Translator: Legge
“Why aren’t you panicking?” Melgor asked, looking at Ren Xiaosu.
Ren Xiaosu said, “Wait here for a while. I’ll take those two sheeple somewhere safe.”
With that, Ren Xiaosu ran back into the hail of arrows. Shortly after, he dragged the two servants over, with Mox and his men following behind.
Mox was the knight commander assigned to protect Melgor by the Li clan. He was accompanied by 35 knights.
Logically speaking, they should also be quite strong in combat. However, they were pinned down by the bandits’ volley of arrows. As the bow was a prohibited weapon, even an organization like the Chamber of Commerce was only permitted to arm themselves with 60 bows.
Mox said to Ren Xiaosu and Melgor, “Sirs, let’s take refuge here. Please don’t try to be a hero! Especially Lord Melgor! If anything happens to you, my job’s at stake.”
Melgor frowned and said, “That won’t do. As a sorcerer, how can I hide in cowardice when the trade caravan is besieged by the bandits?”
Ren Xiaosu pulled Melgor aside and whispered, “Aren’t you overestimating yourself? Do you think you can block those arrows? Stay here quietly. Everything will be fine soon.”
Although Mox and his men could not hear what Ren Xiaosu was saying from a short distance away, they somehow felt that his body language when speaking to Lord Melgor was a little strange.
Mox asked Li Chengguo, “Young Master, does Lord Melgor’s steward usually speak so rudely to him, or is it only this time?”
Li Chengguo, who was hiding in the corner, replied, “Don’t fuss over nothing. He’s always like this.”
Melgor still did not let go of his curiosity. He asked again in a whisper, “Ren Xiaosu, are you not even a little scared?”
“What’s there to be scared of?” Ren Xiaosu glanced at him. “It’s only a bunch of bandits. It’s just that I can’t take any action now. If I could, the bandits would all be dead within a minute.”
Melgor lamented, “You’re the biggest blowhard I’ve ever met. You’re so good at it that you’ve even convinced yourself.”
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After Melgor and the sheeple got the impression that Ren Xiaosu was someone who liked boasting, they assumed everything he said was just braggadocio. Their impression was not going to change until they were presented with ironclad proof that he was not one.
But what kinds of situations had Ren Xiaosu been in? On the battlefield, he had dealt with bombardments from firearms and explosives, such as mortar shelling, thermobaric bombs, RPGs, and most commonly, heavy machine gun fire.
Comparing bows and arrows to those weapons, Ren Xiaosu felt like he was dealing with a bunch of amateurs since arriving in the Kingdom of Sorcerers.
It was too easy. In fact, this form of battle hardly even interested him.
‘The roars of the bandits came from outside the carriage walls’ perimeter. As arrows flew in nonstop at them, Ren Xiaosu suddenly said to Melgor, “These bandits are probably here for you.”
“Me?” Melgor said in disbelief, “How can that be?”
“If you were killed in the city, it would provoke the anger of the entire magus order. But by having bandits kill you, it would be too easy for an archmage to silence all of them after you were taken out.” Ren Xiaosu said, “Then everyone would just blame your death on the world for being too chaotic, but no
one would get suspicious. Think about it. This place is only half a day away from York County. Most bandits normally don’t choose to make a move somewhere so close to the city.”
Lowering his head, Melgor started pondering this.
Ren Xiaosu continued, “Since the Tudor family is so powerful, it’s so easy for them to instigate or threaten the bandits to kill you. Just look, they’ve been shooting arrows at us for quite some time. Why would a group of bandits have so many arrows? And they’re even high-quality fletched arrows! If it’s
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really as I’ve guessed, you’ll have to be much more careful. Qian Weining also mentioned that there’s more than a dozen bands of bandits scattered along the way to the north, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s elite troops disguised as bandits either.”
“Then why don’t we head back…” Melgor stared hopefully at Ren Xiaosu.
Ren Xiaosu shook his head. “You’re getting cold feet already? With me around, what’s there to be afraid of”
“You saying that makes me even more afraid!” Melgor said in a serious tone.
An‘an and the middle-aged woman were quietly watching the battle outside through the carriage window. An‘an said, “Aunt, should I take care of those bandits?”
“What for?” The middle-aged woman shook her head. “Those people are all outlaws, so you might not be able to escape unscathed under their arrow fire. I think the Chamber of Commerce’s vice president is competent and tough enough, so he should be able to deal with the situation.”
An‘an involuntarily turned her gaze over to Ren Xiaosu and muttered, “He’s clearly very skilled, but he ended up hiding like a coward. When he chased after me that night, I thought he was really brave.”
While they were talking, a shadowy figure quickly approached the bandits in the wilderness.
As the shadowy figure ran, it trampled the mud on the ground and splattered it all around, exuding a very powerful aura.
The bandits knew nothing about the impending danger as they released their arrows to suppress the trade caravan while avoiding their return fire.
Every bandit was equipped with three full quivers of arrows that they fired like it didn’t cost a thing. Meanwhile, there was no effective way for the trade caravan to take out the bandits due to poor visibility at night. As a result, the trade caravan’s arrow supply dwindled, but only a few of the bandits got
Killed.
Soon after, when the shadowy figure was about to close in on a group of bandits riding on horseback, one of them discovered it. “Who’s there?”
White Mask was like an apparition in the darkness.
Just as he finished speaking, the white-masked “Old Xu’ picked up two fallen arrows from the ground and threw them with its bare hands!
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The arrows flew like lightning and struck a bandit, forcefully knocking him off his horse!
Old Xu sprinted forward. Even though it was moving extremely fast, it continued picking up arrows that were stuck in the ground. When it came to the front of a bandit’s horse, the bandit wanted to switch from his bow to using his saber instead, but Old Xu gave him no chance to do that.
In the blink of an eye, Old Xu leaped up and swept past the bandit’s side, stabbing an arrow in its hand ruthlessly into the bandit’s forehead.
In just ten seconds, the formation of the bandits was broken up by Old Xu.
The trade caravan’s guards within the “walls” carried on nocking their bows. Although they did not have a clear view of the situation outside, they could not stop firing back at their enemy. If they did not hold off the bandits and maintain a buffer between them, they would probably all die once the bandits
broke through the perimeter.
Gradually, the vice president, Qian Weining, heard a constant howl from the bandits. Their screams sounded shrill and horrified.
Qian Weining was a little puzzled. Did the bandits all get hit by his arrows? But he clearly felt that he had not landed any shots.
He was a little unsure since he was in total darkness.
Hearing the screams outside the perimeter gradually coming to a stop, everyone in the trade caravan was encouraged when they didn’t see any more arrows flying in from outside. Ren Xiaosu took the lead and started clapping. “Vice President Qian, excellent archery!”
suddenly, thunderous applause sounded from the inside of the carriage walls, leaving Qian Weining totally dumbfounded.