10 First of all, do your best.

The knights are gathering outside the gates of Tarz.

In the center is the Order of the Red, led by Sir Léanor.

Léanor smiles with satisfaction as he watches the formation.

He had already heard that the other Sirs were having a hard time defeating the bandits.

The Order of the Fowl, whose symbol is yellow. I was sarcastic at the meeting, but I recognize their strength.

He was aware of the troublesome situation that Sir Fowl had run out of ideas, and that was why he did not come forward and wait and see.

Lord Ragdor then recommended Lord Ratzel for the job.

Lord Ragdor was trying to give Lord Ratzel a chance, but to be honest, Lord Ratzel is a man of valor, but inexperienced in other areas.

That's why I didn't expect him to do so well.

But then again, she is a lazy woman. I've lost the opportunity to gain such a great achievement.

When the request for help came from Lord Ragdoll, I was surprised, but more than that, I saw it as an opportunity.

Immediately, I narrowed down the number of knights that the other troops could mobilize, and had them prepare a lineup of knights that would exceed that number by a comfortable margin.

As he had planned, he succeeded in seizing the command of this operation.

If he had succeeded in obtaining information from the bandits, he could have done it on his own, without asking for help from others.

Of course, Ragdoll, who prided himself on being an elite few, would never be able to take out all the bandits.

But it would have been easy enough to take out a single stronghold.

They would have taken new prisoners and gained more information.

It takes time, but in the end, you get the credit.

"It's a woman. "You're a woman, aren't you? As soon as you decide you're in over your head, you ask for help. You don't have the guts to try to do it on your own.

Then comes the messenger.

"What's the matter? Have you finished organizing the rest of the squad?

"No, sir, they'll be done soon. A man from Lazzell's squadron presents this document to Lord Léanor.

I read over the document that was handed to me.

It contained more detailed maps and information on each of the bases than the one I had just been given.

"Hmm, that's good.

"He would like you to share the information with the troops that will be attacking each base.

"With so few men, it will be difficult to contact the rest of the army. Maybe they just don't feel comfortable using an old soldier as a message.

Léanor thinks for a moment.

"All right, get these materials to the heads of my troops at the various bases. And order them to use them to lead the field.

There's no need to share anything directly.

It would be better if our troops were in a position to grasp this information and guide them.

Tell them to be careful not to share this information with the rest of the squad.

Ha!

But it's not bad.

It must have been prepared by someone with a certain finesse.

Lord Ratzel and the old soldiers of Raggedy-doo would not have that kind of dexterity.

In Léanor's mind was a young man with dark hair.

Lord Latzell's collaborator, perhaps the young man had prepared him.

He recalls the young man's behavior at the meeting.

While the knights of the Ragdoll squad showed their dissatisfaction with us, he aloofly lifted us up and stood around to make things go smoothly.

Perhaps the young man did not like the idea of Sir Ratzel, a woman, playing an active role.

To make it easier for them to support the rearguard, he made an unchallenged suggestion to see if anyone else wanted to join the team.

He's a tough guy.

He's a strong guy. He's going to be useful, and we might as well give him a little attention.

Let's see how useful these materials are first.

And so the bandit-slaying party led by Lord Léanor began their march into the night.

And so the bandits under Lord Léanor began their march into the night.　

The leader of the bandit alliance, Docola, was disgusted when he heard the news that the knights had come to raid the stronghold.

It is unlikely that they will find the stronghold hidden in the forest or mountains, but it is not impossible.

That's why we've been sending out minimum patrols even at night.

But that didn't work and the base was already surrounded by knights.

It's obvious that they know the route we're taking.

That is, the information is leaking out.

Could it be that the messenger of the captured Gidou's group had told them the information?

I scratch my head with my remaining arm.

"I don't think he was stupid enough to understand the threat.

The one who understands the horror of necromancy the most is the wielder himself, Docora.

In order to convey this to the fullest, he used a group of people he judged to be difficult to control.

