Chapter 25: Complete Failure

Standing on this scorched land, Pelzen grimly looked at the ruins before him.

In fact, as soon as the scouts discovered the enemy’s camping traces, Pelzen knew something was amiss. As the heir of the Bird family, Pelzen of course knew about the unclear relationship between his family and Moon Wolf Darlos. In fact, before his departure, the patriarch had repeatedly cautioned him to stay away from Moon Wolf Darlos’s territory. After all, a high-rank swordsman was a very rare asset. If by chance he was discovered by the Pale Hawk, although Darlos probably wouldn’t be in trouble, if he misunderstood that they were trying to silence him, then the trouble would be big. After all, the Bird family was well aware that Darlos held quite a few of their weaknesses. If things were to blow up and become public at that time, he, as a high-rank swordsman, could naturally swagger away and find a place to start anew. But at that time, the Bird family would be in big trouble. They didn’t have the ease and freedom of Darlos to just dust themselves off and leave. A family’s foundation was entirely based on their deep local operations, and these things couldn’t grow legs and run away with them.

In fact, earlier when he saw the Pale Hawk moving towards the outskirts, Pelzen still had a glimmer of hope. After all, Twilight Forest was so vast, who knew exactly where the Moon Wolf bandits’ stronghold was – but as if fearing they wouldn’t know, when they saw the black smoke rising from the depths of the forest, Pelzen’s heart sank to the bottom.

And as he advanced here with the Pale Hawk, Pelzen was still praying, praying that Darlos wouldn’t connect this matter with them, otherwise the trouble would be big. However, when he saw Darlos’s clothes and weapons scattered on the ground, Pelzen’s heart felt somewhat relieved, mixed with some feelings he wasn’t even clear about himself. Although they hadn’t seen Darlos’s corpse, from the current situation, this guy was probably already dead. If so, the Bird family’s secrets should not be leaked. But at the same time, Pelzen’s mood was also very complex. The loss of such a good helper was also a big blow to the Bird family. After all, high-rank swordsmen were not easy to find, and for a long time, the Bird family probably wouldn’t be able to increase their “extra income” through this trade route.

Interesting.

Duke Balen glanced at Pelzen, whose face was ashen and silent, then moved his gaze to the stronghold burning fiercely before him. His eyes narrowed slightly as he carefully observed the corpses on the ground, then a gleam flashed in his eyes. There was a sword stuck there. Judging from its upright posture, this was obviously done deliberately by someone, purposely placed there to convey some message to others. And now, Duke Balen had also understood the hidden meaning in it.

Military weapon.

Duke Balen looked back at Pelzen again, who was still silently staring at the ground, as if there was gold there.

But obviously Duke Balen had no intention of pursuing this matter. He just waved his hand, and soon an officer ran to his side.

“How’s the situation?” Duke Balen asked in a low voice.

“The same as before, Commander,” The officer before him was a veteran soldier, but his expression now also showed some apprehension.

“Although because of the big fire, our brothers couldn’t go in to check, from what we observed, it should be the same as before, only the physical bodies of those bandits… The other side doesn’t seem to have left any traces.”

No wonder.

Duke Balen nodded, not saying anything more. He understood very well what his soldiers were thinking. At first, the soldiers of the Pale Hawk were dissatisfied that someone had stolen their prey. After all, even if not mentioning nobles like Pelzen who were moved by interests, as soldiers, as warriors, demonstrating their value in battle was their way of survival. But now someone had stolen their prey, which made the soldiers feel somewhat disgraced. However, with the subsequent developments, these soldiers’ attitudes gradually changed.

Once or twice was fine, I won’t compete with you, after all, there are many bandits here, can’t we find others? But what about after three or four times? Every time their scouts finally discovered the bandits’ nests, when they were prepared to rush in, they found corpses everywhere?

One or two such encounters were enough.

Because of this, the soldiers of the Pale Hawk were full of complaints about those “robbers” who had never appeared before them. Although they also knew that the other side probably didn’t intend to compete with them, but going back and forth like this several times, who could stand it?

However, as they continued to advance, the soldiers’ attitudes changed.

There’s no battle without casualties, this is normal. Even in battles with bandits, these soldiers of the Pale Hawk couldn’t guarantee they could come out unscathed, but the other side had achieved this. In those bandit lairs, they only saw the corpses of bandits, and didn’t find any suspicious person’s corpse among them. Moreover, there were no signs of burial nearby. Could it be that those guys took the corpses away? Although this wasn’t impossible, considering common sense, if they left with the corpses, shouldn’t they retreat as quickly as possible? Carrying corpses to attack bandit lairs? That would be a big burden.

So, there was only one possibility, the other side had eliminated this group of bandits at zero cost of casualties.

Zero casualties.

It was this fact that shook the soldiers’ confidence. During these days of action, they had been guessing who it was that had beaten them to it and eliminated these bandits. Was it the royal guard? Or some powerful experts? Moreover, according to the scouts’ investigation, these people numbered only about a dozen or so, it couldn’t possibly be a large army. How powerful were they?

“What about our ‘friends’?” Duke Balen showed a bitter smile and asked.

“According to the scouts’ investigation, they seem to have gone north,” the officer hurriedly replied, also showing a helpless expression.

“The north…” Duke Balen instinctively turned his head towards the north of Twilight Forest, where the endless wilderness, the lawless land, the home of mercenaries lay.

“It seems our friends’ journey has ended.”

Saying this, Duke Balen sighed. To be honest, as the commander of an elite unit of the kingdom, he very much wanted to follow up and find this group of people. This wasn’t because they were “stealing monsters”, but because such powerful and well-trained warriors would definitely become invaluable assets in the army. If possible, he even hoped to recruit them into the Pale Hawk Knight Order – not to mention anything else, just from how cleanly and neatly these people cleared out the bandit lairs, it could be seen that they were even far superior to the kingdom’s other elite unit, the Black Fangs, in doing this job. The latter was specifically responsible for such elite raid missions in the order, but even they probably couldn’t reach the level of these people.

But Duke Balen still kept his composure. After all, he was the commander, the leader of the Pale Hawk Knight Order. In fact, after discovering the bandit stronghold was on fire, Duke Balen realized he had been tricked by the other side. Their camping traces clearly indicated that this group of people had originally planned to go out, but now it seemed that was obviously a trap to mislead them into making wrong judgments. And then that big fire was obviously to remind them of the true target’s location.

From this, it could be seen that those people had already noticed their presence and tracking, and it seemed they were unwilling to contact them.

If so, they could only let them go. Moreover, Duke Balen was also very clear that if they advanced further, they would leave the Bird family’s territory and enter other nobles’ domains, which was against the rules. After all, they were invited by the Bird family to “suppress bandits”, and if they trespassed into other nobles’ spheres of influence, it would be seen as provocation, and the royal prestige would be shaken because of this. So although it was a pity, they could only stop here.

“Pass down the order, withdraw the troops.”

Duke Balen put his gaze back on Pelzen. This young noble had now regained his usual calmness, but from his complexion, it could be seen that this young noble’s mood was definitely not too good.

Was it because his plan to make a name for himself among the nobles had failed? Or…

Duke Balen raised an eyebrow, not saying anything more.

Although on the surface it seemed that their expedition had gained nothing, in fact, only Duke Balen himself knew that he had still profited.

Next, it would depend on how he used it.