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The Battle is over.
Watching the horse bandits retreating like a tide on their fast horses, some militia reserves uselessly chased them with crossbows in hand. Leo's face was as gloomy as the still water.
Even though he had been cautious enough, the horse bandits' attack still exceeded his expectations.
If it were an ordinary bandit attack, with the sentinels' warning, the militiamen could have calmly formed a formation before the bandits rushed into the village, and the villagers would have had time to take shelter in the lord's mansion.
Relying on the lord's mansion for defense, Leo was confident that he could repel an enemy force twice his size.
However, this time it was horse bandits, all of them on horses. The speed of their attack far exceeded the speed at which the militiamen could assemble.
Even after the battle ended, many villagers still hadn't managed to get into the lord's mansion.
In this battle, the horse bandits left eighteen corpses behind, but they also took the lives of one militiaman and seven or eight villagers.
These isolated villagers were casually beheaded by the horse bandits during the attack.
With the momentum of the horses, the sharp scimitars swept across the bodies. No matter which part of the body it hit, it was a fatal wound.
In addition, seven or eight militiamen and militia reserves were hit by arrows during the exchange of fire with the horse bandits and were now being treated.
Fortunately, the horse bandits launched their attack from the southwest.
Most of the villagers in River Bend were farming in the north of the village. If the horse bandits had appeared from this side, they would have chased and killed the villagers on the flat farmland and even cut off their way into the village. It would have been a massacre.
Looking at the excited and cheering militiamen, Leo couldn't relate at all.
Perhaps in their eyes, this was a great victory.
But in Leo's heart, no matter how many enemies were killed, as long as there were losses, it was a great loss.
What's the use of killing a hundred horse bandits? The death of one villager is a real loss of our strength!
Moreover, this wasn't a game. The villagers and militiamen weren't just expendable resources. They had flesh and blood and their own lives.
The dead militiaman was even hand - picked by Leo from the young and strong villagers. It seemed like just yesterday he was asking Leo for advice on swordsmanship.
A horse bandit with an arrow in his chest, who hadn't died yet, was dragged by the leg by the militiamen to Leo's side.
Seeing him spitting blood, looking pleading, but coughing and unable to speak, the annoyed Leo didn't bother to interrogate him. He just waved his hand and ordered, "Kill him. Strip him naked and drag all the bodies to the canal. Prop them up with stakes!"
He mounted his horse and ordered, "All the militiamen who can still move, assemble! Bring a day's worth of dry rations. Under the command of Ivan, follow the marks I left."
"Yes!"
"Vicki, stop repairing the dam for now. Take the militia reserves and defend the settlement camp until Ulyan returns."
"Yes!"
The whole village became restless again. Leo rode his horse at a trot, chasing in the direction the horse bandits had left.
A Real Man Takes Revenge Right Away!
Since the horse bandits' attack had failed this time, they would gather more men next time.
Leo wanted to strike them hard before they could do so!
Moreover, Lawrence had just left yesterday, and the horse bandits' attack came today. Leo didn't believe for a second that it had nothing to do with him.
To solve the trouble, one must first eliminate its source!
Horse bandits aren't like special forces. It's impossible for them to travel through the wilderness overnight and then launch an immediate attack the next day.
The speed of riding in the wilderness isn't very fast. So, it's highly likely that their settlement camp isn't far from the River Bend.
Tracking all the way while riding, Leo dismounted from time to time to look for footprints and climbed to the treetops to observe, to prevent losing the trail or being detected by the horse bandits ahead.
Once in the hunting state, the hunting intuition that Leo, the original owner, had cultivated since childhood combined perfectly with the meticulousness and caution of the other half - soul, leaving no clue unnoticed.
After tracking for fifteen li, Leo caught a distant glimpse of an abandoned watchtower.
This watchtower wasn't large. It was a small - sized one that could accommodate fifty soldiers for defense and was quite common in the Northern Region.
Hundreds of years ago, after the Atlantis Empire defeated the Beast Race, the Northern Region entered a period of great exploration. The Northern clans on the south bank of the Anzerno River migrated in large numbers to the north bank and established strongholds everywhere.
However, with the political reforms and the outbreak of contradictions, countless exploration areas and military fortresses gradually turned into ruins and were finally buried by the wilderness.
This small watchtower in front might have been a settlement camp built by the empire's standing army hundreds of years ago to intimidate the nearby Wild folk in the wilderness.
Or perhaps it was a border watchtower built by Count Frolov's territory in the following centuries to drive away the growing Wild folk.
But now, it was completely abandoned, with broken bricks, a rotted drawbridge, and overgrown with vines.
At the leeward side below the watchtower, some tents were haphazardly set up. There were several campfires with curling smoke, and iron pots and skewers were on them.
Several horse bandits were standing on the upper part of the watchtower, walking around boredly with short bows in their hands.
Leo tied his horse to a nearby tree and then quietly crept forward, avoiding the sight of the horse bandits on the top of the watchtower all the way until he reached the wall of the watchtower.
"Priest! It's time to talk about the reward."
The voice of the horse - bandit leader came from the other side of the stone wall. His voice was filled with anger and threat: "The village at the River Bend isn't as simple as you said! The twenty gold coins you gave before aren't even enough for the compensation of my brother! If the priest doesn't show some goodwill, I'm afraid I won't be able to hold back my brothers' anger."
"By the Holy Light! A bunch of horse bandits are talking to me about compensation? You've got to be kidding me! When did you learn this word? When you were serving in the army under Tarkhan Bek? Did you ever get any compensation?" The horse - bandit leader's words only drew endless ridicule.
The horse - bandit leader menacingly said: "Father Lawrence, this isn't Isonpol. The Holy Light can't protect you here."
Father Lawrence softened his tone a bit, "You've cooperated with me more than once. What good would it do me to deceive you?"
"You've also seen that big house with your own eyes. Could an ordinary lord have built it? There must be a large amount of treasure inside! A village that can support three hundred people, can't it support your dozens of horse bandits?"
The horse - bandit leader said helplessly: "But there are too many militiamen there, and they all have crossbows. I don't have enough men to take it down."
"That's your issue. If you don't have enough men, find someone else to cooperate with. You're not the only one in this horse caravan business around here. Harold in the south has dozens of men under his command. If you're interested, I can introduce you to him."
The leader of the horse bandits mocked, "Who would have thought that a priest has such a wide network of contacts."
Peering through the huge crack in the stone wall, Leo saw the leader of the horse bandits sitting cross - legged on a felt sleeping mat in front of the campfire. Opposite him, the short, fat, and round Monk Lawrence was sitting casually.
He wasn't wearing the holy white robe of the church. Instead, he was dressed like a merchant and had two armed retainers with him, looking like a wealthy traveling merchant.
Leo observed for a while and then turned back to the horses. He sat quietly, ate, and drank to regain his strength.
After a short while, there was a noise up ahead. A militia scouts emerged. After seeing Leo, he whistled towards the back.
Two minutes later, Ivan arrived with the militia.