Saving The Villagers

"When facing House Aurellion in battle, be prepared to take two if not three times the casualties that you normally would."

"Be prepared for them to fight to the last man."

"For they retreat but do not run away."

"They do not rout but fight to the last man."

"And god help you if you fall for their schemes."

Gaius Sellic, Count of Acha and General of Chavaria.

….

It only took 5 minutes for the Pelican Guards to finish decimating the remaining raiders who did not fight back. Not one escaped, and not one Pelican Guard died, making it a resounding victory for House Aurellion. It was just a shame that because most of them were cut down while running, the experience that the Pelican Guards could have gotten by fighting these veteran raiders was reduced significantly. However, they still needed to learn how to chase down a routing enemy, and these raiders made for the perfect practice.

Not only were their training and discipline the same as a veteran soldier, but the same open countryside terrain that gave the villagers few places to hide from their pursuers now backfired on the raiders, who were easily spotted as they retreated through open fields by the Pelican Guard recruits.

While this was going on, Aldorus had already finished healing Por, having immediately gone to him after killing Sigert while keeping an eye on the battlefield to ensure that Railius was safe and the small skirmish was going in the right direction.

This had become second nature to him as, over the last few months, the loyal commander of the Pelican Guards had largely watched on as the recruits killed any bandits that attacked them, only interfering if the situation was dire or someone was on the verge of death. However, once they increased the number of men guarding their caravan to 50, fewer and fewer bandits dared attack them, preferring to attack caravans with far less defence than theirs.

Either way, the travelling during the last 6 months in the game and the daily training had honed each of the surviving recruits into a sharp sword, as 50 had already died during their travels from one thing or another, though they were quickly replaced with one message to Leon who had been quickly expanding the Pelican Guards and who always had new recruits in need of bloodying in an actual battle.

The most significant improvement amongst those in the caravan when it came to personal combat skills, apart from Railius and Kaila, unexpectedly came from Vegrif and Norfaelor. Each had increased their combat abilities to the adept level, which was extremely rare for someone in their late teens to be able to do without a noble background. This was mainly able to be achieved because they had been training daily since they were 9 years old, allowing them to become as skilled as most veterans, but the truly skilled veterans of the expert rank were still likely to put both down on their asses as Aldorus had done many times before during their training.

Railius held his short bow in his hands as he rode towards Aldorus and the heavily breathing man being treated by his glowing hands that skillfully manipulated healing magic to seal up Por's vicious wound. The bow was the short bow that he had bought months ago in-game in Detarnor and the one that had managed to kill the vice-captain of the raiders by putting an arrow through his throat.

His other customised bow that Aldorus had used to kill Sigert in one go remained in its leather pouch attached to his saddle after being put away after use, though the young player hoped that soon he would have both the skill in archery and the strength to be able to wield the mighty weapon that could kill anyone if it hit the right place.

Dismounting his horse, he came to the wounded man's side and looked at Aldorus seriously.

"How's he doing?"

Railius asked, concerned for the man's well-being. Given his experience in military affairs, it was likely that they could get some useful information from him regarding the raiders.

"He will live, captain, though if we didn't arrive when we did, he would be long gone. Even though I managed to save his life, he has lost a lot of blood, so I would recommend he takes it easy for a few days."

"Magical healing may have miraculous effects at times; however, it has limits, and a wound like this will definitely leave a big scar, so at least he will have that to boast about."

"It will be like he had some sort of invasive surgery."

Aldorus commented, bandaging the wound as, while it had scarred and scabbed itself over, it could still be easily reopened, which would endanger the man's life.

"Your name, sir?"

Railius asked the injured man.

"You're a bit young to be a captain of a group of mercenaries, aren't you lad?"

Por said, suspicious of the young man's identity because, in his many years of experience as a mercenary, he had never seen an old veteran like Aldorus willing to take orders from such a green boy, especially a master fighter.

Unless there is far more to this young man than meets the eye, that is.

"Be that as it may, what matters is whether the men under my command trust me, and they just happen to."

"Age has nothing to do with it."

Railius said with a slightly embarrassed chuckle, reflecting on himself and his decision to lead the caravan guards instead of Aldorus, who was much more in line with a traditional mercenary captain than he was. Otherwise, sooner or later, it would not be a commoner who asked these questions but a noble, and they would be much harder to deal with, as the last thing he needed was someone digging deeply into his true identity before he wanted it exposed.