He deliberately gives them territories that are difficult to operate in, making them less effective than the rest of the gang.

He created a disparity to incite rebellion.

Soon they began to break the rules and do as they pleased.

They're outlaws by nature. If you give them something to complain about, they'll explode.

And so, under the guise of a purge, I disposed of them and had them sacrifice themselves to necromancy as an example.

The effect was so great that even the leaders of the gangs came to fear Dokora.

So why would a mere messenger leak the information?

It's hard to imagine that he's overcome the fear that his soul will be forever humiliated even in death.

It is unlikely that he would have vomited under the torture of clean knights, but given the current situation, it is likely that he did.

I've decided that the threat is enough, and I'll chalk it up to my own fault for sharing too much information in order to make it more effective.

If the information was leaked and the attack surrounded this base, they must have prepared a large number of troops.

In other words, they are attacking the other bases as well. They're usually done for.

"Well, what's done is done, right? Get ready to run.

But we're surrounded by knights!　Are we going through them?

"Fools, if you go in there with your strength, it'll be half destroyed.

Bandits live a harsh life.

If the strength of an ordinary person is one, there are probably ten.

But the knights are training every day and refining their bravery.

A weak knight may have 20.

A good knight would have fifty, and Dokora himself, if he were to be humble, would have about that.

When you get to the level of captain, you can't even think about it.

But that's only if you fight them head on.

We're dealing with the tent on the outside. Small fry you can't lose much.

But small fry don't last that long. We need to move quickly.

Disperse the treasure. I'll kill you if you make a hole in the bag and spill it. I'll break the knights' siege while you prepare.

Hey!

◇.　

The most effective way to achieve a high victory rate in battle is to be stronger than your opponent.

The most effective way to achieve a high victory rate in a battle is to be stronger than your opponent. Even if you are winning individually, you can be overturned if you are outnumbered.

However, if you are winning on both sides, it will be difficult to overturn the situation.

That is the current situation.

There is a clear difference in strength between the well-trained knights and the bandits, and the knights are overwhelmed in numbers.

There were no knights to be seen falling.

On the other hand, the number of bandits lying on the ground increased one by one.

Léanor watched the scene with satisfaction and continued his command.

"Now, eradicate those foolish barbarians who underestimated us!　We are outnumbered and outgunned. If you can't take their heads, shame on you!　Compete with them!

"Oh!

The data was very useful.

I sent out lightly armed scouts in advance, and they spotted the bandits on patrol and quickly eliminated them.

Under cover of darkness, they succeeded in besieging the base village.

Although the siege failed to take them by complete surprise due to the use of detection magic, the siege has been completed.

This is the state of the largest settlement in the world. It is safe to assume that other strongholds are also doing well.

If the situation continues, the damage will be slight, and perhaps only minor injuries will be sustained.

If that happens, the commander-in-chief's reputation will be enhanced.

But the numbers are small.

According to the data, there were about fifty of them, and the patrol had only killed a few.

It's hard to imagine that they're out on business, since merchants don't move at night.

Judging by the reaction of the bandits, it was unlikely that they had anticipated the attack and fled.

But judging from the fighting, there were only thirty of them.

Those thirty will soon be disposed of by the knights.

"Are they hiding in one of the tents?　"Are they hiding in one of the tents?" "Hmm, then that center one is suspicious.　

Soon, the bandits who had been fighting back were cleaned up.

Léanor issued new instructions.

According to reports, there are fifty of them, and there are probably close to twenty more hiding in there!　Check inside the tents. Gradually advance to the center!

Following the knights, Léanor checked inside the surrounding tents.

Then he frowned.

Most of the tents showed traces of where the bandits had slept earlier.

There was a lot of food and dirty blankets.

But every once in a while, I saw a strange sight.

"Is this a ...... corpse?

Piles and piles of corpses reeking of decay had been left on the ground.

From the way they were dressed, they looked like the bodies of bandits.

There was some kind of herb on the corpse to prevent the smell from leaking out, but the corpse was covered with many maggots and flies.

