On the plains ten li outside Brettel City, raiders from four large bandit groups were slowly advancing toward the city.
Unlike the small bandit gangs that roamed between Brettel City and Sea Mist City, even the smallest of these groups, the Bloodfang Bandits Group, had over two thousand men. The largest, the Greenfire Bandits Group, had as many as six thousand, twice the size of Brettel City's City Guard.
Like Tuluoda's exterminated Redbeard Bandits, these large bandit groups were scourges that regularly roamed the towns of the Seven Grand Duchies, plundering as they went. Wherever they passed, the towns they raided were often stripped bare. With the Seven Grand Duchies constantly at war with one another and plenty of mountains and hills among them to hide in, these bandits thrived like fish in water, becoming parasites loathed by all seven duchies.
Unlike ordinary bandit gangs, these bandits had excellent equipment. Several of their groups had even originally been led by officers of the Seven Grand Duchies who, after falling out with their duchy's nobles or committing some serious crime, had simply taken their subordinates with them and become outlaws.
These men had been regular soldiers to begin with. Although they had become bandits, they had lost none of their discipline or knowledge of warfare. They spent their plundered wealth equipping their soldiers and warhorses, making their equipment and fighting strength no worse than those of the Seven Grand Duchies' regular armies.
The four groups approaching Brettel City this time were the Greenfire Bandits Group, the Battle Axe Bandit Group, the Flying Dragon Bandits Group, and the Bloodfang Bandits Group. The Battle Axe Bandit Group and the Flying Dragon Bandits Group had over four thousand and three thousand men respectively, with excellent equipment and battle-hardened, bloodthirsty outlaws.
At that moment, the