It would not change much, as Aldorus would likely take command in an out-of-control situation anyway and having him be the leader of the caravan guards would, at least on the surface, help prevent anyone from knowing that, in fact, it was Railius himself who was pulling the strings from behind the curtain.

Aldorus smiled and quickly came to his lord's rescue to explain the oddness in the command structure of the Pelican Guards, who had disguised themselves as mercenaries protecting a caravan. They just did not expect to find one here; instead, they thought this middle-aged guy was an ex-soldier who had suddenly broken through to the master rank, not an ex-mercenary who would be familiar with the way mercenary groups work.

Because of this, the man they saved would now know that they were not mercenaries but guards of a noble or other influential figure. It was not uncommon for especially adventurous heirs to noble houses to travel around disguised as mercenaries if they wanted to keep a low profile and travel around, as doing so had several benefits.

A lord or king can use such a disguise to observe their subjects and ministers' daily lives without worrying about anyone putting on false displays because notice was usually given if they travelled somewhere officially. Even if it were not, they would have a large armed escort that would easily be seen and reported to a corrupt noble or minister, who could then make preparations and hide any crimes they had committed.

But none of these benefits were on Aldorus' or Railius' mind as their current concern was how to cover up for their sight mistake. 

"I am the true captain of the group, but I prefer to keep a low profile. I'm also getting old, and this little lad is talented in military strategy, so I'm giving him a little experience of leading while I can still watch over him."

Aldorus said, of all the soldiers within the Pelican Guard, he was the most intelligent, being a skilled strategist and understanding politics and social situations far better than Leon or Darius did and very quickly found an excuse for their odd command structure, as taking a step back made sense when grooming an heir for leadership no matter the organisation whether it be a nation business or something else entirely you would want your successor to have experience so you would assign them tasks to give them experience.

This only worked because of the significant age difference between Aldorus and Railius; otherwise, such an excuse would not work.

"Anyway, that is not what I want to talk to you about…."

Railius began, his eyes glinting with intelligence as he looked shrewdly at Pora. A familiar devilish smile spread across his face, a look that Aldorus knew meant that the young lord was already coming up with a plan.

A slight shiver rushed down Por's back as he gazed deeply into Railius' cunning turquoise eyes; something primal inside him made him fear the look in those eyes as if the world was prey for this young man to shoot one by one.

"How many raiders are there? This is not all of them. My scouts have told me so but don't have time to do an accurate count."

Railius asked this villager, who had a far more complicated background than his clothing suggested, hoping that there were only a few enemies that he would have to deal with.

"There were 5 ships. Each ship carried 40 troops, so they should have 200 men in total." 

Hearing the total, Railius breathed deeply and clicked his tongue.

 Because this confrontation had just suddenly become a lot harder if the young lord did not wait for the numbers to be on his side more.

Railius was lucky that his men had not yet suffered any casualties, but without the strong Pelican Guard armour to protect them, they could not take on 150 men with their 50 without losing some soldiers along the way unless they revealed far more of their strength than Railius was willing to do as he was meant to keep somewhat of a low profile while travelling.

Taking out a few raiders attacking a village as he passed to ensure the safety of the goods he protected is one thing, but being able to destroy a force that is 3-4x bigger than your own is not something an average group of caravan guards would be capable or even willing to do as it would better to hope that you can pass unnoticed by the raiders.

Railius did not doubt that his soldiers could win, but losing a large number of recruits, especially ones that had been bloodied in battle already and were destined to become elite soldiers in the next few months, was a price that the young lord did not want to pay as they were to be the sharpest most loyal swords in his arsenal in the future.

Because of his circumstances, he was a bit stuck. Fighting 200 raiders was a training opportunity that did not come around very often for his loyal soldiers, and Railius did not want to waste it. However, he could not recklessly charge headlong into battle, or he would lose far more than he gained. Instead, each battle must be carefully plotted and planned to lower casualties as much as possible.

Yes, that is all the raiders are to Railius.

