoid looking at the horrific sight. But after holding out for only a short while, he could not help vomiting.

"Now I want to ask you: how much do you know about County of Tervain's planned invasion? How well you answer will determine whether you become the fish or eat the fish."

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