Driving Off the Bandits

The Spearmen were still nervous, but their forceful performance had loosened their muscles somewhat. At least they were no longer so tense.

Derek did not forget to observe the situation. The Bandits were gradually reaching a consensus and might soon surround them.

The Caravan had barely formed a circle. Steward Vincent was fairly reliable and had left an opening.

"Fall back in staggered formation. Watch your footing."

The Spearmen slowly retreated. Their fierce performance just now had made the Bandits hesitate, and none dared step forward.

Several minor leaders cursed and shoved their men, driving them forward to pursue.

One particularly fierce fellow even took the lead himself and charged at the front.

Mountain Folk were indeed fierce; it was not just talk.

If they had been a group of farmers, they would probably have collapsed by now.

But if Derek had to choose, he would still choose farmers.

Obedience. Obedience was the most important thing.

Combat ability could be trained through the Panel, but obedience was harder to cultivate.

Seeing the Bandits about to charge in and possibly disrupt their formation, Derek had no intention of indulging them. He immediately gave the order.

"Stop! Thrust!"

The Spearmen instinctively halted and struck forward.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

The man who had charged the fastest suddenly had several holes in his body, blood spraying out.

This time, the other Bandits were completely cowed. No one dared come forward.

Only then did Derek direct the Spearmen back into the crude camp.

Steward Vincent hurried over at once. He had witnessed the entire scene firsthand, and Derek's performance had left him in awe.

He had worked with countless mercenaries, but this was the first time he had seen any so elite and fierce.

Leaving combat strength aside, just having the courage to countercharge like that was beyond most mercenaries.

A few elites might manage it, but to still obey orders and counterattack while retreating was simply unheard of.

Otherwise, those Bandits would never have dared pursue them directly.

Clearly, force was an extremely important resource, at least in Steward Vincent's eyes.

"Knight Derek, you truly deserve to be called an elite knight from the Count's Knight Order. This is the first time I've seen a warrior as powerful as you."

Now, he believed Derek truly was an elite knight.

He even felt that Derek's earlier boasting might have been true.

Once they returned, he had to find out when Count Perez's Knight Order had produced such a formidable man.

Derek ignored Steward Vincent for the moment and inspected the Spearmen who had fought.

Fortunately, none were injured. Their crude Leather Armor had done its job. One unlucky man had been struck in the chest by an arrow, but the force had only barely penetrated the Leather Armor and had not even broken his skin.

The others were completely unharmed. After all, a longer weapon held the advantage; if the enemy could not get close, they could not reach them.

They also had to thank the Bandits. If this number had been regular troops, even Militia could have suffered enormous casualties.

Derek immediately began directing the defenses, and everyone was issued a weapon.

He distributed the Caravan guards evenly around the perimeter. The clerks and the like hid behind them, but could still occasionally get in a few strikes.

He ordered the Spearmen to stay ready. Fighting could break out again at any moment.

The Bandits outside hesitated, seemingly divided among themselves.

But more than a dozen of them had been killed or wounded. If they returned with nothing to show for it, it would be far too humiliating.

After one failure, the positions of those minor leaders would all be challenged.

After a round of arguments, they decided to keep going.

Having learned from their earlier mistake, several of them briefly assigned roles and prepared to break through the Caravan's defenses in one push.

As for the obstruction posed by a few wagons, they did not take it seriously at all.

When Derek saw that the Bandits had no countermeasures whatsoever, he sneered.

"We're basically safe now. Do these idiots really think they're an elite army?"

Do not think wagons were useless as shields. Even regular troops without supporting equipment would be left scrambling.

If it were Derek, he would have prepared fire oil and burned them out.

Of course, Bandits were after wealth, so they generally would not do that.

But charging over so carelessly—did they really think numbers alone would be enough?

It was not that he looked down on them, but without several times their current manpower and the readiness to accept casualties, they could forget about breaking in.

Unfortunately for the Bandits, they had neither.

"Knight Derek, should we negotiate with them?" Steward Vincent grew nervous again.

Showing them how troublesome they were, then offering money to avoid disaster, was also an option.

If they could establish some connection, perhaps this trade route would be safer in the future.

"No rush. Even if we negotiate, we should wait until we drive them back. Otherwise, can you satisfy their appetites?"

Derek did not even turn around. He was merely brushing him off.

He knew that after another round, these Bandits might simply leave. There was no need for negotiations.

In the end, they were only a rabble.

Derek saw it clearly: they were merely a group of Mountain Folk temporarily posing as Bandits.

But there was no need to tell Steward Vincent that.

Soon, the howling Bandits charged again.

This time, they were even more bewildered.

The chaotic spear thrusts were one thing, but the Bandits who managed to climb over were instantly chopped to the ground by a group of people.

The wagons that had seemed useless now became the sturdiest fortress.

Steward Vincent was no fool. Seeing the situation, it seemed they did not need to pay for safety after all?

"So these Bandits are all bark and no bite?"

Hearing Steward Vincent's sigh, Derek finally turned around in relief.

If the client thought things were easy, then this business would naturally be harder to do.

So he directly shattered Steward Vincent's illusion.

"If it were me, I'd burn the place first, then lie in wait. No one in the entire Caravan would escape.

If I still wanted the money, I'd launch a surprise attack at dawn and catch them completely off guard.

Even if I insisted on a direct assault, I'd prepare a few battering rams. These wagons would fall apart in no time.

Not to mention dirty tricks like poisoning or ambushes.

And if these Bandits were even a little more professional, it would not have been so easy for us to get away today."

Steward Vincent trembled all over after hearing Derek's words, and the way he looked at him changed.

If this man ever changed professions, would there be any way for people like them to survive?

Sure enough, professionals were different from amateurs.

He instantly abandoned any thoughts of saving money. If he could spend money to avoid disaster, then he should pay. Once his life was gone, nothing else mattered.

After leaving behind several more corpses, the Bandits finally could not endure any longer.

They had come out to rob people to improve their family lives, not to throw their lives away.

Without needing any signal, half of them scattered in a rush.

The rest took one look and saw that the people on the other side nearly outnumbered them. What was there left to fight for?

Those with some conscience carried away their companions' corpses; those without it turned and ran.

In the blink of an eye, the Bandits had mostly fled.

Other than a few corpses they truly could not carry away, they left nothing behind.

Many on the Caravan's side finally let out a breath and collapsed to the ground.

Just now, they had truly thought this would be their end.

Under normal circumstances, how could they have encountered such a large band of Bandits?

Several unlucky people in the Caravan had been slashed, and one unfortunate man had been killed.

Some wagons were damaged, and some goods had been lost.

But compared with being plundered by Bandits, these losses were already negligible.