Chapter 422 - Laziness

The flags of Griffins Aerial Unit lined the wall. Despite the number of flags present, there were not a lot of soldiers in the city.

Scarlet had taken all the mages and capable soldiers with her to the Country of Mercenaries, so the only people left were civilians and the older soldiers. They were displaying the flags because they wanted to create an illusion of a well-guarded city.

Scarlet was not worried about her opponents. She was very confident in herself and the abilities of the griffin knights. She would detect larger armies, and smaller armies would not be able to reach the city. The presence of the alliance was news to her, however, because Transverse Mountains was too far from away. She could detect movements of real armies, but not the movements of mercenaries.

She was surprised by the attack on her supplies and wanted to find the mercenaries, but she learned the news of Baery’s arrival in Country of Mercenaries. She changed her plan, recalled her army, and spoke with Fernando. They discussed a new plan, and she did not care about the mercenaries anymore.

Scarlet was very torn. She wasn’t sure if she should attack the Shield of Light legion before Baery arrived. After a few days, she decided against it. She wanted to disrupt Yolanthe’s plan and prevent Maho Empire from taking over Country of Mercenaries. There was no need to force a conflict. If that happened, neither side would benefit.

Scarlet was a general, not a madwoman. She knew that the third prince of Maho Empire was with the legion. If she really attacked the legion, the attack would inevitably cause the prince harm. Whether she captured him, killed him, or allowed him to escape, she would anger Yolanthe and cause him to attack her with all his forces. There were no more necromancers in Maho Empire, but Shansa Empire was still struggling. She did not want to risk her armies on a useless mission. On the other hand, she still needed time. She had spoken with Fernando and knew that he had sent messages to the Church several times already, complaining of Maho Empire’s behavior and requesting backup. Because the Church’s relationship with Maho Empire was very turbulent, Fernando believed his requests would be granted.

This was why Scarlet chose to take things slowly. She did not want to fight Baery, because she knew she was still too inexperienced compared to him. If she lost, the situation would become too difficult for Shansa Empire.

Anfey watched the city and its flapping flags. Without mages in the city, he did not fear being discovered.

Just like Scarlet did not know much about him, he did not know anything about Scarlet. If he had, he would have known that Scarlet was in a difficult situation, and if he attacked right now, he would win.

A team of soldiers was patrolling the wall. They passed by Anfey several times but did not pay any attention to him. A few other soldiers were sitting around a bonfire, chatting. This city had never experienced war, because the mercenaries never dared to invade Shansa Empire. Edward VIII sent his soldiers here because he was worried about the necromancers and zombies. Now that the capable soldiers were gone, the remaining soldiers became too relaxed.

Small groups of mercenaries crept towards the city. However, because of their numbers, it was very hard for the mercenaries to be completely secretive. Soon, one of the soldiers spotted them. "Enemy attack!" the soldier called. "Enemy attack!"

Another soldier frowned and interrupted him. "No way," the man said.

"There’s enemies!" the first soldier said hurriedly.

"Be quiet," the second soldier said. "I’m trying to sleep."

The patrol was alerted by the soldier’s calls and spotted the mercenaries.

"Pull up the drawbridge!" the leader of the patrol called as he drew his sword.

"We didn’t lower it, sir," another soldier whispered.

"Then close the door!" the leader ordered. "And fill the sandbags! Hurry!"

However, most of the soldiers had never participated in a real battle and did not know what the man was talking about. Many of the soldiers were not even properly trained, and the city wasn’t as equipped as it should be. Because of this, the mercenaries had pushed closer to the city, but the soldiers still did not do anything that could stop them.

One of the chains that was holding the drawbridge suddenly broke. The leader of the soldiers cursed as more chains broke and the drawbridge crashed to the ground. "Archers!" he called, waving his arms. "Mages!"

Anfey sighed and shook his head. He returned his bow to his dimensional ring and levitated off of the wall and into the city. There were no swordsmen in the city, only normal soldiers. It was one of the poorest cities in Shansa Empire, and no one wanted to be stationed there unless they had no other choice.

The gate of the city shattered with a blast of light, and Suzanna appeared, Ozzic and Ye appeared behind her with their mercenaries.

"Suzanna, come with me," Anfey said, walking over to them.

"Just us?" Suzanna asked, confused.

"We are more than enough to take this city," Anfey said with a grin.

"We got it here, Lady Suzanna," Ozzic said, reassuring her. He turned, saw some soldiers fleeing, and waved his hand at his men. He could tell that the soldiers had no will to fight and would be easy to take care of.

"Come on," Anfey said to Suzanna.

The city was about ten miles away from a supply station. For Suzanna and Anfey, it was very close.

The soldiers at the supply station must have already seen the flame from the city. Because many had left with Scarlet’s army, the supply station was severely understaffed. There were no more than two thousand soldiers stationed there.

Even though the soldiers wanted to fight back and help the city, they were no match for Suzanna and Anfey.

Anfey summoned his fire sword, gripping it tight as he lunged at the soldiers. He swept his sword around himself, setting everything around him on fire. Those that survived this initial attack were protected by combat power, but even those that survived knew that their combat power could not hold against such attacks for long.

The massacre ended in less than half an hour. The supply station became engulfed in flames from Anfey’s sword. Suzanna was standing outside waiting as Anfey appeared through the flames.

Anfey looked at the supply station and frowned as he realized there were not as many warehouses as he had expected.

After a few minutes, Orsie and Thompson arrived with their men and carts.

"Where’s Ozzic?" Anfey asked.

"Still in the city," Thompson said. "He seems angry. He’s lost some people. Shinbella’s over there helping."

"He lost men?" Anfey asked, surprised.

Thompson nodded. "Those people are stronger than we thought."

"How?"

"Not the soldiers," Thompson said. "There were some nobles in the city because this was a trade route before the war. They all had guards. We heard there is a senior swordsman."

Anfey nodded. "I trust them to take care of it," he said. "Open all the warehouses and search them."

Thompson nodded and hurried off, giving his men orders to search the place.

"Wait," Anfey said. "Remember to document everything you find. Take as much as possible and burn the rest."

After about half an hour, Shinbella appeared with about a dozen of her men. Anfey waved at her. "How are Ozzic and his men?" he asked.

"It’s over," Shinbella said. "I’m not sure about the losses, but…" she saw Orsie walking over and waved at him. "Orsie!" she called. "Save me some carts!"

"Why?" Orsie asked, confused.

"Ozzic needs them," Shinbella said. "Said he needs to transport his injured. We also found a lot of things at those nobles’ places that need to be transported."

"How many do you need?"

"About a hundred."

"You’re joking," Orsie said. "We still need them for food."

"Let’s her take the carts," Thompson said, walking over. "My men just checked all the warehouses. A lot of them are empty anyway. We’ll have enough carts."

"Tell Ozzic," Anfey said. "Just finish off the nobles. We don’t need them."

"Ozzic wanted to keep them prisoners," Shinbella said. "It’s easier to get more out of them that way. They have so many treasures. I never thought nobles in a city like this would have that many magic crystals. They have dimensional rings as well. Whatever they’re hiding in the rings must be worth even more than the crystals."

"Alright," Anfey said. "Tell Ozzic he needs to hurry." Anfey knew that a lot of the mercenaries did not have dimensional rings. Ozzic’s plan would work, and he could give those nobles’ rings to the mercenaries who did not have rings.

Shinbella nodded. She walked over to Orsie and Thompson, and the three of them hurried off to get the carts.