There are many similar tents around, judging by the knights.

It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for.

I'm not sure what to make of that.

It's not as if he hasn't been through the line of death before.

His experience warned him of the catastrophe to come, and a hypothetical occurred to him. 　

"Watch out for the bodies!　Something's up!

Just as I was warning him, the body jumped.

Léanor, who had his eyes on the corpse, narrowly avoided it and blew it away with a follow-up sword blow.

The body split into upper and lower parts with the blow, but they wriggled and crawled together, returning to the original corpse.

The remaining corpses also began to move and attacked the nearby knights with inhuman behavior.

The same thing seemed to have happened in the surrounding tents, and the knights and the corpses began to fight.

"This is necromancy, you filthy thing!

He cursed and cut off the attacking corpse, but just as he left it unattended, it repaired itself and resumed its attack.

This is no longer a human corpse, but an undead monster. 　

"Everyone coordinate!　If it's just movement, there's nothing to be afraid of!

Léanor's expression froze as he turned his gaze to his surroundings again.

The bandits he had just defeated were beginning to rise.

There were about a hundred corpses ready to go.

Now there are thirty more dead bandits.

I don't think so.　Some of the knights must have been equipped with magic seal stones. It should be impossible to activate this corpse with magic at this time, or even to cast necromancy on the bandits who just died!

The scene begins to become chaotic.

The movement of the undead corpse seems to have increased in speed and power, but there is no sense of technology.

They just attacked on instinct.

And so the well-trained knights are no match for them.

But they don't die.

Even if you slay them, stab them, or beat them to death, they heal quickly and rise again.

"Stay alive, men!　You will join the undead!　If you have purification magic, try everything!　Those without, find a way to block their movement!

The bandits who are still alive jump into the line of sight as Léanor flies into command.

They seem to be taking advantage of the chaos and starting to flee.

Someone--!　

I want to tell them to go after it, but they're already taking care of it with everything they've got.

If you give half-hearted orders at this time, there's no guarantee that the undead won't take you by surprise.

It is possible to deal with undead bandits, but if a knight becomes undead, the threat is immeasurable.

The sound of teeth chattering echoed in the air as the seemingly perfect siege was easily broken through.

◇ "Hahahaha!

"Hahahahaha!　I'm not sure if it's a good idea to have them dead.

I'm not sure if you've heard of this, but I'm sure you have.

You're the best!　But what the heck is going on here?　They had weapons with magic seal stones in them, didn't they?

I'm sure you'll be able to figure out what's going on.　But don't get me wrong. But don't misunderstand, it only breaks down the construction.

"What?

The necromancy I used was simple. It takes the souls of the dead into their original bodies and makes them run amok as the undead. The trouble with it is that it releases a magic that affects all the bodies around it equally. So if you are attacked by an undead and die, you become an undead too.

Once you use it, you can turn all the dead bodies around you into undead.

And the method of laying them down is simple. In the center of the tent, I had set up a warding that released a magic that made the undead quiet. All I had to do was disarm it when the time was right.

I rolled several magic seal stones in the palm of my hand and soaked in the aftermath. The wards themselves can be released by moving the stones closer. But the magic that wards create, and the magic that necromancy creates, is that kind of magic, not a construct.

A magic seal stone is something that seals magic, the meaning of which is not wrong, but the principle is different. It only decomposes the construction of magic and returns it to magic power. Therefore, magic with its own nature is not affected by the magic seal stone.

The greatest merit of necromancy is that the undead itself is imbued with magical power of a specific nature.

Therefore, even if you use a lot of magic seal stones, the effect will not weaken. As long as you are not interfered with when you use it, you can do whatever you want.

You can do whatever you want. But the day you die near one of those things, it'll happen even if I don't, so be careful not to die at all.

"H-hey!

Every time you advance a certain distance, you drop a magic seal stone. Now you can't use your detection spell to track them to their current location.