These raiders, who pillaged, plundered, and installed fear into the hearts of many, were nothing but a training opportunity for the young lord of Aurellion, who wanted to use them to truly turn his men into the fearless elite soldiers he envisioned them to be.

 A training opportunity that Railius was determined to take advantage of.

"Do they have any cavalry?"

Railius asked what he considered to be the most important question. Even though he doubted that they would bring their horses along on a raiding trip because of how much they weighed and ate. But the young noble had to be sure, as this would heavily affect whether Railius tried to fend off these raiders himself or waited for a noble to help before taking action.

The other possibility of gathering the rest of Railius' secret bodyguard of 500 Pelican Guards had already been thrown into the trash as no matter what unless his life was in grave danger, he did not want to mobilise or gather his bodyguard together as only powerful nobles have such a bodyguard which would scream his true identity to everyone something that Railius did not want to do until a few years had passed in the game and he had enough power and influence to adequately protect himself from the many enemies that would aim for his life.

"No, horses are not only hard to get on and off ships, but they also weigh a lot, making it inconvenient for them to be used and lowering the amount of loot that the raiders can steal so they don't have cavalry."

Por said, answering his saviour's question as if it were not for this group of mercenaries passing by confidently and deciding to help. He would be dead, and the other villagers would still be captured.

Por looked on as the villagers rescued from their captures began to walk towards the town. Their expressions, once filled with despair, now gleamed with the light of hope as many profusely thanked the soldiers who came to save them from the raiders and fate likely to be worse than death.

"Good. I appreciate your help, sir."

Railius said and smiled when he saw the people he saved but was surprised to see a little girl riding with Kaila on her horse, her face red from all the tears that had flowed down her face from the death of her father.

Even if they could not destroy the raiders, these raiders would not get any of these fleeing villagers as trophies; however, if Railius were going to make a move, he would need to do it quickly, as it would not take long for the rest of the raiders to have learnt of their comrade's cruel fate at his hands and seek revenge for their fallen brother in arms.

"How was it?"

Railius asked Kaila, who had ridden to him. Over the last few months, she had made excellent progress in her combat ability, and while she was still worse than Railius, who had trained for longer and was surprisingly talented with the sword, she could hold her own. Currently, she had no weapons in her hands, focusing on looking after the small girl riding with her, but Railius noted that her once full quiver of arrows had been reduced by one-quarter, showing she had contributed to the battle even if she would never kill as many as Jordis and Norfaelor, who were always competing to see who could kill the most.

"Not bad, could be worse. I saved this little one and her mother and gave her a ride because she looked exhausted."

Kaila shrugged her shoulders, putting the young girl down. The little thing clung to her leg until she saw her mother and ran into her warm embrace. Both broke down into tears of relief and mourning relief at their unexpected rescue and mourning at the death of a loved one who died to protect them.

"Makes it all worth it, doesn't it?"

Railius muttered to himself in a low voice as he looked at the scene of families reuniting before quickly heading to town and safety, but Kaila's sensitive dog-like ears still picked up what was said.

"What was that?"

Kailia asked, once again interested in the rare compassion the young noble allowed himself to show when he saw this scene. Usually, he tried to come across as cold and uncaring.

"Oh, nothing, Aldorus. How good is Vice Commander Oswan at dealing with enemy scouts?"

Railius asked with a smile, smoothly changing the conversation's subject, something he had become quite good at doing.

"One of the best. I'll send him a message. He should be close by. It shouldn't take him long to arrive. I'd say 5 minutes or so. How many men do you want him to take 10?"

Aldorus asked. Using his military experience, he had already figured out part of Railius' plan and knew he was planning to fight. The chance to train up his men seemed more alluring to his young lord rather than keeping a low profile. Otherwise, he would not ask for Oswan, their best scout, but he also happened to be the best scout hunter amongst them. 

"Do you think 10 will be enough?"

Railius asked for his protector's opinion as he had far more experience in military affairs than Railius himself and also knew the

Aldorus had been by his side since he killed that vice-captain and went to question the villagers they had rescued for information on their opponents, so the war veteran knew everything that Railius did about their enemies not wanting to allow his lord near a master fighter without him to protect him even if he seemed harmless on the surface.

"With no horses? 10 will be more than enough."

"Don't underestimate that halfling. He is far more terrifying than you expect."