The Red Crows invaded the mining village just before noon the next day.

The further they went, the closer they came to the mountain. Finally, they came across the villages entrance.

They were the leader, Legda the giant, the second in command, magician Thalia, and the slave, Shiro.

All in all, an adventurer party of thirteen.

However, thats not the case when going to open spaces.

The Red Crows with its many former mercenaries invaded in a miniaturized version of a military formation.

Thirteen people. Thats quite a lot, huh. I suppose their discipline is good, too?

One magician, four bowmen. Theyre unexpectedly troublesome

The zombies are at an overwhelming disadvantage against enemies with long-range weapons.

Also, a few wood golems I used to carry luggage with, golem parts, the ones that were only arms and legs (the parts that can be used had been used for traps), and also the one injured imp.

The enemy seems like theyre used to the battlefield, a frontal attack will only get me kicked about, even with ten times the number.

He was the only one with a halberd, but if he swung that thing in an open space he could blow away two or three zombies in one go.

While watching the image from the eye I planted inside the village, Astarte and I began analyzing the enemys war potential.

We do have bows, but skeletons equipped with bows will lose against professional bowmen.

Looking at them, the leader giant had plate metal on his upper body and waist, and partially metal reinforced leather greaves on his feet.

The others were only armored with light leather and hard leather.

For mercenaries, that was a complete set of armor, or possibly a lower-rank knight or their subordinates, if theyre unlucky.

Facing them head on is impossble, isnt it, Master Elliott?

We should somehow split them up and get those armor off of them or maybe get them to stop moving

I had a considerable number of plans to split them up with.

The problem is, the success rate and how well those plans would go depend greatly on the sort of people the enemy are.

Say, Astarte, does that thief girl look like shes wearing a collar to you?

Youre right. From what I hear from sir Gustav, the Red Crows dont have female members other than the magician

I thought. Without any battle power, I would lose if I dont think.

The most likely hypothesis based on the information Ive heard is

Slave, right. Probably a survivor from the adventurer team they killed off

The reason theyd keep her alive would be, to sell her, to have her as sex relief, or possibly a meat shield judging from how theyre treating her, theyre not going to sell her

I see, thats how it is

So if theyre taking a sex relief slave into battle, they wont allow her to act on her own, even with chains attached. Which means, theyre taking her along as a meat shield, theres also a possibility that theyre make use of her thiefly skills

In any case, we need to watch how theyre moving, even if we whittled down their numbers . Theyre going to meet with the villager zombies soon

If they were found on level ground, its not going to be a matter of winning or losing anymore.

Zombies have no cognitive capacity, so they had to be given precise orders.

For instance,rush on enemies coming inside the house.

A battle broke out in the village heads house right away.

A zombie that Im sure was once the village heads daughter rushed them but the heavy warriors shield firmly brushed her away.

Ive assigned three zombies here, the other two also rushed in.

Respondest mine summons, come whence the wand of stars, Strong Salamander!

The female magician behind the warriors chanted some kind of spell. Several flames came out of the wand in her hand, rolling up the zombies in a ball of fire.

shes trouble !

That is a contracted spirit summons . Looks like our academy magician is the real thing

Astarte calmly explained the enemys power.

How strong is that magic, really?

Several fields of magic are taught in the academy, and theres one among them exercised by making contracts with various spirits and borrowing their power, called [Spirit Magic]. That wand is probably the symbol of the contract. Its a relatively widely-known school within the academy

All three zombies were burnt and their movements became slow.

However, all but the one that received the heavys blow was still moving.

For humans, a contract with the spirits place quite a burden on their bodies. Moreover, since the magic they can save up are lower than demonkind, they cant fire those out indefinitely. She has quite the ability to fire spirits out onto multiple enemies, but each time she does she drains a considerable amount of her magic power

which means we can somehow press her down with numbers, is it? Well, the fact that shes at the level that we can somehow deal with is a relief. In that case, Id like to try to get her over to our side

I blurted that out unconsciously.

Astarte caught on to it.

Thats the spirit, Master Elliott. Lets go capture the girl, ravish her and corrupt her. Make her our servant. If we made a demon out of a magician, shell certainly be useful

The battle in the other house had ended as well.

The giant leader made mincemeat of the zombies along with the whole door. What absurd power.

We have to somehow incapacitate that ball of muscle, dont we. Doesnt look like zombies will be a match for him

A trap that would work against him probably that one. Will it work well, I wonder ?

Looking some more, it seems that a lightly dressed thief had reached the village heads chest.

Even though its not like it contained anything worth much, but I had put a trap on it just for an occasion like this.

Its simple, but its effective. A poison needle.

But theres probably no god whod offer grace to an adventurer party like this one. Though, maybe an evil god.

By increasing casualties like this we could whittle down the enemys fighting strength.

The heavy warrior yelled angrily and people gathered at the other house.

The trap that I asked Gustav to buy from a trustworthy purveyor.

It did take some time, but my precious trap had been disarmed.

And the traps I put around the village was supposed to be the hardest ones, too .

Shes likely to be a skilled thief. They brought her along as a tool to disarm traps

So Astarte judged from the situation.

Whats more I can tell by just seeing her that shes not being treated well.

Im not a virtuous person myself, but I hate people who used violence on their friends.

Astarte, half the skeletons in the mining village have bows, right? We dont have any means to leverage the situation with, so lets have them move. We can get some of them poisoned if were lucky, but buying time is enough

Hm, Ill use the inn. Sacrifice the imp and lead them here

Yeah, youre right. Take her to the inns basement. I dont really like using chains, but its probably easier to show them that way

I didnt know if it would go well, but Ill use everything that Ive prepared.

If they kept on straight and attacked the mines,wewould be at a disadvantage.