It's not impossible to be chased while looking for traces of your movement, but if you'd rather take your time, you can just go on as usual.

In addition, there is an area ahead of you where magic seal stones have been scattered in advance. I had prepared an escape route and a terrain that would be easy to escape into, just in case.

You arrive at the first target point, an open area. The only people who know about this place are my men who are here now. This is the place I had them explore in secret.

"Well, let's take a break. Are all those who managed to escape here?　Let's see what each of you got away with.

There are hiding places ahead of us that only my friends know about, and bases that only I know about. As long as I have these guys with me, we can take refuge in the former.

We've been hit in other places too. Thanks to the knight. We'll make more money.

The number of bandits who fled Garnets after the new king was born was enormous. So I set up a bandit alliance so that we could plunder safely and spread the risk even if the knights moved.

The results were good. I used the ones I didn't like as an example by deliberately turning them against me, and I ingratiated myself with the others by setting up positions where the knights could easily find them.

We knew that it was unlikely that our base would be discovered at the same time, but we had a plan just in case. But now the number of bandits was greatly reduced. From now on, we can easily raid the hunting grounds with an elite few. There's nothing wrong with that.

I see, but it doesn't make me any happier to be thanked by the bad guys.

A voice echoed, and a knight appeared from the shadows. And as the knight appeared, knights appeared from around him as well.

"Oh, really?

"My name is Ilias Lazzell. My name is Ilias-Ratzel. Bandit Dokora, this is the end of your evil path.　

The female knight who appeared said her name and drew her sword.

I'm a traveler.

This is the first time I've ever seen this kind of movie.

To be honest, I was tired. No one is carrying me this time.

"The armed man, it seems. You were right.

Now, I'll tell you why this is happening.

The armed man, we knew from the start that Docora would run.

A man with such a thorough control of information and escape techniques who had deceived the knights until now would not be so easily caught just because his base was surrounded.

It is only natural that he would have one or two means or routes of escape prepared.

The fact that he was confident in his ability to control fear through necromancy made me understand that he was relying on necromancy.

I was curious, so I asked one of the ragdolls to re-examine the cave we had attacked the other day, and he told me that the corpses had disappeared in droves.

It can't be that they were sadly buried.

Then it must be used for something, of course, like this.

I also found out the name Docola, thanks to Maja's help in finding the information.

He used to be a member of the dark side of a certain kingdom, wanted for violating a taboo.

After that, he became a thief and a scoundrel in Garnets, but fled to Tarz because of the threat of Garnets' new king.

It is very significant to know that he is using the know-how he gained during his dark days as a bandit.

In other words, Dokora is not a man of wisdom, but a man who makes use of his past experiences.

The behavior of such people tends to be based on their own experience, so it is easy to read them if you know the pattern.

I assumed that he would almost certainly use the magic seal to escape. Since he has been using it like water, it is equally likely that he has spread it along his escape route beforehand.

The reason why Ilias and the rest of Ragdoll's team was left completely free as logistical support was to anticipate the escape route from the preliminary stage of the attack.

The course of the attack was also decided in advance at the meeting to narrow down the direction in which they would escape.

And then, shortly before the attack, we searched using detection magic.

By the way, Lord Léanor, you don't even have a single member of your own squad attached to Ragdoll.

He probably didn't even want them to work together. If he had, I would have helped him out a bit.

The more we searched, the more we found, so we tried to find the escape route by going around the place where the detection spell was canceled, that is, outside the area where the magic seal was placed.

In the process, he found an unnaturally cultivated open area, which he probably intended to use as a meeting point after splitting into several groups.

It seems that the siege was easily broken and they all came together, though Lord Reynaud played a fine game.

I wondered what he would do against such an inexperienced but quick-witted genius.

Lord Reynaud is probably being chased by a group of undead right now.

I've secretly asked Maja, a skilled cleric, to come to his aid, so she should be able to subdue them by now.

There's no reason for you to complain about it later. I've even given him a head start.

Now it's up to you, Ilias.