These words hit home for everyone, and all the militia members were wide-eyed, staring at the boss.
"Don’t worry, none of these spoils of war will escape, these two gangs of robbers are definitely not heading north towards home, but should be going south," Liu Zhenhan scraped the mud off his riding boots on the felt tent.
He picked up a coffee pot and shaped the crushed part back to round with his hand.
The gurgling stream washed away the just-spilled blood flowers, and was still spotlessly clean.
"Go get some hay, it won’t be too late to have a pot of coffee and then go home," said Liu Zhenhan.
"Go home? Why?" The militia members widened their eyes.
"What else if not going home? This bunch of guys with slaves and carts will move as slow as snails. Going after them now means no surprise attack since the terrain here is not suitable for a mammoth cavalry charge! Are you suggesting that our militia should bash against these Salt Demons? Hell no! I’m not that stupid!" Liu Zhenhan said: "First let’s go home and take a hot bath, have some breakfast, then we go after them. I assure you, they will definitely pass through the Troll Wasteland because—I already know where they want to go."
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By the time the militia members got back, it was already dawn—the sun showed a light red corner like a poached egg, most of the people in Fencui hadn’t slept all night.
As the on-duty sentinel of Fencui saw their silhouette on the horizon, he woke up everyone. They were all eager to know the outcome of the battle.
Contrary to what many people had guessed, the militia came back empty-handed.
Under everyone’s surprised gaze, these militia leisurely rode on their mastodons into Red Earth Square. There was not a trace of blood on their armor, the Mastiff Warriors’ lances were even gleaming with freshly shaved white stubble.
Had the militia returned triumphantly with Richard, Cui Beixi would have been worried about how to take care of them afterwards, but as the militia returned without shedding blood, Cui Beixi felt an inexplicable pain in her heart.
Deep down, she was kind of hoping that Richard would return in victory.
There were only two possibilities as to why they had returned empty-handed.
The first possibility: The keen sense of smell possessed by the Mastiff Warriors had left the human slave traders nowhere to hide, as if humans had grown wings and flown out of Donau Wasteland.
The other possibility was that Richard had changed his mind.
The first possibility was absurd, so it had to be the other one.
Although she knew it was the wise thing to do, this answer made Cui Beixi feel a bit suffocated.
Gortani stepped down the path, her beautiful slender eyes fixed on Liu Zhenhan. An expression of disdain slipped unintentionally onto her face.
"Richard..." Helen greeted her beloved who had just jumped down from the Mastiff elephant with an anxious face.
Liu Zhenhan lifted Ning Yu and Avril down from the elephant, accepted the cheese and sheep’s milk handed over by the halfling chef, and then took a few hearty gulps.
"I have a bad news and a good news. Which one do you want to hear first?" Liu Zhenhan wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve.
"Is the good news that you’ve finally come to your senses?" Cui Beixi, with a smile that was not quite a smile, looked at Liu Zhenhan as if "complimenting" him.
"Wrong answer." Liu Zhenhan bit a large chunk of cheese, gave a little to the piglet and a little to Guoguo. "The good news is, our population in Fencui is about to increase soon."
"What’s the bad news, then?" Cui Beixi asked.
"The bad news is—we’re about to face a battle!" Liu Zhenhan laughed out loud. "We’re going to capture quite a few prisoners this time!"
"A battle?" Gortani looked at Liu Zhenhan in surprise.
"I tracked the human slave traders’ tracks last night, pursued them for three hours, and finally found their camp. Sadly, they had already been attacked before we arrived", Liu Zhenhan snapped his fingers, Gude brought over a silver coffee pot. The rightful source is novęlfire.net
"Who could have wiped out a merchant group guarded by two hundred mercenaries?" Cui Beixi found it too incredible.
"Our good neighbors, the robbers of Donau Wasteland." Liu Zhenhan laughed.
"Impossible!" Cui Beixi and Gortani exclaimed in unison.
The robbers on the wasteland have always been in groups of dozens when they rob, even if it’s a premeditated attack where they rally, like the offensive on Fencui by the Bear Goblins last time. The Wasteland robbers always prefer to track their targets and then gather their troops before robbing unless they have an overwhelming advantage in numbers.
The Shalba slave traders have as many as two hundred mercenaries for protection, including mounted rangers. Their excellent equipment and proficient fighting skills might not be plentiful, but it should be sufficient to deter the bandit robbers on the Wasteland.
"I’m not joking." Liu Zhenhan put away his smile, suddenly becoming serious: "After midnight tracking, the Mastiffs picked up footprints all the way and finally caught up with the mercenaries. Before we could take action, these mercenaries were ambushed by a joint army of about 1,500 Salt Demons and Green Demons. These robbers are quite formidable—they caught the humans off guard. Brilliant!"
"Salt Demons and Green Demons? Why are there Salt Demons and Green Demons here? They’re not local robbers!" Everyone was dumbfounded.