As usual, everyone gathered at the main table in the hideout.

The princess sat beside Maria san.

I sat with Zairas san and other 3 squad captains.

There are also Rizer san of the dwarves sitting alongside the hunter’s leader of the cat tribesmen.

The other people of their family and daughters of former n.o.bility are engaged in cultivating and maintaining the abandoned village.

The boys who could fight were firstly put as watch guards of the hideout but, now they are quite skillful in transporting messages which was different from what we had originally planned for them.

The princess is quite frustrated as our job as bandits is not going well.

Then again, with a bam! sound a soldier came running in.

「Its a message from the signal tower. Its a unit with more than 30 wagons. More than 1 platoon are acting as escorts.」

「Good work. We will not raid this unit!」

The soldier immediately ran outside. He probably went to convey the message to the cliff guards.

Seems the number of escorts have increased to prevent raids by bandits this time around. It seems there are 45 people in a platoon including the commanders.

Our attacking personnel have increased a bit, but its still about 30 people.

If there is not much  difference in weapons, we will eventually be eliminated following the Lanchester’s Rule[1].

But there is no way our troops will suddenly expand.

It will be necessary to strike slave merchants as well as provision transport wagons to gain more people…..

「As expected, there is a need to increase the amount of crossbows somehow. If we can first defeat about 10 people, we might be able to gain a dominant position.」

「That one? It does take time to load arrows, but the power is amazing.」

It seems Bartz san acknowledged the power of crossbows.

「Do you want to make a crossbow squad?」

「Its not that hard to use a crossbow. Its enough if you have enough physical strength to pull strings.」

「It can very well be used by sons and daughters of those aristocrats. They endure concealing themselves while cultivating lands, of course they have resentment against the kingdom.」

Zairas san approved a small team of 5 crossbowmen. All the 5 were from Rizer san’s group.

「Making a row of spears and then attacking with crossbows, how many would we will be able to take down? We will be in a difficult position if they manage to cut down those. I’m afraid we will collapse.」

「We have mages to  handle that. If we were to explode flame bullets in front of their eyes, they won’t be able run away or attack.」

The main part of the strategy is to attack the platoon in a rhythm.

Rolling down stones from the top of the cliff followed by crossbow attacks simultaneously will definitely do heavy damage.

If we managed to disrupt about two-thirds of the platoon or manage to damage the carts, and they start to escape from the back, then our plan could succeed.

Beyond that, Zairas san will be waiting for them with the blockade on the highway.

These people will be running frantically in order to escape and such it will create a confusion among their soldiers.

Can’t 3 arrows be shot from a crossbow at the same time? That alone will be able to kill around 20 people.

「Afterwards, if we attack from the cliff top and from behind them, they can be defeated.」

「We should force the enemies towards Zairas’s direction. Though it will be unreasonable to chase them if they escape towards south. But won’t that lead to our existence to be known by the enemy?」

「We are bandits, so we have to pay heed to the subjugation units. If we can increase the number of bolts and crossbows for each, we can deal with them if they are about 100 in numbers.」

If we will have a few days, we can prepare for them.

There was still enough food provisions from before, so we decided to wait for an affordable prey to pa.s.s through the highway.

As we waited eagerly, a communication soldier came hurriedly.

「Contact from the signal towers. 『Row of wagons from the west. About 15 of them. More than 10 escort soldiers in the front and the back. Do not use torches unless otherwise.』 And so it is.」

「Hmm. Its an interesting opponent.  At night-time, the road between the mountain trail and the highway is a bit bad to travel through……」

「Do you mean we can be found out?」

「We have the cat tribesmen. Don’t you think that they can help in this problem.」

To my words, Radi san curled up her lips in smile.

She seems to be  quite angry.

「So then, we will follow Banta’s strategy to attack. Let’s go!」

Everyone got up from their seats on the princess’s command and went out.

Me being late is same as always.

We took our spears and started running.

After we all descended from the cliff, Radi san and others pulled up the ladders.

After that the crossbows were readied and we waited.

We were at the cliff whose height was around 3 m, but its almost vertical. It was pretty difficult to stand without a foothold.

If I stretched myself backwards, I would be impaled by the spear behind.

We hid behind the bushes on the southern side of the highway along the 100 m wide cliff.

The bowstrings were already pulled.

We have 2 people with crossbows, 6 mages and 8 knights. I think it should be sufficient.

One will even fall in love with Maria san’s skill with frying pan.

The sun was going down and darkness was approaching.

Our masks are red in color, but its not noticeable during night-time.

Since our cloaks are also black, no one will notice us unless they pay attention.

The sounds of kacha-kacha from the hooves of the horses came along with the footsteps of people.

There was a faint light seen coming along the highway. It seems they are using lamps for carts rather than torches………

A long formation pa.s.ses past the road above us as the footsteps fade away.

