Romance of the Four Kingdoms

Chapter 86

Pang Tong visited Gyuki outside of the main city to check up on him. He was surprised to see him standing up and sniffing around the air aggressively as he took a couple of steps here and there. He chuckled at this.

'My, my what scent have you picked up? Must be quite a powerful boar or something.'

'It's the stench of mystics. Though I do not know where they are.' Gyuki replied with a serious tone, trying to locate their scent.

'Are you certain?'

'Yes, they have a particular stench that I cannot forget.' Pang Tong remained silent for a moment before chuckling to himself.

'Well in that case we can't have them reporting back can we?'

'Of course not master strategist, I will locate them at once!' Gyuki starts to run however immediately stops as Pang Tong spoke up.

'No, no there's no need. More than likely they could be watching us now. If we start looking for them we'll have even less time to prepare. Heh, this could work to our advantage.'

'How so?'

'Think about it, if they find us they'll be the ones on the offence besieging this city. From what I heard of this Zhang Yan he's looking to consolidate his power in these mountains as soon as possible. More than likely a man like that will be overconfident and bring a large army. That would be quite the opportunity for our illustrious lady Mitsuko to cripple him.' Pang Tong started to hatch a scheme.

'Do you think we'll be ready for such an offensive though? Its not like we have the numbers.'

'Indeed we don't, though we have you and our demonic allies. I think we'll be just fine. I'll tell our soldiers to quicken their pace with their woodcutting. We may be able to construct our war machines before they arrive. They'll do for the moment. In the meantime, try to resist going after their scent if you wouldn't mind and be your usual self. If they see us start to panic, they may think we're on to them especially if they're viewing us from far away. Let's make it a bit of a surprise for them.' Pang Tong suggested as he did his usual chuckle.

'Ahh I understand now, shouldn't we tell our allies though?' Pang Tong pondered this for a moment before releasing a sinister chuckle.

'Hmm, let's stay our tongues for the moment. After all I could very well be wrong and if I was wrong we would worry our allies for no reason and potentially raise panic needlessly. That wouldn't look good for lady Mitsuko. Besides more than likely if they did, they would more than likely put our troops to the front line and let us be the lambs for their slaughter. That wouldn't bode well for us. They're technically still our superiors in terms of numbers and power. We'll just be signing over our men as fodder, whereas if it's a surprise for them they won't have the luxury of doing what they did to our men at Xia Pi and assigning us at the first line of defence. Unlike Xia Pi, there isn't a floodgate to exploit in these mountains.'

'I suppose that makes sense. Still, do wish they wouldn't do that to us.' Gyuki admitted.

'Aye, I wish it were that way as well but if this alliance is secure which I'm positive is the case then it's a little too soon to be trusting them fully. After all, they keep you outside out of fear. If they can't trust you, how can we trust them fully?' Gyuki thought about this as he scratched his head.

'Hmm...I don't think you can.'

'Exactly. It's unfortunate but that's the way it is sometimes. Though that will change eventually. Do let me know when you do not detect their scent for an unusual amount of time, that will be when they're returning to their hideout. And when we will need to prepare most. Until then, try not to draw attention and give them any indication you're aware of their presence.'