Chương 391: 386. Strength - II

Kivamus shook his head.

"You are forgetting the crossbow women. We already have 22 of them, so by pairing one experienced woman with a new one in each shift, we will be able to cover all the watchtowers without keeping any men up there. All the watchtowers have two crossbows again, so that's 12 crossbows to kill any bandits if they attack us. We also have 40 trained swordsmen in the village right now—38 after excluding Pydaso's escort.

Our plan is to send 30 swordsmen to hit Torhan's compound, while keeping the eight remaining men here for an emergency. Along with the help from the crossbow women, as well as the new recruits, we will be able to defend the village for the ten days our guards will be out for that raid." He smiled.

"The best thing is that Torhan's group is probably the most powerful bandit group in this region, but we are already going to attack him, and the mercenaries are still a couple months away from arriving. Which means even if we get any bandit raids during that time, it will either be weaker and smaller groups, or desperate civilians. Which means we can easily defend our village from them."

"Fine," Duvas said.

"I can agree that we should be reasonably safe during those 10 days with eight experienced guards and the new recruits. But will the remaining men be enough to attack Torhan's compound? Especially knowing that they will have the defending advantage this time." Hudan answered with a grin.

"We are sending 30 swordsmen, Sir Duvas. Thirty! Unless that bastard has magically trained all his slaves into proper bandits so soon, there is no way that single compound will be able to resist us. Feroy had given an estimate that Kirnos had somewhere around 50 to 60 guards in total, which means our 30 swordsmen, who are better trained and far more disciplined, could give even Kirnos' guards a run for their money, assuming they weren't hiding behind walls.

Anyway, we had killed nearly 30 bandits of Torhan in his raid here, which had to be most of his strength. It's only been a few weeks since that raid, so even if he started to recruit more bandits, it hasn't been long enough for his strength to change too much."

"But didn't he have a different compound too?" Duvas asked.

"He has to have more bandits there."

"Of course," Hudan said.

"Joric had told us that he had seen around 20 bandits in the compound he had been in. Let's assume Torhan had kept that many bandits at his other compound too. Then it means he should have 10 bandits in total after we killed 30 of them. Those 10 will also be divided between those two compounds, which means just five in each place.

Obviously, Joric's estimate might have been wrong, but even if Torhan has double, or even triple that number of bandits remaining, that's still just 15 bandits to defend both his compounds—against 30 of our much better trained guards. Of course, we plan to give them crossbows too, which will help them take out many bandits before the fight even starts. I will be there to lead our men, and I will make sure it goes well." Duvas seemed to be thinking about it.

"But who will protect the village if both you and Feroy leave for the counter raid?"

"I will be here," Kerel said, pressing a fist to his chest.

"Don't worry, Sir Duvas. I will protect the village with my life." Kivamus explained, "While Kerel will stay here to lead our swordsmen in case of an emergency, Feroy, Hudan, and Tesyb will each lead a group of around 10 men in that raid. And they will hit the camp from three sides. If something is not as we expected, Feroy will be there to change the plans accordingly.

We are also going to send a group of four scouts in advance within a few days, so they can find out any weak points of that compound, and see if that bastard Torhan is there. They will continue scouting there for a week after that. These 10 days will be used for the guards to conduct mock raids, with two groups of a dozen men led by Hudan and Tesyb each. Our men know how to fight, but attacking a group which has dug in defensively is not the same thing. I will also help them in planning it this time.

The newest recruits will also get some basic training at that time, which will be helpful in the future." Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. He continued, "Feroy will return by then, so after 10 days, we will send the group west. They will meet up with the scouts there, and make the final preparations for the attack. Feroy will decide the best time to attack."

"Are you really planning to kill Torhan?" Duvas asked.

"He is quite likely the bastard son of Baron Farodas of Kirnos. He won't take it well if his son is killed by us." Kivamus shook his head.

"It's not like Kirnos is acting friendly to us in the first place, but no. The primary objective of this plan is to liberate all those slaves and bring them here, and to destroy and burn that compound to give enough of a setback to Torhan that he can't think of raiding us again anytime soon. Based on the reports of the scouts, Feroy will decide whether to hit the compound when Torhan is present, or when he's not.

The reason is that now that we know he has at least one more compound, and has good relations with Kirnos, that means he would usually be moving between these three places. And he would also be taking some bandits with him as guards." He continued, "That means if we find Torhan in that clay mining compound and our guards can still take them with their strength, they will attack at that time, hoping to kill him too.

But if it seems that he has too many guards, we will wait for him to leave the compound, which will leave the place even less defended, and then we will hit it to liberate the slaves. There are a lot of variables, which is why Feroy's presence will be vital there after his first round of spreading rumors in the north. He had also contributed in the planning of how to organize the raid before he left, and by the time he returns, we will have everything ready for him and Hudan to lead the guards west."

Duvas chuckled.

"It seems you have planned everything already..."

"Hardly," Kivamus shrugged.

"There's a saying that no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. It means many things can still go wrong, but we have already planned for a lot of variables, and in the next 10 days we will refine the plan further based on how the guards are performing in the mock raids. Then the group will leave for Kirnos through the forest, reaching there in around two days with that large group.

Based on the reports of the scouts, they might have to hold on for a few days before attacking—which will only last a few hours at most, even if the bandits have dug in. Then another day to clean up and patch any injured guards, as well as to convince the slaves to come back with us. Then they will burn the compound, and return here in another few days. If everything goes well, they should be back here in three weeks from now."

He continued, "By now we have seen absolutely no sign that Levalo may be hiding any other intentions, so I think we can start trusting him more now and send him west with the group. Feroy had already vouched for him, and his instincts are rarely wrong."

"I agree that it was a good idea to let him live," Duvas said.

"He had been talking with the latest refugees all night, and has confirmed that their stories matched with what we had found out from the men we captured earlier. These people really are escaped slaves from near Krukzil, and we can integrate them into the village without any problems. But using Levalo to attack the bandits? Isn't he only an expert in using a dagger? I don't think he has suddenly become an excellent swordsman, has he, Hudan?" Hudan shrugged.

"He isn't, which is why Lord Kivamus has a different plan for him." Kivamus explained, "We are going to give a separate mission to him at the same time our guards are liberating that compound. Joric, the freed slave from that place, didn't see everything in the compound when he was there, so we will have to trust the report of our scouts for the layout, but we will still send Joric with the guards to meet up with the slaves after the fight is done.

The local slaves will know him, and when he tells them that Tiranat is a good place for slaves, they will have far more reason to believe him compared to just our guards claiming that."

"Then what's the problem?" Duvas asked.

"I know Joric's a good man, so he should agree to help us free other slaves." Kivamus snorted.

"I had talked with him a few days ago, and I agree that he is a good man, which is why he had sold himself into slavery instead of his wife or daughter. But he put a condition to help us this time. He asked us to help bring his wife and daughter from Kirnos if we want his help to talk with the slaves. He can't do it himself, since he is officially a slave and Torhan's property in Kirnos, which is why he asked for our help."