We still have to wait for that perfect timing.

「「Uwahhh……」」

I heard a scream and sound of footsteps different from a while ago.

Sounds of the footsteps as well as horses all blended together.

Sure enough, I went ahead this time from the rear without falling behind this time.

「Lets go!!!」

After brief instructions from the princess, everyone spread out to full width of the highway.

In the front Bartz san stood with 8 other knights.

Holding the handmade spears, they advanced forward.

There are 3 people in the back with crossbows. The princess is with Maria san and three other mages in the last.

「Pick up the distance. Everyone will stick themselves to the northern cliffs when the wagons come.」

A high pitched voice of a woman resounded in the night from the highway.

A wagon came towards here rattling. Relying on the sound, one of the mage fired a flame bullet towards the east along the highway.

With a loud noise, a carriage along with the horses were brought down.

The flame bullet must have landed directly in front of the horse’s eyes.

A dozen or so soldiers came from the rear of the carriage and tried sweeping away through the flames, but they could not approach us due to continuous barrage of flame bullets and spear stabs.

I kept shooting the enemy soldiers to cover up the knights from the front.

A bolt, thicker and shorter than a normal arrow, struck deeply into an enemy’s leather armor. He fell on the road with an agonizing expression.

By the time three rounds of arrows were shot, many enemy soldiers already arrived in the front.

『Uoohhh..!』 Bartz san raised his voice. We all started running towards the east at the same time.

「Do not be so foolish. It will create a scuffle once you jumped in the line of spears…..」

「Are they of the Transportation corps? They are not at all organized. They seem to be farmers.」

Bartz san also got the same impression.

There is a difference between a trained soldier and these people. The latter made a foolish mistake due to fear and pulled out their long swords.

A torch was thrown from overhead.

As we went ahead towards east with Bartz san, we divided ourselves and went through left and right side of the carriage.

I guess its okay if they use the torch to inspect under the carriage.

After pa.s.sing through several units, I heard voices and sound of metal clas.h.i.+ng metal. Seems like the fight is going on.

「You seem to be working hard.」

「But, our basis is the same as yours. Restrain them with spears and bring them down with bows. That was brought in the battle quite well.」

A crossbow is quite effective in a brawl. You can defeat your enemy securely from far away.

Since the bolts are also flying from the cliff tops, its no wonder that their fate has been sealed when the wagons were blocked.

When we pa.s.sed the last third wagon, the sound stopped. Seems like Zairas san won.

「Its over!」

「I have never been an opponent of an enemy soldier!」

The princess is in a bad mood. Well she was just hiding after all.

Once again, I reminded myself to not approach her too much.

「You are alright!」

「Next is the front. The rear guard is no fun!」

That reply made Zairas san to reveal a wry smile as the answer hit the nail.

Lets finish it up quickly without much damage. I talked with Zairas san and then started giving instructions to my subordinates. Well, we also pulled up. I will look the loads of wagons later.

Returning to the hideout with the princess, Maria san gave out tea to us.

I took lives of three people, but I didn’t feel much. It maybe natural for people to kill here, but its a sin from where I grew up. a.s.suming that I could return, I should probably surrender myself to the police. But would they trust it or not………….

「What’s wrong? Don’t be depressed.」

It seems the princess was watching while I was feeling depressed.

「Ah well…. What should I say.. I killed a person for the first time tonight.」

「It is good that you remember it. As long as you think like that in your heart, you cannot be a bad person. If you do not feel anything after killing people, it will be the same as being a soldier.」

A soldier in army is the same. Certainly, continuously blaming myself for killing will feel like being a sore loser.

「Besides, we can release the slaves and those with bonds. There were also people who were going to be executed once they crossed the highway.」

I unexpectedly saw the princess when I raised my head. I was given a small nod on my gaze.

The contents of the wagons was roughly confirmed. I was nervous. I thought that enemy troops will spring out from them.

When I finished drinking tea, Zairas came back with other captains. It seems the four on the cliff with crossbows pulled a fast one.

It’s already late in the night. I was on my seat.

When Zairas san came, wine was served that time. After drinking the wine in a breath, one of the mage onee san pointed at the wine.

「Apparently, they were furniture craftsmen rebellious against the reforms of farmers and homes that cannot pay taxes. The family who was conducting executions was from n.o.bility. They are from our enemy kingdom. They had about 10 soldiers but…….」

「So?」

「Take the lightest measures of the punishment for those who had anti-flag in the kingdom and let them escape. They don’t know how we look, so there is no meaning in killing them.」

「Well, what will they do next? With 5 silver coins.」

The people are smiling at the story.

Seems like they will not kill them. The fact that 5 silver coins were given, is probably something as the present of living. But to laugh at that with our present condition seems to be a severe punishment.

Just what kind of punishment did they give?