City Of Sin

131-140

A Necessary Enemy

Once they were done escorting Asadis, Richard parted with the viscount and continued advancing southeast.

“What do we do now?” Flowsand asked. She was always close to him, so she had heard everything.

Richard let out a long sigh, “We need to change our plans. If Sinclair is the leader of the enemy troops, we don’t have the capability to fight them off. She’s already close to Bluewater, so she’ll definitely learn of my existence. So… we have to take some risks!”

“What do you intend to do?” Flowsand asked.

Richard gently tapped the saddle, pondering for a while before he answered, “I want to meet our lord, the Direwolf Duke.”

At that moment, the sound of hurried horses started to make its way over to them. A group of twenty or so knights could be seen on the horizon.

They were undoubtedly the personal guard of a noble who had pulled back from the frontline. Regardless of age and level, all of them were good at riding and had sharp foresight, being able to escape the demonic clutches of Sinclair. Of course, from another point of view they could also be considered deserters who abandoned their comrades just before battle.

Richard had already gathered enough information, and had started initial talks with Asadis about a trade agreement. As such, he wasn’t interested in the latest developments on the frontline anymore. Since that was the case, he didn’t ask his subordinates to intercept.

However, the oncoming group made an abrupt turn and made a beeline towards them of their own volition. Without a need for his instructions, his subordinates who had experienced innumerable bloody battles immediately assumed battle formation. The mages and cleric were protected in the centre, while the knights formed the wings in preparation for attack. Since Richard hadn’t given an order to stop, they had done all this while on the move.

The opposing group had no more than twenty men, and there didn’t seem to be anyone exceptional amongst them. One attack, and they would all be wiped out. Having fought Salwyn’s troops who used pack tactics to assault them, Richard’s own subordinates were unintimidated by the sudden attack of such a small group.

The knights who were in a perfectly straight formation only started to rein in their horses when they were a mere ten horses away. The stones kicked up by their mounts even managed to hit the barbarian warriors at the very front.

Richard frowned, waving his hand. The entire army came to a neat stop.

The barbarian warriors were now armed with axe and shield. The stronger warriors who were gifted at battle even had a weapon in each hand. They all stabilised themselves, getting in defensive position as they placed their shields on the ground. The rude provocation had angered many of them, but not one took a step forward. They had grown used to obeying Richard’s orders— if Richard wasn’t commanding them directly, they would only follow the wind wolves.

At that time, Richard’s core party looked at each other before casting a look of disbelief at their opponents. Having met several forces in the Bloodstained Lands, both strong and weak, they had never come across someone with the nerve to provoke an army of hundreds with a mere twenty riders. With how close they were, a simple order for the barbarians to throw out their axes would completely decimate this group of morons.